There are new two new appointments to the Newark Equitable Growth Advisory Commission. First appointment is item 8A, Mr. Howie, if you're in the audience, Mr. Howie. I do not see him here. Okay.
Eight. We may move him to the end because I I know he was planning on coming. Okay. But let's go to next. Eight beats. Mr. Sher L. continue. Not see him either. He was not appearing.
Okay, we're going to return to the regular agenda on page three. Ordinance is public hearing, second reading, and final passage. 6PFA is an ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to Robert Street Hotel
Urban Renewal Incorporated to undergo major renovations to all systems within the hotel. Any questions from the council? Hearing none. Next item. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh uh uh uh uh you stuck up
on me. Deputy mayor, excuse me. Uh good morning, council president, council members. Allison Lad, director of economic and housing development. Uh we just request that this is deferred to July. Okay. Motion to defer as a whole. Thank you.
Thank you. B is an ordinance granting 30-year tax abatement to 449 Washington Street urban renewal for a project to construct a new five-story building with a total of 20 residential rental units of which 10
will be market rate and 10 will be affordable at 60% of area medium income in the central ward. Any questions from the council hearing? None. Next item C is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to the Unity 12th Street
Development Urban Renewal LLC for a project constructing a fourstory residential rental unit in the south ward. Sponsored by Councilman Council, second by Councilwoman Scott Roundtree. Any
questions? Next item D is an ordinance amending one-way street by designating East Runan Street between Elizabeth Avenue and Sherman Avenue as a one-way street. Sponsored by Councilman Council, second by Councilwoman Scott Roundry.
Next item. Items E and F are requested to be deferred into the local finance board meeting. Next item is G, an ordinance authorizing the first amendment to the original tax abatement granted to Spruce Spruce Park
Associates to extend the terms of the financial agreement. Questions from the council hearing none. Next item, second reading and final passage 6 SFA is an ordinance authorizing the execution of a
lease agreement between the city of North and 169 Clinton Development Urban Renewal LLC for the purpose of providing housing for a significant homeless population. And I believe there is a request to defer from the
administration. Duly noted resolutions 7R1 A and B are temporary emergency appropriations. A is for hope village 2 trees and shrubs purchase grant and B is
the Sunup food service program. Questions from the council hearing none. Next item C through F are purchasing contracts. C is the Bergen County Cooperative Contract for Computer
Equipment. D is a bid contract for vending machine services. E is a bid contract for senior nutrition food program. And F is a bid contract for hosting the 2025 family funday. Questions from the
council. Hearing none. Next item. G through M are subreient agreements for the crisis response system. G is for raise the flag. H is inspired by you
LLC. I is integrity house. J is hope Kindness LLC. K is schools re-entry. L is good education
group. M is new direction behavioral health center. N is mental health associates. Question from the council. I I have a question uh with regards to this matter.
uh director just just trying to understand or or with regards to or with regards to the I just lost the page substance abstance abuse and mental health services administration I'm assuming that's the federal agency the
way these contracts are set up is it that the the the federal agency is contracted with the uh local vendor or local entity uh council President uh Lewis Filerio, director office of phoneman services.
No, we are a grantee of uh of this grant. Um uh these providers are subgrantees. So it's a pass through through the city and we've awarded them to to the subgrantees. And so substance ab what who I guess is substance abuse and
mental health services administration? Uh that that's a federal um agency, SAMA for short. Um so yeah they they provide uh grants um you know across various programs you know devoted to mental health substance abuse and with these
grants I'm just trying to because normally we don't see the the agency and the vendor listed as uh you know listed as the two of them receiving the grant. Yeah I I noticed that as well. Um but no but no we we are
the city is the the grantee and we've awarded these to to these providers. So they're essentially the subgrantees. So this is just the way the contracts are. Yeah. I'm not sure why they added SAMA to Yes. Yeah. So yeah. So SAMA is the grtor. We're the grantee. These are the
subgrantees. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry about that. All right. It's probably my question the way I worded it, but thank you. That was it. Yeah, Mr. Chair, councilman council. Thank you. Are we collecting data uh from these subgroups? I know they've done
work before, but have we can we get uh current information uh as to the response of of you know, situations that they've been engaged in as well as um you know, the number of people of service.
Yeah. you know, SAMA is, you know, they they do require um you know, pretty stringent um data requirements. So, um you know, that that is part of this uh contract is that they're going to be able to provide uh weekly data reports on their responses. You have folks that
are going to be on the ground responding to a crisis. We're going to have behavioral health services and also uh we we've also have trainers that are going to train sort of that ecosystem on on how to handle folks that are experiencing a crisis in the community. Yeah, that that's important and I asked
that question because you know uh the amount of stuff that we have going on uh not with just uh our friends with addresses, right? Uh but with a strong addiction population where uh individuals are experiencing a lot of mental health crisis and I know we are
responding a lot to many different things along these corridors. How would these individuals be implemented uh in that uh response and then what would it look like in terms of you know treatment capacity of treatment uh gathering uh
data collecting the information you know outreach and then followup uh to make sure that the you know they're all participating and doing the work that they're they're asking to be provided to do. Yeah. Well, that's a good point. Um part of this is that you know we are partnering closely with public safety.
Uh so the idea is that the crisis response teams are going to be working really closely uh with police officers and responding to you know a a behavioral health crisis whether it is someone that's unsheltered or or someone that's in the community. Um and the other partners will also come in to
provide comprehensive services after the person has you know been stabilized. Yeah. Any anything else? Councilman. All right. Thank you, director. O is a competitive contract to provide
governmental consulting and legislative services. Questions from the council hearing? None. Next item. P is an extraordinary unspecifiable service contract for health insurance benefits to provide a health plan.
Questions from the council? Hearing none. Next item. Q through V are collective bargaining agreements. Q is a labor agreement with the mechanics. R is the
supervisors. S is Newark firefighters union. T is police communication clerks and officers. U the inspectors and V is council 21. Anything uh any questions from the
council? Yeah. Uh Mr. Uh chair, I I just want to uh you know, thank the administration, all of the the uh reps of these unions. I know uh sometimes negotiations can be uh tedious and everyone does not always get what it is that they want. Uh but to be able to,
you know, sit down and hash out these, I think it is a win-win uh for uh this organization uh and for the people uh here uh that work in in the city that they can be able to uh see some relief uh as things continue to get tough all
around this uh nation. Thank you. Well said, Councilman. Councilman Canana. Yeah. Just want to give Eric I know Eric is coming up Eric Pennitton and I want to thank him because he's really I mean he has really taken some time out to deal with all
this negotiations with all these unions and it has been times that you know things have been said. uh but he has done when it comes to labor and and and sitting with those individual unions he has been a a champion of bringing every
making sure that everybody's a fair for everyone who is represented by labor so I want to thank you personally because that you have done a great job Mr. BA. Thank you. Agreed. Thank you. Thank you for the work you've done in administration.
Thank you, Council President. Yes. Eric Pennington, business administrator. Just to the point, Councilman Councilman May, many times these negotiations are contentious because people disagree, and we obviously want to get what is what we consider to be best for the city, the
administration, and the residents. And the unions want to get to what's best for them. Uh so often times those disagreements turn into being disagreeable and that was not the case in almost every one of these negotiations. Uh I'm going call them out even with the S so SOA we have in the
past been very contentious. It was not it was a reasonably um uh agreeable you know we fought but but we didn't uh make make it personal. Um and I so I wanted to thank I want to take this opportunity
to thank all the representatives from the unions that we negotiated with because they came to the table with an objective to resolve uh the issues that they wanted to see resolved in these agreements. Each of them fought hard for what they believed was in the best
interest of their members. They got some things in some cases and we got some things in other cases. Uh and at the end of the day, I think to the to to to the points that have been made, um everybody walked away reasonably satisfied, not getting everything that we wanted. Um
but the negotiations themselves have been really good. The ones that are still remaining essentially are the fire officers union, the FOP, which I think we can resolve very very soon. Um as well, and the nurses u the nurses were
kind of far apart. I don't quite understand why. It's not contentious, but we're just not making good headway. But hopefully we will. Um, but I expect that the FOP and and I think the NFOU will also resolve. Um, but the NFOU,
which is the fire officers union, and uh the nurses, Janesso, they're more far apart than the other BFOP. Um, but it's been great. It's really, it's gone very, very well. And uh hopefully I can uh see Councilman
Gonzalez is not here. I would tell him now that I've finished with most of the unions I can make sure that we get this budget to you. So that that's the that's the next plan. Anyway, thank thank you. So you're saying next month? That's that's my plan. That's the plan. That is it. All right. So thank you very much. All right. Thank Thank you, Mr. Ba.
Anything else from the council? All right. Seeing none, next item. SevenR2 A through C are private sales. A is new construction of a three family home to rent out at market rate in the West.
Um I do believe we have the developer here. Um head councilman. Thank you, Council President. All right. Um I know that that this was on the agenda last time and um it it failed to pass. Um, can we
have the um we have deputy mayor come up and talk about talk about what this this project is? And I know that we have the developer here, so she can give a a detailed description of what's going on. I know that um Councilman Canana is one
of the people who didn't vote on it and I understand because of the assessed amount and she's supposed to send a letter to everybody. just want her uh deputy mayor first to explain it and then the developer to talk about it. Uh good morning council president, council
members. Allison Lad, director of economic and housing development. Um this uh project is going to be the construction of a three family home to rent out at market rate. Um we're providing the land purchase um so that
they're uh the cost is able to be do um infused into doing the development and the capital stack for the project. Uh the purchaser is a native um of Newark and has a track record of doing real estate here in the city. Um, I will note
that we did have um three letters of interest for this property and this um purchaser was the one who uh was able to be successful um based upon our analysis. Um in closing, I will say that
the assessed value is higher than what the property is partly because there's no building on the site anymore. there is um an assessed value for both the structure and the land. And at this time um through pictures that we provided to
council, it's evident that it's only land. And so that's why in the administration's perspective, we felt it was fair to have the price um as stated in the resolution. Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
We uh council president, can we hear from the developers? Absolutely. Good morning everyone. Good morning. Thank you um council for allowing me to speak. My name is Natasha Akinle. I am
born in Newark. I work in Newark. I'm raising my three sons in Newark public schools. College graduates, whatever. Um, I'm happy to say that when the mayor came to our block association and he
talked about the blight in our community, he said, "If you want to make change, do something about it." And so I stepped up over three years ago to be begin this process to acquire that lot. The house was dilapidated and falling on
my neighbor's property and it's just an eyes sore. On the way over, I did take pictures to show you that there's no house. There's just blight. There are rodents. There's garbage. We need to do something. And so I decided that after
my years of helping other people to acquire land, to build properties, to bring value to their community, this was my time. And it has been an arduous process. So, I'm really excited to have this opportunity to build a three family
home. As I said in my proposal, I grew up on section 8. My mother raised five children on section 8 and I learned from that that you have to work hard. I went to school. I graduated honors ruckers. I hate saying all this in public, but I
wanted it to be clear that simply because my name has an LLC behind it. I'm a businesswoman. I'm a community member. I'm an activist. I'm concerned. And most importantly, I just want to see
change. And so the intent was, like I said in my proposal, to build a structure and to allow, of course, low-income um citizens to have space, a loving, clean, respectful space. So the
intention is to build a one family on the block that I live on, on the block that I make sure we clean up, on the block that I fight to have public service brighten our streets. And so today, I hope that that is clear. If you
have any questions, I'll take any questions. Yes, Councilman Kelly, just one question. Um, I I respect all of the work that you do in the community. Uh, I've been to a couple of South Tim Street Block Association meetings and you're very, very vocal. But not only
are you vocal, you call my office, you ask for change, you ask for help. And that's always appreciated because if we don't know what's going on in your community, you definitely let us know what's happening. One question though, you said that you're maybe it was just a slip of the tongue. You said you're
building a one family, but is a three family, right? It's a one family. I mean, that's a realtor thing. It's actually a three family home, but by law, any one family is a structure from one to four units. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay.
We just want to know what you feel. We don't want to confuse the public. We just want them to understand your three family. Three family home. All right. Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Uh any uh Councilwoman Scott Roundtree? Your mic is on. Never be ashamed of
where we came from because it's not where you're coming from, it's where you're going. So I I never had a problem with saying at one time I was on public assistance because that's not how I was born, but um some point in my life I did. So you're saying that um it's going to be for affordable but it says market
rate. So will three one of those apartments be how like the absolutely it is guaranteed that at least one unit will be available for low income section 8 any program and people need to hear that because when it says at market rate
of three family they're looking at the language in the resolution they don't see all of the back behind it. So, and and that's why I'm here because I want it to be made clear. Here's my proposal. In that proposal, it talked about
growing up on section 8, it talked about a providing affordable housing. How can I come and say we need to change it? And I know what rents are. How can I come and say I'm building a new three family house where the apartments because of
the cost have to cost a minimum of 2500. I'm willing to work with our community members to make sure we have housing. And ultimately the goal is to continue to develop to develop affordable housing. This was just my project, my
initial project to come to the city. So to provide that and and something for the record about knowing and accepting where you come from. Yes. I want my sons to know that where we live, we're invested. I want my sons to know that
their mother took on an endeavor that's a minimum of million dollars to do. But I believe that with faith and hard work you can achieve. So absolutely I wanted everyone to know there's a person behind
NAC. That is my office address. I live in NORC and you'll see me you I'm probably the loudest h house on the block but so any other questions? Anything from the council? Um just I know um thank you for uh I know
expressing yourself. Thank you. Because I know Canana um also Councilman Ramos, I just wanted Canana, Ramos, and Gonzalez to hear um your story and because of of their vote last time was mostly based on the assessed amount and
we understood why. So I just kind of wanted them to hear what you were doing, where you were from, how you were doing it so that they can have an understanding. And so with with that at the last time that I spoke I did mention about the assessed value. I was quite
taken a back on that day to find out the number. The assessed value of the land is $24,400 and it has been that for some time. So let's let's let's go back. Let's just
I think that's enough been said. Uh is there anything from the council? Other council members want to say anything. Thank you. Are you going to sponsor? Yeah, we're good. Sponsor.
So, it's uh uh Councilman uh uh uh uh Kelly is going to sponsor. I'll second it. Thank you. Thank you. Next item. B is new construction of a three family home to rent at market rate in the north
ward. Questions from the council. Yeah, Mr. President, I'd like to return this item to the administration, you know, hoping that they can come back to us with a different price point. Is is there a second? Second for
Councilman uh Canana to return to administration. Next item C is to amend the property address and sale price in the west and south wards. Questions from the council. Yeah, Mr. Chair, if uh deputy mayor can
come up and just you know give an overview and explanation. I'm uh you know clear on what was happening but if you can just come up and give an explanation on what was occurring in this situation. Good morning council president council
members Allison Lad director of economic and housing development. Um the item that we're asking for an amendment um the council approved a sale back in 2022 and over the course of clearing
title we found that there were title issues on two of the three sites. And so what we wanted to do was um to hold our commitment to the purchaser. And so we're requesting to exchange two sites
for two that were um no longer able to close. And are these sites uh uh I'm assuming these sites are compatible or uh comparable? Yes, council president. We worked to ensure that they were consistent with the original sale and so
that it was um fair to the purchaser. Um because at times as you know and others know that sometimes when we have properties the title is not clean and so we have to go back through a reforclosure process and that can take
several years due to the legal aspects that have to be resolved. And so in an effort to advance the projects, we wanted to um offer this amendment to the council. Thank you, Councilman Kelly. Uh just a quick question, Deputy Mayor. Is is the square footage the same or did
the square footage reduce a little bit? Did it get higher or is it around the same? Um yes, uh council president, to that question, it's um approximately the same. The reason why um we needed to change the addresses in the amount is just because the um it's not exactly the
same. Um but the price for price per square foot remain $10 a square foot which is what it was in 2022 as well. Thank you. Not not not necessarily the price but the actual square footage. Did it decrease a little? Um so I'm sorry. So that's why I was saying that it's not
exactly the same but they are similar. Anything else from the council? Thank you, Deputy May. Thank you. Next item. D and E are professional services contracts. D is to provide legal
services for redevelopment and E is to provide legal services for redevelopment. Questions from the council. Hearing none. Next item. F is a grant agreement to provide for a grant and grant agreement with Ryzen Plains 474
LLC in the West Ward. Questions from the council? Nope. No. All right. Next item. G is declaring an area in need of redevelopment in the west ward. Question from the council. Councilman Kelly. Uh
quick question to uh Deputy Mayor EHD. So when we said we're designating this area in need of redevelopment, this area is is it being sold by like I'm just confused as to some of the sales that we
usually do. We we sell it to to individual developers. What's this process of we have to designate the area first? Like what do we have a buyer already for this property?
Um, council president, council members, Allison Lad, director of economic and housing development. This uh property was um agreed upon for sale in 2023 um and approved by the municipal
council. Um the property has been vacant since 1989. uh the purchaser um's plans when it went through our land use and zoning process um is also looking at ensuring that it will comply with the current land use
and zoning. So to your question, the developer has already purchased the has already purchased the property from the city and we're just ensuring that the land use and zoning is consistent. Um, and as you know, since that time, we
have changed our zoning ordinance over the years. And so, um, some of the items that you're hearing are cleanup, uh, from prior to changing the zoning ordinance. Understood. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next item. 7R3A is a
change order to provide street paving and pedestrian improvements. Questions from the council. No questions. Next. Yeah, Mr. Chair. All right. Councilman. Yeah. So, I I I know [Music]
um they're looking for an amendment to change one of one of the problems that that we have is there's been no street paving uh this summer. I I don't know if we have the the funds to do it. Um but there's been no street paving outside of the work that PSEG
uh was asked to do. I know we've asked for a list of what streets was going to be paved so far, but uh I don't think we're going to get that list uh because there's no work being done. Yeah, Mr. President, Councilman Ramos. Yeah, I I agree with my colleague. You know, this
is the first year that since I've been around that I have seen very little to no paving activity. And you know, we're in the summer months already and I know we're approving these grants prospectively. We're talking about three or four years down the road these streets are supposed to get paved. Um
but but I want to know how many grants did we approve in previous years where the paving was supposed to happen in this year and it hasn't happened and why why is that? Is it an issue with the bid process like we've had in the past? Like this stuff should be pretty automatic at
this point. Uh any else from the council director Good morning, council president, council members. Loris Martinez Wooden, director of the department of engineering. Um, some of the concerns, um, we we are with you. We understand. Um, I know that we
are having, um, some challenges with the approval process and how long it takes with the DOT. You're going to see a reflection of that in the items that are being brought to you today. A lot of them a lot of them are extensions of time uh because the approval process uh is taking a little longer. Um when it
comes to projects um we have some projects going on. Um the issue that we have is not visible because Duris Avenue is outside of you know the city. So we have some majors projects going on from the department of engineering. It's just that um the citywide project is not
underway yet. Um, we also have MA23 that is going to start in July of this year. Um, you're going to see an item in the agenda today um to get that um contract locked down and started. Um, we were um
doing some uh funding relocations within our uh budget to be able to fund some gaps that we had in the MA23. Um that is also an item here in the agenda today. So, we see um about 25 locations, which
is typically the run of the street or um you know, I could provide the limits of of of those trees, but we're looking for 25 locations starting in July other than the ones that we're doing in the um city perimeters. So, are there any streets being paved today?
Um council president, I can send that information back to you. I can definitely get information from traffic and send you an email about what the activity is for the day or for the week. So, Mr. President, Council Maros, you know, I I understand in a real simple
way, can you explain why we haven't paved any streets this year? I know we we we approved these grants like the one that's on the agenda today, identifying streets that are supposed to get paved in the future, let's say 2028. Um, so
there were a number of streets that had been approved previously by the council that were supposed to get paved this year. So why hasn't that happened? I would imagine that once you submit the application to do DOT, let's say three years ago, they would have approved that
process. So is it a bid issue? Like what what's the delay? Okay. So we do have to um follow the the bidding process as you mentioned um Council Ramos. Um the the thing is um more often now we're we're
having funding gaps so that we have to um supplement um that gap with our citywide budget or um you know requests from the administration. At this point we are working what we have in the budget. Um it's uh one of the things that how we get allocated. we have to
request for our funds to be uh uh given to to the department of engineering um ahead and we're working with the administration because as you know we get like you know the 12th and the quot like by the time is March we have a quarter of the budget so we have to um work with the administration to get um
funding ahead of time but the only way to understand how much that is is to bring it to to receive it from the bid and know how much the project is going to cost itself. So the whole process from approval with the DOT to um to supplementing the gap that we have uh in
funding depending on how much we're granted um that's that's taking some time in our end. So you're telling us that these grants that we apply for don't cover 100% of the paving cost that the city has to match a percentage of the paving costs.
Yes. So um a lot of the grants that we received um is not the entire funding. Correct. So um some of them we have to supplement from this from city funds. And what percentage does the city have to put in on average? Is it 10% 20% 30%
like what what's usually the gap? So again it it depends on the type of project because every project is different depending on the amount of talking about paving like paving a north 10th street you know like I would imagine that the square footage cost is pretty much the same for paving
projects. Right. So, it the estimate that we have for the city is about um half a million dollars per mile. Um but again, it depends on the intricacy of the project because some of the some of the projects require a little more sidewalk work um which is what goes on
first. So, if we have a heavy pedestrian area, um you're going to see a lot of the sidewalks being done ahead of the paving. So again, um, Council Marine was, I mean, we we we can discuss, you know, um, case by case basis, but they're they're all very different. Um,
the one thing that is a changing factor when we go out for grants and the number of locations, one of our struggles with um, the state and the fed is that they don't understand the dynamics of the city of Newark. Um, so as other municipalities are okay with paving
maybe 10 locations, the city needs more than that. um we put in uh you know up to 30 locations sometimes and um we kind of you know go back and forth with with with these entities uh to find uh uh or
or I would say you know find a spot that they will they're willing to fund for us. Um we work with the organization uh with the administration I apologize with administration um to make them understand we're part of the NJTPA um our struggle again is they don't
understand how dynamic and and and how uh many uh ports of access the city of Newark has. Um we continue being treated like other municipalities across the state. So we're trying to work for them to understand that we need more funds for paving. We cannot just be
supplementing all the time. So we're constantly working with that. Let me let me say this cuz I I think um we're going down a path. I hope you hear, feel, and understand the frustrations of my council colleagues in this situation. We
have and I we you know the minute it got warm plans should have been in place prior to that to start paving and that's what the expectation was and I think is from our not just us sitting up here but
from the community. So to be June 3rd and and discussing that things aren't going to start until July because of funding gaps it it creates a problem for us. It creates a problem for those who live in the community whose streets
need to be paved and are getting potholes and and and and tires uh uh uh flattened and all other issues that that arise because of this. Um and so I I know you got uh the
director behind you on this, but I I just think there should be I don't feel it here. Um, and this is probably something that is discussed if not every meeting, every other meeting.
And I think the importance right now is to address, whatever concerns need to be addressed, find whatever funding needs to be found, and the process start and I would hope started start sooner than
July because it shortens the amount of time that we can do paving. Yes. I know Councilwoman Scott Roundry has something to say, too. and then and then we'll bring up uh director after you. Thank you, council president. I I just
want to be clear for the record. You're saying that the grants we apply for do not cover 100% of the paving at all. None of the grants we apply for cover 100% of the paving. I just want that for the record. And as I want to ditto what
after you you can answer that but I do want to ditto that it cost the city money when those potholes and people's cars are it cost us it cost us. So while we're waiting and not looking at this as a sense of urgency that's on another on
the back end costing us money for suits costing us money fix people's cars if they can prove that they lost their their their front end because of one of our potholes. So, I know it's a catch 22 situations in some instances, but I just want to be clear that we're not applying
for grants that cover 100% at all of some of this paving. Um, thank you, Councilwoman. Um, council president. Um, yes. So, we apply with the expectation that they will cover 100%.
Um, as I said, they have, let's say, a 10 uh location limit. We always go above and beyond that because we want to pave as much as possible and sometimes we have to meet them with some funding because let's say we get granted 20. They allow us to do 20 and then they
tell us you know that if if this is what's going to happen send it out to bid and whatever gap the city will cover. So the expectation is that we can be in under budget or on budget and they'll be completely covered. Um but you know the reality is when we put it
out to bid when it comes back um it's a different story. So we have to end up um supplementing but the idea is to make sure that all our locations get funded and then once we put it out we do have to cover. So it you know unfortunately you know I I cannot gauge how much that
is because it depends on what the market is looking like. Um I do want to add um that uh we we do have Daras and and we did complete Elizabeth Avenue. I do have um director Ed Dean because we do work together on these projects. Um so I don't know director Ed if you want to add some.
Good morning, Director Dean Ward and Sure. Just want to council um you know since 2000 we have paved about average of 30 miles per year, right? We still we still think we're still on course to pave that 30 miles. Normally it although it may seem like we won't be starting
the citywide paving, not the DOT contracts, not the federal that we won't start that until July, we're still on board to do the paving. We go late until December, sometimes early January in the last four years with paving. Right now, PSNG has a lot of streets is locked down because they're still doing gas work.
Some of that work has to settle and we're doing water work. Our water contract goes out to bid. We always coordinated with traffic and signal to see how much work we're trying to do. We like to maximize the amount of money whether it's grant money, city funding, and water and sewer paving. We like to
maximize all that together so we're not duplicating the same effort. that's allowed us to do about 30 the average of 30 miles per year for the last five years 2020 to 2024. Um I think we're still on pace to do that or exceed. Um however the
director said lately we've seen Elizabeth Avenue and and Duramis Avenue give paved and she's got some other projects but in July we officially kicks off we officially kick off the city the city projects of paving citywide paving on the city side. Then water and sewer
will be coming coming behind it with some of the paving that we'll be doing that we left for water and sewer cuts and uh hoping PSNG to push a lot of paving towards the middle and the end of the year. So we will be following up on that paving. Councilman Katana. Yeah. In
terms in terms of paving, this not just the only city that does paving around the National League of Cities. uh cities are encouraged to use a CDBG grants for to enhance bridges and roads. So we
should be and and take that CDBG grants and put it as a block instead of putting it in economic development and utilizing it more for roads and bridges and things that are are needed because that's what the that's what the guidelines of the
CDBG grants come about. This is not the only the other cities they the match funds come out of the CBGB grants for the construction of roads. So we have to be creative and find the funding.
Thank you. Anything else from the council? Yeah, you know, director, you know, you talked about the duration of the time and all of that is still weather pending, right? If if we reach that. So, we have to understand that. the two in alignment with with the grant uh procedures and how that works. The
state assigns the number of properties that they would approve for the city and say this is the amount of money we're giving you this year. Could be a million dollars, a million half dollars, $2 million. And if the city wants uh to proceed to do the other uh kind of
projects that was not approved from what the state is saying, then the city would have to match those funds, right? to be able to find those initial dollars to put in to do the the 30 miles of pavement outside of whatever the water projects are and where those uh dollars facilitate and from from grants and
other things to help with those railways outside of what public service is doing. We're just talking about just city paving, being in front of it, knowing that the asphalt places open April 1, have a time limit of when they open, when they close based on the duration of
when we have to do this, start this work, possibly not guaranteed, right? Possibly in in July or starting in July and then have that framework to look at October or early November to finish
whatever is is got it out, right? That that is the the correct process. Yes. But on the other side, I just want to clarify something everybody forget. We do the city does the city in the last and I'm saying the city, this administration, this council have set money aside for the last four years to
do citywide paving. That's what she's talking about when she says July citywide paving start. And water and sewer comes behind her with their paving. The DOT paving is some of the contracts that you're extending now. That's on the thing. We're getting extended the time, right? Because DOT
took a longer process to approve it. Has nothing to do with she said, director Wen said in July the citywide paving starts with the contract that was already approved. Any other questions from council? Thank you for the clarity. Hearing Rainers Avenue's already started. Thank you.
Elizabeth Avenue is completed. All right. Hearing none. That was Pier. Thank Thank you, directors. We good. Uh, next item. The city is 330 30 miles of road, right? We did 150 in four years. So count on three times, but none right
now. It's just a fact. Uh, thank you, Council President. Council President, thank you. Uh, Councilman, I'm sorry. Uh, uh, directors, just in time, because I'm the one who requested them to just come and speak regarding the paving, right? This
regarding the paving or no? Yeah. Okay. Uh, and I apologize. I'm late. I had a flag raising ceremony. Um my concern director directors is when are we going to start? Because at the end of the day, every day that goes by, every week that goes by, the
window closes. I realize we have till like October, I think it is, but there's so many streets in the East Ward. I mean, I don't know my other council colleagues, but there's so many streets that need to be addressed between the water connection.
um uh that you guys did a few years ago. Uh the gas lines and the services that doing now, you can't go down several streets. It's like an obstacle course. And I why I know they're they just did my home uh last week. Uh broke my
sidewalk and did all that. But that's part of the process. But when are the paving I know director sent an email out and I'm going to get her the streets that I feel that are most need. But it's almost I'm going to say uh mo more than
four or five streets that need to be addressed especially in the east ward. I'm I'm I'm not speaking for my council colleagues. Their ward uh uh is on them. But uh you know I drive through other towns and they're paving already and here we
are in June and nothing started yet and that's my concern. Council President, Councilman Silva. So paving has started Duramis Avenue, Elizabeth Avenue. I think it's it's three things that we're dealing with. One, you know, when we finish road work,
it has to settle. We don't just come out in four months and start paving. That stuff has to settle. If not, you we'll pave and we'll have speed bumps or humps or depressions. The streets start caving in. We push people to do pavement too fast before the the the soil or those excavations have been compacted enough
for us to come out and pave. In July, next month, the citywide paving will start for engineering, right? In May 23, May 23, that paving will start. PSNG, who just worked on your block two weeks ago, that paving pipe won't start until next year. That's it needs to be
compacted. You just can't It may not start the next year. It needs the soil in the roadway needs to be compressed and compact. We just don't want to waste the money. We could tell them to go paid, but it won't benefit the city because if you'll see those depressions in the street, those bumps and those humps because it didn't compact yet. So,
we do coordinate and work with them. you see a lot of paving and everybody keeps saying, you know, we have a small window because the the plants closed, but when we when we push PSNG or water and sewer, we work with the contractors to make sure that they as long as they're going to do paving, some of those plants will
remain open, right? We don't just use one plant. Everybody don't just use asphalt. They use Welding up on Watchung or they may go up to Savola up in uh West Milford. So, it's not just one plant they use. They use three different plants. That's why you see a lot of
night work going on because they pave at night. So we again the city is 330 road miles of paving. We've averaged about 30 miles for the last five years. I think we're still on course to do that
or more. We start. We haven't let you down each year with payment. I know you're a little worried because you didn't see as much as you normally do, but some of that is because some of those roads still haven't settled yet. Thank you. I think there's another question actually from Councilman Kelly. Director, don't walk away yet. One more
question. Um, what what are considered emergencies, right? Like if we have if we have a sinkhole like we have a sinkhole on South 10th Street in the West Ward, is that considered an emergency? And where does the funds come from uh the roadways that are considered
an emergency paving? So, I don't think it's an emergency paving. If you have a cave-in, that mean engineering and water and sewer will come out and investigate that, right? Could be a possible sewer collapse. It could be a water leak or it could be a void that somebody worked there. So, if it's somebody already worked there previously, we'll reach
back out to that vendor, make them come back out and excavate the hole and put a temporary patch there. If it's an emergency because there's a water or sewer issue, we'll we'll respond to it appropriately. That doesn't mean it's going to get paid, but we'll excavate and dig up the hole. Like Councilman Silva said, he calls us sometime and
say, "Hey, it's a depression in the road. We may come out there and investigate, find out if it's water, sewer, PSNG, Verizon, or whoever." We make the appropriate uh contract or entity. Go ahead and move forward with excavating and re re uh paving that
certain area. It's not like that that investigation may not be a one-day investigation. In fact, I just have a question. How long do we have for the bond? Like say PSEG does work. Uh now there's a hole now there's a hole there.
How do we have a certain amount of months before the responsibility is not on them anymore? It's on us. No, I think it's like a two years but it but if it's a void if it's an actual void PSCG don't really give us problems with coming back actually. Okay. Councilman Kelly, I
know. You know, sometimes when we deal with the the temporary, when you say temporary patching it up, that means until the funding comes to pave the entire street or because we have a lot in the West Ward that's been temporary. I think I I expressed one to you uh in
the West a couple of weeks ago. Um and then we have one around the 16th Avenue area and also on Temp Street. So these sink holes if they're temporary patched up when will it does that uh make it so
that the entire street will finally be paved or no that doesn't mean because is it because somebody did an excavation on the street and they put a temporary patch weather permitting whether they worked in the winter and they waiting for the spring to come out and do an infrared improvement or they ready to just cut it out. Uh like you're about to
see our contract come up to the city in a minute. It'll say restoration of water and sewer cuts. Those are cuts that we had an emergency. We did a refix the main break or sewer. Now we need to come back and swear that off. Cut it out. Don't settled over time. Three, six months. We'll come back over time and
put a patch there, right? To make it as neat as possible with the current roadway condition. That doesn't mean that that street was going to get paid. That street may be being paved in 2026 or 2025. depends on who's going to pay or maybe have future work that's about to start on there that you may not be
aware of. So, there's no need for us to go ahead and pave that right away. Just keep the temporary patch because we're doing a water man replacement or a sewer main replacement or we know PSNG is about to come in and do a gas replacement within the next six to eight months. So, the temporary patches are
going to stay until you guys have finished the work that you're doing it. And you said that's how we maximize the money. In all due respect, Councilman, that's how we maximize the taxpayers money by coming out, making sure that we did all the work that we need to do in that street before we pay it. No, no, I
get that. I definitely understand about maximizing the taxpayers monies, but I still get the phone calls of of people who are not really satisfied with temporary patching up our streets, you know. So, I I I do understand that we have to have an explanation for that.
And and if I know you said that I might not know, but if my office can be made aware of that, then I can have a better conversation with the residents instead of saying, "Oh, it's just temporary." And then when we say, "It just sounds like we're not really caring or we just going to temporarily patch up our
streets." But if I can have a a better conversation with them and let them know why we're te why it's temporary, who's coming out and those things, I think that they'll understand it a little better than it just seeming like we're just giving temporary patches and we still haven't paved anything. Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you for that, Councilman. Let me just say this last thing. If you have streets where you think the temporary patch has eroded or has depression, you should just give us an email to water or engineering. will go out and revisit it. If we can straighten the patch up, we will. Yeah,
appreciate that. So, so let's let's do this, too. Let's wrap this conversation up. But, but I think and if my council colleagues are amanable to this is at our next premeating, have a a presentation or discussion just on paving alone. All right. We'll do that
just on paving. So, the July meeting, we'll have a discussion and and if the council has any questions, um, let's let's send them questions to the clerk's office to forward to them so that they will have the answer when we get when we have the actual presentation. Okay. All
right. I saw some head nods. That's good. Thank you. Don't go anywhere. Director uh engineering, I got a question. Next item. B is requesting additional time to award a contract for the construction of the bikeway program. So my question just is
why the delay? Okay. Um thank you council president for your question. Um so um just for for context u the limits of this project is u from MLK on Central Avenue down towards um Gibson Boulevard. Um this is a connector that is going to tie into
the riverfront line. Um we had challenges with utility coordination because it is a heavy corridor. Um as well as um the DOT process. So between the administrative DOT process and coordination of all the utilities um and what's necessary to make the bike link
installation um be um underway. Um that you know that that's what we faced. Um we needed a little more time for bidding to put it out to bid. Um the project is ready. Um but um you know we're we're trying to put it out to bid and then we
estimate to have a gap also um in um in the installation because the project uh started a few years back and now that we're going to build it um with the economy changing we may have a little gap. So we are um we're anticipating hopefully to stay you know to to to
bring the proc the project in uh budget. Um, when do you anticipate going out to bid on this? When I'm Can I I'm sorry. When do you anticipate going out to bid on this? Okay. So, um, the extension will allow us to go out to bid. Um, I'm
I'm have to get back to you exactly on when we're going out to bid, but I'm anticipating at the end of this month, beginning of July. All right. Thank you. Anything else? All right. Seeing none, next item. C is a bid contract for
the municipal aid 2023 Nor Various street paving project. Not even going to ask. Next item. Okay. 7R4A is authorizing the foreclosure of 25 properties. Uh question from the council.
Can we get a list of that? Yeah. uh directors I mean director uh Councilman Silva uh requested a copy of the list of all the 25 properties. So it's part of the I know it's part of the but madame clerk if we can just take
it out of the backup documentation and provide it to the council members. Appreciate it. Thank you. Absolutely. Next item. B and C are confirming bond sales questions from the council. I see uh
Ben. Uh director, if you want to come up and explain these I think we talked about these before, but good morning, council president, council members. Benjamin Guzman, acting finance director. Uh yes, these two resolutions uh to authorize the sale of bonds is through the sale of bonds through the
New Jersey Infrastructure Bank. Uh the first one is for the additional filters for the quantic water project. Uh my understanding is that it is eligible for approximately three to four million of principal forgiveness. Um and we're asking that it be you know approved at this week's meeting so that way we could
make the 2025 fiscal year budget in order to attain that principal forgiveness. And the second uh uh resolution is for the $800,000 green infrastructure. Uh and that one is eligible for 100% principal forgiveness. And we have to do these before June
30th. Correct. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Any anything from the council? Oh, thank you, Ben. You're welcome. Director, excuse me. Next item. 7R5A through R or contracts with subreients for emergency shelter and HIV
services. A is Apostles House. B is New. C is St. James. D is Newark Emergency Services for Families. E is Public Strategies. F is St.
Michaels. G is EDGE. H is Urban Renewal Corporation. I is Hassan AIDS Foundation. J is AIDS Resource Foundation. K is
Ruckers. L is Futurebridge Business Solutions. M is Beth Israel Medical Center. N is North Jersey AIDS Alliance. O is Zufall Health Center. P is public
strategies. Q is Apostle House. R is Ruckers. S is to amend the resolution at no cost extension. T is to amend and extend the grant agreement which provided grant funding for the maintenance and upkeep
of the purchased trees and shrubs at Hope Village 2. U is acceptance of grant funds and authorization of a memorandum of understanding with co-licants subreipients of the grant funds for the community crisis response partnership
project. Any questions from the council hearing? None. Next item. Seven A and B are settlements for executive session. C through F are professional
services contract. C and D is litigation matters. E and F are for special counsel. Questions? Next item. 7R8A is waving special event fees for the Junth market
sponsored by Council President Crump. Second on that. Second by Councilman Canana. Next item. B is resolution of support for the back together again fashion show sponsored by
Councilwoman Scott Roundtree. Any any questions? Anything on the matter? Councilman uh Councilwoman, excuse me, Scott Roundry. I just want to say for the record that this resolution does not um financially obligate us to anything by supporting uh the fashion show. We
know who Angela Elerby is. We do know that the 100th anniversary of Symphany Hall is coming up and I think it would be a good look for us to be a part of someone who was working with this administration before I think everyone except Louis Canana was elected. Um he's been a a fixture in the city of Newark.
Um of course he's traveled all over the world and he wants to continue to give back. So um I just wanted to make sure that that money piece was mentioned that we're not financially obligating by showing support for this resolution for the event. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Is there a second on
there? A second. Who said that? Councilman Council, I'm sorry. C is recognizing and commending resolutions and D is expressing profound sorrow and regret. All right. Anything
additional next? Uh, next item. 7R9A is a contract with the state agency to provide emergency medical services. Mr. President, how appropriate this is on the agenda. Go ahead, Councilman. Yeah. I I I just want to ask the administration because I know we we've
had some some issues over the years with, you know, response time and there was some conversation about trying to diversify the number of operators that provide EMS services for our residents. Mhm. Um, and I'm not sure if the city initiated a bid process or this is a
non-competitive contract and you know, how come we're moving away from the concept of having multiple vendors provide the service as opposed to just one I think when when the BDA comes back and then we also have University Hospital
here just so you know. All right. So next item 7R12A is a professional service contract to provide professional engineering services for the Wayne pump station upgrade. Questions from the council
hearing? None. Next item. B is to execute a revised closeout change order process and operation upgrades at the Pquanic water treatment plant. Question from the council hearing. None. Next item. C is a bid contract to provide maintenance and
repair of mechanical equipment for the water and sewer facilities. Question. Next item. Communications. Items 8A and B are new appointments to the Newark Equitable
Growth Advisory Commission. Is Mr. Harley or Mr. Sheree? That they're both here. They're both here. Yeah. We can get Mr. Halley to come up first. It team is here. Good morning, council president and memorial council. Thank you for having
me here and I'm excited uh about this nomination and and grateful and honored uh to have received it. Uh again, my name is Thai Halley. I'm a resident from what I call the best ward, the west ward. Uh, and I have various titles and
positions and involvements that I have both inside this great city of Newark and outside. I work for Ruckers University here on the North campus as the associate director of the humanities action lab. I also attend the law school uh here at Ruckers North. Um, in the
evening I'm a part-time student. In addition to that, I'm a licensed or ordained minister at the Good News by Mission Church in Jersey City. Uh, and whatever my hand finds to do, I like to be involved uh and active within my community and beyond. And one of the best titles I get to have and to hold is
the title of a servant. A servant first to uh my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A servant second to my community, my family, and the people who got me where I am today. and third, a servant to this great city of Norc in whatever capacity
or way that I can. And I see uh this uh nomination to be appointed to this commission as just another way to uphold uh and carry on the title of being a servant. And so I know that you all have the power and authority uh to confirm this
appointment. But I'm not asking you to confirm tho Harley because I'm just a man and I'm flawed and I make my own mistakes and whatnot. What I want you to confirm is uh I'm sure you all have been received my resume uh and and stand and
and affirm and approve and appoint uh my character, my integrity, uh the values I bring to the table, the experience I bring to the table, and most importantly, my love, devotion, and passion for the great city of Nor. So with that, I'm happy to answer any
questions from the council. I I will start. First of all, you didn't have to tell us you a minister. We would have figured that out with Absolutely. And secondly, I I I do know you and I've gotten to know you well and I think that you will be an asset to this commission and so I'm I'm
definitely going to sponsor it. Second. Anything any other questions from the council? Anything else? Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you, Council President, members of the council. Dwell,
Mr. Henry Hie, Mr. Hie, Hie, what that? See how you turned around and wasn't responsive to me. That's what happens in the West Ward. Lord, just want to let you know that. Help us, guys. Congrat Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations.
[Music] Now, go away quick before we start. Let it go. Don't take that comment for the West. I know I know Mr. I saw Katim. Where is he? He's over there somewhere. There he is.
Yes. Good afternoon, council president, members of council. Thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity to grace you today. My name is Katim Sherer Eel. I am a son of Norc, born and raised in the west ward and have the pleasure of living in the mighty south right now.
Um, but I am a son of all of Noric and I'm excited about this opportunity to serve my city in this capacity and support the mayor's uh goals for equitable growth in this city. I see this as an opportunity to not only be a critical friend to the mayor um and the
administration, but to also bring the experience and voice of the community into the conversation of how we develop our city. Uh, so I'm excited to serve and look forward to supporting the aims of the administration. Thank you. Anything from the council? Yeah, Mr. Chair, Council Council,
definitely delighted to have you uh as an appointment to this committee. I know you're going to bring a great wealth of knowledge, expertise uh in the vision that uh the city should have uh because it's greatly represented by a good man of your stature from the Great South
Ward. So, I'll I'll make a motion council council. Second, council second. I'm excited and it doesn't hurt that you wore a bow tie today that helps. True. This is true. Councilman Kelly, and I just want to say, you know, uh, the
great South Ward, but formerly of the Yes. the best sward, West Ward. There you go. Fair amount. We're just excited though to have you, man. We're turning into one of these days. Thank you, C. All right. Uh, quick comment, Councilwoman. Quick comment. Quick
comment. Listen, you all city brother and I'm excited even though I know you were born in the west and south. You actually when you step out to represent Newark, New Jersey, it's not about South or West. It's about the entire city and you have done that in all of your works.
Whatever you do, you invite all of the city to participate. If they don't show, that's on them. But it's not because you don't include everyone in all of your works. So, I know that you're going to represent a well along with our minister over there very well. So,
congratulations. God bless you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you. Anything else? All right. Thank you. Congratulations to you. Thank you. Next item. C is a reappointment to the Newark Equitable Growth Advisory Commission, Miss Stacy Burer.
Questions? D is an ordinance granting a 20-year tax abatement to 54 Lockwood Street Urban Renewal LLC for a project involving demolition of an existing obsolete industrial buildings, environmental site re remediation, and
redevelopment of land in the central ward. Questions from the council councilman uh Silva, I just asked the clerk to check that. That might be the east ward. I'm not sure it's a central ward. All right, I'll double check. Let's
let's double check that. Definitely. Anything else? All right, next item. E is an ordinance amending long-term tax exemptions affordable housing trust fund by expanding the guidelines for the
expenditure of the affordable housing trust funds. All right, deputy mayor's working her way. Can we get an explanation? And I know there were a lot of andors in this uh amendment. Good morning, council president, council members. Allison Lad, director of
economic and housing development. Uh the ordinance in front of you um does have um a lot of information, but the purpose of it is to allow the affordable housing trust fund to finance affordable home ownership in New
York. The current use is predominantly rental. I'm sorry. I couldn't hear that last. Sorry. Forgive me. The current use is predominantly rental and that is what the statute says. So we wanted to expand the use of it to allow for home
ownership. We know that home ownership is a critical pillar of what we are trying to do here in the city to reduce the wealth gap um as well as to provide legacy wealth for families um throughout the city. So this would be a way for us
to do so. Questions Councilman Ramos? Yeah. Approximately how much money is in the trust fund uh right now? Uh, sure. So, um, in the affordable housing trust fund, um, I believe it's approximately
$8 million at this time. And what are the other uses? I know sometimes you use it to subsidize development projects. So, on top of that, you you would allow a provision now for home ownership. Uh, yes. uh
council president to that question. Um we would like to add the ability to use the funds for home ownership opportunities. Yes. Is there a percentage of of the 8 million that you would allocate for home ownership or is
kind of open-ended? Oh, um fair question. At this time, it has not been determined. Um about the amount. Um what we would do is as we've done in the past with other solicitations, we would do something competitively and we would
seek solicitations from developers and then we would go through a competitive process and then come to council for your um review and approval. So we would use the same protocol. Um but at this time we haven't delineated it. Um I will just pause for
one moment and also say the amount in the trust fund is predominantly uh generated by the tax abatement process that we go through whereby there are payments that are made to the trust fund both by law and also under the
inclusionary zoning ordinance. Thank anything else. Thank you deputy mayor. Thank you, council president. Council members, we have two potential added starters today.
The first one, legisar number is 25-0697. It's an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to SUK Urban Renewal LLC for a project to construct a new 13story mixeduse
building with 225 residential rental units consisting of 169 market rate and 29 affordable housing units in the east ward. Anything from the council? Yeah, I'd
like to advance and adopt uh uh uh Silva Canana. Duly noted. Next item. Second added starter is item number 25-0731. It's a presettlement for
executive session. That one more time. It's a presettlement agreement for executive session. Executive session. Okay. Thanks. presentation. Uh, that concludes the agenda. That concludes President. Let's go. Speaker, uh, the BA is back. Maybe you can
answer. Oh, okay. Yeah, let's go back to that question. Council Ramos, you want to restate your question? Yeah, Eric, this is related to the EMS services. I know we've talked in the past about, you know, we there've been a lot of concerns over the years about response time.
Um, we talked about the possibility of diversifying the number of entities that provide EMS services. I know you had talked to me about possibly doing a competitive process like Yeah. Councilman Ramos Eric Pennington, business administrator. I'm not clear on
the specific question. You want to know where that's Yeah, cuz the contract before is is the same old contract to University Hospital to provide EMS services through the end of next year 26. So was this in response to a bid that went out an RFQ? Um were there other respondents that were considered?
Was was there any consideration made to have more than one provider offer EMS services? Uh no was this is not uh bid is not required for this service uh given what it provides as emergency services.
Um we are still looking at whether or not we can include other providers in the dispatch or distribution of the services right but this provide they will be the principal provider of the services. Dispatch is a little bit different. So this contract doesn't
include the responsibility for dispatch. No, we we do the the the dispatch comes into the city and then it is communicated to University Hospital. They're the they're the ones who would get the dispatches for ambulance services. We are still looking to see whether or not we can add other uh
ambulance services into that route. The the interim president of University Hospital, as I'm sure you know, is here. Some of those questions you may want to ask her. Right. I mean, it's it's the city that's procuring it. It's not really university's issue. they're they're they're glad to provide the
service, but it's it's really whether the city would want would want more than one provider or would want um uh a third party to potentially uh run the dispatch to ensure fairness in the process of where people are referred to as far as
uh hospitals in times of emergency. Certainly in the first instance the call comes into the city and then the city routes that call to the appropriate recipient um to the extent that we could have additional ambulance services involved and have them part of a
rotation that has not been decided but it's not been ruled out the city the administration the mayor and I and others are still concerned with the response time um I have reached out to the u the person whose whose name I just don't recall at the moment is going to
give a presentation today about a lack of response to uh for calls to service. There were a couple of people who overdosed and it took a long time for the ambulance to get there. There have been other more critical even uh potential heart attacks where it's taken a long time for them to get there. So,
it's a problem. I suspect that you're going to hear today that the response times are good, that they're managed and they are triaged in the order of severity. I think it's terrible. we have not gotten the kind of responses that we deserve and we need in the city. So your
question about having other ambulances be involved in this process I think is um appropriate. It's timely. It makes sense for us to look at that more fully. Um and I'm hopeful that when this presentation comes up today perhaps the presenter will be able to give you more
information about that. Part of the issue is whether or not they are prepared to share uh the routing of ambulances and whether or not they want to, you know, control that for themselves. Part of the issue is when ambulances are dispatched, for the most part, they are brought back to the
hospital from which they're dispatched. That's where hospitals make money. Then when the the patient comes into the case, they can make a determination as to whether or not they're going to keep that case or send it elsewhere. And if it's a profitable case, more often than not, they want to keep the case. There are stark laws that say that they're not
supposed to be able to do that, but it happens. And I'm happy for you to ask whatever questions of this presented today uh to get the answers that you need. No, I appreciate Erica. You have a very good understanding of my concerns and you know, you know the situation. Some years ago, I think President St.
Michael's Hospital came before us. They made a direct investment in buying ambulances to put in our rotation at no cost to the city. And the feedback that we've gotten from them is that they're never called to to do pickups because like you said before there it's to
university's advantage to pick up and bring patients back to university hospital. So it's not necessarily the best thing for for the resident of the city who's facing an emergency. But if we do have providers that want to contribute ambulances in in the
rotation, then they should be utilized because we desperately need them. You know, we get call Lou and I get calls from senior buildings all the time from managers complaining about how long it takes for an ambulance to to respond to a senior who's in crisis. So, I appreciate your efforts on this. So, no
question. I mean, with the prior president of University Hospital, we talked about having ambulances um in various wards where they would be in wards at different locations so they'd be dispatched from those wards to see if that would make more sense. that
uh I think that died with his departure. So I don't know exactly where that is now, but that's something that we need to certainly bring back up and look at. We want to make sure that the residents throughout the entire city um you know have access to ambulance services, ambulance services in the east ward now still um where they do use those
ambulances and they are helped as far as I'm can tell with the response time. So we need to do that throughout the entire city. Thank you, Councilman Canana. At one time we talked about that FBA was uh maybe housing some of those ambulances
and firehouses throughout the city because North is a 24 square mile city. Uh by the time they get from one point to the other people can't hold till they get there while they're being having a heart attack. You know where they're these are families or seniors like
Councilman Ramos indicated. So there was always somebody dropped the ball somewhere but you know it's not our side it's on the university side they dropped the ball and I want to be very clear with them you know just you know we spent a lot of money and I would tell
them how much money we spent uh in and every time an ambulance comes is not they're doing us a favor or paying for that favor. So again I think we need more response because it takes forever. I I see them go to other towns
real quick, but when it comes to Newark and everything is just to the hospital. There's other hospitals and sometimes it's they if if it's in the north ward instead of taking someone to Claramos, they take them right up to university. I
know it's a business, but you know, we we can't deal with the citizens uh business as their business. It's our business to make sure that they get treated right and and equity for everyone. Understood. All right. Thank you, Councilman.
Anything else? All right, Mr. Stewart. I was wondering why you were sitting down in the audience. I'm not used to saying that. Uh, good morning. Uh, we do have one more added star that was not mentioned.
Uh it is um the legisar number is 25810. Uh it's in reference to a settlement with Princeton Partners. It's a marketing firm. Um I'll let Director Als come up and speak to it. If it's a
settlement settlement, we're going to do it executive session. Exe we're going to do it in executive session. Why don't we just do it all in executive session? Yeah. Public comment. Public comment. We are in a 30 minute public comment portion of
this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak. Please state your name for the record. Is there anyone wishing to address the council? Hello everybody. K McDougall Seymour. Good to see y'all today. Um first of all I want to thank Councilman presouncil
President Trump for showing up. I did graduate from NORC's workforce drone program. So, um, you know, I'm officially a remote drone pilot. You know, the city's doing something great. So, we definitely need to get that out there. Um, more people doing that.
[Music] Um, I was in the community, they have some questions. I said since the community ain't going to come in here, they want to know. Uh, when is the relief coming for the community? um stimulus. They're looking for some
type of stimulus. Um the community also said they would like to see our mayor in the community a little bit more often. So get that to the administration. I'm not coming at them. This is what the people are asking for. Uh where's the money for the homelessness? I know we
got Azar here. These are just the questions. Uh where's the fresh produce for the unhoused? They need to know where this stuff is at. Get this information out to them. You see one on the street, tell them where you think the closest whatever is at. You know,
don't just ride past as if we don't see our people. Um, what is the city uh when is the city government hiring? I see they appointing people, but people are looking for jobs in city government. They want to work for the city. So,
please make sure information is going on about that. If you're if you guys are hiring or looking for people to volunteer or need people, please make sure that information is out there, too. Um, and since next year is going to be
our 360th year since our founding, I think we should find some money to do some type of celebration in our city. I know that Trump is doing a big celebration next year and this city should put some money aside to do a big celebration as
well. So, uh, fund the money. Um, I will be doing the state of the city, the state of the trenches address tomorrow. Um, I think I was nice and giving the mayor some time. I didn't want to combat his messaging and what he was putting
out there, but uh people on the streets need to be heard from, so I'm going make sure I I speak to that. Um but yeah, I'm I'm um I'm glad to be here, Silva. I heard you was dealing with some
stuff, man. My heart still goes out to you, you know. Um, as far as this street paving, that sounded not good at all. So, you've approved money and the stuff ain't done and now they talking about I got I'm have a lot to say tomorrow.
We're going to be definitely in here for a while. So, let's get ready to ride. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Seeing none. Public speaking is closed. Presentation
presentation go ahead council president council members we have a presentation and introduction of Dr. Baston the interim president and CEO of University Hospital. Uh good good afternoon. I I do uh well
good morning still. I apologize we did run a little long so and I know you have another appointment so let's I'll move right along. Thank you, council president, members of the council. Thank you for having me today. I think it's very important that
you get to know me and see my face and that we have this time together. And I am more than happy to meet with you individually. I would welcome that. I would appreciate your time. Um, and I just want to make sure that you know who I am and what I'm doing. I will be very brief since things ran over this
morning. And I would uh start by offering to come back and have an entire conversation especially on EMS since that's a seems like a huge topic sure of importance. Um not sure if this is going to come up.
Um I can speak to the slides but primarily wanted to make sure that you have some background on me. Okay. So I think I know many of you or have worked with you when I was the commissioner of health. So I came to University Hospital after being the health commissioner for
the state. Um a lot of experience in public health and serving the people across the state. That's why I went from being in a safety net hospital before to doing the public health work because it always puts the mission first. The mission before any business before any
individual entity. It does feel a bit like coming home to being in a public hospital and a safety net hospital. Getting to serve the people in a way that I know how to do as being a family physician and an addiction medicine physician. And I will just say it is a
privilege to be in Newark. I was in Camden for a long time, almost a decade before being the commissioner of health. New York is special. I don't have to tell you all that, but thank you for offering this opportunity and privilege to me to be here today and talk to you about it.
I will just tell you very briefly that my first impressions being at University Hospital, the mission of that building and that place speaks so loudly for the work that's done. Every single employee
that works there is there because they choose to be there to serve their community. It is a it is an incredibly palpable feeling when you're in that hospital that the nurses and the doctors are choosing to be there in a public hospital, not in a private entity for
the people. And it is incredible to get to do that every day. I'm going to try to keep forward momentum as an interim going. So, I want you to know that I'm not going to take my foot off the gas and that we are going to serve the people as you deserve. I think it's important that I come back at a time
that works for you to talk more about EMS. There were so many questions as commissioner of health. I was over the state office of EMS for the whole state and was monitoring how this worked. And again, I will just tell you that I will bring that mission of serving the people
over anything else during my time as president and CEO of University Hospital because that's the same mission I had as commissioner of health. It's about getting there the fastest that we possibly can. It's about saving lives. And I would invite all of you to come if you have the opportunity to come and
meet with our EMS teams and see our offices and our outposts that we have put across the city to try to reduce those response times. And from 2021 to 20 to this last year, we cut response times in half. And a lot of that is
through a partnership with St. mics, through growing our fleet, through growing our workforce and we can continue that trend. I firmly believe that we will continue that, but we need partnerships and we need to work together and I'm more than happy to talk about how to do better because when you're in an emergency, every second
feels like an eternity. I've been there as a doctor, it feels, you know, devastating to people on the ground and it's our job to serve you. So, we will do that. We are going to keep pushing out into the community and this is just to thank all of you. It is you all that
are making this successful. You have made a lot of our community efforts like our mobile mimography van, setting up those events, making those inroads, making sure we have the introductions we need to be successful and build trust with the community. If we're screening
and getting on disease early, that's one of the best things about being a public hospital is that we can be aligned with that mission of keeping people healthy. And that is really our number one goal. We of course will continue our work on primary care with that same mission and try to get out into the community and I
you just deserve an update on all of the locations as we continue to do that. So I'll work toward transparency. This one is still getting some repairs done and we can work together on that to make sure that we can get in there as soon as possible. Also want to tell you that I know we talk a lot about the master
campus plan and thank you for the listening sessions because that is informing so much about what the community is saying they need and that was handed to me that information that you gathered from the community and I wanted to present this to you because we know it can't wait. It takes a long time
to build a new hospital, a lot of planning and a lot of money but we can do a lot of this work now and are doing it today. The best example of that is that we've renovated our emergency departments and that increased capacity by 30%. And it's beautiful and it makes
the experience what people deserve when they have to be in an emergency department, which is not where everyone chooses to be, but when they're there, we want them to have the best experience and to get in fast and get the care they need. And we will continue that. So, as you hear from your community what they need, we can respond now, near and far
in that long-term view. And of course, important to say the big part of our master campus plan is holding up the promise that these temporary buildings will actually come down. The fencing is going up on July 1st. So, we have a
date. You will see fences go around these buildings. We will be there to celebrate with the community that we are taking this massive step and then we will talk about the big master campus plan that will come after that to serve our community and what we can do for them. Again, thank you. It's your
partnership that really makes this work. I know this is just an introduction, but please don't let this be the last time. I will come personally to talk with you and I again invite you all to come see especially EMS since that was a big point of discussion today. I think it
would be great for you to see the data that we have and the work that people are putting into it and from as commissioner of health some of the work that we've done from a policy to the ground perspective that I get to see happen like whole blood in the field now so we can actually start a transfusion
in the field from parame medicine that's the kind of work we can do together right here starting in Newark thank you all right thank thank you uh I don't know call you doctor president and CEO interim bastion and so many titles. Uh, any questions from the
council right now? Councilman Kelly, I know you have to go. So, I I know she has to go. I I just want to say, um, how how old are your daughters? They're seven and nine. Okay. I I asked that because um, you know, I have a young son as well, and I know that it's important
to me when I when I meet a doctor that's taking care of my son. I want to see the the passion. I want to see the care. I had to switch because of that. And I mentioned that because I actually feel the the passion from you. Um there's so many questions that I'm not going to
really have time to ask you right now, but I would love to set up a meeting with you and just have a conversation and and I know we can do that through Miss Brooke Tippens. And um I just wanted to say welcome aboard. I'm not even going to ask you the questions that I need to ask you. I'm gonna let you get to your meeting. Thank you, Councilman.
And I look forward to that. And and it's true. I believe in this from the bottom of my heart, the public health mission, the people, and as a mom. So, thank you. And let me just say this, maybe if it's amanable to you, it's because of the
schedule for the summer. Maybe it may be better for us to do and and we've done in the past, have individual meetings uh with you or collective, a couple of council members, less than a quorum. Um otherwise, it may be a while before we can get you in front of us again to be quite honest.
Uh, Councilwoman Scott Roundtree, I just want to say I don't know, Dr. Haitman, how long, madame CEO, you're going to be there. Uh, but I do want to congratulate you because we've had many, many experiences with you and your leadership. And there's no doubt that
this woman is going to do a great job as she is the interim CEO of University Hospital. Have complete confidence in you um because I know who you are. So, we'll just see how that turns out. Well, congratulations. Thank you, council. Thank you. And I will long as long as Brook tip stays
with community. You you you took my thunder. I was about to say you have a great team and Brooke is definitely one of the people who is is definitely community oriented and we appreciate her. I appreciate what you you being here and what you're going to do and the rest of your team. Thank you very much. That's what it takes. It takes a
village. Thank you all. Well, I'm sorry, council. Yeah. I just had a quick question. Um, you said the fencing will go up July 1st, but when will the buildings come in? I can just tell you exactly what's been told to me through the process. And that's what I'll pledge to do is I learn
information. I'll share it with you. So, the fencing goes up July 1st and then there's testing and they're explaining to me all the testing that has to be done of the building to make sure the community is safe. So, that when that goes down, we know exactly what's there. There's nothing toxic. There's nothing that would happen to the community. I wish I could tell you how long that was
going to take, but it depends on what they find in the testing so they can safely bring it down. Um, so we will keep that that conversation going. We'll make sure the building comes down safe. We will celebrate when it comes down and then we will celebrate as more services go back up. Yeah. If we could just get an outline about, you know, the testing,
if it's so erosion testing, the periods, time frames when it's supposed to start, then possible uh demolition of the the facility. Excellent request. We'll get that to you. I just have a question. Okay, Councilman. Yeah. 2025, was that a good year for the hospital? Did you guys
break even? Were you solvent? Did last I'm sorry, 2024. Were you solvent? Did you break even? What What was the outcome? What were the numbers? So, I can tell you as we're just closing, right, we're in a fiscal year that's similar to the state fiscal year. So,
our fiscal years that we're doing are on the same aligning July to July. So, I'm watching our finances year-over-year, and right now, you know, we've been stable. The last few years, prior to this year, we were doing a lot better, and a lot of that was state and federal
funding infusions and a lot of investment that had to do with raising Medicaid rates. Um, and so again, just a comment on how important it is to protect Medicaid and the rates for Medicaid that really close that gap so that everybody gets the best care
regardless of the insurance they have. And that's what's kept us doing well. so far. Um, and I'll let you know after we close this coming fiscal year how it ended once we're able to do that. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. All right. You want to
leave that with us, Brooke? We can put it up. We'll put it downstairs. All right. Thank you. Yes. The the colog of the council. Oh. All right. Everybody have a great day. Council uh executive session. Yep.
Roll call for exec. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right, let's go upstairs and wrap this up real quick.