[Music] good morning welcome to the pre meeting of the Newark Municipal Council on Tuesday March 4th 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 from the council hearing none next item ordinances on first reading 6fa is an ordinance ratifying and
authorizing the department of recreation cultural Affairs and Senior Services to enter into and execute a lease agreement for the purpose of providing services to nor senior citizens including but not limited to seasonal activities meals
Athletics arts and crafts and cultural activities in the central Ward any questions from the council hearing none next item public hearing second reading and final passage 6p SFA is an ordinance granting a 20-year tax abatement to PGH
and Associates urban renewal LLC for a project to construct a new five-story mixed use building with 20 residential rental units consisting of 16 market rate residential rental units four affordable housing rental units of which
one unit shall be restricted to tenants at 40% of area median income one unit shall be restricted to tenants at 60% of Ami and two units shall be restricted to tenants at 80% of Ami in the South
Ward any questions from the council hearing none next Item B is an ordinance amending and authorizing the Third Amendment of the agreement for the sale of land any questions from the Council next item
C and D are related to the office of homelessness Services C is repealing the office of homelessness from the mayor's office and D is establishing the office in the department of health and Community Wellness question from the
Council next second e is an ordinance providing for the rehabilitation of housing units managed by the New York housing authority and other related expenses in and for the city and appropriating $6 million questions from the
Council next item f is an ordinance amending the green infrastructure for the sewer system project and other related expenses and appropriating $800,000 questions from the Council next item G is an ordinance amending traffic
by designating 7th Avenue West and Second Street as a multi-way stop sign intersection in the central Ward questions next item res res Solutions 7r1 A and B or temporary emergency Appropriations A is for Safe Streets and
Roads and B is for get covert New Jersey questions from the council hearing none next item C is to provide a resolution of support for urban dispensary LLC to operate a cannabis consumption Lounge
questions next item 7r2 A and B or private sale Redevelopment a is to provide new construction of a two dwelling to sell at market rate in the South Ward questions from the council councilman Council 7
okay y uh also I want to go back to uh 7 r2b as well I couldn't hear I couldn't hear you what you say uh I want to go back to 7R 2B I wanted to uh defer 7 r2b okay what about 2A 2A is
good it's good 7 r2a Council as a whole or would you like to sponsor councilman Council I second sponsored by councilman Council second by Council
Gonzalez we were supposed to have the Builder come here to so we can ask some questions of the Builder Deputy Mayor is the developer here uh good morning uh council members
uh Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh this developer has been here in the past but what I will do is ask him to come tomorrow okay all right thank thank you you're welcome uh 72b I'm sorry that was that
was a motion to defer by councilman councel that was one second by councilman gazale second I think that was and the first 2A is just uh as a whole I think yeah second 7 R2 I'm sorry I'm doing your job
now go ahead 7r2 C and D are both introducing budgets for improvement districts C is the 2025 annual budget for bloomfi Avenue Lower Broadway business improvement district and D is 202 annual budget for the Mount Prospect
Avenue neighborhood improvement district Management Corporation any questions from the council this I'm glad that we are seeing these budgets in in March and not October or November that's right so I would ask uh I think you already know
what's coming up Deputy Mayor you know the other budgets for the other said council president council members Allison lad director of Economic and housing development uh yes these are the first two that have been able to be presented to the municipal Council um I
do know we have a third that is going through the review and should be here um within the next um meeting um and that one would be the Ironbound um bid so we have reviewed that one and that should you should see that um in March and the
others I will check on those um and the reason for that is is in light of some of the other um work that's being led by our business administrator for the tourism board and for the downtown district um I think those at a minimum
need more review yeah I I understand thank you councilman Gonzalez are those going to be combined into one budget um at this time council president I would have to yield to the ba Mr
ba councilman Gonzalez had a question good morning Eric Pennington business administrator I understand councilman Gonzalez you have a question about whether or not the uh convention Bureau budget and the ndd budget are going to be be combined
combined um no they will not be combined more likely than not the indd D will remain as an entity but the and so it will have a budget but that budget will be managed by The Entity that the norc
alliance will oversee the uh convention Bureau budget will be uh assumed essentially by norc Alliance because they will cease to exist okay thank you you're welcome thank you Mr you're welcome e is execute a community
benefits agreement as a condition of receiving tax credit incentives under the Aspire program towards the construction of 25 story miuse highrise Tower with 333 residential units 20% of
which shall be affordable in the central Ward and a public hearing will be held tomorrow at the council meeting uh M uh uh Deputy Mayor if you can come up and just explain the community benefits
provide us with the details uh yes uh council president council members Ellison Le director of economic Housing Development uh this project is the 930 mcarter project that is um as I know you've seen it it's under construction it actually has topped off um and that's
an exciting um part of this project uh the reason why you're seeing the community benefits agreement at this time is because about two years ago the council approved the tax incentive along with the RAB for the project and so that allowed the project to start
construction thereafter it applied for Aspire funding through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and um as part of the Eda Aspire program a community benefits agreement is required as you may remember from previous
presentations on this um when we have previously um done a a tax incentive um we have separated out the community benefits agreement going forward you'll see them together and you'll be able to see that when the tax abatement
Committee of the council uh reviews the projects going forward um specifically to your question uh council president uh this project is looking to have uh three main Community benefits uh the first is
$150,000 worth of movie tickets to the clex movie theater the second is is to install Landscaping that was not anticipated around the building and this value is approximately 450,000 and the third is a summer kids
movies theaters that will be two days a week um in the months of July and August both in 2025 and 2026 um all in the total valuation is approximately
$650,000 um and uh in closing I'd say that um with regard to the percentage as it relates to the total development cost it is in the middle of what we've seen for the other cbas I can give you the range um bear with me one second um I
believe it's Point 07 per to 1.15% have been the ranges um for the others that have been approved happy to take any additional questions so oh I'm sorry council president one last thing the attorneys for the developer are
present uh CC Lasser um is present in Chambers so I did want you to know that as well councilman Gonzalez yes in terms in terms of the benefit I thought that the benefit had to be something that was lasting yes tickets for tickets for the
movies doesn't seem to me like a benefit that that is going to last pass let's say one function of the the movies I I I believe that should require that the benefit be one that that lasts
something that will benefit the future residents of the city not just the current residents of the city can can I want I also add to that if if I may councilman my question and concern is
what are the basic or the floor for for uh um these Community benefits because it seem to be so diff different and varying in what they are depending on I guess the the what the developer wants to do um is
there a set criteria or Baseline that you work from to determine what the other than I guess the percentage maybe what would be the um what would cons constitute a community benefit and are do you use
discussions in the uh Community meetings to make that determination uh so thanks council president um and council member Gonzalez for their questions so um we are following the state statute for the Aspire program um
that is managed Again by The Economic Development Administration um per the law the amount is up to 5% but there is no floor um my understanding in looking at other cities is that there are some
cities that actually don't require Community benefits but that was a special Exception by the state legislature in order for that to make um possible so here in Newark all projects are required to have Community benefits agreements and so um that's the first
piece is that we are following the state law we have been reviewed by both our outside Council and our financial advisors the financial advisers have included a financial memo uh for the project as they have for the other projects
um the second question that was asked was is um how are the benefits determined um the benefits are determined through a set of negotiations no different than how the um Administration works on other projects and so it's not a different protocol
it's the same which is is there's a discussion between the developer the community and the city representatives and then we would determine what those benefits are um and with that of course that does come to um the municipal
Council for your consideration um and we hold the public hearing just just to be clear so I make sure I understood it's a state statute does the state statute requ require Community benefits agreement yes the state St outside of the exception that
you mentioned every other city or municipality in the state has to uh if they if their developers applying for Aspire credits must have a community benefits agreement yes per the state law um and then especially in nework all
projects that are submitting for Aspire funding and receives tax credit authorization not all receive it and not all accept it they are required to have a community benefits agreement um all Community benefits also for um your
awareness is and also for the Public's awareness are also reviewed and approved by the New Jersey Ada prior to them us bringing them to this municipal Council thank you councilwoman got round Tre thank you again I think I had asked this question thank you council president uh
Deputy M lad so uh for the duration and I think this was a conversation uh that we had once before when you came before us that the community is involved um so the community as recommendations are taken to these individuals and then you all sit together and determine what
those benefits are going to be my question is um in certain projects I probably would be concerned about whether for two years the community said they wanted free movie tickets um and Landscaping should be a requirement if it's their property are they just doing
the whole area as a community benefit of anyone that needs Landscaping so I'm just trying to ask you that one qu two questions the community at some point said they wanted movie tickets uh for two years and the duration of this project of course is and the tax credits
to go beyond that and the Landscaping piece and I'm just talking about this specific project are they doing the whole neighborhood are they just doing their property which should be required anyway uh so council president the council member round to's question uh
first neither property in which the um developer is improving is owned by the developer they are both adjacent properties one is owned by the city and the other is um being improved by the Army Corps of Engineers again this is right on the riverfront of the pic River
um and so they are not um owned by the develop ER to your point council member Round Tree yes if it was an improvement that was required through site plan approval that would not be a community benefit this is in addition to what they're already doing for the site plan
approval um second uh regarding how the benefits are determined um it really is uh between the city and the developer and we do of course take into account the community's input I do recall there was a community meeting I think at the
fall of last year um and so I I would just say that again there it's by law it's between the developer and the um um in the city Representatives anything else from the council councilman uh Kelly thank you
Council press I really don't want to be a dead horse but when you talk about $150,000 going to a movie theater for movie tickets for two years um I guess roughly what that's there 333 un right
in the in the property uh yes I believe that's the number talking about maybe like 22 tickets of I just don't is that the best like we could do with 150 Grand and where is it going is it like what theater is it going to our theater in
nework is it yes cityx it's just confusing to me like $150,000 they seem like we can do something else for the community for 150,000 then than the movie tickets um so again I'll I'll just share
that um the it's 8,823 tickets if you divide the amount by $17 which is for an adult uh so that's just the number of tickets that would be provided um and um I understand
the council's position um but I am letting you know what was agreed upon by the administration and the developer Gonzalez where the tickets are going to be used uh sure the owner is the same as the developer so he he's transferring
$150,000 from one pocket to the other my God Jesus they are two different assets so I would just caution everyone to think about it as they're owned by different entities the primary might be the same but they are two different real estate
assets and so um just to be aware it is not as if that is the same um direct ownership for all parties councilwoman Scott Roger I I just for the record want to say that I think it's great um to expose our
community to being able to go to the movies free um or at no cost but when you say community benefit um sitting in a movie theater is entertainment um and yes some children and some
families might not be able to go but when I hear benefit I'm thinking about how is it going to benefit the residents that actually live in that area from this development that these I mean I have nothing against them investing in
their own development and it just doesn't make a lot of sense I'm trying to make it make sense that they're not only spending $150,000 which is going back into the enview which you just stated and how does it benefit I I'm I really want for
the record to say this one thing when we say benefit and we have to vote on these abundances and resolutions that the community is watching us and they're looking for us to speak when maybe what they said was not even acknowledged at
some point and I know we cannot satisfy everybody and we can't do everything everybody wants us to do but when you say community benefit I'm looking for something for children in education I'm looking for something for children with housing I'm looking for something with mothers that are going through I'm looking for somebody to invest in
programming um that when I hear benefit long term not just going to the movies for two years that's good not not saying there's nothing wrong with that is a benefit but benefiting the community it's not health insurance it's
not clothing for the prom it's not I just just maybe need some help with trying to understand how we determine what a benefit for the community is council president I'd be happy to provide the law and it's just following the law so the laws they can do whatever they want and if the
community so if there was so if there was a a community meeting with 150 people and 75 of those people 100 of those people said this is what we would like because we live here this is coming here then it still ends up being the administration and the developer to
determine what they're going to do yes council president I'd be happy to provide the law that is what the administration um actually complied with we do have legal council that provided the um legal opinion and such that this um agreement does comply with the state
statute so I will say this Deputy Mayor please provide that information and based upon what we've heard today and the information that we receive I think the council should build their conscience yeah Mr President uh Council yeah I know I I I walked in a little bit late so I miss
some of the conversation um but but I do uh agree with some of the dialogue regarding um what seems to be like a difference depending on the project and what the city is able to negotiate as far as a
community benefit agreement I know here we have aspired tax credits they have to follow um kind of the state guidelines uh the the one thing I will say about this particular developer is that in other groundbreakings that I've attended
they they do make a significant investment in like an apprenticeship program um which in the past has been headed by Bill o day and a lot of norc residents are able to get access uh to jobs on the construction
side so just you know something I want to put on the record I know that that doesn't necessarily translate into the benefit agreement but it is definitely something that benefits residents in our community thank you council member thank
you Council Ramos anything else from the council uh thank you Deputy Mayor thank you next item 7 R5 AMV or application acceptance of Grant funds A is for the New Jersey State navigator for 2425
Grant year and B is to provide medical care Supportive Services and education on Sickle Cell any questions from the council hearing none next item 7R 6A is a request to be deferred 7 r6b is a
pre-litigation settlement for a discussion executive session all right 7 r8a is ceremonial Street designation for Mario Garcia sponsored by councilman canana there a
second I'll second it 8B is recognizing commending resolution Solutions in HC is expressing profound sorrow and regret any questions any addition next next item
Communications 8 a through D are municipal court judge reappointments a is Judge Neves B is judge nakama C is Judge SS King and D is Judge harvis any questions from the council
Harry n next item next items e through P are all reappointments to the commission on the status of women e is mish herd D Miss [Music] Jones I'm sorry e is Miss herd f is Miss
Jones G is Reverend Baker H is miss aapan I miss Finas J Miss Johnson K Miss ham and L Miss Johnson Diaz my my
apologies M Miss Morton N Miss Kenall o Miss Mes and P Miss Haram any questions from the council hearing none next item Q is a reappointment to the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Board Karina Perera question next item public comment oh that's it all right we are now in the 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have 3 minutes to speak please state your name
for the record and address the council is there anyone wishing to [Music] speak good morning uh George Tillman Jr morning I I provided to the municipal Council um if you can just follow me I
provided to you uh Oprah request that I submitted I also submitted to you the ordinance 6 pf- C and I I went to page two deliberately so you can see on page two
where it discusses the obligations the contractor and the vendor the semiannual reports all of the things the new residents everything in this first portion of this uh ordinance is also
what is in the first portion of my Oprah request so the language that I used was the same language that came from the ordinance and if you see the date June 17 2015 my request went in July 1st
2015 one month after this ordinance was written up to October uh 9th 2024 10 years of information that I requested from the administration with
the hiring of New York residents all of this information was supposed to be with this office of affirmative action the city clerk Economic Development nework works and it came back no response no
records found um again uh council president I'm asking you based off all this information I keep bringing to this m Municipal Council to have a special hearing or special conference to address the state of affirmative action the
state of his nework resident employment policy and the um compliancy of our Municipal law the affirmative action review Council who is uh responsible for
uh the monitoring compliance these same reports these quarterly reports these semiannual reports are the reports that we go to these affirmative action review Council to see these reports yet the last two times that I've gone to these meetings no
reports were ever discussed no reports were presented so I'm asking you to bring the office of affirmative action newor works Economic Development the city clerk's office everyone that has to do with the implementation of this newor
resident employment policy thank you thank you for your comments next speaker maner buman uh Grand rising noras and uh good
ridd new miss leadership class uh I just want to uh respond on some things uh that I see floating around on the internet and so to to the Baraka to Ras
Baraka nobody's buying the Democratic propaganda that you spru around here about Trump nobody's buying that anymore nobody's buying the Democratic
proper propanda that you're spewing about Trump you might as well just knock it off and you talked about a tyrant he's a tyrant so did you look yourself in the
mirror since you've been in office the Democratic party is doomed most of you are absolute failure corrupt and the reason why we are living in
these conditions and Trump was right you are driving your communities in the ground just look around it's under your Administration it's under your party you won't talk about what Trump
did for garden spers when he had his uh Lynn Patton uh Miss Senator Beck who's a Republican he also gave aund housing vouchers he also gave aund what million
dollars to the water last service line replacement you ain't talking about none of that huh but he's a tyrant everything this baraca Administration done to address the crisis uh was met with
protests from newk Advocates about our conditions homelessness we protest Nationwide and you sprung and and you stood up and did something we protest to contaminate the
water then you sprung up and all money fell from the sky including the money Trump gave we protest about the crime we protest about the poor Ser services in the filthy streets that's still
filthy democratics but but you want to go around here and uh talk about the Tyrant huh anything illegal you support anything anybody that just like
we said you need to do a federal investigation over code enforcement and get a monitored and look boom more corruption thank you for your comments next speaker seeing none
closed anything from the council before we go into the presentation anything from the administration Mr ba good morning council president council members Eric Pennington business administrator there is an adage I think
everybody adopts that if lies are left unchallenged they become the truth in the minds of people and comments came from the public today about the city of newor receiving a hundred million for its leadline replacement I think the reference was that it came from Donald
Trump that not only is an unmitigated lie with no basis in fact and I challenge anybody to present any document any uh literature that supports that statement the lead line replacement program here in the city of norc which
replaced 23,000 lead service lines in three years during the pandemic mic when it was said it would take between 10 and 15 years was led by mayor Raz J Baraka there was no cost to the residents of the city of newor for those leadline
Replacements this Council introduced legislation that allowed that to go forward we're extraordinarily proud of what took place that program did lead to Federal funding for other municipalities for other uh cities and other states around the country none of that money
came to the great city of Newark despite that the residents of this city did not have to come out of their pocket with one dime to pay for that leadline replacement there's an adage in the law that says false in one false in all and that means that if somebody stands up
here and says a lie on one thing they're probably lying about everything else they say particularly when it comes forward with zero facts with zero literature with zero information to support what is said anybody can make up something off the top of their head and say this is what happened a million
people were killed yesterday leadline replacement got $100 million with no support at all so you can listen to what people say and figure out in your own minds people listening on TV residents in the chamber here and figure out if
you should believe one word that comes out of one's lying mouth and if you do that is up to you but I am telling you you look at the data you look at the literature you look at the Federal regist and see whether or not there was $1 that
came from the federal government to help the citizens of Newark pay for the lead service lines that were replaced by mayor Baraka I have nothing further to say thank you very much Mr
ba with that M clerk was going to the presentation well a presentation by the department of engineering and Municipal Courts [Music] good morning uh kenat store city of North
Corporation Council so uh uh as a result of the council making a request uh we put together a comprehensive report that was sent over on Friday I do recognize that I think one or two of the council people didn't get it till yesterday and I apologize I don't know what happened
with the email um the report and it also had an attached presentation as well um we we do have uh representatives from of course the Court's uh UCC code um the prosecutor's
office and of course uh the engineering department which is over coding UCC um I also think I also think it's important to note that um some of the regular properties that have come up at the council uh that have led to court cases
uh myself on the law side um of of course uh senthia from people's assembly and of course uh the engineering department we meet on a bi-weekly basis to track a number of those cases uh recognizing that there are separate issues that are going on which range
from elevators and leaks and things of that nature um some of which we actually two weeks ago we had uh one of the orders from the court was that we had to be at the location with their lawyers and their uh Specialists and our
specialist in reference to the elevators I believe that was one of the properties on Chancellor Avenue and there has to be a followup because they didn't have all the materials necessary um I do recognize that uh for purposes of the presentation itself uh that was sent over um I don't know if council
president wants uh to give the council members an opportunity to ask the questions so that we can just address the specific issues because I know there was a uh the comprehensive report and the uh presentation was all sent prior let me say this I
so I mean we've had presentations in the past so if it's the pleasure of the council I think we have questions that we can just ask would that be acceptable okay you yeah it's up to you Mr chair I would be I mean I feel we can
just go right into the questions sure for me like I said if if you know we have all representatives from all the above so we can address it specific to the um to to the department and we address it thank you if if you do have I I will say this
if there's a a short opening statement of something that that the director may want to make if not then we'll go right into questions okay good morning council president council members hi um I'm here uh as you
know to represent the department of engineering and a collaboration with the Department of Courts and um City uh courts and uh corporate Council um we uh are thankful for the um focus that you're putting into our department and
the uh divisions that enforce the municipal code and the code of construction um we're here uh to discuss some of the uh uh things that we've we've implemented as as as well as um items that we do still need to work on
on our divisions um we have uh many challenges in the past that have lingered uh for years and we are doing some um you know work to uh troubleshoot of some sort in in and
Implement um both uh policy and um action out um and you know when we go to um inspect and the inspection units so we're we're here to uh address your concerns we're here to go over some of the things that we've done and we're
here to collaborate with you um as to how we can better our division in this case uh UCC um and how we can work together to make it a success uh to bring accountability across the city and uh put out the message that the city of
Newark is going to uh be Stern when it comes to working UND documented um in the fields of construction uh renovation a home or big building or um a small structure we still have to do it by the
law keeping um our citizens safe um and um we're here uh with uh um director kavako uh Chief Washington and uh Mr George pone from the UCC um to respond to your questions thank you so much for
having us thank you director questions from the council Council Melly good evening director how are you good good uh my question is for is the court who is the courtly aison right out of the the courtly and I
do apologize Felipe was going to be here he is home with the flu unfortunately um the core leason for the UCC his name is pH Filipe carvalo um he's been working uh on this assignment since September of 2022 when we recognized that we needed
presence in the uh Court uh from for to be to represent the UCC cases a little more um you know sternly and and and uh organized so that will be Filipe carvalo and he works from the UCC I mean I I I
wish I hope he gets well soon I would have loved to just ask him some questions I I think the the problem that I'm facing with a lot of my residents in the west and I'm sure around the rest of the city um is the court case is getting dismissed and thrown out and I know
that's a a judge matter or a legal matter but I guess what I'm asking is before it gets to the judge to get thrown out how what processes are we doing to do our due diligence when it comes to making sure that the right inspector's name is on there or ID
number is not one number off and making it seem like it's another Court inspector you know because a lot of our cases get out get thrown out for these small technicalities and then the issue still persists right so we go through sending the officer over there finding
them and then by the time it gets to court gets thrown out and then we still have no you know we're not abating the issue really so and and I believe even in the statistics it said that we had like
72 Active cases but 73 was thrown out I mean it was maybe maybe it was a typo or something but yes so so the way that the cork is thank you m Council M Kelly for your question I do some have some some numbers to share with you and um the way
the core goes it either they get Theos or or dismiss and I I do have um you know director kako here to assist me for that part of the question um but I can share with you that in 2023 at the end of 22 when we first started um we brought in a total of 90 cases and by
January of 23 out of those 90 cases we deposed 10 and thism eight out of the 90 cases some of them moved on um to continue being pursued in court um in 2024 we had uh 100 39 um and we depos 61 and this Miss
seven um so it's a moving Target when it comes to court because the we generate more and the numbers are going to change as you go um but at this point uh you know the the post and dismissed um are going to look larger percentage wise
because that's we have more cases in court we're bringing them more in um there are some things that we're doing uh for the dismiss and um you know the challenge that we've been sharing not only with UCC but other code enforcement agencies is um the how quickly the
ownership changes so what we implemented toward the end of last year is collaborating with director ad Deem Team with the water department to utilize um their water records um which uh reflect a little bit more of ownership when it
comes to the properties um and we will continue on a cycle on a monthly cycle getting that database to continue serving because one of the issues that the judges have is you know uh to to corroborate that it the proper owner was served that's one of our biggest issues
right now uh but again uh we're already working on the solution with the water department records and my last question and I'll let the rest of the council so I've witnessed this in my ward if there's a a property that's being
illegal bill and we notice we we send our team over there because they're illegal building let's say they're adding an addition um to the home and we notice we find out that adding an addition we send our offices over
there but the the home still still winds winds up being built and it's and it's still there so how how do we deal with situations how are we dealing with situations like that from UCC and and let me just clarify again so there's a home there's an
addition added to another floor and we send our offices over there they put in court but then the house still goes up with the addition That was supposed to be illegal like how do we deal with that we don't tear it down right like how do
we make it you know be up to uh cold okay so so typically our um in in the UCC and and I have uh Mr pone that you know can assist me to to the technical part of it um typically we go out and if we do find evidence of undocumented
construction uh we place a start work order and we post the property and we stop all construction activity um then we bring it to court and um for DCA rules we have to get them to be compliance with pulling out a permit so
that the work they're trying to perform is reviewed by the sub codes in the city so that if they do continue with the construction it is evaluated by the construction officials to make sure that it's doing under the law um we bring
them in um they seek their permit and then we continue to legalize what they're doing out there that's what it it typically happen and and I have um George if you want to elaborate yeah I would love to hear his elaboration because when we say it's
illegal we have the code come out there it's illegal how is the structure still there later and and occupied by residents once we said it was illegal oh yeah my name is George pin I mean good morning council members
council president George buron UCC assistant construction official Fire subcode official in answer to your question is once we find out there's undocumented work no matter what it is uh we'll go out there we visit the site
we find out what's going on now to they have we will issue a violation with a stop work order and then they have a compliance date that they'll come either come through with uh they'll have to come through with architectural drawings or
all permits by submitted by uh licensed contractors will all have to be submitted and this will all be done as per UCC nothing less nothing more I see once they follow once they come into compliance the building is now being
built according to code it will be safe and they could do what they want there is that that will not they still may have to answer to the violation they still may have to pay a fine if they don't come uh if they do it if it takes them longer than the compliance they'
set forth on the violation we're still following you still have to follow UCC regulations and that's what we have to do we are State regulated can I jump in it I'm sorry question so if it's not built to uccc
regulations and it's occupied what is the next step that if they do occupy if they do occupy it's occupied yes they do if they do occupy the area conversion the area where the work was being done will have to be vacated it'll be an unsaved structure it
could be considered an imminent hazard in which case the uh the occupants whether it's the owner whether it's uh renters they will have to be relocated uh on the on the cost of the ownership and has that happened recently
we've had it happen on quite a few occasions on a few occasions yes and we did issue we did Issue violations we have people relocated uh and we did we handled it accordingly okay thank you councilwoman Scott round Tre
yes thank you council president so two things while we're talking about UCC and illegal conversions um we have residents that live in areas with the SE illegal conversions are going on that have been long-standing residents and and I'll
probably send you a followup on the emails because this one individual and I can probably say it for the record Howard e has sent a numerous amount of emails and he doesn't have a problem with me saying this on record in reference to a house being built next to
him that and I know after certain certain houses being built they don't have to notify they don't have to put up um certain things that's that's what they're they're saying I went down to UCC they said that they didn't have permits so now they have them so nothing can be done but that doesn't do anything
for the resident that somebody's been doing something illegal uh prior to I know there's a source of finding these individuals for doing that but after they finded and and that's my my question is there is a process for finding them for illegal conversions is that correct yeah there is we if we
issue a violation there can be I'm sorry there can be a monetary fine yes now if they they come down and do the paperwork do they get a pass and don't pay the fine because now they've gone on and filed the proper paperwork it
depends upon the length of the compliance if they do not comply by say we give them a twoe uh compliance date if they do not come in within that two weeks yes they can be fined and we will follow up on but you can also dismiss you also Abate fines yes we can I know
and we also negotiate the amounts on these fines don't we there's a on that we have to be logical and sense you know we have to work with Common Sense on a lot of these uh fines or violations some of the fines of violations if they accumulate they're for hundreds of thousands of dollars but
I'll address something a little bit differently but you got to look at it also is like some of the fines in house or the site may be worth a third of the violations the way we look at it is we get we we will make probably still issue
a monitor fine but it won't be to the length and breadth of the accumulated fine you don't you rather not have people walk away then they should do what they're supposed to do so that leave leave the place vacant and you lose the ratables you lose you lose the taxes if we work
you know some like as I said you gota be we have to be logical we have to work with common sense so we can get these people in there and still have taxes being collected on a yearly basis as opposed to having something that will be vacant and your city's collecting no taxes
let's not talk about taxes because that's another department and I'm sure they can give us a report on people not even paying taxes on stuff they're building yet because and that's a whole another conversation so we don't want about to talk about taxes we want to talk about the revenue that we lose and
how we negotiate because people are not in compliance and then we sit back and say oh well they didn't do what they were supposed to do they supposed to give us 150 but we only going to charge them 2,000 so the city's using Revenue which now leads us to after not be able to pay the people they go do the work which leads us to now have a
conversation about how outside people to do the job because we're not collecting Revenue that's entitled to us if the developers do what they're supposed to do and we understand that there are some situations where there might be some issues and some problems and some funding but at the end of the day we
have to hold these people accountable to come into our city whether it's a one family two family or 25 story building to do what they're supposed to do because at the end of the day we end up carrying the brunt of the burden cannot pay people and we say well we're going
to negotiate because it makes sense because we understand and we don't want you to walk away okay that that's the first question while I'm let me let you do the UCC then I'll move on okay all right there's a bit of disconnecting there where the funds are supposed to uh
end up in the idea behind the monetary fines of a violation is as per UCC state regulations is to bring about compliance right all funds generated through UCC is supposed to remain in UCC it doesn't go
into the C it's not supposed to go to the general fund it's used to run you the UCC department and the funds where we have an egregious misuse of funds is to be not uh properly
staffed and that's where we are now so here again which is why I'm saying I'm not talking about City funds I'm not talking about taxes I'm not talking about any of that I'm talking about the department that brings in that funding and I'm I'm going to just stop right there but I know where the money stays I
know where it goes and while we're having conversations you want to answer you want to come Mr CC okay so recognizing that I I can see the direction as some of this uh dialogue is going I probably think that um as far as
the funds as far as this uh opinion on if we're understaffed or not I'm sure the ba can sit down with the director in reference to addressing that issue yes sir I don't think that's something should be hashed out here because we won't be able to address it here thank
you so much um all I was asking was about the fins what are we doing how we're negotiating in UCC and how that for all the other stuff I didn't ask about and that's what I'm saying it should be a part of this conversation um the next thing is and I
going to gather that this is um since we have the courts here and since the director is here um this is really not about UCC and I'm going to continue to say it on record while I have you all here is how we Abate problems I understand fines are paid director um
and right both of you have good good morning I understand that fines are paid based on um how landlords do what they do once they have own property um The Corporation Council helped me find out some information this morning but the
information was not to my satisfaction because so we give somebody a $2,000 fine and the people are still living in squalor because the person did not fix the problem and we dismissed it in court so we dismiss just help me understand the process for the
record someone goes to court a landlord they have a bunch of violations we find them and then it's dismissed I mean is that the process good morning Council good morning SC Round Tree uh Jessica kavako
director for municipal court so just a little point of clarification if there is a fine assess they go to court a fine is assess that is considered a guilty plea right so that is not considered a dismissal that that's considered a resolution so then the next question is
for director um after they pay the fine how do we go back and address the ri problem that was never taken care of for the past it's like say if it's say I'm dealing with a constituent for nine months and every three months there's something new and this constituent just
called me last week and said they went to court and it was dismissed and sent me pictures of the problem still existing in the property so some of this stuff doesn't get to you guys but it sure follows us on the third floor me just to clarify Council woman the
question that you have is what happens after after pay a fine and the property still hasn't been properly evad evaded absolutely I'm GNA say this real quick it it to to to me it almost seems like it's it's better to ask uh forgiveness
than permission um in this realm don't get me start but go ahead good morning again thank you Council Tree appreciate your question um so so one of the fishes that we find is the going back and reinspected so um that's something that
we're working on in the future because as we have schedules to go to initial inspections or to go check a complaint and and we activating we go out there we bring them to court um after the dismissal um we're working on ways to send them them back right to your point
because if we don't have eyes on it and bring them back and say show the judge this is what transpired we went back again and the issue remains so that's something that um you know part of part of the things that we want to correct um is having a cycle of
reinspection um the issue that we have that we talked about before um is our staff right so we're trying to find more um uh inspectors uh to have them not just in the loop of going out to inspect on a scheduled regular basis but we want
to have some what do you call loaders to say you know what this just came from Court this was just take a look again for the record we're talking about code enforcement inspectors no I'm talking about the UCC UCC inspectors yes ma'am so those are two different things right
council president UCC and code enforcement UCC so I wasn't talking about the UCC inspectors I was just talking about the situation with the court in the process so does the court notify because the code enforcement officer long is in court so they're
aware that this process of what the process is when the owner is or is not there so is it not the code enforcement officer that's there I'm just asking um once they find out that this fine has been paid to go back and see because
paying a fine doesn't mean the problem was fixed so like when you say we determine when we're going back right then the code enforcement is aware shouldn't it not be I'm just asking they don't schedule right then to do a reinspection
well it it when it's a code enforcement case uh we have a little more flexibility because we have more officers so we can send them right away we could even have um somebody go while the court case is active um with UCC it's a little more trivial uh because we
have less staff um so we we work with um the abatement and if you know the courts uh do dismiss it um that's where we have the gap right we have to kind of be a little more proactive to say why was dismissed and even if it was dismissed for whatever reason we have to send
somebody out there so in the near future we're working because we're we're trying to staff we're trying to bring more people to the UCC um we will have um the availability of staff to go out there to follow up because to your point if you don't keep going back and keep going back and they just pay the fines it's
just going to continue this way and it's not going to be corrected I just don't think they think we're serious after they pay fine but we're good I got the process and and to be honest with you like we have to air on the side of the constituency and work with the administration to make sure our
constituents okay so it's got to be some balance there and right now it's like this because the constituents are calling us and sending us pictures which I forwarded this time to kinata because it was a I mean Corporation Council because it was a legal matter and when
people come and they can't get out their back door because garbage is up to the top and the people come and pay a fine but they still can't get out their back door that is something that seems kind of emerging to me because that could lead to a fire when there's a a building over on Camden Street it's had four
Fires at 123 Camden 123 right next to the church four four they've been over there they boarded it up and we got to figure out a way to fix some of this stuff because some of it is actually being bought on you know we just need to just fix it and address it so I'm going to send you that address as well because
they've been trying for the longest to get this building down it's a little bitty raggedy Shack that people keep going in next to the church the church is worried about being burnt down because three three to four fires have already taken place there so these are just things that that really trouble us
or me for sure because I can only talk about what comes to me but I know that we all get complaints and so I just want and pray that our process becomes just a little bit tighter because we surely got a whole lot of Code Enforcement Officers I don't know about UCC and I know that
you're working on that but we just just need to be a little bit more focused on these people that are paying fines and then they still not doing what they need to and it's not the LLC boys because everybody want to say it's them we got some private homeowners that don't live here that are doing this to
our residence so thank you very much director thank you council president thank you counc counc uh Council I was gonna say councilman Council but go to council M Gonzalez first mic is off it's mostly for the court it say
normally when a case is heard in court the the judge usually requires that the violation had been updated before H the the fine is imposed normally before the
judge disposes of the case someone has to tell the judge that the ER the efficiency or the the whatever was wrong had been evaded is that the case
no good morning councilman Gonzalez thank you for the question again Jessica kavako Municipal Court director um so to answer your question it it can be twofold U I think with code enforcement you see a little bit more of abatement um with UCC I think their focus is on
compliance so if we're going through the process of compliance and they've met a point where they deem at their discretion is good enough within the process um that recommendation would come from that office then to the prosecutor okay so
they say on the UCC Side ER let's say a batement is not as important as it is on the code enforcement side or or or is vice versa not necessarily not not for a I don't want to say that it is not important because it is important I
think when they're viewing their case load they want to make sure that compliance is also a part of that so if they've gotten further in the compliance um realm of what their steps need to be uh they can make that recommendation to the judge that's the problem thank you
that's the problem thank you councilman Council yeah thanks uh you know council president want to uh you know thank everybody for for putting this together I don't want to conflate the difference between code Code Enforcement responsibilities and why we're here today specifically for UCC unified
construction code that does have a responsibility of securing revenue for this city as you know Mr pder uh you know so put it that it's his Not His function to raise money for this city and that uh that money that is raised
doesn't go to the general fund but it goes back to UCC and if we have a small amount of employees here then if we're raising Millions which should be billions of dollars then we should have a functioning uh and work in UCC
department and I had an opportunity to look over you know some of the information here on on page one you talked about wave fees like so what was the total fees waved who approves these fees and what projects were they that were waved this
this is for UCC not the courts I'll come back with the court to talk about the the uh miscommunication with the courts and would the fees a wave are the are the the the council aware of the fees that are waved uh by by any of
these individuals um good morning councilman councel um thank you for your question I just want to clarify um before I move on to to the fees um uh uh comment and concern um for for can you tell me how
the total fees that were waved I I want to know the total fees that were waved so so this sample that you have in front of you in 2023 1.6 million of fees were collect were were waved and I just want to and then in
2024 2.7 I just want to clarify that this includes um over calculation one point no no you said 1.3 1.6 in 2023 and 2.7 in 2024 and if you add both of those together how how much money is that that
was waved on behalf of the city that could have went into to the uh coford of the city it 3.7 yet I do have to clarify the way the the the fees are calculated raised on volume but it's not a final
calculation until the project moves forward to compliance so it has to be recalculated and there is a um like almost a balance sheet in each project um at the end of the day if something you know a permit was a million dollars and after the whole calculation and the
buildout is completed if it came out to 700 instead we have to reimburse the 300 so it's it's it's it's it's not necessarily Revenue when it comes to these fees is how much the devel when you're waving fees you are waving Revenue there there is revenue that
attached to fees that were wave th those those fees are a cost that are supposed to be paid by an entity to secure a permit to do a specific project correct they estimate yes there they a cost ES estimate to the cost volume so let's say
our cost estimate was 4.3 million in the last two years of fees that we weigh right that would equate to the amount of dollars that could have been uh held by the by by the city of nework that that's correct um not exactly um correct so so
if your number was 3.3 mine is 4.3 there's still a number there's a number correct correct and and and that's the point there's a number in that number right that number is not hundreds of thousands of dollars that number is is
millions correct yes based on the volume of construction okay so on on page two you talked about the UCC violations that was collected right but the chart that you gave me it only shows the total collected
fines I asked for the the total open violations versus the information that was collected what what we had there and and how we moved in that amount do do we noted the total um I do or does does Mr pedone
does he know that number I we we do have the numbers councilman um can we have that number yes give me a moment and again this is before um we negotiate per DCA ruling um do you want
2023 24 or 25 we can go from 2023 I mean because if we looked at from 22 all the way up into current we we left almost a billion dollars on the table in collecting uh fines or fees I believe this year we
only collected $100,000 and fines and penalties and uh in a document that you showed and we were kind of excited about that but I wasn't because it shows the disconnect that we have with the courts in order to Abate many of these things
and as Mr stated that he is responsible for negotiating deals how is he responsible for negotiating deals if there was someone that is fined uh and some of these fines are $500 to ,000 a day that individuals
don't pay they get to court and the fine now ends up to be 20,000 or 15,000 and someone is negotiating a fee down to $2,000 or $1,500 because they believe it's in the best interest of the project when the
person that is completing the project already showed their disrespect by working without permits so let me just jump in really quick I think it's important to note that when you say the courts or negotiation we're talking about two different world we we
separated them because be because I'm talking about on this side that you're talking about right now this this doesn't come to this doesn't come to the municipal no that doesn't go to the municipal cour this doesn't involve the municipal those are SE those are separate things
Corporation Council so I want make sure the council was clear there is one that Mr pedone specifically said on record that he negotiates for the benefit of the project right he specifically said that that he negotiates this for this for the benefit of the project I'm not
sure why he's the only person negotiating things for the benefit of the project and the business administrator is not involved when there could be a possible developer that owes us 20 or $30,000 for failure to follow the work procedures or the construction
procedures and then there is something that is negotiated that may not be in the best interest of the city now how many of those deals have been negotiated currently do we have a number
again what was said before it wasn't for the interest of the project you we take it as a whole when the violations when we come up with a number I get the information from inspectors from the subcodes we sit down we talk about it if
there was a hard a case for compliance if there was disrespect to the inspectors that's all taken into account it does it's not just for the benefit of the project again in the monies that you're talking about the idea again is
behind the fines is to bring about compliance State regulation state that it's not meant to be a revenue generating uh fee for your job to generate revenue for the city I I just want you to say yes or no
is it your job to generate revenue for the city yes or no for you for councilman I understand what you're saying basically he he's already answered that question I'm clear I'm clear you're coming up but he he answered that question I see the cross-examination already what I'm
saying to you is I recognize I recognize that what he said earlier was is not his job to generate money for the city however he also said that the money that comes through this process is supposed to benefit this department which needs more Staffing so as a result the
department is part of the city correct I'm 100% clear and so collecting the revenue for the city helps the benefit the city even if it helps to strengthen the department and you feel like it doesn't if if part or parcel of it does not go to the general fund it still helps to develop and build an equitable
UCC Department in the city so even if we sign all violations and all are responsible to collect them it is it 1 million or one billion in open violations because we had some documentations at one point that we had that I believe that's an important question for my Council colleagues
because it can change what happens with the city tremendously if we have people negotiating over the fact that they owed us a million dollars or close to a billion and if we have not gone back to look at many of these violations which we have not because I can give you 188
Shear Avenue 12-8 Randolph uh and numerous of of of addresses that we have not gone back and examined that have been illegally converted with with no resolve even you spoke about 130 Chancellor Avenue that still does not
have an oper elevator but every day based on the law every day that these individuals stay in violation there is a dollar amount attached to that violation and Mr pedone indicated that he
negotiates that so what I will say is this um I'll make the recommendation to the council right now that I'm sure the engineering department will work with the Ba's office to address this process that's being used of negotiation
and make sure that uh the folks that are involved in it uh do a assessment and explain to us why they go left and I'm sure we will have some recommendations on how we make this process better I will say I don't think it's a laughing matter at all and people behind you are
laughing yes so I I'm I'm really really really really feel disrespected at that right now I mean I there's no chuckle there's no nothing this is something very serious that we feel with the city and as an issue and and and to sit back there and laugh and smirk is to me is a
is a is a problem is is a big problem council president let me let me councilman Council finish this yeah so currently our construction official is who Tony
Napal and our building sub code person is who Bruno Silva okay okay fire sub code person myself and you're the fire sub code person yes I am but you're also filling in and doing the work that Mr Napa Left Behind is that correct right
I'm the assistant construction right so how can you efficiently run the department when you're reviewing all of the plans having meetings and doing all of these different things and negotiating dollars on behalf of the city doing the best I can and I'm doing
everything according to the the code to regulations as per UCC uh my apologies to council president the laughter back there had nothing to do with was going on but I um we're
addressing everything as per code as per UCC regulations as we are as everybody knows we're State licensed so why aren't fines being collected fins are being collected I was in touch with DCA this morning about the
amount of fines that can be uh is there a percentage involved that we could that we're supposed to take out of a certain number he said no there's 0% everything is worked out according to compliance uh there can be can be abated
they can be fined I I love the fact that you keep using the word that everything can be worked out as per compliance who works that out we see that we the compliance is made if they come who who works out what that what that assessment
looks like if someone owed 10,000 who do they come to negot to negotiate or talk about what should it be 2,500 who works that out again uh again is that you that would be me with so you're responsible so are you
responsible for ensuring that the city gets the maximum amount of Revenue that's possible or trying to negotiate what you believe is possible for a developer who is already determined that they're going to do work without permits
anyway is that correct we is that correct I I make a decision it's not decision on my own I get the input from the the subcode whatever related subcode it is and whatever related uh inspector
it is whatever discipline it is uh we come up with a decision and at that point we feel we give a a fair and just violation after the assessment is it fair and just based on on the city's need and I see the ba ba getting up is
it fair and just on the city's need or is it fair and just on what you believe the need is yeah I'm G to step in because it is turning into U an intense cross-examination I think the council is certainly entitled to question um all the questions that you've asked entitled to ask ask those
questions but there does come a point at which the uh IND individuals U need not be attacked I'm not saying anybody's doing an attack I did not see what was going on behind me with the laughter so I'm going to ask
the council president later to let me know what that was about and we'll address that but I would like to ask that if the council could put together at this point uh your questions in writing yes and we will respond to those questions I will make sure that they are responded to I think one of the
principal areas of inquiry from councilman Council is uh how do we determine what the fines are what is this negotiation process and even if the uh UCC is restricted by state law as to how much it can collect
what it does collect goes to the benefit of the city uh because as Mr pone said um those monies are supposed to go back to the department to run the department as I think councilman Council said clearly the department is part of the city
Council uh corporate Council just said something I didn't quite follow but he can he can uh address that himself if he likes but I'm going to ask that the council put together follow-up questions we will address those and to the extent you want folks to come back we will yeah
uh Mr B I I agree I was going to suggest that I think we should all uh submit questions to the uh uh Madame Clerk and she can provide a comprehensive list of of all those questions um um because I I think at the end of
the day we we need to get more information and I also would suggest that we invite them back to the next special conference uh once these questions are provided and then we can have a full and maybe more robust conversation councilman uh Ramos first
yeah um thank you Mr President I just want to say Mr ba I think you sense kind of like the frustration absolutely um it's it's just not with UCC but code enforcement and this is based on things that we see in our respective Wards uh
throughout the city feedback we get from residents and homeowners you know there's almost like a perception that there's a freefor all when it comes to illegally converting properties doing construction in evenings and on weekends
um what happens once a violation is issued you know the the mystery of what happens in North Municipal Court why are some cases dismissed I think these are all things that through your leadership um hopefully we can get a better
understanding of how the process flows and and some years ago I made a suggestion that maybe you need to create some kind of portal or ticketing system so that we can see in real time like what happens once a violation is issued um you know a lot of times our response
to a resident or homeowner is look you know uh I've been told a few times especially in the historic district where we do have um violators that consistently convert properties illegally that they would be they would
be required to revert back to the original state of that property and I could drive by three or four different addresses years later and that never happened so those are things that I really believe through again your leadership you know the the administration needs to get a better
handle not just on the UC c c side but also code enforcement just so that we better understand in terms of what happens and this shouldn't be arbitrary meaning like you know it's dangerous when you have the ability to wave fines
and and summonses and fees connected to construction and it creates a sense of unfairness like why should I pay and Miss rry doesn't pay you know so there there should be a a concrete reason why
certain fees associated with UCC May be waved so let let's do this in the interest of time because we've been here for a while and a lot of council members have already spoken um I I I agree with your suggestion uh Mr ba that we should
provide you qu questions in writing council members let's all submit questions to uh Madame clerk let's CC all of us on those questions so we're all aware of those questions so that we don't duplicate and let's submit that as soon as possible additionally I believe
we need to have or or invite uh everyone to come back at the next special meeting to to uh fully discuss this matter give us time to digest what we receive um uh and then
provide a robust and full dialogue I love that word excuse me for laughing too so go ahead and then we're going to wrap this up that's fine when we have when we do come back I'm going to see if we can invite someone from DCA as well because I think that would be important
they do have some oversight over UCC and perhaps if they will come and Avail themselves to this intens and cross-examination we'll get a little more information as to what restrictions uh UCC has I do want to say too that Mr pedone actually has in my view has done
a very good job in trying to rein things in we still have not been able to get Tony nagpaul out of the system with the state as the uh construction official we've been working on that for over a year I'm not fully clear as to why that hasn't happened yet but I'm told that
it's in the state's hands as the why it's not there and that will give Mr pone more of an opportunity to control a system and that may not be what some folks want that is what I want at this point he has stepped up when we needed somebody to step up uh with respect to oversight I work with the engineering
director to make sure that there is appropriate oversight with respect to your question about having a portal that's available so that you could see what's going on on the uh appointment side where the inspectors uh and subco officials are making appointments that portal is close to being uh available
for you to see on the um I guess on the side where you're talking about follow following up on compliance um that is not as far along as I'd like to be but we can focus on that as well and hopefully some of those things we can address when they come back as well all right than thank thank you Mr ba at this
point I think we're we're done with this discussion or finished with the discussion so let's go into uh motion for executive session thank you yes yes yes
yes SC yes yes and it's a quick quick quick e e