Oh, I think we don't have this one. >> Good afternoon. >> Welcome to the budget hearing of the Newark Municipal Council on Friday, September 12th. >> Afternoon, everybody.
>> All right. All right. Madam clerk, >> council president, council members, the first department will be the department of administration headed by business administrator Pennington. >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor. I don't know if I like this seat. I can't even see you
because >> madam clerk's in there. Okay, I'll have to step to the side. All right. [Laughter] All [Music] right. Well, good afternoon, council president, council members. Do you want
me to start? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Eric Pennington, business administrator for the city of Newark, along with the director of the office of management and budget, Darlene Tate, uh, who is my sword in my shield and will protect me
at all cost by by having all the answers that we need to address your concerns. >> All right. >> But if I may, I'll just read into the record a letter that you already have from uh from my office. Uh, Dear Council President Crump and members of the
municipal council, I'm pleased to submit to you Mayor Baraka's recommended 2025 budget for the city of Newark. The office of the business administrator provides long-term budgetary guidance and daily operational directives to the departments in conformance with the mayor's strategic vision. The business administrator is responsible for
managing the city of Norc's $970 million plus operational budget, over 3,800 employees, and oversight of a city of over 300 311,000 residents. The 2025 recommended budget will keep the city on a path of prudent fiscal management
while at the same time meeting the service delivery obligations to our residents and supporting Mayor Baraka's commitment to moving Newark forward by reimagining public safety, empowering residents, creating affordable housing, achieving equitable growth through employment and jobs, growing the city
through economic development, engaging collabor collaborating with residents, hope villages for residents without addresses, hiring of the largest firefighter class of 70, which was the prior year, continuous hiring of police officers, and opening of the Metro 9th precinct downtown.
>> In developing the 2025 budget for the city, the administration had to overcome a number of challenges, which included supply chain issues, uh, that drove up the cost of goods and services, inflation, as well as a higher county levy, uh, which will require a $1.1 million redu reduction across all
administrative divisions. Although it has improved, our local economy is still recovering from COVID and the American Rescue Plan Act funding is no longer available, even though we have the right to spend ARPA funding through the end of 2026,
which we will do. Um, but all that has required the city to overcome a reduction in general revenue of approximately $45 million. In addition, the city experienced increases in his health insurance costs. Notwithstanding these fiscal pressures, after adjusting for anticipated state and federal
funding, the total 2025 recommended general fund budget of $970 million is approximately $56 million more than the 2024 adopted budget of 1900 $914 million. Because of the loss of the special state
and federal funding and the increased cost of the county levy of approximately $30 million due to the loss of readables, the city has had to request from the state alone to reduce the overall increase in the tax rate. The 2025 general fund budget contains a
property tax increase of $73512 from 3.803 to 4.016 016 per $100 of assessed value over 2024 on the average residential assessment. The initiatives in 2025 general fund budget contributing to this
increase are summarized below. That's an increase for pension costs of 15 million increase for health benefits of $4.2 million which is extraordinary uh when compared to uh other agencies the state health plan and the private
sector. Debt service is 10.4 4 million increase of the Essis County tax levy by about $30 million increase in workers compensation of $1.3 million. This budget keeps the city fiscally sound as it continues to rebound from CO and provide the resources required for our
city departments to deliver quality services to Newark residents. I look forward to participating along with other city departments in the municipal council budget hearings. And I want to thank our office of management and budget, director tape, for assisting and
enabling us to provide the information to the council for its review. And I'm here to take questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Ba. Questions from the council. Councilman council. >> Yes. Uh BA, first of all, thank you for
uh extending the uh explanation and information as it relates to uh this 2025 budget. But if again and and I don't know want to take you full range or through the whole conversational piece uh but just for the folks that may be viewing uh there has been a lot of of
conversation around this issue over the 22 million and the 30 million um that I think should be uh explained out to our uh residents or those who may be viewing and watching uh to have discussion around that and how uh those dollars as
it relates to transitional aid uh will be fundamentally used to to help to reduce uh some of the the the uh burden on what it could have been uh as it relates to uh the taxes and assessed value over the property. Uh to lay that
out so that they can have a fair and just understanding of the movement of that uh and and where we go from there based on uh the office of management budget and from your perspective as a min business administrator of the city of Newark. Certain certainly u council
president to councilman council's question I think it's a great question um and I'm happy to address it I think it requires a little bit of background discussion every municipality in the state is required to revalue its
properties at least once every 10 years uh by statute we haven't done so we didn't do so for over 13 years now but we are in the process of revaluing once we re valuation is done. Essentially, the assessed value of the property is
equal to the market value of the property. Uh so there's a one for one ratio between the assessed value and the uh tax value of the property. That assessed value is what determines how
much we pay uh to the county uh to the school board. Uh okay. Oh, I'm sorry. um you know and what the city's obligations are.
We are at about 50% right now of our assessed value to actual value. Because of that, we have a reduced ratio which causes the city relative to other municipalities in the county to have to
pay an increased amount of money. Last year that was about $22 million. were able to get a zerointer interest loan from the state. U you may have seen a letter that came out from Senator Ta indicating that it was a gift and that is not the case. Uh it's a loan that we
had, excuse me, had budgeted for uh to pay back when it was due. We have been able to renegotiate that already in connection with this most recentou with the state that we have where the payments don't have to start until 2027
in this uh for that the payback of the $22 million at 0% interest over a fiveyear period. Now it's going to be it'll be a six-year period. We also have a $30 million loan from the state at 0% interest uh which is due in 180 days. Um
our office of management and budget and finance with our uh financial consultants have already started putting together a plan to make sure that we can repay that and we expect that we will be able to do so um without adversely
impacting the residents uh more than they have been. So those are loans which the city has to pay back. I think one other important note, uh, Councilman Council correctly pointed out that it came through transitional aid funding, but we are not under transitional aid.
We receive transitional aid already. This is a there's a transitional aid fund that we were able to get a loan from, but we do not subject ourselves to transitional aid oversight. At the same time, we do have to make ourselves
available to answer questions to the state. They had that right whether they gave us the loan or not, but this just codifies it in anou and we will cooperate that with them to make sure that we maintain our fiscally prudent approach to running the city of Newark.
Uh what this has done in terms of real dollars is rather than have homeowners have to pay an increased average assessment of $1,100 or $1,500, um we've been able to reduce that to
less than $700 or less than $800 per average family, which is a lot, but it's much more manageable than if it were double or triple that amount. And quite frankly, without this loan and without taking other steps to slash the budget, that's where our residents would be. And
we don't want our residents to have to be the ones who bear the burden of this increase on their backs alone. We do expect that the revaluation will be concluded. I was hoping by the end of 2026, but it's more likely 2027, the first quarter of 2027. So the 2027
budget will see that 1:1 ratio in the valuation will be closer to 100% um at the end the reval. In fact, it has to be. That's what the purpose of the reval is. It'll be at 100%. And the tax burden will be spread much
more equitably across all residences, but more importantly across commercial and industrial properties as well, including new warehouses, new buildings that are being built, and new businesses that are coming into the city. Thank you, Mr. B. >> You're welcome.
>> Uh, Councilman Gonzalez. >> Yes. Mine is a comment more than a question. Uh, in reviewing the binders, I noticed that some uh some departments are not uh
sending the information in the same way that that is prescribed I believe by you uh Mr. VA and uh it makes it more difficult for us to review the information if it is not presented in a standard uh form. I believe that we you
should encourage and force people to do the presentation in the standard form and not in narrative form that is kind of very difficult to to review and understand. >> Council Gonzalez absolutely understand.
Um you know there's no point making excuses. I agree. This should follow the standard format and data is data. You don't need to explain the data. The data is what it is and you should be able to ask questions based on the data, not through somebody else's explanation of what they anticipate you think the
answer should be. So, I agree with you 100%. Um, I pushed quite hard to make sure that they got the information to you based on our conversations and so didn't have as much time as I would have liked to have it uh redone. uh we will address that going forward and I
anticipate that uh that will not be the case in the future. >> Thank you, >> Mr. President. >> Councilman Ramos. >> Yeah. Uh Mr. Ba, I just have a few questions about your budget. I know you gave an explanation regarding the um the loan that the city received from the
state for the two years. Um, and just to be clear, the the reason why the city needs that money is that, you know, the equalization rate has has dropped because of our delays in the revaluation process. >> That's right. >> So, your expectation is that once the
revaluation process is complete, the city will be in a financial position to um hopefully not be uh in necessity of this loan from the state of New Jersey. >> That is correct. >> Okay. And 100% of the money that's been
borrowed for these two years went for the sole purpose of having to pay the gap that was caused by the delays in the revaluation process. >> Not only is that correct, that's mandated by our agreement with the state. >> Okay. So, none of that money went to cover additional expenses on the city
side beyond the uh the equalization issue that that was created by the delays in the rebal. >> Well, I I'll qual that the answer is yes. Short answer is yes, but I'll qualify it in this sense. It to the extent that there is any adjustment, we
would certainly use it to for operational purposes uh the way we see fit. But that eventuality does not appear to be likely and so all of it will go as directed by the state because of this increase in money that has to go
to the county due to the equalization issue. So yes. >> Yeah. As far as your your presentation, you know, I want to thank you for, you know, breaking it up in a way where where it's really simple for us to understand. You you have a number of divisions that are part of the office as a business administrator. You know, each
division has a distinct purpose, you know, personnel, office services. I I did notice that you do have a significant number of vacancies that have been detailed in your department. um because of the financial position that the city is in right now, do you
anticipate going into 2026 because really, you know, even if we wanted to make a thousand changes in in in this year's budget, the reality is that it would not take effect probably until the next budget year. Um, so from your
perspective, are you anticipating the possibility of zeroing out some of these vacancies in order to um better position the city with its budget going into 26? >> And and fair question, Council Ramos, we
intend to look at every one of the positions that haven't been filled to see whether or not we can zero them out. In all honesty, to the extent we can, I want to keep them on the books if we can. Uh because there are certain particularly um revenue generating
departments where we need to uh actually backfill and add some additional people. We have may have to move some of the headcount around in order to do that. So we'll look at it carefully with an eye toward, you know, looking at it from a zerobased budgeting standpoint essentially and that will take into
account what you're talking about. But the uh actual likelihood that we'll reduce all these to zero was probably no. Uh I will tell you now we need to add more fire inspectors, more UCCC sub code people. We need to have more code enforcement personnel. Obviously we we
we do not want to reduce the number of people that go into public safety in terms of police and fire. Uh so to the extent that we can utilize those positions to backfill and increase the headcount where they don't have those
resources, we'll do so. Um and we intend not to fill positions where we don't have to fill them. Uh even if we have a budget for them, we're going to be prudent and make sure that we don't abuse that uh the hount that we have. >> Yeah. and and and I do agree with with
you that um there are some departments that um or functions that it would not make sense for us to have to zero out. You know, I I I I bring up the example and I I talk about this a lot at the council meeting. We have a very large number of uh vendor licenses that the
city issues on a yearly basis. You know, food trucks, um entities such as those. And uh we we don't have as much enforcement out there as we used to have. So So you have uh food trucks that are illegally operating in the evenings
on weekends create a lot of quality of life issues and concerns and you know I'm hopeful that as you move on to the next budget period that that's something that you could look at. you know, it it could be a situation where you have to add additional personnel maybe or partner with another division in order
to assist assist us in the enforcement. Um, but but it beyond it providing just revenue for the city. It's a very important uh service that we need to provide to ensure that if there is a food truck out there at 10:00 at night uh on Bloomfield Avenue that that truck
has been inspected, it's authorized to do what it's doing and it's not creating an unhealthy situation beyond it being potentially a nuisance uh in our neighborhoods. Um, the last question I have and I'll stop is one of your
bureaus or divisions is the Office of Violence Prevention and um, does the city receive any funding through grants to offset the amount of money that's been budgeted through your department? I know the city probably has to show that
it's a division within the the one of the departments, the staff and everything else that's uh attributed to that particular division amounts to x amount of money that the city budgets. But I've seen in other instances where there's grant money that comes in that
offsets the amount that the city needs in order to run that particular division. >> Yes, Councilman. Again, the um the division does receive grants. The most the one that comes most of mind is VOCA grants we receive uh which are applied
essentially word by word which help offset some of the costs for the office of violence prevention. They have been charged with going out themselves uh to identify grants uh state local and other philanthropic grants. They work with our
philanthropic philanthropic grant liaison Kevin Callahan to find funds for special projects and other things. We expect to do so going forward uh as much as possible. So the short answer is yes. We could go into more. If I could go back to your earlier question about the
vendors a little bit. It's okay. Uh because that issue actually came up in our director's meeting today in an ancillary way. Um because we're the mayor has directed the law department to um look at modifying the ordinance for vendor licensing to make sure that the
vendors who have a yearly license don't have to um re reapply every time they go to an event. But what we will do is have um additional support staff to be on site to do on-site inspections for fire
and health for these vendors to make sure that they are in compliance. Uh so I think your your directive uh essentially a suggestion that we have more compliance and oversight to have people who are looking at these vendors at night we agree with we intend to
modify the ordinance to make it easier for the for the vendors to operate and for the city to make sure that they're operating in a safe way. >> Thank you Mr. VA. Appreciate your presentation. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Councilman Gonzalez. Now I have some specific
very specific questions. Uh if we go to to the division of uh office services uh line 1037 it was 36,500. Now we have $69,730. Double the amount. That's the that's the
minimum amount that is budgeted that is uh set by um ordinance for that position. And so that number should reflect what the ordinance requires that that chief clerk be paid. That's the minimum number for that chief clerk position.
>> So 36,500 was a portion of the year last year. >> You know, I don't >> I know that the position was just filled recently. So that was a half a year number essentially. >> Okay. The same I believe is true with the office administrative secretary office
service manager >> that went from $31,340 to 67,000 and change. >> Yeah. Again that uh the same explanation essentially for the other one is a recent hire, not a full year hire.
>> Let's go then to the office of communications. >> I'm sorry. >> Communications. >> Communications. Got it. >> In that office, you have a budget showing some titles for you. When you go to the
to the narrative of the titles, the titles do not match what the budget says. [Music] Okay, >> one example would be uh deputy municipal department head
and that's Miss Crystal Rosa. And then on the other side says Crystal Rosa, communications director. >> Can I can I just before we get into that, even though you have names in your booklet to the extent that we could just
work off of titles, I'd appreciate >> No. Okay. Is it I just want to point out to you that say the description that we have >> does not match what the budget says. >> Well, I think that is a function of uh
the practice here in our city government where there are civil service titles or other titles and we have a functional title as well and it's really a functional title. It may not match exactly with the statuto. >> It happens in our office. It's like our chief of staff is not really exactly our chief of
>> staff. It happens in our offices. But I believe it's a matter of making it the same. So that >> we we'll we'll certainly make work to make sure that they match even though the functional title is the one we really go by. >> Let's go to the office of violence
prevention. I suppose the position A 0333 emergency response specialist OBP it was 38,600 and now is 85,000.
>> I'm sorry. What what line was it? >> Uh it would be the line the fifth the fourth line on the >> Oh, actually I got it. Got it. Emergency response specialist. Right. >> 80333.
>> Right. And it's propos the pro proposed amount is 85,000. >> What was that? >> You said the the the one with the proposed amount is going from 386 to 85 >> to 85,000. >> And that is going from a partial year to
a full year. >> I I hope it it does. >> I hope so, too. Yeah. >> Uh then we go down to program coordinator. It was $190,10.
And now the same three employees $240,845. Yeah, it should be the max on that looks like it should be 225,000. So unless that has is there any longevity and there's longevity factor in there. So it's 225 would be the
>> max $50,000 increase. >> Yes. >> The same is true for manager program operations that went three employees to from 181500 to 324.
That's $160,000 increase. >> This is manager manager program operations. er manager of program operations. Yes. >> Yes. >> And the social work specialist.
>> Okay. We we'll get you the detail on that. >> Yeah. The social work specialist went from 135 650 to 240 650 650. >> All right. We will we'll provide you with the detail and get it to everybody as well. >> It could be as simple as last year you had let's say someone for a partial
partial portion of the year. So let me see if we continue the on that program. Uh let's say travel services line 71130 you went from 20,000 to 50,000.
I thought that the city was trying to reduce expenditures. >> We are trying to reduce expenditures. uh where where appropriate. This happens to be one of the entities that uh works around the country with other entities
uh where we get information and we give information back and forth. And in this particular case, it wouldn't be prudent to reduce that. It makes sense if we're going to carry out the mandate of this particular office uh to increase that. And in with respect to the overall
budget, it's a you know, it's a relatively modest. >> I would like I would like to to see the actual for this year, for the nine months or for the eight months up to August 31st. >> We can do that. >> The same is true for meals.
It went from 10,000 to $26,000. Is that 71140? All right. >> We'll provide the actuals. >> Yeah. And social services, it went from a h 100,000 to $200,000. >> Okay. Get that data. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome.
>> All right. Councilman Council. >> Yeah. uh BA you had uh spoke earlier about uh essential and non-essential um observations towards moving forward or the the uh the work environment. And
so the the take is will it be a more focused look to ensure that the hiring practices will be more on essential personnel as we try to level this thing off and not non-essential to make sure that we are still hiring our complement
of fire police or areas where we have to increase revenue services right UCC or code >> that's correct that that's 110% correct and I think perhaps one One of the other areas to council Ramos's point is, you
know, compliance. Making sure that we ensure that people are compliant with the rules and regulations, statutes and ordinances here in the city of Newark as well, but otherwise, yes, it's a on an essential basis and and not just on a it's on a not on a wants basis, a needs
basis. >> Yeah. and and and some of your other areas. I I really don't really, you know, don't try to hone in on on the salary component, but just on the basis of knowing uh at what what point do we
go over or scale it out, right? Is there a point? So there there may be a range. That range says this person is from 50 to 91, but then there's the person who makes 120 and we went over that range. But from your perspective that range has
to be justified, submitted or given for approval. Correct. >> Yes. Yes. Cman. Every uh personnel request is reviewed by the personnel committee um of which I'm a part and we have a policy if an individual is being
promoted for example they are promoted into a title uh the salary range. they go to the first step of that salary range unless that first step is less than 10% more than the current uh position that they're in and then they
can go up to 10% more otherwise you go to the bottom of the range where it sound like you said that we have a range where we've exceeded we we never exceed the range if there is a um it could be ana an occurrence where somebody's working out of title and so they would
either be paid a change of rate or there might be a special executive order, but the range would have to be adjusted. Otherwise, we would not um typically allow someone to be paid outside of the rate. >> Yeah, I'll I'll forward the information.
And then at the Councilman Gonzalez's point in in the majority or there are some very critical areas where uh it it seems a lot like some of the travel and especially the food expenditures are
just ridiculously you know high in this area. Uh and and I know we have to uh be able to find a feasible way to cut back on it. I don't know where we are and and and in and certain spendings I know we we'll probably send that but you know up to date where wherever we are uh and
where we need to be for the remainder of the year if it is you know um I believe it's urgent for us but it's urgent for you to take a look at that and be able to say okay at at this point we're going to cut this off until we get to December
or the or the new year. >> Yes. I want to um you know I work very hard not to mislead the counselor or anybody else to my own detriment and with the office of violence prevention they do lots of inservice training for
their own staff and but mostly for individuals uh on the block and one of the things they do to incentivize attendance is to provide food and that's one of the things uh why they might have a food budget where otherwise we wouldn't have it. We don't provide food
at other funks like our director's meeting. There's no food at a director's meeting. There's no food at uh you know affirmative action committee meeting. There's no food at uh a tax abatement committee meeting. None. It's not allowed. It is not permitted. Uh for individuals who don't work for the city,
these young folks, we have made some exceptions. Um but to your point, I will be more mindful of that and make sure that uh OVP does it where it's absolutely essential without without losing sight of what the
objective is and making sure that we get these people into these workshops to cut down on violence. But to your point, we'll we'll scrutinize that. >> Yeah. Yeah. I I see it from the the the administrative standpoint and and I I don't disagree with you in some of those areas, but I I just think it's about
forecasting and and making sure that the departments understand, you know, what the budgeting thing look like, right? So, if I'm asking for 30,000 or 100,000 in feeding and here I am in almost the third week of September, uh and I've
only spent 10,000 or 15,000. Absolutely. Right. And now I'm I'm I'm sitting here uh you know with these remaining dollars that could be utilized in other areas to facilitate other things or to help in other resource generation for the residents in this community. I think that's critical. >> Yeah. No, Council Councilman. No, no
question. I miss I probably misunderstood your your comment, your question, your statement. So yes, your point is absolutely 100% right on on target. >> All right. Thank you. Uh last question, Councilman Kelly.
Thank you, Council Press. Uh, great day, BA. How you doing? >> I'm well, thank you. My >> my question is, um, with the office sustainability, >> um, I see that that there's, um, two
tree procurement contracts that we have for the tree planting and and maintenance and landscaping. My question is in the West W, we have a lot of uh tree stumps that haven't been dealt with yet. And I just wanted to know out of
these contracts for maintenance from these companies, these tree services, what has been allocated to or has any been allocated to deal with the tree stumps that my office gets a lot of complaints about in the West Ward? and
and I know we in a budget crunch, but will some of those tree stumps be dealt with out of this budget? >> Yes, that's the shorter answer is yes, absolutely. That is the the purpose or um you know the the outside services
that we have retained and we're trying to do more in-house. We don't have to do tree stumps. We don't really have the um resources to do it in-house because of the person power. Um, so we do it outsourced. We have cut back
substantially on pruning and cutting down trees, particularly if they're live trees and somebody wants to taken down just because they don't like its look or its location. Uh, so there really is more, you know, we can reallocate more resources to tree sums and I'll take
that certainly under consideration and discuss that with the office of sustainability. >> Yeah. Uh I I know that we had a moratorum on not cutting any trees down unless it was a dire need and I definitely understand that. But after we've cut the trees now we have a
problem with the stumps. >> Yes sir. You >> know and I don't want the city to get you know any lawsuits or anything from tripping over or just the the stumps becoming a safety factor. So and I know that we're utilizing a third party. So,
does the the sustainability office have a list or can my office provide a list to the sustainability office of of the stumps from the complaints that we get that we believe that we need to address immediately? >> Uh, yes, Councilman. They have a
prioritized list and uh they will be happy to accept your list as well and factor that into the prioritization. >> Thank you so much. >> I'm sorry, one question, another one from uh Councilman Silva. >> Sure. >> Uh yes. Uh good morning be good afternoon. Good morning. Um just a quick
um comment. You said something uh earlier about the uh tax increase. Um and I'm going to say something. Um you said $800. Uh for some of the seniors that I'm just specifically talking about the East W. For some of the seniors that
live in the East Ward, $800 is not a drop in a bucket. uh with the cost of electricity today, with the cost of groceries, with the cost of just everyday living, um uh it's become very difficult and I want to make sure that
if we're going to increase uh taxes like we are, that we're providing a service as well, better service than we've been providing, whether it's DPW, whether it's better services in this building, whether it's uh public safety, whatever
it is, because I know what I'm going to be asked at the next community meeting that I have or when I'm approached on the street is what am I getting for that tax increase? So, uh to many it might not be a lot of money, but I think to a lot of people that $800
is a lot of money. And so, um again, I think we just have to uh show our residents that we're increasing their taxes. Yes. But they're again getting uh better quality services, better services, and I know things go up. We
know salaries go up and everything costs money every year. But uh in fairness to say $800 is not a lot of money. It is for especially for our seniors. So I just want to emphasize that and I'm only speaking again about my residents and my seniors in the east ward.
>> Absolutely. to that that ordinarily probably wouldn't require a response, but nobody over here said that $800 wasn't a lot of money. In fact, this chair said that $800 is significant. But we worked hard to make sure that the increase, the average increase was
significantly less than it otherwise would have been because if we did not uh uh take fiscal measures to keep the number down based on the equalization number and the fact the reval has gone. Uh I think what I what I meant to say is
that number would have been significantly more. I don't mean to suggest that it's not significant. It is. It is significant to seniors. It's significant to non seniors. is significant to each of our residents. Uh when we are a city where the average
income is $36,000 a year, an $800 a month uh rather $800 a year increase is substantial. Uh and to the point that you brought up seniors though, there are programs that the state has and otherwise to assist seniors. Um, and I'm
sure that your office has the information where they can get a moratorum on their increases where what happens is they'll have to pay the money and then they can get a refund from the state uh based on a senior freeze. There's at least two programs that the state has and if you if you don't have
that information, I'll get it to you, but I'm I'm you have a very >> We had we had a program we had the anchor program going on yesterday in the east. So, >> yep. So, and there that's not the only program, but uh I guarantee your office has it. They're very efficient. They work with your people very very well
down in the use ward. Um but to the extent there's information they don't have that they want, I will get it to them. >> Thank you. Councilman Ramos. >> Yeah. Just real quick, Mr. Ba, to Councilman Kelly's point, um so sustainability office, are they handling more than just tree planting now?
They're doing also removal of stumps and tree trimming or is that still under DPW? Great question. Uh, Civas, technically it's still under DPW, but they work with the tree superintendent who is paid by DPW, but essentially supervised by sustainability.
>> Okay. So, um, also with the tree plantings, I know we had a presentation here not too long ago. There's a group that received this substantial um, federal grant to do plantings all over the city of Newark. Um, I think they got an earmark before change of
administration of at least a few million dollars to do planting. So, I'm I'm hopeful that the administration is tapping into those resources first rather than having to utilize city funds uh for for tree planting because there are at least two groups that I'm aware of that received a considerable amount
of federal money uh to to help increase the the tree canopy in the city. Yes, to that point, the groups, even the private groups have for the most part worked with the office of sustainability to put forward grant applications that were winning applications and they work
together to do the planting. I think right now the Amelia Foundation and Norc Alliance has a smaller grant and uh we are um making sure that we work with them uh to ensure that they're not double planting in areas that we don't think need it. So, we're working with
all of these groups and and taking advantage of it as much as possible. The the tree planting funding that the city has uh by and large is through grants as well. So, uh they've done an amazing job of applying for and winning the grants uh uh to do the planting. I think it was
500 this year and we expect that there's going to be 500 within the next planting season as well. So, it it is substantial. >> Yeah. And I've noticed a big improvement. And I know I'm usually one of the ones that complains about them cutting down healthy trees. And I think whatever protocols you guys have in
place now is working better. We're getting less and less complaints. So whomever you have working in that area, I think they're they're doing a much better job. >> Let me give them a shout out. It's Ryan Mets under the direction of Nicole Hwitt Cabral. Nicole Hub Corral runs the
office of sustainability. She is tenacious. She doesn't give up. She's at my office every day whether I want to see her or not, but she is effective. >> Does she bring coffee or No, she she brings information about planting more trees, making sure we
don't cut down healthy trees, and she wants me to make sure that rooted in Newark is known by everybody. That is a new initiative through the office of sustainability. So, she and Ryan Mets deserve kudos. >> Thank you. >> And so, one final question, but let me
say this. Uh, council members, in the interest of time, uh, if you have any additional questions, let's send them to the clerk's office and get them all together and then she'll forward them to the VA uh, for response. All right, final
questions from I got a few questions, but I know the time. So, final question from Council. >> One more question. Um, definitely Nicole and Ryan Mets, they do a great job. Uh but my question VA is last year I believe the South W and the West Ward
were fourth and fifth um when it comes to food insecurities and we the sustainability office was able I don't I don't remember or recall if it was grants but I know that they
were able to get maybe about 400,000 for each one of those wars to to fight for um food insecurities. We were fourth and fifth respectfully on the list of 56. So the South Ward and and the West Ward and
the South W received all of that. The West W received none of it. So will that be different this year? Are is those are those same grants for sustain sustainability when it comes to food and securities? Will we receive that money again in this budget? And this year,
will it be divided evenly between the two that were on the list? >> Council, I'm going to take that to really apply to next year and not this year because this year is is effectively done. We don't have that yet. Um, I
didn't know that data the way you just presented it, but I will make sure we have that discussion so that things are handled equitably. My whole approach is not I don't necessarily think it needs to be equally distributed through five wards but it certainly has to be equitable and given what you just said
it strikes me that the equitable thing to do would be to make sure that the west board uh gets its fair share and I will make sure that Miss Hugh Caprell is aware of that. >> Yeah, it was just surprising to me last year South fourth west fifth or vice
versa and the South received the entire grant the West received zero dollars. Understood. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Ba. Appreciate it. And again, if there are any questions, council members, please submit them to uh our our clerk and then
we'll get a response. You should forward it to the BA and then we'll get a response to them. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, council president. I just want to sort of remind you and the council. >> When can we expect the let's say the actual numbers for >> the ones that we just talked about today?
>> Yes. was on. >> Want to put that on my memory bank. >> Still have it early next week. >> Early next week. All right. >> Yes. And the uh I just want to remind you that the you know we're shooting to have this budget adopted by October 1st.
So we need to move fairly quickly, aggressively and set that date. Madam cler. >> All right. Thank Thank you, Mr. Ba. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next is Department of Public Safety led by Director Miranda.
>> Sit there. >> And while they're coming up, let me say this. You know, uh unless you're on the microphone and speaking, please refrain from from making comments from the gallery. Miss Jackson, this is not the time for
that. Miss Jackson, please. >> They brought in the whole army. >> Uh, good afternoon, Council President Crump and the fellow council members. >> Good afternoon. >> My name is Miranda. I'm the public safety director and I will be doing the
presentation for the 2025 uh budget. >> Which one? >> Either one. >> I've actually have a PowerPoint. >> Okay, >> sounds good. Thank you, sir. With me I have assistant director Steve
Anderson and also director of OEM John James that will be presenting on their own divisions. Um I will be presenting on the police division and I actually like I said I have a PowerPoint set up. Um I understand there was like 12
questions that were asked. We have submitted a uh budget uh binder and each question has its own tab to each question. Uh we'll be doing an overall and then I guess we'll answer some questions at at the end.
[Music] All right. So last year we was scheduled we were budgeted to have a budget of $169 million 291. This year we're proposing a budget of 174 uh million dollars and 857.
Um the reason for the proposal it's uh because of the actual increase in our salaries and wages. Um in the last um two years we have had some uh contracts uh that were
approved uh for our superior officers, our police officers and our deputy chiefs. Um these contracts are taking us to uh year 2027. Uh there were some retro years. Uh the last year that we expect I'm sorry the last retro we're
expecting is actually at the end of this year in December and we should be good for the next following two years. a difference of about $5 million between the salary and wages and the overtime that's expected. Um, in the last uh year we have hired uh
76 police officers compared to 43 uh last year. Just uh yesterday we welcomed an additional 53 recruits. uh we have lost some officers and um due to retirement uh they have transferred to other departments and or federal
agencies. So we've been trying to keep up with uh keeping uh officers um hiring our police officers for the police division. Uh some of the revenue uh generation
uh comes in from uh e tickets uh from substances that are issued whether it's parking or moving tickets. Uh last year in total we had about a $10 million. So far this year uh we have about $9.7 million. We continue at this rate. We're
expecting about an uh $14 million in uh revenue due to uh the tickets. We also have some re uh revenue generation off of firearm permits. Uh just uh believe it was like last year the state had agreed that uh they will
raise the gun permit. uh $50 will go to the state and the additional 150 will go to the city of Newark which also gives us a revenue for our public safety. We're working on getting some revenue with our police
academy. We're still under the probationary period. We expected to be out of that probationary period by the end of this year and get approved for a three-year training certification. By doing that, it will allow us to with our training alternative routes where police officers will pay their own route to uh
attend a police academy. Also, the special police officers will also pay their own uh training in the police academy and also open up other training courses uh and outside agencies for certification. So, we would like to uh be able to get those revenue within the
police division. And lastly, we have been moving uh forward with the technology that's out there. Uh just recently, we were able to purchase uh eight drones uh four which are stationed um in within the precincts
with throughout the city and four uh that are used out uh and about in the streets with with our new TAU unit. Um we were also able to purchase an additional 40 tasers. Uh right now the only ones that have tasers out there now are uh our ESU
personnel which is our emergency service unit. We're actually looking to train our sergeants also with the tasers. Uh we were able to purchase that through a one $1.3 million through forfeite money which did not cost the city any money. Um in addition to that, we also are uh
purchasing two pickup trucks for the emergency service unit, three Chevy Molly Boos for our detective squads, and a sprinter van for our community affairs and clergy unit. That is the presentation for the police division and I'll have uh assistant director Anderson uh provide a
presentation on the fire division. Good afternoon. So for the New York Fire Division budget year to year, look at the the fire division budget comparison. Uh 2024 was proposed 90,000
2556,000 and 553 was adopted by city council was modified in 2024 92,95620 uh dollars. The mayor proposed assistant director, can you hold on a second? It
we we lost the PowerPoint. Oh, and speak and speak loud. Pull you can pull the microphone closer to you. Okay. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yeah, much better. >> Okay. Uh the fire division budget comparisons uh 2024 mayor proposed
90,256 uh 255 56,000 Council adopted that. Can you hear me now? >> 90 million. I suppose you >> can you hear me? >> 90,000
>> 8 million proposal. >> Okay. >> If you can run the department with $90,000, I believe. >> Hey, just repeat what you said. I think is a >> Okay. The fire division budget comparisons. Uh the mayor proposed $90,256,550.
The council adopted that same number in 2024 was modified 92,95,620 and the mayor proposed $93,51244. The 2024 proposal versus 2025 proposal, the differential was 3,255,
594. the funds breakdown. It was an actual increase in breakdown. Uh between 2024 and 2025, the number of employees was 709. Uh that did not change in 2025.
Salaries and wages 73,977 uh,000 excuse me, 73,977,258. Uh in 2025 the salary wages has changed to 907 $75,921 excuse me 75,921,66
Other pay differences 17,793 service contract services by contracts and agreement 426,000 uh that that number did not change in 2025 materials and supplies $613,70 materials has not changed change uh
actually that number did change in 2025 $636,500 uh equipment 95,000 that number did not change in 90 uh 2025 miscellaneous did not change the differential was $66 $66,524
uh dollars and that was the funds breakdown for New York Fire Division fire division hiring uh Newark firefighters. 2024, we hired 88 firefighters. 2025, we hired 15 firefighters, and we
expect to hire an anticipated uh 30 March 2026. Fire prevention, life safety, we're expectally requesting uh four inspectors, three supervisors, and or currently a currently we have four inspectors, three supervisors in a
firesue. Future hires, six inspectors, and two supervisors. I think doing so will increase our revenue in that division. Spinning grants, use apparatus grants. Uh currently we have two engines that we
recently purchased uh through grant funding, two tactical support vehicles, one decon specialized vehicle with a total of $93,600. Spending grants, additional funds available. We currently did a north a cost analysis
and we made a determination that we will uh request a a used vehicle fire truck, 30 SCBA bottles, uh 45mm minute SCBA bottle, ground ladders, turnout gear, bailout gear, fire hoses, and
miscellaneous fire equipment. Uh the additional grants that we um that we put in for was a safer grant for um to hire 20 firefighters. I have that information here if you need a copy of
it. Uh we also uh was awarded a additional grant for oxygen cascade trailer maintenance for urban uh area search uh urban area security initiative. We were awarded $6,500 for that grant. Urban Area security
initiative, we were awarded $850,000 for that grant. Uh assistance firefighters grant, we were awarded uh $1 million for rapid intervention training. Uh $600,000 for extra uh eight extra uh extra extractor
dryers, excuse me, and uh 284,000 for source capture exhaust systems. and excuse me. Uh, and we were also awarded 315,000 for exhaust systems and that was actually awarded the NGA uh, excuse me, New Jersey DCA
grant, $2 million for fire vehicles and equipment. That was actually awarded last week. Uh, the new NJ DCA grant, $750,000 for Congress Street, Ferry Street, and Avon Avenue. That was actually awarded and we're working through that process as we speak.
fire prevention life safety. We we actually put in the grant to uh purchase tablets for fire prevention life safety for $65,000. And that money will be used for fire prevention life safety and um our firefighters to go out and conduct uh inspections to increase revenue cost
for fire prevention. So, we're waiting for that grant as we speak to be awarded. Safer grant that was submitted $6,000 for hiring, excuse me, $6 million for hiring 220 uh hiring 25 parts.
And uh we also we put in for a port security grant and that's actually pending. Uh although there's a low cost for $20,000, but that cost is for the fireboat to s uh to maintain uh maintenance and sustainability.
And that concludes my uh my report at this time. >> Thank you. >> At this time, I'll have Director John James present on the New York OEM side. >> Uh good morning, council. Good morning every afternoon. Um, for 2025, our
budget is $800,10 uh dollars. That's up uh 39,000 from 2024 uh due to full staffing. Now I have a staff of seven. Um, as you're aware, I'm a pass through agency for the UASI
funding. That's $1.7 million per year. I have hard copies for you, which I will leave after the briefing. As far as what we pay for are a lot of it is confidential, but our main projects are the video wall which we're financing in phases.
All of the radios for police and fire being encrypted and some of the self-contained breeding apparatuses uh that the fire use and other systems used by public safety. As far as grants, uh we're in court now
to fight for the uh micro grid project, which we have an agreement with the ICC in the east ward. Uh that's a $20 million project to provide a mobile electronic battery uh vehicle which we're able to plug up to a public uh
building, a municipal building, provide electricity in case of a power outage. Uh again, that is in court uh due to the current administration, but the uh project manager is telling me that we should succeed. We should get that money. That's a $20 million grant total,
but the city OEM department should get a million of that. In addition, uh we've identified several security issues throughout the municipal buildings in the city of Newark. Uh due to that we are in in the process of acquiring six new X-ray machines uh that
will be provided to city hall, the health department and the municipal building. Uh due to testing um there were breaches and uh we feel that technology will assist everyone that comes in to those municipal buildings. Um, other than that, on the website uh
for emergency preparedness, we have a link to um the Red Cross application which residents, anyone interested can download onto their cell phones to be prepared or get more information about emergencies or disasters which might
happen. So, at their fingertips, they can know how to respond, prepare, and what have you. And uh finally uh more importantly for those resident who are on life safety electronic devices uh we have a QR code on the website where they
can scan that and be uh registered with PSEG if they're on oxygen machines uh other medical apparatuses needed to live in case we do have a power outage they would get priority as far as service and response uh from the police and Ray
Cross. Um that's all I have from OEM. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> That we conclude our presentation. >> Yep. Thank you very much. Uh so questions I think if if I can can I jump in first. >> I know there's going to be a lot lot of questions I think or a number of
questions but I think two questions or two issues I just wanted to address. One is the overtime it appears to be about not so to date it's about $9 million less than it was total of last year. Is the expectation that at the end of the
day it's going to still be less than $30 million or are there upcoming events etc that you believe that that will eat up? >> It should be around the same amount as last year about the 30 million. Yes. So we still have two major events uh one being the Puerto Rican day uh parade and
then the other one is for the breast cancer walk in October. >> Okay. And with so with regards to that then also on the fire side there was a significant decrease in in overtime. Uh, and I believe it's based upon roving officers and I don't know how that
translates to police or if it does translate to police. >> I think the majority of that was because of the hiring of the 88 new uh firefighters. >> Is that bringing us the overtime down on the fire side? >> Okay. And another question that I have, thank
you. Another question I have is something I think is it continues to be a question every time we come you come before us and I think it's been mentioned over and over again by myself I know councilman council is the fire inspectors I know it's difficult in terms of them passing the test or
finding people that have passed the test and become fire inspectors it's a big gener revenue generator or significant revenue generator for the city and we also hear complaints on the other side that folks aren't uh bu in uh businesses, etc. aren't getting uh
inspected quickly enough. Is there some kind of a are you looking at some ways to help move that forward? Because, like I said, this has been something that's been going on for a few years, maybe some significant or some special training, some some classes, something
that's going to help us to get some fire, not firefight, fire inspectors that going to that will be able to pass the test and then work for the city. So I could speak to and uh Anderson will be able to back me up on this. Uh recently we just uh interviewed three fire uh
inspectors. In addition to that, he's also instructed his uh uh captains from the firehouse to start doing some inspections and he could just >> Yes. >> Yes. So we definitely uh have some potential candidates on hold. Um we're
ready to hire these inspectors >> to increase revenue. In addition to that, uh our company officers will be conducting inservice inspections. And what they will essentially do is go out and do inspections. Anything that's in terms of um any building hazards, uh
fire hazards, what we will do is uh write a field correction notice and that field correction notice will be forwarded to uh fire prevention life safety. um these businesses will be given 14 15 day uh basically a waiver to make the corrections and once we pass
that 14 15 day u it will be given a violation for for non-compliance but yes we are just just waiting to hire these uh inspectors they are on hold due to the hiring freeze but we also in conjunction with that have firefighters
going out conducting uh daily inservice inspections every Right. >> Okay. So there there, if I read correctly, it said that the the need is 20 fire inspectors. >> Yes. >> How many would that put you at for this? >> Currently, we we're currently at uh
standby. >> Four. Four. We're at four. Currently at four. >> At four. Corinia for and >> if you do have this do you have a breakdown of the revenue generated by those four inspectors?
>> Yes I can I can that I'm sorry I can definitely forward that up to you at a later date but absolutely we could break that down for you to see the cost analysis well to the clerk so she'll circulate to all of us. Thank you Councilman Ramos.
>> Thank you Mr. president and and thanks to the um department. You did a pretty good job of anticipating some of the questions. I I just want to kind of zero in on the overtime. So, you know, it's approximately $30 million a year on the police side. I'm not talking about fire.
Um, how much of that do you think you spend on special events as opposed to providing resources for our precincts to ensure that our residents are are safe, especially when we have gaps in staffing and things like that?
>> Uh, year to date between the special events, whether they be at the arena, NJPACK, Symphony Hall, uh, parades, uh, things within the city, we're at approximately uh, $3.5 million. So, so out of the the total amount of overtime that you've uh spent today,
you've you've I'm not saying only, but about four million has been spent on special events, >> correct? >> And you anticipate between now and the end of the year that number being what about 6 million? >> Um, no, I would say about another another million.
>> Okay. >> So, it's about 15% of your overtime budget is going to cover special events. Um, you know, just just for information, we know that the city is supposed to, at least with some of these groups, collect money back from them. They pay as per
the ordinance a portion of the maintenance and and uh public safety costs. Um, that money doesn't necessarily make it back to the department. The city collects that uh as revenue. So, um, as far as like the distribution of overtime, we've heard in
the past, you know, complaints from certain officers about the process, making sure that there's fairness. Uh, that's roundroin system. You know, I noticed in one of the reports here that in 2024, you had one officer that earned over 200,000 in overtime, uh, just one
individual officer. So what what kind of things do you have in place right now to make sure that overtime is distributed fairly and that individuals have equal right to apply uh for for the opportunity to participate in overtime
and I know probably has to be based on seniority and a bunch of other things. >> Yeah. So recently uh we actually centralized human resources where before each command was responsible for distributing the overtime. Now it's centralized. So now we get to see who's
being uh who is being delegated the overtime to. One of the biggest complaints that we have is because of the outside employment more than the any complaints with actual work city overtime. >> So again we we centralized it. Uh we have a um like a word excel showing how
many officers are working when it's going around. um uh we're putting out the emails letting folks know that the overtime is available and that's how we've been monitoring uh uh where we're having fairness across the department. >> Um the other thing too I I noticed that in one of your goals and I was happy to
see it. It's it's been discussed for a number of years even prior to your to your tenure as a public safety director is is the status of the second precinct. Right. We we know poor conditions of that building. There were talks years ago and we actually bonded uh to to
potentially build a new second precinct many years ago and then the city snatched up that capital uh allocation and distributed to a bunch of other projects. Is that something that you see moving into next year? Obviously this year is too late um that that that it
could be a possibility to relocate them into a better facility. >> Yes. So, we recently just had a meeting between our uh public safety uh the company Brandy Wine and also the city uh with the Mr. Pennington and we're definitely moving forward and building a
new uh precinct. Just recently we had a conversation with Allison Lad trying to uh get a piece of property within the north uh uh precinct to build a new precinct whether it be on Broadway, whether it be on Grafton or Mont Pleasant. We just have to work out the details but I definitely see that in the
near future. Thank you, director. >> Thank you. Councilman Rain was reminded me of a question I wanted to ask in terms of the priorities. The one thing I didn't see is uh uh and I I hate to say this. Sometimes the numbers throw me off. I want to say first precinct, the
one on Irving Turner. Uh where are we with that? >> Second. >> Second. I'm sorry. Somebody said second. No, >> the second precinct or the first precinct >> on on No, first. It's first. It's first. >> The first precinct, right? which is 17th Avenue. Um,
>> right now the focus have been on the second precinct only because we do have some POSA complaints there and there's some issues with the actual building. That's something that we have to revisit. We did speak to uh the BA maybe adding additional uh trailers and building a whole new
precinct out of the out of those trailers. Um, that's something that we in in talks with uh with the BA and we just have to see where we going to allocate the funds from and we can't build that precinct now. At least put some trailers there where we could put a whole command there where what it used
to be like back in two or three years ago when it was the first precinct. I can tell you that's that's definitely a major concern that that it's been a while and I know there's been conversations that I thought across the street that across the street that old firehouse was going to be become the
first precinct. >> I could look into that and I'll definitely >> All right. Thank you. Questions. Councilman Gonzalez. >> Yes, director. Happy to hear that the drones are working. Today there was a I understand today or yesterday was an
arrest done pursuant to some pursuit by the by the drones. Uh I have been an advocate of the drone of the drones for almost 20 years now and I'm glad that you acquired them and that they are in
operation. Uh specifically I I have some question regarding the numbers erh on page on the page eight of 18 [Music] >> tab eight
>> t no the first the first tab the they say where you have the budget. Okay. >> But do you have the budget? You have a position of chief helicopter pilot, zero personnel, $50,000 in
expenses. Uh the same with training officer, the same with the investigator, the same with special law enforcement officer. So you have monies, but you don't have positions.
>> Well, As far as the pilot is concerned, we're looking to hire a full-time pilot. Uh we do have his resume. The one that we have now is a PDM as need as we need him. He comes in mainly in the weekend. Um the other training officer, he was just
recently hired. So, we do have that position filled. And the uh special uh what was the other one, sir? You have investigator, special law enforcement officer, and then you have student the student
assistant. I don't I don't care too much about the say that this $20,000, but the others you have $300,000 for special law enforcements. And are those positions vacant? They are
vacant now because the courts have been closed, but we've been in negotiations with the courts to reopen them soon and we're going to start using those funds to be able to pay the special police officers to man the courts. >> How much how much you think you would spend from now on or when the courts
open until the end of the year? >> I'm not sure because we're actually looking to uh bump up their hourly salary to $50. I think right now it's at 25. So we are in negotiations but I currently >> if we were to take 50% of those >> Yeah. I want to think it will amount to
that. I'm not sure >> because let's say it's we are in September. So even if you hire them in at the in October would be for three months. Uh I don't think that you would spend $300,000 in that.
>> No. So, and we need some money somewhere else to to give to entities that are helping the city in in in assisting in the violence prevention. You have, let's say, you have Armando
Ables and his group of people, the the New Jersey Cup for kids. You have the soccer teams, let's say, that are keeping this youth on out of the street for the whole year. You have little
leagues, you have football football teams. We want to help those. So, I believe that we have an opportunity here uh to take some of that money out and use it for that purpose. that would help you in the long run because you get more
recruits from the from Armando Ables let's say program that you get from anywhere else >> correct >> m Mr. Joe, that's that's an probably an area
that we should explore taking some of that money out because they are not going to use it. [Music] >> Yes. >> Yeah. They say director say make the let's say the estimate that you believe
uh you are going to spend we don't want to cut you short on >> correct because the courts is going to be opening soon and that's going to continue on to next year. So the line is still the line correct the line will still be needed. >> No no the line is not going to be eliminated. Okay we are taking some
money out of the line where the line stays there. Yeah, I will have to go back and just speak to uh the when we're looking to open up the courts or how many officers we're going to be needing and how many >> No, that's fine. Give us a number that we can take out of that 300,000.
>> Okay. All right. So, there's going to be further discussion on that. Councilman Council >> I mean to Councilman Gonzalez's point I I do want everyone that's coming to these presentations to realize that we are in the third week of September and
our budget ends really in November. So I don't know what your pre-incumbrances are or your encumbrances. Uh but to every director that is listening and being a part of that, you should already know that. You should know what your spending is, how much you spent so far, what you have left over. Uh it it
shouldn't be at our contention. My my question is is around the the revenue generation information that you've provided. Um can you provide us with the amount that you believe uh could be generated by creating all of these uh things? And then also uh under the clear
zone ordinance, how many tickets have we issued uh that was followed through on as a way of revenue generation? Uh if we can uh find out that number and I know uh they've spoke extensively about overtime, but I don't want to get into that. But what I do want to know is that
is there a different uh overtime policy for the police department than it is for regular city employees based off of the city's uh overtime policy. >> I don't know what the city overtime
policy is, but obviously what our overtime is just managing uh the events, managing the crime and so forth. And that's >> when when does when does overtime start? Does your overtime start after a person has worked 40 hours? >> Correct.
>> Correct. So that that was that was the question. Okay. if you can look at making sure uh and not just from a police standpoint, but everybody that comes to the table, every director um because we are definitely experiencing a issue with individuals uh calculating
overtime and knowing how to calculate overtime and uh hopefully that that information will be sent out about uh the policy around overtime and that overtime should be calculated after 40 hours uh of working uh and so that we we
are clear on managing uh the overtime uh in this city. That's just a a statement, not a question. So that you know that that overtime starts after a person has acquired 40 hours of work. So that that we we are clear on that. Um 34
provisional employees. What what is the plan? Uh and and I don't know if the HR person is here, but we have 34 provisional employees. What is the plan to help to move them employees from provisional to permanent? They were just recently notified by HR that they have to apply for the civil service position
and that should be coming forward in the near future, but they all been advised. They all acknowledged that they will be applying for the civil uh civil service position whether it be a test or just to make them permanent. >> Yeah. the salary range for the insp fire
inspectors. What What is the salary range for the fire inspectors? And is that an issue uh as it relates to us recruiting them? And if we had three individuals that uh were prepared to be hired, what was the hold up on them hearing that the business
administrator uh just spoke about the importance of bringing in individuals to help create revenue in the city? 568 >> 568,000 56,000 >> what is >> 74,000
>> 56 to 74 is the range >> 5 Okay >> 56 to 74 >> correct yes sir >> is that the uh statewide range under uh civil service. >> No, it's different from different municipalities. >> So, we're the largest municipality in
the state. Is there another municipality that brings in fire inspectors above 56 to 74? Just something to look at and just provide with the information. >> Yes, I believe uh Irvington uh Bloomfield, we just we we just had this conversation with the business
administrator. Uh one of the things that we want to look at is uh the salary range for the different municipalities so we can be in that competitive salary. >> Yeah, it's important. >> I'm good. >> All right. Thank you, Councilman Gonzalez. And then
>> yes, director uh on the fire division the vacancy report have the budget of 658 units. uh 5 58 employees,
631 actual uh employees and then you say 47 uh vacancies but the for the vacancies are only 27. No, not 47.
>> I'm sorry. Can you repeat that? >> If you go to your report where the vacancy report >> 47 Yes. uh should be 27 because you didn't did did not deduct the 20 that you have negative there.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. And >> if you go to the deputy chiefs or actually to the provisional employees, you have four >> excuse me just one second. That 27 is for the safer grant that we apply.
>> You know that's fine. The 27 I just wanted to make sure that it's only 27 vacancies. >> Absolutely. Another 47. >> Yes sir. >> Erh on if you go to the provisional employees you have
deputy chiefs. Four of them are provisional. That means that they haven't taken the the >> taking the test. We're expecting the results this month. Sometime this month of this month or the beginning of next month. >> So they already take the title. >> They're acting deputy chiefs. >> Correct. Yes.
>> Okay. So that that title should be reflected as acting deputy chiefs and not deputy chiefs because they are not if they don't pass a test, >> right? >> They are not going to be deputy chiefs. >> That's correct. >> And the same is true with the chief. >> Correct.
>> Yes. >> Correct. >> We just recently requested for that for that test also, right? And that's scheduled for >> Well, we're still November. That test is scheduled for November. The the fire chief exam. So again, he should be
>> the application just came out. >> It should be acting again. >> Should be labeled acting >> correct. >> Chief of fire. >> Fire chief. >> Yes, sir. >> Yes, sir. >> I don't have anything else. >> All right. Council Kelly. >> Thank you, Council President. How you
doing? This is director. Um, how you doing, director? This is for the fire department. Um, you guys use a third party when it comes to hiring uh people who have passed the test and have trained for you guys to uh for them to
become firemen. Do you use a third party to to view them to to analyze them to um hire them? >> Who determines we use Morris County differenties that u meet our standards. So uh we do
reach out to the third party to uh just because our facility our training facility does not have the requirements at this time. >> And and with that third party are are we pay what do we pay that third party to hire our our uh to to hire our recruits
to make them become fire? >> I don't have that those numbers. >> We do the hiring. They do the training. >> Everything that we do. We do the hiring. We do the background check. We do everything on our own. We even uh what's that the test facility? Yeah, >> PTC test, right? >> Yeah. We do everything on our own. We
just send them out to uh to train fire academy in Morris County. >> The psyches are outside though. Psychological. >> The psychological saying that's what counselor is probably asking. >> So So you guys do the psychological? >> Yeah, we send them to the contracts that we have, which is I believe we have three three contracts, right?
>> Yeah, we have three. >> And how are those contracts decided? Do you guys uh you know you bid they bid for those? >> Yes, they go out to bid. >> Okay. Um is there any uh training program or budget that you put forth for
a training program for new recruits to come in? >> We do not put out a budget, but we do what we've been doing especially on the police side and it's something that we're going to start doing on the fire side where we're asking folks to volunteer to come in. If you want to be a police officer, if you want to be a
firefighter, we're willing to to start prepping you, >> right, >> for the academy. >> So, for the for the psych um >> Oh, for the psych people that the third party, right? What do we pay them to to
come in and train our our recruit? I mean, yeah, that would just be a test. You would go just I don't think there's really no preparing for someone for a psych. You basically go there, you you're given a test and you're being interviewed by the psych psychiatrist and then they will make a determination
based on whatever >> No, I understand whatever they go through. But as far as us preparing someone to take a psych test >> No, no, no, no. Maybe I misunderstood. I'm not asking do how do we prepare? I'm asking the people who do the psych
exams. What do what is the budget set out for them after they come in for the bid? Like what what is what was our budget for last year? And how do we know what we're paying them that we're getting what we what we should we deserve? Right? Because I'm just asking
this because I'm trying to figure out how do we hire moreers to become firemen in in our fire department. You know, uh and I'm asking this from from experience. I've spoke to a lot of people in our community who did
not make the list or so far on the list and they said they did not pass a site exam. So I'm wondering who are we paying that? I know they got they have to be professionals, right? They have to be doctors, but who are these doctors? Like who are we paying that are picking or
turning down majority of our New Yorkers to be firemen? >> So we have three psychiatrists. Um so Dr. just picked up uh what the psychiatrist
will do or psychologist I'm sorry do is there is a written portion of the evaluation and then there is a interview portion of the evaluation for the based on those uh interviews and criteria they use for the specific job
description they'll make an on whe you know what when you're speaking can you come to the mic so that >> thank you the mic can go to you there you go >> check one two one two one two >> there you go
>> yes good afternoon Captain Rawa police uh the psychologists are under contract each uh that gets passed through the council. Um again, Dr. Diaz and Dr. Raphael will interview the applicants
via uh written examination and then move on to the uh in-person evaluation. Each of those evaluations as far as the price uh is established through contract and every year that contract will be reviewed and renewed through council
resolution process. So, >> honest um >> and they do have a breakdown of how many males, females, race, how many passed, how many uh were denied. Um they also we also have that I I guess I'm I'm asking
because I'm I'm just trying to do we you know, New York is a special city, right? and and it's uh you know we have to we have a um a lot of special type of things that we deal with
in this city right so you would only know if you live here right or if you're from here or if you know of this city so I guess what I'm asking is are there doing those bids that we're you know bidding for for these doctors do we look
for doctors who know the city of Newark know some of the or are we just getting them from anywhere because they have these certs and these degrees as being a doctor? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Answer some of this potential.
>> Sorry. >> Yeah. Sorry. Eric Pennington, business administrator. Uh your questions are propitious with respect to how uh we select the um psych evaluators. We had quite frankly
an issue with the psych evaluations to some extent based on your questions, but we send out an RFP or an RFQ um for professional services and they each have to respond to those professional services. You certainly can ask whatever question you want, but I think it's a
little inappropriate for Captain Wawwa or anybody else to try and delve into uh whether or not the people who we ultimately select are the ones that we should select as long as they go through the process. I think um what I would
recommend is that if there are candidates, psych candidates that you want us to use to evaluate public safety and we can use it for others as well that we'd be happy to send that RFQ out to them. They could respond. You could tell them to respond, but we want
evaluators who are aware of the circumstances that our residents go through and that they factor that into their determinations uh when they decide someone is either um sitequalified or not. So, you're I think your comments are are uh well, I
think the overall objective what you're looking for is absolutely appropriate. I just don't know if this is the appropriate form for it and I'm happy to have a further deeper discussion with you about it to make sure that we can uh fashion um a professional services
outreach in a manner that u uh resolves your issues. >> Thank you, BA. U and I think you all are doing an amazing job, right? I I just think that um you know my my office and
some nonprofits we have put on training programs because like like the director said you guys don't pay for those things and it's understandable. So we have put on training programs in the community and not a lot of my people who go through these training programs that we
pay for are being selected or hired. Right. and and I've heard things, you know, I just just to go off what the BA said. I I just wanted to see what was the the process of who do we hire that actually are the ones who's saying this
person is not qualified, you know, and what are we paying these guys because it can't be all of the people that I have go through these people, you know, if I have 200 people and two people get hired, that's just kind of crazy to me. So I just wanted to see what were we
spending on training, what were we spending on our doctors. But respect to the BA, I understand and I can even have this conversation later with you. U but it it's a shame when we have New Yorkers who not get who are not getting hired for certain things and I just wanted to
see who was evaluated. >> All right. Thank thank you. Thank you uh Councilman Kelly. Councilman Silva. >> Yeah. Uh good afternoon, director. Uh one thing I won't talk to you about is the budget. Uh, I actually commend you guys for at this point be almost $10 million
uh from where you were last year and still have the statistics that you guys have today, even better than last year. So, budget is not my question. Uh, but I know Councilman Ramos and you have a special relationship and he's going to advocate for a second precinct and I'm going to advocate for a third precinct.
So, um, you know, they both probably the same age or they probably both been around just as long, you know what I mean? I know you have a special bond with him and he's probably going to get his and I'm not going to get mine, but you know, I'm still going to advocate for it. >> They don't play favorites. Come on now.
>> That sounds a little racist. We're both >> chair. >> All right. Uh, Councilman, uh, you finished, Councilman? >> No. >> Okay, go ahead. >> Um, I saw that there's five people on terminal, which is a pretty low number. Uh, and I know speaking to the previous director and yourself that there was
like a two-year window where there wasn't going to be anybody retiring. Um, and I know you put 50 in um yesterday, I believe it was. Um, is what what what's our goal here now that we have our own academy? I thought
the numbers would be a lot higher, right? I that's what I got. the numbers would be like in the hundreds 150 >> past the probationary period. We could start putting in about 100 recruits at a time which would be at the end of this year in December. We should be going before the PTC to get out of the
probationary and be full uh certified to uh welcome 100 105 whatever the case may be. So in retrospect two classes a year maybe 200 folks uh 200 police officers coming in. >> And and what's our ultimate number? I know you have a a number here that I
saw. What's our ultimate number that you would feel comfortable at getting the police 1400? >> Okay. Uh, another question. I met with Director Anderson last week and I want to thank him for meeting with me. It was about the fire inspectors, right? We don't have enough fire inspectors and
it's affecting businesses. So, businesses are up for renewal or new businesses and um, uh, people are paying rent and not being allowed to open uh because we don't have enough fire inspectors. You know, I know in the building department we use inspectors
from other towns sometimes. Would it be possible maybe to reach out for another town to use their fire inspectors instead of because we have four like you said for a city that's growing and growing and growing all the time. if it would be possible to reach out for
another municipality like we have uh agreements with them for other things to possibly use their inspectors because uh the reason I met with director Anderson was I had a young lady who's actually opening up tomorrow but she had paid rent for almost four months waiting for
the fire inspection and this is the problems that we're dealing with you know what I mean with uh not only new businesses but uh code enforcement and I appreciate that email was going into current businesses and because they didn't have their fire certificate was shutting them down, but the owners of
those businesses was calling to try to get appointments and weren't able to get the appointments, but it wasn't because of their lack of effort, you know. So maybe if we could look into hiring um inspectors from other municipalities, it would just be a suggestion. Um
that's all I have. Thank Thank you, Doug. >> Thank Thank you. I think Councilman >> Yeah. I I I just wanted to and it'll be short feed off the the the point that uh Councilman Silva made about the the fire inspectctor as I went back I know you talked about the range being from 56 to
74 and then there may be some possible conversation uh with the business administrator about best practices and what other individuals are looking at around there. And in terms of those things being amicable and understanding the ability to um generate revenue for
those areas, would that mean that we would look at then making sure that the fire inspectors that we have in place now come up to be comparable? >> Yes, sir. >> And what they're doing? >> Yes, sir. >> Absolutely. And to uh >> Is that a yes or >> Yes. Absolutely.
>> Yeah. I apolog uh the candidates have to live in the city of Newport, but we could definitely explore that. >> Thank you, Council Member uh you could council Ramos. >> Yeah, I I just want to state that um you know, I know Councilman Silv just recently got here, but um the second
precinct conversation goes back to our former business administrator, Mr. Jack Kelly who actually had appropriated uh 30 to 40 million as part of the city's capital and that money again was was pulled for different capital needs.
Um you know I'm sure the third precinct is in pretty bad shape. Um I invite anybody to walk through the second precinct whenever we get a few inches of rain and you're going to see how deplorable those conditions are. So I just want to state that on the record.
Thank you, Council Gonzalez. >> Well, you have to read the asbesto signs on that building, too. So, that we have asbestos there. We have it a lot of problems there that OSHA apparently has pointed out to the city that need to be corrected.
Talking about inspectors, fire inspectors, I have recommended to the city to have share agreements with the cities around not only for fire inspectors but for all kinds of inspectors. We don't have
enough building inspectors. We don't have electrical inspectors. We don't have all the inspectors that the city needs. The towns around us may have them. It's a m I believe we are being very very shy in try to reach out to the
to the towns around us. I believe that we need to be more aggressive because we are losing a lot of revenue. >> Yeah. >> All right. Uh so we are going off the rails with our time but we're going to have Councilman uh uh Canana
>> in in terms of the second precinct. Councilman Ramos and and I recall the the second precinct was supposed to be in the waterfront and that was the proposal. Is that correct council Ramos? At one time it was proposed to put again
listen um business administrator and I have a friend who is an expert on OSHA wrote all the laws in the country. I'm talking about Danny Kribbit who wrote all the OSHA laws and we should engage
uh Mr. Kribbit to help us and his office to try to appropriate money federal dollars uh because there is a lot of funding for out of for OSHA laws that he established.
He has worked over 40 years of his career writing certain and testimonies and finding funds for other cities. Mr. uh Mrs. Administrator and we didn't have that conversation uh
because there is and Congress has appropriated a lot of funding etc. Um, first of all, that second precinct should have never been a precinct. That was a building that was supposed to be condemned uh for 50 years ago
uh before Mayor uh uh Sharp James that building was told that it was not Finn. That was the old Rucker school of that uh of of pharmacy and that is place has never been uh back then. It should not
it should be the conditions are horrible. We went to a party there. Remember the S SOA event and I almost fell down the stair the uh fire stakes because they were so loose. I'm like whoa. and and the bathrooms are the
conditions for lockers for our police and men and women. It's just atrocious and we need to do that on the police side, not on the fire side. Some of these firehouses are just really bad. And you know, you just go inside and you
I don't know how uh uh it reminds of old movie. I unless they're preparing them for old movies or new movies, but again, there has to be something has to be done. But I think through through the grants from OSHA grants and look at and
um Mr. Ba if you could have Mr. KB look into the whole because him and his firm established a matter of fact they were so great that they established a library in the University of Virginia. All his
paperwork was done in terms of judges have used their expertise. Again we need to look at the funding >> because again this you know there was capital dollars but they went in a different route. We need to find out now
to get some money on that side. So, and director, you're doing a great job. You and your staff >> and I'm so happy to my son is a part of your team. Uh because your team is really doing a lot. And again, the the
overtime, Mr. VA with overtime in the future we should be able to know how much every festival is taking and we need to talk to these festival folks. Second of all, uh revenue that is being
collected at these festivals uh for the vendors and we don't even know and we don't know and what what kind of funding how it's being paid, how they're paying these vendors and we
should have some some say what these vendors are collecting. I mean these people are collecting from the vendors because you know I don't see it in the budget but again it's not on the police but in terms of police you guys have done a great job and and other cities
that have festivals there has been a lot of chaos here with you has been uh straight up and I and I have a lot of respect for this fire fire department and police department the men and women. Thank you so much. >> Thank you Councilman. And with that
being said, I want to thank you, director, and and and your team for for all that you do here, not and not not just today, but in general, um, you know, I always say, you know, our first responders, I appreciate you all because, you know, you you do the work that we don't do. You run the places
where we run away from. And so, I just want to thank you publicly again. And I know the council feels the same way that we appreciate all the work that is done by you and everybody, your team and all the firefighters, police officers, OEM folks. Thank you again for your >> Thank you for your support. >> Thank you for your support.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh with with that being said, we are almost an hour behind council members. So if I know we started a little late, but if we Yeah, just give it. >> Are you buying lunch, Larry, or >> Shoot, I'm hungry right now. You ate.
So, let's let's be mindful and keep our questions uh to a minimum. >> The next department is the finance department led by director Guzman. Good afternoon.
>> Okay. I wasn't sure I wanted to give you >> No, that's all right. It's all right. You can just start. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh good afternoon, council president, council members. Again, Benjamin Guzman, Department of Finance, acting director. Uh thank you very much for the opportunity to uh come before you and present uh our our budget position and
uh our status for uh 2025. Um, as of January 1st of 2025, our cash position for all funds totaled 463,928,261. Of that, 339,540,668 is for our current fund. 64,681,846 is for our water utility fund. And
59,75,747 is for our utility funds. Yes. Uh from 2024 into 2025, we're continuing to see an improvement in our collections uh in special taxes. Uh overall uh collections for payroll, parking, and
hotel taxes in 2024 was 114,449,692. And that's up from 106,1,464 from 2023. And that's a 7.38% increase year-over-year. And in our revenue uh collections division uh the percentage of cash that
we collected increased from 94.5 in 2023 to 95.49 in 2024. And that's our overall cash collection for our property taxes. And uh the department continues to increase its efforts to collecting delinquent taxes, current property taxes, and implementing outreach
programs to encourage property owners to pay their outstanding balances. And in 2024, uh this again we collected an additional $24 million in delinquent taxes uh similarly to 2023 and we are on track to collect the same amount of delinquent taxes in 2025.
And as far as our economic conditions are going, the economics uh and the economy in the city of Newark has remained relatively stable as far as interest rates in the economy as it's been moving. Uh interest rates have been continue to uh slightly drop since August of 2023 and that has assisted the
city in successfully pricing uh bond anticipation notes in bonds. Uh we normally do uh garner sufficient uh uh subscriptions for our bonds. We just most recently uh priced the bond yesterday and we were three times subscribed. Uh each uh vendor subscribed
for the full amount. Uh and for the first time in about three or four years, the city of Norc was able to price bonds at under 3%. uh we did do for a an all-in interest cost of a little over 2.5% on over $34 million in uh in bond participation notes which is uh very
attractive given the current market rates and how the economy has been moving. Uh the city's uh rating from Moody's uh was upgraded from a BA2 to a BA1 and that was based on our positive long-term economic prospects uh the bu multi-billion dollar development
pipeline and the improvements of the finances that the city has been able to show them in the last few years. Um and as far as any specific uh budgetary questions, I'm more than happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Thank you, director. Thank you. Uh you
know, we always appreciate you. You come straight with the information. Thank you so much. Uh, questions from the council. I knew you had to have one, Councilman Gonzalez. All right. All right.
Uh, Ben, I normally receive a a monthly report of the cash possession of the of the city. I haven't received that for maybe a year. We should all receive it. Let's say >> absolutely. I know I am aware that it
our monthly bank cash reports. >> Yes. >> Uh it there may have been you know a delay in one month or two but I know that they have been being provided. I will check to make sure that those have been provided but if it's over a year I'll make sure that you given that historical information as well. >> Give me the latest.
>> Okay. No absolutely we will give you the latest and I'll make sure we get that and make it Yeah. make it regularly every month because this is something that I use more or less to as a as a budget chair to determine more or less where we are. But
>> absolutely understood. >> Any other questions from the council? I I guess I got a quick one and then yes. So I overtime is significantly lower I think as of year to date than than last year. >> Correct. And do you expect that to to
continue to be lower or do you think at towards the last quarter it's going to? >> No. Yeah. For we continue it to be uh about on par with what we have like we don't expect it to be higher than it was in 2024. Okay. >> Uh within the department I have been taking measures in order to curb
overtime only if it is necessary using alternative you know uh efforts in order to entice us whether if it's you know compensation time versus actual overtime. Uh but again only authorizing that overtime if it's absolutely necessary. Uh and also looking at if that overtime will help generate
increased revenue for the city then you know it's that's a reason as to to authorize that versus if it's just additional cost. >> Obviously there's certain times of the year when we're shortly after this process here where we're sending out the actual uh property tax bills uh for the all the properties and then in order to
get that done out in a timely fashion it may require some overtime. certain individuals are coming in on the weekends and working later hours in order to get that done timely. But outside of that, I don't foresee any uh increase in overtime for the remainder of the year. >> What's the total number of tax bills you send out? Do you know? Do you know?
>> Uh I don't know that off the top of my head how many uh line items there are, but I know there at least there over 50,000 line items at least. Um and uh but we could probably get the breakdown of the total line items and breakdown of residential, commercial, and industrial. >> I was going to ask that. Thank you.
Any other questions? Seeing none, I want to thank you, director. Um, >> again, appreciate you very thorough as always and we appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Getting back on time. Come on. What's next?
>> Next department is the Department of Economic and Housing Development. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Um, good afternoon, council president and council members. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the economic
and housing development. >> I hate to say you this. Can you pull the mic a little closer so we can hear? >> Don't be Don't be afraid. Don't be all right. >> Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the economic and housing development department's budget for fiscal year
2025. I'm Janine Hazard Williams, deputy director and chief financial officer for the department. With me today, I have Karina Pereira, Deputy Director, Nana Juma, Chief of Staff, and Brandy Daniel, legislative coordinator. I would like to read this
statement into the record on behalf of the Deputy Mayor for Economic and Housing Development, Allison Lad. Deputy Mayor Lad is attending to a family matter and is unable to attend today's hearing. The mission of EHD is to create economic
opportunity for NORC residents and enhance the vibrancy of our city and our budget priorities continue to support our mission. EHD continues our progress toward an equitable, empowered and collaborative city envisioned by Mayor
Rash J. Baraka's NORC forward blueprint. Collaboration remains the key ingredient as we focus on a future of equitable growth to ensure that all residents benefit and together we advance Norark forward. Together with the municipal
council we work to advance equitable policies, ordinances and programs that build upon the last 11 years of the Baraka administration and we continue to create inclusive communities across all five wards. Collectively, we will
continue to help our residents build wealth and implement real solutions to reduce one of the largest wealth gaps as documented by the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. EHD's budget before you seeks to advance Mayor Baraka's equitable growth strategy
by supporting the department with a budget allocation of 4,161,77 FTEES, including the paid board members and commissioners. Additional staffing is funded by federal grants, local trust funds, and philanthropic dollars. EHD
provided the responses to the budget questions as requested. Today, I want to highlight a few enhancements and initiatives administered by EHD. Produce, preserve, and protect affordable housing for North residents.
In 2021, Mayor Baraka announced five years housing goals. And today, we track our progress using an online tracker found on the economic and housing development web page under the Office of affordability and Sustainable Housing. The tracker illustrates progress on the
housing goals, both market and affordable housing, and is available on the EHD website. During the last two years, three enhancements have helped us ensure that we are reaching the five-year housing goals and that nor residents have access to affordable
housing supported by the city. They are one, the enhancement of the inclusionary zoning ordinance that allows residents 90 days of exclusive rights to the units. two, increasing the ICO payment
in LU to 180,000 per unit and three providing gap funding for affordable housing and mixed income housing. The result the results speak for themselves. Today, projects that must comply with provide 20% on-site affordable housing
per the statute and there is little to no negotiation required as was the past practice. Also, with the implementation of the 90-day exclusive rights for North residents, we are proud to share the following statistics.
19 projects, 368 affordable units, 290 leased to residents, which is 81%. and projects continue to be city's link tree and residents can apply today for the affordable housing for affordable
housing in the mixed income developments advanced equitable development equitable investments in NOR communities created in March of 2023. This initiative has been set forth by the administration of Mayor Rash J.
Baraka to increase affordability by developing or rehabilitating single, multifamily, and vacant pieces of property that residents can own and or rent at affordable prices. The city will carry out this initiative by selling
city-owned properties to partnerships that share a common interest and intent to develop or rehabilitate the properties. locally based and MWBE certified developers and contractors, community-based nonprofit organizations,
and community development organizations. Today, the 16 associated sites with round one and two of EINC have been approved by the municipal council. The selected development partners are closing on the sale, seeking or planning zoning approvals and funding to advance
the 16 projects forward. All 16 sites will have affordable housing units and most will be 100% affordable. Holding our city partners accountable. During the last two years, we discussed tactics that the city was using to hold
our partners accountable. And in 2023 budget, we highlighted the creation of a compliance office in EHD that was created in August of 2022. The general duties include administration of compliance and oversight of private sales,
redevelopment agreements, coordination of vacant property ordinance, the department of engineering, code enforcement, attendance of tax abatement committee meetings to hear about potential non-compliance of tax abatement financial agreements, certificates of completion, and other
compliance reviews as assigned. This work continues to be a priority for the Baraka administration and we will continue to hold our partners accountable. In closing, I want to thank the EHD management team and the entire staff who work day in and day out to
serve the residents. Special thanks to Janine Hazard Williams, deputy director, chief financial officer. Karina Pereira, Deputy Director, Nana Juma, Chief of Staff, and Brandy Daniel, legislative coordinator,
as we will continue to implement the vision of Mayor Rash J. Baraka. Thank you for this opportunity to speak today and welcome any questions you may have. >> Thank you. Questions from the council. Councilman Gonzalez.
>> Yeah, mine is not a question. is more a a complaint than anything else in terms of a the zoning board and the planning board uh timing of the
the review of the process. I get a lot of complaints from developers that it take months uh to get plans reviewed uh and the determination made. Uh so I just
wanted to to make sure that uh we convey the message to the director that we should expedite that process if possible because we are losing opportunity for development. They say people are there's a there's a a
building that it was destroyed by fire on the on Broadway. The person submitted the plans months ago and still and there it's a very easy project because it's replacement of the building. It's not
there's no nothing new in the building. It has taken like months uh to for to get the permits. So it's important that we expedite that process because otherwise we are let's say hurting the people that contribute to the city of Newark.
>> Understood. >> Thank you. Councilman C uh uh Gonzalez. Councilman Council. >> Uh yeah. Can Can you provide >> Oh, I'm sorry. Were you saying something? I'm sorry. Forgive me. >> I would like to You got to pull the microphone closer too because Thank you. >> Good afternoon. Uh Nana Juma, chief of
staff as well as acting zoning officer. So I do want to address your comment. Your point was taken. However, I want to update the council that due to the changes in our zoning regulations that the mayor implemented. Zoning board is actually scheduling for their third
meeting in September, central planning board is scheduled for um October, the second week of October. So we actually have no backlog thankfully. Um but the project that you did mention, I will look into see maybe if there are other issues that they are experiencing.
>> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilman Council. >> Yeah. And I do believe we have two zoning boards now, right? And so I'm not sure how the cases are divvied up, right? But since there is no no backlog um that I I don't I don't perceive it be
a problem in terms of hearing hearing uh cases for individuals. But how is that divied up between the two the two zoning boards? So if there's let's say 10 cases that need to be heard in September, are are they split up? uh the five a piece
or does one take on all 10? >> So, sure. The second or supplemental zoning board actually has sunset. They were um active for one year as state statute uh allowed them to be, but because we no longer have a backlog thankfully, we actually don't schedule
any applications with the supplemental board right now. Um if ever the need arise, we would bring it back to council if necessary. But right now the zoning board is um scheduling like I said for September. >> Okay. And in terms of the uh the vacant
building the vacant lot ordinance um do you have the amount of dollars that has uh come in uh from from that ordinance and if we can be provided with the number of violations that have been uh written uh under that ordinance that is right important. I know you talked
about revenue generation and what is happening uh in terms of there and I know that is one tool uh for that and then second there is uh 18 provisional employees. Uh are are we working with um the department of of HR to uh
work to get those provisional employees permanent employees? So uh currently I don't have the numbers for the vacant properties but we can you have okay so >> so before we answer your second question I'll speak to your first question regarding vacant uh and abandoned
buildings office the total number of fees collected year to date is 259,000. >> Okay. the violations or rather the in the properties that have been inspected to date is 61 61 uh properties.
>> And to your second question, I'll let Janine answer. So, in regards to the provisional employees um yes, we will be working with HR. Normally HR um notifies the departments in terms of when the civil service exam is up for um an employee to take an exam. But normally
when we're notified, we do let the employees know that um they should be taking the exams. So yes. >> Do you have any uh employees under the precise? >> Yes, we have six six uh CSS employees. >> Six. >> Yes.
>> And what does that uh annual budget look like to house those six? >> So uh each employee makes about 45,000. So, I would just have to do the math, but that's roughly what each of the six
make. It's an average of about 45,000. >> Six. [Laughter] >> Anything else? Councilman Council. Good. Uh, Councilman Silva, >> good afternoon. Um, I just have a question. Since, if I don't, you might
have to email me this information. Since 2022, how many apartments have been approved and how many have actually been built? >> Okay. >> If you can get me that number. >> Sure. >> Okay. I know we've run through some turbulent times with interest rates and
other things, but I just like to know how many apartments were approved >> and how many were actually built. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Council. Would you would you like that broken down by market and affordable or do you just >> uh No, because then I can figure out the
20% and all that stuff myself. So yeah. Um yeah, just how many since 2022 since the ICO was changed um till today, how many were approved? How many are actually built? >> Okay.
>> All right. >> Council person, president, if I may ask Mr. silver to um specify when he says approved does he mean by variance or a permit or both? >> Just approved to be built and how many are actually built?
>> Thank you. Uh Councilman Ramos. >> Uh thank you, Mr. President. um send our wellw wishes to the director and I may not always agree with stuff that she brings before us but I do appreciate her responsiveness along with the department
when I do have issues and concerns. Um, one one thing I just want to flag. I know in in one of the questions that's included in the packet, it talks about, you know, uh, state and federal grants that subsidize or support your department and whether or not they're
there risk involved because of some of the changes going on in Washington DC. And I want to note that there are about 13 positions in this department that are funded through the CDBG and home program. and and we know that that's going to be a year-to-year
battle as to whether or not uh those entitlement programs are going to be funded and if they are funded at what levels uh will these programs be funded and the city of Newark utilizes a significant amount of the CDBG uh
allocation to fund positions within city government. So, so my question is like you know what kind of contingency plans are in place in case there is a significant reduction in CDBG funding on
the city side that could potentially impact your department more than anybody else because you have um like I said 13 full-time uh staff that are funded through those programs. So, I believe um deputy mayor um has
been doing an analysis of a cost analysis of what it would be um if if we were impacted um by the loss of federal dollars. Um I believe she was also working with um the administration to determine uh what other resources that we might be able to um use to retain the
employees that are grant funded just in case that happens. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Councilman uh Cana. In terms of National League of Cities, which I'm a member of National League of Cities, you know, CDBG grants was one of
was saved by the National League of Cities and I would I would inquire you to inquire through the I'll give you the contact for National Cities because that's one of the conversations that is
affecting the country and all of us, towns and villages And one of the things that it is concerns that I'm concerned is that naturally the cities and other uh in terms of CDBG
grants that the funding is going to be changed towards other things that have nothing to do with housing maybe that have to do with roads and construction. And I I think that's part of the conversation that is taking place in
Washington. Our lobby is at the National League of Cities. We're the largest lobbying group to the United States Congress and Senate on behalf of cities. And I think we should try to put something together in terms of seeing where the CGB grants are going because
at one time we uh I was one of those participants who c we all went to the capital, every mayor and council person around the country and we were able to save CDBG grants. So again, we're at we're at a we're at a time that we may
lose the CDBG grants with this purpose unless we do and roll up our sleeves and and say, "Look, we're going to work towards this idea." So, I would encourage you, your staff, to go into the uh uh nationally the cities and if
you need some help, we will help you uh and look at staff and what lobbyists are doing, our lobbyists in Washington in terms of saving CDBG grants because this administration in Washington would like to wipe it out completely,
but I know there there's ideas that they would like to res change it around so that it's not on housing, but it's more on on bridges and and and monies towards bridges and roads and infrastructure. So, I just want to see if we can do work
together on this matter. >> Thank you, council. >> Noted. >> Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Uh any other questions from the council. >> All right. I I have a couple quick questions, I think, from the Can we get a a list for 2025 of the properties sold
and how much money they were sold, a total amount? Sure. Additionally, and this is a general question, and madame clerk, I want to send this to all of the department heads, is we we we have cost savings that they're saying what they said they
were going to or costsaving measures in 2024. Um I would like to see what again what those costsaving measures were and what was saved if anything. And additionally on the other end is revenue generating. There's a lot of things like for
instance and this is just you're in front of me so I'll say EHD the cost the the revenue generating uh uh measures that were in for 2025 are the same ones that were for 2024. So, I don't know if it means you're doing you're going to be
doing uh better job at compliance or whatever it is those those revenue generating measures, but if we can also for your your department as well as all departments, the list of what they had in the 2024 budget for what the re
revenue generating measures were and what was generated in terms of revenue. So, I don't expect you to answer that now. I just And I think that was all I had. You all are good. We we we worked on those first two too long and now we're just kind of being short with these guys
too. Uh that was it. I want to thank you all. I appreciate you for being here uh for stepping in. Uh I know it's not uh what you expected you, but we appreciate it. And thank you for what you do. And and thank you, Miss Daniel. You should
have had a seat at the table, too. But uh >> thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next is water and sewer utilities led by director Good afternoon, director. >> Good afternoon, council president,
council members. I thought you said you was going to keep it short. >> Thank you. That's it. All right, Russell Simmons. Goodbye and good night. No, it's not going to happen with you. Sit down. >> Be so nice.
>> You have an opening statement? >> Yes. >> Again, good afternoon, council president, council members. Um you know the department of water and sewer utilities continues to um recover and move forward from COVID after another
successful 2024 year um of standing compliance on our water and wastewater compliant water and wastewater conveyance systems. Things are still moving good as of 2024.
We just recently finished our upgrade of the $22 million upgrade of our aquatronic water treatment plant. Um, hats off to that. The city took over this treatment operation in 2013 from NW CDC. Since that time, the city has really
upgraded this treatment plant, provides safe drinking water to our residents and those bulk water customers in and around the city that buy water for us. So, we're proud of that. We're proud that this council and this administration continues to make uh necessary improvements in our infrastructure.
Infrastructure that's the mostly hidden this hidden infrastructure that that we don't see every time every day. We only cry about water when we have too much of it or when we don't have enough of it. Um, so we're we're very happy that this administration has continued to invest
in this natural resource that we all need and that our community need. Uh, we do see the impacts of development as development has come into the city. These upgrades has also allowed us to continue to attract development without
safe and clean drinking water. our utility budget um for this increased to $72 million from $72 million from water and increase to $4 million from last year. This reflects our commitment on again replacing our
aging infrastructure, some of the pipes and some of the systems in the water side is over 150 years old. Our sewer utility budget request is 81 million is it up 9 million from 2024. This is a combined increases to both the utilities
is the combined increase for both utilities is 13.1 million. We've got some major milestones. We completed the petty ditch um drainage project. That's that was part two of the two projects that we had on Freeland Heisen Avenue
that we know Freeland Heisen between uh Petty Street and between Petty Street and Mika Avenue has flooded for the last 30 years historically. So we just recently in 2018 we finished the Queens ditch project that reduced the flooding
and last early this year we finished the petty ditch project which is another one to convert to convey storm water and sanitary water outside the city. So those two projects were completed our MS4 system. We can continue to reduce our reliance
on outside vendors or contractors repairing our water and sewer system by making our operations more efficient and effectively by bringing things in house as we do these upgrades to our infrastructure.
Um, our purchase of our sewer uh camera truck last year has additionally led us to see a savings of about $1.2 million that we don't rely on a contractor no more. Or we can also go out in real time and televise and camber the city sewer system by acquiring our
own truck. Now we can continue to bring those in things in house. I want to continue to build on our efficiencies over the past years. And with that, I'll take any questions. >> Thank you, >> Councilman Gonzalez.
>> Yes, sir. >> Good afternoon, director. How are you? >> Good afternoon. Excuse me, council. I just want to say >> I was going to say introduce. Yeah, that was my >> my apologies. I want to introduce our manager of building and customer service Leticia Jesse and our chief engineer in
Muhammad. >> Thank you. Uh, director, uh, on your billing and customer service budget, you list, uh, 17 employees
and a total of 999,800 budget. But uh in the division of billing and customer service active employees you have se 16
and a total of 718,536 [Music] on the you have like a page with the says water utility and it has the active employees. is the last page at the next
to last page on your first I believe it is >> on your billing and customer service. >> So what's the difference? [Music] So, so council, council president,
councilman Gonzalez. So, on our building and customer service side, you're looking at the side where it says water employees and one side says sewer employees. So, customer service is made up of water and sewer employees, two different utilities. So the the 999
the 999 >> I have let's say the 999 is built says billing customer service and says water utility >> right the water side >> and it has 999
>> it's probably it's probably a typo with the numbers >> probably the total is probably a typo with the numbers total So that page has to be changed. >> Correct. Yes, I'll look into it. >> Okay. Yeah. Because if you go to let's say the
>> Yeah. >> The name some of the names the salaries are different. >> When I switch your name up miss one of the lines. I'll look at that page. I'll look I'll get back to you about that. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Gonzalez. Any
other questions for sewer? >> I may have the same for the water supply, but >> Okay. >> Okay. >> But >> we'll come back to you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Council me,
>> uh, director, just a quick question. That $5 million port authority there, is that an agreement we have with them? I mean, the numbers, what is that? So that f that $5 million is related to the depth service that we pay on the lead service line project.
>> Councilman Ramos. >> Yeah. Director, the um the on the sewer side, what was the increase from this year compared to last year for the um wastewater treatment uh entities? Pake
Valley joint meeting. So Pic Valley went up 4 million joint meetings kind of like went down a little bit because we were owed some money from an overpayment >> and the PG valley increases are attributed to what >> the 5-year overall operating expense to
treat the sewage and the capital projects that if you know similar to joint meetings right we pay for capital projects that happens at Pacific R >> the um what what kind of progress is the city making with the uh with the cso
like our compliance with the combined sewer overflow like I would imagine that some of this additional money that we're spending on capital improvement and service contracts is to ensure that we're in compliance with some of these federal federal requirements.
>> So thank you for that Councilman G Council President Councilman Gonzalez. So the the Petty Dish project is a CSO project that we just completed. We're still working with Pake Valley and our regional partners on the effort um to
build a tunnel that at one time in early 2019 that tunnel was $400 million. Now we're looking at probably $2 billion. Council Councilman Quentana would know that. So we're we're in compliance right now. However, we're still working with
the state state financing and the 48 member Pake Valley community that's a part of the combined sewer overflow. We're still doing projects. The green infrastructure project or you see the green parks projects. Those are some of our combined long-term control pro.
That's what the longterm control program. Those are projects that we're doing in compliance. We're waiting on the final uh design of this tunnel. >> Yeah. And you know, I'm glad we have two two commissioners and I talked to Councilman Kintana a lot about this. I I
just feel like, you know, the the cost associated with PBSC um not only for the city but for residents uh homeowners is, you know, it's pretty pretty high. I mean, my my my portion of the city's uh water sewer
bill that goes to P Valley is is significant. And I could imagine uh for seniors and and and other folks around this the city who are struggling with increased electricity rates now potential increase in a tax rate. You
know, we we have to figure out a way to try to contain some of those costs. Um that has nothing to do with us, but PVSC is definitely some some entity that has to be reigned in somehow. So, so, uh, Councilman, uh, Ramos, so just to let
you know, just to confirm with the engineer, we're like 90% finished on our design to meter the city. The city of NORC is the only entity that's not metered that go to Pacific Valley. So, our design is like 90% complete and the
plan is to meter Pik our flow that's going into Pacific Valley. The only thing metered now is the southside interceptor. the flow that comes in from the airport south into PC valley. So as that project finished over the next couple years, I'll be coming in front of in front of you with a contract for a
contractor to start putting meters in P. >> We can finally get some accurate >> accurate rates. Yeah, >> we're so most of the council members know or may not know um we're besides the southside interceptor,
our bill is subtracted from what everybody else go. So if they make a mistake, two points up or two points down, we still get that additional flow. If somebody has eye and eye coming into into the line, we pay for that. So we just want to get accurate meters on the entire system.
>> Thank you, director. >> Anything else from the council? Councilman Gonzalez again. >> Yes, director. Uh the same appliance to the water to the uh what is it called? uh
water supply. The same applies uh there. They say you have a 107 listed on the first page and 97 on the on the detail list with the same with the amount the amount is different,
>> right? So the 97 that's listed as act those are active. We do have vacancies. So you only see the total active there and the difference will be the vacancies. Okay. Uh the other thing is following up on what the councilman
Ramos indicated at one point in time there was a conversation about separating the the water from let's say the the flow of water from the how you call it from the the the water from the
toilets and all that stuff the sewer. >> Sewer. >> So Councilman Yes. Councilman Gonzalez, you're talking about the storm water utility. >> Yes. >> Uh the administration has that that report is finished. We have to get with the administration. They haven't came to the council about create the utility
that would be separating the storm water from the waste water. >> It's another utility. New Brunswick. New should have been the first one to do it, but New Brunswick was. New Brunswick has already did it. So, we're watching how that works in New Brunswick, right? And then bring it back here. That'll make
all the parking lots or the imperious surface areas pay a little more for us. Right. They contribute to the system, but they don't pay for it. Right. Yes. Parking lot has no water or sewer bill, but they contribute rainwater into the sewer system. >> Yes, definitely. And that we get charged
by P Valley for for the treatment of that water. Yeah. >> Uh the other thing is on your billing, let's say I get the bill like two weeks after the
date that it was, let's say, read. Uh I pay within two weeks afterward and I get penalized with interest. $429 on the last bill.
me, I paid on time because I paid two weeks after I received the bill. However, when I went downstairs to check on why they were charging me the $429 interest, they told me, "Your payment
came one day after the due date. So if you're doing that to me, how many other customers are we penalizing because we are sending the invoices or
people are getting the invoices late in my case two weeks. Uh I don't know let's say if other people in the city of New receive the the billing at the same time but I suppose you send the billings all at the same time. So I believe that something
has to be let's say given to the customers. Let's say if I get a credit card bill and I get 30 days grace period. I believe we we should give people the 30 days grace period to pay their bills because otherwise we are we
are penalizing the people that can be penalized the least. >> Thank you Councilman Gazal. my my answers to those two questions. One, um, we do recognize that maybe a couple of months ago, we had some kinks in the system in the building system. I think
that's been worked out. The second step we took, we met with the postmaster general because a lot of the mail that goes out, we're not when it get delivered to you, may not have got delivered on time, but it's still a date that we sent it out. So, that's a postmaster thing. I think that may have been resolved. Um the other stuff is we
do offer grace periods on your interest payment when you pay your bill. So we do wave that if you've been downstairs and >> I I I brought it down and said well you you all 429 >> you was late. >> I was late
I believe >> I treat you like the regular citizen. You were late >> director I believe what >> no disrespect intended but you were late. the solution should be sending electronic bills. >> So, thank you for asking that. I think
as of two years ago, we wrote I mean two years ago, we rolled out the electronic payment. You can sign up and not get a paper bill, right? You can get the some people choose to get the paper and electronic, but we do have the electronic billing system where you can automatically get the email automatic login.
>> So, if I go to the to the web page for the city, I can I can do that. Then you can sign up for the portal. >> Okay. >> We we don't want you to be late. >> Take the $429 out and I'll do that. >> We're gonna save that $4 and get you on get you on a port. We're going to make
sure Miss Jess may follow up with you and get you on that portal so you can stop being late. >> Thank you. Uh Councilman uh council, >> you should wave his late fee. Uh so uh number of provisionals, number of
vacancies, and how much uh OT year to date? Can I repeat that again? Sorry. >> The number of provisional employees that you have, the number of vacancies that you have and and water and sewer, and how much uh overtime have you spent year to date?
>> So, we have about 50 provisional employees. Um we have um year to date with overtime I think for water is about 200 something,000 on water. Um so it's about 20 30,000 on
sewer and the other question again I'm sorry >> and the uh number of vacancies >> vacancy we have a total of six 17 vac 16 oh 10 on um I'm sorry it's 10
>> you have >> I'm sorry it's um 11 on water and six on sewer total 17 >> and and over times 200,000 >> as it relates to water. >> Yes.
>> And I believe you >> 20 between as of last week is like 20 30,000 or so. >> Yeah. >> Right. And just just to be sure, I'm going to ask this question for everyone now because it just popped back up. In
terms of the the calculation of overtime based on the city's policy, uh are uh our folks clear on when overtime is to be initiated and given out and how to calculate it properly? >> Yes. In the water department, yes.
Because of our aging system, right, when you when most of you sleep, right, we're out fixing water main bricks so making sure that the schools can stay open when people wake up. We're out doing flood events, you know, limiting flood events. Our overtime is not something we want.
If you notice, our overtime every for the last three years average between three to 400,000, right? Depending on the weather, too. Heavy weather related events may cause our staff to be out m mining the sewer system, prevent flooding into the city. We haven't seen
a substantial amount of flooding since IDA, but a lot of that is preventative maintenance and pre and postmaintenance during those events. However, we know as the weather come changes, sees new variations, when it get too hot, it's a lot of demand on the system. So, some of the older pipes may break. When it's in
the winter time, when it's cold, we see it's a different demand on the system. We see a lot of verses. But in the same notion, again, those investments that we've put in the aging infrastructure, this administration, this council has been very supportive that over the last
14 years has limited that over time from being in the millions to a couple hundred thousand. >> Yeah. And I'm I'm clear on that. I I just wanted to to make sure from the director's perspective uh to that information is sent down about appropriately calculating overtime,
right? That it should start after 40 hours, right? So that people are clear on how to calculate overtime so people are not being uh paid an exorbitant amount of of of money that has not worked overtime and assume that they've worked overtime
and that has been calculated properly. uh that has been a trend uh amongst all of these books when you look at uh overtime uh throughout the city, the miscalculation and so we just want to make sure that everyone is on target and calculating when overtime starts.
>> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Anything else from the council? >> All right. Let just two quick things. uh director one is collections uh the in what was the
increase in collections from 2024 to to so far this year in 2025 I want to say there was one that's what I wrote down >> yeah we'll we'll provide that number back to you I want to be a little accurate we'll we'll give you that number back okay >> the increase in collection where we at 80% or 90% we'll provide that back to
you >> all right thank you and the other thing question I you probably heard it in the back And the the the clerk is going to send it out to all departments is in 2024 you provided a list of and this is for all agencies not just 2024 provided
a list of costsaving measures and also revenue generators in 2024. How much did you with with uh cost savings did you save based upon each of the credit the list that you have given
measures and what were in terms of revenue how much revenue did you generate additional revenue did you generate based upon what you listed in the 2024 budget and I think that's all I had anything else from the council
>> yeah I'm sorry the number of uh precise workers uh you have So we have roughly about I say about 20 but they don't stay long because we usually keep them about 60 I we keep them about three to six months
and we generally switch them over to permanency. So they only stay on for a few short months and then we switch them over to a vacant position. >> And you know how much we spent on them year to date? >> Um I can get you that number. >> Yep. I'll be >> I'll get you that number.
>> Appreciate it. and and council council president council I just want to clarify something a lot of our provisional workers is not lot of our provisional workforce that you see it's not something on the city's end it's on civil service right of sending us list right some of these employees since co I
mean I think this probably departmentwide or citywide has not sent back you know eligibility list right or they're moving a little slow um I think we just got one for another department that went out test was out in 2023 three and they just sent it the other day. I'm
just looking at another department I deal with. Um, so it's like we're still waiting on >> that movement to u get these people their permits. >> All right, that being said, thank you director. Thank you for to your team for
being here. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> So, well, go ahead. What were you going to say? We're we're transitioning to public works with director.
>> I was going to say, yeah, go out the door and then come back in. [Music] Good afternoon, council president, council members. Kareem Medine, interimm director, DPW. To my left is
Jessica Kvakco, interimm assistant director, DPW, and Andre Christian, chief of staff at DPW. >> All right. Thank Thank you. Welcome everyone >> and the rest of our DPW team. >> Yes. >> I don't know if it's just this year, but
it seems like all these departments are coming deep. Is it me? >> I'm waiting for it to be quick. You said we don't want to spend a lot of time. So >> all right. >> You have an opening statement, sir. Council president, council members,
thanks again. Um Kareem, um back in front of you again with this representing department of DPW. um the great men and women here at DPW. We do a lot. Just want to say that I'm, you know, I don't have a great opening statement, but we're here to take
questions, right? We're we're committed to getting the city clean. You've seen that in the last month and a half, how we try to transition into, you know, being held accountable for what DPW stands for. With that, we'll take the opening statements. >> Thank you very much, director. Anything
from the council? Councilman Silva. Uh, director, I just have a question because I just went to that page directly. So, just an example, there's 600,000 allocated for snow removal and last year we did have snow, but the years before we didn't. Uh, what happens to that? Uh,
does that continue to stay in your budget? Like by April, May, there's no more snow, right? So, if it doesn't snow till then, what happens to that half million dollars? >> So, the year is not over yet. We may get snow in November or December. >> I'm just giving you a scenario. So,
there's been years recently where it hasn't snowed. Last year it did, but previous years if it doesn't snow or the extra money by like May or so, we can agree that there'll be no more snow. What happens to the extra money? Does it
get rolled over to the next year or you allowed to use it for other things? >> So, you're saying if 2024 ended, let me just get some clarity. 2024 ended and now we're into May of 2025. Right. That year ended. We don't owe any vendor anybody any money. Yeah. That goes to
the general fund is re allocated the way they want for the >> it stays in DPW or it goes >> it's probably going to go to the general fund. >> Oh then you'll put which your request for the upcoming year. >> Anything else? Councilman Silva? >> No. >> No. Councilman Ramos.
>> Yeah. Uh thank you uh Mr. resident >> and and I would imagine director that even if there's no snow that if there's um threat of snow or sle you guys still have to salt and >> those expenses are um appropriate even
though there's no snow activity. Um I see that you have like vacancies and sanitation and and some other areas. Tell us a little bit about your plans um to hire some additional folks. you know, may not come to fruition this year, but going into next year, especially with
the increased responsibility um that your team and in sanitation has with recycling and and other things. >> Yes, Council President, Council Member Gonzalez, we're doing, you know, we're a new team here. It's like a little bit over two months. We're doing a very
forensic type audit of personnel with our needs, not just to come up here and I think we met Tuesday, not just to come up here and tell you something. and we're still into that process. However, we can provide that information, but just the goal is to hire more people in several units in DPW, including our
motor poolool or our tree unit areas like that and make some of our uh provisional or precise employees permanent if we can. >> Yeah, I was going to ask about parks and grounds because, you know, the city does have a lot of small parks and little pocket parks and and I would imagine
that from what I've seen there's there's equipment that's outdated. you know, you have landscaping responsibility like, you know, uh hopefully at some point you can give us a presentation about what your plans are with with parks and grounds and how we can better support
you in having the um resources you need to effectively maintain this the little pocket parks, the mediums, and the city parks. >> Yes, Councilman Gonzalez, thank you for that. And I think you know um we spoke
on this uh maybe a couple of weeks ago. So the bond that's going in front of the local finance board probably in a couple of weeks maybe I think it's next week. So that I mean not the bond once the once the our budget is passed and the
local finance board agrees the city has already bonded out for equipment for all the departments which include DPW. We did that last year. So that money will be ready to be spent in a matter two to three weeks after the local finance board.
>> Tell tell me a little bit about like what's happening with motors. Um are are we able to handle you know we we have an aging fleet, you know, with the exception of some of these really fancy trucks that I see around city hall, but
most most departments have vehicles that are that are 10, 15, 20 years old. Uh the amount of you know, work that that some of these vehicles need to to be able to keep them on the road, I would imagine, is, you know, substantial. Are we able to handle
all this stuff in house? How how difficult is it for your your motors unit to keep up with all the repairs that they need to to make? >> So, two things, Councilman, we council president, Councilman Rangos, last year, we did an assessment the
Asian fleet about fleet age is is 2020 2017. because now we don't have too many of those dinosaurs. We start moving out as you see some new stuff coming. That's department by department. Some people choose to still keep those older vehicles. They think they're more reliable and they have kept our motors
division. We do recognize that we'll continue to uh increase our level of mechanics that we have. The one of the goals is to rely less on DPW should be a 24-hour operation. Um, one goal is to rely less on sending stuff out to
vendors. So, as we creep increasing our staff with some of those vacancies and bringing more mechanics in, that will help. We do notice that some as we start buying new vehicles, right, and getting the proper warranties and make sure that we're sending them out on the extended warranty program reduces us from working
on a lot of, but yes, the goal is to stop sending stuff out outside and bring more stuff in the house to do as we increase our personnel head count. Thank you, director. >> Any other questions from Councilman uh
Kelly first? >> Thank you, Council Press. How you doing, director? My question is um about public buildings. Um you guys deal with the fire departments as well, right? Like the maintenance of the fire departments.
>> Yes. Um, is there a specific budget that is allocated towards the fire departments or is it a as needed? >> It depends on what we're doing. It's a grant. It's a it's a bond out to do project Phoenix. I think that's one of
the bigger projects they're doing in conjunction with the fire department. Some general minor stuff our public buildings will have. If it's a major capital improvement, we're going to work with the engineering and public works to get like PR, which is what project Phoenix is doing for police firehouses
and the uh police uh presets. I know before you became the intram director again and I have to say is improved since you came back to the helm. But before you left um our prior director said that there would be some um
renovation and improvements done to the fire department in the west ward on uh Sanford. Were those do you know if those were done before he left or they are supposed to be done? Yeah, I think that was already finished. I remember our team did the painting was
around Thanksgiving. >> Yeah, all the violations, all the improvements was done and maybe some minor stuff that still needs to get done, but Sanford was one of the first ones on the list. >> Thank you, >> Councilman Council. >> Yeah. Can Can you uh tell me what was
budgeted for overtime this year and what was uh actually spent and how much is still in the overtime budget year to date? So year to date we spent 1 point Year to date we spent 1.3
>> 1.5 was budgeted >> and 1.5 was budgeted >> September the 5th we spent 1.391 >> and 1.5 was budgeted. >> Yes. >> About 200,000 over budget. >> No, we're still under budget. >> Said we budgeted for
>> 1.5 >> 1.5 and we spent 1.3. Yes. like 200,000 left. >> You don't you don't have that much to to work with. We're in September, >> right? >> Let's pray.
>> How many precise workers do we have? >> 209. >> 209. And what does that look like in terms of budget? What is that number? 885,000. >> About 7.2 million. >> 7.2 million. and number of provisional
workers that we have >> 84 >> 84. Okay. And then in the the 71820 line we had vehicle cleaner. Was was that line to uh for truck maintenance or for the truck wash?
>> 7 You said 71. >> Yeah. Or is it is it to is it cleaning other vehicles? 71280. That's professional service, >> right? Cleaning like >> 7182. >> Yes. >> Is it vehicle? Uh yeah,
>> that line sound familiar from my from the water so I can clean >> under [Music] OJ Truck Wash. Okay. Van said they use for OJ truck wash too. >> For truck wash. know how much we we spent so far this year?
>> No, but we can get that number to you. >> Can we get that number as well? >> The amount spent on truckwise. >> Yep. And the uh clothing allowance we budgeted 150,000.
How much have we spent year to date on on clothing allowance? How much amount spent year to date on clothing allowance? >> Yeah, >> we can provide that to you also. >> Anything else? Council council good. All right. Councilwoman Scott
Roundry. Thank you, Council President. I I've been listening to all my colleagues up to this point, but I I'm just curious about the master personnel list. Um I've noticed at least one employee um that's
in this budget that I'm not sure how to how that could be explained for the salary uh for Mr. Thomas. >> Okay. Khalif Thomas is budgeted for $105,000 salary in your master personnel list. I don't know whe
this this has been scrubbed whe there other employees that are part of this budget for the year. >> May be a typo. Council Councilman Council President Councilman Ranchie that may be a typo. We'll look into that. >> Thank you.
>> Any other question? That's it. Councilwoman, any other questions from the council? >> I had a question. >> Uh, Councilman Gonzalez. >> Yeah, let me I'm looking for >> Well, while you're looking for it, I have a question or two. We'll do that. All right. Um,
couple of questions I had. I think Councilman Council actually answer asked several of my questions on the at that same mindset. But uh in terms of total number of personnel
it it is what 302 is that what I read >> 575 >> 575 and and how many there were number that uh are not on the city payroll. How many of those aren't on the >> 209?
>> 209. And last year 2024, how many were not on the city payroll? >> I have to get that number back to you, counselor. >> My my follow-up question would be how many that were not on the city
payroll in 2024 became employees of the city in 2025? And the other question I had is just regarding the the the rising energy costs are are those fac that is that factored into your budget for 2025.
>> I don't think it was set into the fact that the budget for 2025 because the PSCG energy rate increase hit everybody by storm. >> So I'm not sure that that was factored in. >> Okay. Councilman Gonzalez, you're still looking. I'm trying to I'm trying to
hold on >> the vacancy report because I I thought the there was a manager position open uh for for like $100,000 I think it is. And uh I wanted to know if you
anticipate how let's say filling that position uh this year but I I can't point pinpoint the the page now what that is. If you can tell me where's the vacancy report.
said, "You don't have Councilman, I still don't see where it says a manager on it. I see where it says something. >> I am I'm looking for the the thing is that you don't have the tabs. >> What What page are you? Is there a page number on there? >> That everybody Everybody else have tabs separating the
>> So, this is the biggest report. Where is that here towards the end? >> It's towards the front, right? I'm closer to the front. >> Should be the first page. >> Is that you have tabs on yours, but I
don't have tabs. >> You want this one? >> Yes. Let me see that. >> It's after the narrative after page 15. >> It's after the narrative off page 15. >> After page 15. I saw something but
>> yeah it's not here. I just uh thought that I had seen something a manager position. >> Oh, but we're not looking at the filling. I I believe it was in refuge or in DPW in uh
is refuge and what's the other one? >> Refuge in collection >> box and grounds recycling which >> rec one of those I thought I had seen. >> Okay. >> Manager position vacant
with 100,000. I just wanted to make sure that >> Oh man. So if if if if you can recall at another point, you know, we're going to get questions to the clerk and then we'll forward it to >> We'll definitely I'll definitely communicate with you if I when I find
>> Okay. All right. Thank you, Councilman. Anything else from the council? Seeing none, uh thank you. >> That's it. >> Oh, we I got a I got a list, but I'm trying to be nice right now. All right. Thank Thank you very much. And and let me just also say and I know we all
appreciate the work that you do EPW particularly. It's not an easy job. >> Is he going to represent? >> He's going to do the next one. Right. Well, thanks. Thank you so much. So I uh uh uh council members uh with your
indulgence I would like to take a 15minute break. >> I just I need to put something in my stomach. >> Yes. 30 minutes. >> I mean can we do that 15? No, we don't can't do 30 minutes cuz we're behind. Is it all right? We just take a 15 minute.
All right. And I apologize to uh uh health and wellness. Thank you. I apologize to health and wellness, but we're going to take a 15 minute and then we'll come back. Okay. >> 1 hour >> 15 15 minutes. Set your timers. All right, director. I do apologize.
First, let me say that I I had to put something in my stomach. >> No worries. No worries. >> One of those days and I want I want to make sure I pay attention. >> Yeah. I don't want you to be hanging. >> Did you save me some? >> No. People think I fall asleep up here anyway.
>> I'm going to make you cookies. >> Oh man, >> what you eat? >> I got a sub. >> Wawa eating food. >> All right. You have an opening statement? >> Yes, I do. Um, can you hear me?
>> Is that on? Good afternoon, Newark residents, esteemed council. My name is Caitlyn Osbbor, director for the Newark Department of Health and CEO for its co-affiliated federally qualified health center, the Mary Eliza Mahoney Health Center, named in honor of the first
black woman to graduate from an American nursing school and worked professionally as a nurse in the US. Mary Eliza Mahoney spent much of her career in New Jersey operating in the maternal health space taking care of newborns and new moms. Besides me, I have our CFO, Subie
Vargiz, and our health officer, Marshia McGawan. The mission of the Department of Health and Community Wellness is to provide and advocate for comprehensive healthc care access and social and environmental services that support the attainment of an optimal level of health and well-being. We present to you a 2025
budget request of a mill, 98,890. Within our department, we have six divisions. the director's office which includes personnel, fiscal, IT, and grants management. The budget request is 1.95 million, 18% of our total. Secondly
is the division of medical care services which houses our health center that provides adult and pediatric medical care, dental care, infectious disease treatment, behavioral health, and women's health. The budget request is 3.3 million, 30% of our total request.
Thirdly is the division of surveillance and prevention which is comprised of communicable diseases, vital statistics, wick, immunization, health education and emergency preparedness. The budget request is a little over 1.17 million which is about 11% of our total request.
The division of environmental health is comprised of food and drug, animal and rodent control and our lead prevention and abatement programs. The budget request is 4 million, 36% of our total request. The Office of Homeless Services, which
includes homeless prevention, rapid rehousing, emergency shelter, transitional housing, drop-in resource centers, and behavioral health. The request is 440, 4% of our total request. And lastly, we have our division of health planning,
home to our Ryan White program, which provides funding to hospitals, community- based organizations, and health centers, who provide medical and social services to over 6,000 people living with HIV across five North Jersey counties. Our city operating budget
request is 184,000, 2% of our total budget request. The department's total annual budget is $79,569,666, 86% of which come from grants and revenue and 14% city operating. Operational costs are supported through
44 federal and state grants totaling 68,478,776. These grants support the delivery of medical care and public health services like immunization that ensures all children regardless of insurance or economic status have access to
diseasereventing vaccines. Our wick program that has enrolled close to 4,000 new clients to date and serves over 45,000 women, infants, and children each year. Our HIV program that has resulted in a viral load suppression rate of over
90%. A lead program that has abated over 95 homes of lead paint and other housing related health risks. A homeless service program that is on pace to transitionally house 200 previously homeless individuals in public housing and supports over 700 emergency shelter
beds. And our health center, which served over 12,000 people in 2024, 39% of whom are uninsured or underinsured and 72% of who are living under the federal poverty level. With respect to personnel, the
Department of Health has 279 active civil service employees, 32 vacancies, and 48 temporary employees for a total of 311. 11 of our 32 vacancies have pending new hires already in the queue, bringing the
number of true vacancies to 21. And six of our 48 temporary employees are part of that pool of pending hires, bringing our temporary staffing count to 42. 54% of our workforce are funded through grants. With respect to provisional
employees, a total of 139, 115 or 83% are waiting to be tested for their titles through the Civil Service Commission and 16 about 12% have passed their exams and are in some stage of being certified as permanent.
This year's top priority projects, which will carry into 2026, includes the opening of our second school-based clinic at Park Elementary in the North Ward, where we will offer family health and oral healthc care services to the students and families of the school, as well as the neighboring community. In
addition to our three medical mobile units, we are excited to have our dental mobile unit, which will bring muchneeded oral health care into our community, serving neighborhoods, schools, seniors, community, and faith-based organizations. Our 340B program affords us the ability
to provide prescription assistance to our uninsured and financially stressed patients at no cost to the city. Through our partnership with our RWJ Barnabas Health, we are now able to provide Uber health services so that our patients can be transported to and from medical
medical appointments at no cost to them or to the city. This partnership will also fund a food pharmacy program that will provide medical nutritional therapy and access to healthy foods, fruits, and vegetables at no cost to our patients and at no cost to the city. Our work
with DCA will allow us to maximize our shelter bed capacity while implementing a rapid shelter exit initiative to move sheltered individuals into stable housing. And most recently, we've developed a financial plan to renovate all of our lead safe houses, furniture,
appliances, flooring, and painting, and other aesthetic improvements at no cost to the city. The health department takes its mission very seriously and it recognizes the value of a strong public health infrastructure even when others do not. Our efforts to prevent the
spread of diseases, to promote health and well-being, to provide care and treatment, and to protect people will continue because of the commitment of our staff, the partnerships we've nurtured, the grant funding we leverage, the support of our administration and our council, and because the residents
of our city deserve it. Thank you. Thank you, director, for a very thorough introduction. I I think half my questions were answered off the bat. So, I I'm going to go to first Councilman Gonzalez.
>> Good afternoon, the director. How are you? >> Good afternoon. on the on your vacancy report. If you have some uh city funded employees that are positions that are vacant, do you anticipate filling those
before the end of the year? >> Currently, we are under a hiring freeze at the moment. We do have uh candidates that we've identified for certain positions and once the freeze is lifted uh we will work with the administration to move those forward.
>> So uh I I suppose that we can eliminate those let's say the dollar amount assigned to those positions since you're not going to be able to hire anyone from now until the end of the year. >> Correct. That will go back to the
general fund. >> Okay. Thank you. And just to follow up with that, those are the the vacancy positions that say pending, >> correct? >> Yeah. Those are the ones that are, let's say, funded by the city because we don't want to do that with the granted with
the grant funded. >> Absolutely not. >> Absolutely. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Council. Uh, Councilman Council is next. >> Yeah. I I just want to commend you for uh following up on your provisional employees and making sure uh that they
uh you know understand the importance of becoming uh you know permanent employees in the city and tracking that data and uh making sure that it speaks to what what is supposed to be happening uh departmental wise um you know in terms
of budgetary uh assets uh I know the majority almost 60% of the budget is uh grant funding I'm not sure as we move along down the line anticipating whatever is happening or the fallout from what's going on with the federal government to just to make sure that
we're aligning ourselves with some kind of plan B or C of you know how we work in this and begin to make sure that we're pre providing some kind of umbrella coverage for the employees that we have in place Councilman Council.
>> That's it. Councilman Council and Councilman Ram uh I'm sorry I said Councilman Kelly first. >> Thank you Council Pres. Great day to you all. How you doing director? My question is about um the mobile health units. We have what four
or five? >> Four. Three medical and one dental. >> One dental. Um those units were purchased by grants or were they purchased by money from out of your city budget? >> The majority of the funds came from ARP dollars. Cool. How are the uh mobile
units working out and and the people who who visit those units? Is there what is the cost to the city per person who doesn't have insurance? >> So, uh we have uncompensated care dollars that provides us with
reimbursement for uh services that are provided to the uninsured or underinsured population. Um so, no cost to the city directly per se. Uh we also, you know, take all insuranceances and we work strongly with our staff to
transition those who are Medicaid eligible into Medicaid to try and increase our insured population as much as possible. >> How how have the the units been working out in the city? >> Very well. Um and thankfully through partnerships with uh uh Newark public schools and some of the charter schools,
we're able to bring essential services like vaccines, physicals for schools. Um, and we're currently working on a plan to bring those services as well to some of our senior locations. Um, and obviously the target is our our vulnerable communities that are less
likely to come to our brick and mortar. >> Uh, specifically the dental unit. >> The dental unit has been very well received. We are actually in such high demand that we're not able to to meet all of the requests um that come in
through the office. Um but again, uh the design and the purpose is to make sure that we can bring oral health services into our community. Um and so we're working with different organizations and partners to establish a deployment plan um which will ensure that that mobile unit stays busy and stays out there.
>> Thank you, director. >> Councilman Ramos, and then >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, director, you your summary shows probably the largest number of uh provisional employees out of any department. Are these the people that work under the
staffing service? Is that why they show up as provisional that are assigned to your comp to your >> That would be that would be separate. So, we have the provisional count, which is about 139. Um, but again, 86% of those are just waiting to be tested um by the state. So, they're waiting for
those exams to be issued by the Civil Service Commission. Um, and we do have about 48 uh PDM staff, which would be the CC CSS or precise employees that you're referring to. >> So, you you run the risk that once these
um exams are called and the lists come back to the city that that some of these folks may not be reachable on the list or may not qualify for some of these positions. I don't understand like some of these seem like real basic titles like program monitor which we have 100
civil service lists around the state for that title and I know the state is backed up on calling for examinations issue that we have uh across the the hall as well. Um, are you concerned at all that once some of these examinations are called for that some of your staff
could potentially be at risk if they don't qualify or are not ranked high enough on these certifications that come back? >> Yes, that is a concern. Um, but in the past what we've done is we've been able to look at other positions that that or other titles that match the work that
they're doing and so we make those adjustments as needed. um some some critical vacancies that I and again I'm not the expert on the department but I I know you you haven't had like a director in charge of inspections in a while. What what are
the plans uh to recruit in in in that bureau or division within your department? >> We do have a candidate that we've identified um and we are working on the administration to find the best timing to bring that person through the onboarding process. um the person that
filled that position previously is actually interested in coming back to us on a contractual basis um and to provide interim coverage until a permanent um placement is made >> and I also list a health officer as a vacancy >> you have on the civil service side. Yes.
But Marsh McG has been serving in that capacity. >> Tell tell me a little bit about what's what's happened with the um with the federally qualified health center. I know I've come across like multiple directors over the years. Like is that
common for that particular kind of entity to have a lot of turnover and in directors? I know some of the other federally qualified health centers have faced similar issues and recruitment and retaining uh medical professionals, I guess.
>> Yes. Uh we do currently have an acting medical director on staff. Um and we have a couple of candidates who have expressed interest in joining us. The biggest challenge is that we're not able to pro to offer a competitive salary and so it does make it difficult to recruit
um medical professionals to join the the FQC. But we find that there are some who have a a spirit of charity and who are willing to um take on the role of being a medical director in a community health setting because of the value of the work that comes with that.
>> That's all I have chairman. Thank you, director. >> All right. Thank Thank you. Council, Councilman Gonzalez, >> is one is uh if one of the your reimbursement uh entities the charity care, you receive charity care for the
people that cannot afford. >> It's it's called uncompensated care or LOA is what we call it. But yes, it's similar to what the hospitals receive which is typically referred to as charity care. >> Okay. How much is that? More or less? >> A little over a million dollars. Um they
reimburse us about $114 for every patient encounter, which is significantly less than our Medicaid reimbursement rate, which is about $242. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Anything else from the council? Right. I got I have a couple questions.
Uh one is regarding uh the Humane Society, the contract with the Humane Society. That's under um the clerk's office, I think. Right. >> The animal shelter contract. >> No, that's under the health. >> Oh, okay. It used to be.
>> All right. Um what's my question is that contract, how does the city pay the humane society for the work they do? So, we have a contract with Humane Society to provide us with empoundment and sheltering services for animals and
and for dogs, cats, and and other animals. Uh, so they invoice us monthly. Um, we have a contract currently, a one-year contract in place with them for approximately uh 1.8 million. Um, the previous contract was a 5-year contract
which which expired at the end of 2024. And so we're moving forward with annual contracts so that we can um assess other opportunities um for sheltering of animals here in the city. Um and also puts us in a better position to
negotiate the prices yeartoear. Um so they provide us uh also with um uh sheltering and empowerment of animals who have been confiscated as a result of uh dog bites and and other kinds of events. And then um they're required to
provide safe and humane euthanization of animals um who are um unable to be treated through medical care. Uh their services also includes contracts with a veterary group called veg um so that animals can receive proper care and
treatment if they are ill or injured when we bring them in. >> Does the humane society also accept animals from other cities? Yes, they do. >> How do you determine Well, let me let me back up another question. Is there
compensation based upon the number of animals or is it just an uh is their compensation based on just a monthly >> fee? >> Typically with the shelter system, they use a per capita. So, they base it on the the population of the city that they're um serving.
>> Um they do have contracts with other surrounding municipalities. Um and so we know but we do know that we account for about 60% of their um the the number of animals that are housed in their shelter at any given time.
>> So if they bring in 100 if there are 100 animals that are brought in >> there are 100 animals in shelter >> shelter 60% would be 60 of the animals would be attributed to the city of north. >> Correct. It does become a challenge particularly because we have uh
surrounding municipalities, county parks where you know sometimes it's qu it's questionable whether the dogs or or cats are actually from Newark or or other surrounding municipalities. So there is that that gray area there. Um but we assess the numbers um that are reported
to us on a monthly basis um through their reporting and we make determinations about funding and and and and contractual um terms and provisions based on that information. >> Sorry, there was a there was a few years ago, probably several several years ago,
there was a discussion of a possible animal shelter that the city of New York would build and uh run. you I know you you probably I know you weren't the director back then but >> what ever happened to that plan?
>> Co happened. Um I mean there was a lot of strong conversation and plannings around um whether the city would build up its own state-of-the-art facility. Um and that those conversations sort of dwindled in 2019 2020 when the co
pandemic hit. um we have resurrected um those conversations and we are speaking with other municipalities about exploring what our options are maybe having some sort of shared service agreement or that sort of thing. So the conversations have picked back up but they were interrupted
for a period of time. >> Is that something that they maybe looked at in the future? >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh additional question is just with regards to uh the FQC uh in terms of how much money was generated in 20 or revenue was generated
in 2024 and today 2025. I know that was in here partners >> uh 5 million approximately a little over 5 million in 2024. >> Uh currently I think our uh program income is about 3.4 4 million um with an additional uh 1 million coming through
the uncompensated care um dollars that I mentioned to Councilman Gonzalez. And uh through our 340B program, we also have revenues close to about 200,000 um that we average each year. >> Do you anticipate meeting or or
exceeding the revenue that was generated in 2024? >> No, we don't. Uh we hope to break even this year. Okay. um the the environment that we operate in um has had impact on the number of uh patients and who come
into our health center to receive in our health department to receive services. Uh we traditionally serve a large undocumented immigrant population and um again there are some fears that are discouraging people to actively pursue care in the way that they did
previously. Um and we're working through those challenges same as the other health centers and hospitals in our in in our city. >> Okay. And and one other thing um which I I don't know if you you were here so you probably heard it but uh and I said this
to all the departments if we can get a based upon 2024 cost savings measures and revenue generating measures. What those look like uh for the year of 2024? How much did you save or how much revenue did you generate based upon the
measures that >> we'll do? >> All right. Thank you. Any other questions from >> All right. Hearing none. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate the work that you do and your team. >> Thank you. >> I see them outside all the time. >> That's the team right here.
>> Yes. Next department is department of engineering led by director Wooten. Thank you. Good afternoon, Council President. Council member, >> good afternoon. >> Afternoon. to start.
>> Sure. Um, I did prepare um some some uh uh remarks that I'm going to abbreviate because I know that, you know, we're trying to catch up with the uh with the schedule. Um again, um good afternoon, city of Newark. Good afternoon, honorable
council president Trump, members of the city council and city administration. I am Dolores Martinez Wooden. I serve as a director of the department of engineering. Um and I would like to acknowledge our department leadership who are in the audience in support of
our 2025 operating budget request both sides of um here both sides of chambers uh city municipal council on behalf of the on behalf of the department of engineering director's office the UCCC division of traffic and
signals and the division of code enforcement I want to begin by expressing our sincere gratitude for your continued trust and report. The work we do ensuring the safety and construction practices of responsible development, resiliency and infrastructure and quality of lives in
our city will not be possible without your partnership and commitment to your constituent representation. BA Pennington budget and finance department, thank you for your support and consideration. We have been instrumental to get the department resources needed to keep our operations
and projects active. Uh last yet never least uh Mayor Baraka, thank you for your leadership, care and clear vision which enable us uh each uh enables each of our departments to recognize uh the resources needed to keep this dynamic
city thriving. Um in engineering we continue the dynamic diverse dedicated uh dedicated labor to provide uh services um from um the UCCC being vigilant um undocumented construction code
enforcement works to hold uh accountability for high quality of life um and with the traffic and signals uh proactive uh projects um and you know pursue a founding of funding to
supplement our city projects. Um we're working um hard for the city. Uh some of the strategies that we are implementing and seek to continue implementing in 2025 is the proper staffing uh of the open vacancies, finding ways to create more revenue, realignment of procedures
to increase to increase efficiency and resource management. Continue to provide technical assistance to other departments in the city. Work on uh work with courts and prosecutor's office to maximize on fines violations and to bring about accountability. continue to work with the county, state, and federal
agencies in delivering projects timely and open opportunities for more funding and collaborative projects. Seek and facilitate training for our labor force, transitioning new work temporary workforce staff to city headcount and budget oversight to yield
cost savings and maximal dollars. For the 2025 budget, we are requesting an approximate of $18.5 million. Of this figure, 40.89 89 of the total budgeted value is attributed to salaries and wages inclusive of overtime and personal
allowances. This is about the same percentage uh of 2024. Um this includes the 7280 line for other professional services which funds a new temporary workforce. Currently our department has zero vacancies in director's office, nine in the UCCC
office, six in court enforcement, and four vacancies in traffic and signals. That's a total of 19 out of 117 staff. Um 117 strong is comprised of 91 city employees and 26 no work precise employees are temporary workforce.
This operating budget reflects the resources needed to maintain essential services by this department. Thank you all. Thank you and all branches of government for the engineering budget request consideration. We recognize the confidence you place in our department to deliver results and remain dedicated
to being good stewards of public funds while meeting the needs of our residents, businesses, and neighborhoods. And of course, the entire engineering staff who put on the put in the hard work uh for the city of Newark and its residents. Thank you. >> Thank you, director.
>> Questions from the council council. Sorry, we get councilman Gonzalez. >> Yeah, I have two questions and uh one observation. On the page of operational account director's office,
you have data processing operating services. It was zero last year, $200,000 this year. Um, I'm sorry. Councilman Gonzalez, can you tell me that page >> 32 of your submission?
>> Thank you so much. I appreciate >> Yes, sir. >> the line that says data processing operating services. It was zero last year and this year we have $200,000. >> Okay. Um so this line item, Councilman
Gonzalez, um we uh have the need of um uh scanning services uh across from um the UCCC is a collaboration that we did with EHD so both departments can get the uh scanning and um
uh how do you call it uh the um the need to get all our documents um archived uh uh electronically. So we got together as two departments. Yes sir. >> Maps and stuff like that.
>> Yes. So UCCC applications um as well as uh our counterparts in EHD uh zoning and planning whatever uh documentation comes in we are making it electronic. >> Okay. The on page 34
electric electricity services. It went from five million to $8 million. >> And you say you say that is due to LED. The LED use more electricity than the regular lamps. >> Okay. So when it comes to the projects
that we're carrying with PSCNG, there's an upfront cost for um the switch and labor material and equipment to actually change the lamps. In the long run, we expect savings because we do save electricity with the LED equipment.
>> Okay, there says here something there has been an increase of requests for LED lighting. these lights upgrades weren't a high billing from PSENG. So I
I thought that let's say the that we pay more for generating the light, but you say it's for the installation of the lights, >> right? So So um based on the data that we collect, it's actually data from the MPD, uh we have found that there's areas
that are dark and I know that some of the council members has expressed that across the city. So, we've team up with Psyg to find those problem spots and those uh areas that may need more lighting. Um, unfortunately, a lot of the areas have grandfather lighting and
grandfather equipment that needs to be updated. Um, again, that brings about a cost upfront um in the long run. And we do have, you know, some figures from PSENG, estimated figures from PSENG that shows us in the long run when we start
becoming net zero. Okay. Uh the other one is I just want to thank you for providing for the new audible pedestrian signals uh 200 thou $290,000.
Uh when you think that uh we are going to be operational on that. >> Okay. Um so um as we speak uh we have quite a few projects. Um I'm going to be honest with you. Um we are uh looking to
well we're in the process of uh uh evaluating where we have them now and where the new locations uh will will be necessary. Uh you know we we're going by engineering studies crash data and uh incident reporting. Um also I do
encourage um council members to send us locations that may be in need of this audible uh uh uh equipment. Um but the project starting uh we're in the evaluation phase of what we need to do from what we have done before. So like
you know where we are in the line of the sand. Um and then we we see probably when we slow down with paving because that's something that could take place in the winter. It's not you know the installation it's it's it's a most more of an electrical operation than concrete or or or actual um paving material. So
it's something that we can do in the off off paving material months. >> Yeah. I I would suggest that let's say close to schools and to hospitals uh is probably where those are needed the most because you have more people
crossing the streets. Erh um we might have places that let's say blind individuals or people with vision impaired uh capabilities cross the streets like maybe even
downtown by the banks and stuff like that things that they use maybe those are the areas that we should uh probably prioritize in providing those uh those lights. >> Thank you, Council Gonzalez.
>> Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Ramos in >> Go ahead. Go ahead, Councilman. >> Go ahead. >> Thank you. Thank you, Council President. Thank you, Councilman Ramos. Good afternoon. How you doing, director? >> Good afternoon, Council.
>> Excuse me. Uh my question is first of all I just want to say thank you to your office um in my attempts to get um Boiling Street Recreational Center remodeled, redone in four phases
and we have approached the first phase which we finally got to happen. Um, but we still have to pay the the architectural company to enter to the first phase. And I just wanted to know, did that happen yet? Did we pay the
company or I know that we were scheduled to, but I haven't heard anything else. The last thing I heard was that we were supposed to pay them to start the first phase. Are are we there yet? >> Okay. So, Councilman Kelly, I'm going to get back to you because it is a
collaboration with parks and recreation, so I have to educate myself more on the funding source. Um, I know that, um, obviously, you know, funding is not going to be something that stops this phase. Um, but I do have to get back to you with the status because it is a collaboration.
>> All right. Thank you. >> No problem, >> Councilman Ramos. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman and Director. Um, just just a few questions. one, I just want to talk a little bit about code enforcement and um are are
there plans on your end to make additional investments there as far as personnel trying to tie up some of the gaps that we have with the courts? You know, I I point to a number of examples. One in particular, you know, you and I
went out to 255 Grafton Avenue um once. You know, I've been there previously with directors of code enforcement who who were in place before you even became the director. And this is a guy who has a house in a historic district and he's
running a construction business out of his property. And it's obvious like and you know, anybody could see it. He's got construction vehicles parked on his property, on his lawn. Um, and like those are the frustrating examples that residents point to when they talk about
how the city is inefficient and we can't get things done when they complain. And I don't understand how this thing has been allowed for so long. And you know, I'm just hopeful that we can figure this out because that's an easy example um of
of uh someone who clearly is illegally utilizing his property and he's got vehicles parked in front of his property overnight that are construction vehicle. He has a tractor trailer parked in his backyard. He's got cars parked on his lawn that are construction vehicles. So,
those are the things that you got to tell us like what do you need in order for your department to be able to do a better job of responding to those people and then making sure that there's consequences that benefit the neighborhood because something's not
working. Um, the other thing is, you know, traffic safety has become a big issue now. We got a lot of distracted drivers. um we we occasionally will have meetings and walkthroughs with the community and we got to come come back to them with
something right like you know it's great to have these conversations and listen to their concerns but you know Saturday we have a follow-up meeting with the Forest Hill Association and one of their biggest issues is that you know they they they had a pedestrian killed few
weeks ago. We're supposed to have a walk through. I didn't go through your office. I went through the BA. Um, uh, we we we've talked to a few residents there over the years. They've talked about striping, um, potential addition of speed signs in the area,
things that are realistic. They don't understand why they can't get hump speed humps and other neighborhoods could get speed humps. So, is there money allocated in your budget this year or you're looking to allocate next year that's going to equip you with the
resources you need to do more to promote pedestrian safety? >> Okay. Um, as uh your uh first comments um Councilman Ramos uh with code enforcement, so currently we have um six vacancies. Um where we have a pin a
pinch right now is the administrative side. Um I would like to say that our inspecting unit um is is well staffed at the moment. Um but we they do produce a lot of uh uh cases. They do produce a lot of followwork. They do produce um a
lot of um information that we have to supplement with the administrative team. Um so it's a combination of uh you know evaluating the vacancies that we have at this moment because typically you want to do code enforce you want more code enforcement officers but at this point
what we're finding is that um to your point the accountability aspect it it's taken more seriously in courts. So, we are putting uh more efforts into uh fine-tuning and making um the relationship with um courts and uh the
prosecutor's office uh to bring about uh better chances and and better outcomes with with um cases for the city. Um you know, it is a work in progress. We've been working really really hard. Um I would say since July we put a project together to uh bring about more presence
of court enforcement officers to to show up to court to be there to represent their cases all the way through. Uh we're trying to switch our uh culture from just followup to follow through to make sure that they get their cases done um all the way to you know whether they
pay a fine not only um the culture of abatement but the culture of not doing it again. um that's what we're transitioning to um at the moment. Um I think that um unfortunately to say it will take a couple of um examples, right, for the word to be out and for
for for everybody outside in the city or in the city to understand uh that, you know, we mean business when we come out with code enforcement. Um maybe the perception was that, you know, we we weren't as um uh stern, let's call it,
prior. Um, now we have a better presence in court. Now we're representing our cases. Um, and then we are supplementing uh the office side because without proper service, without everything else that needs to happen besides the inspection, um, the cases fall through.
So that's something that we're trying to implement. Um as per the traffic uh uh comments that you mentioned, um our strategy typically is when we have um budget and uh left from paving and when we have budget left from striping from
our budgets, we we try to make sure that you know we we do we go with the lowest responsible bidder. Whatever um budget we have left at that point, we allocate it to traffic humps and and and added um uh infrastructure and and added pedestrian u projects. I would like to
add that um there is a very very big focus on pedestrian safety from a lot of our partner agencies from outside the city um that uh are allowing us and encouraging us not only to apply for funding but to also implement planning
um because a lot of uh the projects that we have going on in traffic do need a plan. Maybe they have an outdated plan. Um, a plan that works with today's infrastructure, that works with today's needs with with how many more residents are in the city. Um, so we have
established that we're making it clear um with partners that we work with that um provide funding for the city and there is a shift almost even to you know uh uh pedestrian focus uh with uh infrastructure paving projects. How
about like the digital speed signs? Um is is the idea to move those around because I I noticed like recently there's one on Second Avenue like almost on the intersection of Lake Street which to me seems like a waste of one of those speed signs. There's a hundred other
streets in the ward where you have speeding issues as opposed to that particular you know it's literally right by a traffic light. So, I don't know what why the reason what's the rationale behind having one of those digital speed signs there.
>> Is this the movable ones? >> Oh, this is the one that that has that tells you how fast you're going. >> Speed that. >> Yeah, it was recently installed there and and one of the residents at a second precinct meeting this week actually pointed it out. I didn't even notice it and I drove by and I'm like, I don't
really understand why that's there. Like I there there a bunch of other streets in the area that we have speeding issues. We had the pedestrian killed on Clifton Avenue that they could utilize a speed one of those digital speed signs because it's a long strip between
Bloomfield Avenue and Second Avenue. So is the idea to move those around, you know, just to um hopefully enable you to maximize the limited use of the limited technology that you have available. So, so the overall mentality is to address
uh pin ahead of a permanent solution engineering wise. We want to install something temporary that brings about data. Um because you know the residents may come in and say you know there's a lot of speeding is a lot of speeding. Uh for us to put something permanent we
want to place something temporary that gives us the data to substantiate that permanent solution. Um, another thing that we do is we team up with public safety uh for not only speeding but crashing reports. Um, and when we do
have those areas that may need again data collection to implement something permanent, uh, we install those. Um, they are of temporary nature. Um, so you may see it today there, but you may see it in another location. Um, we also open
it up to um council members to let us know if there's areas that the community is um asking to have uh that that sort of um monitoring uh because of the nature of them being movable. So, um we can re-evaluate that area um again,
Councilman Remos, and and check if you know the uh the data does portray um you know, speeding. You're telling me, you know, that that it may not be necessary. um we may put it in another location that may warrant um that that uh measure
at this point. >> Anything else? >> Thank you. >> Thank you, director. >> Councilman, council. >> Yeah, thank you. Um couple of questions. Uh yes sir, >> director Wooden, [Music]
>> the uh cost-saving measures that uh you talked about um in terms of of cost savings, what would that look like in terms of dollars? Like if you can create that, you talked about some costsaving measures, but if you can um be able to
anidally put some numbers to that, what would that look like in terms of numbers >> and um in terms of of overtime? on it. The director's office, you budgeted for 100,000. How much have you spent year to date? Uh traffic and signals, you budget for 100,000. How much have you spent
year to date? Code. Uh I didn't see anything that was budgeted uh for uh code. But how much have you spent year-to date in overtime for code enforcement as well as UC? >> For overtime. >> Yes. >> Okay. I I have those figures here. Yeah.
Here. Okay. So, um, for the, uh, UCCC, um, including director's office, um, we, I'm sorry, for the UCCC 99,119, uh,60s. For director's office, >> how much was UCCC?
>> The UCCC was 99,199. >> 99,000. >> Yes. And you can find it um on page 39. We have the overall um amount for uh 39 I'm sorry 99,000 I apologize
99,119 last year this year was 61. So we were able to cut about 30 $30,000. >> This year was 69,900. >> Um for >> is it 61 or 69,000 for this year? >> For this year is 6192.
I apologize. We have both years. Okay. For code enforcement for this year, we have spent to date about 37475. We do have about $21,000 saving from the previous year. And um traffic we have
spent to date $39,35 which is another about 20 21,000 I'm sorry 21,000 savings. We did 52 last year. >> So traffic in just been about 35,000 so far. >> Traffic about 30 39 for traffic. >> 39. >> Yep. And 37 for code and 61 for uh UCCC.
And I just I would like to add um the the UCCC we do have them working on Saturdays collaborating with code enforcement for illegal construction. And >> is that is that overtime or is that a a deviation of splitting up the work week?
Okay. Um, that is overtime and because we do have a slim uh uh we have a very slim staff uh or workforce at UCCC right now. So, they're working Monday through Friday, the typical um uh work week and coming in on a rotation on Saturdays.
And what they do typically is they continue working uh to review building applications and on call for any reports either from code or constituents on illegal construction over the weekend. Is there a plan to to create a uh 24-hour
um uh work environment for for code and UCC? >> Um not at this moment. Um Councilman Council, we are definitely going to look um into what we can do. Um, we were considering a shift of days. Um, you
know, like a like a Wednesday through Tuesday kind of, you know, shifting the week over a little bit. So, we got coverage, but we haven't done on 24 hours. A lot of us are on call though. If something, you know, agree just takes place, we are on call. Um, a lot of the,
uh, code enforcement and traffic um, overtime hours are due to on call, especially in the winter when we have no heat. That's something that you know automatically you're under schedule 24/7. That would be >> the concern. Yeah. the the the concern I would have with that is that if we are
um looking to generate uh additional revenue kind of sources and services in the city uh especially around UCCC uh and code where there are a uh large amount of violators uh in this weekend
that that carry out their business during the the weekend. uh that we have to begin to think of these agencies uh as agencies similar to police, fire, uh that are working uh DPW, which should have a 24-hour work plan in place uh
because it it it would give the appearance that although we're putting them out there, we're paying them in overtime to do something that we can be able to expand the work week uh to to pay them for. And so that that becomes problematic in terms of savings. So, we
should look at that. I don't know how many engineers we have if there's a plan uh to hire uh additional engineers as well. Um if you want to talk about that and then also in your 71930 line uh you
budgeted for 35 million. Uh can you talk about what was spent so far year to date? That was the street sidewalk. Uh Okay. When it comes to um engineering on the traffic engineering side uh in
director's office, we are um seeking uh uh candidates for positions. Uh we actually hired um uh a new engineer um this week and we are you know we we publish we work with the with the HR
department. We publish positions. Um we are actively recruiting. That's the question that I mean I'm sorry that's the answer that I have for you. We have we're actively recruit recruiting. Um unfortunately we have lost in the last three years an engineer per year um at traffic and signals. Um so hopefully we
just gained one and and you know that that's some something almost like a waterfall. We get more and more. Um we do have um three vacancies um and in traffic and signals and as they uh become I'm sorry four vacancies. one of
is grant funded. Um as they become uh fulfilled, if we feel the need, we're going to have to request because we do understand that the level of development in the city is catching up to us. Um right now it's it's it's it's somewhat of a manageable
um demand, but it's just getting more and more. So yes, uh we we are in the process of um of uh bringing in new individuals to the city uh and engineering positions >> and and out of the uh 3.5 million that
was budgeted for uh street and sidewalk >> uh work, how much was spent so far? >> 3.5 million. One second. If Street sidewalk construction >> 34 in your book. >> 34 one
>> under traffic and signals page 34 last part down the bottom left hand side probably. >> Okay. And >> okay, I would Yeah, this is this is an answer that I'm going to have to run a bar for you uh councilman council to
tell you what the the cost today is right now. Um I know that we had to allocate um a few funds for uh one of our MA projects. So um I'm going to have to get back to you with actual figures. >> Yeah, I would love to know that number. I mean it's an increase from last year.
Last year we crossed 2.7. Now it's 3.5. And so I just would like to know how much year to date have we spent so far leaving this um you know budget year heading into a new budget year. One second. Council council. I'm you
know assistant director here. >> Work the numbers. I know it's around, you know, pothole repair, speed humps, rumble strips. >> What's that? I'm sorry. >> That that that was the the justification for the line. Pothole replacement, speed
humps, jump rumble strips. So from the 3.5 um assistant director, >> thank you assistant director. Um we were uh we requested to have in advance uh three 2.7 um that way we can go out to
bid because uh with the um allocation the 12th allocation and so on and so forth. By the by the time we had to go out to bid we didn't have enough funds to to be able to bring in a contractor. So we did get uh 2.7 fronted um and uh
we are um expecting 1 two I believe um 1.2 were allocated to the MA23 and then we have 800 left. >> So the the 3.5 that you actually
budgeted we're near the end of September we have October, November. So that 3.5 won't be realized and so the the reduction or the leftover amount that will not be utilized. >> The we're we're anticipating 800 um but
the 800 uh we are going to um allocate it to miscellaneous projects when it comes to uh miscellaneous paving requests uh traffic humps and um any uh pedestrianization of schools etc. because that's what we usually do um
when we have added locations outside of what RMA project and what we put together in a project for citywide. Whatever is left, we leave it for um added requests. We have um we're anticipating 800,000 from the overall
3.5 that we requested. >> All right. Thank Thank you. Anything else from the council? All right. I have a I have a couple I have a couple questions um with regards to uh and it was brought up already UCCC and
overtime uh and that they will be working on weekends on Saturdays. I think that is important uh and I do appreciate that. Um particularly if over time it's used to generate revenue so it offsets it. Um
and and although it it it would assist in generating revenue, it also would hopefully I believe uh prevent accidents, prevent uh harm and it's a public safety issue, too, because we
have a lot of uh developers coming in on Saturdays and Sun and particularly Sundays. I think Sunday is a day where, you know, if they're working on Sunday, something's wrong. Um, but I think it's important that we do that on Saturdays, too. So, I appreciate that. And, you
know, when you get a chance, could you send us the the the phone number that we could call in case of emergencies or we need to reach out to somebody? Um, modernization of the elevators. I saw that on there. Is that going to happen
anytime soon? >> Uh, yes. I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. City Hall. Yeah, city hall elevators. Um we are uh we had a kickoff meeting. Um so right now they're putting together uh the schedule and um but this
is for city hall uh uh at this point in time for motoriization motoriization of all of them. I do have to thank each one of you because we got um you know that item approved and uh we're probably going to see some movement in the next couple of weeks and the next few weeks.
Um they are on board. uh we met with the contractor and it's going to be a little bit of a challenge, but we're going to make sure to communicate what's going to happen and how it's going to be faced off because it's going to be a lot of dynamic here in the building. Um we do have to have some of them decommission
or or one or so. We don't know the plan yet. We're putting it together with the contractor. Um but all we ask is you know for well we thank you for your support and then we ask you um in the in in the future uh for your collaboration and patience because it's going to be a
little trivial. Um the end goal is going to bring about you know uh what we all want which is functional yes and safe elevators uh for our city hall. >> Uh but the the process is is is advancing. We we have a contractor. Yes.
>> And was there a timeline? I didn't hear that. >> Um I could share the schedule once we uh once we establish it with the contractor. Um I'll make sure that um council members get the information. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. A couple other just items. Um
number one is something that we talked about in previous emails is the roof at JFK. I continue to get questions and concerns about it. um you know there's a hole in the roof at JFK pool and we're getting close to getting cold again and
you know we we the issue was um particularly the seniors who frequent the pool there's there's wind coming in and cold air coming in and it's becoming a problem that last year was a problem so what what is the update or what is
going on with that uh getting that addressed >> okay this is a JFK pool Yeah. >> Okay. So, so we're working um with with parks. Um the project management came out of um uh engineering. So, we're reviewing our warranties and guarantees
to see if any of the recent work that we did at JFK will be covered. >> Um we're just evaluating the issue at this at this point, Council President. >> Okay. Because it's getting cold again on this, you know, this issue was last winter that it first came up.
Uh, another question is just in regards to priorities. Um, is a city hall roof a priority? >> The city the roof up >> Yes. >> Is that something that's going to be
addressed sooner than later >> in city hall? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, so um the issues with city hall now because we did replace the roof. Um we have >> I shouldn't say I'm I'm talking about internally you know all that stuff that's >> falling down. >> Understood. Okay. Um yeah we we are
experiencing some lateral water infiltration. Um so so we are uh working with um buildings DPW uh to to to support and whatever they need to to bring about um contractors you know
experienced and and and uh qualified contractors to come do the work. um the interior of the building um you know it it's solely uh on DPW on on on building on buildings we typically support um the technical side when they bring somebody
in um I know that after we put in the roof the interior was supposed to follow you know follow um I think it's something that that um we will have to I'll have to discuss with with um interim director Adam to see what we can and how what we can do and how soon we
can do it. Um I know again that we're experiencing lateral as well uh lateral water infiltration. So there's a lot of um things that need to be addressed um still with the um building envelope um to keep the water out. Uh and then the interior um I know that we in my office
we're we're checking on um historic grand funding as well because this is a historic building. So a lot of the things that we can do are very limited. Um, but that's another thing that we're we're we're pursuing a plan um to see what we can and cannot do because the
previous plan to treat city hall I believe is outdated. So, we need to kind of get a a sign from here to reassess what is necessary and what we can do in you know and with the technology now because the plan I think it's is if I'm
not mistaken a few years old. >> Thank you. And one one last thing is is And I think you were here when I asked the other directors with regards to 2024 cost-saving measures and revenue generating measures that you proposed.
What costsaving measures each but by line how much money was saved for each cost-saving measure that you put there for year 2024? Same for revenue generation. um what in terms of revenue generating measures, what uh revenues were realized
in 2024 and then you know obviously what what uh crosses over to 2025 too. >> Sure. Thank council. >> Thank you. Any other questions from the council? >> All right. Seeing none, thank you very much director.
>> Thank you. your team. >> Next department is department recreation led by director reading. [Music]
[Applause] Good Good afternoon, director. >> Good afternoon, council president and honorable council members. First, I want to start off with joining me today is my assistant director, Miss Kesha Raspberry, who's on my right, our
senior administrative analyst, Mr. Andis Walford, excuse me, on my left, and our department chief of staff, Mr. Maris Lewis. So, I want to start on behalf of the Department of Recreation, Culture Affairs, and Senior Services. I am Darnell M. Reading, director of the
department, and I'm honored to present our proposed budget for the fiscal 2025 year. Department of Recreation, Culture Affairs, and Senior Services is dedicated to delivering high quality programs, events, and services that support academic enrichment, promote
health and wellness, and strengthen community engagement across all five sides of our city. We are committed to inclusive family oriented offerings that celebrate education, recreation, cultural heritage, and active senior involvement. Our goal is to manage and
provide cost-effective, reliable services with a strong emphasis on safety, customer satisfaction, integrity, teamwork, and stewardship. Through these efforts, we strive to enhance the quality of life for all residents and build a more vibrant,
connected community. Thank you for your opportunity to share our vision and plans for the upcoming year. >> Thank you, director. >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Our department team members consist of uh 17 precise uh employees, uh 43 43
provisional employees, six vacancies, and a total of 85 uh employees. That's uh permanent employees uh not including precise with precise there'll be a total of 102 employees.
>> I'm open for comments. >> All right. Thank you. Questions from the council. Councilman. Council. >> I just have >> Oh, I said council, but go ahead. Councilman Gonzalez. Go ahead.
>> Yes. Actually, I have two two comments. Uh, one is on page seven of your presentation. >> Yes. >> You have other specialized services
$187,000. >> It says funds to be used to cover cost precise payable staff. What is What? >> Yes. Mhm. What is precise federal that >> uh precise uh are CSS employees? So >> that a consultant or
>> No, no, no, no, no. Those are our precise employees. That's was a part of the 17 precise employees. That what that number is in under our 72090 line. That's how we play our precise employees >> and precise are
>> it's a staffing company employees or >> Yes. Yes. separated not permanent employees. >> And I suppose the same is true for on page nine
line 72090. >> Absolutely. >> But >> yep. >> Why did it did it go from 121640 to 552,000? because at that particular time we hired um more precise employees. Our precise
employees were hired to be uh drivers and senior services because our senior service population increased uh uh uh tremendously. So what we did, we went out and we uh was able to hire uh uh part-time drivers and also drivers
that's not being paid out of the city funds but to enhance our senior services program. So basically most of those employees are drivers for senior services division of senior services. >> Thank you. You're welcome >> councilman council.
>> Yeah. Um what is the the the total spending for uh precise year to date the total spending for preise? You said you had 17 people. >> Yeah. And what what's the the total spending
>> for this year? Uh year to date. >> Year to date >> is uh it's 739 >> uh for the total year 739,835. >> 739,000. >> Yes. 83. >> So you got 739,000. >> DPW had 7.2 million.
>> Oh, this is thousand. This is year to date. 739. Yeah. I'm just I'm just calculating. You >> said millions. >> No, you 739. >> Yes. >> DPW had 7.2 million. >> So we just This is a number that you just put all together. >> Right. Right.
>> Right. Right. And and in overtime, >> how much have you spent year to date in overtime in in the total department of recreation culture affairs? So that's under recreation, senior services. So, I'm I'm going to break it down in our uh
line item. And um overtime currently uh we are at um 71280 and606. We spent $125,000. In6006
and we spent in6009 we spent $27 I mean excuse me $19,677. >> 19,000. >> Yes. $677. And that's in uh 09. >> 09. And 0. How much was in uh 06?
>> 06 uh was 125,000. >> 125,000. 08. >> No. No. My my apology. You want to know how much we spent year to date? >> Yes. >> Okay. We start off with 125 and60. 125,000. We spent $35,000.
$670. And year to date in6009 we spent uh $2727. >> And that total number is >> uh if I do my math real quick 35 that's about $38,000. >> Close to 40,000.
>> Yes. >> Actually it's $40,25 and and >> it's $40,215. >> That's correct. >> Yes. That's correct. >> It's on page 13 of your >> It's in there presentation. I got it. >> Yeah.
Then the uh and and all of your your food service lines in the I believe it's the director's office 7128 line is 224,000 that was allocated for food. Uh cultural affairs there was 105,000 allocated for
food and under senior services I believe it was 700,000 allocated for food. alltogether is like a million29,000 and some change the it's a lot of money for for for food but can you just break
down I know part of it is the a contract that's related to senior services >> yeah uh most of it comes from um our senior services because uh unfortunately and I can say this due to unfortunate inflation but uh the vendor uh that we
had uh was quoted in actually kind of quadrupled their prices. And actually, it was the lowest responsible bidder that brought us up to that astronomical amount. But I'm going to give you a year-to- date cost uh spending. Uh we spent $365,000,
$896 year to date out of our uh 83210 line. And we have a $312,000 balance available. That's uh year to date. >> Spend it. >> Yes.
That's it, Councilman? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else from the council? Couple questions I have. Uh, director. Uh, one is so this budget you're asking for a million dollar increase about a million dollars.
Uh, is that correct? I just want to >> That is correct. >> Okay. 300,000 into increase in recreation and what's the justification for that? >> Now, it's recreation, culture, fears, and senior services. Is it >> But it's broken down, I guess. So, I have it broken down by recreation,
senior services, and in the direct and there's a decrease actually in the director's office. >> Yes. >> So, the 300k for recreation, what what's the rationale for the increase? >> Well, we actually uh have more uh programming. Uh we also engage with the
community more because we have a lot of requests from different nonprofit organizations, LLC's, INC's that ask us for support. Uh and uh looking at the budget from last year, we actually kind of was flatlined because we was doing a lot of support to engage our
communities. So um they can also survive as well. So we look at the residents first to ensure that uh those needs are met with them and also with the programs and events and activities that we do those demands are met as well. So that's why we uh humbly ask for that request.
>> And is that similar with senior services? >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Another question I have is regarding uh a little revenue generation uh with the community and and I don't know how much of this community pass how much
uh revenue is generated from community pass residents and non-residents. >> Well uh right now uh in our recreation trust fund we have about $80,000. So we uh generate it periodically. We get our revenue from community pass which uh the
residences charge $5. The uh non residences charge $15. We also get re uh revenue from our permits. Uh Newark residents are charged uh $150, non Newark residents $350. And as we moving forward to uh have some sort of cost
savings or bring some savings into the city or additional funding into the city, we going to have the conversation that we get to you guys shortly to the council in terms of going up on our permits for community paths for non-residents and also going up on our permit fees for uh non-residents as
well. >> Oh, that that's great because I I wanted to sponsor that and push forward for non-residents to pay more. I know a lot of folks come from out of town to come in and utilize our facilities because in their towns it costs a lot more money. >> Absolutely. >> So that's that's good to hear. Uh I I
just want to end with um again I think you've been here and you've heard me say this before for all those in 2024 the cost uh saving measures that you uh promoted as well as the revenue generating measures.
just want to find out in 2024 what was realized in terms of cost savings and revenue generation and how that carried over to 2025. >> Well, and >> you don't have to answer now. You can provide it to you can provide it to >> All right. Okay. >> That's that's that might require a
little work. So, I'm going to dive in. >> Provide that information. >> All right. Definitely. >> And so, and and I think that's all for right now. I want to say thank you for what you do. I think this summer was a wonderful summer and I mean in general,
but this summer was a wonderful summer in terms of so many activities for our kids, for our youth, for our seniors. Um, and I think this just an important thing and our parks are are are looking good. So, that's a good thing, too. So, appreciate all that you do and thank you
for being here today. >> I'm humbled for that comment. Thank you so kind. >> I am. And council members, just again, if you have any additional questions, remember to get them to the clerk's clerk's office and we'll share them with all the departments.
>> Thank you. [Music] >> Next department is the law department headed by Corporation Council Stewart. Did you bring your whole office down here? Corp counsel? >> No, I just uh Well, a few people just in case you guys try to jump me. You know
what I'm saying? All right. No, but on a serious note, I thought it was important. Uh, first, you ready for me to start? >> Yes, please. >> So, good afternoon. Uh, just for the record, Kenyatta, City of North Corporation Council. I have along with me Michelle Nelson, who's the first one
first assistant for the city of North Corporation Council. Um, I thought it was important for us to for for the council to be able to at least see some of the folks in the office that's in charge of some of our sections. Uh you all know that we have essentially four sections, main sections which is our prosecutor's office that's held by
Yakima Jones who is here. She's been here for less than less than a year. Um we also have our um contract section. Uh Janette is also here. Uh she runs our she's been here for some time now. Uh Vanessa is new as
well. Uh she if those folks are here, can you raise your hand when he acknowledge staff? >> Yes. >> Uh Yim is here. She runs the prosecutor's office. >> Vanessa's here. She runs the litigation section. Shantel is here. She was the um
chief of staff. Now she runs our outside council affairs. We also have Karen like almost hiding a little bit runs our labor section is in the row behind. Okay. >> Um you know I just thought it was important because sometimes you know you might see people you know walking through the through the uh through the
building and you don't recognize and appreciate that these folks are involved in some really really serious things. Uh you know they've taken advantage of the opportunity to work with most of if not every uh department here in one way or another. Um the law department as I said you know we we have four different
sections our contract section which usually handles the things that come to council right so you know the things that come to the agenda and things of that nature and then there's also just you know closes and things of that nature that we deal with um our labor section deals with any of our issues when it comes to employees litigation is
if someone sues the city of course and then our prosecutor's office handles most of what happens next door with our municipal court. Um, you know, we are, uh, is willing to answer any question that the council may have. Uh, recognizing that, you know, we also have a number of, of law firms that handle
outside council matters, most of the more heavier matters. Um, I will say that right now we have 191 cases alto together. Um, that's inside and outside when it comes to litigation. Um, you know, just today, uh, we were in our
KPIs and the, uh, the the municipal court talked about more than almost a half a million cases that go through the municipal courts. So, you know, as you can imagine, it's a very busy law department and of course, we're always up to the challenge to do what we got to do to support the city.
>> Thank you, Council. >> Council Gonzalez. >> Yes, Mr. Corporation Council. You might be sued. >> Yes, sir. you might be sued because I I see all the females in your staff.
>> Well, I I will say this. >> We rebuke that. >> I will I will say this. I will say that um you know when I walked into this office more than eight years ago, uh you all remember Angela Foster and Avon Benjamin were the two people who held
the first assistant position. I will tell you that walking into this space uh those two young ladies who had 15 years of experience one way and 15 years experience the other way showed me that if you want to get something done >> for the rest uh you know uh I appreciate
the fact that you know these women here that you see here very very detailed people and of course we have men in the office that work very very hard I just didn't ask them to come down because they're not quoteunquote in charge of any of the sections >> I just went to to make it short because
we're on overtime. >> Sure, I understand that. I mean, listen listen, just for the record, listen, I'm I'm before the council every single week. >> Uh, you know, so it's no secret on what's happening when it comes to the law department. Uh, when we have to deal with cases and settle cases, we're in executive session having deep dive
conversations about legal issues. So, I recognize and appreciate, but I'll also answer any questions that you may have. >> All right. Thank you, Councilman. Council, >> I'm good. I'm good. >> I'm sorry. >> I'm good. >> Oh, back to Councilman Gonzalez. >> I I see that you didn't have any section
chief. Now you have six. Is that a reclassification? >> No. Uh I think that's just a misprint. Uh we we've we've always had section chiefs. They're essentially the people who are in charge of the different sections. >> I believe you changed the line where they are reported. >> Okay, maybe that's what it is.
>> Yes. Let's say you had a section chief 9263 the line and now the section chief is the same line. I don't know why why >> so it what's what's what probably
happened is they changed it because of the salary increase. Uh you know we we had an opportunity to increase the salaries recently to try to be more competitive with other governmental agencies. Of course, you know, we're also trying to compete with uh private private industry law firms that are
essentially taking our folks from us after we train them up and they start doing a good job. >> Uh anything else, Councilman Council, thank you. Council council, >> you have a line for student assistance. Do do you ever utilize that line that students from different areas can do? We
have someone now. >> So, right now we have somebody starting I think Monday. >> Yeah. So, we have some folks coming in starting Monday. >> Excellent. >> Yeah. Yeah. And we and I mean, of course, we try to make sure they're local folks. Most of the time, most of the time they're usually local law
students or local college students. And then, of course, we always have summer interns that range from high school kids all the way up to law students. And try to make sure they have real experience, not like, you know, the stapling things and things of that nature. >> So, you you you have internships for law
students. Mhm. >> Do you have that on a regular basis? >> Sorry. >> Do you do we have that on a regular basis? >> Every single year that I'm here, we have uh interns throughout the year and then we also uh participate in, you know, summer youth as well. So, you know, we
get a heavy number over the summer, but uh over the winter months, we have interns that come in all the time and get a real experience. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Anything else, Councilman? Council. >> All right. So, I I got a couple questions and I think you started to
answer it and I'll be honest, I couldn't hear exactly >> what was being said, but there How many vacancies do you have? >> I want to say there about six uh let me go to the report. >> Was it six line attorneys? >> One section chief and six
>> excuse me, >> it was one section chief and six >> I believe it's six line attorneys. Yes. >> Attorneys. And you're filling how many? You said Monday there some some >> So, Monday is the interns. Oh, the interns. Okay, that's what it was. >> So, we are in the process of, of course,
working with uh HR. >> We've, you know, uh >> promoted or uh you know, pushed out the fact that we were you know, trying to get new attorneys in the office. Um you know, and to Tiffany's credit, Tiffany Stew's credit, uh we've had some
responses, fortunately, but unfortunately, some of those folks, you know, when you when you sit down and talk to them, people kind of fluff some of their resumes. So, you know, we have real conversations with them about some of the things that they know. They don't really know it. A lot of people also come from different states. Um, you
know, we have people who, you know, as far as Oregon said they wanted to work for NORC, but they don't have a NORC, they don't have New Jersey bar. So, you know, that's that becomes somewhat of a of an issue. But, uh, we are in the process of still trying to recruit folks. >> All right. And and I and I do appreciate
what you have to do being a former assistant corporation counselor. No question. It's not easy. Um, you might have answered my questions throughout everything.
Uh, with regards to No, I'm good. I'm good. May have a follow-up question, but I'm good right now. Anything else from the council before? >> All right. Well, thank you, Corporation Council and and Michelle. Miss Nelson,
>> assemblymen. >> Oo, let's not say that here. >> All right, all get up at once and leave. Go ahead. >> Next is the mayor's office and agencies led by chief of staff Baraka. I couldn't hear you.
>> The next is the mayor's office and agencies led by the chief of staff. >> Yeah, >> it's just affirmative action. >> No, we may. >> Good afternoon, Chief. >> Good afternoon, committee Baraka, chief of staff to Mayor Baraka. Um,
unfortunately my clerk is on vacation. She created this budget and she left me on high. Oh, >> but I'm ready. Any questions that you have? There's no significant changes in the budget. Um, except of course the
salary increase due to council 21. Uh, and that's from 2023, 2024 up to 2025. >> Thank you. Questions from the council. I don't I don't have a budget in front of me. So,
>> you don't? >> No. >> So, if what what I said what I said previously though, if there if there questions that the council may have later on today or tomorrow, let's make sure we get them to the clerk's office and then she'll forward them to necessary. >> The budget's been the same for the past
five years. So, >> it's been Thank you, Chief. >> Any anything else from the council? >> Have a great day, Chief. >> All right. That was the quickest one. Thank you. Appreciate y'all. Thank you. >> Tell your clerk you can stay on vacation. >> Thank you. Thank you.
>> The library is going to be just as quick. They are here to present. >> Okay. Who's that? That Right. Good. Good. We're ready. Good afternoon.
>> Good afternoon. Um, I'm Ronnie Little. >> Yeah, please pull it up, Miss Little. Thank you. >> I'm Ronnie Little, interim controller for the North Public Library, and I'm joined by assistant director >> I hate to say it. I really can't hear you. I don't know if you could pull it
closer or speak up a little bit. Thank you. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yeah, much better now. >> Okay, great. Um, nice to be here today. I am Ronnie Little, interim controller for the North Public Library, and I am joined with assistant director Leslie
Coulson, um, who leads up our human resources functions at the library. >> All right. Do you have any uh opening statement or you just want to >> um I will I will read the opening statement that was provided with the packet. Okay.
>> And I will skip to the good part. >> Okay. >> Um during 2025, the library as we are all aware was able to address and redress the issue of fair and competitive pay for our lower paid library workers. and we will execute on
commitments to bring salaries for professional librarian titles to 2026. We would also like to execute on an important community and city council members request to increase evening
hours in the neighborhood branch locations. An investment of $239,616 annually will enable us to operationalize Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening service until 8:30 p.m.
And this will bring our six neighborhood branches into par with the main branch for late hours. So, keeping our general operating funds flat, the 239,616 increase would bring our total cash
appropriation request to 10,553,773. >> Any questions? >> Questions from the council? >> Councilman council. >> Yes. Uh, how many number of employees do we have at the uh library now? We have 104.5
full-time equivalents. >> 1040. What was >> 104.5? So, we have 100 full-time employees and a number of part- timerrs. >> And the the the number of branches that we have open,
>> uh, six open branches plus the main branch. and the six open that we have. Um, are they on a staggered uh schedule or are they on a full-time schedule? I know that you mentioned that you want to
expand some schedules to stay open till 8:30. >> Correct. Back in 2010 when the city of Newark was going through some very tough decisions, many library branches were closed. the library budget was uh significantly
reduced and at that time we were forced to eliminate Monday service for all of the branch locations and late night and full day Saturday services for all of the branch locations. Right now at Maine we have three late
nights Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays where we're open until 8:30. Unfortunately, in the branches, we only have one late night, and that is Wednesday. Over multiple years, we've had uh consistent requests
from the community that particularly for teens and people who work, if you're a teen and you're out of school at 4:00, maybe by the time you get to the library, it's 4:30, but the library is closing at 5:30. it does not really
enable teens and other community members to take full advantage of library access and services. So our request is to bring the branches into parody with Maine. So the branches would be open Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday until 8:30 p.m. >> And that would require uh additional uh resources. >> It would. And so your increase request is of what? >> $239,616.
>> About 240,000. >> Correct. >> Anything else? Councilman Council Good. >> I mean, they they they're asking for a increase of 240,000. I mean, we should have some conversation with the BA about it, you know, based on some of the other
movements and and some of the things that we've seen uh just to see what the pulse is to uh it's not a lot uh to allow the additional 240,000. >> Yeah. With a conversation with with uh
OM Councilman uh Gonzalez, do >> you have any vacancies on that on the proposed budget? >> We do. We have a number of vacancies and I'll defer to our assistant director for human resources on that. We currently have 25 vacancies
>> and you provided salaries for those vacancies. >> Yes, we have. You can see it on um vacancy for number one, page one. >> I don't have a copy of your uh present your budget presentation. They sent it though. >> But you see, let's say if you eliminate
some of those or zero out some of those vacancies, you're not going to fill them this year. Uh you will have the $240,000 and more available to you because you're not going to be able to fill those
positions from now until the year's end. the current um 25 vacancies that I was speaking of, we do have um funds to cover that. But for the additional uh monies that Miss Little was speaking about, we do not have the money to cover
the staff for that. >> Yeah. But if you zero out the salary on those vacancies, you will have a ton of money because you are not going to spend that money. You want me to? >> Yeah. >> So,
um, the library has actively already started its search to fill some of those vacancies and >> that and I I I encourage you to do that, but if you you are not going to have the 25 positions filled from now until the
end of the year. So if you take that those dollars and you reallocate those dollars to uh to open the libraries in the evening, you will have the money to do that. >> So let me add to this. This this is a
this is a a common theme amongst all the budget hearings today um or in general is that we're we're in pretty much in the fourth quarter of the year for a 2025 budget and therefore a lot of uh uh expenses that we had in terms of
salaries because they're vacant they won't be filled. So those salaries, what the monies that are allocated for those salaries, I believe Councilman uh Gonzalez and it's been we've talked about it in different budget hearings. >> Yeah. >> That money for the city would be
allocated back into the city budget for those departments. What happens when if when and if uh the library does not hire somebody and spend that money or utilize those funds?
>> You want to take that? >> Okay. Our request assumes that the 2026 hearing will also be more toward the fourth quarter of the year. So, we recognize that this is retro to
the beginning of the year, but we also recognize that we'll have a whole another year until we have another budget hearing for 2026. Right now, we're trying to get ahead of the curve. Um, I'm very proud of uh my
colleagues and the work that we've done to make our salaries more competitive and catch up from 2024. So the library has made a significant investment in salaries during 2025.
I think that what will happen is we will wind up in the same situation but a year from now. So without a doubt, we could implement a program to begin to
fill vacancies to expand hours, but that would leave us deficient in other areas where we still need to staff up. I want to say it's six of one, half dozen of the other, but but I certainly see your point.
>> Thank you. Anything else, Councilman Gonzalez? Uh, I I have Well, first of all, let me say I love the library. I should have said that earlier. My whole family has library cards and we go to the library all the time. I even Oh, wait. I might even have it on me. Let me see while
we're talking. Uh, >> my lord. >> Oh, I had my library card on me. I don't know. I must have taken it out. >> Don't forget, you have to renew every year. >> Yeah, I had I had a special gold one, too. Where did I do it? Oh, yeah. Here it is. Oh, yeah. >> Very nice.
>> See, I even carried on. Um but but uh well I have a different kind of question. So with regards to the uh process and search for a new e executive director, has that begun? >> I'm sorry. Say again. >> In terms of a process, the process to uh selection process for a new executive
director. Has that begun? At this time, we're looking for um an interrum and we're dealing with two different uh firms, but the board um will give more details on that at our board meeting at September the 24th. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other
questions? Uh Councilwoman Scott Roundtree. >> I I know this is a budget hearing, but I just want to thank Lesie for 39 years. 39 years with the public. Y'all can clap for her. 39 years. She It's over. She's
here today, but I don't know where where the journey is going to to lead her to. Councilman Kelly, I believe she's West Ward all day long. So, just in case we don't get to see you sat here today and we know the scrutiny and all that the libraries, all of the branches are going
through, but for 39 years, you stuck it out. So, Newark thanks you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. just >> I'm going to move away a little bit so she doesn't hit me, but the library will have a small celebration to celebrate
her 39 years on September the 18th, 11 a.m. >> They they told me it was a surprise. That's why I didn't say that. >> Yeah, not a surprise. >> I thought it was a surprise. Since it's no longer a surprise, we just want to say thank you. You're welcome. >> 39 years of service. >> My pleasure.
>> You know, we love you here in the city and we definitely love you in the West Ward. Thank you so much for all that you do, both of you. >> I've known Miss Little for a long time, off and on. >> All right. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> All righty. To the wire. >> Our crowd is dwindling, but I see workforce. >> Yep. I believe that's it.
on it. [Music] She's Just want you. [Music] [Music] >> Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
>> Again, >> Karen Gaylord, executive director for the Workforce Development Board, uh, council president and council members. As a point of personal privilege, I'd like to take just one moment to thank, uh, municipal council for the beautiful,
elegant tribute uh, that you sent to my family on Saturday on behalf of the uh, homegoing for my grandson. It was comforting, warm, and Newark. Thank you.
Um, I'm joined today uh by our interim fiscal chief, Grace Ye. Um, and also by the assistant director for Newark Works, Cody Pigot. Um, and grateful for their support and to um, Miss Yei in
particular for the preparation of the documents in front of you today and our accounting. As you are aware, the Newark uh workforce development board oversees the activities of Newark Works and uh also the New York Youth one-stop
operation. Uh we over the last uh 22 months have overseen the one-stop operation at two locations instead of one. We are um still operating at 990 Broad Street. Uh I'm sorry, 990 Mayor
Kenneth A. Gibson Boulevard and also at 375 Marter Highway uh for uh almost two years now. And uh that operation continues to take place with about the same number of staff. And for those of you who are unaware of it,
we have extended the hours of service at 375 Marter Highway uh for as long as we've been at that site. Uh we now operate from 8:30 to 8:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 to 2 on Saturdays. Um and
we pretty much uh been able to accomplish that with nearly with just a slight um increase in funding uh from our federal grant programs. So we're very proud of that. Um
we want to uh also mention that um we continued over this past year to be funded with WELA federal funding, WFJ state funding, uh a grant from two grants from the Department of Corrections and um the largest grant
ever issued for summer youth work experience uh in the Department of Labor history um this past year, which helped helped us immensely. Um we've just wrapped up summer youth employment having served
2127 youth in our city. Um with a record number of applicants this year. Uh not able to do as much as we would like because we wanted to increase the pay uh
for the the youth that were involved. But um we're uh proud of the work that was done this summer and um look forward to reporting out on that uh in the weeks and months to come. The budget uh just for everybody's
recollection the the city budget includes Newark Works Municipal ID and the re-engagement center under that budget. Uh Grace, do you have anything you'd
like to add? Cody? Anything? Okay. Ready for any questions you have? >> Thank you. Questions from the council. I was on the council. I >> just wanted to know how many uh people
have we served under the municipal ID to year to date. We have that number. >> Uh we are currently uh with nine people uh in the municipal ID. There was that's down from 12 originally
and we have two people in the re-engagement center. And would we track the the the data of the number of service folks that have come through for municipal IDs?
>> We do. Um we've uh implemented a KPI system for municipal ID uh over the past 3 months. Um we're now seeing that steadily. They report weekly. Um I I do have the report for this morning that I
do uh 192 I'm sorry 142 people received municipal IDs in the last week as of uh the report that we received yesterday. >> Councilman Kelly, >> how you doing? Director, thank you.
Council Press, how many um youth did we have for the summer youth program compared to last year and this year? >> Good question, Cody. If you off the top of your head, do you remember the >> um so this year, I believe Miss Scaler
did mention we paid 2,127 young people. Um and it was around the same range last year. and they're paid um I know there was a discrepancy of some type of if they had bank accounts, if they had direct deposit, so they were
paid by cards I believe this year. >> Yeah. So, a percentage of our young people were paid by a Dash Pigart. Uh but we had a lot of young people that had direct deposits as well. So, money is deposited straight into their bank accounts. So the the number that was
paid last year and that was paid this year you said was around a similar y >> is that the number that we go for every year is that a allotted slot that we have for enough that's the only amount that we have enough for >> doing >> well it really it really depends on
because we do raise philanthropic dollars as well >> so it depends on that it also depends on the amount of money that the state gives us whenever they have the grants as well plus the city fund. >> Thank you. We apply for the um state summer grant annually and we don't know
until very close in uh March April time frame whether or not we're going to be awarded and how much that award will be. Uh we also rely heavily on uh private funding, private sources of funding to run that program.
So, we're leveraging um WEOA, we're leveraging the other state uh the other federal grant uh funding and private funding as well. And the city of course has always been generous and helpful.
>> Yeah, I I want to thank you guys. It just seemed like it was smoother this year just like listening to the the youth and um I seen a lot of uh firsttime job you know uh people who for their first time jobs everybody seemed
happy. So thank you guys for for that. I do I do want to add in there though councilman that part of the re our numbers too decreasing for the last two years is because the minimum wage went up. So, >> you know, at the state min, you know, when we first started this, the minimum
wage was probably about $2 less than what it is today. And so, over the years, as the minimum wage went up, we can only hire as many people as the grant allows. And so, um, based on that is one of the reason why our numbers, at one time we was doing like 3,3100,
um, but because of the minimum wage keep going up, um, you know, it it takes away some jobs, right? Thank you, >> Councilman. Council, do we have any uh uh grants that may be in jeopardy because of federal funding?
>> Great question. [Music] >> Right now, the WEO, what's you know, my conversations with the Department of Labor and WEO is that um they're really not concerned about the balance of the years when they started reallocating money. When they give come with a new
budget is what they're more concerned with on how much they're going to cut. So, I think for a few months we're good. The problem um that we see is the fact that uh I was I explained to the mayor a lot of uh SNAP benefits and stuff is about to be cut and people have to
reapply um and individuals have to go into either a training program or they have to go into what we call a work activity um to get these benefits and some actually going to be kicked off. And so they're actually starting, you know, people that are up, they have to
reapply. Right now, they're starting that process next year. Most of them will go into effect. Uh this is going to be an issue with workforce because um the dollars that we get and and if he cut more um but they're asking us to service more people, thousands of people
now that they're now about to take or forced to go into either training program. So it's something that, you know, we have to plan for. How how many folks uh year to date, you know, have come through the re-engagement center? We haven't
It's a good question. We haven't added a KPI yet for the re-engagement center. Um it's something that we uh have a plan to do. Um and we will get back to you as soon as we've gathered the data for that >> and included in our reporting. >> Yeah, that that would be good
information to have. >> Right. It's critical because um a lot of the work that they do is GED, you know, helping people recover that vital credential. It's very difficult for us to place people if they don't have that minimum credential. So that that work is
important. >> Just a couple of quick questions. Uh, one is in terms of clients served and I know this is a broad question because there are so many different layers or departments they're served in. You have the number of clients served in 2024 and
how many clients you have served thus far year to date in 2025. If not right now, you can provide it to us. >> We do actually. Um, I uh we will send it to you. That report is available. We report it out. We report out on it weekly. Um the number
of clients served uh and uh we can I can say with confidence because we just reported it this morning um that the year-over-year number of clients served uh this year was up by 8.9% total clients served uh this year versus last
year. um the number of uh people uh because we we also track people in training programs. The number of people in uh certified training programs with our um federal dollars is declining
while the number of people um in jobs placed in jobs is increasing I think by about 23% year-over-year. And that's because um training is a uh leading indicator and jobs is a lagging
indicator. >> We trained uh the last two the previous two years way above our the prior two years and we're now seeing the opportunity as a result of that heavy
training to place people in jobs as the lagging side of that indicator. So, um you know that we uh we will share those numbers with you uh great >> before tomorrow. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> My my my last little comment is um I see
you have sewing with Kelly. >> I'm sorry. We have it. >> Thanks for the iPad here. >> Um year-over-year um seen in service this year uh 6,946 year to date versus 6,183 for the same
period last year. 12.3% increase. >> Thank you. Very good. So, my last comment is just to say that um I see you have sewing with Kelly, which you see as a program. Uh I I hope you could consider crocheting with Rockman as the
next my wife is has learned how to crochet because of him. So, >> conflict. >> But seriously, no. Thank you very uh I'm sorry, Councilwoman Scott Rodri, turn your mic just want to say, you know, we talk about persevering and and
stand. Thank you, Council President. We talk about persevering and and and working against the odds and um to Karen Gay Lord and her team. I know that it's a lot, but for you to sit here and still make sure that you're prepared for this presentation knowing that Kai went
through a strong battle and we're praying for you and your team because through it all, I would hear you at Newark Works. You would call us. We would pray. So again, I know the council extends their condolences to you and and
Victor Kai um who I believe has joined the ancestors to watch over you and you just continue to persevere and be the strong God-given woman to do the assignments that you've been given stewardship over. We love you. Thank you. >> With that being said, let me say also
thank you for what you do for our community. It's extremely important and and not to get religious, but it's God's work. Um, and I thank you for what you do. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I felt like clapping too for that one. I
All right. [Music] >> All right. Some praise. All right. >> Newark Municipal Courts. >> Uh, I know the chief judge just stepped out for a second. I don't know if you all can get her to come back in here
real quick if she's supposed to be in there. >> No, she just walked up to the course raises. [Music] You weren't coming. [Music]
Yeah, I can start with open. We'll give it a second. >> I apologize. >> Good afternoon, Chief. >> Good afternoon, council president. >> Uh, thank you. you you can begin if you have an opening statement or you just
want to see if we have questions. >> No, I would have um graciously an opportunity to make >> I hate to say I need you to speak into the mic a little bit. Yeah, there you go. [Music] >> I appreciate the opportunity
>> to make an opening statement on behalf of the Newark Municipal Court. As a proud resident since the turn of this century, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to appear before you today in the authority
bestowed. I can say that having been a judge for over 22 years and half of that time starting as a visiting judge here, it matters to me what the reputation of our court is and the direction that our court takes in today's climate. The
administration of justice is imperative and with the effort to move the court forward. I believe that we have the tools and the
personnel to continue in that vein. I am also glad to report that in reviewing the city ordinance that governs the municipal court, namely 2 colon 2-64,
we have the blessing for the first time in my over two decades of being a judge to see a municipal court judge retire gracefully from the city. And that's something that all of you that are here
can know that there are pieces that get played in appointments and removals and that certainly is a blessing to be able to garner that type of energy. Since April, I've had the opportunity to be at
the helm and this budget that you are reviewing today did not incorporate, as you can imagine, my input or my review. and I was at the time on loan through aou that the city has with the judiciary
for the state to help usher in and implement criminal justice reform at the county level. So much of it is what I believe both the court director on my side and the
woman in charge of our finance department can certainly speak to in having been there at the time when this was prepared. So, I look forward to being able to elicit any questions you might have in the goal and in the vision
to make the Newark Municipal Court the best municipal court in the United States. >> Thank Thank you. Uh, can the two ladies introduce themselves? >> Of course. >> Good afternoon. My name is Shakamonius. I'm the interim court director.
>> Yeah. >> Good afternoon. Diane Rowley, manager of the finance department of the New York Municipal Court. Good afternoon and your questions from the council. Councilman council. >> Yeah. The um can you just talk a little bit about the uh increased uh court
sessions? I know we were uh over COVID and coming out of COVID and was have a minimum to just talk about the increased uh court sessions one and then the number of dollars if we had it collected by summuses or tickets.
>> Right. So the increase in court sessions has happened gradually from what I've seen. Um and there is still and will be a mission to increase more court sessions. We've spoken about that and we
are looking forward to reopening part 7 under the city ordinance. It lists all of the parts that we have. We've been working with the buildings department to look at what needs to be done to reopen it despite the elevators because we are virtual. It is something that court
staff can certainly man and be able to reopen. So, there is a vision towards continuing to make access available through more court sessions and all of the benefits that come as a result. And to your question regarding the
revenue, uh, year-to- date we've generated 15,855,646. Do you need me to speak into the mic? >> Yeah, thank you. >> You want me to repeat that? >> Yes, please. >> Absolutely. All right. So year to date, uh the courts have generated 15,855,646,
which we also like to note is um an uptick from the postcoid numbers of 2019. >> And so year to date this year compared to year-to- date last year, you would say that we are
>> correct. Moving moving forward. Okay. Yes, we're about uh 64% higher this year than we were >> than we were last year. Good. And the um number of vacancies that we have in a court, >> we currently have 20 >> 20 vacancies.
>> Are we looking to fill some of those vacancies? I know we're nearing the end, but >> we're looking to fill all of those vacancies. >> I don't know if you get them all all filled before November. No, it's not easy before November. But if the question can be answered broadly,
we need to fill all of them to be effective and efficient for court users. >> And I'll also note that we have also taken seriously your statute regarding collecting public defender fees where applicable. That's
something that since I came on in April that we've begun and sending money to the city over a course of five years. That was one of the things that we reviewed and noticed needed to be adhered to and reviewed and implemented again.
>> How much was budgeted for uh overtime this year and how much has been spent yearto date? >> So budgeted was 400,000. Um as of year to date we spent about 88,000. >> 88,000. Correct. >> Okay. >> $88,192
to be exact. >> And if I can, a lot of the overtime is directly correlated to staffing >> with the 20 people that make >> Yes, sir. >> All right. Councilman Kelly. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh good
evening ladies. >> The number that you that you mentioned for the fines that was collected, >> how much of that is code enforcement fines that were collected? >> Uh we do not have that number as to code
enforcement because it's a subsection of our other category. However, we can report that over to you. >> Please. Thank you. I can tell you that in reviewing it from last year, the traffic fines collected
have increased significantly and the criminal fines have decreased. And in reviewing it and researching it, we believe that that might be directly related to legalizing marijuana. >> Thank you, Josh. >> You're welcome. And the question I I got
I guess I have one question just with regards to the the increase of $100,000 about $100,000 in the budget. Um and it looks like it's attributed to postage. Uh what what's the reasoning for the
increase? >> So uh prior it from COVID to 2024 uh the DMV and the state had a hold on all suspensions of licenses. Yeah. So currently we have been we have gone back to suspending licenses and moving
forward to uh encourage people to come into court to pay their tickets. So as we run those notices the posters has increased. >> So at the end of the day that 100,000 will pay for itself and then some hopefully. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Very good. Any other questions from the
council hearing? Seeing none. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here today. >> Thank you. Thank you. Affirmative action, Mr. Baptist I think you're up, >> right? Affirmative action.
>> Good afternoon. Uh, Mr. Baptist, do you have an opening statement? >> Yes. Good afternoon, Council President. Um, my name is William Lewis Baptist. Um I just wanted to wanted to thank um the
tax abatement committee and uh because of the tax abatement committee uh developers know that they have to do what they supposed to do
when it comes to um affirmative action. developers know when they meet with u the tax admitment committee the U committee is going to ask them about did you do a job fair did you meet with
affirmative action office and that makes my job a lot easier and I want to say thanks to the uh the job fair which is now required we do have quite a few no residents right now
working on quite a few projects and I can give you um just an example because I know we don't have that much time I just want to give you an example how many newer residents we have on a few projects right now we have two new
residents on the museum project located at um Hos Street and Central Avenue we have um two newer residents on 155 Jefferson Street. We have two new
residents on 10 K Street and we have we have one on 1075 Bean Street. Also know we have four Newark residents working on 381
South Orange Avenue and we had five Newark residents working on South 11 Street on the Springfield Avenue. This job just this project just completed. We had we had five Newark residents and
also then we at one point we had 15 Newark residents working on four fully Elizabeth Avenue. this job also is done is completed and I believe council um
um Patrick Council was there and he saw how many no residents affirmative action put on this site and we we have other jobs that we place no residents but we're not I'm not going to sit here and
then list all of them because I know they know we don't have time to go over everything. And um what I can tell you, every time I meet with a developer, I always tell every developer,
you have if you do a job fair, you have to make sure you put no residents to work. Depending on the size of the project, you may you may take two, three, four, five no question. But if you do a job fair, you have to employ no
residents. And those who do not employ no residents, we make sure so they pay monetary fines. And last year we had we collected about
four, not about, we collected $475,000 last year. This year we have already collected $520,000 from the developers, those who do not fully do what they're supposed to do in
terms of the the affirmative action requirements. And um and we despite the uh limited resources that we have in term of in terms of staff, we continue to do the best we can
to ensure that developers do what they supposed to do. And I'm happy to take if you have any questions, I'm happy to take any questions. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Baptist. Any questions from the council? >> Councilman. council.
>> No, I'm I'm I'm good. >> Uh just just just just to clarify or for my own personal >> I do haveific Oh, I'm sorry. Councilwoman Scott Roundry. Go ahead. >> Mr. Baptist says we've met on many occasions and as I'm looking at the
salaries and the positions, we're still missing an executive assistant um to assist you with paperwork. I know you have everything here. I see where two people are being paid out of other budgets to work into your in your department. Um, are we going to try to rectify that matter this year?
>> Um, as a matter of fact, um, Councilman, I made a request on the budget for two. >> I see the two, but you got two in your but then somebody else's budget that are working in your office. So, and one of those people probably would have filled
the position that Angela Tindell held for years. So, I'm just asking, are you looking to Is this an Angela Tindelle position being filled? >> No, not yet. >> So, you're not trying to get anyone to fulfill the responsibilities of that
assignment with the paperwork? Um, it's not really the paperwork and um, I'm trying to get somebody to help me with the tax abatement. The tax a lot of projects going on in the city of No.
>> Is that what M Tendell did? >> Say it again. I'm sorry. >> What was her assignment? It wasn't It wasn't tax abatements. It was It was paperwork, was it not? Well, uh the paperwork with the tax abatement the paperwork because the tax abatement we have certified payroll we
have a lot of paperwork um we still um everything is still being done with paperwork. We don't have a um an electronic version to capture our information. We still receiving physical copy. >> That that's my point. That's why the
backlog um sometimes can happen because you're here late at night trying to catch up on all the paperwork. Absolutely. That um you used to have some assistance with, but we do have someone that we're paying out of another budget to fulfill that position. So, I'm
just asking for the future because it's a lot it's a lot. It's a very heavy workload and we've been trying to fix this issue for about ever since I've been in office. I didn't know there was a problem until I became the chair of the affirmative action committee for the
council. So, let's pray that that problem can be rectified before the end of the year >> so that when 2026 comes and the budget comes, it'll be a reflection of what you really need to make that office work um with all the development that's going
on. Amen. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, council president. >> Yes. Um, it would be good if I can get that person because I talked with the deputy mayor about it. Um, I cannot make that happen. >> We had a discussion the deputy mayor. We
all we all had we've had like two or three meetings about this. >> Sure. >> So, and I have spoke to the deputy mayor, but we can talk about this off record. As council president said, we can move forward with this um after this. We'll talk about it with the clerk and and um we'll get it resolved. Sir, >> thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you, Councilwoman. >> Thank you. >> Uh just I guess just to follow just to make sure I understood what you said in uh 2024 uh in terms of fines that was were were received for violations that were
received by the city uh it was about $475,000. >> That's correct. Yes, sir. >> And then and year to date for 2025, how much was it >> so far? for 2025, it's $520,000
connected collected and um the money goes to network works for training paying dudes for union workers who lost their books for training. It's a lot of stuff they do
with the money works but we only collect the money and u know we have checks in our office. We keep records of everything. Every um fines, every from developers, we keep copies. We keep >> Well, I I like what North Works does,
but maybe there's a way we can use some of that money to hire more people for you. I hope so because my budget is about about $385,000, you know, and and to to to
tell you um affirmative action office used to have 10 people, right now it's six. So you can see that now what kind of problems, you know, we are having to make sure developers do what they
supposed to do. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? >> Thank you, Mr. Baptist. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Last but certainly not least is the Newark Museum of Art. >> Yep. [Music]
Good evening. >> Evening. >> Afternoon. Uh would you just uh It's been a long day. You're welcome state your name for the record and if you have an opening statement. >> Sure. Uh good evening uh council
president and esteemed council members. I am Saiaka Rocki co-inter director of the New York Museum of Art and joining with me is uh Shirley Thomas Ward. She is the deputy director of the museum.
>> Thank you. Do you have an opening statement? Yes. Um, so, uh, together with Katherine Evans, uh, who is my other co-interm director, uh, who cannot be with us today, um,
have been appointed, uh, to the role, um, on the recommendation of former director and CEO Linda Harrison uh, following her departure on June 1st. and Linda uh had uh departed after six
powerful and impactful uh years um guarding the museum. And we would like to thank you and city of New York for your belief in our mission to welcome everyone with inclusive
experiences that spark curiosity and foster community. This been consistent in the past years as Linda had put her uh feet on the ground and your investment enable
us to deliver our vision to be museum of the community and destination museum um in the region that focus on measurable impact we have on those who
live and work and visit the city of Newark. Uh concurrent with development of the museum park which is our next door. We will increase attendance and populate
the Newark's arts and educational district and this was our strategic plan for the past five years. Like many other nonprofits, however, the museum is facing an increased donor
uncertainty and with potential changes in economy and navigating through shifting landscape of government funding and philanthropic sphere.
Museum, however, has responded to these challenges by standing true to our mission and to the people it serves by reaffirming its dedication to culture of inclusion
and excellence. Harnessing the power of diverse perspectives to create an inclusive space where all feel welcomed, seen, value and respected
and we are confident that we could keep on this mission and I would like to share uh with you uh some of the impact that we've had over the last uh year and a half. Um, starting in 2024,
more people have walked through our doors postcoid to learn, create, and be inspired. Our public programs engaged nearly 40,000 visitors, while our school programs welcome about 30,000 students, doubling
uh from about two years ago. Um, we are especially proud of our Explorers program, which reached its 30th year of empowering NORC area high school students with 50 of those young people in grades 9 to 12 participating this year, gaining essential skills,
confidence, and mentorship. With every student that graduated our program continued on through higher uh education and this is a legacy that we are very proud to uh continue to support. Other milestones that we hit, um, the New York
Black Film Festival reached 50 years, which is the longest black film festival running in the country. >> Uh, we this year we marked six the 60th anniversary of Jazz in the Garden. Our summer camp hit its 28th season serving
over 600 students uh with scholarships and reduced pricing offered to NORC families. Uh we are in the process of upgrading uh the first planetarium in the state of New Jersey that will be completed uh at the end of November. And
none of this would be possible without the strength of community partners. With more than 80 local organizations joining us to help us create programs such as community day, art after dark, and family workshops, we continue to flourish and reflect the diversity and
creativity and the resilience that we have here in Newark. And as we look to the future, we remain committed to a holistic approach, nurturing not only a love for art, but also the spirit and humanity of all who enters our doors. >> Yeah.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Let um but I open it up for questions. I I just want to just say that um you know the Museum I believe is is essential and and an anchor in the arts and cultural district in the city of Newark. and what has been
done over the last few years in terms of changing not only changing the perception but the reality of having uh NORC residents, children as well as adults be more involved in the in the museum and being
able to know that it's a museum for them, not just folks coming in is remarkable and and very much appreciated. >> Thank you. Uh with that being said, anything from the council?
>> Yes. Uh Mr. President, first of all, definitely to uh your point about the museum and its role uh in the city of Newark and uh the role that it has played uh in in trying to revive uh the art and educational life uh in this city
uh particularly to our youth uh young adults and seniors. Uh I believe it's just imperative that all of our residents in the city of Newark uh take advantage of a free free museum. It's important. But how many number of employees uh do we have currently down
at the museum? >> Currently we have 160 total um employee and probably good 40 to 50 is Newark resident. Um, of the 160, 60 is um
full-time, uh, about 40 is, uh, union um, workers, and the remainder is part-time workers. >> Okay. And all of the programs that you spoke about that was initiated, but is there a
number of visitors year to date that have touched the uh, Newark Museum? Yes, we're about n a little over 90,000 >> 90,000 year to death. >> Yes. >> Okay. Are there budget issues?
>> Yes. >> At the N museum? >> Yes. Um I I will be very transparent. We are experiencing a challenging times and um when we uh executed our strategic plan, we were hoping that we could
really change the landscape of how we could do fundraising without really completely relying on a government money. So, we hired a new uh director of um philanthropy to really change how we do fundraising so that we could really
be on our own foot. However, I think since things started to crumble a lot during 2024 when this market was very volatile and lot of donors and foundations their wallet got really
tightened up and then after um our new federal policy uh was impacted I think people got really uh in a way um there's anxiety buildup. So um our funding on all levels corporate foundation
individual donors had really gone down. So for that reason we are expecting a sizable budget but collectively our senior leadership had addressed it and we're hoping that maybe we could reduce
the spending by about million dollars. were on calendar year for this year. Um, and also reduce our spending in 26 so that when the time is right, we could also go back to where we were. But we
know how to spend money more smartly so that we could stay true to the mission. >> I can say I appreciate that because uh most organizations will come and ask us for more money, right? and you all are just keeping it the same in terms of what you're asking from the city. Um,
and I think we So, let me just stop and say it right there. Get myself in trouble. Appreciate what you're doing and and what you're trying to do in terms of making sure that you find other
sources to help in the gap of what you're losing. >> Thank you. and and chair, I I normally don't don't don't ask this during budget hearings, but I think it's critical uh that if you can give the hours of operation for the museum uh and the cost
for Newark residents to participate in all of the programming and all of the activities that involved at the Newark Museum. Uh so that the individuals that are watching can understand that the Newark Museum is a place to go and visit right here in the city of Newark. uh to
take the youth, young adults, and even seniors uh with the activities that are being provided at the museum. >> Wonderful. We are open on Thursdays and Fridays uh until 700 p.m. So, you can come to the museum uh 12:00
to 7:00. On weekends, we are open 10 to 5. And for NORC residents, it is absolutely free. Um, and I'm also proud to announce that uh one of the programs that was started at the foundation of our museum, the Junior Museum, is being
revived and coming back uh starting October 4th. And you can become a member of the museum with full benefits for 10 cents on that day. Okay. For if you are between the ages of 2 and 13. Oh. and
you will receive your own North Museum of Art membership card and be added to our roster. I'm sorry, uh, Reverend Round Tree is not a dollar, >> not for the adults, but for uh, our young people to give them a a feeling of
ownership to their museum. They will have their own uh, museum card. Uh, and also coming up, since you gave me the plug time, uh, we will have uh, our Fiesta Latina next Saturday. which is also free um for all who are coming to
the museum. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Scott. Oh, I'm sorry. No, cuz a >> Thank you, Council President. Uh good evening, ladies. >> And I just got to add to the greatness that's been said about the museum. I
think the museum is uh if you haven't been to the museum museum to the residents, it is definitely a place that you have to go to in this city. Take your families, your children, everybody when you have guests here in our city. It's a landmark that they need to see um
and explore. A question that I have is I always believe that you guys have amazing exhibits. What does it cost to bring in um let's say a top tier exhibit? How long does that cost allow you to have it
on exhibit? And usually do you recoup from having that exhibit in your in your in the museum? >> Um I wish Katherine Evans was here, my co-director. She is her background is curatorial. So she could give you a
two-hour lecture on this. But my understanding is no, we do not um have a concept of recoration um because the museum funding model works on more about community and engagement. So not necessarily um coming
in the admission does not necessarily cover the cost but it's more about museum in effectively it's a educational um institution. So what we wanted to do is in lie of money if they could go back with a knowledge that would be a good
message and this is why we really need to raise the platform for um philanthropic development so that we could have this message out to the donors and don wanting to give us more money. So that's our platform in terms
of selection of the exhibition. We do have a um committee that goes through the selection and depending on who the artists are um how long it will be exhibited. So the rotation time and also
the timing will be deferred based on the availability and also depending on the social economic status. So, for example, um Amina Robinson, who's uh we're opening in two weeks. >> Two weeks. Uh that would be a great exhibition to see. Um and that would be
open for six months. >> Six months. >> For six months. >> Say if say if there was a philanthropist or a nonprofit organization that wanted to sponsor an exhibit, uh would they have to come to you to go
through the selections of exhibit? Can they present an exhibit? What's the process of them sponsoring someone sponsoring an exhibit at the museum? >> I think that would be um definitely a good consideration. Uh one because we
welcome all these new ideas and um also because all these exhibition takes very long um planning because sometimes the uh artwork needs to be borrowed from other museum or if we have to curate with other um institutions. So in that
regard um we will probably need to have this conversation early on so that we could execute in the right fashion and also we could reach the right audiences. >> But that is a possibility someone to come in and kind of offset what it costs
to put a exhibit in as long as the committee is in agreeance with whatever that is. >> Yes. >> Okay. Great to know. >> Thank you. Well, it sounds like something's going on. We missing
Oh, we missing one. Oh, Lord. Listen. Um I just want to say um and thank you, Council President. Uh just to do what my colleagues have said. Listen, growing up, Madame Clerk, I remember the planetarium. That was the story that you could come into the museum on field
trips and look up at the ceiling. But now the museum has grown. So, I mean, the programs are just amazing. Um, children for the summer with the camp, just so amazing. So, now that we're utilizing that historic landmark along
with the Valentine House, which we took the tour on when we came. So, thank you. I just hope and pray that the work continues uh that we will continue to support it and for those who are watching the hearing uh that to know that the monies that are spent and the
um as he was stating about the exhibits it's historical and people perish for the lack of knowledge. They have no clue what's in there that's so knowledgeable that you're bringing to our community right here in the city of downtown Newark. I went to the Valentine House,
uh, Council President Trump, and when I walked into the dining room, did you remember seeing what we saw in the dining room? They've mixed culture and art. I didn't I thought the heads was missing, councilman counsel, but it was art. I was like, well, where the heads at? But it was a different part of
Sirius. It was a different part of art where people were sitting at the table and looking comfortable. So to see you merging cultures um African-American, Latino, to see all of that in one space in a house that was built in the 1800s
is just amazing. And then to come to 2025 and highlight the artists and the different um what do you call them sculptures and the different artists um is just amazing. So, keep up the good work and I pray that whoever comes to
join you in leadership will have the same heart and the same mindset to continue to culturally be diverse with what they present to our community. And I have an 11-year-old granddaughter, so she going to have 10 cents. >> Okay. >> I'll see you on the fourth.
>> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes, sir. >> And I'm moving forward. We may be uh finished. Uh but just in terms of uh next steps, I know we have to submit any other questions or things that we had, but I would just love for a memo uh to
go out uh to the directors about ensuring that their clerks and those who uh operate their payroll systems understand the calculation uh as is based on the city of Newark's policy around overtime. uh so that they
know how to calculate that properly that after 40 hours of overtime then that I mean after 40 hours of a work week then that is when overtime begins to get calculated. I think that is important um for for us to to look into to you know
hone in on uh ensuring that uh spending is happening appropriately uh throughout the city. uh and to all of those who were part of this process and watched and monitored um that uh we can be able to assure them that we are living up to
our fidiciary responsibilities uh of making sure that we uh provide uh oversight uh to the city of Newark's budget. >> Thank you, Council. And last but not least, >> so council president,
council members clerk's office Thank you for allowing me this opportunity. Our budget is basically flat because we recognize um that the city is in a hiring freeze and a spending freeze and we're trying to do
our part. We do need help in our Oprah department, but we're >> couldn't hear you with what department? We >> we do need help with Oprah. We um have increased demands but we are trying to hold the line and keep that line flat
until our financial position is changed. >> Any questions? >> Any questions from the council hearing? None. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And thank you everyone for today. We are wrapped up.