##VIDEO ID:sPJ__wTiMVo## good evening on behalf of the governing body of the city of Pake we welcome you to the February 4th 20125 city council meeting in accordance with chapter 231 public laws of 1975 adquate notice of this meeting was provided by resolution of the municipal Council adopted on June 18th 2024 setting forth the schedule of meetings for the year 2024 2025 said notice was published and posted on the city hall bulletin board by the office of the city clerk please be further advis this meeting will be conducted in person the zoom stream provided is for viewing only and is offered to the public as a convenience on January 22nd 2025 public notice and zoom instructions for this meeting were published in the Herold news and posted on the city of Pake website at www.city of.com Council agendas instructions are also available on the last page of this agenda please be guided accordingly R call please councilman love present councilwoman Melo present councilman Garcia present and council president Sher President should we all please rise Heavenly Father we want to thank you Lord for allowing us to be here this evening we ask you to please guide us in the decisions that we take place this evening in your beloved name we pray amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America the thank you for coming tonight ladies and gentlemen if you have cell phones please turn them on vibrate or off also if you don't have a copy of the agenda of tonight's meeting they're accessible on the city's website as well as all the information and background on tonight's meeting including resolutions ordinances and correspondents they are all available to you and they representable as pass to the Council by the administration uh we have a slight addition to tonight's agenda and that is after the mayor's update we will have a presentation from pic Valley Water Commission regarding the replacement of lead pipes in pic uh and overall Mr May it's a privilege to have you here tonight I like the glasses thank you council president there are I assure you for practical purposes and not for Aesthetics because not very much would help this but I I'll be brief because we do have a presentation I want to share that we had the NAACP flag raising in the city of pay led by President Sheri Greer as well as first vice president Albert Williams and uh we had clergy and Educators and members of the city council officials all present it took place indoors at the senior center where we've been taking that approach for the winter and it was just a remarkable and amazingly successful uh ceremony I wanted to share that this week I'm sorry excuse me specifically we have our motor vehicles that will be here working with the suan Gary shar's Office of the 36 legislative district um this Saturday at City Hall from 9:00 am to 2:30 p.m Madam clerk that's correct yes sir 2:30 PM so we have Flyers we've advertised it out to the community and we'll put it up on our LED monitors throughout the city so people are aware also today Miss Joyce hunt of our community development held the annual action plan for programming this year in terms of cdbg and home fundings for potential applicants we do this once a year just to let them know of deadlines and give them expectations in the conversation that we had with our department heads along with the business administrator we did discuss a year after year there's been a gradual decline in terms of the monies that have been available but as of right now we don't have any expectation of a drastic reduction of any funding that would be available we'll keep the council abess and informed if we get any indication also I wanted to let you note that over the weekend along with Council Melo we attended a remarkable event at the Boys and Girls Club of uh they they called it Patterson and P I was time it's a typo you mean forsaken Patterson but try to remind them how they got the building of 7 Miss year I think you were a crucial part of that uhal negotiation for the place but they did have a remarkable event where they had over 50 young ladies um students council president members of the city council who presented uh business plans or program initiatives and then there was a number of Judges about 20 judges and they presented almost like Shark Tank they went up in a group they pitched they did presentations and at the end three of them received top prizes and every young lady received a check to move forward with their initiative so it was just an incredible program I want to thank uh Dr Brown with the new executive director as well as all of the uh uh department heads the Boys and Girls Club I thought that was amazing also this week with our um executive director at Alfred spear Village along with uh the L&M Partners as well as the administrative staff there was a presentation for the community regarding potential Rehabilitation projects uh as they have mandatory presentations and answering questions to the community we're extremely excited as we continue moving forward with the potential of rehabilitating Asin spear Village we are excited that the monies are going to be available and we continue to work collaboratively with the city with housing and informing the community there were questions that arose about potential relocation they are looking council president members of the city council to hire a relocation officer that will work with individual residents as to decide whether they want to stay on the property move to an adjacent unit while the rehabilitation occurs or take up the option to go anywhere that would be accepted in terms of their voucher they also discuss the fact that um at the completion of the project every single resident would be allowed to return they would have the uh the right not the option but the right an obligation by law to be able to be accommodated in terms of not just the return but the move they must be accommodated help funding in order to move and no one can be forced out for the rehabilitation occurr meaning if reasonable accommodation is not available before the rehabilitation begins and they cannot move forward with the project until they find it so I think this The crucial component and Paramount in terms of the success of the project that every resident understands their rights we are ensuring that every residentes the information in their language that they understand and we're going to continue to have multiple meetings working with the city clerk obviously with our Council we've made this space available to ensure that their Community meetings can be held in a conducive space where as many people as possible can show up and uh we want to thank Mr Renee nun from our media center who facilitated the obvious presentations on line including their power points that went detail by detail as a step by step regarding this project also want to take this opportunity to congratul Mr Nelson Castillo on behalf of Doris dudak and the entire city of Pake for his retirement he is retiring from uh City Hall the uh looks on the faces of the council members and everyone else is one of jealousy jealousy but excitement and and encouragement as all of us look to one look back at our careers and say it's been good but Nelson is gonna apparently go traveling there was some jokes at the retirement party with his wife about him coming in a different capacity to which she enthusiastically screamed out no no that's not gonna be an option so we obviously understood that and then lastly obviously with the frigid temperatures overnight and we've seen some relief from it during the day dignity house remains open our coordinator at Human Services is here miss Judith Sanchez and she Shar that um we are able to close in the day ensure that we keep everything clean but coming up we are going into the Super Bowl the Super Bowl and every year for the past I believe now it's going on over six years now we have had the Super Bowl uh ceremony for our homeless individuals where we come together we watch the game together we provide food it's an all day event in the morning they get free haircuts and some of the women from salons come and volunteer to do their hair uh individuals that would like to get their hair done and then as well we provide showers we provide resources clothing toiletries also we utilize that opportunity we capitalize on the day and connect them with uh with wraparound Services Support Services information from the county to State agencies as we continue to do so if we have individuals that aren't aware of our mailbox program which has uh facilitated and resulted in getting individuals off the streets and into permanent housing by receiving correspondence or mail whether from programming Social Services veteran services or connecting with a family or loved and then again as I shared in the beginning at night we all come together we eat we watch the game and it's a wonderful experience and we continue that tradition council president members of the city council members of the public that are with us that is my report at least a brief one today because we have a wonderful presentation from the Pake Valley Water Commission thank you sir thank you thank you mayor and thank you uh for your understanding M there's several questions that I have one the most important how many how many homeless uh do we attend to on so as I mentioned those are usually hard numbers to um to share as we as seasonally in the winter we always have an uptake in those that find themselves in challenges because in the spring in the summer in the fall there are day jobs those that do landscaping construction those jobs they tend to go away in the winter so we see the number rise up and then there are those that though have a roof over their head they're still considered homeless in that they don't have a permanent place to stay so there are those that may be staying with a loved one those that may be going from one place to another so that number can range up to 100 around the city in dignity house at most we've had over 40 individuals on one evening at least when the weather's a little better individuals find assistance somewhere else it ranges between 25 to uh 35 on a daily basis and we open it in extreme weather conditions again as I shared with the community is not a shelter it is not a homeless shelter it is a homeless Resource Center we provide showers once a week uh donations food as well as mailboxes for anyone who doesn't have a mailbox it's a unique program that we had created here and it has been extremely effective but in terms of the numbers C is drastically lower in the summer so when we have a cold red heat temperatures that rise over 95 degrees you may see between 12 15 almost 20 but typically individuals have jobs and they're able to pay for uh for somewhere to stay during the summer and then in the winter that's when we really see the numbers come up but I don't think we've had a single day where we've had over 50 um Madam Sanchez is there no okay I think call you madam president of the Board of Education and and and just as a as a followup mayor um we've had a problem in the past we've tried to do so very much under your leadership in terms of the homeless but we've noticed in the past that other municipalities adjacent or close to us have not that is a great Point council president there are some municipalities that have been extremely rigid and restrictive in saying that they will only accept homeless individuals from within their municipalities isn't that a bit of a contradiction in terms yes how do you ask a homeless person where do you live homeless trans they tend to go from one place to another what we have been clear with our Police Department that if individuals are dropped off from another Police Department we made clear especially when Weare our capacity that we cannot receive them that we will help to direct direct them whether to a shelter or another program we've been working well to communicate with other agencies and let people know when we are at capacity you know it gets very very difficult to say no we can only take what we have capacity and we have pushed it sometimes even beyond what I'm willing to share because we go we're not going to count everyone but there is a limit and we understand that with those who find themselves temporarily displaced or dealing with long-term homeless that when the weather Rises not everyone leaves and then we we have to take on and we have limited resources we speak very candidly to the county to explain to them that we we must all do our part we cannot take on the issues or concerns of every other municipality council president as you rightly pointed out there were some years where we were receiving individuals from another state wow where they heard of the efforts that we were doing in pate and we will do our best to direct to assist um and obviously in an emergency situation doesn't matter if we find you in an emergency situation we're going to get you to the hospital we'll make sure you get every help that you need however if if you're being dropped off from another municipality we're going to be clear that if you have uh some kind of resource you must use your resource because we cannot take on the uh the concerns of every other municipality but if we're all doing our part there is no Panacea approach to all the social ments and that we deal with or the AL of society but if we all do our part we can make a real impact hopefully that answered the question excellently put thank you sir members very good with the council's permission I know we have the water commissioner good evening just want to thank mayor Laura council president chair and the and the city council as a whole for having me here tonight uh I've been told I have 10 minutes so I will stay on time um you do have uh the year in review report for pic Valley Water Commission it should be on your on your chairs but we're going to also deliver copies to the city hall in English and Spanish to hand out if people are interested in what's going on at the commission if you want more detail so I'll just give a quick system overview of paic Valley talk about our our Capital plan water main Replacements Levine storage tanks the lead service line replacement update hydrant Replacements and just talking about our new website and it'll it'll move fairly quickly so this is just an of our system there's 650 miles of water mains uh about 110 miles are 16 inches are greater uh we have we have 51 in Mains are transmission Mains that kind of circle the system and then the smaller Mains bring that into the cities and the towns to the houses uh cover Clifton Patterson pic I should start with pic I apologize pic Patterson and Clifton Prospect Park I'm listening I'm listening to everywhere I'm listening everywhere uh Prospect Park North Arlington low die postbrook and high crest the senzo pond as well which is up in West Milford um 77 million gallons per day is what we do uh for water to our retail areas we also provide water to wholesale areas where their other utilities or entities take care of their pipes we take care of our own but we give them bulk water and we have over 200 employees close to 250 employees many from the local cities uh and there's 22 wholesale customers so that's an overview of the system so last year our Board of Commissioners approved an $89 million Capital plan uh It's A Five-Year Plan along with water rate increases and it's necessary because of the age and the condition of the system as well as regulatory mandates that we have to abide by uh state and federal mandates we have gotten almost $50 million of principal for loan forgiveness from the water Bank the state water bank for key projects and I'll highlight that in a minute particularly the lead service line Replacements were almost 80% of that uh project $27 million is paid for where we don't have to pay the loan back and I want to thank you council president chair I think you one of the key sponsors of some of the state bills some of that funding flowed that way and again credit credit to you uh it's really paid off and I I'll go through the details there we've made a lot of progress and we're nearing completion which has been fantastic uh and we continue to work with New Jersey D it was just on a iup the in uh intended use plan for the state I was on a call with New Jersey DP this this morning we're seeking more of principal forgiveness opportunities because there's more to be done so you know we're doing everything we can to to keep the system in a state of good repair and compliant and we continue to work with the state on future funding opportunities as well to help out so water main Replacements I mentioned there's 650 miles of water mains in our retail areas um 46% of those Mains were installed between 1940 and 1880 so by 2030 which is only believe it or not five years away which I still can't believe almost 70% of those Mains in pic in particular and in Patterson so those are two of the older cities are going to be between 100 and 150 years old almost 70% so that's part of the we need to start investing in the system now uh both to reduce water main breaks and also events of discolored water so there's a lot there for water mains that were just start starting to ramp up and I should acknowledge my my colleagues here Brian Frierson from our Communications Department Alex Wells super vising engineer running the water main replacement program where we're really starting to program those projects now they're in there's projects in design that we plan to bid out in q1 Q2 in the next four to five months uh on the street and get shovels in the ground hopefully in late summer early fall and get moving on replacing starting to replace those Mains um so that's that's the water main replacement program we also have our reservoir uh storage program storage uh you know cover cover the reservoir program starting with the Levine storage tanks as you know or many of you know we have three open air drinking water reservoirs meaning it's already treated it's supposed to go into distribution and it's exposed to the atmosphere um there's that's prone to it could be animals it could be storm water to runoff it's prone to contamination which is not which is not good we want that uh you know secure so this Federal Regulation that says they have to be covered they're no longer legal we're under administrative consent order and we bid out our first our first project in in h last spring and we just got there was a bid protest we just got the appell at court to approve our bid award to the second lowest bidder we are moving forward $42 million project not small again I want to thank New Jersey D they've upped the principal forgiveness for that project in particular from two million which it was two years ago to 10 million so it's 42 million 10 million of it will not have to be paid back through that principal forgiveness program and we're looking to start work in the next uh you know four to five months again we we'll have a groundbreaking uh we we'll invite you know the council and Mr Mayor will invite you and others to participate it's a really signature job where we're finally getting to cover our reservoirs and come into compliance with the federal Rule and then the service line Replacements as I mentioned before tremendous that this is free to customers again I want to thank council president uh Sher for sponsoring this uh 80 almost 80% of it is subsidized where we don't have to pay back the the loan um and we it's a mandate as well we have to do this but it's really to protect Public Health uh get the lead out of the service line so that it reduces the likelihood of contamination in the house um and we're we have about 6,500 lines that we need to replace as part of the original contract we have made great progress I again I want to thank Alex Alex Wells and and Brian for getting the word out to people and continuing to work on that um we are almost done so we're projecting this spring maybe early summer to finish those Replacements we over 4,500 have been replaced already so we're about 80% complete you know close to 80% complete it again it's free to the customers now there was local city ordinances passed back in 2022 that allowed this program to go forward as part of that there was also an authorization if people are refusing to replace those lines there could be a fine imposed by the city we're reaching the flat part meaning our produ our productivity has kind of gone down we're reaching the tail end of houses some people are non responsive there's some vacant properties there could be delinquent accounts involved there's a lot it's a little complex so we're starting to ramp up again communication efforts of hey it's free take advantage time's running out but also starting to consider where we can't get that is there is there a fine worth we're thinking of imposing we don't do that lightly what we really want to do is help people and remove their lead lines um but we we'll likely be working with you Rick and and and mayor Laura in terms of how that works as we get to the tail end of the program decommissioning houses as an option if it's a vacant property people would have to replace the line on their own uh at their own cost once they sell so there's a lot of reasons to take advantage of the program so again we want to keep getting that word out but we made great progress we we're getting there we're almost done and we're we're really on the tail end I think there's 800 remaining properties out of the Six Original 6,500 so it's been great and thank thank my team for that um again this is lead service line so specific on pic uh We've replaced 800 so out of those 4,500 plus lines that have been replaced 825 are in pic there's another 175 remaining uh so about 83% we we're complete in pic um we have rights of Entry we can't just enter people's houses they have to give us that right of Entry so out of that 175 remaining we have 65 rights of Entry which is great so then it's just the scheduling issue right we just have to get in there schedule it and get it done there's about 110 where we still need the right of entry and 100 of those folks are non-responsible so that's where we're looking to work in push in try to get this done in in in the easiest way for the customer the most effective way for the utility and and remove those lead lines and that's where we are not horrible numbers at all uh like I said 90% are are either rights or entry are completed which is terrific and we we're going to keep working on that and work very closely with the city as we try to wind this program down but time is running out so please to to your constituents please let them know take ADV advantage of it they can reach out they can contact pvwc we have contact information here um that they can reach out and try to uh get that scheduled as well hydrants so we just finished up an 11 a. half million contract to replace over 1100 hydrants in our retail area uh 145 of those hydrant were in pic they were old some of them were not working uh you need them in emergencies we also need them to flush the system and keep it fresh so that was great about 21% of the hydrants in pic have been rep placed and are new um it's about so it's about $10,000 a location it's more expensive than you might think there's a large excavation there's other pipes involved so it's it's not just replacing the surface hydrant it's the underlying piping on it uh and as well as we replaced hydrants in some of the other cities one again as we come in It's probably hard to believe right but spring is right around the corner it's been very cold um unauthorized hydren usage continues to be a problem when when it gets warmer it can come from Street Paving it can come from local construction it can come from street sweeping um we want to continue to partner with the city's paic has been a wonderful partner uh we want to continue to do that I want again thank you mayor Laura you're always great about getting the word out but it does cause water main breaks it does cause this call it water for customers so we want to really keep partnering with our cities to try to prevent that they can contact us we can give them uh we can facilitate the proper hydrant to use we can go out and be be a partner um so so that season's coming up uh and we continue to meet with our fire departments as well on training and and to to facilitate that so that um we don't cause watermain Breaks by shutting hydrants too quick it causes a water hammer can vibrate the pipe and it can break um so again that's that part of The Season's coming up uh this is just you know an example from 2022 we put up a drone because we were having a a systemic problems with discolored water and this is actual Dr our own Drone footage of a contractor hooking up to a hydrant might take a couple minutes is very quick so it's hard to it's hard to track um but when we when we catch it we actually notified this contractor that it's a misdemeanor you're not allow you're unauthorized access you're not allowed to be on the water system so again this is just an example of what it looks like if you see that if the local police see that try to say you know stay off stay off those hydrants contact the water company we'll try to facilitate the right where for you to go and prevent those water main braks and just call it water and again this whole video it was about 90 seconds it's very quick that's why they that's why the contractors like the hydrant it's a high pressure it fills their truck quick right you don't have to be there for a long time so you see they're queued up they know what they're doing but we really want to disuade that um and then we have our new website so this is my last slide again trying to stay on time we're very proud of this website um couple couple intriguing features that are new for us uh you can now uh translate the website into I believe it's five or six different languages um Spanish polish Arabic uh Bengali um and we're looking to expand as well so just go on there you click the language and all the web pages convert to your language it's great uh the year and review report that you do have in front of you is posted to the website in Spanish as well we're looking at other languages but it's on there and we will provide a hard copy Spanish version as well for for City Hall if they've run like hot cakes we can bring more if not if we don't hear from you we'll know you were good with the volume we gave you but I think it's like 25 or so we're going to bring down folks are interested um but encourage you to go to our website there's a lot of good information on it um uh a lot of the programs I just talked about you can get information here pay your bill you know that kind of thing um and I think that is it and these are just our contact numbers again encourage constituents they can call that main number if they want to help on scheduling a lead line replacement or if they feel like they missed the contract or no longer in the neighborhood we can route them back our customer service department every day is calling those numbers and trying to push in so these just the contacts that folks can use and proactively call us as well that's all I had I want again thank you all for for for the time appreciate it and if there's any questions I'm happy to answer if not thank you Mr thank you very much for being here one question that's been of concern to many of us we have the pleasure of living on the East Coast on the west coast forest fires seem to be a major problem and with forest fire is water pressure so I don't expect any forest fires in the city of Bic and that's okay with me but I'm concerned about water pressure sure so we do have local areas where we know there's pressure problems what comes along with that aging system and as I mentioned the water main replacement program we're TR we're going to try to address that there's certain parts of the system depending on where you are it's just how it was designed there's dead end Loops it's not of high flow it can it can uh become stagnant can also cause water quality issues so one of the things we're prioritizing on our water main replacement is trying to get rid of those areas make it more flowthrough system where the pressure can be maintained and water quality if you do have specific and we know there's specific pressure problems again there's two projects that are I'm planning to bid or even assign to an emergency contractor in the next four to five months in pic where we think we'll address some local there's broken Val there's a lot of reasons why water pressure can be affected it might not be the pipe it could be the valves which are broken in the street um we we have plans to fix two priority areas in pic in the next four or five months we plan to either bid it or just assign it to we'll bid an e contract and you just assign it to them to come in and fix I want to say it's on the order of1 to2 million uh for those for those local projects something in that ballpark we're still finalizing our costs and then there's more to come we'll continue to invest in the system and improve that system I think some of the hydrant Replacements we did also helped where those hydrants weren't working fire departments had to go further maybe for in an emergency situation so again we' we've replaced almost 150 hydrogen of pic which should help in certain areas as well if there's particular areas of concern you can reach out to me you can you you or have folks call us and we're we we're very responsive I have to credit my distribution team when we get calls we'll go out to the house they have discolored water we'll investigate it they have low pressure we'll go out and investigate it because we we don't want that um and when it's more system driven that we can't correct that's where we look at Capital to replace those those pipes and another question if I may um before I ask our members of the council to join uh you said there's resistance about a 100 locations are resistant to people coming in from the authority um are these primarily owners or are they apartment dwellers and it's I if I said resistance I apologize I meant non-responsive I did okay I I said off I didn't say resist yeah it's it's more they're not picking up the phone you know as we all know scheduling can be tough some people work two jobs some people you know they have competing needs where they're not just there to answer their phone we do door knocking uh our our customer service department is still going down the list and trying to proactively call at all hours not not too late but like you know say 7:30 to 6:30 you know 7:30 in the morning 6:30 at night trying to reach Folks at that that time so it's more non-responsiveness you're bringing up a good point there's some um I'll call them absentee landlords that might be an issue folks who live in in the let's say it's an apartment building um they can actually let us in your city ordinance uh allows them they can let us in you don't need say an llc's permission who might be out of wherever to let us in our the local folks can uh and we'll go replace that line we're not there to look at anything else we're not looking at code violations we're not looking we're just there to replace the lead and I think we've proven that out for the 4500 or so we've replaced we want to leave you know we want to come come and go so uh some are delinquent you know I think about 33 out of the 175 p a delinquent that could be a factor again a customer service Department's trying to work with folks um payment plans you know no interest payment plans you know just try to get that corrected and let us replace your lead line for free uh so there's a variety of of and some of it I think is just scheduling within not available excellent thank you council members Council please yes I'm sorry council president thank you I just wanted to commend um the commission um first of all even myself you I'm very hesitant about allowing just anyone in my house right I mean for for reasons obvious reasons right um you hear the stories all the time and that's with myself being able to call Mr Fernandez the mayor and ask what's going on directly not that citizens can't but I I do have a direct line and I still have reservations but your agents and and those that came out it was really helpful that they left phone numbers on literature that belongs to um the valley um the Water Commission and when you called you had to go through the prompts of the Water Commission to reach them so I I just want to say that that's an excellent excellent idea um I I don't know who was the the brain of it but you should take the credit as I'll take the credit for the that's right you take everything else it's a team it's a team effort complete team effort yeah so so um I want to say that I also want to say that um the time that it took for the repairs were was very very they were on point they gave me an estimate they came they got it done with without any problem so so I just want to say um I commend you guys for that thank you thank you thank you thank you and I also got that that those sentiments from on my neighbors and residents throughout the city I'll pass that on back that's great thank you any other comments just um just want to say thank you because when I mean two years ago when you guys came said that this project was going to start and and just to see how much you've accomplished I mean it's very impressive thank you and I mean the effort that was put forward just you guys make sure that it was available the information in several languages because we do have very diversity so thank you for that appreciate it thank you and thank my team and folks who aren't here you know it's real team effort so but I very much appreciate that I will bring that back thank you council president Sor there additional comments I'm sorry I didn't know if there were any additional comments before I ask a questione so there about a 100 addresses that are non-responsive have you provided those addresses to the city I know that when it comes to phone calls it may be those I think I've had the conversation with our business administrator that if they see Pake Valley Water the ID going I'm not going to pick up I'm perhaps having a different agency reach out to reinforce it we can get those addresses obviously we need to communicate with our residents and we may know how best to reach certain residents in certain areas just to let them know we'll send them over to to you Rick I guess tomorrow they'll be they'll be in your email box maybe even tonight but tomorrow we'll send them over okay thank you very good thank you thank you sir and thank you to your staff for joining thank you we are up to R six on our agenda this evening hearing of citizens in accordance with the open public meetings act njsa 104-1 SEC the council opens every public meeting for comments of the public however in accordance with njsa 10 col 4-12 nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public body to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation at any meeting therefore please be advised that the council will not entertain any comments from persons who communicate obscene material make statements which you considered a bias intimidation in which a person intends to intimidate any individual or group because of race color religion gender handicap sexual orientation or ethnicity or makes comments intending to harass or speak any offensive language the person who makes these statements will relinquish their alloted five minutes for public discussion is there anyone who would like to address the councel please yes Joe coniss council president at the last meeting on on the agenda is had it had um money given to a landlord at 361 Madison Street for like 19,000 um I was listening to the mayor at the last meeting on this issue and yourself back and forth the only thing that I come up with is that I still don't understand why this city is giving this landlord a uh money when he could go to the bank or make out a check and he could have gave it to the company that's doing the alarm system what I don't understand why the city's getting involved with that because as long as I've been in here that's the first first time I ever see it on the agenda that's the reason I'm bringing it back up it was never on agenda for any other landlord this is the first one why it's being done I don't know I'm sorry sir which number is that in the resolutions what's that is this a resolution you're talking about yeah 35 on the last at the last meeting it was on from last week oh last yeah from uh 361 Madison Street where they had the fire but this is the first time it was ever put on the agenda they say it's been on there help landlords in this case how do you I don't understand that the guys got a lot of property why do you need the city to give them money for so that's my first question my second one is why are we getting uh shuttle buses from out of uh state my last question is parking enforcement at the at the last um I think it was the last meeting maybe a meeting or two on the agenda again you're buying two vehicles for the for the parking enforcement but nobody's doing their job you go around the city any time of the day there's nothing being done you don't see them you don't see them nowhere if you go on the east side sure they're Towing the're ticketing they're doing everything on the ASI but on this side of town you don't see nothing done I witness it the weekends I W I witness it during a week nothing's done so these are my three questions tonight you finished yeah okay so first you made reference to an item that was on the agenda number 36 that was two weeks ago um for 19,000 to payable to uh an individual a group a company um you'll forgive me I don't remember item number 36 I don't remember the placement on the uh checks but we can certainly find out you want to read it I got right here I really don't it's not the council's role to it's the council's role to oversee not to particularize number two you asked about why are the shuttle workers coming from out of state Mr mayor council president um this service as this is government often we respond to the lowest bidder and this is a free shuttle service for the community if the uh the cost makes sense for us to use those and I think he's referring to the license plates on those sh New York the service is concentrated only here in P but that costs us the lease as this is Grant funded and obviously we need to there are some costs to this services driver there's obviously maintenance so saving cost goes a long way in terms of ensuring that we can maximize the opportunities of using this free shuttle throughout the entire city so that's the reason if we' have got the lowest price out of vehicles out of Virginia as long as they're staying in Pake that's where we purchase of times when we purchase vehicles or contract they come from at estate it's the cost that we're focused on and the quality of the service as well as obviously uh if the if the vehicles work your last point is that the uh traffic control is is not evident in the west side but is evident on the east side I'm going to dismiss that unless you can give me concrete proof I think it's exper I think you're trying to do what was done in the past it is unacceptable thank you for your comments tonight sir anyone else like to address the council saying no hands I move cose to public to there's a motion there's a motion there's a second call please councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes Council pres and council president sh yes thank you seven on our agenda item this evening number one please proposed ordinance 2476 d25 an ordinance amending chapter 231 stabilization of the code of the city of pic is there a motion to open public meeting motion second and second R call please councilman love yes Council woman melow yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president Sher yes thank you ladies and gentl at this time the council is deliberating proposed ordinance 2476 is there anyone who would like to address the Council on this item and this item out Joe kenti um chapter 231 d8 rent leveling board my question is you pick three three people for the board I think two is if I'm not mistaken two of them is on the school board and one is from somewhere else and there's a lawyer well my question here is it it was I don't know how long you had to open to the public president that's not on the ordinance that's thank you sir thank you mayor there another ordinance this is part of the ordinance um no sir it's not part not the part of the ordinance that's being attended to whatever you say um the question that I have is you pick three people for the board two of them from the school board still not why we picking from the school board when I don't believe you I don't believe your question or remark is Germain or possible for any of members of the council which is the appointing authority to ascertain all right my next question to this is that anybody that's picked to this board supposed to be a resident of the city you're not your m to the ordinance sir what are you talking about it's all to do with the ordinance no what are you looking for before us it's inappropriate to entertain any commentary with respect to other parts of the ordinance there's only commentary permitted with respect to the specific section we're amending the time to address the points that you my last my last one is going to be is uh rent control um what is the percentage of rent control [Music] I know first I heard 8% now I hear 6% you're hearing 6% from the business administrator he would certainly be the most authoritative voice first paragraph sorry council president no please I appreciate first paragraph anyone else like to address the council please on this item in this item only saying no hands I move to close the public motion on second roll call please councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president Shar yes on the motion please is there a maker so move it second motion and second roll call please councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president sh yes thank you the motion passes unanimously we're up to communic REM num eight on our agenda items 2 through 7 are there any questions please on items 2 through 7 seeing none at this time is there motion please to accept two through S so move second motion and second roll call please councilman love yes councilman Meo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president share yes thank you all matters listed here under considered to be routine in nature items 8 through 14 are there any questions please on items 8 through 14 see n at this time is there a motion please to accept items 8 through 14 move second motion and second councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president Shar yes thank you item 15 please is there a motion to accept moov motion second I second councilman love extension councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president Shar yes thank you we're up to resolutions from a numeral none on our agenda number 16 is a resolution authorizing closed executive session Susie do we need closed executive no council thank you ma'am Mr Fernandez no council president thank you sir Mr Mayor none this time thank you sir members of the council seeing none at this point on items 17 18 19 and 20 are there any questions please seeing none is there a motion please to accept 17 through 20 mve second roll call please councilman love yes councilwoman melow yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president Sher yes thank you rem numeral 10 ordinances for introduction in first reading number 21 proposed ordinance amending chapter 275 taxation Article 2 tax abatements on residential commercial and Industrial Improvement projects section five 5.1 definitions and article three tax exemptions on improvements on dwellings is there a motion please to set down for second and final reading at our next meeting of February 20 second motion at second roll call please councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president Sher yes thank you Rick can you give us a little bit of information 21 uh yes council president mayor do you wanna go okay um so as we've been discussing for quite some time about balancing the ability for property to be affordable but also a way to raise the housing stock I mean the mayor I mean we're talking about even before 2017 he requested a legislative action to change the way that we are able to tax Property Owners so that they have an incentive to improve their homes um what we did is we took a look at his Direction at the current state statute and what can we do based on the current state statute using their guidelines while we're still fighting to get a legislative change on how can we incentivize improvements to really a housing stock and I provided it as backup for the city council where the majority of the houses were built prior to 1939 right so the threshold within the state of New Jersey for designating areas in need of redev Rehabilitation is a 50-year threshold as you heard by the Water Commission not only is our infrastructure over 100 years old our housing stock is way over 50 years so with that being said in a way to keep the properties affordable you took one action today by passing that amendment that limits the 6% of um the increase this in turn would also incentivize the property owner to rehabilitate that old housing stock to balance right the quality of life and the affordability for our residents so uh one of the things and the mayor mentioned this when we first initiated the negativity surrounding a um rent Control Ordinance is that it would incentivize Property Owners to be derel because they're not getting money so what this does is it turns that on its face it then says to the property owner if you fix your property we're going to incentivize you to fix your property even while you have a rent stabilization to manage that balance throughout a community in which our housing stock is significantly older this would be for improvements one of the mayor's main focuses is this is not about new properties and constructing and making people constructive properties that would fall under the current way that we do things there would be an ordinance you would have an agreement and we would do that separately this is for improvements for modernization and uh rehabilitating properties within our city so it's focused on that uh to give incentives with a fiveyear tax abatement maxing out right at the Improvement so it's not like you get the whole house and and the mayor Mak sure that there would be no negativity on taxation uh all is based on new improvements not the current taxation so no matter whether you Avail yourself of one section or the other whatever your current taxes are would remain so as far as a taxation purposes for the city of Pake we're not losing anything if anything we're incentivizing improvements so that within five years it would actually raise our tax base um that's kind of in a nutshell how does that differ than regular tax abatements for projects for improvements so so well it differs significantly because um there's a limit first there's a restriction on what qualifies because it's an improvement only so it's not a general tax abatement on the property it's on the Improvement um the taxation purpose is only based on that Improvement right and it's only for a fiveyear basis on the Improvement versus what you normally see in a five-year tax abatement where the entirety of the taxation is zero you know 20 40 60 80 uh this is only for limited to to that scope as defined in our current ordinance as an improvement Al well I'm not sure if you got the full answer you need it I don't want let them follow up I'm still not so clear how that differs from a regular tax abatement that we have today so there's a reason why we put exemption as a definition because and and again this was taken and formed from our own from the state of New Jersey so they differentiate the exemption from the abatement these are exemptions not abatements abatements as defined in the law is for your current structure so if I being taxed at 100,000 today I would be abating that 100,000 and reducing it somehow the exemption there's no reduction right the exemption is not reducing your current taxes the exemption is that you're not increasing it the added assessment is not being increased until the end of the five years with the limitations that are stated in the ordinance right I I add a room to a property my taxes I get reassessed because of the additional room and I file for an abatement because of that project which means that that additional tax assessment kicks in over a period of Time how is that different than this sorry did you say an additional room or an improvement um chapter 275 clearly defines improvements and it does not include adding any additional units or R I just want the volume under our current definition of improvement exactly because that's what I was going to answer I think that's what he wanted that's what I wanted to share initially that by chapter 275 and you can look at up on government under our codeb book the definition of improvement does not include any additional unit or creating a room it is improvements and it's very clear and what I want to share is about 86% of the housing stock in the city of Pake is over 50 years old over 70% is I think built before 1939 so one of the concerns as we continue this balanced approach to make p more affordable we understand that with this rent stabilization ordinance there was some concern that would would landlords would Property Owners even want to do repairs this fiveyear batement which also lines up with the sunset of our six years it would allow you to make any Improvement again you cannot create an additional unit cannot create you can't construct something new but you can improve for five years basically on SS added value you you have a cap of I think it's up to uh 25,000 on uh on dwellings 25,000 underw yes basically to make make it very simple let's say I invested I'm G use arbitrary numbers if the math doesn't add up forgive me let's say I do $75,000 worth of improvement on my kitchen improve my kitchen or um fixing the hallways or whatever property and the assessed value is going to be something like I know an additional 35,000 25,000 of that is not going to be taxed for the next five years that's an incentive in order for you to make the improvements five years from now that can be added but again there's no reduction in that your taxes aren't going to go down so the city isn't going to lose anything in fact it may gain by encouraging individuals to make improvements in the stock especially for the older properties and then 5 years from now as we sunset from this we'll see some additional Revenue that would come in and I think it is a benefit to Property Owners to those who have dwellings and uh multi- dwellings and the 25,000 cap is per apartment or per building per per residential of uh one and two families I believe it's yeah they have it as dwelling unit so it would be the way they work it in the state we we wrote it and accommodated it within the offices of the State restrictions I wanted more as many of you know and I'll be very candid I I have been pushing since I've been mayor for a moratorium on any assessment uh added to any repairs that are aesthetic no expansion of square footage I went down to the league of munis pales I presented it I've been fighting for it I will even share that I've met with a number of the candidates who are running for Governors and explained to them that I'm adamant that I want to hear their support on it some of them have even committed to it I think it's it's practical why are we being incentivizing why are we punishing people for making aesthetic repairs or fixes if I want to fix a s if I want to redo my kitchen if I'm not adding square footage in fact I wanted to go as far as if you live there if if it is owner occupied and you're going to live there we shouldn't tax you anymore for any repairs I think once you sell it or if you're renting it out we should tax you but if if I bought a home I'm just speaking plain language here if I vought a home I'm gonna live there for 30 years why shouldn't I make it as nice as possible why should I accommodate it why why am I being punished and I I think that this is a problem so we were trying to figure out and to the Ba's credit I was telling them look the league hasn't moved on it legislation is a little slow even though we have the most remarkable assembly person in the United States of America but there are other people who also serve in those roles and the governors but all in all seriousness I I had Tas them with the attorney find a way that we can do it in the city of P I I want to bring tax relief the council wants to bring tax relief there's no way we're going to lower taxes we try the best to level them we're trying to make p more affordable but this allows you at least for five years to make whatever improvements that you want right within reason obviously and get some kind of breaking incentive I would hope it expands and grow we are limited some of the numbers come from the state I would have wanted 50% I mean 50,000 100,000 they're limited that's by state it's not an arbitrary number however I think this is a good approach as we move closer and closer to making Pake much more affordable in these trying times if do do we have state go ahead on this or there if if this is permissible by the state yes this is all lined up by we had the attorneys this is all legal we can do this yeah in fact you can open up the state taxation ordinance and you can almost see exactly where we took it from okay again like most it's not as far as I think we would want but I think it is something and those who would choose to take advantage of it and again it doesn't limit you to $225,000 a set you can do as much as you want in terms of your fixes but 25,000 of the assessed add additional value you will not be responsible for for five years need to be but you cannot create an additional floor additional uh unit that that is it's only improvements by the way it's clearly defined in the chapter yeah there's caps on all of it which is what the mayor is getting at we tried to relax those caps with a legislative Amendment uh in light of that still being considered let's just call you know uh we did the next thing and looked at their current caps and fit those current caps into our ordinance so that we can expand it as as far as the law lets us uh which is clear not exactly what we wanted but we did the most we could as the mayor has always directed us to do uh and it's I believe it's extremely good timing with the balancing of the stabilization of rents and the ability to repair your homes and improve it I think they marry each other uh very well if we're making the argument that over the next three years we're just coming off for the pandemic and many challenges that think it's a clear argument but again I want to reiterate and let the council know I'm going to continue to push for the idea of a moratorium on any aesthetic repairs on homes and actually add the idea that if it is home or owner occupied I believe that you should be allowed to do the repairs that you want on your home as long as you're occupying that residents are not selling it or using it for commercial purposes I think we shouldn't be going after you this is additional money and it's not money that anyone is that's a sidee that's just my f I really don't understand why we're taxing people for improving their homes makes sense makes a lot of sense this is both interior as well as exterior yes yes sir and it's on assessed value sometimes the the late person may not be aware of you if you're if you're spending $90,000 to redo your kitchen God bless you your living room or anything like that God bless you but it's not it's not the 990,000 it's once they come in and assess the additional value that was created in your home because of the repairs yes so let's say and again I'm just using arbitrary numbers they go your home is now worth an additional 40,000 25,000 of it you're not responsible for the next five years the additional 15 you are but at least it gives you that incentive and it would stay and it would stay with the property yes I do these improvements and two years later I move I had gotten the benefits they continue with the new own stays with the property for the five years for the five years it ends at the five years yeah year six that 25 is just tacked back on to the current Valley and for the first 25 I redid my kitchen and for the second 25 which I'm applying for now my wife wants another kitchen so I could be in line for both yes and the ordinance does not allow you to do a tax appeal during that fiveyear period if you do you lose the tax AB the tax let's go it's not an abatement it's a tax exemption under the law that part is specific for councilman schs as always and and that's why the or that's why we had to add because our ordinance didn't have it I had to add the exemption Clause great exciting yes so of course we invite the council members to go through it ask any questions of the attorney reach out to us but we think that it's a very very good approach especially lined up with some of the recent ordinances that we passed in order to continue with our efforts to make the sfe more affordable in a pragmatic manner it certainly takes the sting out of a lot of stuff going on and it incentivizes what we want we want people fixing we want land we want Property Owners to make repairs to feel like they can act to their home without the city coming in and saying here I am to reach into your pocket we we're saying here we are we'll be back in five years sorry I could help we'll wait five years I think we are debating on a wrong candidate for governor this St getting to feel the the wind pushing that direction unless we this entire team unless this entire team is going somewhere these things come because of a team effort and we have a great team here in the City PA we' be happy to drink camping material with us with the council's permission payment to bills reman numeral reman numeral 11 are there any questions on the bills please they not see none is there a motion please to accept the bills move it and second roll call please on the bills councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president Sher yes thank you administrator's report Mr f mes none at this time counc thank you sir Mr Mayor none at this time thank you council president very exciting meeting there thank you is there a motion to aair please Some Mo motion and second roll call please to councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and council president share