##VIDEO ID:tZAhJlpBjTE## but we still are trying to get it for the safet anything from councel all right may I have a motion to close work session motion all in favor good evening everyone this is the city council meeting today is January the 22nd 2025 the time is 6:54 this meeting has been duly advertised in the City newspaper in performance with the open public meetings at otherwise known as the Sunshine Law please stand for invocation and flag salute of the United States of America standon pres present speak that is Thomas pres may I have a motion to dispense previous minutes all in favor mayor any accommodations thank you next we have public portion thank you first we have Pastor Jerome Paige good evening good evening 213 West Pleasant Avenue CL New Jersey uh first I want to congratulate everyone and just say everyone have a that you brought the new year new year in good and that it is my prayer for every one of you that when you come to these meetings that you you do what you have to do always do the right thing and never you never have to do it all over again um I'm looking at in the future getting ready to retire from New Jersey trans and I'm looking in the future of possibly coming and running for counsel um but I'm really going to sit back and I'm going to watch who's up there now I can say I voted for every one of you up there couldn't do it for the first Bo um there's some big issues that you still got to tackle that I've seen last year that have not been tackled and there's some more issues that have to be tackled I'm just going to leave it to you there is a empty building on the uh Black Horse no I'm sorry the U what that in front of the high school the bus deep I would ask that the mayor and council president really talk to the school district on some kind of way somebody within the school district or Pleasantville buy that property I'm saying that because back in the day I was president of the board education we fought for that property but we didn't win and we knew that eventually they would Ving that property is so important you have a school system that doesn't have a business administration office there is the Middle School you need to bring them out of the middle school and get their own business administration office we have a school system that needs uh Early Childhood building it's just so much that has to be put together on table you know together and talked about um that building if given to someone else will not share what it needs to share with our kids or with the city please look at that um 2 um that's all I'm going to leave you right now um I'm going to watch the council Mr Bettis congratulations it's funny I I heard your name but never saw you never saw you campaign never saw anything but you still came up a winner congratulations um and one day we'll sit down and talk there's a a promise that we have to talk um to everyone happy New Year and all that so this issue not only for us as the city right yes but I really believe should also be brought back to the school board and you being the former president can help that situation go there because that's something that the community I understand child but right now the majority of our students don't go to college and they took our vocational school and made it to AIT which you have to test and that that has become a you know uh situation throughout the county selected yes so I believe uh with your skills and your ability coming from the school board I see you standing in front of us today maybe there something that we can address with our school district and understanding that we got vocational school right there in front of the high school yes that is true but let me also say that the new high school and middle school were built for just that the trades and all that we do there are space to make that happen happen depending on what type of trade you're looking at doing um but also remember that building can become an indoor track and fill I mean it's so much oh I agree it is so much that can happen and Pleasantville will be on the map with that that building is very important to look at thanks I AG next we have Tim Jones good evening everyone happy New Year and all that stuff thank you I just want to bring up a couple issues as you know I'm a president of President of concerned citizens and we have ongoing issues and as always I try to say some good things before saying the things that just need to be said I got some positive reports about the city during the snowstorm we had in terms of the snow removal and a lot of our local streets someone said make sure I go to city council say good job on that so I'm conveying that message but also on regarding that and it may may not be the city's problem but a lot of the high school kids and middle school kids had to walk in the street to get to school because of all that snow and ice on the on the roads that they have to travel to get to school and that needs to be addressed I think in a better way I mean they just go take the trucks down the street but they're not concerned about where the kids have to walk and that's a big concern I think you should be address please um the other thing I was asked about share services and that was talked about a little tonight we do enter into shared services agreements uh one of them is for our municipal court system and another for 911 as I understand am I correct yes um have they proven to be economically beneficial to the city I I know it's maybe a general kind of statement but I mean if you just look at the balance has it cost us more than this you know costing you know are you talk the 911 I can speak on that we went into that because we didn't have the equipment in the police department that they were upgrading to for to have the whole you know integrated system so yes we did there was a savings to us because we couldn't afford to upgrade yeah I do remember that was a capital upgrade that everybody had to do and how about the court system and in go in the audit it has in here how much the court system cost us and it was running us about $320,000 a year which meant we had to generate that kind of of money through here in fines and we weren't so we were in the hole and so anything you know that we were able to move it and take a shared service thing with Atlantic City yeah we're we're ahead of the game now because we don't have those you know salaries and and pensions and those things that we were paying out previous so thank you I think a lot of people just want to hear that about those share Services agreements um two three three other things real quick we um have um talked about it um in our organization about the need for uniform trash collection especially on Main Street um other communities you see all the um trash cans coming from the same vendor whether it be a private contractor ACA or whatever it would be good if we could pass some kind of resolution or something to mandate we have some uniformity about when you put out the trash on Main Street so you don't have trash when wind you blowing all over the place and things like that and bags and things like that I think that's something just should be considered for our you know Comm um commercial areas would be beneficial just to put it out there um I'm sorry you say uniform yeah trash pick up everybody having like the acua with the 80 gallon cans I mean as dance now everybody does whatever they want to do and this looks so tacky especially when it's windy as you see you see it on Main Street you know but I know the a I don't know how the agreements work with other municipalities but in other municipalities everybody has the exact same C you know again we're try we're trying to discern when you say uniform whether the method by which it's being collected the the type of the type okay the type of like the ACA all had the same all at the same time did so we thought you mean collection so you're talking about uniform collection cans correct correct correct recepticles would be we thought you were talking about the day that you no no not not the SCH just Madam chair I think if I may I think uh Mr Jones is referring to the central business district in particular because it's going to be difficult when Main Street is strictly residential that's a different but I would agree that uh at one time there was a proposal on the table to do that to to to make sure the central business district had all the same kind of C and one time I think we paid for we had the U program before uh Governor big guy sold before he stole anyway uh yes he did uh but uh I I think your idea is a good one particularly for the central business district I observed recently that I mean especially where you have the apartments over the stores and it's just all kinds of mess out there uh Public Works always out there cleaning it up got to give them credit but that's that's a good idea that perhaps we can consider M chair so we'll bring that up to the appropriate um committee meeting councilman yeah I um I went to public work uh went to see the new machines we getting so we going to have everything set up then we going to start working trying to get Main Street all set up also with the trash can so we going thank you um other thing I'm asking about as you know we have our ring Control Ordinance now in place but as I said the rent control I mean the rental industry is becoming very ruthless in my mind and I think as a city we need to you know utilize the tools we have and I think not enough of the um the people who are renting to individuals whether it be households or whatever they're not aware on both sides the tenants and the landlords and I think we need to do you make some other extra effort to make sure everybody knows the the rules and also establish our rent control committee so that we can actually C anything should come up to address that you know like you I appreciate the mayor you know saying she said about it but these get done and I had just I didn't mention it and the third thing the DACA study is that coming anytime soon yes it is any word I don't have a date yet but very soon and I cut you off sorry for what you were getting ready no no no anything else one one other point when the the uh Public Works clows the street sometimes the snow is so heavy goes up on Whose responsibility is it to clean the sou right that all need to be addressed the homeowner okay so no but we can't create a whole new sidewalk for people to walk no but on r is not the homeowners over the overpasses and things like that that's not the home but I just want you know there there's something that needs to be done there you can't have KS you know walking in the street just because they can't walk and they got to get to school may we need to put some more on this on the state to actually handle that part of it instead of just plowing down the middle of the street Mr Jones so um I did observe children work walking in the street over the um the overpass and I did uh call Kye and he did have his out there and they put salt on the over okay well make it know that belongs to the state about what we did was uh what B president had our Public Works do was that emergency situation that was for our community and for the Youth but so but the problem we have is is I know that I did see you walking and all that but also blame our school district again because if you know that we have a we're somewhat I know I was a walking Community all all of us 100% I don't know what the percent about 50 60% still walk MH and you know there snow out there we're still plowing common central tell the district I they need to maybe start late or take the day off cuz now we are putting the kids at R but fired up like being thank you sorry and the trash cans Mr Jones the trash cans um you know you can get on a like a credit program from the acua that's how all these other cities get those trash cans from the ACA that are all uniform receptacles because you can go on the payment plan with them and maybe we can do some way through our mechis to handle that you know that's how AB got all of theirs trash can like that thank you Mr Jose thank you Happy New Year to everyone happy that uh things are moving up and better little by little two quick things and I'll give a copy of that to the mayor then the other side of what I'm talking about and I know this is not exactly an item for Council the Pleasantville police department is not a branch of ice of department of homel security but this I'm sorry can youville police department is not franch and of the homeland security immigration and the reason why I'm bringing this up is this is really more more of a school board thing is it may come to be that I there are a lot of immigrants in the pleasant though and they may have they want to knock on the doors of the school or and say we want we have questions who are the students and I give a copy of that to a great uh Captain here and you cannot let them in uh we're not against them but you have to do things orderly and properly and it's really a matter for the school board but I just thought i' give you a copy of what Chicago public school system did and those things I as an immigration attorney also totally support what is on there so uh this this is something that be adopted to our our city I I'm aware of exactly where where you coming from on this situation cuz I was called about about 2 and a half 3 weeks ago in reference to ice and it's now activated as of today the program is activated for deportation and I understand because this was all national news with Chicago did uh advising the public of their rights of their immigration rights do that y there is a red card it is called red card and I don't want to say it in Spanish because my Spanish is so bad I don't want to denigrate it it's it's called a red card it's the as big as a credit card and it gives you your rights I was going to speak on it later on but it it it gives the person who might have IM immigration ISS issue it gives them what they need to know and what their actual right are because even if you are not a documented person and a naturalized citizen you still have rights in this country as of right now you still are afforded rights and it's very important that people in that situation and in Pleasantville we have a lot of people they're my neighbors they're my friends their constituents their people that I buy things from they need to know know that they have rights CU I I see mothers walking their kids to school every morning and I keep thinking you know somebody's now given them the leeway to go to those schools and and go in and and arrest people and I don't want to see that I want the people to be knowledgeable of what they have elpo has 5,000 of those red cards right now in Atlantic City you can go on a website and print them out they'll print them and mail them to you or you can print them and mail them print them yourself and give them out to people but I want everybody in this city to know that people have rights and there are attorneys around that can help them in any situation that they need but they need to know that they still have rights in this country that's correct and people are scared sir are you as a community are you guys planning to have a meeting in reference to this yeah yeah we we're working on it there's various groups started yeah the other short issue is this I'm an attorney it's hard sometimes to find the openings for positions for lawyers with u say um the zoning board the planning board I found out after searching all over it and I believe that someone got hired U Mr Hill for a position that no one applied to and I apply for that position also I never never got a response back you li for it oh oh yeah I sent a letter in and I said look tell me where I have to go how I have to do and this is my resume this is the position open I think it was plan and M and never got a response back I I deserve the courtesy of at least a response uh whether I'm hard or not that's up to do you know but at least that much and there was no applicants and if you if somebody hires somebody without go through the proper procedures then that person has been hired not incorrectly in violation of the law in hiring so that's it thank you thank you let me just sh something ago Mr Jose so uh thank you for the concern you raised concerning ice u i myself I serve as the first vice chairman of the board of directors for everyone from from Liberia in Canada United States and Mexico but most of the responsibility of awareness paring to immigration rest on the shoulders of community organizations so I just want to encourage you to strengthen yeah those communities that's what we do we had our first meeting with Senators this morning and uh I can't disclose but uh we are available to Le you some ideas and help but it rest on the sh our communities as opposed to city council commun do more to help their people yeah I I have been given pre seminars now with eswa but I not in charge for it and I can do that with other organizations um you know at all technically we're all immigrants thank you thank you thank you except except for black people they're not immigrants that's right African-Americans and Native American that's right next we have Mr call good evening everyone good evening um I'm here I wanted to talk about the shared services that uh speed board that's a that's a good thing and it would help a little bit but I knew we w W have 52 weeks out of the year but what we do have 52 weeks out of the year is a police department and I've been saying it and saying speed radar you talking about money Revenue we'll collect a whole lot of money if you catch these people speed let's utilize our police officers to do the job that they supposed to do that's a part of that job and I ask do they have all detective they tell me yes but when do you utilize it when well I hope I've been saying it over and over again not just me it's been lots of residents come and complain about the speed I know people speed in every town but I mean in our city they're doing 50 5 60 and a 25 someone is going to get killed know people have already been killed it's going to be more let's get on top of this the other thing is we're talking about that um Greyhound building I agree with you uh Mr Overby about a V Tech or something is built more for that type of uh but correct me if I'm wrong is it over 30 years that building's been in soon as the school's open yeah clst to 25 yeah and at that time you was on the board yes and the late L green was on the board also yes and when that building was purchased there was an agreement through the city the U Greyhound and the school dist District that that building would be utilized as a vot for the children from the high school to learn auto mechanics and the city dropped the ball and along with the school board it never happened they got the building and did whatever they wanted and nobody came and said this you this was the agreement now live up to the agreement they just dropped the ball we never got any use out of that building and that was a part of them getting that go that's all I have to say please I hope we don't have a whole bunch of OB stits tonight thank you can I just say something real quick no no no after afterward okay um Aton um VZ can you come up and talk about the U Lifeline program please good evening Council mayor good evening uh I presented a application for our lifeliner program that we do in the puz part department it's been a wellestablished program uh what we do is what typically happens is we have elderly people in town they call us to put up put them on the list we give them a call in the morning make sure they're home if they do not answer uh we give another try if they don't answer again then we send out for a wellness check with P um if they don't answer the we find a way to get in we try the best possible not to damage any any property um and if if they're not home sometimes unfortunately they're not home they at a doctor's perment they don't let us know um sometimes we find them and we have to call our ambulance to take them to the hospital but we think it's a beneficial service for the residents and right now we have only about one or two people on the list we want to try to encourage more residents if they need their family members on the list themselves to put their name on the list or uh put application and we're going to uh share the application with Miss King to put it up on our website um but that's that's what I like to share with you guys tonight hopefully more people take advantage of it want question this is a free service to the cor any other questions I just wanted to say that's a very very successful program I have a couple seniors that I put on it and there is only there's two two of them left yeah two of them left that I Reed on there and that that service means so much to them because the two that you that I put on there they didn't have anyone else that would call them every day yes and uh and and on the application It'll ask for a second point of contact UM it could be I mean we've had council members we've had ex- Mayors on there as a their um as their secondary contact because they may have information on the on the resident that that could help um and you mentioned it is a live person who calls it's not a robo is the best thing in the world somebody who is is alone gets to talk to exactly yes so we be on the phone a couple maybe about 10 15 minutes just to say how you doing how's your day they they talked us for a little bit and the one I went the one miss you remember M now but she was so so to you went to her house she Boulevard yes yes yeah she was just she was in there sleeping she sleeping hard and um valuable and also we do encourage uh whoever does sign up for this to also consider putting a lock box on on the resident or have a secondary key maybe submit to us so that we don't have to do any damage to the property um if we don't have to you said submit a key yeah yeah so so we're we're going to encourage people to put like almost like a real lock box on the house so that they can just share the code with us and we'll have the code so that we don't have to go through the window or kind of break in the door just in case any other question than may I have a motion to close public portion can I say something I was l I didn't get a chance to sign up okay I can let you it's really quick well I let you do it this one time I appreciate that thank congratulations to all the new people welcome back to all the old people it's nice to see everybody um one of the things that I wanted to say I was listening here about um the immigration people things are changing so fast like this every time you pick up your phone or you see a news break is where Trump has signed some executive order he has given them okay to go to schools and churches to arrest people so yeah right anywhere at to arrest people so that that happened I think today yeah so okay I just didn't know if you was aware of that oh I've been watching it first made it was a show made his first raid Today Show and he also signed an executive order taking away the work right do that anything else I don't know this supreme cour let me tell you Supreme go ahead um the other thing I just wanted to find out if there was any um movement on the liting and pleas anybody know like are we closer are they going to do one light every time they change a light or something everyone to call the poll numbers but as far as the general program we have not had any movements ago okay if they when they change one light I'm just just a question because I'm not sure why they don't do this or anyway just let me ask I can get an answer if when they when the light goes out and you report the light out when they come out to change the light why are they putting the same light instead of changing that light that they're they they're changing to a LED light like you could get it started that way you have to do the whole town at one time I don't know why they're not putting lights they're not they're not but I just know that they said if there's a light out and the street is start to fall they put the same light in the same cover which makes the light yellow in order for it to be led they got to change that whole top mechanism right I know overhead I know change that that's the money part that's the money as but I was asking if they couldn't do them when they come out to change a light they couldn't change that one pole each time they had to change a light instead of trying to do all the lights at one time this goes back to what I said before about trying to scale things back um instead of trying to do this magnificent great big old project if we could get it done little by little that's something well Miss Brown Miss Brown um Madam ba is going to put a call in to see if that can happen and then we'll have an answer for you yeah that's what I was just wonder could have be done that way we can get started right they just want you really to call the poll numbers and because a lot of people aren't doing that you know because you said your street was dark for months so we any light would be better than none I don't know we had 13 lights out check on that but it still took them from 13 and it still took them from December to February to change those or to put them in or turn them on or whatever and when I talk to the lady on the phone they already know when they look they can say she gave me some more lights that was out they know the lights are out okay we'll put the call in you don't actually have to get out and get the number off of the pole you can do that on your phone here's a the electric company has a whole thing set up that you just have to basically put in the town that you're in and you can just expand the area that you want expanded and it will tell you what that poll number is where you are standing if if it's on the corner of Main Street and Pleasant Avenue and that lights out it'll show you on there that number and you just hit it and it'll come up and it'll give you the information it's been called in how long it's been called in when it would so you don't even have to physically get out of your car walk in the street or anything you just have to get on your phone and I have that app I think all of us have it yeah we tried to give it to everybody else it's much safer than than getting out and you know like stepping in the street because unfortunately those tags are always on the street side and not on the sidewalk side I Madam M um do you have a list as to where all these bits are at yeah do I have a list no okay now I'm just asking because um if I'm going to put in a phone call to the Atlantic City Electric I need to know what polls what streets these lights are are out no I'm telling you they not when I called to report the lights out that were light that were out in my neighborhood the lady that I spoke to said oh yeah that lights out and there's a light out on this on this over here on this street I said well add it to the list she added it to the list and I got confirmations for all of those and they that's why I like I prefer to call you get a confirmation number so when you call back you can give them that number that specific number and it's a lot faster so but they know those lights are out they just don't have a m they told me they don't have a maintenance department I was just saying when you call just to see if they can put in the new lights on that would you that the put the put the LED light instead of replacing it with the same Antiquated light well that's the whole thing I I've done this whole project before redoing street lights with the LED they're I I'm going to exp explain it from a building standpoint the ballister is different for the LED versus your regular t13 light so that's that part that material has to be changed that whole Cobra head has to be changed and and that's where the money EXP is coming in along with their installation so it's almost $1,000 to do that whole change over of just the Cobra head with the LED light with the appropriate light no I understand that I know that I was trying to find ask if they could actually do that instead of us trying to pay them to do every light in the city at one time we could do it some when as the lights go out we can get them changed over that's what I'm asking I understand exactly what you're saying I know that's up to them we can ask but yeah they should give us more I mean we pay a bill every year every month what you pay it and we should have sufficient lighting when we don't we'll have an answer for you Mr okay I appreciate it thank you thank you madam CL we took the um vote to close public portion no you will now may have a motion to close all faor I all right M Clark okay first is resolution 19 participate in the Le impementation grant for the highway digital M boards may I have a motion may I have a second second call yes Tona yes parl yes ois yes Bettis yes Thomas yes resolution approved resolution 20 participa in the Le implementation grant for the speed feedback signs may I have a motion motion second may I have a second second R call feam yes kimona yes Mar clay yes o yes ptis yes Thomas yes resolution approved resolution 21 authorizing 2025 local Recreation Improvement Grant application funded by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs may I have a motion motion may I have a second second call yes and I hope everybody knows that this grant is for $100,000 to severely limit wish yes yes that is yes Thomas yes resolution approved resolution 22 approv and submitt of a Grant application and execution of a grant agreement with United States Department of Transportation for a rebuilding American infrastructure with sustainability and Equity raise Grant may I have a motion motion may I have a second second R feum yes kimona yes baray yes o yes ftis yes Thomas yes resolution approved resolution 23 certified that all C council members have reviewed the 2023 annual audit for the city may I have a motion may I have a second ask for discussion just just want to say this to everybody it's really important so we had we had a motion in second right yeah it's really important and I looked it up because I don't trust what I read and writing I looked up the statute directly and the rule for the local Finance essentially penalizes any council member who does not willfully or neglects to sign off on reviewing the findings and recommend so you don't want to be out there um even even if the body votes in the majority you don't want to be out there individually thank you roll P I have everybody read it yes pona yes bar yes AUST yes ftis yes Thomas yes resolution approved resolution 24 aming resolution number 110 d224 of support for suitability of canid business OCT Productions LLC may have a motion may have a second second roll call P yes kimona so CL yes ausby noted Bettis yes Thomas yes resolution approved resolution 25 reporting Kevin Vegas as the Emergency Management coordinator for the city may have a motion motion May second second yes Pon yes yes yes vtis yes Thomas yes resolution approve I need a motion to approve the bill lero yes kimona yes yes yes yes btis abstain so noted Thomas yes resolution motion approve I need a motion for Bingo license second second bro b yes kimona yes barl yes oasby yes Bettis yes Thomas yes motion approv um before I take comments from um the mayor and city um Council I have a um two items for executive session so oh I'm sorry three items for this session so may I have make motion yeah you say purposes no yeah you're going to go in because you're going to discuss contracts investigation and any other legal matters so we're going into executive session for contracts um any other legal investigations and any investigations and any um legal matters so may I have a motion to go and moot second all in favor thank you all for coming out we'll be an executive session for hopefully no longer than have a motion to come out session we do it again we have a motion a motion May second all in favor all right mayor you have anything no everyone have a good night thank you you too Council so nice anyone have anything I'm just going because now he's got the camera I just want to make sure our residents of the city are aware of what's going on and to please reach out to anybody that you can to get a red card to get you know get all of an attorney if you have to whatever just be safe and be aware of your surroundings and you're right talk about and you know you're right talk about deportation yeah Deport I don't even like to say yeah get your red cards anyone else no I'm good thank you may I have a motion to adjourn motion happy birthday to everyone happy birthday up