##VIDEO ID:2A0AVHvfwV4## sent to the Trenton Times and Trentonian newspapers posted on the first floor bulletin board in City Hall filed in the city clerk's office and posted on the city of Trenton website formal action will be taken Mr Garcia certainly Madame President roll call councilwoman Edwards president vice president Figo kenberg pres councilwoman frisbee pres councilwoman Gonzalez pres councilman Harrison councilwoman Williams President E present there council president Feliciano present myself Brandon Garcia municipal clerk present uh Mr Edward kogi legislative councel and City attorney West Bridges thank you and Madam president if you'd like I could read the invocation at this time yes thank you almighty God the fate of man and Nation we most humbly beseech thee to bless this our city these deliberations and these thy servants that they may act with wisdom and understand standing for the good of our community and thy greater glory amen amen and Madame President at this time I believe we have a recognition listed if you want to read that off go ahead thank you tonight we have special recognition honoring the national sorority of fi Delta cap Incorporated Pi chapter of which I happen to be a very proud member whereas the TR city council wishes to recognize the national sority ofi Delta cap Incorporated Pi chapter the 16th chapter charted in June 1933 here in Trenton New Jersey and whereas the national sorar of fire Delta Capa Incorporated was founded in 1923 by Gladis Merritt Florence steel margarite gross Mildred Morris Julia Asbury Gladis Cannon Edna McConnell and Ella Wells and became officially Incorporated on May 23rd 1923 and whereas the members of the pi chapter have made a commitment to continue to uplift the dedicated Educators classroom teachers counselors School nurses supervisors principes directors assistant superintendents and superintendents and whereas the piie chapter continues to make contributions to the educational community of public schools and Civic organizations in the area and has a very strong relationship with the Trenton Public School District continuing over 30 years the sorar has spent decades seeking new and better ways to contribute to educational and worthwhile causes that impact upon the development of the youth into positive and productive citizens now therefore be it resolved the Trenton city council hereby recognizes the national sority of f Delta Kappa Incorporated Pi chapter and all its members and thanks each of you for your continued dedication to the students within the city of Trenton and the surrounding areas presented this 19th day of December 2024 Trenton City Council at this time if a representative would like to come forward and extend a few words you have to press the button to turn the microphone on thank you good evening esteemed city council president members of the Trenton city council honored guests and community members on behalf of the members of the national sorority of fi Delta Capa Incorporated Pi chapter I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the tremendous recognition it is both an honor and a privilege to serve the residents of Trenton and we are deeply humbled to receive this acknowledgement for our community service efforts our mission has always been to educate uplift and support our community community and through collaborative efforts with the Trenton School District seed male mentoring program and many other organizations we have been able to assist students in becoming Future Leaders award scholarships provide professional development to Educators support families and promote positive change throughout the capital city of Trenton and at large this recognition is a testament to Pi chapter's 91 years of focusing on youth education and service and the collective work and dedication of our members our partners and for the entire community that continues to inspire us to do more thank you again city council president and members for this honor you have truly inspired us to keep moving forward in our pursuit of Excellence and education for all thank you so if you don't mind we'd like to take a quick photo with everybody it's a lot of y'all here uh yeah so we're going to go out to the staircase in the hall really quick we ask everybody to extend us your patience while we go do that Mr Garcia did you notice that councilman Harrison is is here he is present thank you council president I've marked him present as of 5:37 today thank you if Jorge could accompany us to help with the pictures we'd appreciate it thank you he'd be delighted for this she this that you're addicted I it's a nice Bo I was just the teror G I saw maybe it's start Mr Garcia on your call Madam president thank you before we adjourn into uh executive session there is one other um presentation that I wanted to do um it is the corrected resolution uh honoring and commending Trenton city councilwoman Yas Manelli Gonzalez upon her appointment to the Electoral College for the 2024 presidential election this is a historic moment for the councilwoman it's a historic moment for the city of Trenton and and she actually went and appeared on the 17th on December 17th she appeared at the State House in her capacity as an elector and cast her ballots for the Democratic candidates in the recent presidential election so we want to congratulate you once again councilwoman Gonzalez job well done okay I just want to thank you all you didn't have to do it again but thank my colleagues for recognizing me it was an incredible experience and I just want to say thank you so much absolutely absolutely with that being said may I have a motion to go into executive session so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried uh Madame President do we anticipate a vote coming out of executive session this evening huh council president if I may yes um yeah we do not expect the vote coming out of executive session I just want to provide for the record that um the one of the purposes that we're going into executive sessions to discuss Personnel issues um many of which touch upon current pending litigation as well as litigation that may that may be brought by the city of Trenton against different entities or individuals so for that reason under the um anticipation litigation current litigation we're going into executive session that's right but we're not expecting a vote to come out that's correct all right so can I have a motion to go into executive session did we do that already I believe you you've already taken care of that part okay so let's go thank you go makes me that makes me worried spe what are you doing this that's they s to spe much see see also hello started so I get to do it she they did not go through one always no it's his right to sense have you have to after session got give 4 the problem they Au they have no over that doesn't matter e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good luck on your call Madam president oh shoot where's mine we're going to start in about uh three minutes thank you e e e e Mr Garcia certainly Madame President if you want to ask for a motion to come out of executive second session can I have a motion to come out of executive session so move second thank you could I just clarify the second please frisbee second by frisbee it was moved Byes thank you roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbe yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried and Madame President I believe at this time we have a presentation for Trenton Animal Shelter we have a discussion discussion of thank you certainly good evening good evening Madame President Madame vice president and Council Diego mapelli Health and Human Services interim director thank you I have some questions for you this evening um as they pertain to the animal shelter just to bring us up to speed on exactly what's been going on um can you tell us we recently acquired uh a place in Columbus New Jersey where we were supposed to be able to house animals um that currently are in yardly Pennsylvania or New Town PA right so the animals are there we acquired this property to have the animals move there because we're paying a significant amount of money for them to be in Pennsylvania what is the status of the Columbus New Jersey location is it complete are we ready to go can animals go there at the moment what we're doing is we are um doing our surveys to delineate the limits of the property um we're doing the inspections phase and also we're Gathering uh quotes for the renovations okay so let let's get back to it we when did we acquire this property this property was acquired on July 29th 2024 okay and we're just now doing surveys and inspections and stuff yes why um this was before my um tenure so um to gather the information um the resolution I think the resolution was 24268 understanding the purpose of this this is has taken me up up to this time okay so prior to you being on in the time that we acquired the property there were no surveys done of the property and there were no inspections done so you said to do the renovation so it's been found that there are necessary renovations to the property for us to be able to use it uh we need to go over Renovations yes there's Renovations can you tell us the dollar amount of the renovations at this moment I cannot because I'm I'm gathering the quotes for it okay is there a septic system yes there is was there one when we acquired the property yes the septic system yes so a septic was so with with regards to that and a tank there was nothing that had to be everything was in line as far as the septic uh right but we are doing the inspections of that septic system now how much do we pay quarter we pay quarterly over in Pennsylvania uh yes how much do we pay quarterly um right now we have to from sorry from August up to now we have to pay $195,000 so close to $200,000 a quarter yes is what we pay for that how many animals do we have currently at the Trenton shelter at the Trenton Animal Shelter we have 50 uh dogs and four cats 50 dogs four cats how many dogs have been utilized um since your last report uh 44 uh dogs and let me and that's just from the Trent location yes 44 uh dogs and um um seven cats have any been euthanized over in Pennsylvania uh no okay how many dogs do we have over in PA currently in PA we have 51 dogs with regards to the animals that are over in Pennsylvania do we have workers that go over there to deal with those animals like I see that the animals here in Trenton they get walked and they move around and that kind of stuff like that are the animals in Pennsylvania getting the same kind of care and treatment uh yes that is by the service that we pay so recently it was it was um it was brought to my attention that there was approximately um $100,000 worth of gifted Renovations made to the Trenton Animal Shelter um and it was given by a business that does not operate legally in the city can you speak to that because the council has seen no resolution or anything about that um so I'd like someone to speak to that and also what is the process typically when we're taking any kind of donations such as that council president Maria Richardson ba if you would allow me to yes thank you that question thank you um this is a very unusual situation I was um informed by director Mina Capelli Dr Mina Capelli of the possibility of the shelter being um accepting donations um I haven't been able to confirm the exact amount of the donations um for Dr Mina Capell the donor alleges that uh it was work and materials um but he hasn't produced any um anything in writing to that will confirm uh the amount of the donation uh um but was the work done was there work yes done there was work being done and uh it appears that the amount of the donation is more than what we will be able to accept without uh issuing a resolution did you approve this no I did not how is work done how how can work be done um such as that or donations taken in such large amounts like that and no one did Dr Minelli approve it uh Dr minell was not um the director uh when that happens so who would have the authority to allow something like that to happen well honestly um in order for us to accept a donation we we really don't have a policy of how much money we could accept in a donation right um however um all of us take ethics trainings and we know that we cannot accept donation of a certain amount um of money and uh when we for example accept a grant from a private or the state or a federal uh government we need to bring a resolution applying and accepting um the grant uh if I see that on donation as a grant that didn't happen I have to say that after this situ after after we face this situation right we have been um researching for policies in place in different municipalities and uh we will be bringing an ordinance before you with specific um amount of money that we would be able to accept donations or if it's above that amount we will not uh however this donation seems to be significant enough for us to be able to accept it I just can't uh because it wasn't accepted properly and I cannot bring a resolution uh saying that I approve it because I didn't and uh I'm pretty sure that my predecessor didn't do it either uh but I have been having conversations with our law director to see how we can cure the situation um and so what's the answer to how we can cure the situation W you want to the first step is to ask understand what the value was and until we get until we have a definitive number what the value was um then we can assess it and make a determination how best to um bring a resolution before this body to pay it or address it but the F the first step is we need to know what the value of the donation was right so just just to be clear and transparent from when I had first found out about all of this I was asking about the pro protocol the procedures what the dollar amount like what was going on right so now we're here at this point um tonight where now we're saying we have to get the dollar amount so let us move forward to get the exact amount so that way we know how to accept it right or or how to address it moving forward so would the move then be once you find out what it is would it be that the city would then have to refund the money back to the to the business owner what happens well that is my recommendation actually um we requested this person to submit invoices typically in order for us to do a construction job over certain amount of money we'll have to put an RFP out or a be um so we received services that we did not procure so it's not like we can cure this by procuring the services because it's a little bit more um incumber than that so my um suggestion is that we actually once we receive invoices or some sort of certification that this is the amount of money that was spent um I think that we need to return the money but I am not sure that you know the council will have to approve it DCA will have to approve it and we will have to put a resolution basically stipulating that we are uh returning money to a person because we accepted um a donation in a form that it was it was inappropriate that that that is my recommendation as well we're going to have to ascertain the dollar amount that resolution is going to have to go before you repaying that dollar amount that we'll have to recite in the resolution we'll have to recite in the memo the reason that we're paying it and it will have to be reimbursed once once the amount is you know identified okay and then what What mechanisms are put in place or what excuse me rules or whatever are put in place for personnel that would decide that it was okay to allow such things to happen like what's what's the remedy for that um an overb is of caution I'd like first to discuss that in executive as opposed to having having here okay any council members have any questions um just for the uh for the benefit of the public and the individuals present here in the council director mapelli didn't have anything to do with that situation right thank you any other council members have any questions about the animal shelter council president yes Council vice president fig kber um when were the materials and the work gifted to the shelter do you have can you call me um that will be nober um Dr Mina Capelli found out at the end of October and he immediately called me to ask me um if I have approved that which I didn't and Drell when is it when did you come on board as the Director July 29th of this year so earlier direct uh Rich you said that he was not here at the time when this was gifted um but if the work was done he found out in October and he came in in July no he because when he he went to um the shelter and the work has been already done in July no at the end of October but he came on in July so he did he was not aware made aware of the work from July to October being on that is correct director so how is this caliber of work at this magnitude of costliness of upwards of $100,000 how was this overseen how was this overlooked this is a a great magnitude I would assume I don't know what $100,000 or what that consisted of I would not be able to respond to that because I wasn't responsible for the shelter at that time so so before July who was responsible for the shelter we're GNA um we need to over CAU that's going to be executive session as well well excuse me one second Council vice president wasn't there an executive order signed by the mayor assigning someone to the N public knowledge that someone was assigned to the animal shelter is that is that right or wrong in an overabundance of caution for opma laws in well as litigation I would strongly recommend the council that that be discussed in executive session thank you Council vice president go ahead and continue okay um I mean I just I just find it odd that that caliber of work could be overlooked and um come to the conclusion that it happened after the fact um in that time frame um without anybody noticing that that was being done I am not sure that we are saying that nobody noticed that I am saying that I wasn't responsible for it and uh Dr Mina Capelli was not responsible at that time I figured that somebody noticed but nobody that is at the podium right now I don't know how many times I gotta keep saying I don't know how many times in overabundance of caution can this discussion please be had in executive session um director Bridges so the I mean these questions were already asked I don't think they were asking I mean we're just trying to figure out who was responsible at the time and basically there's a gap and and where what we see is who would the responsible party be and Council vice president what's the answer to that question a person who's an employee yeah who was responsible for the shelter at the time I've given my legal advice if you not choose to take that advice you can the question but I'm telling you in overabundance of caution you are talking directly about an employee and their duties and their job I only given an information Mr kogi can can opine on this if if he would like to but the fact that you're not saying names but you're talking about individuals is still the same thing but I will defer to Mr cogi on this issue okay but in uh Mr Bridges and I rarely disagree my take on the uh open public meeting Act is if you're not going to discuss somebody in executive session you can always discuss them in public session I'm not saying that's a good idea to do because of the attendant circumstances of each case and a delicate nature of personnel matters it's probably a good idea to consider Rising them seeing if we could resolve it in executive session um or if the person wants it to be discussed in public session I believe you can discuss the individual in public session but it may give rise to other difficulties so even though it might be technically permissible you know I kind of go along with the premise that if we could take a shot at resolving it inside it would be better thank you Mr CL fair enough and I mean in the spirit of the council being aware and knowledge and the public having knowledge of what's going on I just would like to know if you could just answer this question do we know who was responsible for the shelter during this time do we just know don't have to give a name do we know who was responsible during the time of this transaction la la director is that a question that I can answer yeah it's just a yes or no no yes or no do we know who Council I would defer to Mr KI on this we agreed to disagree and count Mr Ki is solely representing Council Council no I've given it my opinion it can be discussed here I'm not saying it should be I think it would be better to try to resolve it next but council person wants to discuss it here they can discuss it here the question is um if we know who the person was at that time the question is which employee did whatever no no Mr I know the name of the employee I'm just asking do we know who was responsible at the time yes or no yes thank you can I ask a quick question Council vice president I'm sorry that I'm coming I see you J Council woman Williams one second so Dr Manali during this time you came on in July the work was already already done and you well the you came on in July the work was discovered that it was done in October so from July to October you never went to the shelter like you didn't see work being done like no one saw whatever was happening happening in that time like why did it take until October to realize what was going on you have to I did many visits to the animal shelter uh but during the time in October I noticed that there was some construction and that triggered my observation and I had to report it okay thank you thank you councilwoman Williams thank you very much council president so I have um five questions and they're not going to be connected to what happened earlier but these are things that have been on people's minds been on my mind for a while um and I'm going to try to give you a count so then I'm not you're not up there thinking when is she going to stop asking questions that's okay um so my first one is because this came up several times when I actually had to call in um regarding dead animals on a weekend if a tonian is aware of uh a dead animal what should they do to call in if it's on over a weekend reason reason I asked that question uh one of the uh times that happened for me was right near the war memorial just before about a thousand people were coming there for an event um what type of animal was it a dead animal do we have any Animal Control Officers available on the weekend to collect dead animals like a cat a dog gets run over by a car we yes we do when that is cats and dogs yes we do yes okay so there shouldn't be any worry about overtime cost if it's on a Sunday well if it is yes of course there is okay so would the animal likely stay there till Monday morning and then be picked up no they will pick it up on on the day off that you call okay thank you and then um if a Trenton is aware of a potential legal breeding situation what should they do they should report it however I am in the process so finding out the breing ordinances that you have uh I think in the past you had some ordinances in your desk but they were full um and so I'm we're trying to revise them and get them back to you so we can have an ordinance and then enforce okay so the ordinances that um we're already worked on in past they are I guess technically on hold right now until you revise them and get them back to us yeah yes do you know when we can expect those to come back to us in the first quarter of 2025 okay great so in 2025 do you think we'll start turning the tide in Trenton against breeding legal breeding of animals once at a time first we'll get the ordinances and then we enforce okay look forward to seeing those thank you and then um how many Animal Control Officers do we currently have and then how many work after 4:30 on a week night so we have five ACO CT um Animal Control Officers they're all certified and every week there's one ACO on call so during the weekend there's one on call one on call then they would come up and then that's when overtime happens okay gotcha um then my last question would be uh regarding the Cel purchase in South Jersey do you have a rough idea I know you're doing some ation you're getting quotes Etc do you have a rough goal rough time frame of when that will become operational sure we have gotten some I'm sorry uh council president okay um we have received some um estimates from our city engineer as of how much it's going to cost um I can give you that information later I don't want to make it a public information because then once we put the the beat out they already know what how much we are trying to to spend but it's considerably more than what we would inform at the uh when we purchase the canel um director Liston has been helping us with some soning issues with the municipality because um apparently we were not going to be able to to use it as a Keno although that's what we purchase it for so we already um with u director listens assistance and and Dr Diego we are over that uh process now so once we complete the inspection process we need to uh come up with the specifications of all the work that needs to be done our engineer is already working on that and then we will have to put it out for bid um so that process just to to put the bid out most likely will take us until March of 2025 so we anticipate that around May or June we should have already awarded a contract to start the renovation so we are not anticipating that we are going to be able to take any animals there before Jun June July 2025 so it's so it's reasonable for us to expect that this will be operational by September 1st 2025 I would say that yes okay thank you very much ma'am thank you sir thanks council president you're welcome uh ba Richardson yes so you said excuse me we we we made the purchase of the kennel but then we realized that we're not able to use it as a kenel as intended right yes that was information that we received um from the municipality at certain point but fortunately we were able to um make some contacts at the municipality and uh we are past that right so so my question is when we made the purchase of the the space who went out to look at it am I allowed to ask that question I will have names and and no what I'm saying is like I go to buy a house I go to see the house that I want to buy I have an in inspector goes out they do they do dealers to say to tell me you know this is good with the house this is bad with the house none of that happened when we purchased this like we just did we take somebody's word on this like how how did this purchase happen that it was supposed to be used as a kennel and then we found out we can't use it as a kennel and then we find out that we have all these violations and then we find out that it's going to cost us more than what the purchase price was to even pay for it like how did we get to that point who oversaw did someone oversee the the purchase of this like why why would why this not look that ahead of time more than one individual participated in that process and no one checked with the municipality to say is this going to be okay for us to use it as a kennel I am not sure that I don't have access to that information as I was not one of the individuals participating in that process was it somebody from the administration um there was more than one person involved in that process and in the process of us buying it we never thought to have an inspection done ahead of time before we purchased it like wouldn't that be standard operating procceed like wouldn't that be something that we would do yeah that would be a standard procedure that I will follow so I will say that thank you for answering the questions but I I will say this um it is very disheartening that we're at this point right this this shelter this animal shelter has been an issue since before we got elected on counsil right and we've been trying to move ahead and been patient trying to see how everything was going to work out and then you know there there was questions of other funds that we could have used to do different things we didn't do those things and we're still like stuck where we were right um the council is looking for movement and resolution to this and we need that right um thank you for sharing you know a lot of this happened Dr Manali that was not under your you know under your supervision and you know VA Richardson you but we have to fix this the the mere fact that we have to pay for these renovations to this place that we bought under the assumption that we would use it for one thing only to find that that's not so because inspections weren't done ahead of time or people didn't verify if there were you know with violations were or what have you I'm still a little confused um then to say that we would still be paying close to $200,000 a quarter for animals to still be housed over in Pennsylvania while we're still paying to renovate coupled with the fact that then we have accepted donations that weren't even approved in excess possibly of in excess of possibly like $90,000 it just baffles the mind how any of this even happened systems must be put in place things have to be done um things need to be corrected I trust that you're going to make sure that all of that happens but we need some resolution to this animal shelter this has just drugg on for far too long um we need people that are employed there that are able to to oversee to make a difference that are that are going to be there to actually do the work that that's needed um to be done to get this thing on track yes and I can um thank you for saying that but I can assure you that as at this point we have more than one Department getting involved with this situation trying to bring it to a pront resolution and that we can move start moving animals there and stop being um money to the kol in yly okay all right before we close this part any other council members have any questions before we finish this part out council president councilwoman was and then councilwoman frisbee thank you I just have a a simple question and maybe this is an executive session question too but I'm going try to keep this as generic as I can when things like this happen and there's unauthorized expenditures and Renovations and such is I would assume this is subject to disciplinary action against the employee that made this no are we allowed to um in general I was say that um yes um but it also had to do with is that employee supposed to know you know in any case um yeah it should be an executive session okay thank you thank you council president so I have just two um questions um the first one is is there a procedure that's in place now going forward um if this should arise again what is the procedure that we have in place if any well the procedure is not in place but we are working on an ordinance that it would make it would put a policy in place um I have been uh checking different ordinances from different cities some cities have a $200 some others have $500 $1,000 I haven't seen anything over $1,000 and so I think that we said that we were going to uh put $500 as the maximum donation that we could accept but there is a lot of other considerations that need to be um thought um before we accept a donation so that all that is going to be in an ordinance because there are also conflicts of interest and that's sort of things that would um limit the amount to zero you know and so you you will have that ordinance before you at the beginning of the year because we have been working on it and hopefully that includes something with um that deals also with the in kind donations which I'm definitely because this happen to be an in kind donation yes so it will it will talk basically about value right not not necessar uh cash or with inine in cash and then the last question I have um director mon Kelli you said that um there there is someone on call after 5:00 p.m um to serve also during the weekend is that correct that is correct that is the ACO on call so if someone has they find that they have an issue with an animal is it they call the same number and does that number follow the individual to their cell phone how does they they get do they have to call in and retrieve those how does that call get to uh yes yes they will call the animal shelter and that will trigger the the ACO on call uh cell phone it's it it does go directly to their cell phone that's on call yes thank you very much Cil president to I want to piggy back off of um councilwoman Frisbee's question about that um I received several complaints from individuals that call about animals After Hours that the phone just rings and rings and rings and then they call dispatch um and dispatch says that nobody is going out to pick up animals um that happens quite often I answer my phone 121 2 3:00 in the morning for those phone calls what is the validity of that and what are we doing to mitigate those circumstances so we are trying to U make sure that those qu are rerouted to the um appropriate ACO on call making sure that they answer the calls and they go and pick up the uh the animals or whatever is is um um the uh residents complaint um yes okay um and and and maybe this might be something for executive session too but I've also received complaints about um certain acos who are on call after hours showing up and intoxicated and it's been reported on different occasions that they they they're showing up to um you know when when dogs are being reported and they are completely intoxicated at the time or they smell of alcohol or things of that nature has that been reported or are you aware of any reports of that I have not received any reports regarding that but if you receive them please forward them to me yeah okay um and I think one oh heilo procedures um how is you know the Hilo functioning and you know when dogs are being abused or neglected and let's say there's there's if if this can't be answered here that I just wanted to bring up and there's more than one animal in the house um and and multiple dogs are visibly um in in bad shape um is being reported that they're being abused and neglected um how does that work do we take just certain animals out of the home do we take all the animals out of the home or what is the procedure and what you know what that is not a function of the animal shelter it's a function of the police the human law enforcement officers are under the police jurisdiction so any complaints about animal cruelty needs to be reported to police so there's no collaboration between the two we collaborate right and sometimes if we get a call for a genetic call and we one of our acos go to the home and and then they think that there might be an animal cruelty issue then they contact the uh the Hilo uh officer but all animal cruelty complaints should be reported to police thank you sure I have a last question I think there um in discussions and correct me if I'm wrong because we've talked about so many things at one point Didn't the mayor say that he was gonna um establish a panel I know um a f it was like five people or something um it may have been a part of his executive order or something like that but I remember because we had um the former uh Council woman that would that was actually expressing interest in serving on it or something like that but there was supposed to be like a five person panel um established to give oversight or see what's going on with the animal shelter can you speak to that um very superficially I can speak about that um yes the executive order issued by the major at the beginning of the year don't quote me on the date because I don't remember but I know that he mentions that um Administration needs to create a um animal shelter advisory Council mhm um Dr Diego Min Capelli was not made aware of that until recently so at the beginning of the year um he will be actually uh doing taking the necessary steps to assess if that is something that we can do at this time or if we need to go back and reassess the executive order but most likely yes it will be created okay council president we can expect something in the beginning of the year correct okay thank you councilwoman Williams yes ma'am I just wanted to confirm it's uh called The Animal Welfare Advisory board and the mayor deed accepted nomination will be putting forth a former councilwoman Marge Cola Wilson to that body ma'am okay thank you so then yeah we'll be expecting to see that at the beginning of the year okay thank you thank you madam president yes councilwoman Edwards I just have a um a comment I don't know if this is a question but definitely a comment because councilwoman Gonzales and I had worked diligently to put together an ordin ordinance to create an animal Advisory Board in which the administration had pushed back on and um and then the executive order came out from the mayor back in April of this year and then here we are in December and these things have not been enacted and I'm wondering why not um just to their point and and it's just a comment because we were working on this and we could have had a board that could have overseen some of these processes that could have prevented some of this that $100,000 in kind donation from happening unauthorized Renovations and things like that so I had to express my disappointment in the fact that this Animal Welfare Advisory Board was never enacted and in and I don't want to accuse anyone of circumventing the work of councel but we would have moved at a quicker space to at least put people on that board and things like that um so I would appreciate if if this was made a priority because evidently the department needs um additional help and oversight thank you thank you Council woman Edward thank you Drell Mr Garcia certainly Madame President next on your agenda is public comment I do have the public comment clipboard here we have six people signed up at this time uh to the Public Public comment will be five minutes I presume and um for each individual you may address any any item that you wish please state your name and address for the record uh please do understand that the council is not obligated to respond first person list of for public comment is Bishop Sydney Gaines want to press the button at the uh the red button on the microphone I okay evening just call me b just call me crystal Bishop leita leita Feliciano alone she knows I've been having a problem with that name well good evening Crystal president president Crystal members of the council and fellow citizen of Trenton I am the bishop Dr sney L gangs and I am a Trenton police chapl and as many of you know I'm also a proud member of the Trenton Civic trust some of my fellow trustees are right here tonight sir before I uh I just want to interrupt you I just need an address from 419 West State Street New Jersey thank you go ahead ma again I am a proud member of the Triton Civic trust some of my fellow trustees are here tonight the Triton Civic trustees meet monthly to research policies that are based on evidence of success save money and benefit the whole city most importantly we work with a no blame pragmatic approach tonight we are offering a solution for improving public safely in our city of Trenton this solution was worked on with assistance of the former president of the National Organization of black law enforcement officer and a member of the New Jersey police training academy we are not suggesting that our proposal is the answer to all our city public problems nor is it offer as an alternative to the several proposed action already put in Forth put in place it's just meant to address the lack of deescalation training and practices that contribute to excessive use of force next up is my fellow Civic trustee Samantha Castro to share with you firsthand an audiance she got adopted in her city of Perth Amboy which is helping to change the city policing from a warrior culture to a guardian culture I now introduce to some and present to others our was Pacific trustee Samantha Castro thank you very much hi uh hello uh TR city council um I'm Samantha Castro yes thank you that's you are the next person listed council president she is the next person listed on this uh listed here go ahead yeah of course um Samantha Castro 451 Park Avenue Perth Amboy New Jersey um Samantha Castro I'm a Perth Amboy Civic trustee and in the summer of 2020 as a response to the murders of George Floyd and bana Taylor I organized a protest attended by over 1,000 City residents the March raised awareness but there was still a need for substantial change the point of the protest was not only to advocate for human rights and dignity but to encourage and Implement a police culture change change from that of a warrior to that of a guardian and that's with input on implementation from the New Jersey attorney general's office and the Yale Center for policing Equity a Citizens Public Safety Advisory Board was developed to encourage and monitor progress in deescalation training and practices nationally Studies have shown that on average police officers receive 8 hours of Force training for every 1 hour of deescalation training and while many departments are beginning to increase deescalation training practices we have a long way to go our ordinance would benefit Trenton by allowing citizens including youth leaders to actively engage in improving the city's deescalation training and practices it is the first crucial step toward a trusting and symbiotic relationship between the police and the community this ordinance requires the police department to publish an annual report on increases in deescalation training and practices the annual report is reviewed in public hearings conducted by citizens Public Safety Advisory Board which includes two youth members the citizens board also meets regularly to research and introduce new training and deescalation practices to the police department the use of assessive force is life-threatening for civilians and officers this isn't about shaming the Trenton police nor is it about hidden agendas to expose individual officers this is about communication and trust between civilians and those who have sworn to protect and serve the citizens Public Safety Advisory Board is an evidence-based practice designed to assist police departments and encourage the safety of all parties involved during officer civilian interactions this ordinance was developed using controlled group studies conducted by the International Association of chiefs of police following the adoption of increased deescalation training and practices there was a 28% reduction in use of force incidents a 26% reduction in citizen injuries and a 36% reduction in officer injuries this data demonstrates the importance of developing a comprehensive effort where improvements in deescalation training are publicly reported and subject to Citizen oversight my fellow Civic truste will give each of you and your Council administrator packets including the ordinance creating the annual deescalation report and the public safety Advisory Board The Advisory Board is a solution representing Civic power and compassion this is social advancement that was only made possible through open and honest communication a willingness to learn and the human capacity for empathy and Community thank you for your attention and I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding the ordinance and its implementation as chair of the Perth Amboy citizens Public Safety Advisory board thank you Harry piki great oh nice Madam council president Feliciano and council members um my name is Harry poiki I live at 172 Water Street in Perth Amoy I'm an attorney and I served on a law and policy task force of 50 uh government attorneys former mayors Etc who volunteer their time I'm a full-time volunteer myself to work with citizens like Samantha to develop laws that will better the communities in which citizens live um I'm just here tonight to answer a few frequently asked questions about the ordinance that Samantha referenced why are we before the council that might be one of the questions this is an Advisory board that we're uh seeking a council has the ability to take take advice uh from the public and under its investigative powers to be able to review the actions of departments within the city um one of the other uh questions that gets answer asked is this something like a civilian review board it is not it's entirely different um the focus here is on changing the culture of the department not on any individual officers so those are separate Solutions um one last thing is that uh each of the members of this board and as Samantha said there are two youth members of the board one uh 16 to 20 and 1 20 to 30 years old we're looking for that kind of interaction between the younger citizens and the police officers there are two officers on the uh board as well as other citizens they meet quarterly to research for evidence-based solutions that show that deescalation training or practices certain specific ones are actually working in cities similar to Trenton um they they can't even vote on any of the measures uh to advise them or or to provide advice to the mayor councel and uh Police director unless they uh take a course at either ruter or Mercer uh County Community College in evidence-based Solutions research so these are not citizens just coming up with ideas out of their heads they find evidence-based solution solutions they work with police officers and the results are dramatic and as Samantha pointed out can not only save civilians and police officers from injuries but because of the reduction and use of force there's tremendous savings uh in the litigation that occurs from use of force incidents so uh uh we stand ready to work with the mayor the councel uh the Police director the police unions as we have in other cities before um to uh tailor the ordinance to meet any specific requirements of Trenton um and uh we'll be happy to provide you with copies of the ordinance already submitted to your administrator um and to the council president uh as well as a copy of this book which is the manual published by ruers University press that is used uh in the uh certification of members of the uh task force and we'd be happy to answer any questions as well at this time or at any time and I thank you very much for attention Leticia Peters Mr Garcia I'm sorry before we continue um Mr piki do you have those packets from you have those here if you could give okay if you could give that to um Mr osara right there that's coming over the young man and then he'll distribute those to counsel thank you I'm Sorry Miss Peters good evening my name is latria Peters 1462 stavon Avenue Trenton New Jersey I would like to take the time to say to speak to you today and put on record that there needs to be some type of testing in city hall because every time I come into do this building I'm feeling I headaches I break out in hives and I get really really tired I don't know if you have a in your plan in your budget plan to do any type of future testing that's why I presented as a suggestion that we do public comments online it was done since n excuse me since 2019 and then it stopped when we had a new board put into place and I believe that in 2025 we need to look at that suggestion again because many people are not having their rights presented as a concentric and law biding citizens and hearing your opinions and being part of Trenton New Jersey another thing I'd like to talk about is the investigation of the city of Trenton and the Trenton Police Department I went to the meeting yesterday and there were some discussions about the city of Trenton and the police department coming together and doing some type of review board so that we can come together because right now based on what I read there needs to be some type of organization that is working with the police department because right now some of the people believe that they are being targeted that no matter what happens to them they are being told that nothing will be done and that is something that has happened to me and something that this report fa to discuss is the abuse of power and authority by the Trenton Police Department and another thing that was not indicated in this report is what are the genders in the race of the 260 sworn officers and how many of them reside in the city of Trenton because they do not have invested interest in this city if they do not live here and we are using the buzz words training and need for more police officers and at this meeting yesterday many people did not think that there needs to be more training I mean no more police officers that we need to work with the current 2060 sworn officers to do their job and not harass and say words such as living like animals here and curse words which I won't you use and calling people names such as you're dirty ass s boy this is totally unacceptable that people are not being recognized and being held accountable by the Trenton police officers and the Trenton Police Department is a toxic work environment that hinders the policy the police Avail ability to work and function effectively and I would like the city council to allow public comments online again and I brought this issue up again I think this will address a lot of issues if we come together in 2025 and I believe this is a violation of our first amendments because we are not being G given opportunity to express our ideas and concerns to the Triton city council because another thing that was not dis discussed is that the tritan police department is afflicting Terror and that is called terrorism the master terrorism thank you man that's it okay Sarah Thomas no Miss Thomas Sarah Thomas Madam president that's all the individuals I have for public comment at this time if it's your wish you can move on with any individual for civic comment yes thank you tonight we'll start with councilwoman Williams I knew you were going to come to first okay so uh I have some announcements uh that I'd like to make to keep things brief uh so last night we did not have the December northward citizens police advisory council meeting as the doj meeting was happening we want to encourage citizens to attend that but our next meeting will be on uh Wednesday January 15th at 5:30 at gy Baptist Church 4:40 Martin Luther King Boulevard and we're quite honored to be actually having our city law director uh Mr West Bridges will be attending our meeting as our guest to tell us about our Law Department and uh answer some questions about how it functions within the city so I think that'll be a great discussion uh additionally coming up uh we have a lot of great events happening in Trenton and uh the first thing I'd like to notify people about is the winter break youth program that's being conducted through our department of recreation natural resources and it's from December 23rd to December 31st while kids are out of school um there field trips involved really great stuff like going to American Dream Mall Hershey Park and Disney on Ice so for more information please visit Trenton nj.org for wck where you can call 609 989 3860 uh in addition uh we will once again be celebrating Hanukkah uh here in Trenton uh on Friday December 27th at 4:30 p.m uh with the lighting of a manora uh to be able to attend that it was a great uh event last year to celebrate um our Jewish uh the Jewish faith uh here in our city as we do with the holiday season and amongst everything with Quanza and Christmas uh also a part of Patriots week if you haven't seen this it's the Asen pink firew walk along Asen pink Creek in mhill park it's such an amazingly cool thing to see all the um all the uh firew walk pieces lit up uh kind of like um I don't know how you describe it but their baskets of firewood up in the air and it's how they did it back in the 1700s so that is on Saturday December 28th at 4M and please gather at the his Jackson Street Iron Bridge there's uh hot chocolate cider goodies all kinds of stuff it's a great time and of course it's free and then finally on going to be having the uh Dr Martin Luther King Day of Service uh next month on January 15th be gathering volunteers at Trenton City Hall Atrium here at City Hall on the first floor so please uh come and join for a day of service and if you want to volunteer register your local nonprofit or Community organization please call 609 989 3860 again 609 989 3860 and um point of privilege uh council president I do have something I'd like to say regarding you but I could hold to that later or would you like to if we want to say something as this is your last we wait till later or no you can SP now um so I just want to say for my own self and I'm sure my our colleagues my colleagues would feel the same just want to thank you for your service this past year council president uh you worked very hard on streamlining many things um making processes clearer uh very high energy would much appreciated and some of the things um I try to think about you know there's a lot of stuff that we'll see as a council and maybe people will come if they see your meetings but there's something that they may not see until it actually happens that you're instrumental and that's going to outlast all of us and that's going to be actually the physical improvements to this building and the ceiling above us and other improvements in this room and councilwoman Feliciano council president Feliciano was the Catalyst for that uh fortunately when a couple couple things almost landed on us but I want to thank you for being that detail oriented that you made sure that that happen so when people come to city council whether it's for a meeting or a celebration they see the beauty and history of this building but also that they're safe when they come here and forever forth uh the impressiveness of where we're able to do the people's business will always be known and that's a tribute to you ma'am so thank you thank you councilwoman councilman Harrison I would like to first uh thank uh director Harris and his staff for the wonderful event that they had at cowat Park when they were giving out the turkeys which is a wonderful event helped a lot of families throughout the city uh i' like to thank uh director Douglas for his hero holiday that the dinners that were given out to many people who came out uh I would like to thank the guatemal and civic association for uh their toy drive at Unity Park they helped a lot of family uh during this time of year um would like to wish everybody uh Happy Hanukkah merry Christmas happy K Quanza it's good to see everybody coming together and we should always remember that in life we should always try to help anybody in need so thank you to the directors because a lot of times we ask for a lot of things up here thanks granai thanks director Richardson and direct all the directors for all your help and thanks my colleagues for all your work and for us working together to help move this city forward thank you all have a blessed evening thank you councilman councilwoman Gonzalez thank you council president um thank you everyone for being president and those who spoke today and share some um information I I'm glad that they left a packet so we can kind of review that data um because I am one in favor of a civilian police review board so I'm curious to look through that and see the data and the status stats that they have shared with us today um just want to send prayers out to the beachum and gi's family I know we've had some tragic losses in our city and I just want to say I'm sending prayers out to those families congratulations to the TR High boys basketball team who actually won their first opening game um today they played again they didn't have a win but we want to shout them out as the season begins so if you're able to go by and support Trenton High basketball players please do so um I believe the girls won today also and in the spirit of shouting out our students I want to acknowledge our TR High cheerleading team who placed third in our CBC competition I know Council women Williams and I were present and I want to say thanks for supporting the girls um in that competition also thank you to everyone who did toy giveaways those who donated I know we had a toy drive also um to give away to some organizations so we want to say thank you to everyone who donated and those who have organized and coordinated toy giveaways for our children here in the city of trenson um I'm going to keep it very short tonight and have a good night thank you thank you to our council president and Council Vice President also for a great year councilwoman frisbee thank you council president so I want to start off by saying um I wish Bishop Gaines had stayed I wanted to thank him for bringing um the members from Perth Amboy here um to share the information with us and giving us the uh information to give us something to chew on um safety of our community is always at the Forefront of uh everything that we do um to miss Laticia Peters who also did leave um I wanted to give her an alternative for those who cannot comment online that they can also send an email to their Council Representatives um be it at large or the one that is in your ward if you cannot be present here to give your comments we never want you to feel that your voices are silent that's why we are here to hear what has to be said and what concerns you um I want to congratulate and just say thank you to our council president um and our Council vice president on this year as it comes to a close this is your final uh time of the seat with us this year and I want to just say thank you for just showing up um with the many efforts that you have put into place it's not easy people think that sitting in the president's seat is an easy job it is not um I thank you for doing your best to help this Council grow and for how um you've done with relationship building as well to strengthen the community and you'll find attention to detail um so that's thank you to that it is necessary it is appreciated um and everyone will be better for it and I want to thank our council president for sitting in and standing in um to be her backup to wherever she um needs um it is always good to know that you have someone that you can depend on so thank you for sitting in the seat again it is not an easy job I want to wish um everyone a Merry Christmas a FIS Navidad happy Hanukkah um a happy New Year happy you celebrate canar your do the canara lighting which we if you um want to take part The Smith Family Foundation will be having their canar Lighting on this Monday actually here at the city uh we are excited about that I believe the time is 4:00 do not quote me I believe it is 4:00 this coming Monday but also there will be a quote Quanza celebration at the war memorial on Saturday next Saturday December the 28th beginning at 11:00 a.m. to 6: pm. that also will be at the war memorial and it is a free event there will be lots and lots of vendors there a lot of things to celebrate a lot of information food and just a really great time the entrance is free but there they have several places to go inside and you can purchase some things be it um just food or clothing there going to be a really grand time so please come out and again that is Saturday December the 28th at the war memorial beginning at 11:00 a.m. um I wanted to shout out to fire director uh Kenneth Douglas and to his partner and crime I'm over there director Wilson I see you over there I just want to say congratulations I think this was the fourth um holiday um Heroes holiday giving and it was absolutely phenomenal um it was great to see everyone who came out it is the community let you know that it is something that never gets old they come out they come out and you see the need you see the need you see the need so thank you for what you do um to director Harris back there um thank you for what you and your staff did um for our turkey and food giveaway um just paying attention to the needs of our community and and stepping in and filling in that Gap wherever um there is and you see the space to do it to be Richardson and Dr monell thank you for staying thank you for answering the questions they're not always easy but thank you for staying in and doing it um professionally and I appreciate that to other directors that are here in including director Colin Char and in our Law Department thank you this and as we come to the close of our year I just want to say thank you for all of you for your professionalism you way you show up and you do your job whether it is easy or not I appreciate each and every one of you for coming out here weekly um I also want to coun um congratulate once again councilwoman galz on her appointment and for representing not just New Jersey but representing Trenton we are so proud of you and excited about um the work that you are doing and to our council members thank you again for an incredible year I look forward to continuing the work I thank everybody who voted for me um once again to get my seat back and for those who didn't I thank you also because I'm still going to serve you I read our portion of our Rich mission statements as recognizing that the people of Trenton have made us Guardians of the public trust we committ to govern with integrity and fiscal responsibility to seek excellence in the city's operations and to serve all the city's people with respect with respect and compassion thank you and of course thank you to our uh clerk in his Department you are greatly appreciated thank you councilwoman councilwoman Edwards thank you madam president good evening everyone um I want to say first and foremost thank you to all of those that came uh to the council meetings and to all these public meetings regarding the doj report with the police department I I appreciate and am grateful for the Civic and public engagement that we are witnessing from our residents um this though for negative reasons um I believe that the public input will change the Dynamics of our Police Department as long as the police department is willing to acknowledge and accept accountability and work to implement some of these changes and I have faith that we will especially given the council that we have um I'm highly supportive of a Civilian Complaint review board to enhance police accountability and transparency and just in recognizing the fundamental importance of public trust and accountability in law enforcement to ensure the safety and well-being of his residents and for for that I am highly supportive of a robust civilian oversight of law enforcement's agencies to Foster transparency to reduce misconduct and to improve police community relations so I'm looking forward to continuing the conversations that we have been having with the administration with the Police director and with the doj and the public as well and with that being said I want to thank the Police director for obliging my request um to when I requested to rise in to also meet with him um in executive session to discuss a lot of the things that was brought to my attention and though I cannot publicly say U or elaborate on anything that was discussed I would just say that this is a step in the right direction so I appreciate that um and I want to get off of the heavy stuff um public publicly there has been um some discrepancies with our new beginning pilot housing program and and though when you know new programs are created it's not going to be perfect straight out of the gate and I appreciate the administration for taking the time especially the mayor for taking his time to do his due diligence to work with the um with the program recipient and addressing some of her issues and concerns regarding the program and I want to thank the the mayor also for recognizing where um where this program fell short at and some of his ideas on how we can improve it I I have faith that this program will be what the community needs as long as those efforts continue um I also want to give a shout out to principal Adrien Hill of hbth Williams Intermediate school today she their school had hosted um a civic education day today where they recognized and honored um miss the late Miss Lauren woen who was our longest serving poorer of 79 years from the age of 18 until her demise um today there was an assembly for sixth graders where we got to we got the opportunity to teach them and um my daughter's teacher who she goes to the school so I I didn't know about it if it wasn't for her invitation but I appreciate having an opportunity to speak to the students um about the importance of Po workers about the importance of getting out to vote and how the kids can get involved at their very young ages and I gave an example of how my little one who's 11 now she was eight going on nine at the time I ran for office and she went door too with me and she created her own script I did not create her script and she did a really good job and I I believe that if we Empower our children um to do more at a younger age they would grow more civically engaged as they come of age to be able to participate either as a pole worker or as a candidate themselves or just working on someone's campaign um so lastly I just want to thank the council president and VP as well for their service throughout the year um council president I I feel like you um you took on a lot of our processes and systems and you improved a lot and with the input of several if not all council members um you took the time to hear us out and I felt like I could go to you and say this needs to improve this needs to improve and you thought it out and you really implemented some of the things that um many of us had brought to your attention and with that I say thank you because we are better for it and we need these processes and systems so thank you for your service and improving the processes of city council throughout the year and um uh I want to say happy holidays whatever you celebrate or not um happy New Year because we won't see each other until after the New Year and thank you for coming thank you councilwoman Council vice president figuroa kber thank you um good evening everybody um first of all I just wanted to say that you know there's a lot of things wrong with our community but there are a lot of things right and I really just want to thank everybody in Trenton who make sure goes out of their way to make sure those in need or those less fortunate and those who don't have do have we do that really really well in the city of Trenton um and this year was no exception um when it came to Thanksgiving and and coming to Christmas um with gifts and and food and things of that nature so I really want to applaud the community um for their grand efforts um year after year after year um to really look out for those um less fortunate who are our neighbors our family members um those that we see every day that we may may or may not realize um just have it like some others do um so I really want to give a shout out to those and on that note I just wanted to say that on this Saturday um at 11:00 a.m. at St Bartholomew's Church at 1748 South Clinton Avenue there's the annual Christmas toy drive one toy po a child um children get to pick out their toy and I also want to thank the central labor counil for the generous donation along with labor um to St Bartholomew's Church today um those are much needed and also on Saturday on the 21st as well at the Boys and Girls Club on Center Street in Trenton um from 3:00 to 5:30 they have their annual toy drive as well um on December 23rd Santa Claus is Coming to Town thanks to the Trent fire department um starting at 2:30 p.m. the fire trucks in Santa Claus will be driving around the city of Trenton so please you know have your families your children out there there um it's it's a great time for everybody um as many of the the community many of the community members are looking forward to it and we're asking if it was happening this year and absolutely Santa did not forget about Trenton um so as we move into the new year I'm really excited for what's to come it's been a great two years serving on this council with these Council um with my Council colleagues we've gotten so much done um we've been Forward Thinking we've got a lot of Mobility you know we've asked some tough questions um and we've just we've honored a lot of folks and we've brought a lot of light to the city of Trenton and I'm really excited that we all will remain and we'll all continue to be able to work together to do that um as we move into new leadership new ideas new approaches but I'd be remissed if I didn't take the moment to appreciate council president Feliciano on the great job that she did organizing honoring uplifting seeking strategy answers and transparency from not only us on Council but also from you know Trentonian and administration um she did an excellent job of that she really set a high bar High precedent for anybody following suits um organization skills through the roof I don't know who's gonna be able to fill that seat um I think she was a nun in a past life to be honest with you with the with the ruler but um council president we do thank you um for all the hard work all the extra hours that you worked um tirelessly effortlessly and not just on Council and and every other thing else that you do all your other organizations and participation you know in your own personal life so just thank you for everything that you did in this past year I know that um I speak for myself it was greatly appreciated and I learned a lot under you as vice president um and I just look forward to the year to come so happy holidays to everybody as my Council colleague said and you know I didn't get to celebrate Thanksgiving this year I was running for my life still um but I do hope to be able to sit down and celebrate Christmas with my family and loved ones so thank you all and have a wonderful evening and enjoy your holiday season thank you thank you Council vice president wonderful so good evening everyone thank you all for being here I mean the directors are kind of stuck here at this point but thank you for being here thank you for everyone um that spoke tonight thank you for everyone that um is here tonight in the audience thank you for everyone that is viewing it is my last evening my last council meeting as council president here in the city of Trenton has been one heck of a ride over this past year I'm honored to have served two years in leadership um here on the council and I thank um my colleagues for extending me the opportunity to step in and to lead um over this past year if if the lists I have in front of me are are correct we actually passed 67 ordinances seven of them I authored we passed we adopted 129 ABC resolutions we adopted 533 resolutions 17 of which I authored or co-authored with other people I say that to say we have really moved this city forward we have really done that um when we talk about streamlining and putting processes together thank you to the council for trusting me for two years we're putting the budget review process together we move with great precision and accuracy as we move through looking and diving in and asking and an getting the answers to the question thank you for moving into the consent agenda right and trusting the process doing your due diligence and homework to review everything to make sure that when we go to the vote we know exactly what we're voting and why we're voting in that way to clerk Brandon Garcia shout out to you for trusting the process and working with me as we talk about things that were needed in the office the the way that you stepped in and trusted about doing the Oprah training and everything right you did a great job you did a training for the directors here and then you also brought in the GRC right and had them do the public training so kudos to you for trusting and stepping up right and your leadership capacity a lot of people don't understand why sometimes you know conversations are had right I deal the president does deal with the clerk you know just for the docket and the agenda and everything but I'm a very Hands-On type person right and so I want everybody to grow and that is just who I am by Nature so when I see potential in people I jump on I take it and I run and I'm grateful that you trusted me enough that you're allowing it to go so as you continue to grow and be great your department will continue to grow and be a wonderful um Department with us here servicing the council and the public so thank you for all your hard work and your dedication in Your Capacity thank you to each and every single director for everything that you do for answering all the questions for being available for being accessible for being um who you are right for dealing with the tough questions a lot of people don't know right when we sit in docket review with the ba and the assistant ba and the law director right and and um CVP and Mr Garcia right we get down to the nitty-gritty but thank you for answering right and thank you for doing your due diligence and providing us with the answers that we need right because we're looking to move the city forward I want to thank mayor gar um gusciora right for him for working with me for working with the council again I am an inclusive person I am not selfish by any nature I believe in extending invitations to all the council members so thank you to CBP figuroa kenberg for stepping in in places that I could not be for representing the council with Excellence when you spoke thank you for stepping in and being with me as we work through some of the tough questions thank you for sitting up with me till 1 2 o'clock in the morning answering Miss Leticia peters's questions right and then we shouted over to uh Mr K and then he kicked it right on back and we was moving and grooving in the late hours of the night the things that the people will never see and people will not know but the work that's being done thank you just for being a good sound and vo um CVP fig kber Thank You for Your Love of the city thank you for pushing hard in your ward and through the through the city at large and for when I would give you certain things to handle that I just didn't have the time or wanted to help you to grow in those areas you took it full force and ran Full Speed Ahead with it that again is sign of exemplary leadership so I thank you for that and then to my Council colleagues thank you thank you thank you right thank you for doing the work thank you for trusting the process and then thank you for working with me as I Look to work with us to move us in a great direction we have a great relationship with the DCA I have to say shout out to um Mr teresi and and um Miss Suarez and everyone that I've had the opportunity to sit down and have the conversations with um I'm gracious for their feedback to me about how it has been good with all of us working together um to continue to move the city forward and I look forward to other people um that will step up into leadership to carry the torch and continue to do the great work I'm excited for the leadership um and I'm excited to pass the torch on to the next person because that's what leadership does see the best leader is not the one that sits in a position to claim the title the best leader is the one that can Inspire and educate others and then plant the seeds and water them to let them grow and then to watch them go to higher Heights and so I am excited for what's to come I thank you all for your time your attention happy holidays everybody happy New Year and all that good stuff and I pray God's blessing upon each and every one of you thank you for letting me serve in this capacity over the past year I appreciate you all Mr Garcia certainly Madame President and I will tell you that it has been a pleasure working with you throughout this year as well we are moving on into the moving on with the agenda at this time if you want to ask for a motion to approve the minutes of September 3rd September 5th October 15th October 17th and November 7th yes may have a motion to approve the minutes for September 3rd September 5th October 15th 17th and November 7th 2024 so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kevinberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried and Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve Communications and petitions absolutely may I have a motion to approve Communications and petitions so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg yes councilwoman Frisby yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president phano yes motion carried moving on with ordinances for second reading at this time and public hearing ordinance 2477 an ordinance providing for the implementation in the city of Trenton a 5-year tax exemption and abatement pursuant to njsa 48 21-1 at SEC and a approving property tax abatement for Residential Properties in need of Rehabilitation are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing n president if you want to sorry council president I just want to make one quick comment on this Council thank you just because I had a lot of questions and emails in regards to this I just want to State for the uh record that um after speaking to director listen that anyone who has completed a redevelopers application prior to this um transition that those will still be honored so I just wanted to make that public for those who have been asking and emailing and pulling me aside thank you thank you may I have a motion to approve so moves second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kinberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Felician yes motion carried and moving on to resolutions Madam president are there any items that you wish to extract for questions to the directors or uh extract from po potential consent agenda any council members that have any questions on resolutions beside not the walk ones um but the ones that are on the agenda in front of us anyone have any questions I'm sorry madam president for that matter may I uh go ahead and recite the Walk-Ons yes thank you we've labeled these Walk-Ons and I'll go ahead with the numbers as well well 24569 resolution accepting and awarding a negotiated contract to Yardville animal hospital for veterinarian services for the Department of Health and Human Services Trent and animal shelter for a period of one year from the date of award and an amount not to exceed $75,000 at $180 per hour RFP 202 4-27 B what was the number on that again 24- 569 569 thank you resolution 24- 570 resolution authorizing the city of Trenton to exercise the option to extend the shared services agreement entered with the county of Mercer pursuant to Res pursuant resolution 24- 428 to provide Public Health Services and ensure Public Health practice standards of performance for local Boards of Health in New Jersey that would be again 24- 570 resolution 24- 571 resolution authorizing the cancellation of various Grant balances from the federal state and County governments in the amount of 2,549 23553 and that again is resolution 24571 resolution 24572 resolution authorizing transfers to the American Rescue plan act 2024 Appropriations in total amount of $1,551 18588 against and 20 resolution 24-5 se2 those are the walk-on resolutions I have at this time um I'll go right I'll defer right to you madam president okay thank you so Council are there any questions about any of the resolutions now including the Walk-Ons that you have before we move to consent agenda Madam president yes so I don't have a question on this one resolution 24- 555 okay um it talks about the first uh paragraph whereas uh December 7th resolution number exercise this option to exceed the contract with Trenton Health one West State Street fourth floor that should be third floor Dr micali oh I'm I'm St Street not here never mind thank you never mind that's she said it it's not here I'm thinking this building might we only have three floors in this it's not you it's me thank you we're good on that one yes any council members have any questions yes councilwoman 551 ma'am and 556 okay thank you 551 and 556 and I'm also with 556 as well okay any other council members have any questions on any other resolutions including the walk on Madam president yes councilwoman Edwards um I would like to ask for a roll call for 552 roll yeah okay roll call on 552 Mr Barcia yep um comment for com resolution 24559 one second 24 559 okay anyone else Madam president yes ma'am uh just questions about 24 the walk on 24- 571 okay 71 okay anyone else anyone else okay let's begin 24551 ba Richardson good morning council president thank you hello councilwoman Williams thank you B Richardson so I want to ask about um this remediation project so with this I my understanding is this land will be redeveloped um at some point uh potentially in the near future so we would be on the as a city for any remediation and this remediation has already been discovered the types of it Etc so can you explain uh to us how long the process is going to take and will it delay any potential sale of the land um yes um um this process should take uh uh four to five months and no it will not delay the process of the Redevelopment deal that we have been discussing okay all right thank you very much thank you is this going on consent yes consent please thank you next we have 24556 we have Council women Williams and Frisbee with questions that was that the one we just did consent yes all right councilwoman Williams hi director H Terry thank you very much for uh speaking so I wanted to ask you um with this obviously I'm sure I don't have to tell you how many um citizens in Trent will be very happy to have these speed limit signs uh located in the city and I understand we're purchasing 25 of them so um they will definitely um be I don't hopefully I don't know how you're going to decide where they go but can you roughly give us an idea um where some of them may go and some of our worst intersection in the city or streets and then uh if this is immediately successful we'll be able to order more uh good evening council president Council yeah this is a a traffic cing measure we're trying to do because the every time I go to the community meetings the complaints we get a lot is about speeding they asking for Speed humps and we cannot put speed homs everywhere in the city and the police people saying police are not respons in or they not doing anything so we decided to with the help of the ba to help us out to get some of these signs which we are already using right now we put them in some schools so my goal is to put them around schools area hospitals and some residents where we have a lot of traffic violations and with that hopefully because it gives you know lets you know how fast you are going so this is what that is and we're buying a lot of them so we're going to use it a lot of places in the city okay so with only having 25 of them particularly I'm thinking for my North W um we have a lot of issues like even just on broaden Market uh which is a four lane Highway essentially and I know there's County jurisdiction but other places like uh Race Street uh that's another uh area that has a lot of problems with speeding but even um some of our long cross streets like State Street North Clanton um MLK at certain parts Princeton Avenue really wants people get away from MLK so is there a potential we would be able to order more by the end of the year for installation of the year of uh 2025 yes that's our intentional yes we are getting more of those yet all right that that would be great because with just having 25 of them and having four Wards it would be great for all of us to have more of an opportunity to utilize these thank you very much sir yes a consent for my opinion ma'am councilwoman frisbee y thank you council president thank you direct hotary um for your time I wanted to just say say one thing and then I have a question um this I'm excited uh to see on the docket one I know that it is in a response to our shortage of crossing guards folks requesting um the speed humps and also to having police officers present at various locations especially schools during the morning um I do see that these this is 25 of them and I'm glad to see that they're going to be in the areas of schools my concern originally was that there are only 25 of them but I did now as I go through my mental register I realize that there are other there are some schools that already have these in place so as you are um going forward with this and they are going out into various places in the community to making sure that uh you work with the members of council to identify those places that are uh the community has been more has been voicing their concern about and making sure that we get them in those locations um if we can't get them at all the locations at one time and also of course making sure that that it is uh appropriately um divided for for each Ward so that each Ward um feels the presence of these because every Ward everyone will say well I need I need every one of us needs it because I could tell you about a whole bunch of as I'm sure as all of the rest of my colleagues would so um yes just making sure um my question is would are you will you w work with Council to make sure that we can help identify problem areas that a lot of the residents have identified um or that we have we know of ourselves um for this uh thank you counc councel woman uh let me say this anything we do in public works that you approv money for I'm always very cognizant of making sure I have everyone involved in what we do just like when we do road construction I don't just do road construction in the west or just south I try to give equal numbers of what we do because of what you said I don't want any c to think oh why is Wally not doing something in my area so we definitely do that and when you talk about these signs we have more than what you are saying but right now what we've put out there is just numbers but definitely next year like you said c we're going to be putting more out there and we're going to make sure we put it in every school area in each W and like you said I would definitely like to reach out to you each Cil members to let you know where schools area that we are putting and we're not just doing public school we are also doing all schools you know that's one of our priorities to make sure all schools because all our children go to the schools so that's the goal and those par those parks that was also I would love seeing that as well I'm glad that you've included that in there do we by chance to know how many of these we have already in the city uh right now I believe we have uh roughly 35 that we have and we've put them in a major you know major ways like when you talk of staris because you have people flying by and it's unfortunate we cannot push pit home there but the schools we have like what three schools in that area alone so and the pack is there also so we definitely have a lot there and we're going to do this all over the city okay thank you so much thank you for consent for me please thank you consent no wait Council I'm quick question Council vice president Hi drer how are you all right um really quick question um just I'm really actually I I love this um this resolution because as you said there are a lot of asks for Speed hes in the city and just it's just not feasible to have them on every street I know that I've submitted several petitions for several streets and a lot have been approved shout out to Mrs Sor and a traffic division for that um and while we're talking about that before I ask another I I'm curious when we talked about speed humps just what other than emergency Roots what would be determination for Speed humps to not be allowable on certain streets in the city uh one one of the uh when you talk about major streets where you have the uh public you know the buses go through we don't put it in those areas and any area that is not just inner when you talk about Major Street example stavis Avenue West streets you know those major streets We cannot put speed homs on them again it's not something just for we have to go with the NG doot rules that does not allow us to do that okay and I know this resolution speaks to alternatives to speed HPS which which I'm grateful for as I said um but also I just ask that when speed humps are installed that they are painted and visible like the ones behind Tron High they're not and there's not signs indicating that there speed humps um I I know they're that they're there to slow people down and they absolutely do especially if you didn't see it coming so I just ask that in the future that all of them are marked accordingly so that people do see the speed humps when they're when they're coming we do that thank you thank you madam president you got one too okay so councilwoman Edwards and then councilman Harrison I just have a a quick question um and this is just a followup relative to these flashing speed limit signs because this is something that councilwoman Williams and I had specifically asked um Mr santur when he you know obliged our meeting of a walk around of the fery Street area um he had told us that uh in order to implement some of the things that we were suggesting that we needed for those intersections along Ferry Street bridging um down to Center Street when I had recommended four-way stop signs and then also some type of traffic remediation from that uh exit ramp off of Route one that's that pours right to Parker school right there and into the neighborhood it's a disaster and the trucks always hit that bridge or tip over and it's it's a nightmare of all the traffic that's going on to the Trenton makes bridge and they clog up that area so bad bad that it's nearly impossible to travel all straight down from Center Street to South Warren to get on 29 you can't even get across that intersection because they're bumper to bumper and then you have people coming from the opposite way they block the other side coming from under the Trent Ms bridge to come into the city they can't even come in you can't get across it's a nightmare and this is every single day multiple times a day um so with that being said I want to say we did approve some type of traffic in engineer or something like that to be a like a bid to put out for that yes what we normally do when we have that situation is we have under our contract we have an engineer that do a study I think we did something on MLK that's how we end up with temporary sign right there now but they plan to put a traffic light there wherever we have that situation we will have I would definitely look into that and see if we can have a study in that area right thank you cuz um just the follow up with that cuz the Flash and speed limits was also a part of that request for that area because they they open up like a Speedway like they're still on Route One when they come off that Highway and they've they've killed my dog on that street hit and run while I was walking across the street with my dog I've seen multiple cars that was April 19th 2022 there was multiple cars that have been destroyed hit and runs intoxicated drivers that have been hunted down by residents going over they chased them to PA and it's it's been crazy so we petitioned for Speed bumps on that street cuz the Parker School is right there and the kids can't even like safely travel but I want to say um do you have a timeline on when this engineer will be hired to do this study and when that will be completed uh well uh what I'm going to do with this study when I get back to the office tomorrow I will talk to Anthony and see what we have we have already an engineer all we have to do is just present it to the engineer to go out there and do a study and then hopefully within 2 months we should be able to get something back and then we'll be able to move on to in January or February okay thank you yes ma'am director onary I'd like to thank you and Anthony sanor for listening to the council and the community this is a great idea it's more about addressing the community's needs because like you said there's a problem with speeding um I know when you do your speed humps um some of them seem to be a little higher which I kind of particularly like because that maybe will slow people down a lot more some are a little lower but I wish they you keep them a little higher so that way you can maybe slow down your right some of the because you have a lot of kids are walking around the city and we want to look out for them kids dogs senior citizens so thank you again thank you and Mr santor for your hard work appreciate you thank you thank you so everybody this is going on consent yes okay thank you 24559 director Douglas come on down so I actually well this is although it is is that what was it just me president Madam president this so the question really isn't for um director Douglas actually for BA Richardson I um is in regard to the security system so um I'm glad to see that we are installing the security systems for fire headquarters I think it is greatly needed thank you um so that's really all I have for you I wanted to comment to director ba douglas douglas ba Richardson about and I don't know if I can do this for the security in this building um think us go for it so so I'm my question is we I'm excited to see that we have the machine downstairs that is really exciting to see that we've started to step up with our security um folks who I have seen that are coming through the door they're not all going putting their purses or bags or possessions through there so we need to make sure that our security gets comfortable with making sure people put their belongings through there but I would I'm going to just put this out there because we've been asking since we've been on on here are we going to get one for bodies I would love to see so that if security when folks come through that their bodies we know there's metal on that purses and everything are nice CU people don't always carry it in their purse especially if they know everybody first of all doesn't carry a purse and so yeah well I carry it on my purse all right thank you so much for the admission um Wally I think um you have more information than me about that but one of the reasons why uh we started the the install process and we are now in the process of training the security guards okay um so but regarding the body ones uh director on will be able to provide more information about that thank you can director Douglas just stand there and smile thank you I'm sorry I had to use it like it's security I can bring it in Cas president the body scanner we have you know is to allow the security to be able to scan everybody coming the city the residents and the employees because we're trying to make sure that everybody in this building is secure and safe so we're trying to do the best we can to get it done that's what that is for but the bodies are not going through that machine only I'm I'm talking about a metal detector right that they have to come through the door yes so that's a purse so that's a little bit biased I'm just saying cuz men don't carry purses so bags and all that goes through there but I'm talking about a when I go through a metal detector that says oh someone has something on them that we need to check well it's just it's not to look at the whole body is just to make sound because if you have something on you that you did not put on the on the table then definitely it's going to make a sound that's where they're going to put you to the side how do you know if they don't take it off of their person out of their pocket out of their I mean once once they go through the scanner and if there's a sound then the security is going to approach them and says ma'am or sir can I see what you have in your pocket and we're working with the police to have a you know an armed officer in the building also to be able to help us arrest this situation okay thank you thank you thank you DOR dou let me help using your uh ordinance your resolution you could turn the microphone off as you walk away okay that's said it's on consent right that's it Madam president wait a minute we're on no no we're on resolution 24571 you had something for that one oh I'm sorry I I knew you was 571 okay I'm who did you want uh uh director W on okay director anary could you come back please I'm sorry council president I also have one question for 24559 for director onary I'm sorry okay um thank you madam president thank you director um regarding the so there will be metal detectors and the scanners you put your bags and things in and they will have wands and things thank you um for this yes so they will have wand hand wands metal detectors and they will have the bag scanner that's correct yes um I noticed that downstairs here in City Hall we also have a bag scanner now I know this is irrelevant to this but kind of relevant are is City Hall going to be getting metal detectors are we going to get treated with the same sense of urgency as the fire department cuz we've been asking for two years in yes you're right I we had a lot of situation that the reason why we didn't get it but now we do have it we're installing it right now I don't know if you went through that door now you will see something there there's a bag scanner did I was there the B scanner and they going to install the other one too yes they're going to oh going to okay thank you I'm likeing I didn't see that councilwoman Williams don't you go anywhere yet don't you go anywhere direct to AIT ter come on back you're almost home free um just a quick question with these security changes and I'm very happy they're having them I do share my colleagues concerns um regarding the security guards we will not are we going to be reducing the number of guards down to just one guard if it's after 4:30 and there's no meetings that night or would there always be two guards on duty so there's a backup and a buddy system well what I'm trying to do right now is to reduce the number of guard have unless where we have something going on by the council in the building then we will have more okay but on the days where there's no council zoning or planning will there be two guards at while there's you anyone here to like 7 o' or that I mean right now the city going to close the city Clos now at 4:30 MH you know when you are not here the city Clos employees goes home at 4:30 so by 5:30 the security can also leave that by that time everybody will be gone so there'll be no security at 5:30 after 5:30 okay so just in case you all are working late I know what most of you do I mean if I you know I do work late and I don't think I need a security guard for me you know that's I'm fine well you're the James Bond but so all right well thank you very much thank you ma'am so councilwoman Gonzalez thank you council president so really quick just to that point um because I kind of missed that are you you saying we're not going to have two two security guards if someone is saying will they will only be reduced to one no if we have if if something is going on the councel is in the building or we have an event going then you'll have more than one we have more than one but on those days where everybody's gone by 5:30 they'll be gone so they will only have one security for one hour after the closing hours okay because that was say that's concerning like I would rather see two even direct onary I know you might be tough and you could probably handle a couple of people but I don't think it's safe for just one person to be here that's all so I was going to express that thank you I I I just want to say officially I agree with my colleague thank Youk Council pres okay councilman Harrison um Mr hitar the the um wall you know where where the door swings open for security that wall should be higher in my mind be because it's slow and people could get access to the security which wall on the side where where they go in you door the yeah yeah make can you make that higher we've tried to do that but it's not possible because of what we have right now the shape doesn't have the door have to have something that have to be attached to it that we don't have that there it's only glass we have on the side the bulletproof glass and they cannot do that you can't put it into the wall there no okay no we you remember these two buildings is so difficult for me to do anything because it's historic right that somebody's going to say something so we have to be very careful on what we attach to the building or take away from the building right and that area remember I told you before right behind the security guards right behind there is that area right there the little that's where they we used to have telephone boo well that's what I'm saying you you have the telephone booth right you could always block that in and put uh you know lockers for the for the employees you know for for security you know put a a like a break because that way the security people if they're not there they could be they could go right there take take little time out for themselves instead of having to go down in the basement it would be right there I'm just saying it's a you right now the space is not really utilized I mean we put we put things up on the wall or something there or whatever it's it's an end space we look into that we look into that thank you director appreciate that thank you thank you councilman okay run now go now don't look bad right 24571 councilwoman Edwards thank you Madame President yes ma'am um hi director I mean not director anymore ba hello um I just was wanted to ask for a brief explanation as to why we're canceling of uh a lot of these various grants I see that there is an explanation on the second page of um of these things being expired and were needing to be cancelled and things like that the ones that are are expired we is there a reason why was some of these grants weren't fully allocated and spent out um yes um there are let me see do you have questions to uh specific ones there is a lot so yes many of them are because uh for example the uh strengthening Grant is for the Department of Health um for for several years that Grant was um considered a risk Grant from the state um until 2023 when we actually I actually uh started working as the acting director of health and uh when I started to attend the meetings and I realized that we were considered a risk grantee uh we started to put some measures in place to be able to spend the money that money is specific for hiring um certain positions uh to to make the Department of Health particularly the promotion uh unit stronger and better um we were having in some cases problems hiring certain professionals like licensed professionals um and so we were not able to spend the money on time we need to return it when is for a specific uh purpose in other cases was um because the individuals were running the grant um didn't adjust to the specific requirements of the Grant and the they didn't approve it um but those were the the that that was not the common um problem there there is a uh large Grant and I'm sorry but I cannot see it here is probably it's a DB1 uh from Green Acres and that is not oh yes I see it um it's for $1,200,000 that is not that we are returning the money but that we created a g account instead of a capital account and so we are basically eliminating the account not returning the money the money it's in a capital account yeah okay so I I really freaked out when I saw this um this request to close all those grants and I'm like I hold it we are using the money we you know we are not this is not expired it's just that uh the account for accounting purposes it's not a g account but because it's a long-term Grant is considered capital okay but we're still keeping that money we're just putting in a different type so it's not technically being cancel no we are not canceling it we are just canceling the accounts not the the money or the balance okay and then number 12 on here it says that it should not have been created in Grants yes that's the same uh the same uh situation yes and um for the ones that expired there's quite a few that have expired but some of them have like really low balances um but some of these are like strengthening local public health yes I'm not really too concerned about the summer ones because I definitely saw that the summer programs existed and things like that you know it's it's very low balances you probably just you know um couldn't spend it or didn't need it at the time but the other ones like the um the one that I mentioned the strengthening local public health is is quite a few yes and those were the ones that I was referring at the beginning those are for specific positions and if we are not able to hire those positions just because we I give you an example one of the positions that we were supposed to um to fund with this grant was a health educator and uh it took us well I can tell you that I when I posted the position it took me almost a year to I don't know what was the experience with the previous directors uh but in my case it took me almost a year to hire somebody uh for that position and I have to make a commitment with the state that I would hire somebody from the staff that was willing to go uh through the licensing process to get license for the position and we were able to hire somebody but if we are not able to hire those positions then we need to return the money to the state okay and that is the case for that strengthening Grant okay thank you thank you those were B richardon real quick um I think that as um when you're when um whoever is preparing these spreadsheets is preparing them um in the note section where you would identify like the the 1.2 million dollar about the um the reclassification yes of it to a capital account that should be in the notes reflected there just you know what I mean just state reclassified to see blah blah blah blah blah so I'm on number 10 line number 10 just put the reclassification in the notes that would make it a lot easier um to the eyes so that people know also when it comes to these grants and everything um and the cancellation expiration or whatever is going on with it I do recall in the beginning that it's always been like an audit finding um that we need to work on with that I know before in the beginning I had asked about um getting a grants administrator uh someone that can oversee the grants throughout the city just to make sure to be um tasked with knowing the the deadlines the filings and all of that kind of stuff like that are we considering that at all yes we actually it's it's funny that you mentioned that because uh I just asked a Personnel this week to look for a resume that I remember reading like six months ago uh of somebody that applied for a contract administrator in another department but I thought that that person would be good for the city um as a whole so we that position is being posted and we are Contracting a couple of those folks that applied before so probably February or around that time we will have a contract administrator to deal with ground Citywide that'll be able to help out with that okay yes thank you all right so uh councilwoman Edwards Cent thank you thank you ba Richardson thank you with that being said may I have a motion to um appoint the following to consent agenda resolution 24551 resolution 24553 resolution 24560 562 566 567 554 555 56 1 556 563 564 557 559 558 565 569 570 571 and 572 so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes presid Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve the loan roll call resolution yes I have a motion to approve resolution 24552 still moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards abin did I hear abin yes noted vice president Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbe yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried and Madam president I believe those are all the items we have this evening well Council this is it I'm so glad we've had this time together may I have a motion to adjourn so move second let's go roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee absolutely councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried meeting adjourned all right merry Christmas happy holidays Happy New Year to anyone we don't see thank you e