wisdom and understanding for the good of our community and thy greater glory amen amen and Madam president it's my understanding that we have a a proceeding to take place at this time um if there's nothing else I'll go ahead and read that proceeding from the agenda go ahead as listed it is a resolution authorizing the removal process for Sheree gett a member of the city of Trenton Housing Authority thank you at this time Council will now hold a hearing on the issue of whether th Trenton Housing Authority member Sheree gett should be removed from office for misconduct Miss gett received a copy of the charges in this matter and timely notice of this hearing in accordance with state law we will begin now if she is present with a brief statement or testimony by Miss Cordelia ston yeah give me a minute forgive me miss ston I just want to make sure of a couple housekeeping items Madame President or to the solicitors door just so I know is there any limit in time for Testimony this evening understood I defer to the council president so out of respect for Miss Satan as as it is she who brought it Forward will'll respectfully go at 5 minutes depending on how many other people there are then we will make adjustments as need be but as for Miss ston and for Miss gett should she choose to speak they will each get five minutes each to speak thank you understood thank you go ahead Miss St sorry my name is Cordia ston thank you for your time I'm a newly appointed U commissioner to the Trenton housing authority and um it's one of it's something that I looked forward to doing Serving on that on Ser serving on the authority because of all the great things that they are doing here in the city um I had my first meeting on March in March and uh the behavior in March alarmed me somewhat I sit next to miss gett and she just seemed to be very combative at that particular meeting nothing particular everybody I guess thought it was normal but it wasn't normal there were outbursts there was no regard for meeting protocols she wasn't recognized she wouldn't allow the chair to recognize her to have the floor she would overp speakers um and a few times you know she would make disparaging remarks about uh the Commissioners as well as the administration my second meeting was in April at this April meeting uh it was pretty much the say with Mrs gett she came in she was uh in my opinion combative um uh you know she would uh how can I explain uh she was combative um it got to a point where there was a particular item on the floor and it had been answered and answered over and over again by the administration her questions and finally knowing the rules of uh Rules of Order I called for a I called for uh the chairman to call question so we could move on with the agenda and so and so that happened so after that happened of course it was approved by the body and we were able to have the question called well she was she let me know first she questioned what um she says you shouldn't even be on this board you don't know nothing but I couldn't believe and then she went on to say oh I know how you got oh how'd you get on this board oh I know how you got on it I mean this was unprovoked it was um it was out ofline she had been out of line the entire meeting she had referenced one of the co people in um saying they weren't a good mama or you ain't my mama and just you'd have to see the tape if you haven't seen it I would ask you to see the tape and not just particularly from April you can go all the way back but this kind this uh Behavior is not becoming a public official and I've been one long enough to be able to kind of tell what's good and what's bad but this was not good and it was not normal and it's not just me it is all of the Commissioners who have suffered through this um through this kind this this mistreatment this abuse this disrespect um monthly and it just needs to come to an end is there any questions for me oh let me let me uh finish off on that so when the meeting was over you know there were some more words um and uh Miss gett chose to leave early so she left that was fine without incident and then I came out to leave as well well she approached me from between two parked cars she come up she's hollering uh I got something to say to you well we wasn't having that and so the person who was escorting me uh told me to just go on and get in the car because at at that point she was too us we we proceed her as a threat that just can't be that just can't be you know all these boards are volunteer and everybody that comes on these boards you know they take a they give up their time and their talent to help move the city forward but miss gett is not doing that in my opinion with the Housing Authority she has just been um I don't consider her an asset and I really believe that it's time for her to come to an end her tenue to come to an end she's not serving the city well she is not living up to your expectations as an appointee to the Trenton Housing Authority that's all I have any council members have any questions for Miss Dayton okay yes coun so I don't have any questions U Miss Satan but I do just want to apologize that you were subjected to what you were you and any other um members of the Trenton Housing Authority no one um deserves to be disrespected at any time especially in a voluntary position we thank you for U being on the board we thank you and all the other Commissioners that um are on the board and we appreciate you for bringing this to our attention um I have been to some of the meetings I have witnessed it so I know exactly what you are referring to um but I thank you for coming forward um and also um sending a letter as well thank you ma'am thank you very much thank you before I read um a statement that was sent into be read into the minutes is there anyone else that was present outside of Miss garet is there anyone else that was present um at the meeting that would like to speak at this time and offer testimony you can come forward good evening council members my name David ponon my address is 861 M Avenal here in the city of trentton I um was asked by Cordia to come pick her up from the meeting that day I sat in the lobby and waited for her to finish with the meeting Miss gett did walk by me um went out the door and when cadilla came I grabbed her bag and started walking out and you ladies know me that I do protect the women that that's suround me the women that I love I protect them so um we got halfway to my car which was parked on the other side and all I could hear was these threatening words coming from a woman when I turned around it was Sherry garet deei said Dave come on let's just get in the car I opened the door I opened the door for her put her in the car put the bag in the car she was still yelling and screaming and cursing um at Cordelia I got in the car and pulled off I didn't think that was very kosher or respectful and I do believe that she need to be removed out of the safety of Cordelia and the other members of the uh commission thank you thank you all right at this time I'll read um a letter that was received from the chair they were a they asked that this be read into the record tonight dear council members the six undersigned Trenton Housing Authority Commissioners are writing to you after a recent April 11 2024 letter sent to you by our colleague also on this letter th commissioner Cordelia ston we will not repeat the allegations contained in commissioner staton's letter as we trust that you are familiar with the contents of that letter and the specific information contained therein regarding the behavior of th commissioner Sheree gett unfortunately the behavior exhibited by commissioner gett as described by commissioner State and is not limited to that one meeting to the contrary during her entire tenure as a commissioner commissioner garet has resorted to similar behavior during meetings directed at fellow Commissioners the executive director and his staff as well as other professionals her conduct is characterized by Ane effective abusive language and unwarranted and unfounded allegations claiming malens Mis feans and or intimidating Corrupt Practices most of this Behavior can be verified by viewing recordings of Trenton Housing Authority meetings from the time commissioner gett was appointed for her entire term commissioner gett has used the commission meetings as a platform to direct insulting and demeaning Behavior towards all of these individuals as you are aware the Commissioners are appointed by either the council mayor or state of New Jersey and serve without compensation they are dedicated to the mission of the Trenton housing authority and work hard with the administration to deliver quality safe and habitable housing for the many residents in the system the allegations and inuendos repeatedly uttered by commissioner gett against her fellow Commissioners and members of the administrative team are divisive slanderous insulting and totally unnecessary this Behavior also undermines the morale of the hardworking th Administration and staff examples of commissioner Garrett's Behavior can be excerpted in some recent Communications between Commissioners administrative officials and others for example in a November 7th 2023 Email exchange between Commissioners regarding a corrected agenda for the following day's meeting commissioner gett emails as follows quote why do we have two presentations for two-hour meeting the main purpose for the meeting the monthly meeting is to review and investigate the th administration's departmental reports and activities aligned with the state and federal statutes for implementation of policies and directives if Gary Gentry bullies or obstructs commissioner duties at tomorrow's meeting he will be written up why does Simone Lopez have a th email address in February 2024 an email from commissioner gett to fellow commissioner Simon Lopez commissioner gett States as follows so after the email addressed the question that was the end quote now quote Mr Lopez I'm not going to further discuss your issues with you or anyone else of the board without Trent City Council leaon mayor's office or someone from the governor's office and HUD Regional Administration the Trent Housing Authority Board of Commissioners lacks the legal accountability of his duties in governments one of the major legal issues are that we have a board we have board members who lack the experience and understanding of paid training to be on the th board functioning in the capacity as Commissioners Mr Lopez you one of the Commissioners that lack in your understanding of your role as a th commissioner I'm not electing to be your psychologist or Psych iatrist hire one end quote it should be noted that at no time has HUD or any other governing agency indicated that the current Board of Commissioners was insufficiently trained or lack competence to address the numerous issues that come before it unfortunately commissioner gett also directed Communications directly to HUD officials maligning the performance of the executive director and the competencies of her fellow board members again no basis for these allegations was ever provided and most importantly no such evidence exists most recently as demonstrated in the video of the April 10th commissioner meeting commissioner gett at approximately 53 minutes into the video responding to commissioner State staton's motion to call the question on the item displayed her disagreement with the Parliamentary motion by making personal attacks on commissioner ston and commissioner green specifically commissioner Garrett's comment directed to commissioner ston was quote I don't know how you got on the the board but I do know how you got on the board end quote this caused all the other Commissioners to react including commissioner green who remarked that gret's comments were disrespectful commissioner garet responded to commissioner green asserting quote you ain't sh own Mama because you have no self-control end quote gett further chided green for the late arrival to the meeting circumstances green later explained was due to a death in the family and other events as you can see these small samples demonstrate a pattern of behavior that is abusive creating a toxic environment not conducive to that status of a commissioner appointed to the Trenton Housing Authority by the council again reviewing applicable videos of other meetings dating back to commissioner Garrett's appointment display the same behavior over and over it is time for that behavior to stop the only way for the behavior to stop is to remove Sheree gett from her appointed position and or to decline her reappointment if city council decides to initiate the removal process the remaining th Commissioners and staff were available to provide supporting documentation video evidence and personal testimony at a minimum the six other commissioners of the Trenton Housing Authority respectfully request that city council decline the reappointment of commissioner gret to another term at the conclusion of her current term which expires in June 2024 thank you for your consideration very yours truly and it is signed by Darlene Wen Gordon chairperson Gary Gentry Vice chairperson Tanzania green Simon Lopez say John Reigns and Cordelia stating it was cc to Mayor Reed Gora at this time if Miss gett would like to come forward and make a statement we invite you to the podium hello city council um council president and the other um Council um supporting staff um thank you for having the opportunity for me to stand here and talk before you if I if my conduct was anything like you just read you're right I don't need to be on the board um it's a bunch of junk um I I and my contribution is to follow the policies of um HUD and to represent the city as an appointed official I was appointed by the the city council I did submit the video to you did any of you see it yes okay so this is exaggerated the only person on that board has been taking what they the description of the behavior is me so I don't conduct myself like that um I did don't not charged I don't um I do my homework I do my due diligence the other six I can't say what they do and don't do but from my what be being on there for two years they're not reading material they're not doing their due dead lenss they have an issue with me looking over the material where only there once month will provide oversight and monitoring I don't really think that they really understand that that's what the position is for yes it's not a not it's not um a paid position but I take it very very seriously because we advocate for those residents I have residents here I have been attacked followed out of the building cussed out by the same person who wrote that letter to you okay I uh have a gentleman here where the residents and guests went completely off on that board about the behavior of at least four of the board members who were appointed by the house by the uh Council okay about their behavior uh the residents have stated that they the conduct of the board and how the stuff that they said in there is they took what their behavior and reflected it on me to make it seem like that I'm this monster or this boogie person um cadila Stanton I said what I said to her yes but I was I didn't attack her or abuse her I don't do that it's no need to I'm not an angry person um far as me after the meeting I was coming out with my food they always feed you after the meeting um she said in the meeting if you seen the video she said she has she made it she made the statement as she put in her letter that I attacked her at the meeting I didn't attack her I may have made a statement but it wasn't in a manner that she's describing it as if that's how she took it that I can't control that um all I said to her as I was exting the building right behind her because she was in an Irate position I just said um to her uh just want just say you kind of misrepresented yourself upstairs that's all I said in regards to uh someone uh uh that you say came at you the way you described upstairs you remember you were a city a deputy clerk because that played out in the newspapers she said I was crazy and I just told her she was being an A and I went to my car I didn't yell at her I wasn't uh irate or anything I just went to my car like I was going into my car that's it so I don't know really what and you can look at some of those uh it's up on YouTube the issue also is that um the minutes so when we're going over stuff at city council they're not putting uh the information the stuff that we're covering in the minutes because it protects the board it allows you to uh to be able to look at the prog progress and how we are monitoring oversight of that board they are putting stuff in there and that's why I went to the re HUD regional office because they're leaving us out there that we can be Lal be sued so um they're just putting in the minutes like uh commissioner gret asked the question and um the Mr G Garett answered it that's not minutes you it's nothing in the minutes you can't the the minutes is to protect the board to show that we are providing the oversight and the believe that is your time allotted oh that's why that get cut off I'm sorry no worries but I'm just just want to end it like this it's not true but if you if that is your privilege it's your it's you or it's your authority to remove me but it's on you but it's not true I don't I don't com anyone like that and I'm not I don't function what what they put in there thank you miss you thank you thank you at this time I'll ask for a motion to remove Miss gett as a member of the Trenton Housing Authority moved second Mr Garcia oh okay so we're moving the resolution on the agenda we can do it now can we and that vote is being taken now correct yes okay thank you roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaroa kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried Mr Garcia you can certainly thank you with your call Madam president uh that brings us to the point of public comment uh if we could have the public comment clipboard please and just so every all members of the public know public comment also is 5 minutes long you may address any item that you wish and the council is not obligated to respond Madam president it appears we have 12 13 14 15 individuals listed I'll take that as well thank you so Mr Garcia we're going to amend the time to three minutes each is that a motion that I hear yes second is there a second I'm sorry so it was moved by the council president second by frisbee thank you thank you you're welcome to reduce uh public comment to 3 minutes per person is that correct yes that's the motion on the floor that being said roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried public comment will be reduced to 3 minutes at this time the first person that we have for public comment is Amin Abdullah he made L of a sign okay moving right along thank you Laura MOA is that leaf is that correct all right um good evening my name is Laura leel I live in 528 Glon Avenue [Music] trento dising members of the council city council this afternoon I came to give my support in the on the ordinance proposed 2440 40 by ccil woman Jas Minelli Gonzalez during my work with the Spanish speaking Community th th me that of the many needs that our Latino Community have needs between finding work food rent pay bills Services etc etc and the big barrier to learning the English language but there are not places that teach on weekends in our community to study that language we know Mercy Community College and other organizations have free ESL but the space always limited there are some people that charge starting amount of for English classes however our immigrant either have food on their tables or study having information of the services provided by different Departments of the city hall in the Spanish will give the Spanish speaking Community the opportunity not to be swindled for not understanding the language many of our immigrant that do not speak English use office services in Trenton where they charge for giving information or fill out some forms with the experience that I have working in Trenton I say many people people are afraid to visit the city hall for information because language that is very frustrating for a humble and working Community which is slowly adjusting to the city you have no idea of the test calls I received from people asking for services information because the English language is a barrier I respectfully request that you consider ordinance 2440 and give your affirmative vote thank you so much have a blessed evening wemar Rono good evening everyone my name is W Maron Community activist for long time in City Trenton and I'm here to just to ask you to considering 2440 we need in the city why we need it because we have a lot of new arrivals and like Lou I will say a lot of people when they need to fill out the farm they chargeing between $40 $60 to fill out application even for work applications the charge of these people so um if you can see it put this in both language so I can people understand especially when it come to the city hall some people don't understand English and they call me I said how can feel a paperwork and I just come tonight you please consider to put this 2440 pass it tonight I really appreciate it thank you so much Sam Canik good evening Council my name is Sam kig I'm standing here today as well to support the ordinance 2440 today I stand as a strong advocate of the proposed ordance 2040 requiring certain city documents to be translated into Spanish not just as a practical measure but an essential step fostering inclusivity in our community where every voice is heard and valued currently work at the college New Jersey for the center for Community engagement I also work for Merc County Community College and I'm in the Board of Trustees for the trainer soup kitchen and I frequently if not every single day encounter individuals who would truly benefit from this ordinance passing and it would improve the quality of life so I offer something I I wrote this morning and it's a story so Sonia Maria is a resident at Trenton for over a decade Maria owns a small bakery in a popular Pam Latino neighborhood where she started to support her family and serve her community Maria's Bakery is not only her source of livelihood but it's also a gathering spot where locals enjoy her delicious pastries and warn company Maria like many and Trenton what perom speak Spanish despite her success as a business owner she faces significant challenges when trying to navigate city regulations permits and compliance documents all of which are in English each time she needs to renew her business permit she makes change or make changes to her shop the language barrier process is daunting and confusing she often relies on her teenage daughter to translate or has to pay for Professional Services now imagine that the city has provided this service and the communication is now in Spanish Maria receives the renewal notice and her business permits are both in English and Spanish for the first time she reads the document clearly in her native language and she's able to understand the requirement and completes the process quickly and independently feeling empowered and respected by her City this change might seem small but for Maria is transformative she can now fully particip iate in the Civic life of her community make formed decisions about her business and engage in confidency with city services Mia story is a small example of the hundreds of business owners and the thousands of Spanish Spanish speaking residents during the city so with this being said I look forward for a favorable vote from city council and that unanimously that you make history today thank you Juan [Music] Roland please just state your name and address for the record sir Juan Roland 1314 South Clinton Avenue thank you good evening um council president vice president and council members as well as everyone in attendance today before you tonight is a resolution for the city Corona virus Fiasco recovery program the empowerment house submitted a proposal to provide direct assistance to Justice impacted and or TR residents if Council votes on our resolutions tonight we will begin to launch our two-year program that includes financial literacy anger management and relapse prevention with a collaboration partnership with Mr County PL path forward we anticipate to assist over 200 residents with previous criminal records and or individuals who reside in the city of Trenton who may just need um some education on those areas because we believe in empowerment house that prevention is one of the best cures um also you know to also deliver in the language where people understand which is one of the main focus tonight you know people that have either lived through that situation far as adversity and also now are dealing with resiliency um I would like to also acknowledge everyone in this room that I have played a part in our growth within the city of Trenton who are sitting in our areas today and um you know the signs of approving this resolution just shows how much of investment you guys are willing to invest in and all are we asking is just 1% and we're work for that 99 so I appreciate you guys for handing us out God bless Jackie help me out with the last name starts with an l l is that how I said this did I say that correctly I was way off huh way off okay way off it's my handwriting got it next time put a computer I'm gonna blame you no words South Broad Street I see some blank faces up there all right so you need a bit of translation right in order to understand what I just said and so similarly our residents here in Trenton need that same translation afforded to them right um we have nearly 40% of Latinos here in Trenton our high school is at over 60% Latinos and so we need to make sure that we are providing them the information to not only advocate for themselves to empower themselves but to be contributing members here in the city of Trenton in December a member of the city of Trenton came up to me and not a story this is a real life situation that a homeowner went through and after countless visits to this city hall to the taxation office trying to pay their tax bill they were told repeatedly that they were going to lose their house they were going to lose their house because there was a lean on it and no one could explain to that person the process in order to pay off that lean and get back in good standing all they were told is they were going to lose the house the house was on the auction docket and so that person approached me and I was able to call the office have a conversation I myself had to learn the process and understand it and then communicated that person had a money order in the office by the next day so a simple translation of information even if it's a one pager explaining the different steps is a necessary component to any person living in Trenton again we have a very growing Latino population it's not a big ask at all so we ask that you support resolution 2440 and I thank councilwoman Yas Manelli Gonzalez for even thinking um of this because this is this should just be common place it shouldn't have to go for vote it should just be a common practice and the last thing I'll say is that any local agency that receives Federal monies which the city of Trenton does is obligated to the requirements of civil rights law and it is a civil right law to have access to information and to receive translations on perent important documents thank you Kathleen deal good evening Council my name is Kathleen deal I live at 19 Greenwood Avenue in M Hill I pour love into to this city I love this city and I've stood side by side by many people in this room to pour love into this city I reject hate and over the past few days we've seen a lot of hate come towards the M Hill Community and I have yet to see any of the council members denounce the hate that came towards M Hill on Sunday and I'm asking that you do that the language and disparaging comments made against the M Hill residents are a smoke screen to um make sure that nobody pays attention that compliance wasn't met with regards to zoning laws on a purchase of a house on Market Street in M Hill that is zoned as a single family residence there are zoning laws on the books for a reason people should comply with those rules I have no problem with the purpose of of the the want of the building owner I have a problem with non-compliance to the rules and the statement of this this developer is that they were given dispensation to not comply with the rules by a city official and by DCA I am asking city council to investigate whether or not they were given dispensation to circumvent the zoning rules for their building on 412 Market Street thank you Frankie [Music] Williams how you doing uh this is my first time talking so my name is Frankie Williams I came here from Brooklyn New York when I was about five I'm 42 I'm a female born a female um when I came here um it was a lot of spiritual uh spiritual abuse going on with a lot of demonic demonic things going on even in Trenton now a lot of snakes actually in human form and um I encountered that in 2020 and it made me look back on everything and where everything wasn't random events everything was really connected um I signed my uh signed some money over to my caregiver which was on my birth certificate when I was 18 because she was the only caregiver I knew and that was the worst experience period so people in Trenton still think I must have this money so they've been staging situations um they like took my family hostage basically this uh group so this was a few years ago my little sister she um she got raped outside the bar I was underage I shouldn't have been there but she was way underage like nine so when I heard her voice I didn't even think it was her till the next day these this group started mocking me from Styers to the C they've been bullying me all my life since I've been here and um basically I thought she was where her dad but basically they had hold of her these people switch kids at Birth these people will have somebody pregnant at the same time I'm pregnant and we'll switch that birth they will tell you you're pregnant with a boy when you're really pregnant with a girl all four inheritance money and I saw that when I went to the hospital so now these people been been creating situations whatever they do to me they say I did to them then they're starting to try to put me into some fake initiation into some type of cult like Illuminati I went to the hospital for um for a chest pain then that's when they did surgery on something else when I came out of there I have sensors in my anal this uh cult put sensors in your anal to get full control over you it's not funny but it's true and that's how they do a lot of people and this is a very very demonic cult that deals with snakes and they don't care um I was exposed in the sex trafficking ring like five years ago and that's when they started really targeting me heavily um I'm dealing with heavy identity theft and uh a lot of other things um I was looking forward to talking longer but I couldn't cut what I had to say down in three minutes and I don't want it it to seem like I'm ranting so thank you Elijah Dixon okay uh Kristen is that brown okay Austin Edwards [Music] good evening city council members and the esteemed members of our community as you know my name is Austin Edwards I'm here representing the Trenton NAACP and I stand before you today with a heart full of gratitude and appreciation on behalf of your decision to support the crown act this stands not as a significant just as a significant Milestone it's a Testament to the commitment to equity diversity and inclusivity within our beloved city of Trenton for those who aren't aware the crown act or the create a respectful and open workplace for natural hair Act is a crucial piece of legislation that seeks to combat uh discrimination based on natural hairstyles particularly targeting the systemic bias against black individuals and other people of color prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyle and texture this act not only protects individual's right to self-expression but also challenges deeply entrenched stereotypes and biases in our community and I have to say just for myself I'm fully in support of the crown act because these locks right here you know listen all right these are works of art by one of our own Trenton businesses in His image Diane development now as a representative of the Trenton NAACP you know we've long been at the Forefront of the fight for civil rights and social justice since our assumtion over a century ago we've been a Beacon of Hope and a catalyst for change advocating for the rights of marginalized communities Across the Nation and our mission rooted in the principles of equality and justice for all resonates deeply within the spirit of the crown Act and this is why I want to say thank you all for again supporting uh the crown act here in Trenton I know it's on the docket today and uh to further solidify our commitment to the crown act and hopefully you all will support us in this we have a June 8th event that's happening here at Shiloh Baptist Church uh from 12: to 3M hosted by the division of civil rights where there's specifically giving training on the crown act a history of racial discrimination uh throughout New Jersey uh the history of the crown act how is passed in over half of the states throughout the US and for people like me US lawyers out here where you need some C credits it also also offers that as well so it's going to be a great event thank you again for this and uh thank you for supporting the crown act Elmer Sandoval good evening my name is Elmer Sandoval um 129 Washington Street for a long time and I'm here in support of um 24 um the ordinance 2440 from our Cel woman alarch jasmineli Gonzalez thank you very much um two things I'm going to say about this ordinance that is it is very important to um to pass it on our community is need this every documents to be translated because um we seen so many Latinos speaking people come come to City Hall inquiring services and a lot of of times they have a they have problems because the documents is only in English and believe it or not there is organizations out there they charge hundreds and thousands dollars to translate documents for our people that's that's pretty sad and um uh so that's what I'm here in support because I seen the pain of the people spending a lot of money them they they don't have to but they do because they need uh they need to have a Services done and um and and also I uh I like to thank uh our Council councilman from East War uh Mr Harrison for his support to Latino Community it is very very supporting and also um this uh what I'm going to say is not a secret to anybody but uh the the Latino people in Trenton does the um that's the econ economic engine for the city of Trenton as you know Chambersburg is war is the only sector thank you Chambersburg is the only sector in Trenton that has a night life if you want to experience you can walk on Hamilton Avenue 8:00 at night people walking from business to business and this is how the Latino uh Latino people is moving the economy in the city of Trenton so thank you very much Council woman thank you for stand for our community for the city of Trenton and by this ordinance CIO Trenton will move forward thank you so much [Applause] Edwin Benavides uh hello everyone uh just wanted to comment on ordinance uh 2440 I wanted to thank you guys for moving forward with this please state your name and address for the record so sorry Ed Benz I work in the city of Trenton I lived in the city of Trenton for 12 years uh I still work in the city of Trenton and going back to uh the previous presentation Civil Rights Act title six actually uh forces anyone receiving a federal grants Federal um money uh to make these documents uh in in the language of the people that lives in that particular area whether that may be Spanish or or any other language in other places Mandarin in other places it's um Hindu or other type of of languages in this case it's it's uh Spanish not only does it forces uh the local governments to make the the documents in in uh Spanish but also to train city workers on how to treat individuals that don't speak the language [Applause] because it's been many cases in where I see Spanish-speaking individuals who come to the city hall and they don't know how to explain something and the individual gets aggravated by this we have to train city workers on how to treat individuals that don't speak the language they may have their own biases their own ideas oh they should learn English and that they can have that but those bies those ideas have to stay at home because at the end of the day these individuals contribute to our city simply let's start with rent part of the rent goes to taxes right property taxes so those property taxes help us pay for school for the police for the fire department so we benefit from those individuals so not only uh the documents to be in Spanish but also for us to train to provide training for individuals that work for the city again that is the right thing to do but it's also the legal thing to do and I wanted to say thank you guys for coming up with this uh 2440 ordinance appreciate it George W Daniels all right good evening my name is George W Daniel born and raised in Birmingham Alabama uh I'm here today to support Miss gab Miss Gary is a commissioner at the Tren hen Authority she work I'm not here to throw anybody under the bus I'm not here to talk against anybody I'm here to speak for Miss Gary that's the only reason why I'm here oh and for that gentleman that just was up here uh what he just said makes a lot of sense because my people have been trying to get that for 400 years but I just want to let him know I'm down with him uh but I want to speak with Miss Garrett because I think she was doing a wonderful job oh by the way I retired from Tren hen Authority but I'm not here to talk about that I'm here to support Miss Gary because of the work that she was doing with the tenants she was working well with the tenant having meetings trying to do different thing for them trying to be so helping with their social stuff help them with their checks medicine all that I think she did a wonderful job and so I would like to see Miss Garrett stay on the board of the Tren Housing Authority if Miss Garrett don't stay on the board of the Trent H Authority then I'm going to begin to think that this is another public lynching for a black moment in the city of Trenton like we had with Miss uh Miss McBride but we're not going to go into that but what I would like to say is I would like to know what is the plan for the city of Trenton for West Trenton I live in the west Trenton then I would like to know what the plan is for North Tren then I would like to know what the plan is for South Tren and I would like to know what the plan is for East Tren then I would like to know what is the overall plan that city council have for the city of Tren because when they ran for office they told me all the problems that the city had and the plan that they had so I would like to know when they gonna implement this plan so we can get the city moving down Broad Street I would like to see the city prosper and grow I was in the city in 1968 when they had the riot I was here I was out there re Woodson and the rest of them trying to save the city but I would really like it just let I'm here I'm not here to talk about that I'm just here letting y'all know where I am I'm here to support Miss [Applause] Garrett Darren Freedom green good evening council president council members and my Primo the clerk to the administration I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak I'm I'm also supporting the initiative for the language adjustment I think it's only proper we teaching the schools to three of us uh and again the dominant population is the Latino Community my point is simple and short I'm not from the Latin Latino Community but I'm for the Latino Community I think whenever we sit in this city part of the sick history history is we only stand when something happens to us so I'm hoping tonight we can get into a different space mentally and begin to understand what anything has happened to any of us is happening to all of us I think that language barrier is damaging it makes us think and keeps biases going and it's only important for this city to reach out I would say we need to start considering something to do with the north Trenton population there's a rich Polish Community out there that nobody talks to I think there's a Haitian community in East Tren that would like to be a part of what the city is doing so I'm just saying whenever we start to look at what this city needs I think a comprehensive conversation needs to be had and again I'll close tonight saying I apologize to Mill Hill for all the language that's been used in that direction but I think what's not being talked about is how we got here 1971 president Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs and it allowed for a war to be on black communities and what you're looking at now is the residue of addictions and convictions my brother Juan does amazing work with returning citizens and we seem to look at them as if they're abnormal or something else or when they come home I teach in five prisons and I spoke at Northern State last week and eight of the people I were talking to will be home within the next 60 days so when people pay their debt to society and they do what they're supposed to do where are they supposed to come home to and then what life are they supposed to live and I would just say when we talk about the hate that's put into the atmosphere be careful about the hate we put on returning citizens because they are returning citizens meaning they have rights responsibilities and they're human beings who deserve a right at a second life that they've earned through doing what they need to be doing I'll close simply by saying this Hebrews 13 and3 says remember those who are in prison as if you're in prison and remember the pain and hurt that the world has given them like it impacts you when people are hurting anywhere all of us should be concerned about it and if we're not treating every individual in this city like they are somebody and they're God's greatest blessing then I think all of us need to do a moral adjustment of what going on God bless you Madame President that is all the public comment that I have this evening if uh and you may start with whomever you like for public uh Civic comment thank you councilwoman Williams respectfully council president I'm gathering my thoughts may I ask respectfully to hold my comment towards the end ma'am councilwoman Edwards thank you madam president good evening everyone it's great to see you all here today one noes listen him and yes Pito yes you understood that right no no um I'll start off on that note um all Jokes Aside uh I think it's very important to have everything translated into Spanish our uh Latino Community is growing vastly in America especially in New Jersey um especially with the Texas governor shipping everyone here we've received over a hundred buses if I'm not mistaken of refugees from all over the Latin um community so it's important for us the language barrier divides our communities and we should be living in harmony it is true that our education system consists over 60% of Spanish-speaking um students so it's important for them to have access to translated documents and information as well as the parents too A lot of the times the students are helping their parents translate things and if the student doesn't If the child does not understand what's going on it's it's hard for them to be able to translate that so we need to make sure we are ahead of that I worked for congress for a living years ago we had every document translated everything that we put out is translated into Spanish all of our forms are in Spanish and available in English and we have the capability of translating them to other languages as needed and I think that's it is important especially for our local governments to do the same um mental health awareness month as you can see most all of us are wearing green on a diets and that is because of mental health awareness month and on that note I want to speak to all the gun violence that we're seeing recently in our community um a lot of those issues underlying issues are mental health issues and it's important for people to be aware of that and I hope that people seek the services that they need and those of us that are in the community with boots on the ground I hope that you know as you're out there in the community that you're talking to people and getting them to get the help that they need um and lastly I want to speak to the transitional home that's coming forth in mhill it's a touchy subject um I was I received an email I'm sure all of my colleagues have as well from multiple people with concerns of a transitional home or a halfway house opening in M Hill and as we are made aware it is zone for a single family um all of that to the side uh I I think transitional homes are good for our community I think that people uh returning back to Trenton Trentonian returning back to Trenton should have access to transitional homes so that they can reenter society and fill a part of the neighborhood as part of their mental Rehabilitation as they're returning back to the community from prison and um but with that being said there's a way to go about doing that I don't think that it's fair to force that on a community without their knowledge beforehand I think that this organization that is opening this business or this transitional home should have actively participated in the community in M Hill Society they host monthly meetings and the organization should have spoken to them about it so at least get everyone on the same page reassurances needs to be had because there is a stigma on people returning from prison there is a perception that they could be violent your safety could be jeopardized whether that be physically or theft or any type of vandalism or violence you know and that's only fair for them to be made aware that this would be happening so um with that that being said uh I did get with late last night that there were remarks made over the weekend and I won't speak to who said that because I haven't yet talked to that person but I do want to publicly denounce the racist remarks because this is not about race this is not about race this is about safety and comfortability of a community this is about the rehabilitation of returning citizens and there's a way to go about doing that and not everything is about race it's just about proper protocols and respect number one and on that notes I hope you all have a great [Applause] evening councilwoman frisbee good evening and thank you madam president uh I'm going to start where we actually began which was um with um my Latino brothers and sisters who are here regarding um ordinance 24-40 I want to First say good evening B noes um to all of [Applause] you like Jackie came up and said and I appreciate that because that gives a hard reality of those of us who um when you are into a room and everybody is speaking a language that is different from what you are speaking it is difficult and if you have to catch some every so often what I just said was I am happy to vote for that um ordinance um for those who didn't understand when I spoken in Spanish so I appreciate that and I appreciate the way you're you delivered it and I appreciate everyone who came out and support it and I'm very excited for to support um my councilwoman at large Yas Mell Gonzalez I applaud you for actually bringing this to our attention um next I did want to uh address and Austin that was from the NAACP he did um leave I want to commend um council president for the crown act that she brought to the table um I like wearing my hair natural nobody should determine how I wear my hair or how you wear your hair um I think that it is I won't say the word that I really want to say but it is um challenging me challenging for me to even think that someone had thinks that they have the right the go to tell you how you can wear your hair that blows me away so the fact that we actually need to write this is just upsetting to me beyond words but I'm glad and I can't wait to vote for that um as well um when it comes to um those in M Hill yes I believe everything ought to be done in decent and decency and in order I do all also want to say I live next to just a door to over for someone who is a returning citizen I don't want anybody and just like Mr Green said um there is a stigma when folks come back that they're violent they're this and they're that some of those folks are my brothers some of those are my sisters some of those of my cousins aunts and uncles we have got to if you have paid your dues you have paid your du and everyone deserves a chance to get their lives together the family that lives next to me and actually we have three of them all of them onean I appreciate the work that you're doing in the community every single one of them has a right to live every single right one of them has a right to build their family yes I believe everything should be done in decency in order I'm a rules follower I will cross every tea and Dot every eye and if not then I'm going to back it up and get it right but and I ask that everyone would digress everybody simmer down and everybody give everyone a chance and just like you want um an opportunity to have a doover give everybody else a chance to do over there's a great book that I've read every single day and in it it says he who is without sin cast the first stone every single one of us has got something in our closet that we don't want somebody to unearth every single last one of us there's not one perfect person in here the only one I know of walked on water and I don't mean ice water so with that said um I believe in um everybody having a second chance I believe that we should all um in every I I'm a West W representative I have several homes in my community and we Embrace and we help one another and that's what I believe that we should do is to help one another help us to get it right but definitely help one another with that I'm going to close with the city of Trenton part of the city of Trenton's mission statement which is to recognize the people of Trenton have made as Guardians of the public trust we are committed 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 and compassion I wish everybody a good evening I thank everyone who came up here to speak this evening even those who came out from the orchard house and then chose not to we are excited about you over the Elijah the work that you're doing in the community and I wish everyone will get in safely thank all of our directors and all those who come out from the community we thank you for coming out and don't just come out when you got something like this to say come on out here and hear with the rest that's going on in your community thank you and good night councilwoman Gonzalez just say you looking thank you council president thank you everyone for being here this evening um first I'm going to just start off was saying um I want to send my prayers out to all of the families who have been affected by the gun violence that we just occurred over the last week or two um as we know we had an elder who was also struck um by some gunfire and so my prayers go out to her thankfully she is okay um apologies to miss Cordelia ston and all who were subject to any of this type of behavior especially people who are volunteering their time on different organizations and Boards I Ser I serve on several boards and I couldn't imagine going through some of the uh behavior that I've witnessed I am actually the liaison for the Trent housing authority and although I have not physically been at a meeting because they're held during the school day and um during the mornings and I'm at school however I couldn't imagine being subject to it I watched most of the videos and this has been an ongoing thing for those who serve on that board so um apologies to those who had to deal with that type of behavior um I also want to thank our council president for the crown act that she put forward um I share the same sentiments as my colleagues I also want to say to empowerment house I think it's welld deserved you know I'm very proud of Juan Juan and I grew up together from Lamberton Street and so I'm proud to see all the work that you have done in the city of Trenton and I'm looking forward to supporting that um The Mill Hill my Council colleague um Edwards and of course Darren Freedom green said it hit it right on the nose and and councilwoman frisbee we don't promote hate and I don't I have no idea what happened on Sunday we don't promote that that is everyone knows how much I love everyone um even those who have done me wrong but I do want to see us follow the zoning regulations yes we do agree with that I don't think anyone should have um there shouldn't be any any uh favors being done however as stated before our returning citizens are citizens and they are coming home and they deserve to live wherever they choose to live um but we do want to follow the correct regulations as far as the people who came out thank you everyone who came in support of 2440 just a quick backstory I have about three more minutes um I was going to run for office back in 2017 I decided not to at that time and the reason why I decided to run this time besides all the chaos that we saw on the previous Council besides our councilman uh Harrison here but um with all of the chaos that was going on you know we were all tired of some of the things that were are City being at a standstill but it wasn't until one incident where one of our previous council members told someone from City Hall that he needed to learn how to speak English and when I heard that comment from a council member an elected official that is what made me want to step up and say we had no representation on city council that was representing the commun the Latino community in a respectful way defending our Latino community and so that was the reason why I decided to run for office that was the deciding factor let me just say that that was a deciding factor and it was because of that that you know my mother speaks has broken English to this day and certain things that she has to get in the mail that I have to translate for her and just to hear all of the stories throughout the community meetings that I'm hearing there teenagers and little kids who are trying to translate documents for their for their parents and so sometimes that gets Lost in Translation these are people that are paying taxes here this is revenue that we can be bringing into the city but they don't understand the documents that they're signing so it is a state law and I would love to see us Branch this out and actually extend this translation to other languages we have a Polish Community as we said we have about 30% who are Haitian so we could we would love to see the Creole language also in this document also in the future but um I'm I'm thankful for most of my colleagues I think all of my colleagues are in support of this um and I'm looking forward to us moving this one forward and finding out how we can make this work for the city of Trenton and and it won't be every single document but most documents that are vital to the city of Trenton which needs to be um translated so thank you for everyone who came out to support um just know that I am listening as I'm in these Council in these Community meetings and I'm trying to make sure that our voices are heard as well and just a quick thank you to all of the organizations who did some events um over the last two weeks we had April 27th there were several um events that went on so shout out to everyone who did that um especially the color run for autism um that was a huge success and I got to shout that out because my kids are autistic that I teach every day um thank you to everyone who had a part in honoring coach Rob in the north Ward Little League batting cage that was beautiful it was very welld deserved and very fitting um for Coach Rob so thank you to all of those who were um there but I also want to touch on something um as far as us we're getting ready to get into our budget soon and I councilwoman I have council president I'm hoping that we can find the funding to provide some more funding for our education because we all know that the foundation starts with our kids and we need to pour in more um funding into the Board of Education I never use up my five minutes so thank you all for being here tonight [Music] R councilman Harrison uh first I would like to start off by um saying how how I can't believe that uh Miss ston and other board members had to deal with this um I was dealing with this the last four years in city council and we don't need to see that we do not need that chaos we do not need people who do not know how to work with each other um it was shame to hear from multiple people how these meetings were going about it's not what how we should be doing and it's not how we should be acting as a city um Also regarding the crown act that the council president introduced I will wholeheartedly be supporting that I think it's a wonderful ideal um regarding 24- 040 I think that's another wonderful ideal we should be having documents in English and Spanish um regarding empowerment house I know the wonderful work that they do in the community thank you for all you do um again like my colleague had said before I think it was a safety issue I don't think it's about a race issue in M Hill um the community should always the community should always be addressed about what doing in that Community um secondly I'd like to um thank all the people that came out to the community cleanup on Saturday it was a summer cleanup 9:00 am. to 11 uh to 1: PM over on Greenwood Avenue at the BRS Library we had a lot of people come out help cleaning up the community which is a wonderful day and um also um wanted to get Miss Richards to speak about the member about the um Unity Park regarding the the plan proposal for soccer in the park if you would speak on that thank thank you good evening council president may I address the question um well regarding the unity Park soccer facilities that we are planning um we are hoping that we are going to be able to do one soccer field and one foot s we will begin with the foot s and uh for that we have already secured the funding and uh Thursday or Friday last week we went there with two contractors to see to talk about the asphalt that we need to uh lay out prior to uh building the food sole basically the fulla cords come as a one piece and they just get installed on top of the asphal so that should not be very encumbering in in terms of time um for the other part of the facility the the full soccer field we completed um Environmental Studies and uh we completed topographic surveys so the the funding is secure for that as well um but now we are just in the process of working on the specifications for the court after that you will see it here once we get potential uh vendors contractors to do the work that should be the next uh phase what's the what's the timeline for when you think the field could be um the foot so course should be completed by the end of the summer and then the specifications should be also be completed by the end of the summer I am expecting to uh put an NFP out around September the end of September and uh I hope I hope that we will be able to award a contract at the end of the year so that we can start construction in Spring 2025 yeah because you and me and I think a lot of people in this room know that the Chambersburg Community is wholeheartedly supporting the wonderful job that Jose does with soccer and um kind of like Wally does with when we do the community cleanups his staff comes out there I know you and your staff want to see soccer become evident in that Park Unity Park is played soccer every day all day so I I'm glad to hear that we're we have a timeline and we're going to be moving forward yes thank you thank thank you council president before I get to councilwoman Williams councilwoman frisbee has something else she want to say real quick councilwoman thank you madam president um I wanted to actually well I want to say that I wanted to thank Council um president for putting 24- 1886 ordin and for the clerk appreciation that was excellent for this week but also some folks are not aware that it is also teacher appreciation week and we have two teachers up here on our deas council president um C Feliciano and councilwoman at large um yes melli Gonzalez so we want to thank you [Applause] publicly thank you um having them taken care knowing that our children are in their hands is a blessing and the last thing I wanted to say since I had 30 seconds left um on next Tuesday which is May 14th please um come out I have my West War conversations at on Hermitage Avenue at the old uh police station thank you so much thank you for my time you're welcome councilwoman Williams thank you council president um so I have several things to say I'll try to be as efficient as possible uh first of course uh just want to say how great it was Saturday morning to be at North Trenton Youth Baseball for the unveiling of the mural for Coach Rob and for all the festivities that happened it was a beautiful event beautiful symbol of how important Trenton is uh for our youth and how important our youth are for Trenton and as I said there the stone that was Rob uh a coach Rob just he created so many Ripples and so many adults and children around the city and we're thankful for what he was able to do also I want to stick in North W for a second on uh May 15th at 5:30 at Galilee Baptist Church we will be holding our North Ward says police advisory council meeting so uh everyone is welcome you don't have to be in the north Ward but please join us it's a great conversation between the citizens and the police department and uh this coming month we're going to have Anthony centur chief of traffic and transportation with us to uh hopefully talk about some of the traffic issues we're having in the city I know he will and uh so maybe we could talk through some things so please uh come and be be with us I'm very happy to support the crown act it's extremely important particular ear we've seen stories in the past couple years with uh particularly in this sport of wrestling uh where African-American athletes were told they had to cut their hair which is absolutely inhumane and atrocious um so I'm very very happy to support that um regarding 2440 I can't tell you how thrilled I am to finally see this come and I'll tell you why yes as you can tell I am not a very good Spanish speaker yet but I'm trying I'm I'm trying now that du lingo took Japanese in college it was the 80s that's what they told us to do but when I served on zoning board for 14 years and Leno Vasquez can validate this but anybody wants to ask him I would often ask because we had so many Spanish-speaking applicant come and they had to have a family member translate or someone else translate for them and it was embarrassing as a city in the northeastern party United States that we did not have our own translator I always ask why can't we hire our own translator oh there's a state program we we can go to the state well I would always ask the zoning officials why can't we do this let's get the administration news for some reason it never happened even as chair before I became one counsel it never happen so I am extremely proud that we are doing this finally for in my heart moving into the 21st century and I want to thank my colleague councilwoman Gonzalez for bringing this forth I'm proud to ser on a city council with two Latinas and that is indicative for everyone in this city whether you came here recently or you've been here a long time you are welcome in Tren and we will be hearing you so um the issue unfortunately at hand uh it's come up tonight uh something not a lot of people do know about but the issue at 412 Market you know some things happen when it's a tough job on city council it's even tougher when you you live in a neighborhood where something like this is going to occur and you always have to remember one thing and I learned this on zoning board you have to do your job first you have to weigh the interest of all parties you have to be fair to everyone now I've seen different things online I've s I've heard people say things that this Council may have taken something may have had I don't know what that means but um I don't believe anyone in this C has ever been on the take for anything I'm going to flatly say that right now I think we have ethics I think we have morals and to my knowledge not one person in the city government has ever told anybody they don't need an ordinance that is not our job that is the job of a zoning board so anything that has to happen has to have paperwork has to go before the zoning board nothing is before this Council so our job is to not say anything that may influence a zoning board that has to make a decision a legal decision that has to come about so when I say that we're going to do our jobs there are people who want us to scream into the High Heavens that's not going to happen I don't believe because we're here to do our job be professional represent you now to some of the comments you may have heard about tonight yeah I I saw them I heard them it's they were hurtful my wife my children myself we've lived in mhill for 24 years if you saw where I grew up I grew up in wilper section Junior to yeah even people like me grow up in Wilbur if you see my six older siblings they'll even tell you more so I'm proud to say I'm from Wilbur but Grace anything should not come between us in the city we can't afford it we have to love each other lift each other up but more importantly the people in that day they're not colonizers they're not they're not they're people a lot of them they put their life savings in those houses and we welcome everybody we're probably one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city you name it we got it we have multiple languages we have folks who from lgbtq Community we got me multi-racial identities people from foreign countries it's important that we hold ourselves to a higher standard hold ourselves together and and I know we will be able to work this out and having been to the church where the sermon but let's come to a solution I know we will returning citizens have a right to rebuild their lives there is a process that must be followed I think that process is going to come about and be followed going forward and I know know that Trenton will be able to see this if it is approved not approved whatever happens with this project see things like this be a success because we need to have successes Council vice president figuro kber thank you council president good evening everybody it's so great to see so many familiar and beautiful faces in the audience tonight for what whatever reason you guys are here um it's it's just great to see the participation it's great to see you guys come forward it's great to see you guys have your voices heard um because you know it's not always the complaints and always the what can we do for you it's also you know this is great thank you for implementing this this for us and this is going to help us grow so I'm really glad to see you all here this evening um I just want to start by saying that um you know bullying aggression erratic behaviors while serving in a professional capacity is not something that should ever be tolerated we should always be holding ourselves accountable and we should always be treating each other with respect no matter you know what positions that we serve and so when issues like what came to us before Council that happened with HD uh was brought to our attention we took it very seriously nobody deserves to be treated in such a way that um there's a lack of integrity um having said that um I want to personally thank uh Juan ran and family um for all the hard work that you do in the community um across all racial lines and boundaries and barriers and you give back to the community in such a way where it is just you have a light about you in everybody who works with you within your organization and I'm really happy that um there is funding on the table for your organization because I know that it is going to go to the greatest of good so [Applause] congratulations you know catering to um and and providing dignity and respect to our returning citizens is something that we often Overlook we say it we say oh yes absolutely that's important but when it comes to giving that respect personally to individuals and saying you know whatever you did you served your time you have been re rehabilitated welcome back welcome back into the community let me take your hand and let's move that's not something that's often done there's still the stigma there's still the bias there's still the smirks and and the talking behind the back and so when you want to say something when you're going to say something with your chest mean it and thank you again empowerment house and all others who are looking at all individuals as human beings moving forward that is something that you know we don't need to just talk about we need to be about um mental health awareness is something that's very important to me and thank you to my colleagues and particularly to council president Feliciano who is on the Forefront of mental health um awareness and and bringing it you know bringing about um counseling and therapy and let's talk about it and there's so many different facets of mental health I myself have been dealing with mental health issues in my family with my mother and my sister you know for quite some time and it doesn't only impact those who have the um the affiliation but also those who are the caregivers also those who are facing and and um dealing with them on a daily basis so this awareness these programs this therapy these things are very very important so um constantly bringing back about this awareness is is excellent and again thank you council president for that um I am not aware of the remarks that were made over the weekend with regards to the transition housing and I do want to get more information about that I again I do not invoke hate whatsoever absolutely not so I but I do want to get more information and I do hope that we can come to some sort of um some sort of a some sort of some something that works for everybody with regards to the community and to your point it's not about who's coming into the community it's about the order and procedure of it which is is Paramount so thank you for bringing that to our attention as well and it's something that we should definitely be looking into um the last meeting that I had with regards to um the TR animal shelter I'm very happy to say that a lot to dogs have been adopted out we're moving animals um this is something that we need to you know keep doing um because it's not these animals false that they land in there um but we really just don't have the resources um with regards to the language ordinance um I'm very happy that this has come forward this has been mandated by the state of New Jersey since January 2024 um I'm glad that it's being recognized within a municipality um I'm looking forward to us finding the funding appropriate to make sure that these translations are done um properly um as they are needed I've been a bilingual investigator for over 20 years in my career and I'm the director now and I know that you know speaking to families and speaking to individuals in jail who do not speak English they feel lost and they don't feel comfortable speaking to somebody who does not speak their language and when I send my investigators out now throughout the state of New Jersey and they don't speak the language they have to rely on language line and other things that are just not as personable so you know these things just just meeting people where they are and being able to validly communicate so that they understand exactly what's going on is extremely important and I know that's my time with that I just want to say um please join Council woman um council president Feliciano and myself on Wednesday May 15th at ladder number two on South Broad Street 714 to 720 South Broad Street along with our fire director and hopefully our um Trent police department and traffic to come and talk about uh safety and response within the community and parking too close to the curb for the fire trucks who were trying to maneuver around the city so please join us again Wednesday um from 6:00 to 8 on May 15th thank you guys so much have a wonderful evening good evening everyone thank you for coming tonight it is a pleasure to see everybody I wish that we could see you all the time um but I certainly understand that when there is a cause that is important to the people you will come forth and you will speak on that so you get much respect from me for coming forward on tonight um let me just say this I do want to Echo the sentiments of what my colleagues have said about this issue in Mill Hill I just I I didn't hear what happened firsthand for myself I did get certain messages from people that said that there were racial things that were said um and it was very derogatory in what in what was presented I in no way support anything like that I don't care who said it I don't care if they're a ministering the church or if there's somebody standing on the street so let's be clear with that I do not support anything like that coming from anybody's um mouth with respect to the transitional house that's coming um that's there in Mill Hill I could say I don't even think we really knew about that when it was happening until it happened there was nothing that came before Council that we had to even vote on so that was a transaction that was done with the administration and with the buyer so let's let us put that out into the atmosphere so that we are clear with that as well our lines are drawn as what the council does what the council does not do and there's certain things that we can step into and there's certain things that we cannot right so I just want everybody to understand that you know everybody's like the council needs to do this the council we do have investigatory powers that we can look into certain things so to that end we can move in a certain direction but if the Administration has done the deal and certain things like that unless it's something that has to come before us sometimes we don't even know until it's done so please don't blame us for what we don't know um it is Municipal Clerk's week so we shout out our awesome clerk when Mr Cruz is done talking to him when Mr Cruz is done talking to him we just want to shout out Mr Garcia for um Municipal Clerk's week thank you sorry Mr Cru for the awesome work that that Mr Garcia does um for those that don't know Oprah was a issue in our city right people complaining about getting records and documents and as we look a little bit further into it it was not only the clerk's issue it was actually dep departments within the administration everybody now is working on one Accord to move a little bit faster to get things done better so that way you're getting what you need but Brandon to his credit actually had an internal training that was done here for the directors that were here and then he had external where he brought in people from the state that actually came and gave such a wonderful training that when he went for his recertification classes they actually shouted him out at the event for having such a wonderful event so Mr Garcia we say thank you congratulations on the phenomenal work that you do we appreciate you and look forward to you continuing on moving us forward thank you to my colleagues um for those that could by the way you're welcome thank you to my colleagues those that could and to the administration and Mr teresi for putting your green on um as I requested for mental health awareness month we just wanted to show support we did have a resolution that we passed at the last meeting that said that may is mental health awareness month in the city of Trenton and it's very important that we recognize that as well so thank you everybody that could that did you are appreciated um when it comes to the translation ordinance to the to the documents 2440 shout out to council woman Gonzalez for putting that forward I believe that it is important I will ask questions however about the funding in certain things right um I am looking forward to it happening I even have a suggestion that I think you'll probably like when I show it to you um that could help us out in helping to advance this I teach the kids in the high school right and so a lot of them are Latino my daughter is Latina by way of her father so let us be clear with that um I am black 100% my last name is Feliciano because I was married to a man who was Spanish right and that is his descent I love the people right okay but I know who I am um and I support everybody so there is a process to things with any anything that we would like to do there is a process I would just like to make sure that as we move forward and Venture into this that this is something that we can do that will be sustainable that it is actually possible that we can actually Branch it out if we have to in other areas I don't I want it to be something that is actually enforceable we don't want to do something that we end up turning on ourselves and we can't do anything and we don't have the resources to make it happen so I am for it I support it um I think that it'll be good and when I took my Multicultural training oh I'm going when I we actually um to Jackie's Point watched a video where they showed the child who um who was a Spanish-speaking child and the child was sitting in the room and was listening to all of the people speaking English around him and it sounded like if you remember Charlie Brown and the teacher was talking it was like w w w w w and so it brought us to the mindset of looking and listening and thinking how lonely that child must have felt in that space trying to figure out what are these people saying I I want to be here how do I fit in so I understand 110% about what this ordinance will do what it means and look forward to um to moving it forward in a way that will be beneficial to us all again thank you all for coming out tonight I appreciate you and your time Mr Garcia all right Madame President uh here we though this brings us to the remainder of the dacka communications petitions and reports you will vote on Thursday say uh we are now at ordinances for second reading and public hearing oh I'm sorry madam president Mr Cruz would like to address the uh the council momentarily if that's all right with you um good evening uh Madam president in Council um there was a statement that was made that this Council was not aware of what was happening at the M Hill uh with the boarding house or the transitional house um and yes you you are correct however administration had no knowledge as well because a statement was made that that the Administration has something to do with the church and that is not factual uh in fact this Council got the notification from the church before we did so uh if it wasn't because you sent it to us we never would have known what the intent of this church was so yes so just want to clear the record that this Administration also had nothing to do with it or uh had had any conversation with the church until it popped up on your radar yes thank you thank you for that and so to that point when I did receive the email from an outside party that was affiliated with the church about Redevelopment I didn't read through to see what they were talking about I saw a pilot for for area I took it and forwarded it to the administration because Council we don't touch Redevelopment right so I forwarded and said here's this you all need to handle this and that's where it was I didn't know if it was a transitional house a regular house A rad house uh our house I ported the email as it was when they asked for whatever they were looking for with the pilot thank you Mr Garcia certainly uh Madam president move mov on to the rest of the docket we are at ordinances for second reading and public hearing if you'd like me to read those each yes ordinance 24-14 ordinance of the city of trendon amending chapter 10 alcoholic beverages Section 105 restrictions of the code of the city of Trenton to permit a waiver of distance restrictions under certain circumstances ordinance 24-18 ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as Baker alley and identifying the city tax yeah what hearing I believe is Thursday right when we vote on voting then yes okay thank you we're at 24-18 correct yes ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as Baker alley identified on the city tax map block 23803 lot9 pursuant to njsa 4A 4A col 12 133 B5 to El catador Bar and Grill for the sale price of $11,000 ordinance 24-26 ordinance to revise certain positions fixing salary ranges therefore and setting certain regulations for the implementation of same construction official ordinance 24-28 ordinance to amend chapter chapter 222 of the code of the city of Trenton rent control to fix rental increase at 4% ordinance 24-29 point of order Mr Garcia I'm sorry I'm sorry that title should have been changed that is what we amended the title we amended the title 28 yeah 028 for regular tenants and 2% for a senior citizen or disabled tenant That was supposed to be amended we'll check the title I believe the title itself has been changed I know I did get a receive instructions to swap I apologize for not updating the DOA with the new uh addition to the title thank you we will update in a second great thanks for pointing that out sorry counselor we take it back moving on ordinance 24-29 ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ D's model ordinance regarding elicit connections to the municipal separate the to the municipal separate storm sewer system and to amend chapter 254 of the code of the city of Trenton ordinance 24-30 ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt njd P's model ordinance regarding littering and to amend chapter 150 of the code of the city of Trenton ordinance 24-31 ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt njd P's model ordinance regarding pet waste and to amend chapter 21 of the code of the city of Trenton ordinance 24-32 ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ dp's model ordinance regarding feeding of Wildlife and to amend chapter 21 of code the city of Trenton ordinance 24-33 ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ dp's model ordinance regarding privately owned Refuge containers and dumpsters to amend chapter 254 of the code of the city of Trenton ordinance 24-34 ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ dp's model ordinance regarding yard waste and to amend chapter 312 and 248 of the code of City of Trenton ordinance 24-35 an ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ dp's model ordinance regarding spilling dumping or disposal of materials other than storm water and to amend chapter 254 of the code the city of Trenton ordinance 24-36 an ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ D's model ordinance regarding privately owned salt storage and to amend chapter 254 of the code of the city of Trenton ordinance 20 4-37 ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ dp's model ordinance regarding retrofitting of storm drain inlets and to amend chapter 254 of the code of the city of Trenton ordinance 24-38 an ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ D's model ordinance regarding tree removal and replacement to amend chapter 287 of the code the city of Trenton moving on to resolutions Madam president is there are there any items that you or the council would like to extract from a consent agenda at this time thank you are there any council members that have any items that you want us to pull to the side to for [Music] discussion council president Yes actually have just a simple questions not to be pulled I wanted to to stay on one of the uh items and that would be 24- 175 just have a simple question on it but I do have a question okay 24 175 okay anyone else council president I don't want to remove it from the docket but I do have just one quick question also on the developers um 17 24 172 okay anyone else uh council president I have uh 241 187 24039 IE 24187 24 039 and then uh as you called it out yourself [Music] 2440 thank you wait a minute say that you said 2487 and 24039 yeah 039 okay so that's a ordinance uh yeah oh shoot it did come on ordinance I'm sorry missed that my bad well I do have a question on it so okay anyone else was there anything else or Oh I thought I heard another one just 24187 is the only order uh resolution anyone else all right with that being the case I apologize moving on to ordinances for first reading and introduction or uh Madame President would you like the question I want we're going to run through the questions certainly so we'll start with 24172 like I said this is a quick this is just across the board I just want to say do we have a time frame and I think we asked this question before this may have been before our new director but do we have a time frame for de redevelopers to complete the project I believe he's on uh good evening M Meda Ferrara director of H um we usually uh for this particular uh resolution for this particular project I think what we had put in the resolution and correct me if I'm wrong I can give you some details um I believe it's a two-year period we definitely allow the city that if we do not see progress proceeding that we allow the city to then um crawl back the agreement if we don't see any progress we can also have the opportunity to extend the agreement if there is a delay whether maybe permitting or other issues that come up and then the developer comes to the city and produces that material for our consideration just one quick followup so is that across the board for everybody two year okay that's part of the what all these um development agreements that you see before you today follow the same process we have an application process uh we have a review process that um engages the HED staff plus the administration and which we you know we don't make any exceptions if the developer cannot show results then we start to um investigate and then possibly terminate the agreement if necessary thank you so much thank you council president thank you excuse me director in our conversations too we discussed you looking back at projects um that have been done to actually see where we are those that have been laying stagnant because there have been things that we have already passed approv for development to begin on that nothing has been done so you are going to look back as well to right to see and and have a taken accounting of that so we can figure that out as well yes I I may have mentioned in previous meetings that not only are we looking at the individual agreements we're also looking at Redevelopment plans where some of the provisions may have been you know Sunset and no longer are in effect and then we're going to re re reevaluate those as well okay thank you one councilwoman Williams have a question for her go ahead thank you ma'am uh so I have a quick question as often happens particularly with zoning um when people get properties uh they start running out of time uh getting them off the ground going to lose their financing have to try to get approval to extend their financing so I'm very much in support of having a sunset on two for two years of these projects but how do you see that affecting um anyone with a financing issue and can they appeal it to your department to get an extension if it's a legitimate financing issue that they're going to run out I will work with the administration right now to my knowledge we have nothing set in place I think that's a great suggestion that we have something set in place so that all the developers understand that this would be the process they're being evaluated um you know we may have to deal with the current uh projects that have been already um assigned to a a redeveloper and then go from there but going forward I would like to have things a little bit more streamlined where the developer understands that this is an agreement that you're entering we are going to evaluate your progress over a certain time period and you have to demonstrate that you are making progress on this agreement otherwise that the city has it within its right to to terminate the the the agreement and put the the property or the project back um for other individuals to bid on it to be selected as a redeveloper that would be great because even quite often every few years you'd see the same developer of a of the same property come back to use the same s story yes so thank you we're trying to eliminate that thank you thank you we're gonna leave it on for consent right Council yes okay thank you 24175 thank you council president um so direct simple it's it's a real simple question um this is for armed um security at the water um at the Waterworks have we previously had armed I know we had security but they was it always armed at the filtration yes over the last four years we've always had armed security guards we have yes okay and is this for just one person is this for several no it's um 247 it is 247 yes okay that's all okay I think is mine too it's to stay on Madam president thank you uh Madame President I just want to add to the comment that the director made thank you um the filtration plan is considered a high high targeted area and so um uh Department of Homeland Security uh highly recommends that we have individuals that can deal with uh with an escalated um event so that is why we have armed security at the Filtration plant thank you director Cruz appreciate you thank you Mr Cruz all right you're good with it staying on thank you it'll stay on all right it stays on consent thank you thank you director 2487 oh sh again thank you council president so my question is um Mr Simple so regarding this uh resolution and I know it's not a a large amount of money but it is for us do we have any better idea once this passes will we have more of an exact number of uh properties that we know we will be able to complete with uh the program in the next year so this is the phase four leadline engineering phase of it so right now the we're currently working on inventory building inventory and we will come to you with that number when we ready to do the construction part of it okay so at this point with this resolution that will help us get closer to a final number yet sounds like no just estimated we still do an estimate so estimated okay I'm trying to nail you down that's okay thank you sir thank you council president before we close councilwoman Gonzalez um did have a question of 24176 director simple no that's director oh wait I WR 24176 I'm sorry 24174 is for director reg okay 24174 sorry about that it's it's still Beyond I just want a quick question good evening director good evening I I see the money I see the funding um I had a couple of people ask me and I wanted just so that you can say it for the public can um this be used so if a homeowner has a house and let's say their siding is damaged can they apply for the funding to help fix the outside of their house or exterior Parts only if it's deemed an emergency only if it's an emergency okay yes okay I was just that was it really okay we have actually the um uh emergency uh program but it's um one of our contractors need to demit an I'm sorry one of our inspectors need to demit an emergency in order for us to okay because on eight it says rehab of existing buildings to increase the number of affordable housing and I know someone just kept saying like they can't afford to do certain things so they didn't know if there was funding available so I didn't know if it would fall under here but yeah that is actually for the home part of it but that applies to bigger uh projects not to a specific res but it will have to be for example for R developer okay thank you so much sure thank you thank you council president all right that's it everything consent all right Madam president with everything remaining on the consent agenda we move to ordinances per first move to ordinances for first reading and introduction ordinance 24-39 ordinance prohibiting the damaging defacing or removal of street signs within the city of Trenton chapter 54 Article 5 councilwoman Williams had a question about that yes I do ma'am so my question is and I know from reading it it's uh essentially going to go to State uh code on what the penalty be would be but I don't know if maybe Mr kogi can Enlighten us or enlighten me at least on roughly what the fine would be for that sure thank you [Music] councilwoman your question was the penalty aspect yes sir yeah what it does is it references the general penalty provision of the Trenton code so when no specific penalty is provided in an ordinance it references the general penalty provision which leaves it up to the discretion of the judge he can go up to a $2,000 fine he can do uh you know certain other things if restitution is involved Etc and this one I believe we put restitution yeah in paragraph 4 we indicated that the city can pursue civil remedies against individuals or entities responsible for damage or seek restitution in the municipal court so we left it up to the judge's good discretion on how to get our how to find the people and how to also recover any cost from the damage may ask uh other Miss pal is do they um usually handle this similarly or do they have a solid number for what the fine would be well you know I mean it's a judgment call certainly you can every ordinance you can create a fine structure but it kind of defeats the purpose of giving the judge uh you know a judge who has the wisdom and looks at the facts of every case to apply an appropriate penalty and a lot of times it's negotiated with the prosecutor too so you know I I certainly don't see any downside to leaving it like this okay all right thank you because it's a severe problem in our city I know in North W it is you're welcome all right with that being done Madame President Madam president as I just informed you I was going to uh like to address a walk-on resolution that would be resolution 24-1 188 and that resolution is approving an agreement with the city of Princeton New Jersey to purchase for uh Princeton New Jersey for the purchase of a used 2001 kme midmount fire apparatus for the Department of fire and emergency services and amount not to exceed $80,000 uh if the council would allow that on the consent agenda unless there are any questions at this time hearing none may I inter Madam president may I interpret they didn't have time to adequately look at it I don't okay so just give us a minute understood so if we could have um director Douglas I guess or Mr crw somebody come up and tell us why we're doing this to give us context good evening Council Kenneth Douglas director of fire and Emergency Services council president um we are in need of buying this apparatus uh currently um we have two ladders in the city working daily operations when we should have three we have two ladders to actually toil damage beyond their repair and another one actually repairing right now but it's going to take a while it's really a a big Financial cost um we have no Reserve ladders in the city at all um so with that being said um um with Mr Cruz and um and the mayor also um the city of Princeton um actually before they put this ladder up for auction um it was discovered by the administration that they were having it for sale so um long story short um discussed it with the administration uh Mr Cruz found some funding and um some Capital money and we made an offer and um they didn't put it up of course we gave a letter of our intent to purchase and actually we um they agreed to sell it to us for $80,000 um it's definitely needed um the use of this ladder for the city of of Princeton far is is way below what we use it in the city of Trenton because they don't have as many fires or runs that we have so this actually can be a Frontline apparatus for our town opposed to Prince and probably use maybe about a quarter of the time although we have a lad right now that's a 2000 um probably far seized uh usage that this princ and Ladder which now the way they use it it could be a Frontline apparatus of the city of Trenton but it's definitely um needed thank you director thank you council president thank you any council members object to this going on consent agenda none thank you no all right it can go on consent thank you thank you madam president moving back to ordinance first reading and introduction uh we I believe we are at 24-40 an ordinance requiring the city of trendon to disseminate certain information and documentation in both English and Spanish language I have a few questions certainly thank you okay [Music] all right so when it comes to this ordinance what exactly is the plan for the roll out to make this happen if the originator of the ordinance can speak to it or somebody can speak to it what is the plan take it council president if I may CH I don't know if the presenter would like to discuss it first so as far as the roll out um I don't think there's an exact set plan however we just said that we wanted it to be within 18 months given it enough time for us to find um who is are we going to provide um or hire a put RFP out for an actual translation company also um it would just be specific documents that would be translated so it won't be every single letter that comes out of City Hall but however like tax sales violations fines things that are listed here and of course we're open to suggestions as far as what else would would be um transpiring some of our departments are already doing this um it's not just official but some directors have taken it upon themselves to translate some of the documents it's just not across the board um so I think the roll out would just kind of be making sure that the first the things that are listed is as far as as far as far as the money that is coming into the city those be the first things that we Translate in Spanish but um I don't know of an exact um plan I know we said we would give it about 18 months so that we can gradually Implement um the translation process as far as the conversations that I've had okay and so then you'll have discussions on whether or not there'll be a translator or an interpreter that would be doing this possibly company hiring a company okay if if that is the you know wish that we all think is best I did submit I did send an email to every person on this day every uh council member just for their ideas and suggestions on how we can possibly roll this out in funding um I didn't get a response from anyone so I didn't know if anyone had any ideas in regards to it or not okay and so what's the cost the total cost that this would be so that's what we're kind of going back and forth right um Mr Cruz on on if I if I could jump in council president briefly um I think this really provides a good example of council and administration working collaboratively together um this is really why it's imperative when council is making these proposals that they speak with the administration because we can have a great idea in terms of doing this which it is a good idea and will be a requirement but in order for us to effectuate this we have to budget for it we have to make sure we have the resource and the people to do it um councilwoman Gonzalez um and I have had a conversation about this and what the PL what the plan will be within that time frame that she um referenced would be to um issue some type of bid quote request for qualifications or proposals to get a translation service to be able to um give us an idea of a cost for this um we should be able to effectuate that between the first and second reading at which point in time we will have a definitive dollar amount um A and B um an identification of the specific documents that are going to be translated I know there was a list of documents that were circulated with the email that were um you know kind of intended to be translated but I think just kind of uh following that process going forward I don't I don't see it being an issue with respect to being able to perfe perfect not only the contract but the documents and the scope of the work that's going to be done and then um quite frankly the council president's Point um as part of that RFQ um RFP information we can also get an idea as to what it will be to proliferate that translation to other languages and other documents so I think it'll be a good um first step in the process as to what we're going to have to do anyway um by State uh by state regulation so um the short answer to your question is it it needs to be anounced agency I'm not comfortable having someone internally who doesn't have a certification do that I think it opens them up to criticism and opens the the the city up to liability if if something is wrong and I don't necessarily seem to be a high being a heavy price tag that it would be um uh you know not not not something that we'd be able to do fairly simply so to be determined but I think we'll have an answer to that by the time we have a second reading for this okay thank you and also um council president I did suggest I know we already have as a council approved some translation companies I know for the court system so I did suggest that we can even reach out to those that we are already using for certain things and then possibly just extend the um contract out to provide more services for different departments right and and council president if while we have a great working relationship with Council this is again an example of why it is imperative that when you're coming uh and and placing these before um your governing body for a vote if it's something that's going to require a budget if it's something that's going to require um if it's something that the administration we put forward we're always obviously fully supportive of this Council but it's imperative that we work in tandem to put these things forth uh in conjunction not just unilaterally so we know that there's a concrete plan going forward to make sure that it happens but also there's funding available to make sure that it also happens so again this it's another example example of the administration and Council working well together and ton together and just as point of clarification we should continue to do that transparently and have that dialogue before we're bringing things on to the docket right to that point right so thank you for for that right and that's what I was getting at just having in the conversations to flush all of this out because in my mind before we go to move something into an ordinance type uh an ordinance which is something that we must do and it would have to be enforced by someone we should at least have an idea of what we're doing and the cost and all of that good thing as a matter of fact I do recall that during the one dockview back in March when we discussed it um it was put out on the table that maybe a resolution of support of the State uh the state bill that was done right it was well the Senate actually numbered 2459 and then governor um Murphy signed it in January 12 2024 that if we were supporting it until you flushed all this out um to figure out exactly what was going on because the bill while it says that the state has to do this and calls for its um the government entities and departments in the executive branch it also calls that they would have uh a language access plan that will reflect how the entity will comply with the provisions of the act and they would issue the plan within 90 days of the effective day of it so my question is if we were to go ahead and do this and I'm not against it let me be clear if we were to go ahead and do this um how would this be enforced if if you don't I mean if you're talking 18 months of making this happen if it's not done within 18 months who's in who's enforcing it and then what is the penalty if you don't I don't think we would penalize but that's a good I mean I know that we we spoke about the term goal having this as a goal for the city to reach in 18 months but you're right that's a great question as far as enforcing it um we're open to suggestions as to where I think that that could have been spoken about I I didn't this is the first I'm hearing about that suggestion but um I'm open to whatever we all come up with as a group council president yes so I would um offer that um maybe we take this back and review it as a body and work out the king so this way that when we are ready to present it it comes out and everybody knows exactly what's going on we can all be on one Accord but um I I can't wait for my opportunity to vote Yes on it but I do think it we should probably just hash it out a little bit more so this way um Council Gonzalez and all the rest of us are clear on exactly um what we want to do what need to be done so there's no um question in the end for anyone I do have one more council president yes thank you um so regarding this I know I remember when Council Gonzalez asked for estimates what would cost honestly you know there would be no way to really base that so that's why I didn't answer her but you know the question is a a great one for all of us because we do need to find out what cities of similar size have done to do this because also this is a model for what we need to do for Polish Ukrainian Creole and so forth um we're not in New York City where they have translation to 35 languages but we also don't have those demands here um and further and I just take this idea from um serving on the patient family advisory council at upen Princeton hospital one of the things we could look at and I don't believe this would cost a lot of money but we we should look at is also putting a um at least an English Spanish translator uh kiosk towards the front of City Hall so then if someone's looking for something particular whether it's um traffic and transportation for a permit or um an animal license or anything else they can easily speak into a microphone and have what they're saying translated into English per se Google translate that's just an idea thank you thank you thank you I'm sorry if you look over here at the monitor did some research talked to the people of West New York and I called today and spoke to the mpal clerk and everything over there because when we looked I was like hey you all have this really cool website in how things could be translated so what I want to show you is it may not be the matter of of us having all these forms printed and excess cost and everything but if you click here it's Spanish yeah absolutely and it goes and translates everything into Spanish on the website and you can take it down and it has the forms and everything that you can click on the applicable forms that you will be looking for so what I would say is as we flush this out is that if we may even look from an IT perspective that if we have a separate laptop or something in the areas because the state law speaks to having I speak cards so when people come into an area they pick a card I speak Spanish so then they have it they go up we have a laptop or something set up with something like this if it is financially possible for us to do they can actually find the form that they want on there and it can be programmed that it would have it translated for them and then they could print it right there on site and get what they need um in that moment so that's what I wanted to offer um as consideration for that because I have been looking into it since it was brought forward again my thing is when we're moving laws forward I don't want to see anything fail if it's good right I want us to be completely thorough um with what it is we're doing Administration giving us the feedback when we're asking for it and coming forward with reasonable answers um and not a wish list so um I just wanted to throw that out there and show you because I was excited and happy that I saw this um but it's just another way and I have the man's information like I said I contacted the gentleman um who does this and he's Cuban um small business from West New York and he actually said that they tailor it for the people in the area because I asked him I said well the dialects of Spanish are different are you going to be able to would you translate it yes so you can find this anywhere I'm sure if we looked it a simple as this so we don't even have to worry about paper in in actual forms maybe just things to say did you know or fact sheets but when it comes to the actual um printing of the work then we may be able to just look and have it done right from the website and have it just set up in the areas thank you thank you council president I also other thing was a great idea because that was one of the things that they I've I've spoken to a couple of other municipalities and they actually just translate the website so that was a good uh good point to bring up thank you yeah just briefly um this is a very unique type of ordinance because it spans a long period of time a year and a half we kept it sufficiently broad to to not hamstring the administration as to the details because quite frankly at this point we know we have to uate translation we don't know exactly how that's going to be done but we have a general concept so we kept it I think broad enough where we give the administration a lot of latitude to work out something that you just talked about or you know something along other lines and we could always amend the ordinance if we have to down the road if we need to get in details I think the object here was to try to get this thing started because it's such a you know a big undertaking and such a significant undertaking to try to get it moving and then we can always as they say in golf adjust on the back nine just a thought thank you thank you yeah on your call Madam president when you return oh I'm sorry I didn't know if there was anyone else any other addition initial discussion regarding regarding this ordinance okay So to that point um councilwoman frisbee suggested we pull it back until we flush it out and then um reintroduce is there a motion for that where are we with this we wna my question I was going to ask when you say pull it off when you how long are you thinking pull it off or flush it out because honestly this has been in I know it came before docka review sometime at the end of February early March so I mean we could have had this dialogue a long time ago so I'm just not saying I want to rush it because I want it to be right I want it to be effective and I want to make sure that it's um it properly you know serves our community so I definitely want to make sure everything is worked out um so when you say pull it how long you stay to the next meeting or so wait minute one second I'm sorry it came March 27th I sent out uh the initial questions at the docket review that it was at Administration was supposed get back with answers to questions that we had that is why it wasn't on this docket as you thought it was going to be because Mr Garcia and I were waiting for answers from the administration that did not come okay and so I see you Mr Bridges give me a minute so we left it where we were having conversation and they were supposed to get back we were talking about funding what are we doing how are we proceeding because they were actually supposed to have conversations with you in between Mr Garcia didn't put it back on the docket because he didn't know that it was ready to go back on the docket and we talked about all of that so it was not that it was around for a long time or put to the side there were just questions when you said we could there were conversations you know a long time ago granted yes we we all could have had conversations and questions were asked um but we were just waiting for some of the answers but we're here now and we're looking to to help to make this move my concern is again that I don't personally think that the city should be should that we're just jumping into things without having a plan as to what this is going to look like or have the numbers as to what this is going to look like no I mean you hear one minute it's what we could just put you know a couple thousand dollars up towards it to get it started and figure the rest out that to me is not a viable answer uh to hear I don't want the city to be stuck in a situation where we may start something because it sounds good but then we can't finish it and then we don't follow through on what we said that we were going to do noted coun goad I was GNA say to you how long you was gonna go but go ahead ahead I was just thinking should we do this as a resolution of support to adopt what the state did us figure all the details how to implement this instead of doing it as an ordinance and then we have an 18mth thing so it's like a we're all in support of it definitely um and then that'll give us time to figure it out that way it doesn't fail right right so the suggestion is that this should be not an ordinance but as we discussed a resolution of support of the state of the of the bill to do that in the city we start there and then once it's flushed out and you ready to go then you put it forward as the ordinance because then everything will be mapped out and then you're good so we're gonna support it we're gonna support that the city do it right but until you we know what's what we we can't make it a law until we know all right no I I get it I understand I understand completely what you're saying I was just asking you said the pull it so I wanted to know how long she wanted us to pull the the actual ordinance piece of it council president make make a a recommendation yes respect to this why why don't we um pull this for a limited time to allow us to issue RFP RFQ get bids to find out what the cost would be based on what this council's will is and I'm kind of enjoying this because now I'm putting my Council hat on you guys are stepping in administration shoes and coming to us saying you want us to craft legislation and and present legislation which we agree with however in order for us to do so we need to better understand what exactly you want you asked you said you didn't get get administration didn't get back to you with respect the questions you had about your proposed ordinance we need to know what you want so what I might would my recommendation be is we put RFP RFQ out to have a translation service be it be it by internet because actually Mr Cruz um we had a discussion about this earlier and he said he utilized a service like that in Perth Amoy um so we need to appreciate what type of translation services we want is it documents or is it internet what languages we want to include in there and then when we can include that all-encompassing all-inclusive exhaus of list to put out in a bid then when it comes back and we have the price tag for that then we could put it back up for a vote for this body what be it by internet via by document but respectfully the administration can't answer half-hearted questions we need to know what you want and exactly what you want and what languages how you want to do it we can't guess as to what you guys want so let's identify the languages let's identify if we want it to be electronic by way of internet or documents and then we will work with this Council to craft an RFP RFQ to get responses to find out how much is this how much this is going to cost and once we get those responses back then collectively we can come together as a governing body and put it towards this Council how you want to proceed I'm okay with that Madam president I think that was U pretty much what council woman Gonzalez um was probably seeking when um she first put this out to us and just said know because it's new for all of us we know what we want we want know what the end result is it's just the getting there that pathway so now that we're having this dialogue because our hands are tied and we can't have these conversations with three or more of us um at a time because of the Sunshine Law this is good so I think this is helpful but this is what I believe councilwoman Gonzalez when she put it out there does anyone have any suggestions I think this is what she was looking for at that time if I am not um misspeaking but that's what I I would love to have us for us to be able to get the administration up because we need to know all the legal parameters so that we know that we are doing things in decency and in order thank you so so with that in mind council president if it's your will I can have a resolution prepared by the next docket to um to support the state um requirement for this translation and to put a bid out RFP RFQ about to get responses to see how much this would cost based on the omnius of issues languages that um we want we want to have translate and how we want to have have it translated So to that I will defer to council woman Gonzalez yeah I'm fine with that I'm okay with that and then we'll pull it until we well I'm okay with the suggestion okay so so that would be a motion motion there that would be a motion to pull this ordinance until such time as the administration could um get responses to the cost be it RFQ RFP to have these translation services but obviously again that's going to require a conversation with someone in administration councilwoman Gonzalez um and and she could speak with her council members you know individually to get a understanding of the the scope of the translation services that were needed so we know exactly what to put forth in that bid council president yes thank you um I first I just want to say thank you to councilman Gonzalez for being amenable um to changing it and I think it's a great idea um my question for Mr Bridges and he may not be able to answer this right away is uh how long it might take for the RFP process to start and then finish because my concern is I don't believe it'll happen this time but based on my zoning experience is that this won't get carried through all the way um we could do we could do a quick we could do a request for qualification we could do a a 10day RFP again I think the real the first step is going to be understanding the scope of what we're looking for so we can include it in the scope of services that we're looking for so as soon as we get an answer and you know at least close to consensus from uh conversation with councilwoman Gonzalez and administration as to what we're looking for it could be we could have an answer in a couple of weeks and quite frankly depending upon the cost we could do it as a 175 under a bidding threshold but again we need to know what we're dealing with before we could answer that question with any degree of certainty okay thank you very much thank you Council [Music] colleagues okay so we asking for the motion to pull this until Mo a motion to pull until we have responses to um our our requests for bids or qualifications and the cost for this okay second the motion was moved by I'm sorry me got it move by President second by councilwoman frisbee roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Pisano yes motion carried now I'd like to make a motion that we have a resolution of support of the um of the state legislation regarding the translation of documents so moved second second fris me roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Pano yes motion carried moving on on your call counil President moving forward yes continue thank certainly to ordinance 24- 041 ordinance of the city of Trenton to adopt NJ D's model ordinance regarding storm waterer control and to amend chapter 254 of the code of the city of [Music] Tron and Madam president there's no other questions regarding that ordinance or are there no hearing none then we can move to uh executive session at this time yes may have a motion to move into executive session second will we be uh I'm sorry expecting a vote we're not we're not vote on anything about this tonight we're just discussing and coming out no okay okay thank you on that motion in second a roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano motion carried we don't answer participate a vote coming out of executive session thank you for for