e e e okay yeah Mr Garcia we have a a quorum we do yes Madam president I believe we do on your
call proceeds certainly call order Trenton city council meeting February 4th 2025 February 4th 2025 is now called the order please
stand and salute the flag I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all hello adequate notice of this
meeting has been given in accordance with the open public meetings act pursuant to public laws 1975 chapter 231 this agenda is complete to the extent known and was sent to the Trenton Times and Trentonian newspapers posted on the first floor Boling board in City Hall filed in the city clerk's office and posted on the city of Trenton website
formal action will be taken roll call vice president Edwards present councilwoman Feliciano present councilwoman figuro kenberg councilwoman Frisbee for the record I did receive a call from uh councilwoman
Figaro kenberg I imagine she is in route yeah councilwoman frisbee present thank you councilwoman Harrison councilwoman Williams presente council president Gonzalez is excused from this meeting this
evening myself Brandon Garcia municipal clerk pres legislative Council Mr Edward kogi and in for West br City attorney is Palmer Richardson and Madam president if you madam vice president if you'd like I can
read the invocation at this time yes please thank you almighty God who holds the fate of man and Nation we most humbly beseech thee to bless this our city these deliberations and these thy servants that they may act with wisdom and understanding for the good of our
community and thy greater glory amen amen and and Madame vice president at this point in time um under presentations we do have an item uh this would be Zoning Board member selection you do have a packet in copies with
names as well as the resolution and uh resumés and applications for uh from members to the zoning board and you may start off in any way you choose and it's my understanding that the board
would like to make some uh would like to ask some questions to the uh members pre to the uh applicants present yes so do we have any of the applicants present with us today I'll go right ahead and call names if individual
in the in the audience is here please raise your hand Venita cap copy I apologize now for if I've butchered your name thank you anid
Sanchez thank you Michael herat Mr herado did mention he would be here he may be in route I'm not quite sure and Mr Mark Matson whom I do not see either okay so at this point uh Madam vice
president it appears you have at least two two people here whom you may wish to ask questions yes we can call them up one at a time and get a presentation from them and open up questions to counsel very
well I'll start off with Venita copy if you'd like to approach the uh Podium thank you please press the button Miss copy if you would please just just press the button and state your name for the
record Venita kapahi good evening good and I'll turn it over to the board so if you just tell us a little bit about yourself and why you applied to the zoning board we would love to
hear from you and then if Council has any questions we'll open it up for discussion of course thank you councilwoman uh my name is Vena kapahi I have been a Tron res stent for about seven years I currently work as a policy adviser for the Department of Human Services at the state um and I have a
background in um in both social work and planning and policy I attended graduate school at at blastin at redgar um did a dual degree in both planning and policy and um was able to do some coursework in in planning law um and have a bit of a
foundation in in theory that way and have been eager to contribute more um to the city I am raising a family here and live and work here um and and very much want to be able to contribute more and heard that there is a need for um for members of the zoning board um and it
seemed like a good opportunity to be able to um both apply I don't have a lot of skills but but am able to to read and write and interpret policy um and it seemed like a good opportunity to be able to contribute those skills um to thinking about the health and safety um
of of Trenton residents um the future of for city um and um hope to be able to contribute and I'd welcome any questions thank you does any council members have any questions at this time council president vice president rather
councilwoman Williams thank you um Miss kapai can you talk about you know your experience living here and what you have observed in our city uh that comes seeing it from your angle as someone who studied City Planning uh and planning in
general uh what things uh really interest you and maybe that Trenton could do better in or just you know based on what you studied in the past what do you see as opportunities yeah I mean I think it's a wonderful City I I I have found the
people to be really warm um and I feel really lucky to be living somewhere that is both on Transit um where I'm able to to access other parts of the state and um and other cities easily and I think there's a lot of opportunity that way I also think you know of course it's a
city that also has challenges um I think like being a pedestrian um often my personal experience like with a small child and a stroller in areas that there is um traffic at high speeds can be challenging so I think yeah I think that
there like both the location is wonderful the density is is wonderful I think that there are of course a lot of opportunities to um you know I to to to improve uh pedestrian safety um bike
safety um to to think more strategically about and I I mean I see a lot of evidence of this but continue to think strategically about development um in a way that allows folks to be able to to access um the city and and other parts
of our region um without necessarily relying on a car or if if you choose to more safely um um hope I answered your question no you did and then um from your planning background was there a particular area that maybe um you specialized in that
you think might help uh with being on zoning board or any particular area of study in an urban city um I think sure I think there a lot of areas I think I I spent a lot of time thinking about housing um and I think there's a
lot of opportunity here um and thinking about like what development in the city can look like and ensuring that um our our laws are interpreted in a way that meet meet the development goals of the city um
like obviously Trends and development patterns are changing um our population is changing like the way that families are structured is changing so I think um just continuing to make sure that um that the development is happening in
such a way that that meets that with um those patterns um and is able to to meet the needs of shifts in population okay thank you very much appreciate that does any other the members have any more
questions okay thank you so much thanks Madam vice president I believe oh we do have another individual here present at this time uh one of our applicants has stepped Out Mr herado is present well that's cool my apologies to
the public good evening Council thank you for coming can you tell us your name and your address for the record and just tell us a little bit about yourself and why you applied to the zoning board my name is Mel F herado I live at 506 Williams Street Trenton
New Jersey born and raised in the city uh fourth generation on my mother's side first generation on my father's side first generation American actually on my father's side um I apologize I'm just getting over something the timing could not have been
worse I um like I said born and raised in Trenton attended Mercer County Community College for 2 and a half years to get my associate in Liberal Arts transferred to Kane University to get a bachelor's in public administration currently Discerning
whether or not I want to get my masters in the same field or go to law school I think I could do both but it's a very big commitment so I'm holding off I just want to work for a couple years Bank some money and then figure out what to do but I'd like to serve on the zoning board because I have um personal
relationships with some of you I have professional relationships I like to believe with all of you and I see that the city is on an upswing and as a lifelong resident of the city um it's very heartwarming to see that the change
in the tone from the last city council I believe everybody in the city it's a not only welcome but desperately needed change and so the cities are an upswing you all have contributed to that but it's not just the city council it's not just the administration it's a lot of
people that are behind the scenes and I don't mind behind the scenes because nobody's ever just a member of the zoning board nobody's ever just a member of the city council nobody's ever just a city employee we all play a role and nobody's just a resident we all play a
role in making sure that the city functions we are all codependent on one another human beings are not made for isolation so I believe that I can contribute as a member of the zoning board to help facilitate the change in morale and
hopefully God willing to change in the conditions for this city which is the capital city which I don't want to say was a great City it is a great City but we all know we can do better and I would love to contribute to that and I'd be happy to answer any
questions thank you so much does any members of council have any questions Council vice president councilwoman frisbee so good evening and thank you and I hope you continue to feel better in your health glad you're able to make it out um I just want for the record if
you would tell us what in your background uh do you believe equips you to be on the zoning board um to help out with that my educational background I would say is my number one qualifier I went to um New Jersey's only Urban
research institution Urban um issues were at the core of my curriculum I had the benefit of having two professors who were public servants mayor Chris bage of Elizabeth who has been instrumental in that City's uh
turnaround which is why I believe he just was reelected to his eighth term so he must be doing something right and Senator Ray lesnak was another of my professors and between the two of them and my other professors who have served as City administrators and in other
local government capacities I believe my education the issues that I studied the issues that I wrote about have prepared me and also being a lifelong resident of the city having family that is very socially connected I won't say financially or politically connected but
very socially connected we know a lot of people in the City and surrounding areas so this city is our life and having grown up and seeing the changes good and bad that I believe is a secondary
qualification to my education and as I'm Discerning whether or not to go to law school zoning board will be working close in conjunction following City statutes state law I don't want to say I have experience in
law but I certainly have an interest in it and so I've read statutes I've read ordinances I understand them and I can interpret them as it would relate to my responsibilities as a member of the zoning board thank you thank you madam pres
vice president do any other members have question well my question to you is like you said about the team effort about working that right there alone is what I like to see um and I like you said
you've been involved in the city your fames from the city uh you have an understanding of where the city needs to go um so overall you kind of actually laid out what you say regarding the zoning board and same thing happens with
the planning where we need people to be reliable I know you'll be reliable um and I can see your dedication so I honestly you spoke from your heart and that's what I like to say thank you thank you sure okay go Mr tle thank you for
coming and speaking with us today um I I mean I just want to say knowing you to the degree that I do know you outside of council um I'm actually refreshed to have you come before us and want to be part of this because I know that there's
no bias in you and No Agenda in you and that you will do the work of the city what's right for the city you will ask the right questions and you will make sure that um proper protocol and procedures are followed for what we plan to do in the city um with the right
people in order to move the city forward so I just applaud you for coming forward for being willing to dedicate your time um and your expertise um your growth with the city um with people coming in um developers and this and the like um
and I think that you'll do a great job so thank you Council vice president councilwoman Williams thank you uh Mr to I'm very happy to see you step up as a young person to want to take this on uh it is
a position it's non-paid and it's volunteer um I found it over 14 years to be very exciting in many ways to try to help our city uh have growth protect itself balance the neighborhood you know the people who live where a zoning
application is going to take fruit the applicant themselves as well as the city's interest and the law and ordinances and Zoning plans and the Trenton 250 plan um but one of the things whether you have personal relationships or professional relationships with anyone up here or the
administration or anyone on the political side of things um one of the things that I'm pretty sure you appreciate is that you need to be independent you would be independent uh as you operate uh if you're selected to be a zoning Board
member uh one of the things uh Milford Bea uh several predecessors before for me as a northward council person when he appointed me said I will never put pressure on you to make a decision I want you to make a decision based on the facts and what you believe and is that
something that you think that you would uh perform that same way as the advice I was given much longer ago well I have respect for all of you and I have you know affection for some of you in a personal capacity but if there is any issue related to my capacity as zoning
Board member you Your Capacity as council members uh those will not be discussed in any other setting other than a professional setting and I will not be strong armed by anybody sitting on this Das I will not be strong armed
by anybody sent from anybody on this Das and my Independence will be based on an understanding that we are working together we are not steamrolling either we are not influencing either
we have our areas where it's like a ven diagram we intersect but we have our own separate areas and so if there is an issue that you'd like to discuss that would relate to zoning should I be a member we can discuss that at a zoning board meeting and if there is anything I
want to talk about as relates to city council I will come and stand right here in front of all of you and talk about it I will not talk about it one-on-one with any of you okay thank you and my my second question when it comes to zoning
and the possibilities of the city and certainly we have a lot of challenges and I know you're aware of many of them because you are very Plugged In following the news Etc what do you see um what is exciting for you about Trenton and when you talk about being
here being from Trenton to others well the thing that excites me about being from Trenton is present and future areas of study notwithstanding I'm history lover at heart and this city has a lot of history I've always felt
that that was a lot of untapped potential for the city its history its ability to be a cultural focal point for the nation you know Benjamin Franklin said that New Jersey as a whole is a cursed State it's
like a keg tapped at both ends between New York and Philadelphia that um that perception has lasted too long and Trenton can be um at the Forefront of establishing not only just Trenton's place but New Jersey's place as a as a
cultural stronghold for the city as a whole and the thing that excites me the most about Trenton's future is again I know that I have said it and many people have said it but it Bears repeating is just the change in tone in the way these Council meetings are conducted the
change in the relationship between the seven council members between Council as a body and the Administration Trenton is on an upswing I keep my ear you know not just to what goes on in this building but also to what goes on in our different neighborhoods our very diverse
neighborhoods which is our strength and every demographic in this city has said that they notice the change and we have the benefit in this city of having a very engaged populace our news groups on
Facebook be they Trenton orbit or Peterson's breaking news or any of the uh local areas um that have a footprint on social media such as Ying or Lawrence Ying Lawrence Hamilton all the suburbs it's all greater threatened to me whether they like to admit it or not
they all depend on the success of this city as well so the thing that excites me is a thing that excites most people it's just the change in direction that this city is facing and I'd like to be a part of that not for my own gratification it's not a paid position
it's not a I mean at the meetings I'll be able to sit up there but that's not why I'm doing this I don't want to sit in your seats as comfortable as they look I'm doing this because this city is on an upswing and I want to contribute to that okay thank you very much thank you ma'am thank you does any of the members
have questions thank you so much thank you very much Mr Garcia certainly Madam vice president I believe we did have another individual here who was an applicant and appears she may have had to of left um if you'd
like me to try anyone via phone that'd be I'm more than happy to other than that I believe are there I don't believe there are any other individuals here from that having applied to the zoning board at this time Mark Matson is not
present either I'm sorry Mark Matson is not present either Mr Matson if you're here please raise your hand or please come to the podium I don't believe so ma'am okay let's move line please
certainly uh next on our agenda at this time Madame President is public comment for agenda items only and to the Public Public comment for agenda items only this is uh Hillary if I can have the other
public comment uh clipboard please I'll trade you Mr Garcia can we explain to the public briefly what the differentiation between the two certainly M sir Madam vice president and yes we'll take this and put it in
the back in case anybody wants to uh wants to sign up again um at this time I do not have anybody listed for a public public comment for uh docket items only um to the Public Public comment for agenda items only is for just that items that
are on on the dockor agenda um if you the public wishes to speak on those items prior to council voting they may and they may do so they have five minutes to do so you may address anything solely on the agenda or docket um any other items that you wish to
address the council for will go through our general public comment which there will be time allowed for that as well uh this time Madame vice president I don't have anybody listed for public comment for agenda items only if you'd like can move forward uh further with the agenda
yes please certainly uh Madam president this time I have listed your approval if you want to ask for a motion to approve Communications petitions and reports I have a motion to approve the communication petitions and reports move
second thank you roll call vice president Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilman Harrison
yes councilwoman Williams yes motion carried and Madam president at this time if you want to excuse me I apologize if you would like to extract or if the council would like to extract
any particular items from the docket for questions and or from a potential consent agenda Council pres vice president councilwoman feliciana thank you resolutions
2528 2530 25027 25029 2533 2534 35
36 38 that's it thank you for M council president Council woman figuro K Bri have 27 28 30 but additionally 35 okay thank you anyone
else Council vice president councilwoman Williams yes ma'am uh 34 35 36 27 potentially thank you thank you
okay there's no further questions we can start with the first one 25-28 the Department of Housing and economic development two I'm just going in order
yeah thank you Madame vice president may I Council feliciana thank you good evening director Liston good evening thank you um just a couple quick questions for you about this um
resolution regarding the investors uh the non-residents are we going to look into their their history like within the city if they've bought other properties here like what is the the condition or the upkeep of what's going on because we don't want to keep letting slum Lords
purchase properties and non- maintain them so what are we are we going to do any kind of vetting or looking into the people that are looking to take advantage of this uh that's probably one of the main reasons that we're passing this is um to prevent the proliferation
of uh I don't want to call them slumlords but investors from outside the community are are not reinvesting into the housing properly uh building substandard Apartments uh and overcharging our rent
we V everyone who comes through especially with the investors who want to buy rental properties we vet them through the code Department do they have rental licenses what's their histories of rental license what's their violations we're very fortunate we have a computer system that we can do this
within minutes uh I've actually sent staff out of town to look at their people's properties to see what their properties look like if they're m maintaining their properties so we do vet our um investing
properties very much so okay and then if at all I I was just curious will the rent stabilization Board Play A Part um with dealing with like so with the landlords and things like that like is that going to be a place that they will
be able to go the residents will be able to go to to place complaints and everything once they do the once they build apartment um we would then they'd be subject to the rent stabilization oversight so they do play into each
other in that sense okay and then it says that under number five the city will monitor compliance with these timelines to ensure successful Rehabilitation and occupancy so what happens if they don't do it within the time frame when we write the Deeds we're
going to have reverters in the Deeds so if they don't meet their timelines I mean we will allow for certain extensions if there's a problem with the building or you know the weather um but the problem in the past is we sold properties people have
have you know made a promise to complete something over 18 months or two years the failure of the city is to monitor is and hold people accountable uh the plan in the department now is that we'll have a monitor on each of the um projects the
other thing that really helps us out is we're going to encourage people under the 203K program under um HUD where people can borrow money to to get houses uh they actually have a monitoring that will par parallel our monitoring of the
progress of the property being rehabed so we're hand inand with with that process excuse me just for a second can you state your name and Department oh I'm sorry Arts list in the department of uh housing Economic Development thank you
thank you m president may I councilwoman frisbee yes uh director Liston um I know you said that we we're going to uh give referers um there'll be referers in the Deeds do we know about what how much leeway we're going to give them like is
it going to be like a six Monon a year do we have we figured that part out except first of all let me before I even ask that I'm excited about the fact that we are doing this as a city that we allow we're going to be prioritizing residents to have first bid
as opposed to having this Monopoly of uh organiz companies and corporations that have been coming in here and taking over and then um I'll say it's being slum lords taking it then taking advantages of uh of our community um hiking rent not cleaning the buildings not taking
care of it but I want to just make sure that we don't end we end up making sure that the people who come to the table they're not coming to the table just to say I want to save this property from going to somewhere else but they actually have a plan in action so that they're not coming and then six months
later it's still sitting the way it did when they first purchased it is there something like that that we're going to and if so I'm just really asking what are we looking at we would do timelines into the um Redevelopment agreements or the agreements we have with the people
um you know one of the things we're looking at every 90 days to have a monitoring step the realization is with an older home and I'm sure many of you have older homes when you open up a wall you have an unexpected um emergency you know
every every every house in the city is going to get opened up is going to have an electrical problem they're going to have some kind of and we have to be flexible in the sense that if they come in after 90 days and say hey I just opened the line and I got you know i' I've got you know a $10,000 expense I
didn't project then you know we've got to we got take a common sense approach and we can say okay give us a timeline that would you think you can do this to move on to the next phase and uh if it's too long of a timeline I would come back to council and say I'm I need an extension of this Redevelopment
agreement or something because of X Y and Z so uh but we have already planned out where we would have timelines for the individuals um and making sure and and and making sure financially they have the ability to complete the project
thank you and then uh one more question is you you touched on it with um historical homes um like mine most of the homes the the shells of them are Hollow there's no insulation the windows everything if you don't if it's a
historical um area that's really what I call a beast because you are it is uh it's rough getting what you you need at a decent price will there be something in these um with the sale of these homes that will help these residents because a
lot of folks don't realize what they're getting into when they get into a histo it's bu it's good to buy a home but if it's a historical home helping them to understand that you can't get uh shingles replaced on it you have to put it back exactly the way it is and if so is there something that we have in place that will help them by getting blown
insulation or having insulation or anything to help offset the cost I think that's a very good point uh one of the things that with the with that idea is I will have someone from my landmarks uh
if someone's buying a historic home first we will inform them it's in a historic area many times properties are transferred and people are not advised in historic area and all of a sudden they come in for a permit or something they say well you need historic approval
and that that's a major problem uh so what we'll do is is your your idea is what we can do is I'll have somebody from them or meet with them make sure you understand you're in a historic area understand that you may run into
potential excessive cost because of Windows um you know the roofing of some of the houses some of the structure the other thing about the 203K program this is very good is they send the they send inspectors in they send the appraisers
in and and they work parallel with us uh in these issues and when we work with them we'll make sure that we point out that this is a historic uh home and that you know we we have some regulations but we will also work with them uh a lot of
times it's you know if somebody buys a house with a slate roof you know replacing a slate roof is like a torture because of the cost factor and there are substitute materials you can use looks just like slate today and uh we can work
with them on advising them on that excellent so and then this is my final final question since you just hit it and as a homeowner of a home that had these slate roots in them a lot of times um you have homes that are not in historical communities but they have
those slate Roofing is there a way of when if let's say the new owner decides they're not going to keep it for us to work with them to possibly refurbish that so that PL those people who are purchasing and they need it that we can
um help them with it that's just an idea yeah and I think you're working with the 203K program I don't know how much F would work with them on that but uh you know we can definitely look if it's being income based if they're rehabing home and we can work with them through
some um existing RCA funds or something we you know we're trying to get people in the houses we're trying to get home ownership we're going to do everything possible get get money to people so they can they can rehab houses and live here thank you Mr Liston director Liston
thank you madam vice president welcome Madam vice president Council fana thank you so we'll move to 2530 now I'm Sor questions I thought you had another question I'm sorry still on this one I didn't realize I do
have thank you just one statement one question um one of the things I'm hearing from a lot of folks uh to my colleagues bringing up historical areas in the city is stepped up enforcement M uh particularly at landmarks because because for many years that went fallow
and uh now you know we have a lot a good number of houses that do not meet historical standard and that's one thing to you know the point of the city that we have to keep that history you know matter the era of it I live in historical home too and it's not fun to have to get wood windows but there's a
reason you have to get wood windows and modern day materials are much better uh but my other question stems from the slum Lord issue and we have many properties in the city that are unfortunately r because we only have a 39% home ownership rate which I'm really
glad to hear some of the things were happening because I know our council's committed to increasing home ownership in the city Administration as too where do we stand percentage wise as far as the number of properties that are rental having been inspected let's say in the
last three years and fully licensed um I I would since that's I would have to get uh Yolanda the chief esos I I can get that data for you uh but we recognize every year that the
rental registrations have to be done actually I I think we received a check checks in the area of $70,000 today just for rental registration so uh we do track that every house if some we come across a certain house that is a problem house uh we track it in the system and
say okay this isn't licensed let's take corrective action um so of the of every house that we know of it's a rental we we license we do have people who sneak around and um do get punished for that speaking on the
enforcement um we have a a a code enforcement housing inspector just signed for uh enforcement on historic in the historic area so we're we become very proactive in that and and it's not
to punish people let's let's make the when you deal with with homeowners and especially people who can't afford it you work with them through a process and we're not looking to go out and and and write a ticket and get them in court and punish them what we'll try to do is okay come in let's see how we can help you
let's see how we can work through the process and let's see how we can get you back in this house and keep you in this house because a lot of time it's senior citizens we do have funds where we can if they again income base if they can if we can help them we're going to help them stay in that home and are there any
measures that or ordinances that we could hear on council help with to strengthen the enforcement on the non-historical side as I know you know money is a factor and hiring more inspectors that's ultimately something we need to do but is there anything more legally that we could do as a city
better than we've done in the past to help with this terrible issue I I think that we we have enough especially with the codes that we presently have uh and and we have a very aggressive uh housing inspector group uh
and and when things are reported we go out uh we just had a big I won't call it a raid but we went up on Greenwood Avenue with the police department and cleaned out a whole um uh house and and a bunch of vehicles but at the same time
we went along the whole block and we're bringing in the whole block and the compliance it all comes down to you can write all the laws in the world if they're not going to be enforced their uses we I think we have a a strong code and and our housing people uh enforce
them not to Le of law but reasonably to help people get the problems corrected but when they must be cited or summons to court we do it okay because I just my last just not pushing back but a point is we have people who landlords do not
live anywhere near here and they're crying for enforcement and they demand enforcement and they deserve enforcement and I will be happy to uh through Administration get you a list of some streets particularly I have concerns with in the north board that has been shared with me but if there are any
tools that we can help with to have the letter of the law maybe enforced on a lot of these landlords they do not live in Trend that would be something that would be wanted by our citizens oh yeah and and we actually at the cabinet meeting this morning we had a discussion
regarding that with the courts and the enforcement and more strict accountability to the landlords our biggest problem with our landlords is we have people who live out of state who are landlords we have a very difficult time you know
we have people living in uh New York City and so forth that we can't go across state lines and if we can entice them to to come back in and and sign up for something we can arrest them for their contempt to court and we have a lot of problems with the absentee
landlords um doing that so we but we are very aggressive with with getting them getting them in court and if they fail to appear getting warrants issued for the people okay thank you sir thank you councilwoman councilwoman figero kenberg and then councilman Joe Harrison thank
you director Liston uh quick question um just for a point of clarity what does the process look like if with this new Redevelopment um ordinance resolution that we have what does it look like if somebody were to be interested in a property um is there a time frame for
others to also Express their interest in that property how are we choosing what does it look like right now we have an existing list of about 9 homes that people are interested in uh and one of the things well first I I need this resolution this policy so when
we get to a point where we have for lack of a better term a tie we have two people who want the property that we can sell it to the home you know the resident first and so um that that's where we just backed up cross reference
because I have some I have properties you have three or four people uh who may be interested that it's going to come down to who do we prioritize and sell it to this this is what it does um and the reason this is done as a resolution let me point this out and not an ordinance
at this point is the fact that there's going to be bugs we have we need to work out with this no legislation comes imperfect I want to make sure that we can this works through I want to make sure that that it's effective and then
what we can do is we would draft an ordinance creating B basically a law of how we would do it but this gives us a policy decision right now of how we can move forward and do that people interested in properties right now we we've because we have so many backlogged
um we're trying to get through that backlog and if we can get through that backlog we're probably going to reopen uh applications April one so people can come back in and then we we can figure out uh but but again um we don't want to sell off properties
quickly to absentee landlords if they're coming in one as investors you know we want to give the the resident the long-term resident or the person interested in moving into the community we want to give them first shot and that's where our priorities are so for instance if two people came in and were
interested in a profit and they all they both fell under the criteria of three priority three let's just say um for instance um does a go to first come first serve um whoever expressed the interest first and then is there still a
window open for that same property if somebody were to come in with a higher priority based on this program would they then you know be able to purchase that property over the two individuals in priority three that's the question if we if we had two people who came into
the same the discussions in the department were um kind of set it up as a give us the highest highest and best offer all right and you know if the two part you got a onetime shot and this is what real estate agents do give us your
highest and best so we can move the property and uh give them that opportunity and that's it's an equal decision but it's who's willing to pay the higher price councilman Harrison um this resolution to me makes a lot of sense it's local people
investing in the community um but it was brought up like one of my colleagues about inspectors um are we planning on more inspectors down the road and I bring that up because because I bring that up because of
because of properties like uh Cityside we have people who live in Cityside properties who repeatedly are complaining about their heat not on waterers no water um wind is not sealed um their properties see majority of them seem to
be having issues councilman if I could hire 20 more inspectors tomorrow and we had the money to do it I would do it um you know we have a restricted budget we we do press our um inspectors quite a bit to get out to make sure they're on the street daily making sure things are
getting enforced but I will tell you that that some of our problems are deep DCA realizes it when they did their their reviews um but if we could hire more we'd love to uh but we also it's a prioritization you know you guys know
better than anyone you got police issues fire issues inspection issues but I would love to hire more people um because I'm bringing up like I said Cityside because you'll have a lot of families with kids in there and that it's horrible in the winter time people
don't have water don't have heat and the windows are not properly sealed so they're in their house their apartment and they're freezing so that's and they're one of the greater VI violators that we have and have been cited I think in hundreds of numbers of of summons has been issued um and we're going to make
every effort to to bring them through the system thank you thank you Council thank you uh 25-30 Madam vice president would uh 028 be on consent or will that be a roll call resolution sorry
consent consent thank you madam vice president councilwoman feliciana thank you Mr to list in for 2530 um I just wanted to make a couple
comments one um and looking at the scoring that was done by the three people that scored I just want to say that of the three Brian weakling gave an excellent scoring um in my opinion to go
by very detailed um in his notes and with the percentages that he gave so that that that we could follow his thought process when he gave us the wise as to how he scored the people um Dr manik Capelli he gave us some notes um
but it was just basically weak strong satisfactory you know I mean and then the percentage okay um and then Mariel Ferrera um didn't give us any notes just numbers I would just like to to ask that
as we move forward with the scoring um throughout the city proper that whoever scores um or evaluates these people that they do take the time to give us why they're giving them the numbers so we we
understand again the thought process to help us to dig in a little bit you know deeper as to what as to what is going on certainly um secondly I just would like to know is there a conflict could there be a conflict at all because um the persons
that that we're looking to to partner with which I have no problem with um already they own uh businesses downtown in the area in which they would be helping to make this plan for so is is there any conflict with that we didn't
we didn't see any conflict in the sense that um this is a report that's going to be reviewed and and looked at by uh both myself and uh this is through the uee making sure there's no advantage to any businesses so forth one of the things
that we wanted to do is we wanted to get somebody who know the knew the town locally who kind of suffered through the business cycles and so forth to really help us U look at the U and how we want to go in the next five years so to me it
was actually a positive in the sense they they knew and bringing in an engineering firm or somebody from outside they they don't know what town you know you and and we wanted somebody who could look at it and give it a objective point of view from you know
obviously U but also from the business community and I think it helped okay and thank you that was your opinion so um Mr Richardson so there is no conflict you didn't hear what I asked
yeah okay so what I asked was is there a conflict because the company that we're look to partner with the person owns a owns business down in the city in which they will be looking to help do the plan
for I just want to make sure that we're good um with that it's nothing against anyone it's just I just is there a conflict yes or no councilwoman so you're saying that the person owns the business that we're going to be doing this with owns
business downtown Trenton and what would what are you saying would be the conflict is there a conflict that we go and allow the person to do the five-year development plan in they own
business I mean I'm not I don't I don't see the big deal I'm just making sure we good sorry from an initial perspective I don't see what a conflict would would generate okay thank you that's all I want to know thank you vice
president councilwoman Figo kbur yes head director um yeah I I wanted to thank councilman Fel just for asking that question because that was a really good question um and I understand why she was asking that question um my question to you director
Liston was H with regards to the grading um how do we go about choosing who will be the the graders because um I understand marel Ferrara she's the uh she's with division planning and Brian weum with housing economic development
but then uh Dr mapelli who's a director of Department of Health like how did that fit in how what was what thought process went into that yeah okay good evening Council vice president good evening everybody Maria Richardson business administrator um from the
procurement point of view um basically when we have um professionals scoring the rfbs they look into certain uh elements specific elements and those elements are
described in each RFP for example um I'm not sure what are the elements that are being scored here um but we talk about about how close the RFP de proposals are to the
specifications um and we give a specific weight to those elements price is an element experience is an element um and it's it's basically uh what we Define to
be the elements to be scored so um Dr Diego minacapelli could be scoring a Economic and Development vment um specific RFP
without um having the experience because he knows that he was going to be looking into those ele elements that we are scoring and that happens across the board um for example um you could have
the director of uh Mr an evaluating a proposal that is for police or for water um because you are not evaluating into the specific performance of the job that is going to be um performed but the
elements of the uh proposal itself I don't know if I explained myself well no thank you for that explanation I mean my my position would be I think it would be um more beneficial if if the individual scoring did have the background in the
content that we're looking at you know we're looking to fill a position um for uee we're giving somebody a five years um I do think that somebody with that expertise and background would have probably been a better grader than somebody from a different department different expertise background I mean thank you for your explan not for
scoring the the RFP itself because the director will be responsible for making sure that that the content are met the directors of the department will be you know they will decide if the elements are met once we issue a
contract if he will be revising whatever um plan that person is going to be providing right and he will accept it once emit all the emit emits all the elements but for the scoring sometimes when you have somebody um that has a lot
of experience in the content might bring bias right so and you want to make sure that you are scoring just based on the elements that are that would advertise okay thank you I I thank you but that is more of a that's why I wanted to explain
it because it's more of a procurement process than a technical process vice president councilwoman Williams thank you um so I want to thank uh Council uh me councilwoman uh felano
for bringing up the discussion of uh conflex Advent because one of the things it would seem to be obvious but I just want to make sure on the record so when it comes to uee if this company is um approved to be you know the facilitator of this plan the
principles who own a company would not be able to apply for uee funds that's correct and obtain U uee funds I would I get a confirmation from Wes but I I think that um that's a legitimate concern and I would review that with
legal council prior to us any providing any there is some objective benefits they can receive just by state law which would have no effect either one way or another um but as to special treatment or special loans or something I think
we'd really have to look at the the fact that um they were part of the process of the fiveyear plan okay so if this were to be approved tonight um there may be a hard stop on this if after you talk to law director West Bridges um that this
cannot proceed further if the principles have an intention to apply for U funds or be involved with some kind of I think basically at this point it it kind of um has an effect where they would not be
eligible but I'll confirm that with Wes okay thank you thank you ma'am any further questions Council vice president Council feliciana so I just want to throw this
to councilwoman Williams so Bas BAS upon that and putting and saying that this is okay for consent agenda because we don't know the the other the other piece of
this um is that a concern I I would say to protect the institution of this Council just to play it safe as accomplished as these gentlemen are and they're intent with this plan and i' I've seen seen the plan
and it looks like it's a very accomplished one I think to be safe for their reputation as well as this Council Administration we may want to table this uh for the moment and come back once we have an answer from our law director right thank you thank you Council vice
president um okay so no to consent agenda um I'm I'm saying I'm saying no so can can we have a mo I'd like to make a motion to table this until the next meeting we have a motion we have a second
second been move in second I'll call the role vice president Edwards yes councilwoman Pano yes councilwoman Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilman
Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes motion carried matters tabled to be clear until the next public meeting yes on the 18th thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you Mr list next on the list of questions
25-27 Madam vice president councilwoman feliciana thank you so with the listing that we have here uh appointing the count the council members um to the boards and commissions I don't believe we still need the Board of
Education um as listed it because it's now an elected board it's not appointed by the council or by the mayor's office so that wouldn't fall under the purview of the council so I think that should be stricken from this
resolution Mr cogi can you can you add to that or assist with that so I'm saying that the Board of Education that's listed on here in previous years it's always been a a position where we had a liaison but that was when we had
it was appointed by the mayor it is no longer it is an elected school board so so we would not has anybody communicated with the Board of Ed to determine their position on us creating a liaison because they are technically
totally a under the statute right and been one she's saying now but it was it was always did anybody from this Council ask them about so my thing is people can go as participants and just sit so if
council members want to go as participants and be there and just say you know what I mean okay but I don't think we have to have we're not obligated to have a liais on designated to remove that we could pass the resolution and we can further consider
it down the road maybe communicate with the board and see what they might want alazon from the council I don't know right okay thank you all right so do you want a motion to amend this list to remove that until we hear
back from the Board of Education or we can remove it all together and it'll be council's own prerogative on whether they want to attend yes I'd like to make a motion to remove the Board of Education from this resolution second
motion second I'll call the role count uh vice president Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figaro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbe yes councilman
Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes motion carried and that is to amend to omit the Board of Education from res resolution 027 correct yes thank you thank you
Council figuro cber um yes I just wanted to note that I did not sign up to um be on the library board again this time so I would like that omitted from my um liaison positions that is correct Mr
Garcia thank you all right so then would that be another motion to amend the resolution listed yes so motion is being made by uh councilwoman Figo kenberg yes second
is there a second thank you and roll call vice president Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilman
Williams yes motion carried we are omitting uh again Council uh excuse me councilwoman what board was that thank than you Council vice president Council Williams thank you ma'am so this might just be a point of
discussion um but uh I don't believe and I don't know if there ever was a liazon position for landmarks um but I do believe there may be a need for one um as it's restructured and given different issues in different neighborhoods if that's something to consider perhaps um
we would need to get direction I don't know from Law Department on that but if we can um discuss that soon as a as a council um adding that yes um and the reason why you don't see that on the list it it originally
was but no one selected it so we only have the ones that the council member selected so if you're interested I I would be interested actually ma'am okay so we can wait until we have that information but I'm sure it's probably not a problem to have leaz on all right sounds good thank
you does anyone else have any question questions on the list is this can this go to consent as amended to remove the Boe the board of education so moved yes and to take the
library board from councilwoman Figaroa cber so that matter will be put on consent correct yes okay as amended thank you uh next on the question is
25-29 would be the department of the administration Council vice president Council feliciana thank you just out of curiosity um which which accreditation I know
we're looking to um reject the bids for it but I'm just curious which accreditation are we exactly going after was it the um the C Lea or the njsa cop you know um that would be part of the evaluation the
recommendation process with the consultant that are V benefits to both um going through both is really cumbersome so um that would be we will follow the recommendations of the consultant okay um I think that there is
a preference for the not for Kalia for for the officers um The Association of uh officers okay and as of right now we're not accredited no we are not okay the
accreditation is a voluntary process right and it basically um just uh evaluates the police department performance compared to a set of Standards or best practices M so we want
to go through the process um but so far we haven't done it we haven't done it before okay thank you I was going to say it's a voluntary process Dem compliance with Professional Standards so why are we doing this now I think it's great but just why are we doing this now uh we
thought that it would be a good exercise for the police department to to every organization really gets it's a enrichment process when you go through through a um self evaluation because usually self-
evaluation is part of an accreditation process uh accreditation institu institutional accreditation right and so uh just going to the process will be enriching for police because when you compare your own practices to best
practices that are already standardized for other municipalities and for other um departments it's enriching and uh it basically takes the the subjectivity from a lot of different things that the
police police agencies do because if you have a standard and you said okay this is the standard for Best Practices we are not there but we identify that we are here at least that gives us enough information to to know where we are
compared to where we should be right so for for the police department will be a good exercise will probably take a couple of years for us to get the accreditation but I think it would be great for us to do that all right thank
you thanks any further questions thank you thanks I'm good with it going to consent not thank you the next question is
25-33 Department of Finance Council vice president Council fana yes thank you just a quick question what is TS fee over payment let me go to the resolution
please give me one second please thank you uh it's uh 033 correct yes sorry mhm I thought that I was off the hook already no I'm sorry what is the question
Council woman on the um on the schedule what is TS fee um overpayment what's the TS let us see probably Colin will have to come to help me out on this one I see in the memo it has the other
stuff right the duplicate pay Aron is tax appeal over pay I just was curious what oh yes um that is a tax service fee okay thank you thanks that's all I wanted all
righty any further questions consent I can move to consent thank you thank you thanks thank you next 25- 034 Department of Health and Human Services Madam vice president good
evening um Dr Diego mapelli Department of Health and services Council feliciana thank you just one thing women space is no longer woman space uh they changed the name 1113 2024 to Unity so if we
could uh amend that to reflect the the proper name sure we can do there and throughout the agreement also on the agreement um the contract request form is still listed under woman's face as well that was all I had on
that councilwoman Williams thank you very much council president so uh director one of questions I just wanted to be able to bring up because we are you know this resolution is for a host of issues homelessness uh and you know so forth particularly in the time that
we're in now uh with winter is very harsh so I'm wondering uh where we are at this point with Outreach bans and addressing Health Care disparities in our city so so now we're about a year or so into um our cannabis industry
operating in Trenton hopefully uh it's being successful and with tax money that was devoted 10% of the tax was devoted towards uh identifying and addressing Healthcare disparities in the city and I do also know that there was money from
the opioid settlement I don't know if it's reached us yet but I'd like to know uh what efforts are being used um weekly to help out with our homelessness uh issue or hun house as the term is uh also but also with addressing uh folks
that have mental health needs in the city councilwoman like to just respond to one element of your question and it's about the Cannabis tax we have uh so far we have only received one payment so that hasn't yet got into Dr Mina
Capelli's effort for mental health okay thank you that's it thank you and so um we have the Continuum of Care uh group and so um we have all of these sub recipients working together to make sure that we address
homelessness um and so during this time as you see uh because of the temperatures we're working together to address that we also have our own Social Services which is um run by uh Ruth Carter and she also addresses the same
issues so together as a group in the Continuum of Care um um organization we're trying to address all of that um and we're working very hard for it is there a missing element or something that we need to do as a city or that
city council could uh approve or help with um to address this issue going forward because I know we we have a lot more particularly since Kensington and Philadelphia was shut down by the city of Philadelphia yes so we're always looking for more organizations to reach
out more to our community so that that's the help that we need to so supporting the nonprofits already exist right right right all right thank you very much sir thank you ma'am any so you can go to consent
okay yeah Mr Garcia to consent and noted thank you it takes us to our next question 25-35 Madam vice president councilwoman feliciana thank you so Dr
Manelli um it's a couple quick questions what is the status with the Columbus location uh we're working to uhing up the uh location to code and be able to open it um we uh have identify a
surveyor um and we are also working on uh the inspection of the um um septic tank along with other things that um we are going to the inside of the shelter um so that's where we are right now do you know when this is we anticipate this
to be done because I know before you were saying about the inspection of a septic tank like we heard this before um um how long is this going to take because we're going to keep housing the dogs over in Pennsylvania when we need to be housing the dogs down in Columbus do you know
how long this is going to take can you give us an estimate about when you know how long my hope that it is that in next three months we'll be able to be operational there okay so at least by the summertime is a realistic yes
expectation nobody's holding your feet to the fire on it because I understand that things happen but we just need to hear how many more times we're going to have to keep approving these resolutions for these payments so there was that also um what is the so this I guess is
for BA Richardson what is the status regarding the receipts of the donated Services um brought into question at the 1224 meeting the resolve to that I'm sorry could you please um repeat that question councilwoman sure
Feliciano yes ma'am thank you what is the status regarding the receipt of the donated Services the goods and services that were brought into question in the 1224 uh meeting what's the resolve to that where are we at with that um nowhere um I know that the department of
the the law department is working on a resolution okay I um the previous resolution that was uh was presented to me implied that I um agreed to the to receiving the
donation and so um I did not sign it because I didn't agree to it and so that is um we are working on a different resolution and basically um it's the same conversation
that happened at this forum before m we need to either return the money or accept uh the donation but with specific language that it was not properly
handled and so it's one of those two options will be presented to council uh most likely the next meeting but we are working on it thank you but moving forward those steps will be implemented regard um
regarding acceptance of goods or services and things definitely um we are also working on it on an ordinance okay um basically regulating the steps to when we accept a donation and basically
look at a donation as any Grant or any other incom in money of that nature because when we apply for a grant we come before you to ask for your approval to approve to to apply and accept a grant should be the same for
donations right okay thank you thanks Council vice president I'm sorry Council woman first councilwoman J Figo kenberg then thank you Frisbee and then Williams thank you um Dr Mell hi um
quick question because we're talking about the um the animal shelter I know that there was correspondence with regards to to uh whether or not um the yardly kennel had offered assistance to our most recent timestamp dogs were you able to get an answer about that or
speak to anybody directly with the kennel as to whether or not that was an option I um I did not and the reason is because all of the timestamp dogs have been uh found homes as of today though but the correspondence was Prior today that's why I'm asking uh yeah I I
submitted the this um request to the health office and the staff and they they probably um um you know um uh um went over the the proposal and figure it out if it was appropriate or
not to to take that and contact them I mean it's important because I don't I mean I don't know when we're going to be faced with more time stamp dogs moving forward and if that the yardly kennel was willing to offer these services um so that these dogs would not meet their demise and that they can help out um I
believe that the offer was said to be done at no cost no additional cost to Taz or to the city of Trenton I think that that's a relationship or at least a conversation or communication that should be had if it's being put out there it was brought to my attention from others it was not any direct
communication that I had it was just brought to me and I wanted to ask the question um as that's just a resource that we could possibly use yeah um yes with that I do want to say that I I it was reported to me and I'm not sure if this is accurate or not maybe you could
tell me that I believe uh 35 dogs have been found homes from the shelter since January 1st um uh 15 of them were timestamped so the 10 dogs that were just recently timestamped and five dogs that were time
stamped just before this have all found their forever homes have been placed which is great news and 20 other dogs that were not have so that's great progress um my question is how do we keep that momentum I understand that you know and correct me if I'm wrong again I
understand that there was volunteers that definitely helped in this process with pet finder and things of that nature volunteers that we sometimes shun and we don't want them to have anything to do with the shelter but they are helping to move things along yes which is a concerted effort that we need to um
definitely pay attention to um what I want to know is moving forward how do we keep this momentto and what strides are we taking into enforcing like the breeding ordinance and things like that so that we are not getting this pouring in of animals constantly and constantly paying these
checks to yardly to house our dogs that we cannot house definitely it is we have to fix the system uh in order for me to um enforce the ordinance I have to have a good team um so we're working on it we need to have an
application for that too for the ordinance uh we're working on that too uh um we have placed The Advisory Board um uh you know uh um out there so we have people interested on it we receive
around 16 to 18 applications uh we are reviewing those applications um I have put um uh bids for um the Animal Welfare um animal uh kennels um all of those
things are important for us to move forward um and we have a good momentum right now because we have more engagement from the community and this organizations uh we are overcrowded we have exceeded our limits
in the animal shelter so we have to make a progress so uh I think we're moving forward and with the help of these organizations and the community we can do so we cannot do it alone I mean 96 dogs right now that I'm looking at um you know is is on the
lower end of what we've seen as of late as of the past few months into last year um like I said so that does seem like it's progress but at any given time we could get an influx we get a dumping of several animals um with
regards to the the Animal Welfare um board I know you're in the process what does that look like as far as what Insight those individuals are hopeful to provide or that the city wants to gather
from those individuals once that board is created and approved what what are we trying to extract from that um I guess um guidance of where we're going to go with animal shelter our ordinances our our you know rules
regulations um and um yes something like that okay all right I look forward to um you know possibly meeting in the future to discuss the breeding ordinance further to see what other tweaks are something that we need to implement so that we can hit the ground running with
it because you know we do need to start getting these animals um neutered and spayed and and and licens and and stop a lot of this breeding and dumping of animals um that is just completely egregious you know the calls are coming
in all the time and also to get that number fixed with Taz I know I tried calling the number over the weekend and and during the week a couple times and it's just a constant beep beep beep beep beep we're not getting through so if we can just fix some of those nuances that would be helpful sure sure sure sure we
can do so councilwoman frisbee thank you Vice uh president I just wanted to back um pedal a little bit with um Council uh woman Feliciano's um question and it was
said that we have processes that we're putting in place when it comes to donations and all the rest that which is exactly um what is needed I just want to know do we um have limitations on who we are going to is there language in their verbiage that says who is
allowed to that no volunteers there are only certain depart a certain title within the department that will be allowed to accept grant that that will be able to accept donations of any sort in there as opposed to everyone um of being allowed possess um making sure
that we have the verin that says volunteers they have to come through a staffed individual absolutely um I mean if a volunteer volunteer organization accept donations that has nothing to do with the city right we are
talking about money that it's been money or services that are being offered to the city of Trenton any of our departments directly through the department or through Administration but we will try to centralize that we are
not trying to um make it um at at the discretion of anybody it will be very regulated other we we are basically just checking different ordinances from other municipalities that already have those ordinances in place and uh of course
that if somebody wants to donate a bag of food at the shelter they have been doing that for years that's not an issue or you know blankets for the cats stuff like that we are talking about considerable amounts of money just like
any of us we are not supposed to be accepting donations and presents from anybody because that's an ethical violation right and so but we we know what the limit is for a municipality most of most municipalities have a li
$500 and up in terms of donations cash or Services right that's a lot more than we as individuals can accept um but it it will be very regulated and most likely will be centralized thank thank you
thanks councilwoman Williams thank you ma'am um I just have two questions the first one is uh do you expect that the Animal Welfare board will hold its first meeting in March or how soon will that board start
functioning I think more in April in April April yes yes yes okay uh how soon will the members be selected notified and have that date set up because a lot of folks uh who've some some folks who actually submitted resumés for it are
anxious to find out yes so right now we're going over the applications we are selecting the ones that qualify for that position and then we're going to do interviews um after the interview I'll I'll make the recommendations for for the mayor all right hopefully early
April that would be nice uh my other question is uh do you happen I have a a rough estimate even of the time the transition period from transitioning dogs from yardly to Columbus once Columbus is up and ready to run how long
would that take would that take a month a few weeks how does that look like just the transition period yes how long would that be we open in three months I think the transition period can be done in within two weeks or within two weeks okay and no animals would be left in
yardly exactly no no no animals there okay thank you very much sir thank you ma'am Council woman Figaroa kber thank you um really quickly I was going to address this a Civic comic but comic but it was brought up twice about the $100,000 donation and I know my name has
been dragged into this and I want to just address it really quickly now um I did address it in Civic comment prior to this um I don't know whether it fell on deaf ears but it has been in the paper it has been on social media and just to clear the air in June of 2024 I was
aware of four appliances that were donated to the animal shelter by a said gentleman I was not part of those negotiations I was told that it was going to happen I showed up when it was being donated I put it on social media thanking the person and saying this was
great because it's something that the shelter needed um I do not have any knowledge of any $100,000 donation in Goods Services work what have you to that shelter I was not privy to it I was not part of any
conversations about it I was not present when it happened I don't know what the exchange looked like when we had a conversation here in Council I stood here and I asked who was responsible who was who was in charge at the time that this took place I still don't even know
when this donation took place so don't know who was in charge of at that time I wish that people would stop saying that I had anything to do with this because I knew about a previous donation that I posted had I known about $100,000 donation and I thought that it was in
good order I would have clearly posted it I would have praised it if I thought that it was done appropriately any of those things you would have seen it this is amazing $100,000 we needed for the shelter whatever it went to that is not the case I challenge anybody to find
anything outside of that and present it I had nothing to do with that donation and I want that said for the record and if anybody has any questions you could please come to me and if anybody has any other information other than what I just said please please bring us to my
attention thank you Council vice president Council felana thank you to that end additionally when you're looking into who can accept what and who can sign off on what ba Richardson
because of the nature of that $100,000 donation that was made um it it went a little it went a step further where someone looked into the background of the person that made the donation and found a a Litany of of Records right of
charges that this person had and people went on um and tried to blame the council woman and said that she should have known when in fact you had a law enforcement officer who was the chief of the animal shelter at that time who they
should have known they would have had the records they would have been able to look into it to do that so again for the record when when we're slinging and saying we're going to talk truth regardless of who likes it and who doesn't and who's friends with who and
who contacts whomever to put what in the paper or whatever on social media a law enforcement officer was in charge of the shelter they have access to look into these records and know what is going on therefore it would have been incumbent upon that law enforcement
officer to find out before they went ahead and took the donation in the first place which has us where we are now waiting for the resolution from the administration to figure out what we're going to do about that and I just wanted that said on the record as well thank
you thank you I have a question and um a suggestion while we're on the topic where while the administration is looking to create an ordinance for this matter and accepting donations and things that you consider to the point of
both for the council women if we're accepting donations from businesses from entities that they are legal that they are register that they are licensed so that we are making sure that we're not accepting donations from any unlicensed or illegal entities and and then also if
they can be required to uh if they're making donations they cannot uh submit a bid for contract and things like that because we don't want any type of uh any insinuations of PR quot um quit Pro quotes um and in any type of uh you know
just corruption in that manner and and make that like just PL black and white in an ordinance um separately uh for instances like this with the ordinance aside uh with the dog boarding and things like that we
discussed in our docket review uh a new process going forward with submitting an uh putting out an RFP for these Services because we're spending astronomical amounts of money and we did not uh you know put it out there to see if we can
find cheaper Services elsewhere uh besides the kennel and yly um so can you speak to that yes Dr Diego actually um submitted specifications to purchasing I revised the specifications and it's
already being B it's being advertised as we speak okay so yes and hopefully we will have to use it less than we are using um hopefully we find somebody that will offer best prices right better prices
but also that we will uh continue decreasing the numberers so that we don't need to use those Services as much as we have thank you but it's advertised right now thank you and um we also ask that it be revised in the resolution to
reflect that the money for the $246,400 to specify the time frame in which this is uh four which in if you read through is for August 2024 to December 2024 just to specifi that on
this front page or somewhere in the title so that people understand that this is separate from what we had already allocated which in um before was 496000 and more uh which is separate from this so that it's not confused that
we paid for the whole 2024 with that and then this is addition to that because um the wording is kind of throwing people off with the emergency payment so um we also talked about the language there we know this is an emergency basis for
emergency dog boarding but this payment I don't believe is an emergency in itself it correct me if I'm wrong well it's um there not an emergency in itself it's just that the
services were not procured because we are thinking that we at this point we would have already um be occupying uh the kenel in Columbus but that was not the case so we
actually we need to pay the bills right and we cannot just go now and procure the services when we are we already encumbered um we already owe them right so it's really not an emergency
um but money that we need to pay services that were provided already and that we need to pay it uh but we do use um the kenel in jar as an emergency um service because we are
overcrowded and I I have to say I I um right now we have 92 dogs and I need to uh really thank Dr Diego for the effort because was this is the lowest population that we had at the shelter
for over a year in over a year and I know haven't been there before that it takes a lot of effort to do that so Kos to Mr to Dr Diego um but that that's basically um it
regarding that so I don't know what language you would like uh to have in this resolution because we will have to do it now I'm not sure if it will be a substantial change just to to fix that but I am not sure what was discussed at
docket preview in terms of the language I mean if the language is appropriate then I'm fine with that but to just specify in one of the whereas is that this is for August to December 2024 oh okay so that would be
just um a correction can we do that on the floor Council Vice pres do we need a motion to do that but yes she would need a motion for that purpose Council Feliciano thank you so I think to to also cure what you're
looking for is that it would say in in listening to what the ba was saying resolution authorizing an emergency payment to yly animal kennels Incorporated which was awarded for emergency dog boarding for the city of Trenton Animal Shelter
From blank date to blank date in an amount not to exceed $246 ,400 you would omit the on an emergency basis it would just be for emergency dog boarding services in the city um again from the
dates in an amount not to exceed $246,400 I agree with that can I have a motion to amend resolution 25035 to reflect resolution authorizing an emergency payment to yardly animal
kennels Inc which was awarded for Emer Mercy dog boarding services for the city of Trenton Animal Shelter From what were the dates Council vice president August 2024 to December 2024 thank you from
August 2024 to December 2024 in an amount not to exceed $246,400 councilwoman are you making that motion now yes that's what I said a motion you said can I have a motion I want yeah I'm making it understood is there a second second noted thank you
motion second Council uh roll call counc vice president Edwards my apologies yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman
Williams yes motion carried thank you amended to include the dates and languages listed and this could go to consent agenda yes thank you you uh last question for you guys 20 5
-36 councilwoman feliciana thank you Council vice president so it's not it's not a a question this is easy um I'm glad to see this being done I did serve as the library liaison two cycles ago and we talked about getting this emergency ramp and everything done so
I'm glad to see that it is happening thank you so much for looking after the library and for the work that you have done um to take care of the library with the many um repairs and everything that they need it this is going to be good for those that that need to access it so
thank you absolutely Council L Williams council person thank you I just want to Echo what my colleague just stated this is sorely needed and thank you for making it happen and just wanted to add in for the future if this can come up discussion if it hasn't already on
Library board uh because parking is very much a premium over there and there's not a lot of parking so a lot of times folks have to park behind the building um if we can make sure that the lines are maintained uh for parking spaces and also add additional lighting
particularly uh for nights um once it gets to dust because that back area um it's a little it's not sketchy but it's needed but it definitely needs more lighting than it has now thank you thank you and thank you for your
services Madam VI vice president I want to say something okay uh regarding the animal shelter all of the e efforts that we have uh put together in the last month to find placement for these 31 dogs or more is not just me uh I have to
thank the staff because without them I'm nothing uh the Animal Control Officers the laborers the um animal attendants uh then we have the administrator people uh that are answering phone calls sometimes we are overwhelmed with the amount of
phone calls during the week and during the weekends um all of those people and I want to thank all of the organizations that are helping us uh the community that is helping us to promote these animals we had over a thousand shares this is what
I've been told on social media about the dog so it is a effort it's a group effort not just me but I want to say that thank you so much all right thank you next on the list
25-38 oh I'm sorry uh can we put 036 on the consent agenda yes absolutely thank thank you 038 Council vice president councilwoman feliciana thank you quick question good introduce
yourself I'm sorry good evening Council Sean SLE director of w and S thank you director simple um this new Ford that we're looking to get is this truck going to be equipped with um GPS
system at this time this the sore plant we doesn't we don't have that system on on theirs as yet but in the future I we plan to Okay add the tracking devices okay and on all the vehicles that that
staff utilize um where are we now with the GPS tracking and like for the the meter repair people the meter readers do are all of their vehicles equipped with GPS trackers all of them except four vehicles and there four new vehicles that we just brought we just got in on
the water side they they we be scheduling them um within the next month or so okay all right so when we meet again down the line every all of them will have water and seore I'm hoping that by before this the spring okay
thank you are there any more questions you can go to consent thank you thank you um if we don't have any more I do actually have um a question not for you
I'm sorry thank you Mr Simple um that before we move on to the consent agenda we only had two of the appointing members for the zoning board uh application
for the zoning board show up today so should we amend this ordinance to exclude the two that were not present um is that direct direct to me yes Mr Garcia I'm sorry um M Madam vice
president if you wish to exclude that item from a consent agenda and discuss it um you can appoint those individuals whether they're present or absent um it's a matter of your order in uh how
you would like to list the alternates listed uh the rest of the resolution is uh you know proposed as proposed as written unless there's any objection to that from the council Madam vice president councilman felisi just a quick
question on this resolution here we have um never mind I I guess because I was looking at I see the three names that we have right and then I guess if we take them off that list then the other ones
still fill in for the other places so we're only actually looking for what's here so I guess the determination would be whether or not which one would fill the a regular member position and then who would bounce to the alternate alternate position so I don't know if
that would be up for discussion or not um I I'm not sure exactly how that would work Council vice president councilwoman Williams um so just as a point um I would believe we are position since two
applicants uh did come tonight and I if I might be forward to make a recommendation um based on uh the questions answered and background on resume and so forth and commitment I'd like to suggest that uh Mrs Venita pahi
serve as the uh four-year regular member um Mak Mr Michael herado S uh filled the position of the first alternate and without knowing uh what happened to Mr Matson who does have a
strong resume himself and then also aned Sanchez uh perhaps we could appoint uh both of them to alternate to and alter three at a later date um so Mr Garcia could ascertain you know if they're still assuming that they're still
committed to serving on zoning board be more appropriate to have them as uh further alternates in case for the future if something happens and someone needs to leave uh for whatever reason then we do have extra alternates okay so I would suggest that
we make those decisions now before moving on to the consent so do we have a motion to add Venita copy so 4year regular member for a term ending
in December 31st 2028 and for Michael herado as a first alternate two-year term ending in on December 31st 2026 so moved second just for clarification purposes are you still also adding anit
Sanchez to the remaining alternate position as well as uh Mr Matson and in what order might they be I would feel comfortable um it' be much better had they come to the meeting but given that uh this is sort of an emergency
situation because of a quorum if we might uh add them as the alternates depending on what the conversation you have to them if they're still committed to this position I can comment to that if uh if it's okay Madam vice president go ahead I can say that I can safely say
that uh the individuals that I contacted and I was successful in contacting all listed they were all they did Express their interest and whether they could come today or not we did have one individual who was here she may have been pulled away um Miss Sanchez the other individuals did all express
interest okay then perhaps Miss Sanchez should be the um the second alternate of Mr Matson the third since Miss Sanchez did come tonight if that's agreeable with the board and want to restate the motion yes please um do you want me to read it
ma'am okay uh a motion to appoint uh Miss Venita kapahi to the regular member uh position for the uh Trenton Zoning Board of adjustment four-year term ending December 31st 2028 uh for first alternate for two-year
term ending December 31st 2026 Mr Michael herado uh for alternate number two a two-year term ending December 31st 2026 uh aned Sanchez and then alternate number three
for a two-year term uh ending December 31st 2026 would be Mark Matson do we have a second second I'm sorry roll call I'm sorry madam vice president second discussion
go ahead felana just just just so we're clear like I don't have a problem doing this but I know that we all made it a point to say everybody had to be present and we and when we did with the rent stabilization board we held a spot until
Corey McNair was able to come before us because he wasn't able the first time to come so if we're going to do this and hold true to what we said I think that we need to hold off on Mr Mark Matson and he can come up because you have enough for a quorum to have the meeting
um I think that we move with what we have because Miss Sanchez was here and announced herself as present that we move with those and then just wait on the on that last one Madam Vice president councilwoman frisbee I am in total agreement with councilwoman Feliciano I think it is just respectful
if nothing else um and also so that uh we are setting a standard I appreciate all that attended tonight Miss Sanchez being here and even though she had to leave for whatever reason I think we should give um Mr Mark mancy the opportunity to at least show
up okay I agree I would I would concur thank you for that correction ma'am so Madam vice president with with that being said uh the matter was motioned in second I can either call a roll or if the individual motion M uh councilman Williams would like to withdraw that motion yeah may I withdraw that motion
and uh with revision remove Mr Mark Matson from the alternate number three possession please and would you like to make a motion uh weed once again with what you'd uh with what you would like sure sir thank you um make a motion to
appoint Miss Venita kapahi to the Trenton Zoning Board of adjustment as a regular member for a four-year term ending December 31st 2028 appointing Mr Micha Rado to Trenton Zoning Board of adjustment as alternate number one for a two-year term ending December 31st
2026 and finally appointing Miss anid Sanchez to the Trenton Zoning Board of adjustment for alternate two term for a two-year term ending on December 31st 2026 and is there a second second
seconding by councilwoman Feliciano yes thank you roll call vice president Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figo kenberg councilwoman frisbee yes
councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes motion carried and would that matter be placed on consent agenda for approval after this yes thank you and with that Madame President if you
would like to ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda this evening and if you'd like me to list those resolutions or um are we able to state that it is now the all resolutions on the uh on the docket in their entirety
uh no I would like to list them all out certainly would you like me to recite or would you you can no problem uh for a motion to approve consent ageta consisting of resolutions 25-28
030 027 041 042 029 031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 and
040 Mr Garcia 030 with was table for the next meeting oh I'm sorry my apologies I that was 030 correct yes with the exception of 030 the res uh the numbers listed if there's a motion to approve that consent
agenda a motion so move second the Garcia you could call a ro certainly just noting my uh motions here roll uh excuse me roll call count vice president Edwards
yes Council Feliciano yes councilwoman Figaro kenberg councilwoman frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes motion carried thank you on to ordinances I'm sorry excuse me man of
Vice President councilwoman feliciana I'm sorry just for clarity we did not include 2540 in that right oh I'm sorry we had however that we that require a that is to go to Executive session my
apologies thank you catching that in fact to make things clean I'll take another motion to approve the consent agenda with the exclusion of 25 resolutions 25-30 and
25-40 so moved second thank you roll call vice president Edwards yes Council Fano yes councilwoman Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes motion carried thank
you and with that being said uh on to ordinances at this time ordinances for first reading and introduction ordinance 25-4 calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a
c bank njsa 40a Poland 4-4 4514 in the amount of 7,193 3887 Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve I have a motion
to approve so move second do any discussion hearing none roll call councilman vice president Edwards yes councilman Feliciano yes councilman figero kenberg councilwoman frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman
Williams yes motion carried ordinance 25-5 an ordinance establishing the appointment duties responsibilities and functions of city council member liaison to certain boards and commissions of the city of Trenton Madam president if you want to
ask for a motion to approve yeah motion to approve so moved is there a second second any discussion we move in second oh Madam vice president councilwoman feliciana thank
you so I just want to want to say um thank you for putting this together um however uh okay so when it comes to the duties of
the Liaisons and as it as it aains to the boards and everything I believe that it would be that they go to their designated meetings they would sit in they would listen they would be there to answer um
I guess any questions that may have that may pertain to the council uh that the that the board would have but the requirements here that you have about um providing a verbal report during a now
we're creating a whole other section limited to five minutes um each board has a chair and each board has their agendas and their minutes I went and looked on the city's website um
under boards and commissions and so as I looked at each one there is a link there that has the minutes in the agendas the library board however it has the minute the meeting dates and times posted but no minutes are there um but
everything in the rent stabilization board once they meet the agenda um and everything is already established online the ethics boards they need to meet the agenda and minutes link is already set up online I know that you wanted something
for you know communication with the public but the public can just simply look online and look at the links and see the agendas and the M the minutes or they can even go to the meetings themselves to be an active participant
to see or Express concerns I do think that um if there is something noting um the council's attention then during Civic comment the council person could then speak at that time to bring it forward to council um
even if they were so inclined to have the chair of the board forward minutes to the clerk to have it dispersed to the council so that we could look at it and see that but I don't think that we need an ordinance um that would dictate this
for us additionally uh Mr Garcia is is following through on what council former Council vice president figuroa kenberg and I has spoken to him about with regards to something that I saw and Hope well Township when I went and visited
there's a display board that is there that it's electronic that displays the council members their their names their contact information the various boards when they meet um who the board members are how to contact Mr Garcia is in the
process now of getting the TV to have put downstairs in the getting to thank you downstairs as we have discussed to have that displayed also we can maybe talk to the administration there could be one placed in the atrium area so that
people could see that as well um again I don't think that that we need to um I don't think we need an ordinance for this I just I think that the minutes and everything are posted I think that the liaison and going to the me to the meeting if you have a concern or
something about it if there's something key that we need to know then Civic comment is adequate time enough to let the council body know or even shooting emails to say hey here's what's going on with this um and the like thank you um so just want to take a a minute
to address that because this is my ordinance so I just want to answer any questions that anyone may have so this ordinance isn't to Define any type of mandatory requirements for Council it's just simply to Define what a council
liaison is to our boards and commissions we do not have anything our EOS that defines what a liaison roles from City councils to our boards and commissions are so this is simply just to provide what that process looks like and not just for this Council but for any
members elected to this Council Beyond us beyond our terms so um this these are suggestions these are what the roles and responsibilities are of a liaison we're not just in these roles just to hold titles and do nothing with them so I
felt like though we needed to establish some type of definition of what our roles are as liaison to these or um to these boards and commissions um so and in the responsibilities it it's not mandatory
and we can actually put that language in there that is not required to provide any type of verbal report or anything of that matter it's simply a suggestion so that we can have a time slot separate from our Civic comments because we only
get five minutes for our Civic comments is sometimes is simply not enough time for us to fit in our general comments as well as our liaison roles any information that we feel the need to provide from our experiences with u
attending these meetings so it's simply just a suggestion of granting up to five minutes for anyone to deliver a report if they so choose to if they have one um if you don't you can simply pass on a manner on the matter um and we can go to
the next council person if no one has any significant updates that is totally fine but this was in context to Pro to just Define our roles more and I thought that respectfully as we are cutting back on our meetings that we can pick up a
little bit more since we're not going to be here for a few hours on Thursdays that we can define a little bit more of what our roles are as City Council Members just respectively and respectfully Council vice president Council figuro
cber um to that point I just want to draw attention to section seven compliance and accountability I mean you saying that we're not expected to do these things but then number two says failure to perform leades on duties including the submission of reports may result in reassignment by the council
president so if that being in there and you saying we are not mandated this is merely suggestion or you know as being appointed liaison to these boards like then that's a contradiction of what you just stated and and which one up down here in
compliance so that was suggested and if there are any discrepancies with that we can certainly discuss that so um just reiterating this is defining our roles so we're not in
these roles to just hold titles and say we do these things but we're actually expected to do these things and at least attempt to attend the meetings or if not then we can listen to the recordings we can read the minutes and what have you but it it kind of makes the role if they
exist kind of obsolete if we don't have any definition of what we're supposed to be doing but to your point if that is too extreme we can definitely amend that yeah I would agree that moving forward if we were to adopt this
ordinance and agree make it have an agreement in this ordinance moving forward that that would be something that should be struck from this ordinance okay Council vice president oh sorry go ahead Council Williams thank you ma'am so I'm glad you provided some
information on the Genesis of it um to my knowledge I don't think anyone is having a title not doing anything with this I'm not sure what that means actually because I know um at least with what my I've been doing with TDA at every single meeting I assume all
my colleagues were at their meetings too but to me it does seem particularly section seven very punitive uh to have that that a council president could reassign people uh for what they're doing but also in order to
if it's just a friendly report hey this is what's going on with Library board this is what's going on with TDA this is what's going on you know with any of the boards I think that you know that's a discussion to hey we need to be you know more informative to council more
informative to the public what's actually happening but to councilwoman f is original um statement many of these boards if not all these boards have public minutes I know with TDA it's an open public meeting except for executive
session so I don't see except for you highlights different events coming up messages to get to the public uh I don't necess they see that a report has a strong function but also um if it's
something where you uh believe that the um Council should re be telling a little bit more what's going on with our boards I don't necessarily disagree with that but I think we do need to expand a five minute limit on City Council Members to 10 minutes as it used to be because if
we are having less meetings that extra time does give us an opportunity to talk about a plethora of issues including current crisises going on in the city or announcements that we wish to make to the public but also um you know with that I think may may want to step back
and have a discussion because I think what you're doing is introducing a topic that is needed um but I don't believe in ordinance at this time is necessary for this but uh I very much appreciate the spirit what you want to do and what you're suggesting to us because uh I
think that would be an example of good government just I don't think we need to have an ordinance for at this present time without further discussion ma'am okay um before we move on to anyone else I just want to address that I'm not implying in any way shape or form that this current council is
holding titles and not doing anything um just reiterating what I said before any future any past you know and I've noticed that you know some of these roles have been obsolete in regards to other members in the past so going
forward in the future that we can EST Lish what exactly a liaison is and supposed to look like would be proper governance to your point um and um and I want to say it's kind of disturbing that TDA doesn't have minute meetings minutes
or meeting recordings to their meetings um and to that point their meetings are on Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. and they are public um I want to say Trenton Housing Authority is 12:00 p.m. on Wednesdays public however many people are at work we're calling these public meetings but
the public is not able to attend mostly because of scheduling conflicts so this is to for us to be able to have an opportunity for those who so choose to be more informative on our platforms here because at 5:30 in the evening or
you know 7:30 in the evening when we we're going over our reports from our experiences as a liaison it would be helpful for the public to be able to hear what happened during those meetings and we can to councilwoman Feliciano's point point them in the direction of
where they could go to find the minutes and meetings on our on the city's website I that would if I just my respond I totally agree with you and that's something I think maybe um very soon we should require all the boards of commission to publicly publish their
minutes and meetings and carry their minutes and I think that would solve a lot of this and actually to that point it would be great for the liaison for us to be able to facilitate these types of conversation so when we look on the website and we see these things are not on there our roles as liaison could
reach out to the chair of that board and request that that information be updated and make sure we're liaison and with the administration to make sure it's getting on the website as well so that that is a perfect example of this ordinance and may I ask um going forward if we have a
discussion about posting on the website too to make that more efficient because I think what you're saying I'm I'm on board with but we need to have much more rapid respon response than we' currently do agreed thank you councilwoman frisbee uh thank you Council vice president so
what I want to thank you for putting together this ordinance because I I love the idea of having something a a record so thank you um for that one and also uh to Council on Feliciano's Point uh I
you've already said it is not I am not in agreement that we should be reporting out um on these but in actually in contrary I think it actually should be the reverse giving um maybe we ask them for a opportunity at these boards if they if we have information that we want
to dispense that is given to us with regards to the concerns that we are hearing back that might be um a different way to go that we're not because the boards that I sit on yes I I give my feedback but there are times when I think this should be a lotted an
opportunity for um us as liaison to report back what we may be hearing from the public what they have to say what they are not getting because they're not here so maybe we want to reverse that and say that you know it's opposed to us reporting out to here that we're
actually giving our feedback at those meetings so that um they know what's going on because they're not in the room here when we're having our Council meetings and I think that was it on it but I do app I sincerely appreciate this I think it is
um a great idea and giving us a road map for going forward for those who will come behind us thank you ma'am thank you Council vice president councilwoman feliciana thank you to that end also um we have subcommittees that we meet um
and we need to have to to that end something put in place as far as the subcommittees go because I know that um have reported out to to council um when I've sat in subcommittee meetings to make sure that every council member knew
what we talked about what we met about and just a you know just a basic overview of what was discussed I think if we're going to line this up then we kind of line that up in order with subcommittees and what we are supposed to do within that realm right because
some of us we go and then some of us know what's happening um and others may not necessarily know until the presentation is brought forward or something like that but minutes should be taken um at those me at those meetings and given to council so I think
we need to kind of move in in that direction yes uh thank you for bringing that up that was definitely in my next comments I have uh started an ordinance in it's in drafts and um Mr kogi should have that as along with um some other
examples from other municipalities uh subcomm from other city councils I had sent a couple of examples and so I'm waiting to get back just to make sure that the legal ramif or legal parameters are
correct the language is correct according to our New Jersey um guidelines and our fauler act and things like that so um um just making sure that it's all lined up and so hopefully we'll see that ordinance soon and we'll
discuss the subcommittees that we want to establish beyond the economic development one that we have unofficially established so um that is coming down a pike Council VP councilman
Harrison can we just make it mandatory that all minutes are are posted make it mandatory that each board would make it mandatory that' be posted on the city's website then we can move from there um maybe our our uh attorney can advis
us on that but does because each board and commission has their own ordinances we may have to go one by one to amend that to make it mandatory for them to um report the minutes and the meetings to be put on the
website Council vice president Council fiana thank you to councilman Harris's point that that's what I was saying initially I went on our the website and I went under Boards of commission and looked at every single one and just about all of them have links for the
meeting dates and times the agenda and some have the minutes so yeah if we have it where for those that don't we require it it's there then we've done our part It's there if there's something highlighted that we would want to talk about um at the at the council meeting
then again we could do that in Civic comment but then if we want to talk about do we think think about increasing that talk time for civic comment for those that would want it to 10 minutes then we don't have to put another item on the agenda I don't know but the the stuff is already there it's it's it's
already online and then to councilwoman Frisbee's point also about you know the concerns of the people at at those meetings right that they're telling us you know what's going
on Council VP vice president uh Council thank you so in I lost my whole trainer thought I was thinking about that the no show the um subcommittee reporting out oh that's
what it was with the liaison like we have as Council we we just established there are some who have uh not put their links on um on our website again I go back to the
Liaisons you know because everybody's not checking our website um even the uh these committees apparently to have the liais on to have that communication so that we can say either you know great job we want to let you know that we we see your information
on um our site and we we appreciate that or we don't see your information on the site can you that can you would you um please update your site to Via link to us so that again that is is bringing that that volleyball communication back and
forth and so it gives us a little bit more again this is something they may not even be aware of and also maybe even asking what the TDA if they can also have meetings when others can be uh in attendance those of us who do have 9to five jobs it would be it's it's nice to
read the meeting read the minutes but it's also nicer if you have a opportunity to have a a your voice your concerns heard in the actual live meeting and then it's not something that you have to do afterwards you may forget
about it what life happens but maybe if they need to have a second commit another meeting most of us are again we are working and again I get those emails constantly and I have to hit decline because I have a 9 to-5 job and I cannot sit in their meetings when I would love
to um because I can't that would be stealing T and I don't do that so thank you Council pres vice president Council um I just just because I know I'll I'll hear it wday uh some folks watched a
meeting on YouTube uh that is definitely something for uh D TDA to consider uh I can share that point of view most definitely uh but I know with some of the board members uh that theyve run businesses uh
it's easier for them to have it at that time of day but I do think person L that it should be spread out so at least some meetings are when folks can attend after 5:00 but that their own business running as a consideration for many of them thank you Council May
Harrison Council VP um but the first meeting of the month could we have uh Mr Garcia list the boards and the times the dates and the times at the meetings so that anybody who's online could say hey
I'm interested in when the TR Downtown Association meets here's the meeting and here's the time so we're letting you know yes and in essence of that that's exactly the functionality that we're trying to establish here so if Mr Garcia
um doesn't isn't the one that does do it we would have our section on here under presentations it would be slash liaison reports and each one of us according to the boards that we're assigned to would be able to give that information out at
that time so if that's something that you feel like we should do I think that is definitely a good idea Council vice president Council fana I think too also annually because when we're figuring out the designation
of when we're looking at the the terms and all this other kind of stuff of these boards and commissions and stuff the clerk should automatic Al receive the rosters from the board chairs of who the current members are their terms and the meeting dates the
meeting times like this is something that the clerk can request from all the board you know what I mean all of the people across the board so we know annually okay we have these many people these seats are due so then that way we could also be on top of the reappointments and stuff as these boards
and everything are expiring and things like that um these positions as well but again these are things things that can be given directly to Mr Garcia um and then he can have his staff prepare whatever is needed as councilman
Harrison said so then that way we all see exactly what's going on and then maybe the request could be made of the boards and stuff for those that can to have virtual meetings I mean because there's a lot of them that are virtual so if it's not a heavy lift that they
also um add that to their meeting things so when people are at work people can tune in virtually and listen to what's going on if they're on break or whatever put earbuds in if they wanted to listen and you know what I mean and and still be a part of the process yes and so all
of these changes has to be established on paper um because in essence if it's not the next council members that join this board or will not follow that they won't even know about
it so if it's cified in our Ord es or as an ordinance then going forward everyone will follow that same protocol including the clerk's office so to that point being at the clerk's office is under our purview most of these boards and commissions was established by either
city council or the administration so I feel like you know a lot of these things falls under our purviews to establish these types of policies and protocols and procedures so that's what this is to attempt to do so I think we need to hold
this so we can have further discussion on it and figure out what this looks like I agree this didn't need to move forward from today but definitely needed to be a discussion that we all needed to have so we can have a clear understanding of everyone ideas so um I
will motion myself to uh table this uh table or if the uh attorney decides to withdraw but I think we need to table it Roberts rolls on order okay that's correct uh you have a motion
in a second if the individual who motion would like to withdraw that motion in order to motion to table this that's fine if not then I'll go through the role for the uh motion and second on the
floor I have a motion to table this you're withdrawing your previous motion withdraw the motion okay and motioning to table this until and we say just to allow time the first meeting of
March motion to table indefinitely until March so oh I'm sorry until March 4th until March 4th thank you so it's a motion to table until March 4th is there
a excuse me is there a second second thank you so it's moved by Edwards second by Frisby roll call vice president Edwards yes councilwoman
Feliciano councilwoman Figaro kenberg councilwoman frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes motion carried matter is tabled until March I heard fourth correct thank you
table until March 4th okay moving on at this time Madame vice president I believe we've reached the point of public comment if I could have the public comment clipboard
please and to the Public Public comment will be five minutes for each individual Madam Vice President we have six individuals listed for public comment this evening you may address any item you wish for this public comment the council is not obligated to respond the first individual I have listed for
public comment is Charles is that Lewis thank you sir please state your name and address for the record Charles Le 198 penon Avenue thank you uh again I'm here again for the same
two situations the last time I was here in November when I presented and I see today that we kind of moving forward with the resolution as far as 25-3 what's that uh 28 as far as you
know residents in the city being a to purchase properties that's next to to their to their property you know being the taxpaying citizen and also you know what's the time limit that after this is
resolved right now because it's resolved tonight I know you can't answer that right now but is this resolved tonight moving forward that I'll be able to purchase this property and go forward with my project of one of the city I got
a lot of plans on what I want to do with that even though it was a controversial with the church next door and I know only got I got four minutes left uh that was my issue from the start being that you know a lot of these churches that's
in the city of Trenton they don't live in the city of Trenton neither are they paying taxes and I'm living right next to something that I'm I'm taking my hard on money I'm retired from the city I went back to work and now I'm back to work again so 28 years with the city and
I own this property and all I'm asking is that we can move forward so we can do what I so I can do what I got to do with this this lot you know it's been sitting there over the last six years I've been dealing with this and and furthermore adding on that uh November I was here
right before Christmas I presented the the the uh the Judgment from the city I me from the Superior Courthouse about the damages to my property the default judgment I haven't heard anything from
the lawyers I even presented it last time with here I'm not getting no answers for anybody not the clerk office my Gentleman right now he he can witness that I come there and I'm checking on you know if I was behind in my taxes they they act aggressively so being that
now I got damaged to my house already took here a problem but it's still old to me what the damages were from that city property I I haven't had any light on that situation but I did get a light my most important one I don't care about
the money I care about this resolution that that's getting passed so I can move forward so that's all I want to say is is is I appreciate if this this thing going through like it's supposed to because it's giv hardworking citizens in
the city of Trenton opportunity to to progress their property and all these people coming from the outside and they're not taking care because I'm in the middle of three rental properties U two on one side and the other one on the other side you know they don't take take
care of their properties they come there the first of the month you see them with that little cap on their head I'm not being prejudiced but that's all I see you know what I mean and they out they don't clean it they don't take care of their yards they don't do anything I'm the one to clean 198 penon Avenue up
into Union Baptist Church and the antiarch Baptist Church the minister of antiarch church doesn't even come out and clean up until he's getting ready to do his sermon on Sunday and then they clean up in the front but all through the course of the week I'm taking care
of Pennington Avenue and I got pictures but I'm just glad that this is this is getting resolved now with this issue with this this this resolution for us to move forward as as good citizens taxpayers in the city to to get some of the these properties that's been taken
away from us and don't give us no opportunities so and that's all I have to say I just appreciate y'all y'all it's a yay because I heard it's a yay yay yay yay yay yay yay for this and I hope this is where it's going to be you laughing because you
know I'm dead serious all right and I appreciate y'all all right Mr Lewis before you go can you give us the address to that property you're referring to it is 196 Pennington Avenue the one that was damaged was your property that my
property is 198 which already I I sent the Judgment it's already in the clerk's office and and like I said my minutes up like like I said said I mean if why does it take so long to for them to take care
of issues that was their problem yes you know I mean like I said if I was behind in my taxes they coming aggressively any anybody that's what they do okay so I'd appreciate if y'all can do what y'all can do about that but my main concern is that property I the money I don't care
all right when I get it I get it but my main sources six five four thank you Mr Lis um Mr Garcia before we proceed I just want to be mindful of of being respectful to all
ethnic groups religious groups and please avoid any anti-semitic comments please thank you Robin Washington good evening my name is Robin sonoria Washington I live at 447 West hanov
Street um I say my whole name because there is another Robin Washington that lives in the city that's 6 months younger than me so not to be confused um I'm a taxpayer and a resident of Trenton I am retired from middle management of
the state of New Jersey I'm also a retired us veteran for the past 5 and a half years since September of 2019 I've been trying to acquire property at 444 and 446 West Hanover
Street directly across the street from my house that is a vacant lot there were two houses there uh well on the left side was a two family home and on the right side was a single family home they uh were destroyed in a faure over 35
years ago um the property was not rehabilitated the landlords or the owners of those properties tore those properties down um I submitted the application to purchase these properties in September of 2019 I was told um that I would have to
buy both Lots at the time because they were were both vacant I submitted my application uh as you can see the I completed the application I submitted um a bank statement because at the time it
was required that I had to show proof that I could afford to buy both Lots I complied with the ordinance at that time I was interviewed by two city employees who reviewed the application in front of me and stated that I could build on a
property because it was not large enough to be a quote commercial property and they also informed me that my application and proof of my ability to purchase these properties would have to be submitted to city council for their
approval I compli with everything that was requested um with my initial proposal um and I've been coming here to City Hall and speaking with Mr Daniel roach four or five times a year also
calling over the phone since 2019 to find out the status of this property each time I spoke to Mr roach his response was oh there's a City Council next meeting next week uh they'll get give you an answer over the years I've
been told that you know uh with the Rehabilitation Act of Rehabilitation of Trenton that certain areas have been rezoned I was not given any further instruction whether to submit a different application or reapply the
copy of the application that I just presented is the application that shows on the bottom of the uh request to purchase where it says internal use it has an estimate uh assess value for 44 4
West Handover Street at $5,700 and estimated uh assess value of 446 the connecting property at $5,700 I've been able and I do still have that money to purchase those
properties and I just want to know why is it taking so long when I started this process in 2019 my bank statement which is the last page will show the September 2019 date that I submit this whole
application which the original is on file here why is it taking so long just to get this property approved I spoke to your director uh two weeks ago and he basically told me that it's home ownership that the city is going for and
I get that but there's two properties directly across the street from the home that I own that I live in that I want to build two apartment houses to provide house housing because you know there was something put out by the governor's office a few months ago about a shortage
of housing I'm willing to invest in the city because I live in the city I believe in the city um basically that's it I'm running out of time I have a lot more to say but I just want to know what is the hold up in
since 2019 of getting this property approved and now these new or ordinances are suggesting that only people who want to buy as I was told by uh the gentleman uh what is his name from the h the
housing department that home ownership is what the move is now so I'm trying to still invest in the city trying to still acquire these properties and I'm trying to figure out why me why can't I get these properties that I've been trying to get last five
and a half years thank you for your time and your attention have a great day James Washington understood Victor irisari it's it's a pleasure again to be in front of you again uh Happy uh what
is it uh back Black History Month all right please your name and address for the record my name is Victor Victor RAR 19 Avenue Jersey and don't forget to don't forget about the original free slavers so-called slaves of 1555 up to
1619 that after 1619 that's the one to start get recognized to having slavery in America now uh listening um I like being in front of this board uh so uh and anybody out else coming in from out of Trenton uh saying otherwise uh
disapprove of uh another thing that I was saying the the lady just left a stand about uh housing what I got recently was uh that um there's no more auction in Tron uh on once you are interested in
purchasing a house you get the house address information forit submit it to the to the city city council whomever and then they'll get back to you and uh you know do you do not have to reside there as a owner and if you that's your
intent then you have to be you know you have to be uh whatever the time is 3 years four years 5 years you have to live there for that amount of time the real intention is to flip that house as soon as possible that was recently I don't know okay so I'm G move on uh uh
again I said last time I was here that uh to have true police reform you need a social reform and then with uh I believe that shortly uh a few months six months summertime uh crime the crime is
multiply or get uh it's going to increase in Trenton and across the United States because uh president Trump which I call the great white owl uh has d uh has uh declared war on a cartel that means there's going to be inflation
on drugs herin cocaine and the drug War uh once uh they have been declared a terrorist group of the cartels of Mexico I guess across the planet earth once that happens of course it's it's going to be Wars from the America side towards
Mexico and otherwise and within themselves so inflation on drug is going to go up crimes go increase and then with uh uh other countries uh uh having an anti-American view due to the immigration Roundup that's going on
right now um it's going to get worse now my thing is that uh these houses where I see a lot of young Brothers I call soldiers but young Brothers standing in front of doing whatever it is they do I say those houses right there which is abandoned most of most of them are
abandoned they should be sold to a city residents that can afford to fix them when I don't mean I don't even mean fix them buy them uh gut them out replace the pipes and the wires and the uh cement the steps whatever it is minimum
and then sell then have some a real rehab come in they rehab and they sell it for a higher profit and that way we can avoid a lot of homeless and we can get uh our young brothers and sisters off the streets and uh they if
they are doing something illegal then they can at least do it in that house if uh one of them is willing to become an owner of the house until the police come and raid them or whatever the situation may be so uh that's my my uh it's not a proposal but my concern
for for for the time being uh as far as conern as far as uh I see I understand that since the 80s I've been understanding that Tren was has been was designated then as a a city for G gamification and that's when people are
moved out and then the city uh or those the property is upgraded and then people with big money come in and buy those areas and it's like at one time when with no disrespect when uh white people would move out when black people move in
now black people moving out or they're being uh what you call replace or displ displ and then the white people come back in now like you said no e you know I understand what you're saying but we are not longer see racism start stopped in
1984 uh that's something we're not aware of racism was out since 1984 what I'm saying is now it's about the money it's about the money so whoever had the money top dollar can buy houses uh minimum range minimum range and jack it up a few
percentages where we in the city TR can't even get afford can't afford even the minimum of buying those houses it's like a setup so we are out from the jump It's a people uh that's my concern for now uh thank you for uh listening thank
you Kathy Sweeney hi good evening Council my name is Kathleen an Sweeney uh 11 batty Street in Trenton um I actually have two issues I know that you guys can't um you know respond to do anything but I would just like to put it out there because I am
looking for some guidance uh the first issue very small we have a corner house um that has a fence so that we could park into our
basically side lot it's a it's the garden basically is what it is we are trying we have been trying to get a sign to say no parking in front of that the reason being is because we have the bar on the
corner um that there's constant traffic to and people go into the bar leave their cars there overnight um myself and my boyfriend who lives in the house we both work at Capital Health Regional Medical Center
we're in the crisis center so we are on call cannot get out we have the police come and tow the cars I hate doing that because we do work with the treat and police on mobile outreaches so they're like okay again
and I don't want to bother them but we do have a sign on the fence that says no parking 24 access 24-hour access is required just putting it out there to see if anybody in the city can do something with some type of sign not to block the
driveway also because of that we've gotten numerous tickets by parking on the street because we can't get into the driveway don't know if you can do anything just putting it out there first that was the first issue the
second issue is um every Sunday morning and every Wednesday evening pretty much we have a group of preachers that come at the corner of batty and uh
Whitaker what we have found out through the years um is that they do have a permit to preach preaching is fine the way that they preach and what they are saying is
unacceptable um calling women prostitutes if they see their dresses too short or shorts talking about the devil um and this makes me very nervous in saying
this the way they do preach um they're screaming and I have it if you'd like to hear it I have it on my phone I try to find out where where this um authorization has come from no one in the city of Trenton could tell me saying
they never gave a permit to this group they come before the time that they're allotted they stay after the time they're allotted I found out that the permit was finally given um by director Wilson um at the Trenton
Police Department I've tried to speak with him on numerous occasions to no avail if you just get um if I can just play one thing for you guys so that you can hear what they
say or just the loudness of it and again I just don't know what to do so that's why they said come to city council so that's what I'm doing and trying to pull my phone up and of course it's not working anyhow that's what I had to say
um I would just like to try one more time to see if I can play this video is my time up yet why isn't it playing okay I try anyhow it's loud it's abusive um I just don't know what else to do of
how we can stop them if they want to preach preaching again is fine but not in the manner that this is happening they're stopping traffic children are crying um because they go to Fernandez's Grocery and they're after
them they're begging for money I I just I just need something to be taken care of thanks Elijah hi good hi good evening Elijah Dixon uh 134
East hver Street Apartment 2 and I'm here to speak on behalf of uh for do item number it was a resolution 25-30 um for the contract for the fiveyear development plan for the ZZ
um that's my company and uh just wanted to address some of the questions or comments that were referenced with regards to um you know the perception of a conflict of interest and then uh once that was I guess addressed um there was the question that I believe
maybe maybe uh councilwoman figure k m brought up and perhaps was councilwoman Williams with regards to oh would he still would he or they still be able to apply for U funds given that their are the consultant for the project um couple of things just with regards since I
believe that the perceived or perception of conflict of interest was already addressed Tas Elite perhaps um you know TDA members are uh you know even though they're on the board they're chosen to be on the board because of their um you know they are stakeholders in the city and there's certain crant programs that
are available to TDA board members and it's no and there's no issue um they they able to apply receive funding um I actually had agreed with what the director Liston was saying with regards to and Grant said of course I'm biased
because my company but I'm biased uh in that I would imagine the city the city would like to have someone who's actually from the city able to walk onto all different Four Corners because the U span is not just downtown it's Hermitage it's Clinton it's it's it's it's uh
North Clinton South Clinton um San Heen out you know at the liquor store and these Consultants who were putting in proposals and they've gotten dozens of contracts in the city um to the tunes of millions of dollars uh you know we put in a contract I me rather we put in a
proposal finally get finally get the approval I've submitted a number of them by the way maybe like three or four contracts in the past and there's always oh well you know we're satisfied with the value that we were receiving with these other people or oh you know just spend next time we finally get a contract um move to hire uh uh a an
honor student from TR High to help with the Outreach uh make the necessary preparations and so I do not necessarily agree that it should have been Eng granted I'm in no position of power here so it is what it is it's
already spilled milk but if it was a matter of oh well you know can he still or can they still apply for funds um you know whether that's yes or no I would not believe that that was the reasons to table um the resolution um because you know whether it's yes or no it is what it is um
now whether it is a perceived conflict of interest I think that that's something definitely you know that if it was then you know or for the clarification was needed or warranted then okay fine but I believe that someone had already addressed and said that well and a couple of people said oh
well it's it's no and yet it was still tabled is what it is um I would just say that you know just to provide Clarity this is a trend-based business um two employees outside of myself TR residents you know one of whom is a senior TR High
she's a program a project assistant uh the there was two other companies who who would put in bids and if you were to look at if you were to look at like like the the cost proposals the one company who's an engineering company which respectfully does a number of work with the city I'm sure it's all good I mean
it must be they keep on getting contracts no shade their contract came in maybe like ,000 or $500 less than what the max contract was um if you look at the at the cost proposal $155,000 just to have
introductory meetings with the directors like what are we talking about this is why the city is is where it is right now because 90% of the contracts and I work with a with a team of students over at Prince University 90% of all the city contracts go to companies outside the
city of the 10% that actually do go to City companies the uh the percentages that are blackowned women owned minority owned even less than that like 10% of the 10% and and then and then there's a portion of that 10% which actually just
has a PO Box in the city it's not actually a city owned company but you know here it's oh well and respectfully um you know councilwoman uh Feliciano oh you know so what's the grading like what's of this is a conflict of interest
I hear none of that for these $700,000 contracts for million contra conts and granted I'm not always attending the physical meetings I do watch online at times but I just feel that it's um you know it's like I feel like it's part of the problem not this particular instance
but that the question as far as like the perception and desire to go outside of the city for talent sir that is thank you understood thank you m uh Madam VI president those are all the individuals I have for public
comment at this time if it's your wish you may start with any individual you'd like for civic comment you I'll start alphabetically councilwoman Feliciano thank you so I'd like to say this to Mr Dixon
thank you for your I just wanted to ask a question before I try to speak if it's still time for public to go up and put my name uh Mr Garcia ma'am I'm just gonna address the
go ahead but um sir um ma'am excuse me I just wanted to address sir please we do not allow for shout outs like that I respect your I respect your opinion ma'am um please going forward you can kindly approach the clerk to ask for
your name to be added to the list we cannot tolerate um shouts across the floor especially while council members are speaking as per Robert's Rules of orders thank you Mr Garcia I'll respectfully ask at what
point does the names to does either the clipboard s my getting the clipboard signify the end of public comment or at least individuals being able to sign up or am I allowing for all individuals to
continuously sign up respectfully we closed public comment and proceeded with the comment for Council memb so I just want to say going forward just respectfully I I do respect that you have an opinion and everything and and we would love to hear from you
but moving forward um as we're proceeding please try to address these issues in a more timely manner so that we can get you on the list during a public comment but once it's closed we do have to move forward with the meeting that was my question only because like I
want go but my name unless speak that's disrespectful time so Tech when he takes the board yes so ma'am so as if he's still that techical as like the legislation respectfully yes Robert Rules of Order
does apply here so going forward if he is still calling out names then you can ask him for your name to be added to the list but if it once it's closed it is closed thank you so when he's still calling out
I'm sorry we have to move forward councilwoman Feliciano Mr Garcia can you restate start my time thank you thank you good evening everyone um to Mr Dixon I just wanted to catch you because I
know you have your little one um to be on your way when when I asked the question um regarding the conflict of interest I would have asked that if that were anyone else that had owned a business downtown that was looking to do
this because I wanted to know if there were a conflict of interest because while I am in favor of moving this forward I just want to make sure that we are all clear so that if someone else comes or someone else that we understand
the rules of engagement right I am all for everyone having their fair share and stake in the city of Trenton I'm not blind to who occupies what here or who
owns what and everything that is going on or the percentages right as it comes to a certain minority group that's here so I am not looking to stop anyone that is qualified and capable of owning
property or having um a study done or doing reports or whatever it is or engaging in business in the city of Trenton I am all for it but again I have to do my due diligence to make sure that there is no conflict of interest on
either way and so I asked the question because I wanted to know so that you know before we say yes I don't want any backlash coming from anywhere that anybody did anybody any favors or whatever I just want the legal opinion yes or no and that is where I came from
and I would do that for anybody that comes before us to want that to want the same thing so I hope that I've cleared that up from my perspective for you um I don't really have too much tonight
[Music] um yeah I don't really have too much tonight I'm just glad to see everybody uh it was a good fruitful meeting enjoyed the conversation for as for for the time that it lasted and deliberate with my colleagues and stuff because that's what it's all about right us
having the conversations and us moving back and forth to move the business of the city forward so um with that being said Thank you thank you councilwoman figuro kenberg good evening um so I just wanted
to uh touch on we had a really great meeting um over the weekend um with some Community leaders and um mayor Reed goer and um our Police director were invited to this meeting it was a concern about that ice situation how it affects um our
residents and and the like so some good information came out um some understanding of what's to be expected um what's not to be expected what the city can and cannot do when it comes to ICE federal government coming into our communities what they're looking for
what they're not looking for um and try to kind of ease some of the panic and some of the um misinformation that's out there some of the videos or photos that are being posted that are not completely accurate accurate um so kudos to those
who came it was it was a well um received and well um attended meeting I know that I did announce that the meeting was going to happen and I suggested anybody interested um to reach out to me as it was undisclosed location um to be protective of all those in
attendance um and it was and councilwoman Feliciano did attend as well um and some other community leaders so I just want to applaud the efforts of the administration for um showing up to answer questions of the community um with that regard as we are in uncharted
waters and you know we want to make sure that um our resident safety is Paramount um and front and center and making sure that we are not interfering or impeding on any um Federal level investigations whatsoever
um moving forward uh again I just wanted to congratulate all those and the efforts of getting the time stamp dogs adopted that's a great effort for all those involved again director M belly um you know for your staff um and for
allowing the volunteers to operate and and to do what they do um and it's just it just speaks volumes to the fact that 35 dogs since January 1st can get adopted out um 15 of them being timestamped you know we don't necessarily have to wait for the Tim
stamp to get you know mobility and get these dogs out you know it's just a matter of really getting the message out as you said they were doing um and allowing those everybody has different Equitable resources right so allowing those to bring those things to the table
to continue to do this until we can get this situation you know under control because every council member every council meeting should not be about so why we still paying this money to this kennel and what are we doing and overcrowding and so on and so forth um so I just wanted to put that out there
and again applaud the efforts of everybody involved um in getting those dogs adopted as that is um Paramount so really quickly I don't like to do this but I I I know I touched on um an issue earlier that I was going to
touch on a Civ Civic comment but I just want to touch on something else that keeps floating through the newspapers and through social media and I just want to squash it um any inquisitions uh thoughts
perceptions as to what the last election for President and Vice President of this Council was what it was not it needs to be put to rest I can seed that night had I known that I was not going to be elected as president that night I would
have declined the nomination I did not know there were certain individuals that I was well aware were not going to vote for me that night and there was some that I was not aware it does not matter the only person the only people that need to answer to
why I was not elected president or those persons who voted no or abstained it is not anybody else's and any other interactions that come before this Council or any other bickering or whatever should not be equated to
whether or not I was selected and elected as president of this Council that is outside of that is in and of itself something totally different there's a lot of things going on on this council with the administration and everybody's trying to work to do what they're trying to do at this point
anybody's opinions anybody's issues are their own and I would appreciate that it does not continue to come back and reflect on anything to do with that night we have moved on we have a new president we have a new vice president and this Council needs to move on
accordingly anything personal that came out of that day is anybody's opinion and personal do I think that I was qualified to be president absolutely I served as vice president for a year I'm a director of my capacity for over four years for the state of New Jersey absolutely it
was not my colleague's choice I was not their choice for president and that's what I had said to the newspaper earlier on councilwoman I believe that's your time won this election so I just wanted to state that for the record thank you very much thank you councilwoman frisbee
thank you vice president um so I wanted to First wish everyone a Happy Black History Month um for the month of February um we are uh we'll have things that'll be going on throughout the city we ask that you be mindful of them next
on next Tuesday February the 11th at 5:30 p.m I ask that you would those of you who live in the west W or are interested in the conversation we will be having our westw community conversation at the same Loc 600 Artisan Street here in the city of
Trenton um also February is also cancer prevention uh screening we want you to be mindful um screening is the first step make sure you get yourself tested make sure that you're paying attention and heart awareness as well um I wanted
to just address a minor issue and that is there are a lot of folks not that I would not I take that back there are people who in who are in the community who are determined to see this Council become um as our our predecessors they
are determined to see us bickering they are determined to see chaos they are determined to see fighting I want to let you know you're all in for a big disappointment we are not those people we are not going to adhere to it those there are people who choose to try to
interfere you are not elected you don't have to like us we were elected you were not so I say that to say stop interfering stop trying to be the voice of counsel because you do are not the voice of counsel we do not adhere to
what you have to say be it online be it in the newspaper be it in any form of social media at the end of the day and at the start of the day we are colleagues we don't have to agree on everything but we do respect one another in our positions that we are in so I say
to all the naysayers to all those who don't have enough to write about because we're not clowning around up here get over it you have who you have we are going to be here to do the business of this city this is a professional Council that you
have here even when we don't disag when we disagree with one another we're still respectful of one another the job gets done personal agendas do not come in here so that is my um my comments get over it cut it out You're Not Elected you do not you you can put everything
that you want to put out all your opets everything in the papers everything in the online it does not change your voice is not the one of these seven that sit up on this St I thank you and everybody get home safely I appreciate everybody that came out on this evening and with
that I'm going to read the portion of the uh City's mission statement that recognizes that the people of trendon have made us 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 comp compassion have a great evening councilman [Music] Harrison first I would like to thank my colleagues uh councilman Williams
Council felano Council VP Edwards we there yesterday for the Black History Month kickoff and flag raising the mayor all the great city employees it's always great to see us always coming together and standing up for the history of this great city um also would like to thank
or actually like to wish uh council president yasmini Gonzalez it's her birthday which like to wish her happy birthday um see I got four minutes left uh clerk um Mr Garcia could I concede my
minutes to to her let her speak could I concede my minutes to let her speak because I'm I feel a little weird that because I spoke to her and I thought maybe she might have the opportunity to speak so could I concede my four minutes to let her speak I'm going to defer the
solicitor council president can I allow her to speak use my four minutes concede the least to letter her to speak if that is your wish thank you no Mr Ki if you could apply to that please yes
please um while he's looking for that I can you find give me one moment please while he's looking at that I will read from our uh from our Rules of Engagement here man manner of addressing councel
time limit each person wishing to address Council during public comment portion of the meeting shall sign in on the sheet provided at the entrance for such purpose prior to the commencement of the meeting once recognized he or she shall approach the microphone provide his or her name and address for the
record unless further time is granted by council president I interpret prior to the commencement of the meeting to be having signed prior to the moment where public comment is called in any event are uh again I'll
ask the solicitor is that appropriate for the uh for the council member to concede his time to the member of the public let speak understood Madam vice president if you want to move on can can I let her
speak I'm sorry councilman Harrison accordance to Robert's Rules of Order all right sorry about that is definitely commendable not appreciate that thank you um councilwoman Williams uh thank you ma'am uh just want to say welcome to everyone
who's here tonight um everyone watching online who uh or may watch on YouTube soon I'd say happy Black History Month uh it's very important that we celebrate this month in our country's history because of the involvement of black Americans African-Americans in our
history and it was a holiday created in 1926 and as I said uh yesterday uh at the beautiful ceremony on the steps we would not have a Federal holiday for Dr Martin Luther King Jr nor would we have juneth without black history month
because most Americans did not know about June juneth until Black History Month encouraged them to learn and provided that information and just as important for Dr King to be able to honor him so I want to uh also address Mr
Dixon and his concerns and comments so the reason um after my colleague councilwoman feliciana brought potential conflicts of interest uh it's a interesting discussion to have and I fully swe that she brought that up but the reason I brought up about uee
funding has nothing to do actually with Mr Dixon there's a great saying a lie can travel Halfway Around the World while the truth is putting on its pants or some people say shoes and the reputation of those who
would be involved and selected for this particular resolution and this plan and this project is very important and they accomplished business people and I've supported them in the past I've supported Mr Dixon himself and why we can't fix what happened in
the past any conflicts that should have been identified in the past we must make sure that we do so now and in the future and in my comment I actually said that we wanted to make sure we protected the reputation of the principles of this
company so when we asked a question I asked a question uh we did not get an answer from h that's an answer we should be able to get we have to find out from the Law Department this will take a couple weeks to just get a determination what's
possible what's not possible uh the principles of this company may want to utilize U uee funding in the future but in the eyes of the public because they will be developing a plan and everything regarding that um we want
to make sure that their reputation isn't bis merged by what could PR perceive this favor to and that is something that's happened in the city's history so if Mr Dixon um is offended by what I said I apologize I
wasn't intended to offend you but I know um based on your practices and your experience you are an impeccable businessman I know you have a high ethical standard but we have to also as a council make sure that going forward for everyone no matter what the project
is that we have ethical guidelines that are followed and we make sure that things are kosher per se and that again has nothing to do with Mr Dixon but to lay the concerns you made yourself about what's happened in the past we can only start fixing them one at a time and
that's my hope um so with that I just want to add um also Mr John Harmon many of us know he's president CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey he often talks about how only
1% of African-American business business actually get contracts from the state of New Jersey that's abysmal and that's something we do need to help here in the city of Trenton where we can to make sure Trenton businesses get a piece of the government pie that they get business from the city and get a chance
to grow just as Mr Haron and the African-American Chamber of Commerce are trying to do at the state level um finally just a couple major points we need to fix parking in this city not just in downtown but downtown
it's hurting our businesses it's also in other business districts we need to start practicing enforcement in residential neighborhoods people parking at Corners so people can't turn around uh to make a turn people are parking in front of fire hydrants which is a $300
fine in the city and it does seem I don't know that it's being enforced I hope it does but we have to have this too many businesses are losing business downtown on Warren Street Broad Street we need to create part parking space for
GrubHub for Uber Eats we need to have temporary parking so these businesses these restaurants we have can Thrive finally um I want to thank Council vice president Edwards for comments earlier about anti-Semitism and uh comments regarding
anyone's ethnic or religious background it's very important that cannot survive in a city that's not appropriate thank you ma'am thank you Council woman uh that brings me to my
comments I want to say happy birthday to our council president Yasmin Gonzalez um for uh her birthday is actually tonight or today which is why she is not here um I want to say in short I do support
25-30 um because you know I I understand that there are there could be perceptions from the public on a potential conflict of interest but to Mr Dixon comments earlier who better to know what our downtown our city our Urban Enterprise zones who better to
know what they need than an actual stakeholder in a city who has vested invested in our city so um I would love to see this uh resolution get passed um because I do know that there are some um Financial barriers around that as well
so um and our city needs this our city does need this we need better plans and we need people that can help move this city forward um this Administration and this Council cannot do that alone I want to say uh I want to I appreciate my colleagues for the
respectful dialogue earlier about the the council liaison ordinance um that I'm introducing and I look forward to our continued conversations as we smooth out uh this ordinance and then also getting uh to our subcommittee ordinance
coming down the pike um I want to say happy Black History Month um I want to commend the city for a great presentation yesterday uh Paul Harris did an excellent job mcing um shenique talifero is such a powerful speaker it
was amazing to hear her uh with uh everything that she mentioned and um I want to give a shout out to Kadija who raised the flags up on the um outside of the mayor's office on the balcony um I want to say you know being a black woman
America carries deep meaning for me it's a legacy of resilience strength and unra unwavering perseverance as we raised this flag we not only honored the contributions of black Americans but also recognized that our history is still being written with civil rights
protections and Dei initiatives under attack we must stand firm in defending the progress our ancestors fought so hard to achieve I want to thank the mayor and the City of Trenton for raising this flag flag it's a powerful symbol of our City's commitment to truth
equity and empowerment for generations to come so thank you again and lastly I want to discuss address some of the parking issues um uh I will be reaching out to the administration to follow up on the
comments that I'm about to say and then uh the comments that Council Williams has said a lot of the parking issues are within her uh district there downtown and North Ward but as to her point it is also Citywide but I wanted to speak to
the most um recent issue that was brought to our attention via Facebook where a a woman had received a parking ticket on West State Street uh in front of uh the this on the first block of West State
Street the ticket was issued to her at 4:53 p.m. but the ticket in her window that she paid for at at the kiosk said 5:01 p.m. she was parked in a designated Zone only about 15t from the kiosk
itself the ticket also said no standing or stopping but the sign up there said no parking when the the roads are snow covered she was not in a no standing or stopping Zone also furthermore the ticket said that she was on West
Lafayette Street when she was on West St Street the person that issued that ticket and I know we are not allowed to say employees names as per you know um we would have to rise them in order to do that is the same person that is exhibiting pre
predatory behaviors all around the city she is like issuing tickets just unlawfully I I mean at this point is predatory is predatory behavior she was completely out of line
everything on that ticket was incorrect and it's embarrassing for the city it's embarrassing for the council it's embarrassing for the administration for us to have keep on addressing these issues with and with the same employee it seems so I think that a further
conversation needs to happen directly with the administration so that we can address this said employee um because either she needs to get her act together or something needs to happen um so that's my recommendations and to councilwoman Williams points there are a
lot of outdated parking um or issues all around the city dating back to 1967 that we need to address and I want to assure the public that we're on it Council vice president I believe that's your time as well thank you have a good night and thank you for coming Mr
Garcia certainly Madame vice president at this time uh I believe we've reached the point of executive session uh executive session this evening for be pending litigation we have two items listed on the agenda njdep versus Trenton Waterworks as well as resolution
25-40 resolution authorizing settlement of a civil action in the matter of Kista Nunes versus city of Trenton in a total amount of $100,000 um we do anticipate a vote coming out of executive session Madame vice president if you want to ask for a motion to go into executive session
please can I have a motion to go on Executive session please second roll call councilwoman Edwards vice president Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano councilwoman Figaro kenberg councilwoman frisbee yes
councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams motion carried again to the public we do anticipate a vote coming out of executive session this evening he how you doing same e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e let's get through this
we're call counc call vice president on your call once you have a quorum yes we uh we do have a vote so if we can have the council members return back to the day it's at least four of us so that way we have a quum please for the
vote V yes and to vote to come out of executive session hold on one two three one two three four Madam vice president I believe we have a quorum at this time if you want to ask for a motion to come out of executive session can I have a
motion to come out of executive session second all say I I is there any opposed none opposed moving on Madame vice president if you want to ask for a motion to approve resolution
25-40 can I have a motion to approve 25-40 so moov you one moment please roll call vice president Edwards
yes uh sorry thank you councilwoman Feliciano councilwoman Figaro kber no noted councilwoman frisbee reluctantly yes readly yes understood
noted councilman Harrison noted as well councilwoman Williams yes motion carried and Madame vice president if you
want to ask for a motion to adjourn I have a motion to adjourn so moved all say I I is there any opposed none opposed meeting adjourned thank you thank you