e e [Music] [Music] Trenton city council meeting Thursday March the 21st this meeting is hereby called to order let us stand for the flag [Music] salute hi United States the indivisible liberty and justice for [Music] all 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 The Trentonian newspaper posted on the first floor bulletin board in City Hall filed with the city clerk's office and posted on the city of Trenton website formal action will be taken Mr Garcia certainly roll call councilwoman Edwards presid VI president Figaro kenberg pres councilwoman frisbee present councilwoman Gonzalez presente councilwoman Harrison pres councilwoman Williams pres and and council president elano EST myself Brandon L Garcia Music School clerk presente Edward kogi is excused from this meeting and in for Mr West Bridges is Mr Scott mikio presented all right on your call madam president let's continue certainly and Madam president while I cannot do this in Spanish I would happily read you the invocation 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 thank you and Madame President as I see it we have some recognitions to be handed out today yes we're going to start with um councilwoman frisbee in the Pavilion renaming and honor Miss Grace Crossland um Reverend Lois key Alexander asked for a few moments as she should be in transit uh to get here so we'll start in that order thank you so I'll talk real [Laughter] slow so um you I'll spe up a little bit so good evening everyone and thank you all for coming out um this resolution most the majority of the city of Trenton knows about Miss Grace Crossland who's an icon a pillar in our community and I'm going to ask um when I'm finished reading this that Mr Stacy heading come because he's the one that first came to me with this idea and I thought it was phenomenal that he would think uh he in the community to honor Miss Grace Crossland in this manner to the city council city of Trenton a resolution naming The Pavilion at cwalter Park after Grace Crossland whereas Grace Crossland is one of Trenton's most outstanding citizens with a long history of accomplishments and significant contributions to the city of Trenton and whereas Grace was born in Asbury Park and raised in Trenton the daughter of the late Bishop Elijah Jones and levada I hope that said that levada Jones she graduated the Trenton Public School System attended Trenton State College and received an associate degree from Bible College she married at she married the late Robert H Crossland and went off to have five beautiful daughters and whereas Grace worked for the Trenton Board of Education for over 30 years having served at the par Parker Elementary School and Grace El Dunn Middle School in addition to her teaching role she served as head of the PTA coach of the girls basketball te team and she and head of the special events committee where she played an integral role in planning special events for students parents and teachers to recognize and celebrate the diverse cultures of the city of Trenton and its surrounding communities and where as Grace also spent over 27 years working in various positions with the city with the Trenton Department of Parks and Recreation including Park Rangers and ultimately park ranger supervisor at as well as various security positions to ensure that the city was safe for all of its residents she also held positions with the Lawrence Township School District and stem Civic Charter School in ying and were some full life and VI someone full of life and vigor Grace loved her family and served her community in so many ways helping our youth as well as our senior citizens she she served on numerous committees including as president of the school Leadership Council at dun Middle School a vice president of the Board of Trustees for the El the Emily fiser charter school she volunteered with parents parents Anonymous donated her time to pastorial care for hospital patients and was a PTO volunteer a daycare center volunteer part a daycare center volunteer participant and Community mentoring uh membership program throughout the city of Trenton and we and was honored in 2019 by having 18 te AG in her honor at Mary gur's basketball classic game event and whereas Grace was a graduate of the Trenton police academy and also received numerous awards for such organizations as cherish the children black image Awards and the PTA for her dedicated years of service to the Trenton School District in the city of Trenton and whereas having been called the face of Trenton Grace has amazed a record of service and accomplishment which per which personifies what every citizen should strive to be and is worthy of emulation by all residents of Trenton and whereas the city council of the city of Trenton has deemed it proper and fitted to honor Grace Crossland by naming the Pavilion in cat Walder Park after her as a permanent tribute in recognition of one of Trenton's most remarkable citizens now it is therefore resolved by the city council of the city of Trenton that The Pavilion at cataler Park shall henceforth re known as the grace Crossland Pavilion and is further resolved that appropriate signat be erected to effectuate the foregoing and it is furthermore resolved that this resolution shall be shall take effect pursuant to law and it is signed by all members of council CH M Edwards Tesa frisbee Joseph Harrison yaselli Gonzalez Jennifer Williams Jennifer goo kenberg vice president and Crystal fle J president on this day we thank you and we are appreciative of her services and Mr Hing I would ask that you would come forward to say some words on her [Music] behalf look at this okay thank you Council for just looking into this and handling this with care this means a lot to not just me but it really means a lot to this family right here CU y'all please stand the Crossman family the mother the grand children the children these are the people that lent their mother and grandmother tirelessly to the city so the time they didn't get to spend time with her she was out doing the things that made this city and help what it is I talked to a lot of uh workers and park rangers and people that work with Grace Crossland and I hear nothing but great things she is a beacon in our community and during she passed away during the height of covid she didn't have covid but she passed away during the height of covid and I remember standing outside the funeral home I don't know I know Mr meie was with me and I'm not sure um C if you were with me but what I remember was the family coming out and at that time at Hugh funeral there can only be about 15 to 20 people there and for an icon I said man I wish we can put her away better when more people get to celebrate her so what we did was Hill the city we said you know what let's make a billboard for her and the billboard kind of it read like mother of the city and it had all these multiple pictures of her and all the things like the roles that she played in the city and then the family came out and we blessed the billboard and if you look on my Facebook page you'll see this video we put together it's about a 15minute video that the city allowed was to come in here and just give thanks to her and video it and I'll never forget that and we'll never forget this day so just thank you so much this day here means so much not just for the city of Trenton but more importantly for this family right here so let's just give them a round of [Applause] applause Madam president if I could say one more thing yes so I just wanted to say to the family um Stacey said it right your mom was in our community I can't can't imagine how much time she could not have been with you because she was out there mothering so many of us including including my own family so we want to say thank you to you because you had to share her with all of us she was a woman of Elegance against she didn't take no tea for the cough no sugar for the tea and um that's why she had the great respect if she told you to stop doing something one time you she did not need to repeat herself if she did you were in trouble but I loved Miss Grace she um I had the pleasure of U being around in her Miss quite a bit when my husband headed um The Parks and Recreation Department and she was just a sweetheart she was she she was authentic and I can appreciate that and so I just want to say thank you to you thank you for giving and sharing your mom with all of us um it does not go but I don't take it for granted and sometimes we do take um pillars like that in our community that they're just going to be there and that yeah they're supposed to be there well no they actually have a family so we thank you for sharing her with us council president so I just want to quickly um also thank the family for sharing her with us for so so many years I mean I've known her she's known me since I was a baby um and I want to thank Stacey for bringing this to us um originally with this idea and Council woman Frisbee for actually executing this really quickly um she's very deserving of all of this and I just wanted to share this story because like I said she's known me since she was since I was a baby and um she was really really close to my father's brother they were really really close um done Middle School all of the years growing up and when my father passed away we had already did the the funeral arrangements and everything was in order and she came up to me she said yes I really want to speak I really just need to say a few words I know you have a list of people but I needed and I was like you can't say no to her for anything so I wasn't going to say no and I'm like okay I didn't think that you would want to because I knew she had a relationship with my uncle but not I didn't know it was necessarily my father she said I'll be 30 seconds she said I just got to say one thing I said no problem she gets up on there and when I tell you she tore the funeral down was singing she did not stay up there for one one minute she was up there about for about five but it was just so touching because I know how much it meant to her and that always sticks with me to this day so thank you so much I loved her like she was one of my family members so I appreciate you all sharing her with me also go ahead thank [Music] you I also Echo the sentiments of my colleagues and would like to thank you for sharing her with us she spent a lot of her last years in cadat park and she was a mother to everyone out there I met her back in 2013 or 14 when I first did a family fund day in the park and did all these movies under the stars with some of my friends and she was so helpful she kept everyone in order we did not need extra security she had it she had it and everyone knew not to play with her we went incident free every single time and she loves my sister my sister's a baker and she bakes pound cakes and red velvet cupcakes which was her favorite so every time I brought my kids to the park she goes where your sister add them cakes so I made sure every time I well not every time but a lot of the times I made sure she got her pound cakes and she got her red velvet cupcakes and um and my daughters adore her and um I'm so glad to be a part of this and making this happen because it's well deserved I wish we could honor her in a much larger way but um this is a great start so thank you again oh yeah I just wanted to say come on up babe I just wanted to say that this is wonderful to everyone that put this together to Stacy to um all the council women that were a part of making this happen um it is always wonderful when we can honor those that do great things in our community and so we are grateful for the service right of of Miss Crossland and and the life that she lived and the example that she set for those of us that are coming up um along the way so it is our pleasure and our honor to be able to honor her in such a way so God bless you and your family thank you thank you so much much I wrote it because I knew I probably only get like two minutes to talk first I would like to thank the man above for blessing me to be Miss Grace's daughter an amazing graceful and spiritual woman thanks to Stacy for spearheading this moment and thanks to the mayor the council and all other administrators in the community for your unwavering commitment to notice and salute to my mom for her outstanding performance not just as a public servant but as a community activist as well okay okay I'm going to make this quick I'm sorry because every time I talk about my mom tears still swell up in my eyes Miss Grace say she was known to most work for the board and the city for over 30s something years she was full of life loved her family and her community served on several communities throughout the city Miss Grace says she was known throughout the city for her caring kind and thoughtful ways she had a good rapport with people of all AG ages especially the little ones or youth she was one of those people that when she came into your space she made her presence known she would make you stop talking and simply listen to her and learn from her wisdom often because you couldn't shut her up otherwise she saw her work as God's work she lived her testimony by showing love and kindness to all again I just want to thank everyone thanks her family [Music] so we'll move on to the next presentation and then afterwards we'll do pictures and stuff with yes ma'am [Music] okay good evening to everyone I just want to say one thing one wonderful thing about Mrs Grace crosland she loved to sing when you talked about your father's funeral she was at a lot of funerals and whether she was on the program or not you were not going to stop her from singing she had a beautiful voice and as we honor her memory today we also have to remember that she was a person with the gift of song so thank you so much for honoring her blessings to the family we all loved her so much not more than you did but we loved her a lot so thank you so much peace and blessings on your journey she lived a beautiful life and we honor her memory thank [Applause] you so next we have a special recognition yes the guy okay I'm sorry yes um my name is j I live 720 Avenue and I work with Miss Grace for the past five years I em F chter school as a as a board member and uh believe me or not we used to call her mother without border I don't know if someone know that the reason is this lady believe me or not I'm from Liberia anyway and uh she call she also called me the Liberian son and then U so sad I called MAA I don't know who know MAA Brown she used to be uh in the Trenton school system that was a Liberian daughter I told her about this honing today and I just want to thank you all for doing this she deserve it and um I'm glad I didn't miss it because the daughter inform me today I know R know me so yeah thank you for doing that even allowing me to talk thank [Music] you okay all right thank you everybody for your kind words the family I'm sure appreciates it as do we Okay so next we're gonna move to um another special recognition honoring Reverend Lois key Alexander so whereas Reverend Lois key Alexander mother of Isabelle Danielle and Joshua Benjamin serves as a senior pastor of the life abundant Church of God Trenton New Jersey she holds a bachelor's degree in church and Christian Ministries and is certified in basic biblical counseling Reverend Lois affirms that her first two professor of the word and life are her beloved parents the late Elders Samuel and Lyla key and whereas Reverend Lois hailes from a family of preachers and grew up singing in the Church of God her father Pastor for 28 years in addition to ministering in the church she enjoys ministering at nursing homes and hospitals and has cheered the hearts of many with a special affection and appreciation for the elderly a spirited woman she has a rare ability to reach her audience as she works in Ministry both privately and publicly and whereas Reverend was served Faithfully for 14 years as co-pastor under her husband the late Elder Leon S Alexander Jr during his 17-year pastoral leadership in August 2021 Reverend Lois's beloved husband of 31 years transitioned from time to Eternity and upon his death Reverend Lois was unanimously accepted by the congregation to assume the ministry responsibility of senior pastor in May 2022 after 35 years of service Reverend Lois retired from the state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and whereas she is the founder and president of women of purpose a Ministry with a Christian Foundation which seeks to empower and give support and encouragement to women and teenage girls of all ages cultures and social backgrounds under her leadership the women of purpose established the Hem of His Garment Ministry heart-to-heart women sessions the seasons of Life Ministry focuses on the stage of a woman's life not the age the Susie Johnson McCoy book scholarship award which has awarded over $30,000 to persons enrolled in college Andor technical school now therefore be it resolved that the city council of the city of Trenton County of Mercer state of New Jersey hereby recognizes Reverend Lois key Alexander for her tremendous contributions to the city of Trenton and the surrounding areas she is a true Beacon of light exhibiting the goodness that Trenton makes presented this 21st day of March 2024 Trenton City Council [Music] wow that's what I have to say good evening to the council uh the all of the members of the council and to everyone assembled uh let me give a special shout out to the women as we celebra in this month of March women's history uh season with the theme women who advocate for equ Equity diversity and inclusion I am so grateful to God for he is number one in my life I'm grateful for all of the strong women of my life and particularly one of the strongest I've ever known my beloved mother the late Mrs Lila key I want to thank council president Crystal Feliciano I call her one of the hardest working women in the city of Trenton for acknowledging me Ong with the committee when I think of all the beautiful brilliant and bold women I know who would be so deserving of this honor I am humbled to have been chosen I really am I'm grateful that my son our son and our daughter are here to witness this and join me in this honor I celebrate every one of my sisters those who make a difference in the lives of others both privately and publicly and who continue to fulfill purpose and promise I will conclude with this I will continue to make this declaration for my life I cannot help everybody but I can certainly help somebody as I pass along then my living words echoed from that great song will not be in vain again to the council thank you thank you thank you [Applause] [Music] so Reverend Alexander I just want to thank you again for all the tremendous work that you do in the community for the work that goes noticed by many but in the background for many as well for the silent prayers that you pray for us whether we ask you or not for the covering that you give to the people that are under your leaders ship for the prayers that you extend to the people in the city of Trenton and for your hard works that you do to make sure that we are all okay thank you thank you anyone else okay so we'll take a couple pictures real quick and then we'll get back to the meeting is that okay we're going to go right in the back corner so we will have um Miss Cron's family first if we'll go right back in that back corner please so if everyone here would just bear with us a moment as we do this thank you e e e e e e e on your call Madam President we can continue certainly M president at this time we've reached a point of public comment if we could have the public comment clipboard please and for the Public Public comment it will is 5 minutes for each individual you may address the council with anything that you wish please understand the council is not obligated to [Music] respond so for all coming up for public comment please do state your name and address for the record our first individual listed for public comment is Mike [Music] Davis [Music] afternoon Council good evening I was in my address 225 North Clinton Avenue I was employeed with the city of Trenton for 30 years as a police officer this Council signed a contract in June of 23 at this point there's still a group of us waiting for our retro money that's not been paid um trying to find a status of that who to talk to our oer requests have been denied by members of uh the city and the law department so basically we're trying to find out where our money is so I'm quite sure no one here is going to answer it tonight but we'll put it on the record for you thank you Matt bledo Council good evening you can list my address is 225 North Clinton Avenue as well I retired from the city of Trenton in 2021 after 15 years as a police officer since that time as Mike Davis stated Council will sign a new contract that we're entitled the retro pay for I've been since January emailing every member of council the city clerk the mayor's office and the business administrator with almost little to no response I've been given some responses but no answers I was directed to Kendra Davis at the city at the police department who also provided no answers I was advised by Miss Edwards an inquiry would be opened up and I'd be and uh I'd be advised of the outcome as to where our payments are that was approximately a month ago to date no response I'm here tonight to find out why not why am I as a retiree of this city after leaving here after 15 years of service denied payment for the money that's rightfully mine along with the other retirees to go on record to Simply say that in 2019 when I was an active employee when this contract is valid for when you pull the paperwork to pay the people that are still active employees you had to remove my name off of the list to pay people why was I skipped why was every other retire res skipped that was an employee in 2019 in 2020 21 and finally in 23 they had to be removed off the list who ordered that why we come here tonight for answers we know we're not going to get them but at least now it's on the record and no one on this Council the business administrator the law department or the clerk's office can die not having any knowledge I two have done open requests some have been approved and just recently one was denied with no reason given other than denied thank [Music] you Tony um sorry I'm having a little trouble here petlo Crossland I didn't sorry no worries no problem Charles is that L WN thank [Music] you good evening Council and this time is on a good note uh I just want to give thanks to city council and a special thanks to miss Gonzalez because that's the one I mostly was dealing with with the emails with the Le leison uh to the mayor with this situation 198 Penington Avenue that's what I meant me to say uh moving forward again I say I appreciate everybody's CER with my situation that I dealt with over the last four years a lot of people don't come back and give thanks to where where their situation came from and I'm one that does that and I appreciate it and again I said moving forward what I want to do with that lot I already went in the process of the city to try to obtain that lot it's almost 3,751 square foot which which is about $7,500 which I'm willing to get that right now as we speak to obtain that property whatever is necessary and I think I feel that I should be the first right to get that property I never went after the city for any of the damages to my house because I had a projection what I'm GNA do once with it's tore down so I need city council to try to help me to obtain and help me help the city to help me guide that property so I can do something special with I got four generations of family my great grandmother and father my grandmother and father my mother and father my oldest sister so I want to change it into something special along with my brother with konachi art if anybody know about that and you ain't Talent you to do some type of monuments and and even go to Monument school with the permission of uh uh the Board of Education I don't just want to walk in any school but I want to take those little kids and I want to try to teach them something about Greenery about making flower pots about doing little walkways because you got to start them when they little the kids when they get 16 17 years old they already pretty much setting their ways so I want to go all the way to the to to the bottom to the to the younger kids and try to get them a guidance on this with this lot for my own resources I'm not asking the city for anything this is all my resources you know like I said I'm retired chief engineer at the hotel I'm not wanting for anything I own that property and I own everything I got but now it's my objective to to take what I my skills and ability and try to teach some of these young kids and give them a guidance in this in my w you know so that's that's my objective I already got the application like I said I only got a few minutes uh I pretty much said what I had to say I just need counsel moving forward to try to help me in a way to make it easy for me to obtain that lot I got all pictures from the beginning to the end from the demo which I'm just a pitcher fanatic that's what that's me because Picture Tells a thousand words so they already begun on 202 Penington Avenue and I'm grateful for that because now that was the only eyesore in that neighborhood so again I thank city council for doing their job thank [Music] you uh let's see let Leticia Peters thank you my name is Laticia Peters and I would first like to thank councilwoman Christo Feliciano for answering my questions I presented to her a host of question questions that was on the mind of not only me but also on the city of TR Trent and tonians and a lot of people don't know that she actually took several days her and a group of people to answer about 30 questions that I presented to her but there were still some things that were left unanswered and one of the things was about noise audience I live in the west side Trenton and I asked one of the neighbors to not have her radio so loud on a Sunday morning and she actually called me her name and told me don't knock on my window don't antagonize me I'm like it's Sunday morning and your radio is too loud I mean where we live if it's silence it actually bounces off the wall of the houses and I think that we need to really look into some of the people who are moving into our neighborhoods and what they are doing to um disrupt other neighbors who have been there for 40 50 years and another thing is that we have found dog mess in our yard I have videos of dog dogs running loose with no tags and people are just running around with no bags and we have found I mean my my parents are 80 years old they should not be picking up dog mess in their front yard because someone is allow their dogs to run wild in the evening and by the morning we find all this dog mess in our yard and I have requested the city to look into why they never had cameras put on in our area because where I lived at there were a lot of complaints about the greenhouse on ston Avenue and a lot of people complain about this greenhouse and despite numerous of complaints the police department did not put up a camera and I have called about drugs chemicals that has affected my life and recently being exposed to gas leaks and I have a lifethreatening seizures blackouts which I never had when I first moved to move back from Triton from Maryland work in Washington DC and my health has gone down incredibly because the police have actually had the audacity to tell me that no one's going to help you and guess what they have not helped me they have not helped the people who have been here for 40 to 50 years and I would like to know what's the outcome of the report that was being done looking into the abuse of power by the police is there an outcome or is that still being worked out because my mother actually called about um the noise I mean 8:00 p.m. at night and not one police officer came out no one should be sitting around with noise for a whole hour and the police NE have never responded to our requests and about 10 years now and I believe because it is me I am the one being targeted and I could prove it Beyond Reasonable Doubt now and no one should be antagonized and harassed by any other Trent andonia because they can I know my time is up but I also want to look into contracts because I am sure that in the past I answered I was concerned about the way that contracts are being handled by the city council that um no one's really looking into contracts and these contracts are going past their expired date and people are still being council president ask question um the the neighborhood or street that this um lady I didn't get that yeah just miss Peters gases and stuff Miss Peters can you give us your address please 1462 Avenue TR New Jersey 08 thank you 1462 we have it listed yeah if you want it I didn't hear red I just want to make sure because particularly with the gases and some of the issues that's very important okay oh no no no worries just in case you didn't have it we have it we have it for you all right thank you I see Jay Tyrone please help me with the last name starts with a K one last thing I'm Sorry Miss Peters so I'm not sure but based upon the inquiry um and I know that I've addressed you myself as well if you'll stick around until our Civic comment if you have a moment some of us may address or touch on something that you said that's why we move Civic comment up so that way people would stick around to hear what we had to say if we wanted to answer you back at that time okay thank you all right thank you H C I want to thank you all very much for helping Mr Harrison because I live on 726 Quinton Avenue and you know he he passed that one time the speed was really really bad and uh I want of those who talk to him about it and he gave us the assuring that s going to work on now go ahead and run no one can speed anym there's a speed bomb that was put there I want to thank you all for that that's all you remember that thank you let's see uh Monroe [Music] lore [Music] uh good evening my name is Monro L I live at 260 North Willow Street and uh this is the greatest City and I was just want to say something about the woman Bern [Music] um her name is Bernice MZ Towers that's where we live and so you congratulating women who did a great job for the city and she must have been somebody special uh the the uh our place is named after her so she must have been very uh effective in making change for the city uh as far as the police situ ation go we need to make sure that the police are held accountable for a lot of things that are going on like police profiling of people who haven't done anything wrong and uh we need the police directed to be on the site where there are complaints about police not being headquarters because when you're in headquarters you're really not doing anything to solve any problems that's like you're on the front lines but trouble on the front lines but the police is in headquarters that's not doing us any good there are some police officers who have helped me with a heavy food cart some have helped me be safely on my way but there are too many cops out there are just playing cold blooded they just don't care and we need to put a stop to police riding around in ttin to window cars you know we need awful of friendly friendly cops that that will communicate with the [Music] [Music] people Robin Crossland no worries Shakira Crossland watch this guys Sharon Crossland Cynthia Crossland I'm just doing my job here Naya Crossland okay and lesie wilbourne good evening Council and citizens I just have uh two issues um one is uh why the rents are so incredibly high in the city of Trenton um just out of curiosity um I saw a house on Martin Luther King Boulevard and um it had an open house sign on it so I went in just to see you know what the rent would be for this house and the rent was like 2400 for this house house and when I said this was an ungodly house it was unbelievable um I as also asked the landlord I said what what do you plan on doing with the backyard because it was a mess he said oh nothing the uh potential tenants will have to deal with that um I I think it's that in the city of Trenton we have a lot of lowincome families um poor families and I just think it's ridiculous I think it's um asinine that you know rents are so high and then on a property that is so dilapidated um my question is how do they get an occup um um something to occupy this house I don't understand that that's number one um and I just think that that's something that really needs to be addressed is already out of hand it's not getting out of hand and I think that the citizens of Trenton that are potential um renters or those that are already renting in their rents are skyrocketing I think it really needs to be addressed um and also I had previously um required about the rent stabilization board that apparently there was a posting for um I wasn't at a couple of the previous meetings I'm not sure if it was addressed or not um but if not I would like to you know still you know get an update on that and also I just like to thank I don't know if I'm thanking the counsel or thanking the neighbors or ever who but the rooster issue we had um it has been resolved I don't know if you said anything or they had to you know the roosters for dinner or what anyway they're going we thank God for that and just one other thing um I hear I'm not sure I heard the moderators say that um the council does not have to comment on anything that we say and I think that's kind of ridiculous because as a citizen I think that we voted you in and I think we deserve an answer we deserve a response or a comment about our concerns that's why we're here and that's basically all I have to say thank you have a good evening Miss wilborne so to your to your last statement of what you said typically it has been practiced that they would move through right so we can get to hear what everyone say says I moved the Civic comment up on the agenda it used to be last on the agenda I moved it up on the agenda because most times the council will answer during that time and because we would do the business of the city in between and it would take so long people would leave after they made their public comments so they will address you just when it's our Civic comment time which is coming up next now so we will answer if if someone wants to answer to you if they have the answer or what have you so we're not we listened and we understand that people want to answer and so we're looking to accommodate that um request what's your address again oh the address of the property on MLK okay so if you could just get that and just send it over um we'll take care of looking into that okay thank you whoe uh council president we've reached the end of uh public comment and we are now at Civic comment okay I'm gonna ask vice president um figuro kenberg to take it for a moment Mr mikio can I see you right here for a moment thank you on your call vice president yes okay um we'll proceed um councilwoman Gonzalez [Music] thank you so much thank you everyone for being present um just a quick couple of things um before I forget I want to say to U Mr Lewis I think he left out already but it was a collaborative effort to make sure that that those properties came down I know councilwoman Frisbee and a couple of I believe Edwards and feliciana we were working on that also just stayed on top of that property being coming down so thank you to all of those who helped with that effort um to M uh the the retirees officers yes you are entitled to your money um that is something that is out of our responsibility and duties however we have been looking into it and I believe there should be responses given back to you all but it doesn't come directly from Council um as far as um Miss Leslie who just spoke we did speak about the rent stabilization board we are hoping that that comes into fruition on the next count ccil meeting I'm hoping that they get the the um actual resolution of those who express interest I believe they reached seven people who will be able to get on that board so that way we can move certain things but I can assure you that I spent the last two days with the attorneys um some of people throughout the city um in City Hall trying to work on something because it is getting ridiculous not just with the rent increases however with the landlords who are trying to evict tenants because they're complaining or they're getting violations and so to your point as to what the house look like on the inside just just being transparent that falls on the city um so we have a we have some enforcing to do um we're lacking in that area we have lack we don't have a lot of resources so it it's it's it's a domino effect at this point um we are working on you know making sure that each um I asked for a listing of all of those houses that are listed and registered as renters um because we don't have that information and so there's a lot of things that are going on and we're trying to really work on that so if you can just please you know any suggestions you would like to bring hopefully the board would be uh voted on in the next month and then we can get the ball rolling as far as the rent stabilization um piece of that but to that to that point we are working and it's a lot that we have to do um we are lacking a lot of resources and so that does uh cause a domino effect as far as the inspections and making sure that everyone is is legally renting to tenants um a couple of other announcements really quickly um the Trenton South Bo neighborhood association will be having um well we have cancelled our cleanup for this Saturday it is going to be rescheduled because due to inclement weather that is supposed to be arriving and I also just wanted to announce that the uh stron South nor neighborhood association has launched our inhome library project so if you know of any children who are in need of books we are giving away books to put inside of their homes and um exchange anytime that they wish to do so I believe that was all I have for this evening thank you all for being present thank you councilwoman uh councilman Harrison um good evening everyone um i' like to thank the two honores because uh what's that go um because uh there are two special people that do wonderful things in this great city um a mother to all Miss Grace wonderful person um the Reverend just said everybody in this room here was knows and we want the best for everybody that comes up front of here also we seen here tonight that the police we need to know what's going on with that um the Retro money something has got to be done to figure out why they have not received a retro um that has to be taken care of and has to be addressed um Miss Peters she talks about the noise ordinance my understanding I think noise ordinance if it goes to a certain amount any time of the day it could be any level as long as it's go yeah any time of the day whatever the level is if it's if it impedes on your neighbors to a point then yes the police should be out there to uh to address that because you're right you should have a piece of quiet um any day of the week you know you shouldn't be having to deal with that shouldn't have to be dealing with people's dogs um the dog mess that's that's that's ridiculous um [Music] alsoo actually have a sign up that says peace no no noise and no noise status in their neighborhood actually have a sign I was wondering if that could be implemented so that the people who come in would know that there's no noise but why isn't there any policemen assigned to each Ward who is walking around making sure that this up is upholding thank you thank you Miss Peters we need to proceed thank you yep um just let everybody know all the administrations is here us see on Tuesdays um the director Wilson could have been here could have answered that question um but overall uh we're trying to move this city forward together so um I said um did you give any information about when the clean Up's going to be the cleanup the southw we resed don't have you don't know yet okay all right well like I said um I wish everybody a blessed weekend and uh thank you for all that you do in this great city thank you very much thank you councilman um councilwoman Williams thank you very much ma'am uh thank you everyone for coming tonight uh first thing I want to talk about is for the police officers retired I actually asked about that question several weeks ago if the that is uh I can't say the word it's in my mind right now but that should be taken care of and our expectation is that that will be taken care of for every single officer has served the city and retired so uh please bear with the city I apologize and this should be handled post haste thank you uh so I have just a couple of things Mr Lewis I don't believe it's here but that was really great news to hear because we've each member on this Council spoke out about this and how that project was supposed to be handled early on I thank my colleagues uh who took this on uh on behalf of Mr Lewis directly uh because situations like that should not be dragged out whether uh we have um clearance from DCA or not to take down properties if we make a promise we need to keep a promise so uh to miss Peters uh I hope that we can uh Rectify this situation as best we can as uh Mr Harrison said with noise ordinances is something our Council has discussed uh potentially revising the ordinance we have because it's not very well written um as far as for officers to measure noise and to react to it so it's something that's around the city but thank you so much for bringing this problem to us and hopefully we can help solve some of the other issues you're dealing with ma'am so I also want to direct um comments Miss wilbourne uh thank you very much for always being engaged thank you for always being on point and holding us accountable uh the rent stabilization board is something every member on this Council I'm sure uh we want to make have happen we want to be very successful because whether at National Economic Trends are the way they are or not in the price of real estate and so forth when a landlord is charging the some of the amounts that they're charging it's because they know that they have a captive Market they know that they have customers and they have renters that cannot go to the suburbs so they pushed this as as far as they can and they a lot of them do not keep up their properties and it's disgusting and so thank you for bringing that up tonight and that's something that we in this next year or so as this rent stabil the stabilization Board gets going um will hopefully uh help with that situation and make it more fair and Equitable for everyone in the city because people need to have a place to live finally um I just have some announcements that I did want to also uh talk about but before I do that one other point um we only get five minutes to respond and Civic comment and I'm trying to use this as fast I can so it's not also when we have issues come up we have to pick and choose what we say what we respond to but it does not mean we don't care about what you said so real quick I'll be as fast as possible um so things have come up this week if you know of anyone that would be interested in possibly joining the Trenton Police Department they're having a recruitment effort between now and April 1 we need to have officers uh to serve this city male female whomever we need them to also represent the city and we want officers to look like our city we get a lot of criticism for that but we need to recruit more officers across the board so if you know of anybody I have a couple pamphlets I got from an event I'll be happy to give them to you if someone has military experience that's a great help and also as uh the age they they try to recruit is 18 to 35 if you have military experience that gets tacked on so you could be a bit older um I'm not going to say you could be 50 uh but they uh want to have a variety of Trentonian they're very adamant on that particularly women so if you're you know a female who would like to be an officer please send her the police department's way on uh April 27th there's going to be a baby shower a community baby shower hosted by Capital Health at Thomas Edison State University from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. it's a great event also the Lambda theeta I uh fraternity is going to be holding a Lambda giving day a food drive on April 6 from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p p.m at 24 Merchant Street and uh there's going to be a Trenton health fair on Saturday April 13th from 11:30 to 2:30 uh it's going to be a great event if you know of anybody who would like to come uh it's going to be at 931 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and I'm sure everyone in Council will be posting information on this in a couple weeks uh also the Trenton Community street team is going to be having a thesis event coming up this coming Thursday March 28th at 5:00 p.m. at merca County Community College downtown and then finally and I think this is a great opportunity it's pretty neat um Capital Health is actually recruiting AMT Personnel around the city they have an AMT academy uh I have some flyers for that also but you could also thank you councilwoman Williams you're three seconds over councilwoman Edwards thank you CVP uh good evening everyone um just want to start off by addressing the retirees from the police department first of all thank you for your service and and I do want to say that uh I was on some of the emails where you were responded to by Miss Kendra Davis so I just wanted to just uh respond to you guys on the record while you're here um just first of all uh I wish that we could provide a timeline or a deadline of when these could be processed or at least provide you with the date and things like that but unfortunately um they're not able to do that because they have so much to do um with these processes so I just wanted to say that um according to the response that the PBA police Retros are being issued to active employees then active employees who were promoted once they're done retire Retros will be processed at this time Retros for active employees who were promoted are being processed you retired and and this was in response to um uh one of you guys so it it specifi the date that you retired on so it said that you definitely are due a retro for the 2019 update of retirement that was back in January 25th and then I also further inquired to see if they if we can at least provide some type of expectancy of when the retirees retro payments would be processed but unfortunately um due to the interest kit details of the process they weren't able to provide a timeline just that they're working so um m the Cherry wanted to provide additional Clarity so he says that um they do not currently have an estimated processing date the Retros can be a complicated process particularly for police officers who have a variety of non-standard payments that make up their total compensation and they are currently working on reported errors for retros that went out and once those are resolved they expect to complete the calculations for the retire re retro payments and issue them as quickly as possible and that response was a little less than a month ago so they're still working on it you know we're just asking you for patients they are responsive and we will keep an eye on the Periodic updates for it um so you know but we appreciate you guys coming in and just to let you know we're definitely keeping our eye on it and the administration is doing their due diligence um so thank you again um I'm glad to hear that the rent stabilization board has received um you know members or potential members or applicants so um thank you councilwoman Gonzalez for staying on that just a very very important thing we do have a lot of people who um do like to take advantage of the opportunity to price gouge especially given inflation and things like that and without a rent stabilization board they're able to you know do take advantage of these things so we definitely want to get that back online so that we can get control of the the rental situation with our city so that our people are not priced out of our communities because if we're priced out of Trent there is nowhere else to go so we want to make sure we get ahead of this um I want to say I want to um also encourage those in your communities to get involved in your community um each neighborhood I would say if there is an existing neighborhood association a civic association please get involved with them um they you can work with your Association to address these types of things noise ordinances people not curbing their dogs and things like that I would encourage the neighborhoods to you know organize amongst yourselves to organize cleanups to communicate with your neighbors to curb their animals you know pick up after themselves and things like that and work with our elderly and our community too to make sure that they're not taking on the burden of people that are you know taking advantage of them you know and and definitely allowing dog mess to be on their yard so we just want to um encourage that because our police is definitely overwhelmed we definitely need more police officers we need more inspectors we need more Patrol on our streets we understand that but we also need to police ourselves and be more involved in our community so I just want to encourage that um before we end here tonight and um Shameless plug be unprofessionals network is having an open house at the lobby Club on Wednesday uh March 27th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. this is a network geared towards those 18 and over looking to enhance their professional careers or get involved in Civics and things like that so I just want to invite you all out to sign up for some of our upcoming workshops like the entrepreneurship and Business Development coming up thank you have a good [Music] night thank you coun woman Edwards um councilwoman frisbee good evening everyone uh first I want to congratulate um our Police director Douglas and the mayor today for their women's history um month event they honor every director in this uh building on our Administration they honored several women in their department and I want to just say everyone was well um well deserved um the program itself was great um so I want to just say kudos to them on the women's history that we had down in the AG I want to also address um the retropay the retropay is in motion I know that um we've been getting calls about this yes they did take care of those that are current um first the other ones all of us have been inquiring you've been inquiring Council also has been inquiring the message that we are getting and we are going to continue until you get it is it is that it actually is in the process there is a protocol they're following the protocol yours is absolutely in motion it's not that they've forgotten about you it's not that they've dragged they're dragging their feet they're following the protocol of it and then they will get you your pay so we're we're asking we're inquiring you're not the only ones we want to make sure we've been fighting for you guys to get your pay um since last year and we're not going to stop until it actually gets through so please know that it's not that we don't care we absolutely do care and it doesn't matter to us um to Mr Lewis who is not here yes we have been with him back and forth what I he did not say was that there the reason why his project did not get the attention that it needed was because the company had an emergency project that they had to tend to and we were working with him um I know he still wanted to get his done quickly but that an emergency is an emergency so that needed to be dealt with and we they um that did get done and then we dealt with his project and got that taken care of um with Miss Peters if you are still here I am your West w representative and I would love to have a conversation with you about what is going on um in your neighborhood if not I have your address and I will be showing up at your place of residence to continue the conversation um noise ordinance um or not everyone deserves to have their own peace and early in the morning especially on a Sunday you should not have to worry about people waking you up ridiculous at ridiculous hours um Mr Jade thank you so much for coming in and saying thank you um a lot of people don't know to say that and appreciate it there's a lot of things that we're working on we don't get it always right but when we do we appreciate hearing um the words thank you uh Mr lore we do hear you appreciate all that you you always come in for always making sure that we're breast of things that are going on in the community um so thank you for being a voice here miss Wilmore you know that we love and appreciate you coming out you keep us on our toes um thank you so much so we'll be looking into and yes rent stabilization is a priority for us it affects every body here and we don't want folks coming in hiking up the price so we can't even live decently um we have to make a decision about paying for rent or to eat that should not be a concern or living paycheck to paycheck because rent prices are so high um I do want to say that on April 27th from 11 to 12 o'clock I will be having a Sister sewing into Sisters at Greater Mount Zion um am me Church from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 that will be for women who are expected mother mothers it is a Prelude to Mother's Day so if you know a mom to be um uh who will not will still be expecting a baby yet on April 27th please let her come our way they're going to have a great time we're going to have um all kinds of nice gifts and prizes and we're just going to celebrate the spirit of motherhood um we sometimes Overlook the ones that are still about to give birth and I don't want to do that I want to make sure that we acknowledge them um and celebrate them as well I think that is about it The Smith Family Foundation their grants are open please go on their website at sj.org and you can apply for the grants there with that I'm going to read our City's mission statement which is recognizing that the people of Trenton have made his Guardians of the public trust we are committed to govern with integrity and fiscal responsibility to seek excellence in the city's operations and to serve all the city's people with respect and compassion I thank each and every one of you for coming out and I men um and celebrate those who were celebrated on tonight and the cross on family we forever love your mom thank you for doing all that you do and sharing her with her and Reverend Louise key Alexander she's not here but she's also worthy of [Music] Praise um that leaves my comments next so I'm going to be very short I don't need to repeat and regurgitate what was already said by my Council colleagues they pretty much touched on everything um with regard to um the police officers the payments um the last email that was received um stated that the employees that were promoted that their retro was completed on 215 and they were proceeding to the Retro payment for all others at that time um other than that um in terms of enforcement needed and in terms of uh keeping up with properties in ter terms of norise ordinances and all of that you know again enforcement is needed so there's only so much we could do with the city if we don't have the persons the bodies um to make the things happen that we need to happen and you know to hold people accountable I remember when I ran in 2018 and I told homeowners who were in a sense slum Lords that I was going to hold homeowners accountable for their properties um and they weren't going to allow they weren't going to be allowed to um have tenants in their property with not without making sure their properties were taken care of and I was told while I'm not voting for you for that and it's a shame that that is the attitude of some people in and out of this city whether they own properties or they live in this city and we need to change that we need to do that together as one as one and we need to stand up and voice our concerns and we need to understand that we can be like the other municipalities that surround Trenton we can be just as great as them um we need to stop putting our heads down and just accepting what's being you know given to us um but we need to do it ourselves as well um congratulations against to honores tonight um Council made all the announcements tonight um so the only other announcement that I have again is uh council president uh Feliciano councilwoman Edwards and myself um we'll be doing a let's talk South Trenton and on at one up one down on cast Street on the 6th of April from 1:30 to 300 p.m. um I've always said the South Ward is the Forgotten Ward I really don't see much of my folks in council chambers often um and I'm really trying to change that so with that being said everyone have a wonderful night and I will turn it over to council president at this time thank you Council vice president thank you everyone for coming out tonight thank you everybody for speaking up thank you for sticking around um to hear our comments it is greatly appreciated for those that spoke up thank you for being a part of the process and making your thoughts um and your sentiments known regarding the police payments um I was uh sending emails with Mr bledo um looking to get something and then finally um Kendra Davis did give you an answer right finally as we were pushing along to find out what was going on it's my understanding as I said in the email that the active folks were done first and then the retirees will be done but then to your point when does it start right so someone does need to kind of give us an answer as to when that would be if they can um people shouldn't just be left hanging in limbo trying to figure something out so I understand your frustration and everything but know that myself along with councilwoman Edwards and others that have been sending emails have been making inquiry to find out exactly what is going on so so your words have not fallen on deaf ears um thank you councilwoman Gonzalez for helping out Mr Lewis in handling that a lot of times uh constituents will email many of us at the same time about the same issue if one steps forward and says I got it we we will yield to that council person and let them handle it right we unless they have a problem and they say well listen come on and let's you know flood them with emails together then we trust that our Council colleague will handle the issue so thank you for taking care of that as well as some my other colleagues that handle um the floods of of emails that we get daily right thank you councilman Harrison for handling that issue as well for the gentlemen that came forward um you're appreciated and again to all my Council colleagues that step in and do the work thank you um to miss Leticia Peters she did leave it was uh Council vice president and I that sat up and answered the 30 questions with some help of Mr kogi our attorney that we may he made sure that we were good um before we hit the send button on what it was that we answered so we did answer to the very best of our abilities um so so there was that um if there is any complaints I guess about abuse of power with police and things like that I would suggest that you go to Internal Affairs I could be wrong I'm not sure but if an investigation or something needs to happen it needs to be reported either to the director find out who else it goes to after that but I would file the proper um procedure and protocol to have the matter looked into so at least you have it documented the police officers would know better than me I don't know but I'm sure that there is a process that people can go through to report wrongdoings if they experience it to at least like I said have it on record that you have reported it so then if it has to escalate forward um then you have the written um verification that something was said and done about it Miss wilborne about the rent I was telling my students you know uh in our finance class listen y'all want to hurry up and be grown and move out of your parents house let me tell you what a one bedroom is cost let me tell you what a two- bedrooms you better stay home as long as you can stay home and be good to your mommy and your daddy and just do what it is that you need to do because it ain't like it was back when we were coming up and things were easy so to your point um the rent stabilization board I know that several Council people were looking into having that uh reinstituted I know that there have been advertisements for people I guess the mayor uh the administration is supposed to be advertising to get members on on that so they are looking to make that active I encourage you to apply for it um to be honest you need to put your your resume in and seek uh membership on that board right you're an advocate for it so why not be a part of um the solution that being said thank you all for coming out um tonight I appreciate your time as always I bid you a wonderful night and a great weekend um ahead thank you Mr Garcia certainly Madame President it's my understanding at this time that um which count go to Executive session I'll defer to the solicitor for the reason for executive session at this time yeah that's right um we could if I could have a motion to go into executive session to discuss potential litigation second roll call certainly moved by councilwoman frisbee the second was I apologize Feliciano thank you very much roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried thank you uh just to the solicitor at this do we anticipate a vote from executive as a result of executive session uh there may be a vote yes thank [Music] you are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you wish to ask if you want to ask for a motion to approve we have a motion to approve so move second councilwoman Evers yes ice president Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion Carri Madame President if you want to ask for a motion we have a consent agenda here and I will ask once are there any items that anybody wishes to extract from this consent agenda as it is now this [Music] time hearing none if you want to ask for a motion to approve consent agenda consisting of 24-12 106 107 108 109 111 112 113 114 115 and 116 may I have a motion to approve the uh consent agenda items named by the clerk Madam president yes move one second Council I'm sorry um when we spoke on Tuesday about 104 and 105 we said we wanted to have a discussion it did not need to remain as roll call we move those two to to consent can we make an amendment to the consent agenda certainly thank you have a mo if you can have a motion to move 24-1 I'm sorry 104 and 105 yes yes motion to move resolutions 104 and 105 to the consent agenda so move second second we move in second I'll call the rooll councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams and counc president Feliciano yes motion carried that being said with a reconstituted consent agenda uh consisting of those items previously mentioned being 102 106 107 108 109 111 112 113 114 115 116 114 and 105 can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as named by the clerk so moved second so mooving second I'll call the rooll councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried on to the loan roll call resolution resolution 24-13 resolution awarding competitive Contracting request for proposal through fair and open process in accordance with njsa 19 col 4482 20 24 at sec to FCC consultant Services LLC for computer technical support services for the city of Trenton's information system for a period of three years from date of award in an amount not to exceed 2,551 61717 that's CC [Music] we did not pull resolution 24115 it was originally a resolution for Joseph and Mary reveno way which was which is now in ordinance right she is correct that item was pulled by law so well I'll just make a note for the record that 24-15 was not a part of the consent agenda it's now an ordinance that's going to be considered today by city council when uh introduction of ordinances come up will note exactly Mr Miko's words in the minutes thank you [Music] councilwoman my apologies moving on to we have to take the roll there any questions right or but do we need a motion in a second I believe for that uh no move so move second thank you is there any discussion hearing none roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg this is for RAV way right no no no Raven Way has been pulled 103 103 correct wait what are we doing we're vot wait this is one second let's back up we're voting now on 24103 we moved the ravanel way to an ordinance now remember because they drafted as an ordinance so we'll get to that at the first reading in a few minutes right now we are voting on 24103 gotta cor thank you and my vote was yes okay so we were at roll call for 24-13 I'll begin again councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kber obain noted councilwoman Frisby abstain noted councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried moving on to ordinances for first reading and introduction ordinance 24-20 ordinance supplement orance excuse me ordinance supplementing and amending chapter 309 Water and Sewer of the code city of Trenton by adding article excuse me article 9 mandatory replacement of lead of LED service lines in conformance with New Jersey state [Music] law and Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve that ordinance may have a motion to approve I'm sorry so second so mooving second I'll call the RO councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried ordinance 24-21 ordinance amending ordinance I believe that's 2018-8 entitled an ordinance continuing certain positions fixing salaries salary ranges therefore and setting forth certain regulations for the implementation of these ranges for askme local 2286 senior radio dispatcher may have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion Carri ordinance 24-22 an ordinance of the city of Trenton in the county of Mercer New Jersey amending ordinances to resend special Assessments in connection with lead service line replacement project may have a motion to approve some second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried or uh which brings me to ordinance and this would then be ordinance 20 [Music] 2423 ordinance authorizing the authorizing the additional name of Joseph and Mary Ravenel way to New Rose Street may have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried and Madame President we have reached the point of the end of the agenda or if it's your will we can ask for a motion to adjourn may I have a motion to adjourn so move second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee councilwoman Gonzalez [Music] yes councilwoman Williams yes councilman Harrison Council sorry council president Council huh councilman Harrison councilman Harrison I'm sorry I'm hearing I'm sorry did I miss Council councilwoman frisbee did I hear you say yes yes thank you sorry that's what Tri me up there I apologize we councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano motion carry meeting adjourned thank you