ation yes please 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 Madam President it's my understanding at this time that there is a matter of a statement that needs to be read in order to secure funding for a particular project yes understood if
you'll allow me to read that statement or have that statement read both in Spanish and English yes we will do so now thank you i'll turn over the microphone to my counterpart and he will go ahead and read that statement
good afternoon everyone city of Trend pre-qualification hearing for prospective biders for historic restoration work at the Robling Machine Shop 675 South Clinton Avenue Trenton New Jersey the city of Trent having been awarded a capital grant from the New
Jersey Historic Trust to carry out historic preservation efforts at the Robling Machine Shop will be seeking formal bid proposals from pre-qualified contractors to carry out the approved scope of work consistent with the Secretary of the Interior Standards for historic structures base
pre-qualification of biders is permitted under the New Jersey local public contracts law NJSA481-1 EDSE and NJSA48 col 11-25 and because the Robing machine shop is a historic property and the scope of work for this project is of a
highly specialized nature due to the historic preservation needs of this structure only contractors qualified and experienced in historic preservation projects should be permitted to receive receive bid documents and submit proposals pre-qualification of contractors will ensure that the lowest
responsible bidder has the requisite experience and capacity to successfully complete the project according to specifications statutory requirements hold that a municipality desiring to pre-qualify prospective biders must adopt pre-qualification regulations
after first conducting a public hearing pertaining to the decision to pre-qualify prospective biders accordingly a public hearing is being scheduled to obtain prospective bids views and consider prospective biders objections to pre-qualifi pre-qualification of biders for this
project pre-qualification regulations and any related information will be made available to prospective biders regarding the scope of work representatives from the city will be available to answer questions that may arise through the forum of the public pre-qualification hearing in accordance
with procedure set forth in NJSA48 col1 11-1 at SEC and NJSA48 col1 11-25 there will be a public pre-qualification hearing on Tuesday April 1st at 5:30 p.m in Trenton City
Hall 319 East 8 Tren New Jersey second floor 08608 a virtual meeting link is also available sorry that's mouthful clinton Avenue [Music]
Historic [Music] [Music] Secret Onoific rolling machine shop forific in consequencia [Music] Fore foreign foreign
[Music] [Music] entrance City Hall East [Music]
Thank you sir much appreciated and Madame President at that time if you'd like me to continue with the At this time if you'd like me to continue with the agenda yes President certainly uh at this time
we have reached a point of public comment for agenda and docket items only if I could have the clipboard for that [Music] please see this for public comment this is the one
I need now y bring that one back there and to the public public comment will be five minutes for each individual listed um please do confine your comments to docket or agenda items only and madame president I have individuals crossed out
i do not have anybody listed i have one name a first name listed and it says Teresa is there a Teresa that wishes to speak on an item related to the docket understood no worries
ma'am seeing none Madam President uh if we can move on we can move on with the agenda yes sir all right and moving on from there we will go into approve madam Madam President if you want to ask for approval of
communications petitions and reports please approve vote to move may I have a motion to approve communications petitions and reports so move second roll call vice President Edwards yes counciloman Feliciano yes councilwoman
Figuro Kber councilwoman Figueroberg councilwoman Frisbee yes yes i think that was Bill it looks like I got two yeses thank you i'm sorry i was It wouldn't let me unmute i apologize oh no worries no worries uh Councilwoman
Williams yes thank you Council President Gonzalez yes thank you and Madame President I'm going to move back up the back up to minutes for approval we do have September 17th 2024 february 4th
2025 we have February 18th of 2025 however I know that was not distributed so we will wait till next meeting for those minutes if you want to ask for a motion to approve um I want to ask for a motion to approve however I wanted to
abstain from February 4th understood is there a motion then is there a second so moved second i'll take the move mo motion and the second roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman
Figurero Kenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee yes for this and the previous yes thank you welcome yes she said yes um councilwoman if you
could repeat yourself very quickly yes okay was there Thank you i was saying yes for this one and the previous one i was saying yes but you said you couldn't hear me thank you thank you for clarifying and on to Councilwoman
Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes motion carried and Madame President on we will move on to ordinances at this time ordinance for second reading and public hearing
ordinance excuse me ordinance 25-002 ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as Hanam Alley and identified on the city tax map as lot
12203 lot 13 pursuant to NJSA 4A col 1213B5 to Edel Miro Gonzalez for the sale price of $,500 are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none madam
president if you want to ask for a motion to approve may I have a motion to approve so moved second roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figuro Kenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee
yes councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes motion car motion carried ordinance 25-005 an ordinance establishing the appointment duties responsibilities and functions of city council member liaison to certain boards
and commissions of the city of Trenton may we have a motion to approve are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam President we'll go ahead and take that motion i may have a motion to approve so move
is there a second second second not this one i'm sorry oh no we are actually Yeah roll call vice President Edwards we going to um I'm sorry Mr christier we wanted to make an amendment
to that ordinance um Council Vice President Edwards certainly thank you i I don't think I was speaking loudly enough sorry about that um we do have a a minor amendment
to this um and Mr colli our attorney was helping us with the amendments um Mr garcia do you have the most recent amendment that he had recommended the language for it um the most recent to you amendment to
this ordinance would should be what's been distributed is there something that has come up in the recent interim yes it was supposed to be in here that um the liaison that are being appointed
to the boards are not voting members and not speak at the meetings as they're not a voting member and it could present to be a conflict of persuasion okay
um give me one moment matt council vice president i just go I'm go ahead i'll let discussion ensue and I'll confirm in a moment um Councilwoman Feliana thank you
so the I guess the question I have is there are there are certain boards that are autonomous boards is that true yes okay those would be the boards that the council liaison would not speak at is
that correct correct can someone just for the record state what those autonomous boards are for the record Mr garcia do you want to read that off or should I have Mr bridg if I may
Council um this this discussion sued because there were um liaison placed on the zoning and planning board those boards specifically are quai judicial independent entities that are making rulings on certain applications um under
the case law and under um our standard of operation it wouldn't be proper to have a council member participating and making comments on those independent quai judicial bodies and in particular when a lot of the decisions that are going to be made at that um level will
be before this body for um approval thereby also creating a conflict so um those boards are now off of here okay um so that the the additional language while I think it clarified the duties of liaison for those boards I don't
necessarily think it's necessary for these boards because quite candidly council folks can participate in deliberations because these are internal city departments that it's okay to have uh comm community you know involvement with and question and ask as opposed to those two bodies so while the language
doesn't um hurt it just fleshes out um what council's duties are I I don't think it's it's it's a fatal flaw that this um resolution as presented because it really encompasses what we need to encompass and avoids any conflict or interference with the quaison judicial
independent body thank you so that was the point i just wanted to make sure that we were clear so we don't need that extra language because those boards are taken off and having been a liaison and sat in the
meetings with the boards that I was have been on we've had conversation um because they're going to ask questions possibly and you have to give them answers but for those two it is specific to that so I I would like to respectfully ask that we don't amend it
with the new wording because it's not necessary okay madame President Council Vice President thank you and um thank you for that clarification Mr bridges um because we were talking about this uh last week about what the languages
should be and the autonomy of the zoning board and possibly the planning board but we got a better understanding since then um but to is it the recommendation to add in here that they are not voting members of the boards that they're
liaons to even though you know planning board is a separate subject matter now from that because that board doesn't require liaison as there is an actual council member that is supposed to be a board member according to the state
statute for the planning board so that's a little bit separate from the liaison ordinance understood i think um and thank you for that question i think it really is a case by case um issue for example I believe that Mr um Harrison for example
is a class three member of a board and and that will be governed by u by that so it's really what council's wishes are um if I were making a recommendation to council I would leave it open-ended like this because in essence and while the administration may may uh not want me to
say this it gives you more involvement with that and they do want me to say that by the way because we want involvement but it gives you more involvement whereas if you're putting in here you can't do anything then you can't do anything so I would recommend giving you that freedom to ask questions participate in the process for those uh
departments where you're rightfully obligated and charged with being involved with with the process so I I would not recommend uh putting that language in because that really limits your involvement and neither administration nor council want to limit limit the robust conversations to make sure we're crafting proper litigation
proper legislation excuse me okay thank you Council so council vice president you finished with your thought i'm just saying no I was I was saying thank you to the updated advice because I know when we're we're having conversations last week that was
and and and I'll I'll take responsibility for that my my um entertain not entertainment discussing those back and forth with Mr closure is really to try to carve out the exception for those two independent bodies such that if we were going to have liaison sitting on those independent bodies it was very clear to them that they were
not to participate not to vote not to be involved just be there basically as a recorder of what is going on um at those during those meetings to be able to report back to council so that's why I was involved with the language trying to you know carve out that exception again with the administration's goal of giving council as much involvement as possible
i didn't want to tamper down the involvement i also want to protect the council from overstepping its boundaries in as it related to those specific uh um entities great and now that they're totally separate legislation this is totally fine that's correct okay so I don't have any amendments thank you
thank you Councilwoman Williams thank you ma'am uh just wanted to bear a couple things and I was happy to hear um uh at or law director um Bridg's response to your question uh because some of the the other nonzoning non-planning boards uh they may actually
need on occasion to have the liaison to be a voting member so they have a quorum which is um sad but this to say um that does happen on occasion uh t particularly in summertimes uh that quorums may be missing uh but also uh
just wanted to add uh to the issue with regarding zoning and planning since they're quasi judicial uh council members should not um leazison or non-lazison um speak at those meetings um in any way shape or form because it also could
serve as a form of intimidation on the board members who are relying on city council members to vote for the reappoint um additionally uh if an applicant were to be turned down uh they could uh through the court system have to come
back to city council for a decision on an application uh which would then create a conflict of interest or prejudice if the council may already previously spoken thank you Councilman Williams that I mean that was brought to our attention and that was the reason for us having the opening up the
discussion and um to council vice president's um point that was suggested that we amend this on the floor so that's where the amendment was coming from but thank you director Bridges for clarifying that council president yes
councilwoman Figuro yes hi um thank you to that point I'm just curious uh to Councilwoman Williams point about um planning and zoning and council members not speaking at all at these meetings whether they're liaison or not um I just
want to clarify just because I mean we are still constituents ourselves we're still residents ourselves um we're still representative of the people who voted for us and who serve us so I just want to be very very clear like is that actually the stipulation that we cannot
speak at those meetings you know because these things do affect us as well and sometimes our constituents come to us and want us to be representative of them in some of these concerns and issues um so is there a a fine line is there a gray area or is it just black and white
respectfully one way or the other you know are we allowed to say anything or not i just I just want clarification on that so I'm going to allow Director Bridges if you don't mind jumping in on that one please thank you thank you Council President thank you Councilwoman
Figuro Kenberg um my recommendation would be and as always is the case you can always feel free to consult Mr colloji for his um counter or or or similar um opinion my position is that it would be recommended council not say anything participate at all whatsoever
in those meetings even though yes you are residents of the city of Trenton you are also dy elected council um people for the city of Trenton and when you're making that representation at those meetings while it may be your your your desire to say that as a private citizen
when it's coming from you as a elected official at these meetings there is a a a a badge of of of nobility to that and your word is going to carry more weight and people are going to um be swayed by what you say and really why I'm recommending there be a bright line test
is because what I don't want to have happen is for someone's application not to be ruled on favorably by those entities or those bodies and there be allegations of some type of uh uh overstepping by this council or influenced by this council and the reason that they're um statutoily
required to be independent so they can make those independent um assessments and then to be elevated to this body now that being said it's really fact specific right if you're talking about just a general policy uh thing that's not necessarily touching on something
that's on the agenda but um uh you know I I struggle coming up with an example is not to say that you you have a gag order or with respect to that but really is a fact by a case specific situation so um I think air on the side of not being involved but if there's something pressing if there's something of public
importance or public policy that um council thinks they want to articulate those meets I think it's something that in in you know consultation with myself Miss Colloji we can consider on a case by case basis thank you Director Bridg just real quick um not to beat a dead
horse but just to give a specific um you know one particular time that I was asked to represent constituents at a meeting it was it's a development um on you know in the south ward and they were bringing in units and it was going to you know it's going to
um affect parking and things of that nature and they they were concerned so they reached out to me and asked me to you know be a part of it to attend the meeting and speak on their behalf so and and understanding everything you've said even in those circumstances it is still
advised not to be that representative at that time correct yeah i think that's a prime example of what not to get involved with right because if you are are are basically the the the sounding board for the concerns of the residents in that area that are opposing it and
you're not obviously in this situation but any council person and they're um articulating a preference one way or the other you're inserting yourself in the process and that and that's what that would could be considered interference with an independent body appreciate it thank you so much thank you Council
President councilwoman Feliciano I was trying to Did Williams have something i thought she was but she I was just going to just add uh that uh during my time on zoning board uh our previous board attorney George McIll uh he would cite statute uh from municipal land use law
about why uh council members could not speak at council meetings when it was attempted and there was very few times that that was ever attempted thank you thank you [Music] yes ma'am thank you so just for one last clarification I just I I'm ready now i'm
I'm you know [Music] um if the if there is an issue that is before the zoning board that affects the house right next to mine as a taxpaying constituent who happens to be a council person but it
directly affects me it's right next door to me or it's on my block it's right there then do we have the right to come and speak at the meeting council President I may uh thank you for that question because it gave me an example I was trying to find that I was struggling with but if it's something
that is obvious on its face that's affecting you your property as a citizen not you're speaking on behalf of a group of of folks who are opposing or support of it and you're and and you can show common sensely that this is affecting my property uh that's that would be one of
the times where you would reach out to Mr colloji myself and we would say yes this seems to make sense because it's directly impacting you individually and when we would go through the proper disclosure language when you're participating that you're making any statement you're making as an individual you're not representing city council
you're not uh you know doing anything on behalf of the government this is just you um expressing your feelings because of how it's affecting you individually that would be an example because it is affecting you personally okay so the rule of thumb is if it is something that affects us
directly we are to contact Mr colloji and you first before we even show up to get the proper wording and everything so that we're clear first to make sure that it is okay and then to get the proper wording if we show up to speak yes that would be respectfully requested from all council member for the for the benefit
of this council as well as the process itself yes okay thank you thank you Council President councilwoman Williams I just would just like to add um additionally after that and that's a great step we'd also be consultation uh maybe through our legal representatives
Mr bridges Mr colloji with the municipal land use attorney that's attached to the board just as a suggestion thank you so I guess we're good to move um to approve without any amendments to the
ordinance as is understood so there's been a motion and a second made uh Madame President shall I move through the role yes roll call please certainly vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes
councilwoman Figuero Kenberg councilwoman [Music] Figuero moving on to Councilwoman Frisbee yes noted councilman Harrison yes thank you councilwoman Williams
yes um come back to uh Councilwoman Figuro Kenberg sorry you guys had me muted again no noted thank you council President Gonzalez yes motion
carried ordinance 25-11 ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as 14 Ward Avenue and identified on the city tax maps block 25702 lot 34 pursuant to
NJSA4A colon 1213B5 to Joshua S Vega for the sale price of $5,000 are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve may
we have a motion to approve so move second thank you roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figurero Kettinberg yes
councilwoman Frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes motion carried ordinance 25-12 ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as 29 Hampton Avenue and identified on the
city tax map as block 26402 lot 2 pursuant to NJSA 4A1213B5 to Diego Baros for the sale price of $2,500 are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this
ordinance at this time seeing none Madam President if you want to ask for a motion to approve may we have a motion to approve second roll call c vice President Edwards councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman
Figueroa Kenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes motion carried ordinance 25-13 ordinance authorizing the sale of
city- owned property common property commonly known as 45 Southern Street and identified on city tax map as block 1101 lot 8.01 pursuant to NJSA4
A1213B5 to Hattie W wilson for the sale price of $1,950 are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve may we have a motion to approve so move second
roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figueroa Kenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes
council President Gonzalez yes motion carried ordinance 25-15 ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as 23 Hannes Avenue and identified on the city tax map as block 6104 lot 10 pursuant to
NJSA4A1 1213B5 to Howard J jones for the sale price of $3,700 are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam President if you want to ask for a motion to approve may we have a motion
to approve so move second roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figuroa Edenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman
Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes motion carry ordinance 25-16 an ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as 122 Burton Avenue and identified on the city tax map as block
8505 lot 27 pursuant to NJSA 481 1213B5 to Debbie Parks for the sale price of 7 [Music] $17,500 are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam President if you want to ask for a
motion to approve may I have a motion to approve so moved second roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figueroa Kenberg abstain
noted councilwoman Frisbee yes yes got it thank you councilman Harrison stain noted councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes
motion carried thank you on to resolutions madam President are there any items uh that are listed that you wish to or the council wish to extract for questioning or for that matter for purpose of consent agenda are there any
council members who have questions madam President Councilwoman Figurero Kenberg uh 25102 102 yep that's it against and Madame President if I may uh we do have two items here
listed excuse me one moment anyone else yeah um 25121 and then uh 25107 and then 25110 thank you hold on you said 121 yep i'm sorry 121
uh 107 110 and then uh one 120 sorry thank you yep anyone else um Mr garcia you were going to say something yes Madam President I hope you
got those numbers for questioning as we conferred here it appears we have two walk-on resolutions as opposed to three um if you'd like I can read those titles um yes please
certainly resolution 25-124 has been given a number this is resolution authorizing payment for a contract with Carol Group 4 at 4 Young's Road Hamilton New Jersey 08619 on an emergency basis for
the demolition of 799 East State Street Trenton New Jersey in an amount not to exceed $160,000 that's been numbered 25-124 i will take [Music] 25-125 correct me if that's been taken
already sure hold on one second so the Go ahead go ahead i have it never mind no never mind go ahead okay the remaining walk-on resolution will be given the 125 number and that is a
resolution rescending resolution 25-027 and reestablishing Trenton City Council member appointments to various boards and commissions and and this is in reference to your liaison uh previously assigned yes okay
okay with that in mind I apologize Madam President but if you want to continue with whatever resolution is up for questioning at this time yes so we have um resolution 25-102 um for Councilwoman Figuroa Kenberg yes
thank you um really really quick question about this um obviously um for the cameras the added cameras um downtown Hamilton Avenue area i just am curious about um a point that was made in the memo to
BA Richardson from um director Arch Liston that states that businesses along the Hamilton Avenue corridor near Chamber Street report problematic shoplifting having cameras on these blocks would help resolve some of these issues i'm just like how how is
shoplifting in in stores kind of the city's issue i I I agree to us needing cameras for um you know for dumping u for other crimes and things like that but when it comes to stores aren't shouldn't the store owners be responsible for their
own surveillance why are we why are we them responsible for something like that it it would assist the police um the the Rustin director of Hed uh in the case where you would have uh shoplifters who
exit the store and it's reported uh and and many times shoplifting be if force is used it becomes a robbery so this would help the police identify the suspects as they exit the crime scene uh this would also
be helpful besides in the case of um shoplifting is in case of burglaries criminal mischief in the neighborhood so I mean the shoplifting is just one example uh of an innocent this yes it happens in the store but there are other
crimes that these also be beneficial uh in solving in the long term cam Sack you agree with that councilwoman Figer Kenberg oh I'm sorry um yeah i mean again I guess maybe it's the wording in the memo and I understand
that you know we need them for different types of different types of crimes and I get the burglaries things like that but just the the wording in the memo that it would be good for problematic shoplifting that just kind of set a it it set a kind of a red flag for me because like I said again I just do
think that that is more the responsibility of the store owners to have cameras in their stores to um to to catch those types of things and and utilize and give that surveillance footage to the police um I don't think
that we should be spending anything in excess of that for that same thing you know we can be using our spending wiser on on other types of crimes so that just stood out for me but I mean your explanation um for other types of crimes
and burglaries and things of that nature makes more sense but just the the wording in the memo just didn't make sense to me thank you and we'll try to make more sense next time i appreciate it director council President Councilwoman Feliciano thank you just
real quick Director Lon yeah um so the grant uh apply for and accept so this is this is a grant from them this is a U under the UEE system uh what you do is you write a project and you submit the
project to the state explain it to their board and then they accept it as a project or not this is accepted as a public safety project um and this is a normal process of how they do it uh but the council has to take the action to to approve it to uh you know to make sure
it's in this case it's a public safety issue right and so the question I have then to that is because it was project specific and approved under that project it's not like we could have taken the money and diverted it someplace else we would we're just specifically doing it
for this for these cameras for that right and that's the way the UEC works is you got to be very specific to a project and the monies have to be used for that project and you'll see numerous projects come through that are very very specific okay thank you
Madame President council vice president thank you um good evening director um I just wanted to get a little bit more clarification on as to what other types of activities these cameras will be used
to monitor besides shoplifting they would be used to monitor the streets you know when you have a crime and and if you can I if you've ever watched some of the crime shows on TV um what this creates
in the UE if if if something is moving in the UE on the street on the sidewalk uh it'll be recorded and many times crimes are solved from the scene they pick it up at the scene they'll be able
to follow the vehicle identified license plate number may be identified the individuals on the vehicles and follow where it went um and and what this does in UE creates a situation if if you want to commit a crime in the UE you're going
to be recorded or you're going to be observed and we have a much greater chance of uh solving crime and getting the bad guy off the street which reflects on getting they will then not come into the neighborhood if they know they're going to get caught more so it's
it's a good crime prevention uh technique and I mean that if it's used properly it it it's very very beneficial for res to solving crimes in a community and it has helped I know in in a lot of your crimes tracking uh vehicles by
camera uh from where the incident happened it's very helpful oh that's good and I agree as well um because a lot of the times some of these stores do not have cameras or cameras that can catch vehicles going from far distances
or coming uh you know from these distances you'll be able to track them throughout the city as they move around and as we are aware I had sat in um Councilwoman Williams CPAC meeting a week or two ago and uh Officer McNair was running down a list of a lot of the
crimes that are committed in the north ward and there were two or three um people that were committing chains of crimes not just one so oftent times when there's a shoplifter they're not just shoplifting from that one location they're trying other locations as well
so the I do agree that these cameras would be very effective and beneficial to not only preventing crime but tracking down the people that are committing these crimes there were about eight vehicles broken into and various properties stolen by one person um so
it'll be able it'll be good to be able to track them beyond what the business's cameras can track so absolutely thank you thank you um Councilman Harrison um Mr listen um if we had the cameras on Chambers and Hamilton Avenue it might
have been easier to to identify the attackers of that young man that was in the newspaper was everywhere yes mcdonald's any place that that we can put video surveillance up in this city is going to benefit the police department the best part about this this is not funded by the taxpayer this is
funded by the urban enterprise zone for the purposes of public safety with within an urban enterprise zone community uh and that's the nice part about it because you know it's it's not taxpayer money right thank you Council
President councilwoman Williams thank you i just uh want to say thank you for uh putting this together making happen a lot of this obviously is in the downtown and in North Ward so I know uh my constituents as well as businesses and nonprofit organizations uh workers will
be very happy to have this coverage but I just wanted to make a suggestion it turns out you have uh a couple nickels left over uh having some uh near Hamilton and South Clinton uh towards uh Robing Plaza might be helpful to residents of the East Ward North Ward
and South Ward who patronize that area also uh because we do have some crime issues heading further up uh south clan towards Robin Plaza sir and as we lay it out we're working obviously with the police department uh we'll get some input from from council to say hey you
have a an issue in your your neighborhood in your ward you know where might be a good place to put them as long as they have they have to be in the UE that's the base issue um but we'll be more than happy to work along with council and the and the wards to do that thank you thank you ma'am madam
President Councilwoman Figuro Kenberg thank you um yeah I second that sentiment from Councilwoman Williams um and thank you Director Lon um I do look forward to hopefully having that conversation about placing them in in other areas um also just with regards to
these cameras uh do the store owners have full access to these cameras uh no they wouldn't have access to them they would have only Yeah they would i mean if they had an issue in the store or they were having a shoplifting issue or other they'd be able to go into the
police department and request you know that that they work with the investigation and then the police would cooperate with the with the victim store to make sure um that they would get that's basically how you're going to identify a lot of people the store owner
you know may know the individual or other people and and if we can get uh fixed photos of the people off the video system and the and the police can show them in a neighborhood they much easily can identify people coming off the video
right okay thank you thank you thank you director thank you oh that was it to consent yeah can we put this on consent um Councilwoman Figureroa yes thank you
um Councilwoman Williams with 25-121 or do we have a motion my question actually um more so has to do with the attachment to this which is uh the ordinance about um the redevelopment plan so I could ask my question here or I could wait for the
ordinance vote ma'am because it kind of goes in both areas i mean you can answer here and then we can put the other one on consent okay that sounded good council President Councilwoman Feliciano depending on the question that Councilwoman Williams has
I I do have a question about the ordinance in line so if we're going to do it then I We could do Okay thank you that's fine thank you director then questions for you uh so my question has to do it's more so with the ordinance but if we're going to
be passing a resolution um sending the ordinance to planning board for review and approval after we have read it i have two questions regarding um some of the points on page two of the ordinance itself um the first
one is number four where it says the redevelopment plan incorporates the underlying zoning currently in effect throughout the city and is not intended to supersede any applicable provisions of the city's land use regula regulations or any specific redevelopment plans which have been
adopted by city council um so I was glad to glad to see that there so uh just for the public uh for dissemination in no um way just as it says in black and white will any appropriate duties of zoning board uh be circumvented or taken away
by this redevelopment plan am I correct no it it actually um gives planning board uh a little bit more involvement in in the planning of the community let me explain the process here because this is somewhat confusing
we must pass a resolution to um send the plan to the planning board the planning board then reviews puts your input in it uh we've already communicated with the planners the attorneys on April 10th it'll be at planning board they will then have their
input um but you you have your first reading you send it over there they put their plan in and then they send it back for second reading and um the question came up I know of of kind of the purpose of this and if
you look at the bottom of page four of the plan itself I think it's it kind of uh summarizes the whole whole process of what we're trying to do and the primary goal of the redevelopment plan is to eliminate those conditions that cause a rehabilitation area to be considered an
area in need of rehabilitation the stimulation of private investment in the rehabilitation area by assembling sites and assisting as necessary and appropriate to support which uh such rehabilitation uh three is making
available of a full range of benefits and inducements of the uh rehabilitation area including federal state county and local government funding and the fourth is fostering the public private partnership to accomplish revitalization
of the rehabilitation area which is the whole city in a manner that best serves the needs of the community strengthens the local economy and attracts residents into the area and contributes to the continuing vitality of the city that
kind of summarizes that the whole um concept of the plan and uh this is a very important as part of the legal process is one things we have to do but also the input of planning board is very important uh to get the community input
there thank you and then uh my other quick question is regarding and I I apologize it's on the back side of the ordinance itself not page two on the inside would be confusing uh is uh point number six in any in the event any clause section or paragraph of the
ordinance and/or the redevelopment plan is deemed invalid or uninforceable for any reason it is the intent of city council that the balance of the ordinance andor redevelopment plan remain in full force and effect to the extent it allows the city to meet the
goals of the ordinance now is that um point or clause in this uh in case something's challenged at superior court um and proceeds to appeal and is reversed from the plan i I would say that Wes correct that that if if one
part of the redevelopment plan or some issue is is found to be invalid um then the rest of the plan would stay intact yeah it's it's it's referred to as a savings clause and it it articulates in there if any provision is deemed uh not proper that it doesn't stop the enforcement of other provisions yes
that's correct okay thank you very much gentlemen appreciate uh consent agenda for my opinion okay um I know Councilwoman Feliciano had a question also thank you Council President yes so who wrote the plan um the attorney
okay so I think it would kind of be helpful when we and and I don't know what the protocol is but just to have the author of the plan on here so we know who who did this [Music] um where it says property acquisition
the project area it's on page number six it says the project area is a rehabilitation area and therefore pursuant to the LRHL property acquisition by eminent domain is not authorized what what does
that mean for the city what that means is re rehabilitation um for the whole city uh has all the benefits of um redevelopment areas except at no point can you use eminent
domain in a rehabilitation zone and and when you even when you do a redevelopment plan you have to be specific that there is eminent domain in there because many of the redevelopment plans will also exclude eminent domain in the process
um so it's it's clear I think perfect language in the fact that we're not going to use eminent domain at all for rehabilitation areas but it does so I guess from my because I'm not versed in this so for me it doesn't mean the city can't take something back by eminent
domain it we can the city can cannot the city cannot so if somebody right the claw the clawback's different the clawback is where they have not met their um obligation under the contract under the redevelopment agreement then we'd have the ability to claw it back uh
what this is saying we can't go into an area declare it um and declare I'm a domain actually uh forcing people out of their homes and and taking the property um this does not allow that can we say something in the plan then about the
clawback is that possible to add that part to just for clarity just to say that the city can if they don't do I mean it's it's embedded under case law it's embedded by statute and case law okay we're also putting in all the redevelopment plan um agreements okay
that we are we're doing is the fact that um the the property if they don't meet our time frames then we'll be they have to um it's obviously in the deal it' be deed restricted that we have they have to forfeit the property back to us and that's following up what I was going to say that's really in the in the contract
itself is where you're going to have those enforceable provision that okay just as long as we have that I just wanted to make sure when I saw no imminent domain I was like wait all All right and then uh duration of redevelopment plan restrictions it says this redevelopment plan and any modifications thereof shall be in force
in effect for a period of 30 years from the date that we approve this that's a long time is that normally what it is like it'll be 30 years is the standard yeah that's pretty standard in the fact that you don't have to go back every 10 years or something it it gives
you the ability to do strategic planning because you have a 30 year you can say "Okay we're going to work on this block we have in this block and you don't have to go back and and and next year and do anything or 10 years uh but also remember council has the authority also to rescend this ordinance at any time it
wants to okay and then the last question I have is it says the last part this redevelopment plan may be amended from time to time in accordance with the provisions blah blah blah what is time to time it it means if something in the law changes uh or some case law comes
down we would then have have to uh amend the plan it really and that happens in that has happened in redevelopment plans is the fact that case law comes down says you've got to do this notice you have to do this you have to go and amend the plan uh which we're I think we're
going to be doing in the in the near future with some of our plans but in the rehab area if something's changes in the law uh statutoily or by case law we would then come back to council to amend it okay thank you i think I probably would have just took out the from time to time it just said we could because I
was like what's that mean all right thank you um Mr director Liston thank you Madam President i'm good for consent agenda madam President Council Vice President I do have a question about the the imminent domain part um as you know I'm not a fan we've talked about this in
our ad hoc committee before when we talked about imminent domain i'm not a fan however in some cases is necessary if you have a private owner who is not responsive and the property is either uh
an economic deterrent or it's in a severe state of dilapidation when imminent domain comes into play with that who would be like that i will refrain from answering that I will be bringing forward the resolution
uh at probably the next meeting uh about mending a certain redevelopment plan in the city to include eminent domain in in the process because we do have certain businesses or certain home um property owners who have not negotiated in good
faith uh have not worked with the city to improve the city uh have allowed their property to become blighted and there's a point when government does have to take an action um and it and it is a property that we're not going to have to relocate anyone it's one
property that that I think is will will generate a lot of interest downtown and and working through the process yeah council President if I may I I think also what uh Councilman Edward was referring to was um the lapidated problems im imminent hazard that that
would that's not considered um eminent domain that would be more imminent hazard condemnation type of issues so that would not take any of those remedies off the table for the city okay so to the point of where you have an owner that to Mr listen point that may
be responsive but not cooperative and they've held on to a property for a decade or longer say that be the criteria and we've tried to negotiate to no end and still cannot come to a resolution to get this property back up
and running and they are an economic um they're disturbing the economy you know so what do we do in that event if if imminent domain is not in here if it's saying it's restricted because the entire city has been designated in as an area in need of rehabilitation so that
means nowhere in the city can we declare imminent domain but if we get say a commercial property that is not cooperative and refuses to open and they are destroying the economy around them in that case imminent domain would need to come into play and that's where
rehabilitation is the softer side of redevelopment and that's why we we would be amending or we would be actually generating a new redevelopment plan for the area we're discussing and we would um abolish the the prior plan that
didn't have eminent domain in it so we're going to get more aggressive on on certain properties okay i would like to see more aggression because there's some properties that we are not getting anywhere with i don't know if I'm allowed to say the one that I really
want to say but I'm not going to say that council President okay i will air on the side of it will be at the next meeting okay council President Councilwoman Feliciano just real quick so to that point about the imminent domain that's why I was asking
about the clawback and the imminent domain thing but you were saying that it's going to be in each individual write up ordeal about the the clawback so this shouldn't be this shouldn't be an issue moving forward right it's an
issue now because of what was but moving forward that whole imminent domain thing ain't going to be no issue because we gonna have something put in all of the agreements that we could call back right and and deed restrictions for um re they called date reverters it would revert
back to So we're doing more that's not where you're taking a property and throwing people out of the house right this is basically a a contract where they signed with the city and they failed to meet their obligation for a 12-month period or 18month period that's
when that we step in and say "Okay you haven't met your obligation you know you're going to we're going to have to have the property come back to us." Okay thank you Council President councilwoman Williams thank you um so director uh I know we you know also you know obviously
we've discussed this in the past and my issue has always been nilu uh versus new London case that the Supreme Court decided um so it sounds like just like in that case since this is for economic development create jobs which supreme court found was a public use actually
for the first time um it sounds like you don't expect uh eminent domain to be employed or used uh in Trenton be much beyond uh this one case coming possibly so it would be considered something that would be a tool to be rarely used am I
correct that's correct with um Kilo gave us Kilo gave us that authority in government but the state has been much more restrictive in uh the notice process and how we go about it
but um in in the case we're looking at it's it's one of the few options we really have one of the last options we really have and that's why we're getting more aggressive in the sense that you know we're trying to work with people and trying to regenerate the the areas
and this is there's no other option if we can't get this issue resolved thank you that that'll make Trentonians rest easy i hope yeah yeah it's that they'll be very pleased at the end product thank you [Music]
thank you director is that okay to go on consent thank you the next one Mr garcia was uh 25-107 councilwoman Williams yes that's for uh Director Mikap
good evening Diego Binakapelli Department of Health and Human Services good evening director thank you very much i just uh wanted to ask you to come up to kind of go over uh this for us just in simplic simplicity sake for the
public because I did get some questions um from a few uh constituents regarding uh the reallocating of funds etc because it seemed we have a grow we still have a growing homeless problem i know we've talked in the past about money from the
opioid settlement which I think that's my understanding that's got hung up and at the federal level to pay for uh outreach vans to help with mental health issues in the city folks who um maybe are houseless or homeless and um I know
we still have whatever money comes from cannabis for the 10% dedication towards uh addressing identifying healthcare disparities and we're still waiting for tax money to come from the state on that so we're kind of between a rock and a hard place so what will this mean for us
to be able to provide more services for folks uh who may be homeless uh I know in rapid situations um as a council person and all of us get called I'm sure uh when there's a fire and someone needs a place to live for a week or you know
another disaster happens are we covered for that but also how are we going to handle um our growing homeless issue in a city yes so about 107 this this particular uh resolution this is for the emergency solutions grant um and so
every year we get around 236 $35,000 so we go through a process through the federal program and then we look for some recipients that are going to help us with uh rapid rehousing um um
street outreach and so on and so on um and so after we go the uh through the application process we um that's what we're doing now we are awarding those those grants to the subreients last year we uh set aside
$47,000 for uh to hire a mental health worker um and so we set aside $47,000 for it uh we did not find the candidate um and so we have two years to spend the money so in order for us not to lose the
money we have to reallocate it into rapid rehousing street outreach um and so on and that is the reason why we have the money back into the subreients um your question regarding how are we
moving forward well um ESG is the little sister of the COC system for the COC we have $6 million distributed in different uh organizations with different um activities that they do to help us to um
uh with homelessness um the opioid element uh that we're working on it um and we're trying to find ways that we can help our community and at the same time we complement with the county uh um
opio element and um the police department that police department also gets some some money with it um and so we are working on that um for as you said the 10% of the
cannabis I'm not uh familiar with it yet because we're not getting the money and I don't have that proposal or making the proposals yet we can explore that later when Okay yeah that's already uh been passed yes and it's just we have to wait for that you know the actual tax money
to come for the cannabis that's been sold since um the first shops opened which I know has been a struggle absolutely so then all of this oh all of this is mon we have to have a monitor um and that's why we have the homeless
management information system which we have a vendor for it and that vendor monitors our um the intake of the homeless into you know because of the federal program uh and that is a mandate that we need to have okay and then I
know uh our health department you all work very very hard you have so many different things on your plates all the time but when I get complaints and I'm sure my colleagues do uh regarding folks who are houseless or homeless um living
you know in tents uh in different areas of the city that you know you always see people or on the highways and byways under overpasses who act who actually has jurisdiction or who's the responsibility to maybe help
those people get assistance or you know respond to assistance without you know without a situation where the arrive together program initiates because the call goes to the police department because we have county board of social services yes um we have the state
department of health and human services uh here in the city and it just doesn't seem like a lot of these folks we just have a permanent problem the people may change but the problem exists right so department of health and human services for the human services we have a
director and she is here um Ruth Carter so her team will approach these individuals and then we will do this u many times uh we cannot um enforce uh the removal um and we do it with dignity
and respect too so it has to come from them they will get the service they will accept the service and we continue to do so we have all the partners too that they will arrive there and then provide the services but it's up to them they have the decision they have the autonomy
to do so we cannot force anybody to you know to make them move from that place or um live in other conditions it is up to them but so I guess then my question becomes and thank you for filling us in on that do any other government entities
or just the city of Trenton make contact with these folks we we do have the sea center um uh team um we do have um the human services team uh we work with um the rescue mission their mobile unit um
and all of those human nonprofits that are Trenton based yes yes uh the police department as you said they are team too so we work together to make sure that we can approach the person and um you know work with them okay thank you very much so no problem okay thank you ma'am uh
consent agenda please council president i may just point of clarification yes on this uh I I believe there was a a representation or or a statement made that there was a delay in the opioid settlement funds um is that something that was That's what um I had read that
previously and I I'd asked several months ago if we'd gotten the money yet and we hadn't but um I had read that the um gosh the name the the the name of the uh the family who billions of dollars they came up with the uh the all the um
painkillers that went all over the country and helped create the uh Sackler if that's that settlement and and apparently it got reversed first um at the federal level and that that money is not being released yet because it's an appeal okay well I I and again just for
this unless that's a different lawsuit i apologize there are there are overlap related laws but for this council's benefit opioid monies on these settlements have been coming in on a periodic basis every year i don't have the grand total but I just wanted to this body to understand and and make sure I'm not missing anything that
opioid monies have been coming in and I don't know if there's delayed with other monies that are coming because we are expecting more but it's not as though we haven't received any opioid uh settlement funds excellent to hear thank you sir thank you so that's consent correct thank you so
much on our next resolution you ready to say that 110 um 2510 that is Councilwoman Williams thank you ma'am that means um
Good evening sir how are you i'm doing well how are you good just uh two quick questions came from a lot of constituents on that street as you might imagine it this is creating a lot of excitement because uh this building has been abandoned for a good while and so
two questions I have are um first with the timeline and uh cleaning up the property getting in a little bit more presentable shape how soon that might happen and then the second one would be would there be any um historical marker noting the history
of the Garvey School yes there um Paul Harris uh interimm director of parks and recreation yes there will be an a historic marker placed on the structure uh we are need there's an environmental review that is required so we are still many months away from any movement at
all but just so we're on the same page about what's going to happen this will be a complete this funding this $800,000 will be used for this building uh there will have to be other funding for the entrepreneur entrepreneurial program uh from the roof to uh to the existing
classrooms to the HVAC units everything from the B top to the bottom will be rehabbed it'll be uh the same building but just gutted and beautified okay and as far as vegetation and things like that can that be removed before summer yes okay thank you very much okay
consent agenda please thank you so much and then council president councilwoman Feliciano council vice president has a question well I think it's a good question i didn't see her thank you
good evening director um I just had a I just had a question um because this is on the on the memo page of this it specifies that um this the former Garvey School is going to be rehabilitated and
but it's going to serve also serve as an overflow space for conscious venture lab accelerator that is currently scheduled to occupy one West State Street yeah I revised that memo i don't know if they got to you but I took that off yeah it's
not going to serve as that space as overflow space yeah I wanted to make sure because um I know council president and I received the docket ahead of rest of the council for docket review however when the council members receive their updated dockets is still in the memo
that so I just want to make sure that if it was disseminated to the public that they hear that it won't be it will not be listen longterm this grant that we have is going to be strictly for the building but there will be an entrepreneur program placed here for
Trenton residents um but it won't serve as an overflow okay thank you um that's all thank you thank you Councilwoman Council Vice President anyone else good thank you Mr garcia that was
consent I believe and then Thank you we also have Councilwoman Williams with 25-120 actually I'm okay with that now i got my question answered thank you ma'am thank you so consent agenda please thank you
Mr garcia i just wanted to for 25-125 the walk- on yes if I can just make an amendment and add um Councilwoman Williams to the library board certainly are you making that motion may
I make May I have a motion to amend 25-125 to include Councilwoman Williams to the library board so moved second second thank you one Excuse me one moment please [Music]
no they hadn't addressed it yet all right councon and the vote to allow the walk- on on um then we can go ahead and take that um okay take that for approval as amended for amendment and approval thank
you and madam president with that being the case um if you want to ask for a motion I'll go to 25-124 um to begin with if you want to ask for a motion to allow that walk on
as well may we have a motion to allow 25124 to walk on so move second thank you roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figurero Kenberg yes
councilwoman Frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes thank you motion carried and again for resolution
25-125 resolution rescending resolution 25-027 and reestablishing Trenton City Council member appointments to various boards of commissions um Madam President if you want to ask for a motion to allow that walk-on resolution may I have a motion to walk on 25125
so moved second thank you vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figuro Kenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee yes
councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes motion carried and will these items be for consent agenda or are there questions regarding either i understand there is a uh question regard motion to
that you like to make to amend 25125 correct yes just adding on amending it to add Councilwoman Williams to the library board please and Councilwoman I mean excuse me Council President that's a motion that you made is there a second second thank
you roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figuro Kenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez
yes motion carried and uh to the board with Bay uh for consent agenda yes noted thank you and then madame president if that's the case would you like to ask for a motion to approve a possible consent agenda this evening yes
can you just read off the number certainly again for the consent agenda certainly i did not notice any that were pulled for roll call so please do correct me if I am wrong but at this time a resolution uh excuse me you will be asking for a motion to approve a
consent agenda consisting of 25-1021 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 1123
[Music] 3 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 and 124 and 125 do we have a
motion to approve so moved second second vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figuero Edenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee yes thank you Councilman Harrison yes
councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez yes motion carried moving on to ordinances for first reading and introduction ordinance 25-17 an ordinance amending chapter 77 of the
code of the city of Trenton entitled fees and madam President if you want to ask for a motion to approve may we have a motion to approve so move second i'm sorry who's the second thank
you roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figuro Kenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez
yes motion carried ordinance 25-036 an ordinance adopting a redevelopment plan for the entirety of the city of Trenton a designated rehabilitation area madam President if you want to ask for a motion to approve may I have a motion to
approve so move second roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano yes councilwoman Figureroa Kenberg yes councilwoman Frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes
council President Gonzalez yes motion carried and Madame President we have a series of ordinances that were originally up for first reading that have been pulled they've been noted on the docket at this time i'll defer to the attorney if I
need to recite or list any of these items if need be i can't imagine so and council president if I may director Bridges please yes background for the public's benefit um council um asked some questions very astute questions I
may add with respect to these ordinances uh council as the redevelopment entity and and consistent with our um ability to work well with this council the administration specifically Director Lon uh asked if we can pull this so that we could um have a discussion executive
session under the contract negotiation uh exclusion to uh public meetings to be able to speak with the council about the process for um these um sales how um the properties are identified valued and the things that are uh discussed so with
that we're going to uh respectfully uh pull this and tee this up for discussion executive session next meeting with the hopes of having it back next meeting for this body's consideration thank you Director Bridges and for the public benefit that would be
ordinances pulled from what is that 14 through uh 14 35 35 that's correct you got it okay noted and moving on with the agenda at this time Madam President if you want to ask uh excuse me we if I could have the public comment clipboard
we've reached a point of public comment thank you very much and Madame President at this time we have 10 individuals listed for public comment if I understand correctly public comment will be five minutes in duration for each individual yes
no five you said five i said five did I say 10 it's 10 i said 10 people five minutes five minutes you said no worries hopefully they all I'm sorry um at this time I have a clipboard i'll call one more last call for public comment this
time that yes no all right hearing no others is that yes or no hearing no hearing no others then this this will be the final list for public comment you want to sign okay we have one more can we one entire
Can we up to the dang thing i have the list right here yes mr carcy can you just um state the uh process for the public comments please
certainly so the public public comment will be five minutes in duration for each individual you may address any item that you wish the council is not obligated to respond thank you mhm you're very
welcome there seems to be confusion so I'm going to move on now at this point there are no other individuals to be listed for public comment i'm sorry what's going on did you There's nothing nothing wrong excuse me she's on the list she just signed up
but she's not first though no you're not what's the confusion yes we just have to go on order ma'am okay thank you i'm her no did you want to sign up to speak just come forward please i'm confused here oh
my god somebody didn't sign this and that's you didn't you hadn't signed yet correct and you wish to sign understood here you are ma'am can you just call the first person while they sign mr garcia but Mr garcia can you call call the first person certainly while they're
still signing up uh if I can see the name sure what's the last what's the name on there one one moment council President I'm sorry thank you we just start the need address yes please
[Music] something about you [Music] canise Gryom
good evening from myself and several tenants from 465 Greenwood Avenue Tren Center West your name again i'm here to see uh if we could address several things like uh security okay uh could you just state
your name really quickly i'm sorry lenise Gryom thank you thank you go right go right ahead ma'am oh thank you anyway uh we come here to see if there are certain things that we can have addressed for our building and
we have uh problems with air conditioning uh bugs also we have a security problem they have taken the security and all of these things are threatening our health and safety so we have to have several
things addressed are we in the right place to have that you can voice your concerns to us well actually uh security guards they removed the security guards starting a month and a half ago from our building now I pulled up online or
ordinance that says that we should have security 24 hours in the senior building and the building 465 says that you have to be 62 even to move in and yet they've removed the security guards from us okay also uh when they come to spray for bugs
and stuff like that they do one apartment at a time and you have to make a lot of noise to get that done uh I'm wondering if there's some way that the whole building can be sprayed at the same time because all it's doing is running it from one apartment to the
other also we don't have a lot of air conditioning heating these are senior citizens and I'm one of them you know and and I don't know if we're in the right place this is my first time being here but I'm trying to find out where to go to get these issues
addressed so ma'am if you if you would wait we are not obligated to respond at the moment but normally during civic comment maybe one of the council members will address it and however we do have some directors in the room also we would like to speak to them they may come and say something
to you okay that's fine thank you that'll work that's it yeah we just need some help to talk to somebody it's because it's elderly of I we totally agree he said we're in the right spot someone will talk about Thank you
cynthia Fleming okay noted thank you or are you uh Thank you yeah i'm sorry i'm gonna try this name harold is that Well is that correct moving on to
Miss Is this uh Rain Saunders thank you [Music] hi good evening everybody good evening excuse my voice someone don't have laryngitis
[Music] my name is Rajan Rej thank you they call me Miss Jippy um of course I work with Trans Community Street Team as you can see um I have an issue with um slum landlords uh my
question is well the issue is um I have a landlord that took ownership of the property in January um we are now April 1st and to this date he has not given me um his email address
um all I have is his phone number um he has not given me um a lease um I don't know where to send the money i do have his money he did not give me um an amount to pay him um but
he has been um given me and my daughter threatening letters via text via um phone um yeah and um and threatening to evict
us i went to rent control um spoke with Stephanie Register and I went to the um the courthouse i spoken with the tenant landlord um and this man has just been harassing bullying and being intimidating i even
called um um I've talked to a couple people that um own houses and I' I've spoken to some of everybody um I even talked to Corey Isaiah about it um I talked to um another Steuart Tucker about it stuart told me to talk to
Joseph Mooney and then after that um the landlord that I'm talking about sent a letter from Joseph Mooney and stating that the landlord is giving me till June to find a place to move um ma'am can you state your address i don't think you
gave us that 71 Summer Street and I have a picture with me showing the porch the porch is actually falling apart and he said he took over i'm just asking real quick january okay thank you okay
my phone number is 609 533 yep 35 i was going to say you could give it to Okay you don't want to do it publicly you could have gave it to Mr garcia and he'll give it to us okay i'll write it down thank you okay thank you so much you're welcome uh OA
Caldwell Miss CO Mr mrs cwell OA CBO Emani Wilson Kendia Torres Victor Irizar oh wait i think she's standing torres is standing up
thank you [Music] candy Express 215 Stacy Avenue i stand before you today not as a statistic but a resident deeply concerned with the systemic corruption and blatant disregard for the law that
plagues our city i like like others have experienced the silencing tactics employed by those who abuse their positions of power city employees and so-called property developers who operate with impunity i undertake I have undertaken an
independent investigation pulling records of over 100 random rental properties in Trenton the results are shocking according to New Jersey state law and Trenton city ordinance only two of those properties are legally registered as rental units two this is
not a mere oversight it is calculated criminal disregard for the regulations that are meant to protect our community this these unregistered properties lack crucial documentation certificate of occupancy past inspections absentee
owner registrations and affidavit for various housing statuses just to name a few property ownership is unclear with discrepancies between county records city records and property tax filings permits are not being properly obtained
and when landlords are summoned to court they often fail to appear yet they continue to acquire more properties and collect rent this blatant disregard for the law leads to a cascade of abuses tenants are subjected to deplorable living conditions facing threats of
illegal evictions when they dare to request repairs rand hikes are imposed with impunity forcing residents into precarious situations furthermore many of these developers and landlords are not Trenton residents nor even New Jersey residents
they siphon money from our city enriching their own communities while neglecting ours our her hard-earned dollars are funding their children safe neighborhoods their well-maintained inf infrastructures while our city crumbles the financial implications are
staggering the city of Trenton is being robbed based on my calculations the revenue lost to unregistered properties and uncollected fees is potentially close to 1 million if not exceeding it this money could be used to improve our schools our streets and our essential
services this council's inaction has bred our an environment where corruption thrives this pattern is clear complaints are ignored until federal intervention is inevitable we cannot continue to operate under this system of reactive
rather than proactive governance we the residents of Trenton are tired of being ignored we demand accountability transparency and justice we will no longer tolerate the corruption that is stealing our future the silence needs to be broken
thank you Miss Torres victor Uh good evening it's a pleasure again be in front of you uh thank you uh President City Council President uh Gonzalez for your uh input on the energy uh race and
energy cost that hurt in our community black community of color community um this I'm more I'd like to speak on or say some on uh Mr retired Lieutenant Rolando Ramos m Mr i'm sorry can you just state your address oh my name uh 19
Morland Avenue Trenton New Jersey you thank you uh this uh this thing this beef he has for the city of police directors if he being a lieutenant and of course retired and maybe looking for a position in the future and might be hired by the
governor to be a director uh being that uh he's a what you call it a high level uh well thought of himself uh Hispanic that uh he will I would if I consider what I consider uh more European that
will be uh American or partially African that uh his attitude towards uh Trenton and uh the citizens of Treatton indirectly saying that we are a city of violent criminals and uh the police department has no control over us no
matter what director or what program is implemented which is nothing but a rerun of the same things over and over and over again since Mayor Palmer was here um uh so therefore what I'm saying is that
uh what he he and his so you know associate the believe like him law enforcement need to do step up to uh the government from uh the mayor up all the way down to up to President Trump and step to organized crime international
the international mafia organized crime across the nation with the FBI and the CIA they are working so hard on immigrants that are trying to get away from countries they are deeply and heavily involved in the drug trade i'm talking from the government to the law
enforcement and military as well as America working together uh through organized crime from the mafia all the way when um the mafia then uh people of color got involved and became an international problem that no one talks about and prior to that
uh that was also used against then back then maybe 40 50 years ago against the African-American community they turned into the black community they turned into the black and brown community now has turned into black and multiple
racial community which now is a global problem so Mr ramos uh this is something that's been I've been checking out since the 70s um is a problem where organized crime admitted um corruption well organized crime
already was in corrupt in corruption with the u prohibition alcohol when that ended then uh the mafia went the mafia Italian mafia went into heroin with the Middle East uh the habs and then that extended to the Hispanics and
African-American communities so uh I believe the problem is if you step to organized crime the international mafia corrupt governments all over the planet earth that extended from Jay Garger who was uh 19 was 1856 in search
of the black messiah that attacked the African-American community then it spread it out and it became big business and uh maybe that will resolve the problem if you stop if you could stop picking on Trenton police directors and that the community need to be involved
and the merchants and uh community leaders and people who care or have an input get involved and repeat the same thing over and over again that's been going on for 30 40 50 years which is actually um a program that was devised
by Edgar Hoover in search of the black messiah is simple it's uh ancient history is my my concern so that's to you Mr uh Rolando Ramos and anybody else in law enforcement that really if you want to
target target the international mafia and then you want to take it forward the ultimate criminals on the planet earth if you look if you study scriptures and law enforcement is the same thing are people who are actually devils one step above criminals and that's my comment
for today uh thank you very Uh Ebony Ebony Day is that day thank you hi Ebony Day 573 Rutherford Avenue thank you um I'm coming to you to talk about
the um city housing and how I have been trying to acquire um city own properties maybe through auctions or uh cash and I've been coming to city hall getting
the runaround and as I'm hearing today properties are are being sold And um I just been getting runarounds i don't know like what to do i've been coming back and forth
and nobody really have answers to tell me like where I could go what I need to do is it any auctions application then uh don't fill the application out we're not accepting applications it's just
like a runaround and um I've noticed people outside of Trenton that doesn't even live in Trenton are acquiring these properties and not taking care of them and here I am trying to acquire a property live in
Trenton and it's no no answers so that's it thank you Miss Day you're welcome caroline Clark thank you please state your name and address for the record okay my name is
Caroline Clark i live at 1812 Riverside Drive Trenton New Jersey thank you okay [Music] okay so my clock's running um good evening council members
um I just have a quick comment to piggyback on um Candidia's uh comment regarding corruption in the city of Trenton so I'd like to
know if anyone in this administration this governing body um does anyone have an answer to give to us as the public regarding the contract
slashcaterer contract um $200,000 contract that didn't go out to bid is anybody going to explain to us how that happened we have contract rules and laws
in place and clearly none of those were observed so I believe we deserve an answer so um I live on the island and I appreciate
that I feel safe in my home when I look across the river bank and the foliage that um was covering the bank and behind which people were going and doing all kinds of things i'm glad that that got
cleared but that has nothing to do with the fact that how it got cleared was illegal a competent leader would have been able to clear the riverbank and
follow the law those two things are not mutually exclusive so um the second comment I have is clearly the council was completely bypassed so what do you guys intend to
do about that you were sidelined and something illegal took place so what does the council intend to do and the last comment I have is it's becoming more and more apparent
that we don't need to be under DCA's oversight because this happened on their watch okay so when DCA realized there was a
problem DCA is claiming that they called the governing body to pass a resolution so my question is since it was the mayor who broke the law why are they calling on counsel to
fix it why are they not dealing with the mayor who broke the law they have oversight over us fiscally right and he broke the law fiscally right so why is it that DCA
would call council to fix it okay and that's another thing this was a pretty egregious um breach of the law $200,000 contract
is 300 is nothing to sneeze at so if DCA real realized that this was such a problem I don't understand why nothing was put in writing from DCA dca is claiming that they tried to
remedy this by way of a phone call something about this whole thing doesn't sit right because I know DCA has penalized us for not turning in a budget on time
so I don't understand why a phone call was made supposedly to the governing body to pass a resolution to fix it i don't know if you read the article I read in the Vindicator but that's what the DCA
spokeswoman said she called the governing body to pass a resolution so I would just like to know if when and how this is going to be addressed thank you Miss Clark
lorraine oh boy robinson thank you yes hello okay i don't know if you guys will be able to help me but I'mma put my word in i live at a property at 839 Prospect Trenton New Jersey thank you
okay um we he was living there for like since 206 i'm and I moved in around
2012 um the landlord the former landlord he lost a property for back taxes several of his property and um he gave us a lease city Hall contacted us in 2018 and told us um don't give the
landlord any more money bring it down to city hall so that's what we have been doing i have proof shh and then every time I came to see if we can
purchase the property at that time the back taxes was $17,000 and they told me at the city hall that I waited too long um I should have came sooner and I said "Huh?" We didn't even know it was in
foreclosure we was never told we was still giving the landlord a his rent money so now I was told that the property we can purchase the property so the first
letter they told me I had a contact miss well first Mr roachi was having it then Julie was having it now um Julie Murray Josie was having it then Julie Murray they switch it to Julie
Murray so I got in contact with her sent her an email and told her "I'm interested in buying a property purchasing a property and they told me I had to call you for an email um to get an appointment." So no disregard nobody
never contact me or anything so I came down here myself and I talked to the director he signed my paper i asked him could he signed it and he signed it and on two days later I got a call from
Julie Murray and she told me to come down for a um appointment so she can talk to me about the house then I got this letter from the city saying if I don't do it by
March 31st that they by April the 15th I have to vacate the premises and I'm like what so I showed the director I was preapproved by Well Fargo for the money to purchase the property and he said for
me to take it down there give it to Mr miss Julie Murray which I did i came down here last Tuesday i put in my offer i asked them how much was they offering for the you know property she said they was asking 15,000 and I was with
somebody and they said "Well if they offering 15,000 just put it in." So I put 15,000 when I could have put more if they was offering more so I just want to make sure these people ain't trying to mess with my head you
understand they offering you know giving making me take the lowest you know offer give the lowest offer and they ask him more for the property so that's why I came down here and I wanted to find out so they said to
find your talk to um I guess to I'm messing up Dika Fris Fris um Councilwoman Frisbee yes yeah I looked it up i was like
so Miss Robinson we're we're going to have um Mr cherry he's going to talk to you on um he's going to talk to you in a second okay should finish no problem thank you we do a lot to the house oh yes we do a lot hardwood floors painting
200 206 new hot water tank [Music] stove because every time I called the inspector to come to the house he said I had to um find somebody to do
it you know so we've been doing it so I just I live there more than decades thank you Miss Robinson okay you're welcome almost two decades thank you thank you uh Ed Leon
that's it i'm sorry what was the name oh I You are here ma'am i must have called i didn't get a response at the time thank you can we go right ahead man good evening everyone um my name is
Leslie Wilborn 29 High Avenue Northward um I have a um concern for some of the neighbors um on Seagull and Lewis Streets um apparently there's uh two garages there maybe more i don't know one or two garages um and there are cars
lined up along the streets and it's very very very narrow streets and the neighbors in the Brunswick Village and on um Kain Avenue um this hinders them from having uh uh ample parking and also
um cars are just lined up on the street waiting to be repaired and I thought I think these cars should be inside the yard you know that they have and I'm it looks like they have a yard over there where these cars could be placed and um
also the street in that area it has large craters potholes and um I think those potholes have been there quite some time now and I'd like to see some of our tax dollars go to uh filling in those little craters that they have
there and also one other issue um houses that are in probate or um owned by the bank for whatever reason i'm just wondering if the city has any control over that as to um um I'm
noticing a lot of uh vagrants are you know uh occupying these houses and there's a lot of trash and every everything strewn all over the yards and um I don't think the city um the residents should have to you know be subjected to that i I'm just wondering
if there's something that can be done with that issue because it's such a blight on uh the city and namely there's a house on um Ellis Avenue in Trenton i believe it's 207 Alice Ellis Avenue don't quote me on it but I believe that
is the house number and I believe um when I did check on it at one point in time it was in probate so basically that's all I have thank you thank you so much ed Leon good evening everybody good evening good
evening um my name is Ed Leon my address is 410 South Avenue the reason I'm at this meeting is um I noticed in the city of Trenton that the people that live here different ethnic
groups is changing i um lifetime resident community person and employee of the city of Tren for the last 30 years my concern is um I'm a big baseball fan baseball
always been a big thing in our community in the Puerto Rican community and um I noticed around the city that a lot of these baseball fields are being turned into soccer fields so my concern is um
what can the city do as a whole to like I don't mind the soccer fields but I don't want the soccer fields to take over the baseball fields there's a lot of open space in the city where soccer fields could be put and and they could be used um so basically um I'm just here
to express concern baseball is a American pastime and the city of Trenton has always been big as well whether it's softball community um recreation parks or um the Trenton Thunder when we had the Trenton Thunder here the little leagues all around the city so um
basically my concern is um what can the city do or what as a community can we do to continue to uh keep the parks we have improve the parks making you know uh improvements as far as landscape
whatever i know there's some projects going on i just want to make sure that the parks that we do have remaining in the city don't go anywhere and that we try to do something within the community or within the city to uh reach out to these younger kids out here that do want
to still play baseball so we can continue to have that past time in the city of Trenton i don't want to see baseball go out the window i know our the people that's coming into the cities from different areas of the country or the the you know America whatever it is
North America America they like soccer fields that's that's fine but I don't want to see baseball fields being eliminated for the sake of soccer fields there's plenty of areas where soccer field can be put i just want to make
sure that we're not you know forgotten in the Puerto Rican community so I'm just making sure not just Puerto Rican afroamericans whoever whoever likes baseball i just want the baseball field to continue i mean I know we have West End we have North Trenton uh Chambersburg there's no baseball field
there anymore u we have the 611 but I think it's only the little league that's playing over there so anything that the Trenton can do um to um keep that pastime alive and and that and beat and beating you know what I mean that
heartbeat for baseball i just wanted to see you know come to food for Tition again i wanted I wanted to see it uh to be as popular as it is soccer is now in our city that's all i just don't want us to be forgotten as a longtime resident lifetime resident of the city
of Trenton I just want to make sure the baseball fields that we do have remaining if they need improvements they get some improvements here and there and then if you want to make soccer fields there's a lot of open space in Trenton where these soccer fields can be uh actually constructed or built or
whatever it is that's all nothing more okay thank you so much thank you as well okay Madam President that is all the individuals I have listed for public comment at this time if it's your wish you can move to any individual you wish for civic comment thank you we can start
with Councilwoman Williams thank you ma'am uh so I'll try to be as efficient as possible there's a lot um first I just want to make sure everybody knows uh we have the cleanup going on all over the city each ward uh we just had the east ward this past Saturday
this coming Saturday April 5th will be the north ward uh north ward we're trying to win the most tonnage collected award this year so please make sure you throw out things that you don't need anymore and gather so our city workers can pick it up on Saturday uh and then
the west w is April 12th and the south w is April 19th and our city public works uh workers are doing a great job making this happen and thank you uh mayor and administration for bringing this together uh we have also uh northward CPAC meeting uh this month will be on
Thursday April 17th at 5:30 Galley Baptist Church 440 MLK Boulevard uh move the backite so we don't conflict with citizens police academy which I understand they have a great full class uh for this uh spring uh additionally uh
we have a special event coming up on April 9th uh at Mercer Cemetery which is at 43 uh South Clinton Avenue and it's going to be uh the 168th anniversary of the end of the Civil War uh the event is
from 11 to 1:30 there's a special program that will start at 12 uh if you don't know already uh Mercer Cemetery is a cemetery where over 200 Union soldiers are buried because uh through the Civil War Trenton was the last stop on the
railroad from the south as uh the battles were fought to the south and west they trains with uh the um unfortunate uh casualties from the war would come northward and if their families were not able to pick them up
uh back in the 1860s of course would uh they would be buried here appropriately in Trenton so uh this event will honor the uh surrender at Appamatics Courthouse as well as all the military uh soldiers buried there including John
Beachch who is uh a um sergeant uh that served who is also a Medal of Honor recipient during the Civil War and Captain Ellis Hamilton who is a Tranonian was the youngest commission officer in the Union Army so please uh
join us on April 9th um regarding uh the some of the issues that came up tonight they're very important particularly security uh in all of our buildings particularly all of our senior buildings it's an issue around the city and uh I really appreciate my constituents our
constituents from uh Trans Center East coming to council i know they couldn't stay uh but I've been working uh with count with uh administration and reached out most recently to Mr bridges uh regarding the ordinance that was passed
in 2019 and ensuring that it's uh enforcable since uh buildings such as um transcenter east transenter west anything over four units is actually the domain and jurisdiction of department of community affairs so we need to make
sure what we're able to legally do and not do but certainly improve the situation across our building so every tranonian has appropriate security but particularly our seniors uh additionally I wanted to just thank my colleagues for appointing me to
the library board this evening i was asked to join it um as uh they would definitely like to have uh someone from council but also uh being in my ward they thought it would be appropriate that I uh join them and I'm glad to do so being a kid who went to Briggs
Library many many years uh over in East Ward um also want to address a couple things um ma'am um if you're still here uh 671 Summerr Street I would still I would like to speak with you after the meeting to talk about uh the issues
going on with your landlord uh additionally um I know uh Miss Torres spoke about uh different issues uh regarding landlords um properties i I just want to say every single member of this council has spoken eloquently
voseiferously as tough and as hard as they can about making sure that we clean up this city and make sure that every Tranonian has a proper place to live and are treated properly by the landlord but thank you for bringing these issues forth to us because we need to continually speak about them but I I
barely know a meeting that went by that at least one of us has not spoken upon these issues and we've uh made some changes in the few years that we've been on together i promise you that um finally uh just wanted to say uh I know
Miss Wilburn was here uh I'd like first I've heard that the issues on Seagull have come up again with the cars it's been a continual problem uh that we've been trying to shut down as they change ownerships and I know Mr bobbit is uh Andrew Bobett is putting together a task
force and we'll be adding this to the list uh as far as the creators uh we're working on that too with public works and I look forward to speaking with uh public works thank you very much god bless and have a great evening am I out is that the signal thank you Councilwoman uh Councilman
Harrison uh first I would like to start we had the uh eastward uh cleanup over the weekend uh I would like to thank the people of Chambersburg Villa Park and Wilbert for putting out your yard waste and your furniture um together we can clean up our East Ward um also like to
thank Director Wally on his wonderful staff who were out there this is a great idea i'm glad to see we're going to be doing this uh twice this year uh they help clean up in the community it's a wonderful thing um I would like to thank um the fire department uh I happen to be
going by uh South Clinton Avenue and seeing the fire department out there um addressing uh I think it was 11:22 South Clinton Avenue um putting it out so I was grateful to see the fire department going out there and doing their hard work to put that out um also this
weekend the uh CIO is having their 30th anniversary it's a positive youth spring basketball league uh honoring Father Brian McCormack um it's this Saturday at 9:00 a.m 794 East 8 Street so again like
I said we're working together to move the city forward and I'm glad to see that we're addressing the people's concerns thank you very much thank you Councilwoman um just for the record Councilwoman Frisbee is not feeling well with her voice so she's going to skip
public comment um Councilwoman Figo Catberg thank you can you guys hear me can you guys hear me hello not very not not well council person Councilwoman why is it every time when it becomes public comment you guys
can't hear you guys hear my voice hold on one second let me take Let me fix something here i'll do it on the phone or something can you try again go right ahead councilwoman can you guys hear me now yes we sure can okay wonderful thank you um
yes thank you Councilwoman Williams and um Council Harrison for announcing the cleanups south Ward April 19th um super excited i know that we are going to exceed what we picked up last year and um you know really try to clean up the
city there's a lot of lots that need to be cleaned out and I really want people to come together to help to clean out those lots that are not your own properties um so that we could get all that picked up um really quickly um my CPAC meeting for the southward
will be beginning shortly um uh Father Orals of St mary's Church at 335 Adeline Street will be the host of the location just trying to hone in on a date it'll either be the 10th or the 24th of April um and they will continue the second or
the fourth um week of every month um and with regards to the gentleman Mr leon who was talking about the the baseball fields and the soccer fields I understand your sentiment um there are soccer fields coming but a lot of those
fields where those soccer fields are being put in those those um parks were kind of obsolete they weren't really being utilized um we do have the baseball fields as you did mention West End um North Trenton um Hetszel Field um
611 is no longer 611 it is Trenton Nights and there's also Trenton baseball over there as well so the older kids do play um so you know hopefully we can um make sure that we are still utilizing our parks for all types of recreation um
as we're making room for um new innovations throughout the city um that's all I have this evening you guys thank you so much for being in attendance and have a wonderful evening thank you Councilwoman Feliciano thank you Council President good evening
everyone thank you for being here and joining us tonight thank you for everyone um who spoke and brought forth your issues as always you know the council is receptive and we take copious notes and we do go back to the administration to try to figure out
exactly what is going on um I just want to say shout out to the city for the citywide cleanup it's always great to keep the city clean it would be a good thing that you know we keep the city clean 20 247 right 365 days out the year
but that requires um resident participation as well right so it's not just the city that's cleaning up the city it's the residents that are cleaning up where they are in the city too um and to that end I look forward to having Miss Ivy Avery come back again to
finish our conversation with the mayor um with the business administrator with the public works director she came out before we had her she did this whole glamorous press conference about having the cleanup and doing these contests in the city and we don't want to lose sight
right so we don't want to bring people in just to bring them in for all the fanfare and then it kind of fizzles out she has some really great ideas about how to get the neighbors involved and and and what needs to be done in that area so I look forward to bringing her back um to finish that conversation and
hopefully bringing her vision to reality for the residents as well um I'm glad to see I had spoke to Wills Kinsley who is over the safe streets committee that they have met a couple of times i did see that the mayor had put
out a press release about it that's good um I'm glad that I was able to assist them in finally getting the meeting set up and then with the help of Mr garcia and Director Bridges to finally get rid of the confusion about whether they
could meet where they couldn't meet when they should meet and now that is underway and hopefully we're looking to see some good things happen as a result of that with regards to the issue um that was brought forward uh previously well not here in this setting but excuse
me um publicly about the electric car stations that are being put around in the city of Trenton um there was an ordinance that was passed by council back in 2023 that actually had the locations and everything listed on it
right we did that February 9th 2023 and it did have the locations on it thank you so my thing is I think that with regards to to situations like that the administration needs to do a
better job with advising the public when things are going to happen like that right so nobody remembers what happened back in 2023 unless it was just a defining moment that we would remember when we're going to do these construction works or anything like that
we have to give the public notice that these things are going to happen within reason unless it is an emergency or something like that so just like when we step out and you know release all the things about parks and all that good stuff that's happening when we're going to affect people's travel to and from
work or we're going to affect where they live we need to let them know or even remind and say "Hey as per ordinance blah blah blah we're going to put this this um charging station here and this is what's going on so just be aware of it." That being said I don't have
anything else to say everybody have a great night thank you for coming out once again and um have a great rest of the week thank you Council President thank you Councilwoman Council Vice President Edwards thank you Council President uh
good evening everyone um want to say thank you for coming and thank those that have spoke tonight especially if it was your first time i know how intimidating that could be but I appreciate you you know exercising your rights of of freedom freedom of speech and to be civically engaged with us um
it's important that we know and hear from you so we know what's going on in your neighborhoods um I want to say thank you to the city for the cleanup as well it was very helpful for those that needed to declutter their homes of all the furniture and things that they
didn't typically know they can put out on a usual garbage day um it inadvertently that's helpful for fire hazards for those that tend to hold on to a lot of clutter in their homes i would love the city to add on another cycle through the city because there are
residents that did not know about the cleanup um there was a little bit of late dissemination of the information um about a week and a half in advance so I think that with more notice but a second round throughout the city would be helpful for those that didn't know or
weren't home that weekend to be able to participate in the cleanup and declutter their homes um but thank you because it was a great effort and it really helped a lot of people um I want to say ma'am that spoke about uh the Stacy Park
incident and the corruption in the government in our municipal government um we as council had addressed that at our March 18th meeting so I would encourage you to go on YouTube and look up Tinton City Council meetings and
you'll hear the questions that a couple of us had asked the administration to get to the bottom of what had transpired with that um particular project and the request that council made because we did ask for things to be rectified as there were some things that were supposed to
come to council for our approval and we have acknowledged that and have spoken with the administration to address this so hopefully these things will come to um council very soon i want to speak about the uh city- owned property
purchases uh there are um we have been doing a lot of work with the with the housing and economic development department um about a year ago we had approved to designate the city as an area of re in need of rehabilitation and
what that does is it basically eliminates the auction process so that you can make a direct offer to the city for a property that you want to purchase um recently this year council also approved a resolution that prioritizes
what type of sales the department is going to make so we want to prioritize people that are purchasing properties that's going to live in the properties or developers that want to purchase properties and sell them to people that are going to live in the properties um we want to encourage home ownership
because typically homeowners are who is going to take care of the properties so I would implore you um I asked uh our um I'm not sure who title in the clerk's office to give you ma'am a card as I'm looking at you um please reach out i can
explain the process to you and send you the application that the city has for you to purchase a city- owned property and that goes for anyone else that had expressed interest as well if you're interested in purchasing a city-owned property there is an application you can visit the third floor uh here at the
city or you can send me an email and I will take the time to walk you through the process and get you in touch with the proper people and the administration um we have been receiving very successful and favorable outcomes and information from the administration i
want to say thank you to the department for um being accessible and being helpful um to the comments about the unregistered rentals and the slum lures lack of repairs i do want to say that this council has been doing its due
diligence with encouraging the administration as you heard um one of my colleagues say tonight uh and we have been speaking up about all of these things and there are issues with the lack of inspectors the lack of staff so with the short sta a short short staffing it causes a problem and that's
no excuse but we just want to just be factual here that um the department is making the necessary changes to address these issues and hopefully we'll see some improvements down the line and um lastly I wanted to talk about um some of
the the makeshift auto repairs i heard someone mention that tonight during their public comments that I do believe that these makeshift auto repair shops around the city are proposing a huge parking issue they are um working out of garages and not licensed or registered
and they're taking up a lot of city-owned property and there are issues with people that are they have massive amounts of vehicles on their land probably not as much so on the street but there's a number of issues around that that we have been addressing but
we'll do better with that um thank you and have a good evening thank you Council Vice President um thank you everyone for being present um this evening and bringing your concerns to us um as stated before it is always good to hear from you all and to know what is
going on um as far as what did I do my paper as far as the um the housing um as stated also by some of my colleagues we have been working really really hard um with the issues in that department um it is it is a slow process and we do
apologize for that however we are in the process of of making clear procedures for obtaining city- owned properties so just know that that is coming down the pipeline very very soon so that it will be a consistent procedure for everyone who wants to purchase any of the city
properties um and put an offer in into the city of Trenton as uh council vice president stated there is going to be there's a priority list there's a whole lot of things that we've been working on as far as that um and as far as addressing the slum
lords we have a rent stabilization board that is active and is conducting their first hearings they did they had their first one in March and the next one I believe is April 22nd here in city hall so you can bring those concerns and issues in front of them and hopefully
that can help uh speed these issues and and see your case a little bit faster than um we would have had in the past um there was also someone else as far as the security in um the senior buildings that is very concerning to us i believe
someone addressed them uh addressed Miss Glenise so hopefully that they got some answers for that and as far as the extermination I have been pleading for them to do that in all of our senior buildings um across the board uh I
believe that was it that I had as far as the baseball fields I do know that the one in Hetso is being renovated and um so I know that all of the baseball fields are not going to be eliminated Mr um Leyon so thank you for bringing that concern and keeping that going for the
community um just a couple of quick announcements thank you so much to our public works department for the cleanup um to the Trenton the organizer of the Trenton Heroes program that was very nice the father and daughter dance thank you so much for always doing bringing
positive events to our city um and then I also wanted to make an announcement for April 5th this Saturday at 10:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m there's a flash food drive and that is going to be at 72 Street Trenton
New Jersey at the Animal Shelter so please come on by between 10 and 12:00 p.m limited supplies first come first serve also we have our autism resource fair that will be going on tomorrow at city hall and I believe there is
something on Thursday for autism month as well let me just get that date really quick shout out to our students and shout outs to everyone who um I teach autistic kids so that's why I'm shouting my babies out but um April 10th April 10th is um the autism
ceremony and that would be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m at Triton City Hall atrium again we want to say thank you to all of you for being here directors and all the work that you do thank you to my colleagues for being thorough and asking the questions that need to be asked Mr garcia certainly certainly Madam
President if there is nothing more we've reached the end of our agenda you can ask for a motion to adjurnn may we have a motion to adjurnn second second roll call vice President Edwards yes councilwoman Feliciano councilwoman
Figuro Kenberg i heard yes councilwoman Frisbee yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council President Gonzalez majority majority rules motion
motions pass i said yes we heard you not for the record