City Council

A Special Meeting of the City Council of the City of Hackensack was held at City Hall, 65 Central Avenue, Hackensack, New Jersey, on Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. Mayor John Labrosse Jr. called the meeting to order and the City Clerk Deborah Karlsson announced that the meeting was being held in accordance with the Sunshine Law, notice having been published according to law, with a copy on file in the City Clerk’s office, and a copy posted on the bulletin board in City Hall. Attendance Ms. Karlsson called the roll: Mayor John P. Labrosse Jr., Deputy Mayor Kathy Canestrino, Councilman Leonardo Battaglia, Councilman David Sims and Councilwoman Deborah Keeling-Geddis were present. City Manager David Troast, Judge Carver and Attorney Kate Walsh were in attendance. Flag Salute Resolutions Council Intr Secon Abstai Absen Recuse Member o d Yes No n t d Battaglia X X Deputy Mayor Canestrino X X Sims X Keeling- Geddis X Mayor Labrosse X RESOLUTION NO. 176-16 A RESOLUTION CALLING FOR AN EXECUTIVE MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FOR THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES: WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the City of Hackensack deem it necessary to discuss certain actions under Section 7b7 & 7b8 of the Open Public Meetings Act which pertains to matters falling within attorney-client privilege, on-going litigation and personnel matters concerning the employment of a current or prospective public employee(s). WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the City of Hackensack is of the opinion that such circumstances may presently exist; and WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council wishes to discuss the following issues: 1. Personnel Matters 2. On-going Litigation – Heck, Foley, Dalton, Flanagan 3. Matters involving attorney/client privilege 04/27/2016 1  NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Mayor and Council of the City of Hackensack deem it necessary to exclude the public from this discussion. The outcome of the discussion will be disclosed within 90 days or at such time as the interests of the City do not require confidentiality. Mayor Labrosse and Councilman Battaglia left at 6:50PM. A motion was offered by Councilman Battaglia and seconded by Councilwoman Keeling-Geddis to close the executive session of the meeting with all voting aye except for Mayor Labrosse and Councilman Battaglia who were absent. Public Comment A motion to open the meeting to the public was offered by Councilwoman Keeling-Geddis and seconded by Councilman Sims. Richard Salkin – Hackensack – How did this happen with Lt. Prise? How was he promoted without a certification from the Department of Civil Service? City Manager - We had a void in the leadership of the Police Department that needed to be filled immediately. We had an incomplete list of Captains. Therefore, while in contact with Civil Service, the city has the ability to appoint provisionally. That is what was done when we appointed the OIC’s. We knew that Lt. Prise had passed the written portion if the exam and we were waiting for the results of the oral portion. It needed to be done and you know how long Civil Service takes. If you have an incomplete list, you are allowed to appoint provisional captains, lieutenants, or sergeants. Other than Captain Prise, there is no one that feels worse about this than me. Mr. Salkin continued – I never heard of a promotion without a certification in place. I know none of you wanted to hurt this man but he is not here to be remembered as the lieutenant who failed the captain test. There is always mistrust of the system, how did this happen? It’s awful. City Manager – I interviewed all of these individuals for hours. The State of New Jersey and David Troast don’t agree. Regina DiPasqua – Parker Avenue- Hackensack – For the next promotions can we not do the whole “to-do” until it is a done thing? Now everybody knows about it and the headline in the paper, it was awful. We can’t do this to our employees. We have to make it right for him somehow. Deputy Mayor Canestrino – We all agree. Speaking with Mr. Troast, there was such confidence, he interviewed so well. There was a process that we followed here in the City and he went through it. He was at the top of the list. We were all in total shock. Lesson learned. Ms. DiPasqua continued – What happened to the Mayor and Mr. Battaglia? Deputy Mayor Canestrino – They had prior engagements that they needed to get to but there is still three of us here to listen. Ms. DiPasqua continued – Mr. Mordaga is leaving us. I hope we have a plan or something that is going to work for the police. Mr. Williams – Hackensack – I am surprised at what happened to Mr. Prise. To me, as a black person, it is embarrassing to have all these people here and now this was in the papers. It’s a disgrace to him and his wife and kids. So 04/27/2016 2 many things fall through the cracks. I see a lot of things from my prospective that are just not right. I have been calling the police about an incident in my neighborhood and nobody did anything about it. This morning I called and I got three cops and they saw all the illegal activity going on. I am embarrassed because they said he is the first black captain but they never said he was the first black lieutenant as well. Academically he passed but intellectually he didn’t and it’s not right. There has to be something done. Also do something about the drugs. You want people to come here but you have to stop the flow of drugs into the city first. I see it and call but nothing is being done about it. All these people in scrubs in the early morning walk back to this tool shed on Railroad Ave. I don’t know what they are doing there. Rich Cerbo – Hackensack – We need an ethics department or officer. We are always saying the wrong thing and doing the wrong thing and it always becomes a legal matter. I think a good attorney, like Mr. Carver, would be the perfect man to go to and discuss things ethically. We are getting sued left and right. Please think about an ethical officer for the City. I am talking about something other than a legal look at things. Lenny Nix – Hackensack – I called the Building Department today about Machione, Newman Street, Lin-Z Towing, Polifly Towing, Court Street Auto Body, Hackensack Auto Body, Green Street construction yard with the bulldozer, all three All American Ford locations, Ever Ready Oil, all the empty lots in town that stay empty, not junk yards. We are in such bad shape. The construction yard behind Wa-Wa, they have the audacity to throw garbage against the brand new fence. These construction guys are really criminals. Give me some answers. Is anything going to be done about it? I’ve been reporting it since 2006. We almost got the police department back. They treat me like I am the criminal. Machione killed someone with a dump truck in Hawthorne. If you don’t know what’s going on, you should all get out. The money you spent on the soccer fields, you should have worked on the railroad. It would increase the land value of this town. No one else wished to speak. A motion to close the meeting to the public was offered by Councilwoman Keeling-Geddis and seconded by Councilman Sims. Council Comments Councilman Battaglia- Absent Councilman Sims- We hear your wishes and words of Mr. Prise. If anyone can think of something, any kind of resolution... It was a lesson learned. Councilwoman Keeling-Geddis- I thank Mr. Salkin and Ms. DiPasqua for bringing up the subject of Mr. Prise. I can only speak for myself, I felt devastated when it happened. I agree that something needs to be done. The community needs to hear something from us because the perception is really bad. It is up to us to do something. Something needs to go out and explain it to the community. I hope we can do something as a Council to correct this as much as we can. Deputy Mayor Canestrino- I echo the sentiments of the other Councilmembers. We did have a process that was followed. It was a rigorous interview process here in the city and Mr. Prise was the top candidate in that process. He needs to be commended for that. I think as a Council there is something we can do that explains to the public what the process was. The process was conducted by the State, not the City because I have received questions about that based on the articles people were reading in the 04/27/2016 3 papers. Hackensack is bound by the Civil Service rules. Unfortunately, this outcome was something none of us could have predicted or were prepared for. We jumped the gun in celebrating because we were so confident that this was going to move forward. Mayor Labrosse – Absent A motion to close the meeting to the public was offered by Councilman Sims and seconded by Councilwoman Keeling-Geddis. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 7:18 p.m. Approved by Mayor and Council on May 17, 2016. ______________________________________ Mayor John P. Labrosse, Jr. ______________________________________ Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino ______________________________________ Councilman Leonardo Battaglia ______________________________________ Councilman David Sims ______________________________________ Councilwoman Deborah Keeling-Geddis ________________________________ Deborah Karlsson, City Clerk 04/27/2016 4