City Council

MINUTES COUNCIL CONFERENCE APRIL 24, 2007 CITY HALL 5:00 PM Council President Paul M. Pintella, announced that adequate public notice has been provided to the public specifying the time and place for this meeting in accordance with Chapter 231, P.L. 1975, approved on October 21, 1975 and effective January 19, 1976. The FY 2007 annual notice was mailed to the Times and the Trentonian Newspapers, posted on the first floor bulletin board in City Hall, and filed in the City Clerk’s Office on July 1, 2006 and amended on July 21, 2006 The agenda for the said meeting was mailed, posted and filed on April 20, 2007. A Conference of the City Council of the City of Trenton, New Jersey, was held on the above date at 5:15 p.m. in the Council Conference Room, City Hall. The meeting was called to order by Council President Paul M. Pintella, on roll call, the following Council Members were present: Mr. Bethea, Ms. Lartigue, Messrs. Melone & Segura, Mr. Pintella – 5. The following were absent: Mr. Coston, Ms. Staton – 2. A portion of this meeting will be set aside for public comment. 5:00 p.m. Subject: School Issues Appearance: Rodney Lofton, Superintendent of Schools Canceled Council President Pintella announced that the 5:00 pm portion of the meeting was canceled due to Emergency School Board Issues. ABC MATTER: Mr. Joseph Alacqua, Special Counsel – Notified City Council of a letter that he received from the State ABC, Deputy Attorney General regarding the returning of the licenses fees for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 years to J-Kal Tavern, Inc. t/a Klara’s Café. New Jersey State Law N.J.A.C. 13:2-4.8, calls for 90 percent of the application fee to be returned to the applicant. Motion was made to go into Public Comments by Councilman Bethea and second by Councilwoman Lartigue. PUBLIC COMMENT: Jackie Blakey, 15 Fell Street – Thanked the City for installing the security doors at the Reading Center. Dion Clark – 323 Walnut Avenue – Thanked Councilman Gino Melone for going out with him Saturday morning and visiting some of the problem properties in the Wilbur Section of the City. He made the suggestion to Administration that the Mayor should go out once a month to some of the problem areas of the City and address some of these problems. Who is the Acting Mayor when our Mayor is out of town or if he got hurt like Governor Corzine? The City needs to put more attention to the Wilbur Section another body was dumped there. APRIL 24, 2007 Donald Brokate, 104 Cornwall Avenue – The beautiful warm weather we are having is bringing mixed blessings South Hermitage Avenue needs police attention. There are gang members hanging out on the mail box on the corner there. One of the residents there was telling me that since the West Ward Police Station open she has seen less police presence. They are breaking into my properties and stealing my equipment and the windows are being broken while under construction. Motion was made to go into Civic Matters by Council President Pintella, second by Councilman Bethea. CIVIC MATTERS: Councilwoman Lartigue – Provided to Council members a copy of a list of questions she prepared to ask Mr. Rodney Lofton the Superintendent of Schools. Mrs. Lartigue explained the reasons why she had picked these questions. She wanted a clear and simple report that would give her this information. The School Board had a chance to get state funding before Mr. Lofton came and they lost it. I would like to know what funding they got and how it was allocated. Councilman Bethea – Did the City release the 1.2 million dollars for security purposes. I would like to know how the funding is being spent and what is being done with the security. With the increase in violence at the schools I would like to know what is being done about it. Councilman Bethea left the meeting at 5:51 pm. Councilman Segura – Stated that he was disappointed that Mr. Lofton was not able to make it. He is going to forward a list of his concerns with the Schools in the City to Mr. A. Carabelli. He also expressed his concerns regarding the crimes in the City. We have to do something about this issues we can’t just talk about it. We have to do something about the streets lights in the City, everybody knows that where there is light, there is safety. Councilwoman Lartigue - Asked Administration if we had enough police officers for an Urban City this size or if we needed more police officers. Mrs. Lartigue asked Mr. Carabelli to find out what is the number of officers that an urban city this size should have. Councilman Segura - Does Director Santiago take into consideration the number of police officers that will be retiring to replace them. People in this city should feel safe. Councilwoman Lartigue - We have to have a marketing strategy that will put Trenton on the map in a positive way. There are good things going on in this town. Councilman Melone – Thanked, Mr. Dion Clark for his comments and for going out with him of Saturday and his continued efforts out there. He also thanked Mr. Jackson, Director of Public Works for making the arrangement to pick up the garbage on Monday. Mr. Jackson and Mr. Allen I would like to commend you for a great litter march today - excellent job. He was impressed with the fact that the kids were out there cleaning and showing the grownups what they should be doing. APRIL 24, 2007 Councilman Pintella – We have to get these streets paved as soon as possible. Councilman Melone - S. Clinton Avenue has to be paved between Greenwood Avenue and Hamilton Avenue. Meeting Adjourned: 6:15 p.m. Respectively submitted ___________________________ __________________________ PAUL M. PINTELLA PENELOPE S. EDWARDS-CARTER CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT ACTING DEPUTY MUNICIPAL CLERK