City Council

COUNCIL CONFERENCE MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 29, 2008 CITY HALL - 5:00 PM A Conference Meeting 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. Council President announced that adequate public notice had been provided to the public specifying the time and place for this meeting in accordance with the Open Public Meeting Act. Said 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 June 21, 2007 by Resolution No. 07-316. The agenda for this meeting was mailed, posted and filed on January 25, 2008. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Messrs. Bethea, Coston, Ms. Lartigue, Messrs. Melone, Segura, Ms. Staton (arrived at 5:17 pm), Mr. Pintella – 7. Council President Pintella welcomed Mr. Andrew Kitchenman, the new reporter from the Trentonian Newspaper who will now be covering Council meetings. He also thanked Ms. Eva Loayza and wished her well in her future endeavors. PRESENTATIONS: (A) Update on Champale Site – K. Hovnanian Project: Appearance: Renee Haynes, Chief of Staff Dennis Gonzalez, Assistant Business Administrator Chief of Staff, Renee Haynes stated that the City was still having discussions with the developer on the project. Assistant Business Administrator, Dennis Gonzalez responded to questions from Council members regarding the Project. (B) Trenton Public Library Update: Appearance: Adrienne Hayling, President of Trenton Library Board Larry Kroah, Acting Assistant Director of Trenton Library Eric Jackson, Member of Trenton Library Board Sherwood Brown, Vice-President of Trenton Library Board City Council Conference: Minutes January 29, 2009 1  Ms. Adrienne Hayling distributed a packet to City Council members containing the following information: • Trenton Public Library Statistics Report Fiscal year 2006-2007 • Fall Quarter 2007 Summary Progress Report • Readers are Leaders pamphlets (Spanish & English) • Budget Request Summary Fiscal Year 2007-2008 • Services provided by the Trenton Public Library for 2008 • Trenton Public Library FY 2005-2006 Annual Report A detailed discussion was followed by a question and answer period. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 2nd Reading and adoption of Ordinance #08-05 Council President Pintella declared open a public hearing on an ordinance entitled “ORDINANCE DESIGNATING LEEWOOD IN TOWN, LLC, AS A DEVELOPER IN THE HUMBOLDT SWEETS REDEVELOPMENT AREA AND AUTHORIZING THE SALE OF CITY OWNED PROPERTIES.“ and asked if anyone wished to speak to the subject. No one appeared to speak nor were protests filed with the Clerk. The hearing was closed. A motion to adopt the ordinance was made by Bethea, seconded by Melone and carried by the following vote of Council: Ayes: Messrs. Bethea, Coston, Melone, Segura, Ms. Staton, Mr. Pintella – 6 Absent: Ms. Lartigue - 1 PUBLIC COMMENTS: James Fouse, 13 Cavell Avenue – City staff members should be more respectful to City Council. Ernest Perez, 902 Lamberton Street – Stated he wanted to clear the air regarding an article that was in the newspaper last week - it was not the fault of residents of South Trenton that the Hovnanian project did not go through. Allan Willinger, 610 Concord Avenue, Ewing – Asked Council if they made any progress with the resolution that had been submitted by the ACLU. Alysia Welch-Chester, 1405 Stuyvesant Avenue – Regarding an OPRA she filed requesting Boards and Commissions information. City Council Conference: Minutes January 29, 2009 2 Bea Perry, 26 Sylvester Avenue – Stated that she appreciated all the services she has received in the past; with Spring coming trees are going to need to be trim, leaves picked-up and streets paved; we need tough laws on profanity and verbal abuse; she supports the Mayor with his decision to hire Director Santiago. Dion Clark, 323 Walnut Avenue – Thanked Councilman Melone for the cleanup of the gas station on S. Olden and Walnut Avenues; he also thanked Director Jackson and Mr. Allen for meeting with him; he distributed a copy of an article that was in the Asbury Park Press concerning vicious dogs; he stated that it did not look good when Council members were going against each other. Paul Harris, 137 Centre Street – Stated that it was not up to Libraries to teach reading - that was the responsibility of the parents and schools; libraries are there to provide data; the train rail station should have three flag polls the City of Trenton, the State and the American flags and it should keep Trenton as part of their name; the Residency decision is up to Council. Patricia Stewart, 679 Lamberton Street – Asked the City to check on the “No Parking” signs on Lamberton Street; she wanted to know if the City Historical records were taken care of; she felt that Lucy Guzman should pay for the free course her daughter is taking; mentioned the financial report that was in the newspaper regarding Hovnanian stock being in trouble. Zachary Chester, 1405 Stuyvesant Avenue – He was concerned with economic development – someone from Council should be assigned to oversee this department. Ann Shelton, 74 Highland Avenue - Expressed her concerns regarding the K Hovnanian Project. Ed Shelton, 74 Highland Avenue - Expressed his concerns regarding the K Hovnanian Project and their lack of planning; the City should not allow K Hovnanian to do what they want to do - this is our back yard; the City is doing their dirty work; is there any reason why construction on this project can not start tomorrow? CIVIC MATTERS: Councilman Coston – (1) Wanted to know if Administration was notified when a department exceeded the budget. (2) What is the impact of the Lafayette Yard Hotel on the budget? (3) How do you determine what to budget for a vacant position? (4) Does the US Conference of Mayors pay for all the work the Mayor does for them? (5) Who determines if the contract for Tri-Security is being fulfilled and what would have to occur for us to say you have not met the terms of the contract? (6) Did the police department start enforcing the PA License Plate issue? (7) Questioned why Mr. Bradley needed to take a police vehicle for personal use over the weekend. (8) He submitted a copy of a letter dated November 12, 1995 to Council regarding the Residency issue. City Council Conference: Minutes January 29, 2009 3 Councilwoman Lartigue – (1) Requested from Administration a copy of the car policy. (2) Asked for Mr. Loftin to come in. Councilman Segura – (1) Requested information regarding the nonprofit Task Force for Homeownership Preservation and Avoiding Foreclosure. (2) Complained about the crime problem in the City. Councilman Bethea – (1) When is the 1st reading of the budget? (2) Asked about an article that was in the paper concerning an incident with two police officers on Walnut Avenue. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (Council went into Executive Session at 8:40 pm) Adoption of the following resolution to go into Executive Session was moved by Councilwoman Staton Seconded by Councilwoman Lartigue and carried by unanimous vote of Council. RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING EXECUTIVE SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL BE IT RESOLVED, that pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-12 et seq. the public is hereby excluded from the discussions which are about to occur involving the employment, appointment, termination of employment, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of, promotion or disciplining of any specific prospective public officer or employee or current public officer or employee employed or appointed by the public body, unless all the individual employees or appointees whose rights could be adversely request in writing that such matter or matters be discussed at a public meeting. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the contents of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the need for confidentially no longer exist. Council reconvened in open session at 9:04 p.m. All members were present. Councilman Melone notified Council members that the League of Municipalities could not provide a list of attorneys for them to review. They would provide a name of one attorney. The meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m. Respectfully submitted ___________________________ __________________________ PAUL M. PINTELLA JUANITA M. JOYNER CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT ACTING CITY CLERK City Council Conference: Minutes January 29, 2009 4