Board of Commissioners

1 1 CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 2 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 3 : REGULAR MEETING : TRANSCRIPT OF 4 : --------------------: PROCEEDINGS 5 6 HOUSING AUTHORITY HILLSIDE PAVILION 3911 Kennedy Boulevard 7 Union City, New Jersey 8 Tuesday, August 22, 2023 9 Commencing at 7:00 p.m. 10 11 M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: 12 LUCIO P. FERNANDEZ, COMMISSIONER WENDY A. GRULLON, COMMISSIONER 13 MARYURY A. MARTINETTI, COMMISSIONER CELIN J. VALDIVIA, COMMISSIONER 14 BRIAN P. STACK, MAYOR 15 M E M B E R S A B S E N T: 16 17 A L S O P R E S E N T: 18 SCARINCI HOLLENBECK 19 BY: SAMANTHA BLAKE, ESQ. Corporation Counsel 20 21 HILDA ROSARIO, City Clerk 22 23 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR 449 Columbia Blvd., Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075 24 201-933-8220 SBischoffccr@yahoo.com 25  2 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE 3 CALL TO ORDER 3 SALUTE TO FLAG 3 4 ROLL CALL 3 5 MINUTES 4 6 ORDINANCE(S) FOR INTRODUCTION 5/10 7 CONSENT AGENDA 12 8 REGULAR AGENDA 17/18 9 CITIZENS ADDRESS THE BOARD 19 10 ADJOURNMENT 20 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  3 1 MS. ROSARIO: Can we please stand for 2 the pledge. 3 (Whereupon, the Pledge of Allegiance is 4 recited.) 5 MS. ROSARIO: This is a regular public 6 meeting of the Union City Board of Commissioners 7 being held on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, at the 8 Housing Authority Hillside Pavilion at 3911 9 Kennedy Boulevard in Union City. 10 This meeting has been called in 11 accordance with Chapter 231 public law Open Public 12 Meetings Act. Adequate notice of this meeting was 13 forwarded to the The Jersey Journal and The 14 Record, has been posted on the bulletin board in 15 the City Hall and has been made available to the 16 public in the office of the Municipal Clerk. 17 18 ROLL CALL: 19 20 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Fernandez. 21 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Here. 22 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 23 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Here. 24 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 25 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Here.  4 1 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 2 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Here. 3 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 4 MAYOR STACK: Here. 5 6 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 7 action on the following item: 8 APPROVAL OF MINUTES:) 9 10 MS. ROSARIO: May I have a motion to 11 approve the meeting minutes for the August 8, 12 2023, Board of Commissioners meeting? 13 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Motion. 14 MS. ROSARIO: Motion made by 15 Commissioner Valdivia. 16 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Second. 17 MS. ROSARIO: Second by Commissioner 18 Martinetti. 19 Commissioner Fernandez. 20 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 21 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 22 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 23 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 24 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 25 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti.  5 1 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 2 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 3 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 4 5 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 6 action on the following items: 7 ORDINANCE(S) FOR INTRODUCTION: 8 1. AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ACQUISITION OF 9 REAL PROPERTY FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES.) 10 11 MS. ROSARIO: We have two ordinances for 12 introduction. Adoption on first reading 13 authorizes the Municipal Clerk to advertise the 14 ordinance with a notice of the introduction, 15 together with a notice of time and place when the 16 ordinance will be considered for final passage. 17 The ordinance will be further considered at a 18 meeting of the Board of Commissioners to be held 19 on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, at the Roosevelt 20 School 4507 Hudson Avenue in Union City. 21 The first ordinance is authorizing the 22 acquisition of real property for public purposes. 23 MAYOR STACK: So just before we vote on 24 this ordinance, this ordinance would acquire and 25 allow the city to bond 3.1 million. This would be  6 1 for the Teamster building at 707 Summit Avenue. 2 This is a golden opportunity for the City of Union 3 City to acquire a building, a well-built building. 4 We had engineers at the site checking the site. A 5 well-built building and to use it for something to 6 not only enhance the area and make it better, most 7 communities would take this type of building and 8 make it into luxury housing or an office building. 9 Here in Union City, thank you for the foresight of 10 the Commissioners and others in the 11 administration, we're taking this building and 12 making it into affordable housing. It will be 13 24 units of housing for families that need it. 14 It's just ironic tonight that we're in the Housing 15 Authority Pavilion and Mr. Sanger is here himself 16 and I recognize Mr. Sanger for being here and the 17 great job he's done with the Housing Authority. 18 But here we are taking 24 more unit, 19 hopefully we can take more people, 24 families off 20 his list, and give them apartments in this 21 building. We'll also take 6,000 feet on the 22 ground level -- which I've known this building 23 since I'm a kid, but the ground level I didn't 24 know, but in the late '60s early '70s, it was a 25 bank. When you go inside the facility, the  7 1 ceilings have to be 20 feet high. And it's 6,000 2 square feet. We would take section of the 3 building on the first level with the big windows, 4 the whole building would be renovated. We would 5 take that section and make it into a police 6 station, a substation that would serve the 7 downtown area of Union City. 8 This goes with our plans of building a 9 senior citizen building around the corner on top 10 of the municipal parking lot. We'll maintain the 11 parking lot, add another level of parking above, 12 and 101 units of senior citizen housing. So this 13 will not only be good for families in Union City, 14 125 new units of affordable housing, but it will 15 also bring those people to patronize the drug 16 store across the street; the restaurant, El Cunoco 17 next door; Summit Pizza up the block, all of 18 Summit Avenue. It's going to bring a building, 19 clientele to Summit Avenue and it brings a 20 building clientele to keeping our neighborhoods, 21 keeping senior citizens in our community, keeping 22 families in our community and not forcing them 23 out, giving them a place that we're providing 24 affordable housing. 25 I think three million dollars for this  8 1 building is a great deal. We're also picking up 2 about fifteen parking spots on Kennedy Boulevard, 3 a lot comes with the building for three million 4 dollars. That will give the families a place they 5 can park their vehicle -- not all, but a majority 6 of the families in the building will get a parking 7 spot. 8 So I thank the Commissioners for sharing 9 in this vision and creating more affordable 10 housing. I think when you look around us, you see 11 most municipalities going up and building high 12 rises and pushing out families. And whatever 13 communities do, you always need a level of new 14 construction. 15 The City hopefully will get new 16 construction in the future at Yardley and 4th and 17 Palisade Avenue. We'll get new construction that 18 will be market rate housing to help the taxpayers 19 of our community. But I think the people of Union 20 City appreciate the diversity that we have here 21 and appreciate the community that we've been able 22 to build in Union City. And we're keeping our 23 community in Union City, keeping them here. 24 So I'm very proud to move for 25 introduction of this ordinance. Any Commissioners  9 1 wishing to comment, please feel free to do so. 2 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: This ordinance 3 is great. It's a win-win for everybody in the 4 community, for everybody. But also for the 5 semi-historical building that's been there forever 6 with the teamsters, it's such a wonderful, 7 wonderful project. I can't applaud the mayor 8 enough for this. Thank you, Mayor. 9 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: That's something 10 that's been there for Union City, it's a beautiful 11 building, it's solid brick. And I thank the Mayor 12 for your leadership. 13 MAYOR STACK: As soon as we acquire the 14 building, officially acquire it, after we get 15 through these two meetings of the ordinance, we'll 16 set up a time for the Commissioners and myself, 17 all of us, to go down and take a look at the 18 building. When you're up on the top floor of the 19 building, let's say it's five stories, it's like 20 being on the eighth story of the building because 21 the ceilings are so high between the floors. That 22 type of construction, we'll never see again. 23 You'll never see that again. It's so important to 24 preserve, it's a landmark. So I'll move for 25 introduction.  10 1 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Second. 2 MS. ROSARIO: Motion made by Mayor 3 Stack, second by Commissioner Fernandez. 4 Commissioner Fernandez. 5 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 6 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 7 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 8 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 9 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 10 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 11 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 12 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 13 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 14 15 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 16 action on the following item: 17 ORDINANCE(S) FOR INTRODUCTION: 18 2. BOND ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ACQUISITION OF 19 CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY IN AND FOR THE CITY OF UNION 20 CITY, COUNTY OF HUDSON, NEW JERSEY; APPROPRIATING 21 THE SUM OF $3,300,000 THEREFOR; AUTHORIZING THE 22 ISSUANCE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS OR BOND 23 ANTICIPATION NOTES OF THE CITY OF UNION CITY, 24 COUNTY OF HUDSON, NEW JERSEY IN THE AGGREGATE 25 PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF UP TO $3,300,000; MAKING  11 1 CERTAIN DETERMINATIONS AND COVENANTS; AND 2 AUTHORIZING CERTAIN RELATED ACTIONS IN CONNECTION 3 WITH THE FOREGOING.) 4 5 MS. ROSARIO: The second ordinance is a 6 bond ordinance authorizing the acquisition of 7 certain real property in and for the City of Union 8 City, County of Hudson, New Jersey appropriating 9 the sum of $3.3 million therefor; authorizing the 10 issuance of general obligation bonds or bond 11 anticipation notes of the City of Union City, 12 County of Hudson, New Jersey, in the aggregate 13 principal amount of up to $3.3 million making 14 certain determinations and covenants and 15 authorizing certain related actions in connection 16 with the foregoing. 17 MAYOR STACK: And I stand corrected, 18 it's not 3.1, it's 3.3 million. And we're 19 already -- I had a meeting yesterday with the city 20 planner, with Susan Gruel, David Spatz, and 21 several others, just to work on acquiring the 22 proper funding, whether it be from HMFA or other 23 agencies, both for the acquisition of the building 24 to pay back the bond ordinance and the money to 25 renovate the building into affordable housing.  12 1 We'll set up a meeting after labor day. 2 I'll move it. 3 MS. ROSARIO: Motion made by Mayor 4 Stack. Second? 5 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Second. 6 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Fernandez. 7 Commissioner Fernandez. 8 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 9 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 10 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 11 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 12 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 13 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 14 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 15 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 16 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 17 18 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 19 action on the following items in total: 20 CONSENT AGENDA: 21 ( 1) Resolution Approving the Payment of Claims. 22 ( 2) Resolution Approving the Payment of 23 Concurrent Claims. 24 ( 3) Resolution Approving the Escrow Refunds. 25 ( 4) Resolution Approving the City Payroll From  13 1 July 15, 2023, Through July 28, 2023. 2 ( 5) Resolution Approving the Library Payroll 3 From July 15, 2023, Through July 28, 2023. 4 ( 6) Resolution Authorizing the Refund of Premium 5 Monies Collected At the Tax Sale. 6 ( 7) Resolution Authorizing Refund of Redemption 7 Monies to Outside Lienholders. 8 ( 8) Resolution Rejecting All Bids For 2023 9 Sidewalk Opening Permit Restoration Program and 10 Authorizing Re-Advertisement For Receipt of Bids. 11 ( 9) Resolution of the Board of Commissioners of 12 the City of Union City, County of Hudson, New 13 Jersey, Authorizing the Submission of an 14 Application to the New Jersey Local Finance Board 15 Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:3-1 and N.J.S.A. 40A:2-11 16 and 40A:2-7. 17 (10) Resolution Approving Change Order #1 For 18 Balanikas Painting For Painting of Various Parks. 19 (11) Resolution Approving the Municipal 20 Securities Rulemaking Board of Fiscal Year Change 21 Via Electronic Municipal Market Access. 22 (12) Resolution Authorizing the Award of Contract 23 For Additional Special Tax Appeal Counsel For the 24 City of Union City With Marotta and Garvey For 25 2023.  14 1 (13) Resolution Awarding Contract For Library 2 Board Counsel For the City of Union City For 3 2023.) 4 5 MS. ROSARIO: There are 13 items on the 6 consent agenda. 7 One, resolution approving the payment of 8 claims. 9 Two, resolution approving the payment of 10 concurrent claims. 11 Three, resolution approving the escrow 12 refunds. 13 Four, resolution approving the City 14 payroll from July 15, 2023, through July 28, 2023. 15 Five, resolution approving the library 16 payroll from July 15, 2023, through July 28, 2023. 17 Six, resolution authorizing the refund 18 of premium monies collected at the tax sale. 19 Seven, resolution authorizing refund of 20 redemption monies to outside lienholders. 21 Eight, resolution rejecting all bids for 22 2023 sidewalk opening permit restoration program 23 and authorizing re-advertisement for receipt of 24 bids. 25 Nine, resolution of the Board of  15 1 Commissioners of the City of Union City, County of 2 Hudson, New Jersey, authorizing the submission of 3 an application to the New Jersey Local Finance 4 Board pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:3-1 and N.J.S.A. 5 40A:2-11 and 40A:2-7. 6 Ten, resolution approving change order 7 #1 for Balanikas Painting for painting of various 8 parks. 9 Eleven, resolution approving the 10 municipal securities rulemaking board of fiscal 11 year change via electronic municipal market 12 access. 13 Twelve, resolution authorizing the award 14 of contract for additional special tax appeal 15 counsel for the City of Union City with Marotta 16 and Garvey for 2023. 17 Thirteen, resolution awarding contract 18 for library board counsel for the City of Union 19 City for 2023. 20 MAYOR STACK: Anyone wishing to comment 21 on the consent agenda, please, step forward, state 22 your name and address for the record. 23 Seeing none, I'll make a motion to 24 close. 25 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Second.  16 1 MS. ROSARIO: Motion made by Mayor 2 Stack, second by Commissioner Martinetti. 3 Commissioner Fernandez. 4 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 5 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 6 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 7 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 8 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 9 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 10 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 11 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 12 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 13 MS. ROSARIO: May I have a motion to 14 approve all items on the consent agenda? 15 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Motion. 16 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Second. 17 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Fernandez. 18 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 19 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 20 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 21 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 22 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 23 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 24 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 25 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack.  17 1 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 2 3 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 4 action on the following items: 5 REGULAR AGENDA: 6 1. Resolution approving the introduction of the 7 2023 transitional year budget.) 8 9 MS. ROSARIO: There's two items on the 10 regular agenda. 11 Number one, resolution approving the 12 introduction of the 2023 transitional year budget. 13 May I have a motion to approve? 14 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 15 MS. ROSARIO: Motion made by Mayor 16 Stack. 17 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Second. 18 MS. ROSARIO: Second by Commissioner 19 Martinetti. 20 Commissioner Fernandez. 21 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 22 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 23 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 24 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 25 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes.  18 1 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 2 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 3 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 4 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 5 6 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 7 action on the following item: 8 REGULAR AGENDA: 9 2. Resolution approving payment to the HCIA.) 10 11 MS. ROSARIO: The second item is 12 resolution approving payment to the Hudson County 13 Improvement Authority. Commissioner Martinetti 14 will recuse. May I have motion to approve? 15 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 16 MS. ROSARIO: Motion made by Mayor 17 Stack. Second? 18 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Second. 19 MS. ROSARIO: Second by Commissioner 20 Grullon. 21 Commissioner Fernandez. 22 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 23 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 24 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 25 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia.  19 1 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 2 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 3 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 4 5 OPPORTUNITY FOR CITIZENS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD: 6 7 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor, at this time would 8 you like to take public comment? 9 MAYOR STACK: Anyone wishing to comment 10 on any matter concerning municipal government in 11 the City of Union City, please step forward, state 12 your name and address for the record. 13 I'd like to thank the Commissioners once 14 again for moving 100 percent of our meetings 15 throughout the community and trying to involve 16 most of our residents the most we possibly can. 17 Seeing none, I'll make a motion to close. 18 MS. ROSARIO: Motion by Mayor Stack. 19 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Second. 20 MS. ROSARIO: Motion made by Mayor 21 Stack, second by Commissioner Fernandez. 22 Commissioner Fernandez. 23 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 24 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 25 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes.  20 1 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 2 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 3 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 4 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 5 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 6 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 7 8 ADJOURNMENT: 9 10 MS. ROSARIO: Motion to adjourn. 11 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 12 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Second. 13 MS. ROSARIO: Motion to adjourn by Mayor 14 Stack, second by Commissioner Fernandez. 15 All in favor? 16 (Whereupon, all Commissioners indicate 17 in the affirmative.) 18 19 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 20 7:13 p.m.) 21 22 23 24 25  21 1 Brian P. Stack 2 Lucio P. Fernandez 3 Maryury A. Martinetti 4 Celin J. Valdivia 5 Wendy A. Grullon 6 Board of Commissioners 7 8 9 Attest: 10 Samantha Blake, Esq., 11 Corporation Counsel 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  22 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 4 5 6 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a 7 true and accurate transcript of the testimony and 8 proceedings as taken stenographically by me at the 9 time, place, and on the date hereinbefore set 10 forth. 11 12 13 14 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR LICENSE NO. 30XI00233700 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25