AP Council Meeting October 20, 2010

Oct 20, 2010 City of Asbury Park Council Meeting/ Sue Henderson, Deputy Mayor John Loffredo, James Bruno




West Side Turns Out to Protest More Road Construction Nightmares

City Votes to Borrow Over a Third of Million Dollars to Cover Employee Severances

Ordinance Increases Sewer Fees on Non-Residential Properties



Reporters’ Notebook –

Workshop

Item 6? – Fine

Council not tkg action on matters discussed in exec session, which included only two subjects: Sunshine Law Exemption I. Contract Negotiations

A. WRA Redeveloper Amendment Agreement-Asbury Partners/iStar

Sunshine Law Exemption II. Litigation

A. Market Street Mission Update (Rafetto)



City Mgr Terry Reidy-- Asst. City Manager & Housing Dev. Dir., James Famularo been asked to take action re construction on West Side as compliance officer for the project. Mtg scheduled w/ State, Brian Grant, city engineer, purpose is to get a clear ans/ response re Lucas and City. State’s website says something different, get answer as to how these contracts are awarded -- the process (for carrying them out).

End of Workshop – 6:26 PM

Public Mtg will commence at 7 pm.

Brian Grant –

Storm Damage/ draining/ west side more complicated run into / been wkg w/ gas and water company to resolve conflicts/ borden, Av A and Atkins didn’t mat’ze, but gotten those conflicts resolved – but 20, / 10, 8” water mains, water and gas co didn’t budget for/ new valves, paved springwood to atkins, atkins paved sou thof sprwd. Paved sylvan av, st accesses housing authi., on borden now putting in sanitary sewer, after wnt to do curbs, then sidewalks// deepest ulitilies then paving/ final paving on …Ave, then Atkins by Springwd, Last schedule thru Oct 8th, this one nov 2nd/ emailed them to ministers of alliance and lkg to put on website better job of communicating, letting people know when be on their street.

Stop light is a wk in progress. Relocated pipes from Dewitt av behind safety fence bet union and atkins, constr site trying to keep it safe and neater than it was before/ Continue to mk improvements

SH – Pipes been removed from sidewalks then?

BG- yes

TR – Garbage was trapped behind the constru fence, coordinated w/ ms Rogers…

Ms R – only worked that one Saturday…

TR- OK we’ll hv to stay on top of that

TR – Brian set up mtg w/ state re minority contract. State has website says one thing, when Brian followed up they said another. Whatever law is city will comply.

JB – whole thing was a matter of disrespect, slammed it down throats, just got too big bit off more than can chew, I wanted to stay out of it (due to the merger of public works and engineering), but I apologize, I was wrong…

TR – Councilman Bruno’s pt is important for the community to hear…West Side not improved in yrs, we’re able to do because of stimulus money that won’t be avail forever/ So we did want to use it right away/ $10 Million is lot of money, but to redo the infrastuctue of the WS that hasn’t been done in yrs…

As well as we may think we’re communicating..we’ve been adjusting based on feedbk getting from residents.

BG – don’t think it’s disrespect as much as nature of the businss we do/ grand av to kingsley project…Rita Marano back in 06, complaining, grinding waste onsite/ much cheaper cost factor of 7 times as much if truck away to grind/ Primary impetus for that infrastruee was to lower cost of redev …whereas every developer had to pay APartners 20k$ for infrastructure dev on WS won’d hav to pay that, so housing will be lower cost/ no other town is takg on challenge we are here – not Camden, Trenton/ Next step is the public park, comm’l development, spkg with mr lee re financing, we’re going to wk w/ him to lower the costs of construction. Been planning, tlkg, it’s constr like on waterfront, just the nature of the business we’re doing.





Public Comment –

Dwayne Small – Home Improv contractor/ wnt to commend Brian and Terry correcting situation/ everyone shd be given a chance… Bottom line is the dollar…hrd how much city saving from combining engine/constru dept.How does that benefit residents? If u don’t liv in this city, it’s not your concern how they’re doing/ what about babies breathing the dust when they already have lung and asthma problems. How can you even bring an outside firm in when unempl for black men is 40%? But want to commend you for wanting to bring it forward/ I remember when sisters academy called you to say I was harassing them/ but when there’s money coming from Federal we can hav a voice/ I can’t help u feed your family if you won’t let me feed mine.



Myra Campbell - resident and voter, ask everyone who is same to stand up – mst of audience stood up – perception is different/ no ques poor communication, which leads to percep that is sometimes inaccurate becz communication is inadequate/ Shows photo of drums from Sept 15 to Oct 6 mtg to be removed. Human consideration not being tkn into acct. Beeper going off…Campbell not finished. JL Myra pls giv someone else a chance



Ms Rogers – did u tk into acct the financial losses of residents and businesses/ two or three wks befor put down curbs and sidewalk/ In wind last week all that contaminated dirt blowing ar’d. Lady got stuck in mobilized wheelchair (JB is taking notes and grimacing)



TR- address contam soil piece/ there’s a home oil tank that leaked into ground, so therefore city has to remediate the soil. It’s not hazardous mat’l, as something airborrn, people can get sick/ state law req when oil tank removed soil has to be removed as well, it’s not contam as in radio active…

Stanley Tokic – owner Adriatic Restaurant, I'm probably longest business owener in town/ seen dev coming to AP, but unfortunately not seeing the end of it/ someone put a hood on my head and never took it off, can't see where I'm going. Can't get any answers…ready to sell business and property I’m 71/ broker has sent some ltrs to city/Why is someone going to invest money in my business when don’t know where I'm going. I am stuck in Asbury Park, a businessman who's probably paid a million in taxes to city of AP, also properties I’ve owned in AP. We have developer now losing money, / they (iStar) prob in worse situation than I am, investing in AP...
People like me investing in AP when there was nothing here. Never called police dept in my business, I wd apprec if people wd…beep/

TR- stanley’s had many conversations w/ gov body/ last time I asked atty to draft a ltr to identify that city is not lkg to take his property. Attys coming up with how ltr wd be written how wk out w iStar…he explains Asbury Partner defaulted on its loan from iStar…so now they have to be involved w/ whatever city does in this area/ Stanley’s property is one of those in the plan. Plan has to be amended/ city put together amendment to remove properties from the plan/ been major focus fr policy standpt. Challenge is city doesn’t hv the power to do on its own, diligently wkg w/ iStar on… That’s what I’m wkg on right now.

Stanley – I’ve got 5 or 6 interested buyers right now.


Anna Young – resident – 2 ft of mud with rain this week. Last week two dif days water shut of again with no notice. Amer Water has to be held accountable, we need to triage area and establish organization/ 5 o’clock volleys are jst tinker bell stuff.

Cystal Atkinson – 1124 …

Was no notice/ shut water off my mother had chemicals in her hair, giving self a permanent, my elec bill tremendous hv to keep a/c going, who’s going to help me? Move some of that dirt out of there. It’s just too much, running down street in rain. Just asking that you look at the whole situation at hand. It’s just too much. You have to go to work and can’t bathe before you go.

Pamela Moore – Why did u hav to do all the streets at one time? Car damage from the streets. Please share the repair bill.

Malik Shabazz – Drinking water, peculiar smell in water, asking city council about fluoride in water, it’s a poison. Second issue is bicycle riding. I’m taxi driver and seen many incidences of cars and bikes hvg accidents/ young children getting hit, young children going to school, people to work.

JL- That’s a very good idea, thankyou.

Tee Leskinski – construction on West Side effect on water/ I’m here re. downtown, cites website where state offers guidance during construction to protect surface waters.Reading from - Erosion control areas, phase constr activity, How to protect storm drain/ inspect inlets frequ after rainfall. Sweep streets etc. regularly. Dev Spill prevention and response program..beep, she continues…JL – thank you you can give us that…I’m talking about Lake Ave Tee distributes photocopies of photos.

BG – we’ve met w/ sediment control/ they’ve been here doing inspections, we’ve got silt fence, hv to take off in storms/ important to note we’re spnding $350 – 400k for water improvement projects. And hv storm water imprvmt plan, we continue to do as part of … silt fence washed away we replaced it/

Jerry Scarano – Long Branch

Do each one of u hv cable tv in your hse? SH no I hv fios/ TR taking the 5th/ I’d like to know when we can hv these mtgs brdcst on cable tv/ it’s a learning process, is there a way we cd hook up cable to this room?

JL: we’ll talk about it/

JS: Are they going to cable the meetings or will it be like redevelopment and never happen?


JL: maybe it’s not happening where you live Jerry, but it is here…do you have something else to say?

Steve Wider – 602 5th av – want to discuss Rescue Mission, not sure how many people died from exposure becz it was closed by this countil. If you’re Christian and in Muslim faith, you’re supposed to help your fellows. His uncle and aunt live in Montclair and Rescue Mission doing wonderful job. You live in $700k houses and can’t let people live in affordable place – 7 people to aprt.

TR – Not to deal w/ merits of jersey shore escue mission/ this governing body put money aside operation warm bed, ensure taken someplace and put up. (Marano denies this, says she was on committee.)



Kevin Jones – 200 Elizabeth Ave, Jones Construction/ reconstruction on Borden & DeWitt Av, rocks, stones, mess whole sidewalks taken up/ aunt on dialysis service cdn’t even come pick her up. Shd put up caution tapes…Manpower? Why jobs can’t get done, we hv enuf people in comm. Cd take these jobs. Something should’ve been done immediately when you saw all this happening.



Carla Larson – been sick all summer due to construction. Asthmatic and COPD, all summer dust blew, yellow dust inside car engine/ a/c filters hv to be washed on weekly basis/ bronchitis and pneumonia. When can we get back to breathing normal air? Grinding it up where there’s a lot of children – Boston Way, ex. Hitting manhole covers throws cars out of alignment. You have two sets of curbs to navigate. I don’t know why they didn’t complete the street?



BG – little curb: one reason done that street itself may be in good condition but gutter destroyed / do intend to pave the lower curb this week. By thanksgiving intent from mem’l to atkins on springwd wd be filled, winterize manholes / an asphalt taper on manholes. It’s always done like this on the West Side.



Mr Mohammed – barber shop – business has took a tremendous dive/ Mr. Brian I spk to u befo re the handicapped accessible sidewalks, I tried city mgr’s office it wasn’t until I called you that I got a reaction. Nothing goes right on the West Side. You can cut one side of street off. But you don’t respect the West Side. It’s not just you Mr Brian, but it’s been going on for a long time. Police is harassing the 10% of the workforce.

JL – the bell went off



Julia Acoo – had company other day and we were all stuck, couldn’t move our cars. We had to ask the contractors to hold it up long enuf for us to get out. Apparently you don’t hv any volunteer female advisors wkg on this project? I say because Mt. Pisgah on the corner had a women’s mtg. first thing noticed was a jonny sitting in front of the church. We need to be more mindful and respectful about where we’re working and what we’re doing. Perhaps you don’t hv vol women advisors, we’d be glad to walk about city w/ you, make u feel more secure that you’re wkg with us.



SH – agree there shcd be more somen everywhere, not just there.

Tim Harris Baptist Church at – 124 Atkins Ave

Detour signs by his parish.

BG – we typically don’t recommend it, but we can lk at the signage over the wkend and be sure address safety but also your concerns. Lk into how we impact your situation on Sunday.

Pastor: Don’t see anyone there on the weekends.



TR- want to follow up on comment/ out of previous mtg we responded to req’ts made Oct 6/ do’t want feel only way can hv your concerns met is to hv to come out to council mtg, although you’re welcome to come. Rev. Bradley is wkg w/ us on coming up w/ a regular time when we can meet with a group Rev. Bradley is putting together.



Todd Bergman – 4th Ave

Dunlewy St. bêtween 3rd and 4th av not touched

Re mission/ people aft 10 days will be turned out into cold w/ no place to go.

Re West Side/ I’m embarrassed city hasn’t done something better for its citizens. Also like to see a new drain leading right into lake at end of Dunlewy.



Denise Richardson –

Add’l 2 potholes on Ridge Ave, neighbor called and told don’t worry about it they’re going to pave anyway. But people circling to dodge the potholes/ residents s/b included not just ministerial alliance/ it’s a tale of 2 cities, lk at website, pictures on site none are of West Side, not one looks like me. It’s starting to get to me. Too much been going on that shouldn’t be going on. Avenue A? This city needs to merge. You’re going to see same person who caused problems in charge of public works, don’t do it…



George Kary – I live in the other redevelopment zone/ mst left to be eminent domained or …so not enuf to come and complain/ you should have popel coordinating utlities, got people telling us they don’t know what’s going on. Subcontractor of the subconstractor… got to have a person coordinating this stuff. If resident walks out door and sees street torn up, tell them what’s going on. Takes you ten mins. That’s why we all have to stick together in this room, otherwise play east side against west side and nothering w/ get done.



TR – to Denise public hrg Nov 3rd on combining pub wks and engineering. w/ tlk about benefits to city then. Really thk it’s important. Comment about Brian Grant, that $10Mn project on West Side wdn’t have even gotten started w/out Brian Grant. In a hundred yrs not done. The Nov 3 mtg is when shd discuss that.



JB – Didn’t we bond for the $10 Mn?

TR- Yes / but

JB We bonded this money so we hv to pay the debt service.



Pamela Shephard – Drummand and other streets on east side were done in 3 weeks, West Side streets took three months. School bus couldn’t get down the street. Think the Eastside vs Westside city wants to happen. There was no way for her to get out of her driveway. Someone was already stuck, they had to call a tow truck. People need to know what’s going on everyday.



Joe Woerner – 1103 ½ ? Ave –

It’s an embarrassment, two piles of dirt about 20 feet high. At some point it doesn’t seem like lack of communication but lack of engaging with public and hearing what they have to say.



Werner Barumgartner – 5th Ave

Clear everyone wants AP to be best it can be – I’ve been here 18 yrs and always been my desire to have AP best it can be/ I’ve raised two issues with Brian Grant – treatment of public property, may seem like minutia, when you allow private prop owners to take over public space/ continuity of public space/ you need to draw the line/ jst say no.

Second issue – lighting – this is 21st century there is efficient, safe lighting, don’t need glare / Eatontown has a lighting ordinance.



Elizabeth Small – Lived here all her years, but never hear anything but money. If you fix a little here then move on / lks worse here than when we had riots here. We need crossing guards. I’m here tonight because I got Pissed off trying to get down Mattison Ave today, trucks wouldn’t let me by. This is first time I’ve been here and I’ll probably be here next time.



Rita Marano –

Didn’t we bond $15Mn ?

Asked for beach report two weeks ago and parkg meter report.

I’d like you to reactivate that time clock at City Hall again. You can’t get anybody on the phone when you call City Hall. It’s not right. Is it broken or what? Ans: no. Then why aren’t they punching in and out like other businesses. Payroll tonight is over a million dollars, it’s not right. Arbitrators are all former judges, we better look into who they are. We’re losing our shirts in union negotiations. Buildings coming down are costing taxpayers too much. Beep.

TR – beach report: in 2009 / 2002 $35k revenue/ costs scity about 300k to operate the beach/ between 02 and 09 city brought in about $540k. in 2010 city brought in $775k…

Parking – BG - $431,000 pkg revnue, from net perspective don’t really hav cost/ operational costs for credit cards…max $20k, $410-411k, analyze month by month, last yr $275k/ 08 $25k? extend to 200 block and downtown next year, which will require more investment. Expand the operations.

TR – arbitration – state does it/ arb who handled police arb is not a retired judge, most are not, apply get certified by state, munis go to arb and choose w/ the other side/ this is first time gone to arb in his tenure/ he appealed the award becz city didn’t hv money, not becz arb was out of line to what pol deserve compared to other depts. In county an state/

As far as office staff – it’s impossilbel for me to respond to a comment like that at a council mtg, I’d ask u to tell me in the moment that the issue arises. In a council mtg what can I do with it? I will hold people accountable.

Re. Denise all people should be involved not jst Ministerial Alliance, agree with that.

I take very seriously issues that were raised here/. I’ve lrned and know brian has learned rapport we need to hv on day to day baiss. Contractor, that’s not their mind set/ we’re the ones hv to hold contractor respons and accountable to concerns people have.

Pitting east side against Westside is a very destructive conversation. One of things…I’m going to discuss w/ brian setting up a mtg, not 3 min. limits, these mtgs always very charged, need to be in community can be educational on both sides/ why job on west side is no where near what it is on the East side. Ask any q’s and take as long as wnt to talk it thru (JBruno is shaking head in the negative) what really need is community bd then we’ll do that and meet regularly so we can do better.

Bonding – webonded but we re’d envir trust help/ so we got loan not a grant, 2 pcs to process/ we were competing for $5mn that would be a grant, along with the loan money/ we came in 51 or 52 and cut off was 50. Anoter round of grant funding came out/ mayor made the case that since we cam in sohgih we shd be elgigble for that $5mn grant – gen’l obligation bonds where city goes out to market, city was able to get no interest or low interest when got bond/ if we get the $5 mn, that runs down the $15mn

Julian Purvis – Reiterate complaints made by others on west side/ school crossing sh/be acted on immediately. As I was backing out I almost backed into children on bikes. If enforcement of bikes on west side it might prevent a tragedy from happening.



Claudia Morgan – 38 Ridge Ave / called pub wks lst wk re. potholes between springwd and ivy place. When coming down street hv to avoid pot holes sometimes so close mirror gets nicked/ kids are riding bikes on broken concrete. Called pub wks to lk at pot holes, phone ringing and ringing, lft mes. Finally spk to someone who passed me on to office mgr/ Leroy decided doesn’t need since st w/ be paved anyway. Kids playing on both sides of street, going to be an accident here/ One side is like a lake from lack of drainage.

Break over

Sewer Fees Ordinance – only to apply to sewer connection fees paid by new developers or builders in town/

David Kaplan, Independent Auditor for City of AP, 4 yrs., computed fees in municipalities for some time/ avg water usage study used avg 02-07 six yrs, only Single Family residences. Avg use 249 gallons per day/ all customers 628+mn gallons/ $3,300 connection for residence/ nonresidential $14.91 per gallon/per day.

Inconsistencies in Statute, ordinance modernizes connection fee ordinance. Changing use/ wnts to attract restaurants downtown// trying to get wording down



$684,824.84 – arbitration

$1,345,296.44, plus bills to tax payers $800 – bi-monthly expenses (includes Bd of Ed for $510,866.25)

Expand Johnny Mac’s into café area – yes

Special events Big Sisters – yes

Springwd ave open space grant – revision to resolution setting aside/ $85,000 grant from Cty.

UEZ – $99,988. expenses. – all yes

Resolution to move AP Housing – all yes

Emergency Appropriation - $347, 635.

Hearing – Marano – what’s that about?



CFO – pay budget over 5 yr period for employees retirement payouts retiring in 2011, they’re payouts aren’t in the 2010 budget/ all yes//