Welcome to the Reporters' Notebook brought to you by Asbury Radio
as always corrections, correct spellings, facts, all extremely welcome...
Council Meeting January 19, 2011
Council members Susan Henderson, Mayor Johnson, Kevin Sanders, James Bruno –
Council member John Loffredo out for his birthday
Workshop
Garrett Giberson –
Pst sev’l mos. Research on munis in area, tinton falls, red bank, etc/ our fees hvan’t increased since 19??, mercantile fees $25 now, mst towns set fees by am’t of Sfootage, multiple dwellings…go by num of units ea bldg houses/ non owner occupied one and two unit homes - $50, we never collected a fee for these units, never inspected. Needs to be addressed, this is how we’re addressing it/ #2, mercantile SFootage, re inspection fee, never had one/ first reinspection is on us, second if violations not abated wd cost $25, if go out on another he’d issue fines based on state rule, so that’d be another revenue to come in / variance fee, duplicate certif. of inspection wd be charged a fee/ idea is to reflect what other munis are doing/
Mayor Johnson – when effective?
GG – send invoices once they go into effect.
City Atty – Fred Raffetto - Not adequately reimbursing dept.
If council satisfied we can mv forward w/ introduction
Kevin Sanders – ques, when come bk for reinspection…
GG – if find something else on return visit, I’ll usually give them time, 10 days, but if it’s safety problem I may ask them to do right away. If next yr same violations, I don’t hv to giv them any time, I can issue penalties right then/
KS – Is the second one $25 or more?
GG – That’s up to my judgment.
CFO – Christine Pawlin –
Resolution to reduce am’t of insurance costs to any employee who? Fill out app to opt out of our health insur. Now being paid 50c on dollar/ this reduces to 25% of the premium, w/ cap of $5k, 2010 spnt $272k on those/ this w/ bring down to save almost $130k.
Mayor – how much does it cost per person?
CP - Single cov’g is little over $12k…
City Mgr – family is close to $20,000.
Big advantage for city if employee says don’t need since spouse has. So city instituted policy says if don’t tk city cov’ge w’l reimburse you 50%, city also gains on your medical exp, bills etc.
What state is doing now reduce to 25% and cap at $5k
25 employees now who are opting/
Save $140k every yr
FR- w/ put forth for action at tonight’s mtg
One of req in MOU for w/in 3 mos of mou city sign pay to play ord same as city of JC, we have one, we were one of first to pass/ restricts granting contracts to contirubtors to city elections/ 04 ord adjusted since then/ JC is more stringent, he’s provided the examples to the council. Mou 90days expires Feb 3rd/ as long as we introduce on Feb 2, state says ok.
I’ve been wkg w/ james famularo and my office concessions – ATMs on city prop, cred cd processing accepted, beach umbrellas, pedal boats on lake/ public contracts law to initiate the process/ dif from competitive bid process, not obligated to go w/ lowest bidder, RF w/ come up w/ a ranking system, and recommend/ We did contact local gov’t svcs, agreed this is the best process/ wd like permission to issue bids…
Asst City Mgr James Famularo – design etc for basketball court / 8 tele poles and 8 flood lites not in operation, need to be replaced. Lights we wnt the type we can control, 35 foot candles/
EJ – want to complicate you on wk on courts. Inaudible…
Matters for introduction by council
JB – on his cousin Jason Fazio, fireman seriously injured in fighting fire on main st. he’s had no setbacks, Jason has facebook page, thoughts and support for go there, fundraiser info w/ be up there.
4th of July parade only $5k in bank now, usually have tens of thousands. Not coming in like in past years, developers nowt…I don’t want to even go there. I don’t know how much time I or my family can spend on this, with Jason up there at St. Barnabas in rehab. Even before this I wanted to take a step back. Hamilton did it/ I thought…wd take over.
SH – congratulate James Famularo on grand opening of boxing on top of PWks, lks like a whole dif plc/ actually talked to some kids, saying “I want to thank my supporters”… 4 – 8 pm/ Mon – Fri who’s in charge?
EJ – thank everyone / here we are preparing for our third storm t’w night. Did notice is everybody really mkg conscience efforts to mv cars other to mk clrg easier/ recycling to start t’w and Friday/ starting next mon. bak on reg schedule. On Fri Asbury Lanes I dare anyone/ mayor’s bowl is Friday and I can beat anyone…actually I’m not that good/ 7 pm, til? For a good cause/ $25.
TR – The fitness cr opened last night, long time coming, Interfaith Neighbors, Patrick Durkin is here, alrdy see lot of young people gravitating to this facility/ golden gloves gravitating out of this facility.
Firefighter Fazio if any one can pull thru it’s Jason, amazing personality, what a character he is/ doesn’t surprise me the outpouring of support and love that keeps coming/ keep him in hearts and prayers, it’ll be a long time
FR – council w/ not be tkg action tonight on anything from executive session.
EJ – recycling and garbage pick up tomorrow
Public Participation
John mccarthy 701 – 703 cookman ave following up ltr sent to council/ merchants limited to…trying to get response to ltr for over a month. Want to find out where we stand, two applicants wanted to rent that space and told they don’t fit retail svc business, plenty of businesses on cookman Ave – at least 9 – that don’t meet criteria yet allowed.
TR – knw u had a conversation w/ our city planner. Planning bd tok up request and rejected it, req’t was to change downtown bus area/ longstanding issue/ PB sends recommendation bk to council/ cd amend downtown CBD plan, but wd hv to giv reasons why think it’s wrong headed/
John – then how do you address those 9 properties
TR – mr mc carthy didn’tyou get a call from ?? today
John – yes, but…
TR – this has been a very active dialogue, philosophy, what mks down twon viable, been debated sev’l bus owners asked to hv it changed, it’s an economic dev issue/ wd town be better off if broken up retail business ctr? Hasn’t been ignored.
JMC- Why cdn’t someone tell me the PB rejected it? I want a formal response to that letter and I will meet w/ you because something’s not right.
Jim Henry – 6th Ave, couple of articles in paper concerning iStar and waterfront, understand discussed in executive session wonder if you cd tell us a little someint/ what’s the true story. Another matter mr famularo going out tonight for bids for lighting for basketball courts, think it’s a great idea, but can we afford it? Ask u to tk a good hard lk at that. Are we takg about $30k or $300k ? something to be considered by council.
TR – start/w lighting…then iStar – ballpk number estimate $60,000 w/ be paid for w/ community dev blk grant money, dedicated for certain uses/ court itself was improvedw/ CBG money/ Since James tkn over done capital improvement progrms.
iStar’s concerned…thnk prob the most direct ans is that editorial in APP today, so lv that pc alone, city’s taking action to preserve its rights, it’s been since 2004 since master dev brought forth a designated redeveloper for… city holding APartners in default, persue strategy so we can restore our dev rights. City’s legal strategy, seen some of it in legal documents, nancy gave very detailed report on that on Sat., you’ll see it soon.
Bob Stevens – 515 third av – snow removal, don’t know if repeating or beating dead horse, did real good job in snow removal for such a storm havn’t seen in my time, but is there a plan for proactive removal and how / will it be initiated? Seemed spontaneous, everyone expected to be out,..,did grt job w/ emergency alert/ lot of public not aware of it/ lot of cars still not out, people asked to remove them, but not digging out/ alternate side, we hv for st cleaning, but no signs out for snow emergency…think that cd be part of the process.
TR – sorry you weren’t here for last mtg, some comments were addressed at that mtg. at our nxt wk session/ here’s some of recommendations…way ord is not no pkg but alternate side approach, giv plows nice full swath/
RS – within budget may be somewhere donw the road in my opinion, Emergency response is so important, know everyone’s got to cut back, but if there can be any slight exception don’t see how …1/3 police dept…
TR – PBA, SOA, progress being made, our polic dept gets it, no desire on either side to call your bluff, etc. all negotiating in good faith, sickouts, try to embarrass admin this pol dept not done that.
RS – I’d be willing to put my garbage out once a wk and take my own recycling.
RMarano – guess you’r not going to discuss istar any further, litigators won’t they be the same ones who drafted the plan are being used to litigate the plkan.
TR – yes
RM - IsnT it time to think outside the box. Same thing as when carabetta was here…we can’t afford another 29c increase in our taxes. Btw, Christmas is over and lights are still on. When I read Nancy’s article we’re going to pay comp time to city employees who do mentoring…comp time if wk one day get paid for two…lot of things need to be changed in that union contract.
TR
Ferrari, pres of SICA – came to introduce everyone to the mayor’s bowl Fri night/ hv signed a lease for space next to Chico’s, we expect to be in some time in 2011/ anxious to mv to Asbury /
Jerry Scarano – do we hv policy to snd out notices when sidewalks not cleaned. As good neighbor policy maybe cd volunteer to help each other. Went to trade show w/ about 100 vendors, cd’ve been held at convention hall instead of Brookdale, sorry Ed, nothing to do in Lincroft. Here they cd be using our restauants and shopping here.
Denise Richardson, Ridge Ave – wnt to commend James for grand opening, chaz witherspoon gave positive message.. as far as snow removal, Neptune on last snow posted temporary signs on side of ridge av., might be good idea w/out hvg go thru ordinance.
Myra Campbell, 1403 madison av
We mentioned Jason here, polic officer in
Lakewood, can’t not mention those hurt in Tucson Ariz/ there w/ times
I come before w/ say positive, but tonight my socks are wet, surprised Brian and Bianchini aren’t here tonight/ when rain started never subsided, on 1402, 3, 4 on Madison, hope press gets up early and sees it. My understanding that lucas constr only went down half the blk on dewitt bet Madison and springwood and sewer pipe was not connected, called dpw sev’l times/ when dept chair says we’ll hv someone else call her back. Everyone knows snowfall was jst unbelievable, a plow trk pushed the snow to end of first hse and that sat there for 2 days, hospice wkr on street cdn’t lv for wk, didn’t mention because of gravity of snow storm, but when I’m told we can’t do…av because negotiating w/ Neptune/ asking what is status of this condition, pure mud outside allan chapel church – Go Steelers Go!!!
TR – Myra’s right about ponding, really is a mess over there/ my understanding not sewer but storm drain not connected. Brian said was one person in charge of handling the matter wanted to come and talk to you/ we got hold of lucas, lucas absolutely misrepretned that, forman was terminated/ a major screw up.
Part of DPW is to mk sure storm drains are free, there w/ be pumps out there t’w to pump that out.
Re budget, not been that hvy a snow to justify having snow budget/ gov appealed to pres for emergtency relief/ day before report due/ request put in for 48 hr period highest expenditure, we put in for that/ $208k we put in for/ police, fire, included in that. OEM mtg of fire dept, ron in chg of putting together for us/ so we got that report submitted.
JB – did we stop w/ outside contractors?
TR – yes, also some lessons we learned from that
End public session
Minutes appr’d
$2m bill resolution, all yes
Inservco wkrs comp dec 23 to dec 29 $17k+
Inservco wkrs comp claims paid – perod dec 30 to jan 5, $9,000
+
Bingo raffle The Center – all yes
Bingo mt carmel for Thursday dates – all yes
Raffle for little league – all yes
Resolution –
Over payment, $323.71 all yes
Refund over payment in assed value, susan scudder, $6k+ all yes
Refund veteran citizen tax reduction, john semeta – all yes
Refund sen citizen - $250 Drummand Av, Anthony Ralpizzo
Sale of $2, 905,000 bonds to Monmouth cty improvement authority
Generated thru cty, city gets more favorable rate thru cty auth. We’re one of many munis who put them in thru auth. In 2010 cty made adjustment, some muni fell out of acctg. Every muni that’s part of that funding has to adopt a res approving what’s cty done/ all yes
2010 – budget transfers –
Employee to waive medical.. all yes
Resolution auth contracting process for consessions in ap – all yes
Auth for bids for sports lighting on bb crts --- all yes
Ordinance supplementing fire fees – as per G Giberson – pub hrg adopt Feb 16th
Ordinance pub hrg – bond ordinance $250k issuance of $250k to finance part of cost thereof. Public to e heard…
TR – this is the ordinance to fund the action we’re involved in as per iStar / this was on for adoption last mtg, cdn’t go forward becz as part of MOU w/ NJ, had to report to local finance bd, unan appr’d and offered assistance in pursuing this matter. These are qualified bonds, so state does co-sign the bonds.
EJ – copies for press of this statement/ Mayor reading from it now…no longer wait thru delays and unfulfilled commitments/ ..wait is over…only situation worst than litigation is continued stagnation/ intend to persue every legal avenue for pursuit of this.
RMarano – I read the complaint but it doesn’t sound like a very strong complaint. Can you explain what we didn’t do as per the response from iStar?
TR – we expected number one, when tk pos to stnd up for Asbury, they’d come back with everything had and try to tk position against city/ but as far as being substantive mvg city off its position, not done/ our legal position is very strong.
RM - $250k is jst a drop in the bucket we’ve been thru this before.
TR – we don’t know though.
RM – the litigator who did this 30 yrs for the plan, even the one sitting up there now is going to be old by that time…Isn’t it time to think outside the box?
TR – given agreement we have now/ given action and lk of action by Asbury
Partners pre and post iStar, we’re basing our strategy on what we hv. Strong position/ facts, history, given obligations in agreement as it was written and stands now we hv strong position in the matter/
RM – you didn’t hav any timetable in there for them to develop
Lot of people suffering through this especially those in redev area
You spent a lot of time on Salvation army bldg, that cd’ve been done by now. Lvg house out that were in the plan
TR – tells me it’s hell to deal w/ litigation in some of these matters. When city dev plan was carved out because was intenede to be used by Salvation Army, not throw it into mix. Did city realize 2 yrs later SA wd sell it to someone else/ AP’s position was if knew that wouldn’t hv excluded/ was a lot of crazy litigation but tonight it’s enough, we’re not going to sit by and watch this any longer, we tnnk we hv good case/ this body is tkg right action to fight for our rights. Expect to be successful in this and when bk in control of destinty, hp got keep legal fees low as possible.
George Kary – 6th Av
Ask city mgr and lawyer/ is there anything residents can do? Support city in this manner/
TR – there very well maybe. Part of process may be certification from residents/ businesses been adversely affected. I’ll ask the litigaters…
Adjourned.
- The Voice of Asbury Park ~ matters vital to justice, environment, equality, culture and pursuit of happiness.
No comments:
Post a Comment