Good evening.

On behalf of the governing body of the city of Passake, we welcome you to the February 3rd, 2026 City Council meeting.

In accordance with chapter 231 public laws of 1975, Adlocate Notice of this meeting was provided by resolution of the municipal council adopted on June 17, 2025, setting forth the schedule of meetings for the year 2025-2026.

Please be further advised this to be conducted in person.

The Zoom stream provided is for viewing only and is offered to the public as a convenience.

Councilman Love.

Present.

Councilwoman Mello.

Present.

Councilman Mayor.

Present Councilman Garcia.

Present.

Councilwoman Colombon Day.

President and Council President Sher.

President Shall we all teach your Heavenly Father?

We want to thank you, Lord, for God allowing us to be present this evening.

God, we asked that please guide us in the decisions that will take place this evening, Father God.

Father, we ask for a special prayer, Father God, for the Fernandez family, Father.

Love and Pastor Father.

The courage to move on.

And the family.

Sorry.

Areas to enhance the budget areas to decrease the budget.

Talking points at the very least.

That would be most appreciated.

Those uh comments can be sent uh on white piece of white blank paper to the city clerk.

We'll take all of the comments that come in from the various members without attribution.

Um, and use that as a starting point uh to go from there.

Um mayor, it is a pleasure to have you.

I don't know if I should ask you to give a report first, or if you would prefer another time during this meeting.

We do we do look forward to the presentation of this uh Isabel Aguardello.

If uh we can be don't repeat it.

We have uh my administration and the city council is about it's about a served as a dedicated member of the Passake County Open Space Commission representing the city of Passake and advocating on behalf of our community to ensure that vital funding can be brought to our communities from Passake County through the open space commission.

These are funds that are gathered through the county.

We have 16 municipalities and consistently year after year, it's about our score heart to be sure that the plans, the vision of the city, those that have been working on this council with our administration with our business administrator that our applications that have reached the county would be heard.

We can sometimes be lost with 16 different voices, and everyone fighting to get their fair share, which is appropriate, but with limited funds, we have to hear their municipalities that often don't get their applications approved or funded, but it's about a remarkable representative there.

This year for service information comes to an end, but uh her dedication of commitments of the city will be uh serving across other boards, but we want to thank her for our many years in the open space duration and appreciation for all our hard work on behalf of the city of the city is government.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

We are on agenda agenda item number four hearing of citizens.

In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, NJSU 10 colon 4-1 at sec.

The council opens every public meeting for comments of the public.

However, in accordance with the JSA 10 colon 4-12, nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public body to permit, prohibit, or regulate the act of participation at any meeting.

Therefore, please be advised that the council will not entertain any comments from persons who communicated scene material, make statements which are considered biased intimidation, in which a person intends to intimidate any individual or group because of race, color, religion, handicap, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, or makes comments intending to harass or speak any offensive language.

The person who makes these statements will relink to a lot of five minutes for public discussion.

We welcome comments of the public.

Yes, ma'am.

Good evening.

My name is Michelle Carpentero, and I am here.

If I could ask you to bring the microphone a little bit closer.

Hello?

Better?

Yes, okay.

Um, my name is Michelle Carpentero, proud resident of PASAC.

Um, and I'm here because I just uh thought there was a lack of clarity with ordinance number 2513-26 and ordinance ordinance number 2512-26, which were both discussed during last week's meeting, and I see that will be discussed again today.

Um, when discussing the amendments, Airbnb was brought up as a way in which residents of the city are renting their spaces to make an income.

And per the discussion that the council had, it felt more as an interest to tap into this uh market for financial gains that of regulations to better support the residents of the city.

Um, some questions that I can think of that may help clear up out um what you know these um two things will uh result in is what would the tax being collected be used for.

Um, next, I would also like to comment on the discussion you all had about affordable housing uh regarding new units that are being built in PASAC.

Mr.

Ricardo Fernandez uh stated that the rent prices for these housing units would be based on federal numbers for our county, which makes sense.

But as we know, per the discussions that were being had um by the mayor and Mr.

Fernandez during the presentation, our proximity to New York City makes it a very favorable place for tourists to stay, meaning that these numbers are really high, and this is our city for our residence and not a place for business projects.

I feel uh upon further analyzing these federal numbers through the US 2020 census and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, these numbers show that the residents most in need of these affordable housing units cannot afford them.

Uh, the average persons per household in the city is 3.29, which is can be rounded up to four because there's no point to five of a person, um, with a per capita income of 24,489 dollars.

An average three-bedroom apartment in the city can average $2,550.

This means that more than half of our income is going to rent barely enough to have any extra income for food and other necessities.

And to put it into more perspective, 22.9 of the residents, 22.9% of our city lives in poverty.

This is a really big number.

Um, so my request is that the rent of these places are priced with the people of PASIC in mind and don't become an opportunity for gentrification.

The residents of PASIC want to keep living in PASIC.

I want a feature in PASAC, I want to live here, raise um future kids.

So, yeah.

Um, and lastly, a very hard topic is um US immigration custom enforcement.

I am sure we are all aware of what's going on around the country.

Um, really sad stuff.

Um I feel that this council, Mr.

Mayor, I haven't heard anything from your administration about this.

So I asked for transparency.

I want to know what you guys um the plan is because our community has been targeted.

I have heard real stories of people have who have been picked up going to work, residents of Passake who have been deported, are being held in detention facilities in Newark and across the country.

So I just want to know what you all are doing about that.

How will you help your residents?

Um that's all thank you for your time.

Very good.

Uh thank you so much.

I don't know where to respond.

Um this council has not taken there.

I don't know if if your administration has taken any formalized steps in terms of what's been going on uh throughout the country, if you wanted to comment uh on that.

In regards to what's going on in the country, no to what's going on in city of Passake, yes.

It is.

I mean, if if we're gonna personally share our positions as to what we see or what's being reported in the country, I think any reasonable person would say that what's going on around the country is horrendous.

It is beyond tragic.

Obviously, contrary to the ideals and principles that we all hopefully wish to live up to.

But in regards to the city of Passake, and I'm gonna be very careful in working with our police chief.

We have been intimately involved in instances within the city where individuals uh have had encounters with law enforcement uh from uh different levels of government from federal, state, and from county.

I can tell you that uh through my specific directive and working with the chief, any encounter engagement with any law enforcement outside of the city of Passake, our police are directed to immediately respond and uh confront these individuals and ensure that due process is being afforded to whoever is being uh spoken to by any law representative that they must be able to identify themselves.

This has been our consistent position.

You know that many have made news on it.

I I'm gonna share something because people are watching and we're online and I tend to be more reserved with my comments, but I'll be candid because you asked for transparency and forgive me because I I did not get a chance to get your name and I want to address you appropriately your last name.

Compintero.

Ms.

Carpentero, um I I don't get on social media to talk about uh these enforcements.

I don't use my soapbox to get on the news.

I don't make judgments of other leaders.

I will tell you it is not my intention to draw attention to our city.

We work with our local law enforcement when they have targeted operations specifically regarding individuals.

I think along with my colleagues in the city council and every reasonable resident in the city if they are coming after violent individuals, those who have taken someone's life, those who have harmed person or property, those who have harmed children.

My direction to our police officers are cooperate in every single way, whether you're documented or not.

We don't want violent criminals within the city of Passate.

In regards to the hardworking residents in our city, individuals who are intending to uh work to contribute to raise their family.

They have always been fully supported within the city, and we will continue.

I share and uh I have had hired individuals individuals in our administration and throughout the city who have extensive background working with those who uh are going through the process getting their status secured in the city.

We have had uh immigration attorneys work with our city and no calls to our residents to have town hall meetings.

We have worked with different municipalities to ensure that we can reach out on behalf of residents.

One or take this opportunity to share there was a resident that was stopped in Newark.

I made a phone call to my friend uh Ross Maroc, uh mayor of Newark who immediately uh use every resource available so that we can not only get their vehicle, find out where they were and connect them to their families.

Most of the cases that occur within our city, we don't publicize it because they are personal.

In some cases, they would have adverse impact on the person's application or situation.

But I assure you that this city continues to be supportive of a very law-abiding resident within this city and everyone who is here with the intention of contributing to the progress of our communities, whether through work, your business, or taking their children to school.

We as administrations all together, and along with uh the staff from the police department or chief, our fire, our code officials, we address issues within the city.

What I mean by that is if an individual has violated a code or has had an issue within the city, it is resolved within the city.

We do not take measures or steps to go beyond that because that is not the role of our law enforcement.

But I did state that I would be candid.

We do not have the ability to impede or stop federal agents from coming into the city.

In fact, we have worked with federal agents throughout the years, whether it's been the FBI, whether it's been the ATF, whether it has been uh state uh officials or county officials and immigration.

They have been here through different administrations, both Republican and Democrat.

They have reached out to our police because of our candid and transparent relationships to tell us when they have a specific and targeted operation.

At least that was always the case.

I will admit to you.

Most recently, that has not been the approach.

Communications have not been as uh open as they used to be.

I was very confident as mayor, as I shared with the public, that they were only targeting individuals that were violent criminals because I saw it myself.

This was an anecdotal.

I was intimately involved.

Talking with the chief, they would call, they would share.

I'll give some not specific examples, but so you get the idea.

If they reached out and said we have an individual who is being charged with murdering their wife from uh Texas, we believe that they're here.

We extended every assistance as we would if an individual was documented or otherwise.

We're going if there's a criminal on the run and you suspect that they're here, we'll work with you to try to find them.

And we shared with the community when they were present.

However, again, most recently that hasn't been the case.

There seems to be other branches or arms of uh homeland security and immigration enforcement, like uh the uh removal enforcement officers or REOs, I believe that's what they referred to, or maybe off by letter or how they're described individuals that went through less training, individuals that seem to be uh beyond service.

Now, whether we ascribe motive to them, xenophobic or otherwise, whatever it is, we don't work with them.

If you come in and violate the rights of residents in this city, if you are gonna come into the city to abuse, if you're gonna walk into government facilities and feel that you have car blanch and do not need to work with our law enforcement and do as you please, we remind everyone whether you have a title, whether that title is mayor or council president or councilman or police officer or a state official or whether you're law enforcement in any level of government, people are afforded the right to uh due process.

People must be respected in terms of their human dignity.

So, again, now I'll reiterate we will cooperate with any law enforcement agent that comes into the city that is violent individuals, people charged of actual crimes, and other than that, we will assist every resident.

If an individual comes in here to report a crime, we don't ask for your status, we help you.

If an individual is coming into the city seeking resources or assistance, we don't ask for your status, we help you and we provide services.

If you are a child in our department of recreation, we ensure to provide your services, and we work with a number of not-for-profit organizations ranging from some that make the road and other immigration groups to ensure that we can keep our community informed.

Uh mayor, I have had a number of town hall meetings.

Again, none put online because they're not intended for show.

They're not intended for publicity.

I am fully aware that in the times that we live in, I can draw cameras to me and make amazing declarations, some along the line of Michael Scott from the office screaming out, I declare bankruptcy.

I can jump out in front of everyone and say, I declare our city is this and our city is that.

But I assure you, I cannot order the police to draw guns and federal agents around the borders of this city and say no one will enter, and not a single mayor in the United States of America has that authority.

We all swear a solemn oath to uphold the constitution and the laws of this land, but there is a way that we are intended to do so that preserves, of course, that oath that lives up to the ideals of those who wrote the most sacred document of the constitution, and we intend to do that to the best of our ability, and it is a balance.

But in regards to resources, services and programs, I assure you they are in place in regards to assistance, whether children or families, and they have reached out.

We have certain things in place that don't feel as comfortable sharing online or in a meeting that will be uh publicized because some people take them out of context.

But if there are any specific questions by this council or any member of the community, I will answer it specifically.

I'm not sure if that Mrs.

or Ms.

Carpenter or if that answered, at least to a certain extent, which your inquiry was.

But if you need further information, feel free to come to my office.

She is well versed and very knowledgeable in the topic, having had her law firm in the city of Passing.

Council Brunson.

Thank you, Mayor.

Anyone else like to address the council, please?

Yeah, no hands.

I'm close public portion.

Second.

Motion and second.

Roll call, please to close.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Lowe?

Yes.

Councilwoman Mellow?

Yes.

Councilman Mayer?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia?

Yes.

Councilwoman Golom Montañez?

Yes.

And Council President Sheer.

Yes.

I'll entertain your question, sir.

Under the established limitations.

Thank you.

Say again.

Under the established limitations.

Yeah, established limitations.

Um I just want to address what's on a lot of people's minds.

The city issued 77,000 parking tickets last year.

They issued many thousands of sidewalk violations for snow for overgrown grass.

There are tens of thousands of sidewalks and intersections and hundreds of intersections in the city that are dangerous to cross.

And I know that maybe there was a shortage of salt.

Maybe it was a weather that nobody knew was coming.

But it seems like a double standard.

The city is extremely aggressive on property owners when it comes to small violations at big big fines.

And the city today does not seem like it has put in as considerable effort to either reform the DPW, which you do not need to be rocket science to know, is a waste of taxpayer money.

It's called a department of waste, public waste.

If you need, I have tens of videos of trucks sitting idly on the side of the road doing private work for other people.

Two people in a cab on a snowy day plowing a road, an idle truck sitting at DPW's facility with nobody inside while people are on lunch or on break.

The DPW is a huge parking lot full of abandoned trucks.

And throughout the night, trucks are not coming down our blocks.

And we wake up two, three days later and say, it's ice, it's too late.

We can't do anything about it.

But the same city has issued tens of thousands, 77,000 parking summits.

If you park within a few feet of intersection, and today people cannot get across intersections because there's tons of ice that the city has not figured out how to clear.

Thank you.

It seems like there was a lot of going back and forth between community members and a developer in town.

And suddenly it seems like somehow the city council tonight is sending a a recommendation to the planning board to let them know if a bunch of properties are in need of redevelopment.

Passaic housing is over 100 years old across the board.

There are people living in these houses.

What about this project is in need of redevelopment?

And why now?

And why does no one in the city know about it?

Does anyone know what goes on in the city?

Thank you.

It's a rare occasion for me to listen to a member of the public and think that virtually every single thing is not correct.

The most blatant of which is your statement in terms of the bid process, which is governed by laws of the state of New Jersey.

City of Passaic simply cannot hire someone to do it, except in emergent purposes and emergent needs.

And I think you know that, sir.

That's what disturbs me the most that you would give a half of a story and not the full story.

Um I would venture to say that the city of Passaic was not really ready for the storm.

But then again, I've yet to find out what municipality within all of across the United States was ready for the storm.

Excuse me, sir.

When it's the public's time to talk, you're given that opportunity.

Once you're finished your five minutes, as you well know, the microphone goes back to the council president.

Not to you, but to me.

If you're going to tell me that other municipalities were that much better, I'd love to find I'd love to hear them because the only thing that I've heard from everyone is that it was a mess.

How to proceed.

So please don't tell me about transparency on one hand and not on the other.

Your comments in terms of of the bid process are harmful.

The suggestion being of anyone listening to that is that there's something going on, something untoward, something wrong, something shady.

And I don't know if you that's what you meant to say.

You are articulate enough if proven yourself time and time again.

You are articulate enough certainly to make your your thoughts known.

And for you to only give half a story is is most disturbing to me.

How many parking tickets were issued last year?

Whether it was 77,000 or 700, I really don't know.

I really don't know what it was last year, but you were comparing last year.

You were comparing the snowfall of this year.

And perhaps it would be more appropriate to compare snowfalls to snowfalls.

In any event, um I gave you the floor after having on the verge of closing public hearing.

I gave you the floor because it seemed to me to be the right thing to do.

Thank you.

I've now regretted what I did.

And I will tell you in the future that if you're here to raise your hand that you'd like to speak during public session, you will be given that ride.

But if you miss it by one second, you'll remember this conversation and you'll understand why I did not give you the microphone again.

Is there anyone else who would like to adjust the case?

Council President, if I may.

Thank you.

Um, just very quickly, six tickets.

I think we're given out this week.

Chief, six tickets.

Um suspended alternate side of the street, understanding the challenges many families have faced a directive from our administration there's no enforcement of alternate side of the street if your street is not being cleaned.

Um, in regards to other municipalities, I would say that that old uh saying the grass is always greener.

Unfortunately, there's no grass because all the grass is covered as snow of every municipality.

But you get the point.

Those and other municipalities have been reaching out to Paseico and you guys are doing so much better than us.

Of course, our residents say the same.

They're doing so much better than that's how it is throughout the state, so that's not a problem.

I will take some exception.

I want to think our department of public works.

We were prepared and we're aware that there was going to be a storm.

What no one could prepare for is two weeks of below freezing temperature, of course.

Um I must admit the speakers right, and I'll take full responsibility.

And um, well, maybe not.

I'll share some with the administrator and everyone.

How dare we allow DPW to have lunch or take a break or stop 24 hours straight is the uh reasonable expectation for them to work, not to go home or sleep or to stop the trucks at any moment.

Of course, any resident that comes by and catches a DPW started working at six in the morning and went into two o'clock in the morning of the next day, how dare they stop and eat or drink or have a cup of coffee or dare they I weren't for that personally because as I've mentioned, um I take full responsibility.

I I encourage it.

I encourage to tell employees to take a break.

Don't work 24 hours straight or 36 hours straight.

We actually let them go home at certain points, even though the snowstorm went on from Sunday directly to Monday.

I mean encourage some of them to switch, stop shoveling certain areas and go off to another particular task.

I I can take full responsibility if the council uh so wishes to address that.

But putting that aside, our our head of DPW, uh Fred Corbett, who has been out there with me at two o'clock in the morning where we shared specific approaches.

We've actually been able to hire local contractors to assist to clean out specific streets.

Some of the complaints that we've received, or rather, I know complaints might be uh harsh, and they obviously always connote something negative.

Some of the uh constructive criticism or uh more uh innovative suggestions have been why are you only focused downtown and not in the third ward or second ward area?

Interestingly enough, the statements from those in uh the downtown.

Why are you only focused in the third ward and second ward area and you don't even come to our downtown area?

And it's understood that everybody wants their specific street addressed.

We have kept the same plan online from 2018 to present.

Anyone can go on and find it.

We have always approached alternate side of the street, and we address it.

Now, alternate side of the street is not a perfect plan.

It's not sweepers get through the street a lot easier than having to break up the ice and do snow removal.

It takes between one hour and two hours to get done with an entire block.

You need police to put the sirens on.

We have some residents who say I don't want to move my car.

However, I need you to clean the entire street, and do not give me a ticket if I cannot move my car.

Our city makes many accommodations, certain days limited, and we cannot ask everyone to move.

Uh, certain areas, much more challenging, but throughout the city, we work together.

I assure you, this is not the worst storm we've ever had.

We've had similar in 2021, up to nine inches of snow, no specific day where we had more than 20, but three consecutive noise.

In 2016, we had over 20 inches of snow in 2010.

Similarly, in those who remember in the 1990s, where we had the two feet of snow.

And we've had similar complaints and throughout the state of New Jersey and across the state borders in New York and otherwise, there are cars buried and there are challenges faced.

There have been municipal leaders who have reached out to me and county leaders to say, How did you get so many of your streets cleared within a day after the storm?

The suggestions that were given, or rather, some of the concerns that were shared weren't necessarily about the streets.

Mayor it took me a lot longer to drop my child off to school.

Uh mayor, the parking is an issue.

While other cities couldn't get through their streets, we made sure to clear the streets.

Our main arteries and lead to the hospitals, our schools, our major girls' schools or major boys' schools.

I've spoken to the heads specifically.

We concentrated our resources to ensure their areas like a point of entrances and exits downtown by Route 21, where our warehouses are major distribution centers to ensure that we wouldn't further exacerbate existing issues of traffic and congestion.

We targeted our resources in each day.

Our DPW goes out and they clean the section.

The people in that section, they reach out, thank you, you're doing an amazing job.

The people in the section adjacent to theirs that weren't on the schedule, go, you guys have done nothing.

In certain areas in the city, they go, you can't drive through the street.

As I was driving through it, I had a tough time.

As a mayor, I am intended to hear that contradiction.

I smile and say, We'll do the work.

The reason why I did choose to respond is because the statements were so outrageous in regards to the work of these individuals in our department of public works.

Individuals that come at six o'clock in the morning.

Thank you for the applause, Mr.

Wolf.

And welcome back to PASAK after you moved to Clifton and came running back at full speed.

So we appreciate having you back in the city.

It seems you enjoy Clifton so much that you came running back as fast as you could this year.

God bless you.

But back to the statements that I'm making, and I'll wrap it up, because I I will admit that I I haven't made statements about the work of DPW comfortably sat for my couch or behind a desk.

It's been out there with them until three o'clock in the morning and then up at five in the morning to go online, not for PR, as some of the forums have just shared.

I don't need it, I admit to you, and I don't say this to be arrogant.

Enough people know who I am, but to ensure that people could see the actual work so that when an individual randomly and arbitrarily decides that they woke up in the morning and they are now the new expert on everything having to do with weather, snowfall, department of public works, and otherwise.

I can respond no.

You can go online and you can see the videos.

You can see the payloaders, you can see the tandem trucks, you can save the skid steers.

You can see all of the machines, you can see the additional contractor services that we put out, and perhaps I'll make you print me something more for three days of contractor service over $60,000.

We had to pay.

So I appreciate all the suggestions of get more individuals and buy more apparatuses and more trucks, spend the six million dollars for the four storms that we get a year, but also don't raise our taxes.

Ensure that you keep it under five percent, even though the municipality that anyone who's reasonable would never juxtapose with the state, has these machines and they pay 17% taxes or double-digit tax raises in the city of Passate consistently over the last 10 years, have kept taxes under 5%, and some years even under 2%.

Do all the work, provide all the services, get all the gadgets, all the machines, and give no rest to your DPW so that I and I say this not to all the rest of it, but for some, so that I and all of my first world problems, meaning I couldn't get my coffee on time, or I had to wait an additional moment in my nice car to drive, so all those problems could be addressed, but don't raise taxes.

So I appreciate concerns, and I take them on and I share here.

There is no fault at DPW.

The buck stops here, and if I can take the credit, I can take the blame.

There's no one else to blame.

If things went wrong, it's the mayor.

Hold me accountable.

No one else but me.

But at the same time, do you want real answers?

You want to refer to transparency?

You want to have candid conversations, and let's be real, and let's use real stats and real issues because I'll definitely spend the money.

I'll get a DPW staff of 300, and I'll buy 200 trucks for the four storms we get a year, maybe even five, and we'll we'll make sure that as soon as the snow hits the ground, it never gets to an inch.

We'll raise the taxes to 20 percent, but I don't think anybody wants that.

So I think what's realistically gonna happen is this every day we're gonna continue to hit, block by block, sector by sector, and we'll share it.

And in a few weeks, we'll get through it just like every other municipality.

And somewhere around March, April, we'll move on to the next issue of concern, and very few people remember this storm.

And if we made mistakes, we'll make sure to address them so that we don't repeat them for the next storm.

And if there's areas that we can improve, we'll be open to it.

And other times, perhaps there will be large complaints, and those will come up and no one will say anything.

And then other days you might find a special day where the mayor will retort and when large your complaint about the snow.

I assure you that comes from an authority much higher than me.

I didn't report, I didn't order the snow.

I'm not in charge of when it comes down.

I'm just in charge of making sure that we can get at it.

But I would I would challenge you, go to any city, any city in our state where there is no snow on the ground, and I'll give you all of the credit and all of the I guess uh accolades and recognition because you were able to find something that no one else was, but every municipality is going to approach it with all the resources they have, and our city is much better than many, a little farther behind than some.

Thank you for indulging me, Council President.

I appreciate the opportunity to share.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

We're on a roll call.

We completed it, sir.

I'm sorry.

We completed the roll call.

Was there a vote taken to close public hearing?

Yes.

Very good.

We're up to ordinances.

Yes, sir.

Ordinances for second and final reading.

Hearing is required.

Number one, proposed ordinance number two five zero eight-26.

In order to mend the designation of restricted parking for disabled persons by New Jersey license plate numbers introduced at the January 8th, City Council meeting.

Is there a motion please to open public hearing?

No more motion and second roll call, please.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilwoman Mellow.

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia?

Yes.

Councilwoman Colom Montañez?

Yes.

And Council President Shear.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.

At this time, the council is deliberating proposed ordinance 2508.

Is there anyone who would like to adjust the council on this item and this item only?

Seeing no hands, I'm move to close the public question.

Motion and second to close.

Roll call, please.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilman Mellow?

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia?

Yes.

Councilman Colom Montañez.

Yes.

And Council President Sheer.

Yes, thank you.

On the ordinance, is there a maker, please?

Motion.

And second.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilman Mellow.

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia?

Yes.

Councilwoman Colombon Tanez?

Yes.

And Council President Shear.

Yes, thank you.

That was on the ordinance.

Yes, yes.

Very good.

Next, please proposed ordinance 2509-26.

An ordinance amending the designation of restricted parking for disabled persons with new New Jersey license plate numbers.

Is there a motion, please to open public hearing?

Motion motion, second, thank you.

Roll call.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilman Mellow?

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colomb Montañez?

Yes.

And Council President Shear.

Yes, thank you.

At this time, ladies and gentlemen, the council will be contemplating proposed orders 2509.

Is your wondering who would like to adjust the council on this item and decided only?

See no hands, then we'll be closed.

Second motion and second.

Is this the ordinance for short-term rentals?

No.

No.

Okay.

This is the ordinance for disabled parking.

No, it might be.

Is that why you're here?

Is it for one, two, three, or four?

I'm here just to hear the twelve hundred dollar meeting that's going on here.

Um, is this number one, two, or three or four?

It's not my job to have to inform members of the public too.

Thank you, sir.

If you'd like to adjust the ordinance, that is your pleasure, but I'll take it now, please.

Okay.

I would like to know what this ordinance is about.

That is a question which you are expected to know.

This council does not have to brief members of the public.

Can someone on the council just explain what this ordinance is about?

No, sir.

I will give you the same courtesy you gave this council and the mayor.

No, you may not.

Please sit down unless you're addressing the council on the ordinance.

I would just like this ordinance explained a little bit to me.

You sound terribly rational.

You'll forgive me if I might not.

Please take two seats.

Can you please just expand on what this ordinance is for?

I read the ordinance for the public record.

I've missed it.

I'm sorry.

Please sit down.

Okay.

Motion to close.

Motion to close.

Okay.

You are we have the roll call.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilwoman Mellow?

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colombon Tanez?

Yes.

And Council President Shear.

Yes, thank you.

On the ordinance, please.

So move.

Second.

Councilman Monk.

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilwoman Mello.

Yes.

Councilman Mayor.

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colom Monteñez.

Yes.

And Councilman President Shear.

Yes, thank you.

We're up to number three, please.

Yes.

Proposed an ordinance 2512-26.

An ordinance amending chapter 100, certificate of occupancy and tenancy.

Section 100-1.

Definitions.

Section 100-15.

Short-term rental unit registration certificate of the city of Passaic code to permit some short-term rental unit registration certificates.

Is there a motion, please to open public hearings?

Motion second.

Motion and second roll call, please.

Councilman Monk.

Yes.

Councilman Love.

Yes.

Councilman Mellow.

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colomb Montañez.

Yes.

And Council President Shear.

Yes, thank you.

I have a line on the Councilman Monk.

Is that you?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, please.

Thank you, Council President.

So this ordinance for the uh short-term rental.

So under other definitions, there's uh something called occupancy loan, which is a maximum number of occupants per minute in a short-term rental unit as determined by the city code of enforcement inspectors based upon applicable building fire and property maintenance codes.

So how does that work?

And can we get some like general idea?

Like if someone has a um I don't know, five-bedroom home.

Yeah.

So this is already established under the uniform construction code.

It's actually done under the fire subcode official.

And the number of people that you're allowed to have in any given space is dependent on the number of uh egress that you have.

So how many exits are available, the size of the exit.

So for example, if you have a single 36-inch door, you may have a certain number, but if you have a double door, now you can have a higher number, and then that's also taken upon the square footage of the space, and to the point where even furniture is taken into account, right?

So when they look at it, they look at the floor layouts, and then each under the certification, what's gonna happen, each unit is gonna have a total maximum occupancy, so that all the rent we know when we're gonna inspect that those rentals cannot exceed X number of people in the unit.

So I mean, so again, I have no idea what that means with that as far as in terms of if somebody has a uh three thousand foot home with uh five bedrooms, right?

And three beds in each bed, 15 beds, does that mean that on the short-term rental someone could rent out to 15 individuals?

It depends on well, if you're looking at a five-bedroom house, and let's assume, right?

Because you're making assumptions that the rooms exceed over a hundred square feet because there's also limitations on how many beds you can have in a room, depending on the size, right?

If you're saying that they could fit two bedrooms under the law, then each one of those bedrooms would allow be allowed to have two individuals in it, or you know, if it's a big, then it depends.

So it's really depends on the square footage of the bedroom and then the number of exits and the size of uh exits.

All right, so I I guess my concern here is that uh the book is very sensitive to people um setting up rooming house rooming housing, right?

Um, technically, if someone has a home, can you can rent it 10, 12, or 15 different individual people under this ordinance.

I find this I read it correctly.

No, it's what am I reading?

Yeah, I didn't see that.

I read that a few years ago.

Yeah, it's it's one it's one rental, one rental unit, right?

So it's not you can't rent out every single room.

So if that's what you're saying, then the answer is no.

You're you're it's one rental unit, so your house, let's say you're renting your home.

That's one renter, you can't rent it to four different people, it's one renter.

I didn't see that language.

It's all it's all part of the registration, like it's all part that so you have this is the registration component, then you have the use component, which you introduced, but because it's a land use ordinance, it has to go to the planning board.

So I'll be doing that tomorrow night, and then it'll come back for second and final reading, which is gonna kind of dictate what it is, and there's a limitation on, for example, if you think you're gonna grab a one-family home and be like, I'm making a killing on this, I'm gonna rent this all year.

It's only for 90 days collectively in an entire 12-month period, right?

So it's really only if you know you're going away, let's say you're going to you're lucky enough to have your dream trip to Europe, but you want to be able to you know pay your mortgage while you're away, right?

You can rent it out for a couple weeks, and then you make that income can then be a the reason why I was uh nodding is the councilman's concern is legitimate in terms of avoiding the uh even possibility that someone could use a property as a rooming house.

I also want to just refer to our city attorney who can ensure to look at the language to make sure that that isn't possible.

But if you could just speak a little bit towards if somebody is in violation in the language of renting and utilizes it for each particular room, what happens right?

So then that becomes uh an illegal uh dwelling unit per bedroom, and then there is a each there's a charge for every single one of those rooms.

In fact, there's even a state statute that we can file, which is a criminal charge for putting individuals in rooms.

So that even happens today.

If you rent an apartment and you do that in your apartment, you can also, in fact, we do that all the time, and owners, owners that have been constantly doing this have caught several times.

Some of them has even gone to jail for doing illegal rentals per bedroom.

So thank you, Mayor, for bringing that up so I can give it some greater clarity.

I guess I guess the ordinance would say very clearly that each uh one can only rented to one person.

So you know, one be one person, but I mean it's one unit, so that's the I guess the unfortunate thing is that the use one is at the planning board, right?

So they're they're made to go together.

You have this one, you have the tax one, and then you have the use one, right?

But you want to be able to prepare the registrations before the use one is approved.

So we don't want to delay that so that we can get the registrations up and running, and then the use one can then we can sign off on the registration.

The other thing is also in the section 100-15.

One five, yeah, a nine the number of all on site parking spaces available.

The owners will certify that every effort will be made to avoid or mitigate issues with on street parking in the neighborhood in which the short-term rental is located.

Now I mean the owner will serve certified that every effort will be made.

I don't know how you certify I made effort.

I don't know, I don't know how someone could certify something that he's making every effort.

I don't how can you prove that you didn't make every effort?

That's the one.

So number one is release the the rental agreement.

That's a simple one.

In your rental agreement, you tell your renter you cannot have more than one um one vehicle per two occupants unless we otherwise approve it.

No, so that's that's yeah, that's by law.

You can't have more than one or two.

I know, but this is an addition.

This this line in this ordinance is an addition to that where you're not allowed to have more than one vehicle per two occupants.

Well, I wanted to answer your question directly.

How do you prove it to me?

Is when I review your documents, it's in there that you had these conversations, and that when you come in for your registration, that's those discussions are had, and there might be, for example, if you have a big one-family house that has a long driveway that accommodates 10 cars, it's a issue, right?

If you're in a condo, then we have to make sure that your car is not there, for example, when you're renting it out.

So those are things that happen because you can't have like uh because each rental unit may be different.

Um, there has to be enough language that we can look at each one of them individually.

Okay, so I have two other points.

Number one is um again, we have this big sporting event coming up, right?

So I'm going to go 10 buddies.

We want to go and rent the house.

Right.

So I use I lease the house right for a week.

I bring 10 buddies, and every two brings a car.

So now I have five cars for this one apartment, and we know the issues that we face here in the city of Passake regarding parking, right?

So in that scenario, I just added five cars to this block, right?

So I just don't see how this ordinance really protects neighborhoods in terms of the parking crisis that we have in the state.

So then my retort, right, would be that specific registration for that specific unit, may have conditions in which that's not allowed, right?

So that's why we add it unless otherwise approved by the city, right?

So we we're gonna limit occupancy, we can limit parking, we can look at you know what's available for that specific unit.

We can't have a blanket number per se, because every unit is different, right?

So if you're in, and by the way, this is not rental units, it it's owner-occupied units.

Okay, so if I have a condo and I got five condos, because I you know, I like to buy condos, it could only be the condo I live in that I could do this.

I can't grab the other four condos I own and rent them out for Airbnb, right?

So then what'll happen is if that's the condo and that condo has a one bedroom, let's say, right?

And that one bedroom uh it comes with a parking space for that one bedroom in that condo, then that registration certificate, right?

That they get allows for one vehicle for that rental.

But again, I again let's say I have I have a five uh bedroom home.

I'm going on the Caribbean cruise the week of this big sporting event, okay.

And I'm leasing out renting out my my house, my home to one guy who's bringing his 10 buddies.

Now the inspector is coming down to inspect, take measurement of each bedroom to make sure it made how much furniture there is in the house, right?

Well, that happened way before the rent.

Okay.

Um he's not gonna say, Well, guess what you cannot have more than three cars.

I mean, he's gonna say, Well, you could have 10 people here, 12 people here, and based on this ordinance, I can have one car for every two people.

Now, I just took a neighborhood where parking is a problem, which we know is a problem.

Let's not debate, we don't debate that, right?

And I just depends on the neighborhood, but okay.

For this one week of two weeks, right?

I just put down another five cars on this block.

How are we dealing with that?

I mean, that's what you're making an assumption that they're all gonna go on the street.

It could happen.

Councilman, you're right, it could happen.

Someone could end up renting to an individual, and I mean, obviously, we have certain things in place, so you can't turn the home into a free house.

You know, people will complain, they'll call the police to call the city, and obviously you can lose your status even on the Airbnb site because you have to receive positive ratings.

So there is nothing specifically written to avoid that.

We we can't say, well, you're only allowed to rent it if you have one vehicle.

But what will occur is if there is an outcry from the community, there's a response from the community that says this particular home has rented Airbnb, and they're limited how many times they could do it in a year, right?

I believe it's uh it's once every six months.

What's the time?

So you can't exceed a 90-day period in a 12-month in a year.

So basically, you can't like it can't be every single day.

Once you hit that number, you're done for the year.

So that could be in one month, or that could be scattered throughout the year.

But if there are complaints to the city, there can be specific reports about that renter that will remove them and uh in a sense take away their privilege or right to uh to be registered as a site that can be considered uh rentals.

Is there any study that was done here in terms of how much potentially revenue could be driven here to the city for this changing this ordinance for the short-term rentals?

So we're talking about three percent.

So for every thousand dollars rentals 30 bucks to the city, plus a 250 dollar applicant registration fee.

Is there any cost analysis of what the cost is to the city in terms of personnel who are going down to every residence to do an inspection to give out the registrations to monitor the the rentals, how often the rental and they're paying rent, right?

I mean, how are we tracking that?

How do we know when they rented it to know that they that they're paying the rent, right?

If I if I own a hotel, so I have to give the city every month um my financials and see exactly how much income I made.

But when I rent up my house, who in the world is the city, which department of the city of Passaic is monitoring, right?

Who am I submitted?

My financials are no financials.

The guy zell me the money, right?

So what's the cost to operate this this program?

Like based on all this the registration that it includes the fire department, includes co-departments, building department.

We have the personnel to run this and it's gonna pay for it.

Of course, we wouldn't have presented it otherwise.

Okay.

Okay.

I mean it's interesting.

It's occurring now.

I was I was just gonna it's occurring right now.

I want I want to make clear it we're we're not gonna create the situation where people are renting.

What we're trying to uh do is codify and and make a law that can hold individuals accountable and give us the opportunity to regulate it, but it's already occurring.

I think right now you can go online and check Airbnb and Passing.

Check Airbnb in any of the municipalities where they have this or not, people are renting already.

This gives us the opportunity to regulate it.

Will there be a cost?

Yes.

Will it be a benefit to uh to home uh occupied uh properties?

Uh we would hope so to help them pay a mortgage to alleviate some of the concerns as we address affordability in different ways.

Will there be individuals more willing to come to the city and maybe eat at our local restaurants, shop at our uh local stores during this big event, the FIFA?

We hope so.

Will there be an impact in some communities?

Some will go, I don't make it, others will go, this was great.

I would propose the ones that are closer to commercial areas or our restaurants or eateries, they'll be very excited to have additional people here wanting to go to the games to eat and to shop.

But it it is something new that we're trying with everything new.

We're gonna have to monitor it closely, make sure we're bringing reports to the city council, taking every complaint seriously from the residents, and we may end up with a few incidents of individuals having too many vehicles or people trying to get groups of individuals and split the money up so that it's affordable to them.

We're gonna have to keep a close eye and see if it works.

But we know that this is the direction the other municipalities are gonna go.

Some it's already occurring and they don't have anything on the books, others have done it.

We didn't try to come up with something so new and so innovative that it didn't exist.

Try to check out some other municipalities.

We're trying to prepare for those big events because again, it's happening already, and we expect it's only gonna grow as we get closer to that event, and we want to make sure that we have something on the books when they could eventually or hopefully benefit the city with some revenue that comes in, as well as gives us the opportunity to regulate it and do it uh in a more effective and organized way.

Thank you.

Councilman, please.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, I I just want to say thank you, uh, Councilman Monk all for bringing up some very valid points.

Um, and May, I want to thank you because this ordinance is very similar in terms of protection for the tenants.

I'm sorry, for the renters and the landlords, right?

We talked about it the last meeting.

Um in regards to people are advertising certain rentals and they get there and they're sharing personal space and close space with the owner, um, including bathrooms and bedrooms, right?

That it's horror stories out there about Airbnbs.

So I want to pull you and where I was going with is very similar.

This is just because it's being done, and this is sort of like when we uh passed the ordinance about the basements and the garages or or it's some uh different dwellings because it's happening, but until we had an ordinance, we couldn't really put any teeth and monitor it the way that I think this ordinance would allow.

And just speaking about the parking situation, I think the parking situation is always gonna be tricky because even with this or without this, um, this there's nothing that says that if a group of friends or family want to go to on a cruise right now, and I own a house, we meet at my house, right?

And take a Uber to the airport to save money.

The parking is always going to be that way.

Um, it's just real tricky.

It's hard to monitor because the last time I checked, the chief can help me out as long as the car is registered and has insurance, they can park on on the street.

So that that that makes it really hard for any ordinance to regulate parking.

Um, and you raise a good point um because you know, if we can't do anything, but I think it's just difficult because the the five people that are going to rent or the 10 people who has five cars, you may not even be registered any of it.

So now, how did you monitor that as well?

So I I just think that parking is is is a premium wherever you go, not just the city of Passake.

Certain areas in the business administrator said it, certain areas in Passake is not as um you know, uh busy, so to speak, as others, but for the most part and all four wards, parking is is is very difficult.

And I understand your concern, Councilman.

Okay, can I just one quickly just we're in the ordinance about the 90 days max 90 days?

I shouldn't see that what section is.

Councilman, could you please speak into the microphone?

So I'm just looking for the in the ordinance about the 90 days max I needed.

I shouldn't, I don't remember seeing that up.

Here it is, it's under principal residence.

Oh, the second paragraph 275 days during the year.

So let me just do the math real quick.

365 familiar one person must reside it for another 200 day.

A person has to live in 275 days.

You mean so what's left is 90 days?

Is that what you're saying?

365 minus 275.

I was wanting to double check my math because you know, I need a calculator.

I was looking for 90, that's all okay well.

No, because remember, it has to be your principal residence.

So defining it as you're going to rent 90 days more.

You have to live there for 275 days of the year so that it can be considered your principal residence and then qualify to register your unit.

We are on the third ordinance for consideration.

I mean, we're on the open public hearing.

Yes.

And we have to open public hearing now.

You open it.

Did we already?

Yes, we did.

Did we close public hearing?

No, no.

Is there anyone in the ordinance who would like to adjust the council on this item in the Senate Monday?

Do you want to do that?

No hands.

I'm going to close the public portion.

Second.

Motion and second to close public portion.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilman Mellow.

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colombon Tanez?

Yes.

And Council President Sharing.

Yes, thank you.

No, to number move it.

No.

No, not comment.

Move it.

Motion and second to move the bill.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love.

Yes.

Councilman Mellow?

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colombon Tanez?

Yes.

And Council President Shea.

Yes, thank you.

Number four.

Proposed ordinance to thank you, Weatherly.

Proposed ordinance 2513-26.

An ordinance amending chapter 275 taxation to include Article 5, hotel, motel, and short-term rental, unit occupancy tax.

Authorizing and imposing an occupancy tax on certain rentals in the city of Passaic.

Is there a motion please to open public hearing?

So move motion.

And second, thank you to open.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilwoman Mellon.

Yes.

Councilman Mayor?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colombon Tanez.

Yes.

And Council President Sheer.

Yes, thank you.

At this time, ladies and gentlemen, the council's preserving proposed ordinance 2513.

Is your name like to adjust the council on this item and this item?

I just want to know your name's for the record.

My name is Yosef Wolf.

I just want to know how much revenue the city expects to generate from this 90-day period.

Mr.

Fernandes.

So that's hard to tell until people actually start renting it out, but I could tell you that roughly uh because we did do a homework, right?

We didn't just throw something on without looking at it.

There's over a hundred applications that are already in Airbnb that are registered to the city of Passaic, each of them ranging anywhere from a thousand dollars to three thousand dollars, right?

Rental unit, depending on the 90 days, and if that's per week or per day in some instances, depending on events that are if there's a major event, it could be significant.

And then if you add to that the three percent and then the 250 registration fee, just if those hundred units alone were to pay pay the registration fee, uh now you're looking over 25,000 just on registration fees, and if each of those is a ten thousand dollar rental for those 90 days, right?

And you multiply that by the hundred units, you can it can be uh a significant amount.

But again, just to reiterate the mayor's point, this is more for safety and regulation, but there will be there will be a financial implication to the city.

Council President, if I may I I just want to explore something.

Can I just say one more comment?

Can I just say one more comment?

Council President.

The question is being answered when the question is being answered after that, of course, sir.

It may be um tied to revenue, but also to the concern that uh councilman monk has.

Now I understand it may open up kind of worms, but it's just a suggestion if the council is open for us to explore it.

If in the registration um process, maybe something in the future can be looked at and um having to require a registration for vehicles, saying that you you must register a vehicle if you're gonna if you're gonna rent the location, and then we can cap how many vehicles can be registered.

Perhaps if we can have the attorney explore, I was just thinking about it because as I was pondering and then the question of revenue, it could be out of fee.

We can say the Airbnb must require an individual to register whatever vehicles are going to be at the location or in the area.

Could someone get around it, possibly, but within that the council can entertain is again.

I would propose the council would consider entertaining going, you have to register a vehicle, and there must be a limit to how many vehicles you're allowed to register.

A vehicle outside of that that is a part of the rental, can be subject to ticketing or otherwise.

How you regulate that throughout the city?

I mean, obviously, we can have more conversations about that, as we've had zone permit around the city, and perhaps parking permits around the city during the time of FIFA may be something that we explore, but perhaps going down the act just to see, because I think you have a legitimate concern.

Yeah, councilman uh monk and in the other council members share it that if if we open up that opportunity, someone may come with four or five cars and it becomes already a challenge in the city.

But if we can go to register, not only do you have to register, obviously, to rent it, but you have to register what vehicle you're gonna bring in, it gets uh whatever pass or whatever it is registered for us.

So the business administrator share you had a register when you rented a place when you went somewhere, right?

Yeah, my assistant had a rent had had a register their vehicle in that specific area.

So maybe we do something and we tailor it to the city, and then we can address because we can add a component to that that caps or limits how many vehicles can be registered per unit.

I mean if we are at a particularly densely populated area or an area that's challenged, we go one vehicle per unit.

If the council is open to that, council president and councilman for additional revenue and potentially to address some of the concern.

We could ask the attorney to explore that.

I would respectfully, I would ask the council to remember that we're on the ordinance, additional ordinances and modifications.

I'm sure will be made in the future, but yeah, currently we need to uh no do respect.

That's fair.

I just thought it may be additional revenue if we charger, but uh no, it's a stretch.

It's that kind of evening for me.

And maybe maybe the restriction on cars could be also for long-term rentals, not larger cars for one unit in Pacific.

It was that you need to be on the ordinance, sir.

Thank you.

And the council councilman love mentioned about basement apartments.

I don't think they'll be available for this short-term rentals because you're not on the ordinance, sir.

stretch it's that kind of evening for me and maybe maybe the restriction on cars could be also for long-term rentals not a larger cars for one unit it was that you need to be on the ordinance sir thank you and the council councilman love mentioned about basement apartments i don't think they'll be available for this short term rentals because you're not on the ordinance sir this ordinance about short term rentals and passaic excuse me taxation on short term rentals and passaic ordinance for ordinance two five one three two six you're not on the ordinance ordinance amending chapter two seven five taxation to include article the hotel motel and short term rentals is that the one twenty five thirteen dash twenty six yes is it possible that this will not apply to basement apartments because the planning board has not heard more than one application for that resolution that you passed for basement apartments not more than one this we are under discussion of an ordinance before this body it is already through appropriate planning and resonating bodies thank you anyone else wish to adjust to council on 2513 motion to close second motion and second to close councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman mellow yes councilman mayor yes councilman garcia yes councilman colomonia council president share on the ordinance please is there a maker so more second councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman mellow yes councilman mayor yes councilman garcia yes councilman colomontaes yes and council president shares that was on the ordinance yes sir very good we're up to remember numero uh six on our agendas communications we have before us items five through ten i'd like separate vote please on nine and ten and ask for the council's consideration if they have any questions please on five six seven or eight seeing no lights is their motion please to accept items five six seven and eight move it second councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman mellow yes councilman mayor yes councilman garcia yes councilman colommon teniz yes council president share no she's not she did what yeah seven yeah okay on items nine and ten separate vote is there any questions please on nine and ten is a motion to accept nine council president weather leading yes i just need your vote yes or no yes thank you thank you councilman no problem on nine and ten the move it council second motion and second on nine and ten roll call on nine and ten councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman mellow yes councilman mayor yes councilman garcia yes yes councilman colomontaes and council president shares yes thank you all members listed are under considered routine in nature 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 putting 17 aside questions please on 11 through 16 is there motion please to accept 11 second motion and roll councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman mellow yes councilman mayor yes councilman garcia yes yes councilman colommoon then council president shear yes thank you on 17 questions on 17 please roll on 17 move second councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman mellow yes councilman mayor yes councilman garcia yes councilman colomontaes and council president shear yes or we have to remember number seven resolutions number eighteen is a resolution authorizing closed executive session of the city council of the city to meet today Friday 13 at 7 p.m attorney mr fernandez no council president mr mayor sir members of the council very good if we can take 18 off items 19 separate 20 through 31 yeah yes sir 19 separate vote on 19 yeah separate councilman mayor can just 19 through no no no it's still 18 through 30 councilman mayor do you have your logo separate comments 30 are there any questions please on 19 through 31 councilman mayor um on 19 on 19 this is a regarding the swap of real estate based on the maps this is like existing yes issues like this going on for a hundred years it's just a formality at this point it is so what happened is when the state of new jersey department of education was going to prepare to build the project they noticed that a portion of the building would be

One council mayor.

Um this is a regarding the swap of real estate based on the maps.

This is like existing yes issues like this going on for a hundred years, it's just a formality at this point.

It is so what happened is when the state of New Jersey Department of Education was going to prepare to build the project, they noticed that a portion of the building would be on city property, and they couldn't do that, even though if you look at the survey, yeah, it's been like that for a million years.

So we needed to square off the library so that they can then have uh the rest of the land.

So that's basically what it does.

Um it basically just moves imaginary lines because the library isn't changing, and the parking lot that the library has always used is going to remain the same.

The interesting part is that you know, you're growing up, you visit the library a million times.

The library parking was actually owned by this board of ed, and the board of ed administrative parking was owned by the city.

So uh that this would change that, of course, and make it correct.

Thank you.

And on 20 and 21, those are just upgrades to existing.

Yeah, so um, we have completed the construction of 69 Jefferson, and now we need to do the telecommunications to put the phones in, the Wi-Fi, you know, all the other stuff to make it an operational uh functioning building just for the um council's edification.

This is all funded through CDBG.

This is not city funded.

23 as well.

It was 23 was funded through yeah, that's uh it's a uh MJ DOT 100% grant funded.

29 just removal of funds from one appropriation to another, just yeah.

So this is common.

This is common towards the end of one fiscal year, the beginning of the next year, where we're doing departmental transfers as we're closing the books.

One department might have needed more than another, or one line item might have needed one than another.

So uh this is just a a normal transfer to the uh department, the necessary department.

Couldn't you go through the 350?

So that would be way too big for what we need.

So these are this is paid by the urban enterprise zone, and uh a 350, just everybody knows pretty large.

The 250 to me is large, but 350 is pretty big.

Um, but this is for the um clean sweep graffiti removal, so it carries the tank the tank.

Uh, I know the mayor was extremely happy that we ordered it with plows, and each truck is coming in plow ready with the plows on the truck, and once this there the good news is that it's on the lot, and the moment that this passes and it's signed, we call them up so they can deliver the two trucks and get two more trucks of plows on the street.

Okay, yes, and lastly on 31.

Could you explain this is obviously this has been this property's been in front of the council before?

Could you explain the process from start to end chronologically what happens in regards to this recommendation or proposed recommendation for the education of myself being a new council member needing to find it?

All right, so as the um as the council knows, right?

There was concerns from the neighborhood with a compliant application.

So it was an application that complied with the conditional use requirements.

Uh, there was a lot of uh community outcry, and there was a lot of discussions by the mayor and the council to listen to those uh you know those cries from the public and figure out a way to develop something that can be palatable for both the property owner who spent time and money collecting all of these properties as well as the community in which the project is going to sit.

Uh knowing that the current proposal was an absolutely not acceptable for the community.

Um, for us to be able to negotiate with the developer in a way that we can make this happen and have open discussions with both the developer and the community.

Um this would move us into a redevelopment process, right?

So the current conditional use process.

Um the applicant complied, she agreed to pull the application so that we can then negotiate for us to legally negotiate.

We have to have a designation.

So what this does, this is step redevelopment designation step floor.

You have to designate the area in need, right?

So this is that step.

This would you're referring this to the planning board to create a study for an area in need.

Once that happens, it comes back to the council for a resolution designating it, right?

So this goes to the planning board.

I go to the planning board, I explain the statutory criteria.

The planning board reviews it says it meets the criteria.

If it meets the criteria, it would come back to this council for a designation, right?

There's no use, there's no number of units, none of that.

This is just designating it so that we can then do the next step, which is prepare a redevelopment plan.

That plan is where you're going to delineate the number of units, types of house housing types permitted, heights on those buildings, parking requirements, etc.

etc.

etc.

That is done not by resolution but by ordinance.

So then what'll happen is this is going to come back in front of the council as an ordinance with a with a plan.

With a plan with a basic plan of how many units, what type of units, etc.

It's a con it's a guide.

Yeah, right.

We're not gonna know if it's gonna be stucco or brick or uh vital sighting, right?

The things that matter, they're set back, yeah.

The number of units, what type of units, you know, things like that.

So then that comes in as first reading, first reading ordinance.

Then under the state of New Jersey, it requires that that plan be reviewed by the planning board with consistency with our city master plan.

So then the council introduces it, I go to the planning board, we go over the master plan and compare the master plan to the proposal, and then it'll come back with or without a recommendation from the planning board for second and final hearing where the public will have an opportunity to discuss the ordinance at hand, and through the all the entire process, even this process, it's all in their public hearings, right?

So you can hear everything that they're saying.

So you don't really get to comment on uh on a uh master plan review because it's not a back and forth, it's basically does it comply with the master plan or not?

But it's all all the discussions are in public, and people can listen, and when they come back to the hearing, they can have any questions or any dialogue or any concerns or any discussion with the council.

Take it, and then once that happens, now we've passed it.

Now it's a plan.

Now that becomes the zoning ordinance for that parcel.

Unlike your typical zoning ordinance, the applicant must comply, right?

Must substantially comply with that ordinance, because you're not allowed to deviate from that ordinance.

So let's say we said that they're allowed a hundred units, right?

But they want to build a hundred and two units, they can't go to the zoning board to ask for a hundred and two units.

They have to come back here to this governing body and request an amendment to that redevelopment plan, and then guess what?

That amendment has to go through all the steps that we just did for the redevelopment plan because there is no once once the council passes that plan, that's the plan, and they gotta abide by it.

So that is nuts to bolts.

This is step one, just the designation.

Okay, councilman monk.

Yeah, thank you, council president.

So in terms of so at the first at the first stop with the planning board, right?

Um the who comes up with the concept of what this area or any kind of goes before the redevelopment, before it goes to planning of what fits in of the need of redevelopment.

Is this something that the city makes the recommendation?

Is it the owner of the property that makes the recommendation?

Uh are the are people are the is there a 200-foot notice to residents within that area of the planning meeting.

What's the process to decide should it be a five-story building?

It should be a two-story building, should be a 50-story building.

So that that's negotiated between the the city.

So it would be myself and the developer, and the mayor, of course, uh at the mayor's direction, of course, and and our professionals, other professionals, you know, our engineer and things like that.

We then negotiate based on the direction.

So the city, the administration meets the recommendations for the planning board.

No, but they should apply.

It doesn't go to the planning board, it comes here first.

So basically, what'll happen is we'll sit down with the developer, okay?

After listening to everything that happened up to this point, right?

Because the one thing we have going in our favor is that everybody was very vocal of what the issues were.

So we have a discussion.

We come to any other zoning ordinance that would be that the administration proposes, right?

We would have long discussions because I you've been part of some of these discussions.

You know, they don't they don't happen overnight.

In fact, we've been talking about this while she was still active in the application.

We were trying to figure out what would be acceptable to both the residents and the developer.

Um once that plan is developed, right?

It comes to this uh governing body for review and analysis before it goes on before it goes to the planning board.

So where's it going?

We're making the city council tonight is voting on to recommend it to send it to the planning board.

So this is you directing the planning board to do a study, which is only for designation, and the reason that you're doing this is so that it can validate the negotiations, and the council has the opportunity to review the ordinance.

If not, they would use the underlying ordinance, which was the problem.

So we're trying to alleviate the concerns of the community and the developer and come up with a plan.

Okay, so this has nothing to do with the number you've got.

So this goes to the planning board just so they should designate recommend that it should be a redeveloped area.

Then it comes back here in terms of what the plan should be.

Which administration basically works that out with the with the so what is there any point where people and the neighborhood are noticed?

So what point is that?

Which so the thing is the the in the affected property, so under the state of New Jersey's local housing redevelopment law, under the state of New Jersey, every affected parcel, the ones that are actually going to be affected by the property, right?

Like the actual block and lots get noticed, right?

Because we're designating them and they're affected in the planning.

Is that all committed?

Zoning, planning, and redevelopment.

No, no, the it's the actual property owners, like the properties.

Okay.

So that's the notice.

I'm sorry, what was the question comes?

Planning board and zoning board.

No, saying is it all communities that require that?

Is that the question?

I think you left.

The question was do all require that notice for those reports.

Yeah, yes, state in New Jersey.

Yes, I'm sorry, I misunderstood.

I thought yes, yeah.

I'm sorry, I heard planning board and zoning board document.

Yeah, I'm sorry, I maybe I just I'm hard of hearing anyway.

Um so yes, so what happens is here everyone, every lot that's affected gets noticed that we're doing a designation.

So if if I if you see lot one, two, three, four, five, six, and they get noticed that that's happening, right?

That's the actual lot that's that's has to do with the zone.

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm wanted I'm giving you the whole plethora of notices, just so that everybody understands.

So then what happens is you then once this is on, right?

There's the general a general notice, right?

Not 200 foot radius.

It's a general notice, our city clerk puts it out, right?

That this is what's going on before the council for the plan, right?

Then the planning board's notice is just a meeting notice because they're not acting, they're not acting on the ordinance, what they're acting on is if it's consistent or not with the master plan.

So they're not saying that you know anything other than that it complies or doesn't comply with the master plan.

So then when it comes back here, after that general notice, you have the public hearing, right?

Then at that point, once the ordinance is passed, there's a planning board site plan application, which requires a 200-foot notice of every single individual uh within these parcels, which was the normal process, which is the normal process that they followed originally.

So if I understand this correctly, and I mean I know we've been told this many times, but it just gets very confused with all the different all different steps and different steps, different applications to go different ways.

Um so in other words, the one advantage of going having a plan, a p a property going through the it's redevelopment, is that people living in the immediate area are not noticed.

When I say notice, I don't mean in a newspaper because most people are in newspapers, right?

In the mail that something is happening until it's too late.

It's done, it's a done deal, and all the left is where we should put the trees.

Well, you have to turn right here, turn left here, but it's a done deal.

I mean, that is one of the advantages of going through redevelopment is that you could really bypass the neighborhood.

Well, I know I'm I'm I'm I'm yeah, I disagree.

I disagree with uh the characterization um because that would be the same thing, the exact same thing that you do with any land use ordinance.

So if that's the case, every single zoning ordinance that we've put before you and every zoning ordinance in the entire state of New Jersey, right?

You'd say the same thing for it.

So this council, right, is elected to pass the law, whether it's the zoning, which just consider this an amendment to your zoning ordinance.

It's the same thing, right?

So if this council just and I would argue that in this specific case, they came in with a compliant, right?

They they came in with a compliant application.

The law, excuse me, they were not they were allowed to go to the planning board for a conforming application.

Now we can argue whether it was conforming or not, but we didn't get to that level of detail, right?

Which right?

So right now, let's say you say I don't want the conditional use, get rid of it, right?

Guess what?

Everybody within 200 feet is not gonna get noticed either.

That's not the notice requirements, right?

I think councilman, if I may, I think to the business administrator's point is that the concerns of the community were heard.

Yes, that the process did to an extent worked.

There wasn't a full approval and an execution of this plan, and we didn't move forward.

There was obvious objections from the community.

They reached out to their representatives, the uh council members.

There were meetings we stepped back.

And if I may, I just want to clarify just one point because I think it was a good question about the uh recommendations.

The recommendations come obviously, especially back to the council after considering the concerns of the community, uh, objections or even suggestions from the city council.

But to your point, if if I may ask, because I think it is a legitimate and extremely important point.

Is there a suggestion of how we we would better uh notice the public that are affected directly in proximity to a potential project?

Yeah, I I don't want to talk specifically to this to this.

I want to go very general because this is something that I've seen a little bit through the years, where things went through the redevelopment designation, and people neighbors woke up like, oh, how did that happen?

I don't I never got noticed, which I can never understood.

Like, what do you mean to get noticed?

How do you how do you get a plan through?

But but and I think this is the answer again.

I'm not coming to change state law how things are done, but we're always very sensitive.

I'm not talking to this uh really at all.

Just in general, in general, and in general, because we do exercise redevelopment, you know, the nation a lot here to get things which is tremendous what this administration has done over the years using that tool, it's a great tool, but we're also I know the administration is very sensitive to being informing everybody, right?

What's happening in their name, especially in their neighborhood and getting input and so on and so forth that this through this process, not deliberately, god forbid, I'm not, but through this process, which is an important process, that's what we got so far with all the change in the city of Passaic, there is a little bit of uh uh you know, call it a um downside, I guess, in terms of incorporating and bringing in the neighborhood just what they like to see in it.

So, what would be the suggestion in order to sort of fill that gap or address that concern because we we would be open to it.

I mean, again, I and I go back to what the administrator shared.

It seems like the process worked for for not just this one, because we don't want to talk about this one, but there's been a number of applications where as the city was moving forward, there was objection by residents, and that's happened in every ward throughout the entire city where there's a development, we're almost at the finish line sometimes.

So the the administration can uh sometimes think everything is great, everyone's on board, and then last minute residents come in and forgive the description of last minute, but maybe they didn't receive something in the mail, maybe it got shared in a forum or a particular book, maybe it got put in the newspaper, and someone picked it up and said, exciting project about to come in a resident.

Maybe it got put in the newspaper, and someone picked it up and said exciting project about to come in a resident said I wasn't aware of it.

Now they know they've come, we've readdressed it with the council, we've walked back certain aspects.

So is there an additional layer that would be suggested for us to consider to more effectively communicate and ensure the engagement and involvement of the public?

Mayor my my least concern is with this has to do with this resolution because I think the residents in this area are very informed.

And um every time there'll be a meeting, I'm sure there'll be another long sign, you know, put out there when the next meeting will be.

But I really thought about really generally in terms of anywhere in the city where we use this tool.

Uh because I've heard this in the past, I don't know if another council members have heard the experience also where we go through the redevelopment designation, and the residents also wake up one morning, and it's all approved, it's done.

They can't do anything.

So it's something which the council has heard that has gotten feedback.

So uh, you know, it's something which again we could address, you know, how how how we could you know uh fix this issue.

I I know legally we don't have to, but that's I know administrations that's not the approach.

Well to your point and through the council president, I would just share that we are definitely open.

Any way that we can more effectively communicate uh with the residents.

I mean, obviously, ideally we want the buy-in of the community.

We sometimes have the challenge of looking at a development, and I think you you articulated it so much better than I possibly could, just because we can do something doesn't necessarily mean that we should do it.

We consider the impact on the community.

We consider sometimes it's not uh the right application now or plan now, and maybe in the future, maybe so.

But uh I I do want to say that for the business administrator, obviously, there's so much work that goes into having these conversations, studying the law, and he spends you know, he burns the midnight oil on making sure all the codes are met, all the legalities are uh taken care of whether state and and local.

But obviously, we serve at the pleasure of the residents of the city of Passake, and our goal is to the best of our ability, move projects and initiatives forward that serve the best interests of the city as a whole.

I'm not sure I can't read that, but you'll let me know what it is.

I don't want to pull a president and Marco Rubio where I'll read that out loud, and I'm not supposed to.

Some people might get that reference, but you'll let me know what that is later on.

Again, councilman, yeah, we're open to find out what additional layers it's just again.

Sometimes we do send out the notice 200, um for radius.

Sometimes it gets published, sometimes we even utilize social media.

We'll let the council members know, or even share it in town hall meetings, and somewhere along the process, uh two or three individuals that begin to object, then the two or three are turning to six, and then the six are turning to twenty, and twenty are turning to thirty.

We're going we would have been so much more open at the beginning of the process.

But of course, it's uh whatever serves the best interest of the community as a whole.

So we're open to figure out how we can communicate it better.

We would welcome any suggestions and working together to get there.

Mr.

B is there something you want to share?

Because I can't.

I don't have classes.

This council has been known to request from the administration a 200 foot radius for a plan.

One that comes to mind is to leverage Pennington, where we had to rent out the local gym.

So that's an option I'm gonna read it.

I don't have the glasses grabbed.

Um that has something that in certain instances, right?

Yeah, the council hasn't requested, but again, legally, I want to make sure everybody knows I just want to make sure everybody knows the laws followed to the T.

There is no circumventing anything.

The notices that are required or submitted, they're put in the paper.

The days that they have to be in the paper are reviewed, right?

That's why in the 27 years I've been doing this, we've never had a single redevelopment plan.

The question or brought back from the state of New Jersey.

In fact, every single time the state of New Jersey tells us that we're good to go.

So I make sure everybody else we're all on the same page with that.

But I think to the council member and and most of the council's point, and again, I'll reiterate that we are open to making communication more effective.

We we've met the requirements.

I think we all agree on that that we meet the requirements, but the requirements, and I'm I'm not gonna say that they're they're you know antiquated or a little older, but right now things have changed.

People use social media, and not everyone is waiting for correspondence to show up in the mail and uh and read it.

Sometimes people miss it.

Uh, as a city, we have to admit where there's areas that we can improve, and sometimes when residents raise their voice and say, hey, you know, some things are good, but some things we don't feel are good.

We should be open to receive that and say, then how can we make it better?

And I think this is one of those unique opportunities that if we put our heads together and work with the community, we'll find a way to make it better.

We won't always come to full agreement, but I think your point is well taken, and again now we emphasize we're open.

Council president, members of the council to figure out how we can do this better.

Councilwoman Mellow, please.

Yes, so one that came to mind that they also mentioned about was with the ice cream parlor.

They best summit residents brought up the same concern.

They say they were not notified, but I do recall that it was mentioned that it was put in the newspaper.

I mean, the law was passed.

Unfortunately, as residents, sometimes we don't read newspapers.

Some of us don't read the newspapers.

So, and I think one of the things that we did mention was um sending emails, but then you have folks that don't have emails, so that's um it's a tough one, but yeah, it is something that we've heard in the past, but it's gonna be challenging.

Just we're gonna have to by the way, everything's posted on the website, so yeah, there's some people that don't go on the website, they'll say it was it's in the new, it's in the newspaper, it's on the website, and it's hanging right next to the city clerk's office.

That those are the I'm just telling you what the requirements are of the law.

I'm not saying they're good or bad or indifferent.

I'm just telling you the things, the steps we have to follow.

So and that's what we've been doing.

I think the points have been made.

Uh, councilwoman, you are correct.

There are other examples of individuals that have, even though we went uh far above and beyond to notice individuals, it said they still didn't get it.

That's gonna continue to happen.

We'll send emails, we'll post it up online, we'll do the 200 feet radius, we'll make phone calls, we'll send out the LED truck with the flashing ladies and gentlemen.

There's a meeting on this date.

There will still be individuals that say they didn't receive it, but at the very least, let us be accused of doing too much to communicate uh rather than uh being told we have not done enough.

So I think we're open to it.

Councilman Mayor, please the the designation of a redevelopment zone.

Does it take away the conditional use ability, or then have two paths technically?

So the the mere designation does not, the plan does.

So what'll happen is we're gonna present a plan that supersedes the underlying zoning ordinance, so then those lots would not cannot avail themselves of the conditional use any longer unless uh they were removed from the reamment plan.

Thank you.

Councilman Love, yeah.

Just a quick question.

I and I know we probably can spend a lot of time on how and what we could do, some suggestions.

But I just want to know because I never receive uh 200 um feat radius letter.

How does it look?

Um, because I'll tell you the only letters that are from the city that I'm I look at it when it's the it says tax bill, it says no bill, right?

You're with me, right?

So um, and the reason why I say that is because uh again down the line we can think of some creative ideas, maybe a different column, maybe right across the envelope, it says it could say redevelopment, right?

That draws attention because many of us uh I think do the same thing.

We're just happy that we don't get a bill, or there's not anything major from the city.

Um, and those other letters may they get thrown away.

So if we send how it comes.

If if we send the letter, it'll say city or forsake on it.

Yeah, but that's a great suggestion that he made.

Honestly, we we can explore that because the truth is you're right.

Most people get so much in the mail, you may just put it to the side, whether it's about recycling, whether it's uh another notice, maybe another letter or calendar or whatever it is.

We send we send a lot out.

We try to make sure we send a lot out, but we can explore whether or not a different envelope, a different color, something that we can put on it that may let people know there's an urgency, there's uh a time that they should consider this needs to be read.

So we that's a good thing to appreciate the importance of this conversation.

Items 19 through 31.

Are there any questions, please?

19 separate jobs, 19 separate on 20 to 31 move because the motion is there a second, please.

20 through 31.

Well call, please.

Councilman Monk, yes, councilman Love, yes, councilwoman Mello, yes, Councilman Mayor, yes, councilman Garcia, yes.

Councilwoman Colomontanez, yes, and council president share yes, or 19, please move it.

Second councilman monk, yes, councilman Love, yes, Councilman Melo, yes, Councilman Mayor, yes, Councilman Garcia, yes, councilman Colom Montañez.

Okay, Council President Sheer.

Yes, thank you.

Proposed ordinance amending the designation of restricted parking for disabled persons by New Jersey license plate number is their motion to use two except for set down for a second final reading at our meeting of February 17th.

Second roll call, please.

I'm 32.

Councilman Monk.

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilman Mellow?

Yes.

Councilman Mayer?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colombon Tanez?

Yes.

And Council President Sheer.

Yes, thank you.

Number 33, please.

An ordinance amending chapter 100.

Certificates of occupancy and tenancy.

Section 10 fees of the code of the city of Passive to adjust certificate of occupancy fees.

Is there a merchant please to accept for sit down for second and final reading and a meeting of February 17th?

Second second roll call, please.

Councilman Monk?

Yes.

Councilman Love?

Yes.

Councilman Mellow?

Yes.

Councilman Mayer?

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colombon Tanez?

Yes.

It comes to President Sharia.

No, not 34.

On 34, please.

An ordinance authorizing the exchange of real properties between the city of Pacific and the Persic Board of Education pursuant to MJSA 40A colon 12 16.

Is there a motion please to open for second and final reading?

And a meeting of February 17.

Movement.

Second.

Motion and second roll call.

Councilman Monk.

Yes.

Councilman Love.

Yes.

Councilwoman Mellow.

Yes.

Councilman Mayor.

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colombon Tanez.

Okay.

And Council President Shear.

Yes, thank you.

The payment of bills.

Are there any questions on the bills as presented by the clerk?

Single likes at this time, is the motion please to accept the bills.

Move motion and second roll call, please on the bills.

Councilman Monk.

Yes.

Councilman Love.

Yes.

Councilman Mellow.

Yes.

Councilman Mayor.

Yes.

Councilman Garcia.

Yes.

Councilman Colom Montañez.

Yes.

And Council President Shear.

Yes, thank you.

Administrators report.

Mr.

Fernandez.

None at this time, sir.

Thank you, sir, Mr.

Mayor.

We received communication in the last couple of days that the county will now begin to address some of the county roads.

Tomorrow they're going to be on Broadway, and that is a major help.

The county roads, which include Brook Avenue, uh Passake Avenue, Van Howen Avenue, Broadway.

They unfortunately can only address a small section at a time.

So they're gonna have Broadway from uh Prospect Street, um down, I believe, almost to Maine Avenue a little bit before.

Uh we will continue our efforts according to the alternate side of the street that we've been doing.

The west side is uh usually uh Mondays and Wednesdays, where the uh east side is Tuesday and Thursday, but tomorrow we're gonna hit a lot of the uh city.

I believe that some of the areas that we're gonna be focused on tomorrow will be Lafayette.

I think we have a list just in the chair send it to the council because she's gonna pull it up in the next let's see.

Includes Lafayette from Meadow to uh way to Passica Boulevard from Broadway, all the way to Meet Acre Guard from Broadway, all the way to Mead and Randolph uh Broadway, uh, all the way to Albion Street.

When I mention the specific area, I just want to remind uh especially those watching online and those who hear later.

It's not like a street sweeper that can just go by within one minute.

It takes about a good hour, and since uh alternate side is two hours, you usually get two blocks in an hour before people start returning back with their cars, but we we are going according to our plan.

Um, our DPW consisting is hitting, but those are just for the um alternate side hours, it's two hours.

We begin around 6 a.m.

from 6 to 10 as we're getting all the uh trucks out.

We're hitting most of the corners, especially where the heaps of snow are.

We try to hit those wherever we can, and we don't find cars parked, even though it's not alternate side.

Uh the trucks are go around and with some of the plows, they try to flatten it out.

The challenge with uh just hitting it and going and leaving all the snow in the middle of the street is then it has to be salted immediately, so it's easier for us to stick with the plan.

There were some calls for uh for urgent responses.

Uh some schools that were open and had specific requirements, the hospital, of course, certain work that uh occurred down by um Main Avenue and uh Marietta, and I'm gonna take this opportunity to just uh thank Councilman Mayor, uh, like myself.

We had identified a stream of water that was coming down Maine Avenue.

We both thought it was coming from Clifton from a particular fire, but it was another water main break.

And that they worked overnight, but you can imagine with the frigid temperatures, it froze.

We had over three inches of ice going down the sidewalk, down Main Avenue went down Main Ave and halfway through the block on Brook all the way up to Stewart.

The reason I share it is because then we had a draw the attention from our DPW from where they were working overnight to go take care of that in order to salt it because if people would have woke up after three o'clock in the morning, there would be no way to notice them, and they would they would have just fallen in front of their homes.

So we had to draw the people off at that time.

So even in the midst of doing the work, sometimes extenuating circumstances require that we send people to different directions.

But uh, we're gonna again emphasize if your street is not being cleaned with snow removal, then there would be no tickets giving.

There is no alternate side in force other than the streets that we have posted and have the police going to to tell you to move so that we can clean it.

But Spring Street was hit, and uh in those areas were hit today.

Thank you.

That's it.

Any additional comments?

Was there was there was there any uh nothing in the politics in Washington?

Was there any funds that used to be available for storms like this that are no longer available?

First, um there's no getting out of the politics, you're literally an elected official.

Every part of it is political, but in regards to the question that you asked, yes, every year there's uh funding put aside for snow removal.

You're asking, is there funding that we put in the budget aside?

There's a FEMA fund anything that used to be able to tap into.

Oh, outside funding, yeah.

You know, we we budget, we budget every year for additional snow removal that uh maybe so in uh extended hours over time or having to get additional contractors just to give some perspective and context for the three days that we utilize seven contractors came out to about sixty-five thousand dollars, and that's at getting them to agree in the typical amount that gets charged through the public bids, about 250 an hour.

Because it was an emergency allocation and we reached out to local venues and we talked to purchasing.

We got everyone agreed no more than 150 an hour to be able to work, which is significantly less than typically when we put out the bid in there's response, and we made sure to have a number of uh contractors.

We had seven over three days, which we were able to get them to work over Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it was over $65,000.

If we have them for obviously uh 30 more days, that's 130,000, 30 more days, almost 200,000.

And if we use them for the month, we're going over 600,000.

So we're we're trying to be extremely careful with how we're utilizing the funds because we need more tandem trucks.

There's a lot of if you go to our dumping sites or where we're storing the snow, we have over five in the city right now.

One of them on Passakev by the baseball fields, councilman, you can see the heaps of snow.

We're now starting to explore whether we can just put them in different areas.

We got one private developer to say you can use my entire property, dump your snow there.

We're gonna take some to uh Armory Park, but just to give some some context, we're not allowed to store it in proximity to the water.

We cannot dump them in the river.

Yes, because of the when you're when you're when you're going around picking up the snow, you don't just pick up the snow.

You the streets have been treated, Bryan.

There's certain contaminants, some people throw out their garbage.

You're not allowed to pick it up and throw it in the river.

You can't have it near the brook.

So we're limiting.

We we have specific areas, so we put a certain amount of funding aside as to your question.

We we are looking to come back to the council in two weeks and explain that we had to uh redirect some additional funds, and we are using DPW nonstop with the contractors, but again, it is a budget issue, and we want to make sure that we're not spending without cost.

So, no, there's no funding, but I think what you're referring to, if I may, there was a time last year, not too far off, where any additional hours, resources or money spent would be reimbursed by FEMA, and their guidelines last year was anything up to eight inches above eight inches or eight inches or more was considered an emergency.

The federal government changed that this year, and the the guidelines now state, unless it's over 21 inches, which I'm gonna I'm gonna share this with you, and I'm not making any judgments.

I I was realizing when I was watching other municipalities on the news saying we got 18, 19 inches, I was going 18, they were like drifting and everything.

I was going, it feels like people were exaggerating the number.

I mean, I know this is online, I'm careful, and then I realized everyone's trying to get to that 21 inch because yes, because it was drifting in the city of Passake.

I wish I know it sounds bad.

I wish we would have got to 21 inches because then we could have used all the funding and had a reasonable expectation of reimbursement.

There's no reimbursements coming for this.

That's why we're being very careful that whatever we're spending that's coming out of the budget.

Unless it goes over 21 inches, you're no longer reimbursed.

That was just changed by the federal government this year.

Thank you.

Was that what you were referring to?

Okay.

Come on.

You know how they make the snow and uh snow tune.

No response too soon.

I'm gonna say too soon.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

Like I said, too soon.

There is a motion.

Is there a second to close, please?

Thank you.

Roll call, please.

Councilman Monk, Councilman Love, yes, Councilman Mello, yes, Councilman Mayor, yes, Councilman Garcia, yes, Councilman Colombo, and Council President Shares.

Yes, thank you.

This meeting is adjourned.