The Jersey City Independent "

All photos: Steve Gold

After last week’s snowpocalypse canceled a City Council meeting for the first time since 1996, a special meeting was arranged for Wednesday evening to handle time-sensitive business that needed to be addressed before the next regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 24.

Wednesday’s agenda contained no ordinances; 26 resolutions were the only legislative items considered. All the ordinances that appeared on last week’s agenda are to be carried forward to the next regular meeting. The thin agenda made for the shortest council meeting in recent memory, clocking in at a mere 29 minutes. There was no public hearing portion of the meeting, and only about 15 community members were in attendance.

Incinerator Authority Appointment Gets Heated

As a resolution was considered to appoint Roger Hejazi to the board of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA), Ward E councilman Steven Fulop continued to beat the drum on his campaign to eliminate health benefits for the members of that board as well as that of the Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA).

At last Monday’s council caucus Fulop requested that Hejazi be advised that the benefits that come with the position may be removed and that he say whether he would be willing to serve on the board without them. Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson told the council on Wednesday that she had spoken with Hejazi and he indicated he would be willing; this was confirmed by assistant business administrator Greg Corrado.

“If he’s willing to serve without benefits, we should take advantage of it,” Fulop said, suggesting that Hejazi’s contract be amended to exclude him from receiving benefits.

But the rest of the council wasn’t on the same page. Fulop’s comment provoked a good deal of consternation from almost everyone else on the dais, and the conversation quickly became heated.

In response to Fulop’s oft-repeated claim that the members of the JCIA and MUA boards work only “12 hours a year,” Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan accused Fulop of fabricating statistics.

“You never quantitate [sic] anything you say,” he exclaimed, waving his arm angrily towards Fulop. “You make this stuff up.”

For his part, Fulop characterized the benefits and the appointment process as “political patronage,” pointing out that Hejazi “didn’t even have the decency to submit a resume,” which is normally required as part of an application to serve on a city board. Fulop told the council about a phone conversation he recently had with Hejazi, saying that Hejazi told him that if he didn’t have the council’s support on the appointment, he would “call Jerry,” referring to Mayor Healy.

None of the other council members agreed that Hejazi should be forced to waive his right to receive benefits, and the resolution to appoint him passed 8-1 with Fulop voting no. A later resolution appointing Frank Checchia to the JCIA was passed with the same vote.

Budget Watch

As angry residents all around town prepare to flood next week’s public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2010 budget, the council once again had to approve emergency temporary appropriations to fund city operations, since the budget is nearly eight months late. This week’s approval brings the total of these appropriations for the 2010 fiscal year to more than $438 million — more than 86 percent of the draft budget of a bit under $508 million currently under consideration by the council. As is often the case, Fulop cast the lone vote against the appropriations.

Odds & Ends

• An increase of $225,000 was approved on a city contract with law firm Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein, Celso & Kessler for their representation on matters related to labor union contract negotiations. Richardson questioned the increase — which nearly doubles the existing contract — at last Monday’s caucus; she has often expressed concerns in the past about large contracts the city has with outside law firms. City attorney Bill Matsikoudis stood up for the firm at the caucus, pointing out that they are responsible for keeping down a great deal of the city’s labor costs in the latest negotiation. Richardson abstained from the vote on Wednesday, but the measure passed as the eight other council members voted in favor.
• Richardson, along with Fulop, also abstained on two resolutions authorizing five-year agreements to share services between the city and the Public Library and the Municipal Utilities Authority, respectively. All other council members voted in favor of the measures.
• At Richardson’s request, a resolution to award contracts totaling nearly $528,000 to various cleaning services was withdrawn. “I’m really concerned about spending $550,000 for these services when we can do this ourselves.” Richardson suggested hiring some of the nearly 300 seasonal and temporary workers that the city recently decided to lay off to perform the cleaning services; she asked the Business Administrator’s office to withdraw the resolution while the matter is investigated.
• A license agreement was granted to developer Team Walker to perform a feasibility study for a proposed community center on city-owned property at 373-377 Communipaw Avenue; Team Walker is investigating this site as an alternative to a proposal to build the community center on Pine Street, which has met with resistance from residents of that street. While the resolution posted on the city’s website refers to this project as affordable housing, it has since been revised to read “community center.”
• The transfer of over $171,000 in uncommitted funds from the now-closed Bergen Avenue streetscape project to the Traffic Marking Maintenance program was approved.
• A two-month extension was granted to RAV Group for a license agreement that permits them to enter city-owned property at 446-448 Ocean Avenue for the purposes of repairing 450 Ocean Avenue.
• The city’s Office on Aging will receive a grant of over $1 million from the county’s Office on Aging for the provision of meals to the homebound elderly and senior citizen community centers. The city is required to provide over $253,000 in matching funds in order to accept the grant.
• The council honored Fr. Vincent O’Keefe, S.J., a Jersey City native and the former president of Fordham University, who celebrated his 90th birthday on Jan. 10 of this year.
• The city rejected two bids for ten Harley Davidson police motorcycles they are looking to purchase because the low bid was not complete.
• The council determined via three resolutions that Glenview Townhomes (the mixed-income proposed housing project on Grand and Woodward Streets), the affordable housing project proposed at the Duncan Avenue site of the former A. Harry Moore project, and the mixed-income proposed housing project at Summit Avenue and Clifton Place “will address an existing housing need” in Jersey City; this step is required in order to make the projects eligible to receive certain funding under the state Housing and Mortgage Financing Agency (HMFA) law.
• The city was authorized to use the competitive contracting process for a proposed contract on energy audit services.

What Are We Buying?

The council approved the following purchases on Wednesday:

• Over $9.7 million to Jeral Construction for work on the new West District Police precinct building.
• Nearly $777,000 to LDV Inc. for a mobile medical command center for the Fire Department and a mobile explosive ordnance detector for the Police Department.
• Nearly $154,000 to Winner Ford for five police SUVs.
• Up to $130,000 to Proactive Planning Associates for mandatory emergency preparedness training for all city workers.
• Up to $100,000 to the International Institute of New Jersey for a one-year contract for interpreting services at the Municipal Court.
• Up to $50,000 to law firm Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt & Fader for legal consultation on environmental matters related to the PJP Landfill property, the location of the proposed Marion Greenway Park.
• A bit over $27,000 to Intapol Industries for school traffic guard uniforms.
• An additional $13,665 to Holt Morgan Russell Architects to increase their contract for interior restoration of the historic Van Wagenen Apple Tree House.

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