After months of speculation, At-Large councilwoman Willie Flood is set to resign her post due to illness, according to several trusted City Hall sources, who tell JCI the councilwoman’s resignation could come as early as next week.

Flood was first appointed to the City Council as an At-Large member in July 1990, and was elected to that position in 1991. After serving one term and unsuccessfully running for mayor twice, she ran for an At-Large seat again in 2005 and won, and was most recently re-elected to that position in 2009.

Over the past few months, however, Flood has missed more City Council meetings than she’s attended. Though she fell short of racking up a string of eight consecutive weeks absent, which would have legally forced her exit from office, her absences have caused a fair amount of chatter and speculation among City Hall watchers. She did not return repeated requests for comment.

Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson expressed interest in Flood’s citywide spot, according to the sources, but they say the Healy administration is likely to go with fresh council blood instead. The mayor’s spokesperson, Jennifer Morrill, did not deny the impending resignation, but she would not confirm it either, and had no further comment on the replacement process. Richardson could not be reached for comment.

While city clerk Robert Byrne said that, as of Wednesday, no retirement notice had been filed and he “hadn’t heard of anyone stepping down,” he explained how the replacement process works.

By law, the council will be given 30 days from the date of Flood’s resignation to appoint a replacement, or they could leave the seat vacant until November. If an appointee is chosen, he or she will serve until November, at which point a special election for the seat will be held. (Our sources say Flood does not plan to resign her other elected office, that of Hudson County Registrar, since it is up for election this year anyway.)

With Flood set to depart, the majority of the three At-Large council seats will have turned over in less than half a year. While most observers praised the mayor’s last pick of former municipal judge Ray Velazquez to replace Mariano Vega after Vega pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges, there was plenty of criticism of the appointment process.

The good-government group Civic JC, for one, made calls for the council to “conduct an open, inclusive, transparent search and deliberation to fill the vacancy.” They urged city residents interested in being considered for the seat to submit applications and resumes to the clerk’s office, and requested that the eventual appointee agree not to run to keep his or her seat in the 2011 special election.

The group’s president, Andrew Hubsch, reiterated some of the group’s concerns Wednesday.

“Sadly, vacancies are a potential reality,” he said. “We wish there was a process that would allow for the public to participate in the replacement process.”

His hope is for the administration to consider any and all interested applicants based on merit, rather than hand-picking a politically connected nominee.

“If it’s a sham, it’s a shame,” he said. “But it need not be that way.”

Matt Hunger contributed to this report.

Photo: Steve Gold

From left to right: Montgomery Township administrator Donato Nieman, Civic JC president Andrew Hubsch, Jersey City business administrator Jack Kelly and Civic JC trustee John Thieroff (Photos: Steve Gold)

Dialogue with constituents, revenue generation and difficult cost-cutting were the main themes Wednesday night at Civic JC’s Jersey City Budget Forum, which was held in City Hall to help open the lines of communication between the administration and Jersey City residents. Bringing together Jersey City business administrator Jack Kelly, Montgomery Township administrator Donato Nieman and Civic JC trustee John Thieroff, the local good-government group sought to present the complexities of a balanced budget to a concerned public of about 40 people, while juxtaposing Jersey City’s approach to similar sized cities around the nation.

Civic JC president Andrew Hubsch, introducing the speakers, stressed all three of the themes.

“We recognize that the budget for Jersey City is the driver and determiner of many of the decisions of our quality of life and the services which our city offers,” he said. ”And meeting with our new business administrator last year, Civic JC was impressed both by the task ahead of him and the energy he was bringing to it. Seeing him attend community meetings, we thought it would be a good idea to have him speak to the public at large.”
 
While acknowledging that Jersey City remains in the “media shadow” of New York City, Hubsch said the city is definitely “a big business,” with its annual budget of approximately $500 million.
 
“If we need tough medicine, the electorate ought to be informed as to why,” he told JCI before the event. ”As things develop under constraint, we don’t want it to be a surprise when cuts need to be made or of the impact of hard decisions.”
 
Donato Nieman, Montgomery Township’s administrator, explained his approach to addressing the budgetary priorities and noted that here in New Jersey, property taxes are the main revenue source for municipalities.

“Municipal taxes, whether we like them or not, are the primary funding for Jersey City,” he said. ”Other states don’t fund cities the same way New Jersey does. There are local and business taxes other states can impose that we are not allowed to do [based on New Jersey law]. Primarily we get [the majority of our revenue] from real estate taxes.”

The New Jersey League of Municipalities, on its website, echoes Nieman’s sentiment.
 
“New Jersey local governments need significant, dependable, sustainable sources of revenue, other than property taxes. We need to move away from our over-reliance on excessive, regressive property taxes,” the league says. “And only action at the state level, by either the legislature or the people who elect state legislators, can make that a reality.”
 
Thieroff, who spoke following Nieman, outlined a series of initiatives he suggested Jersey City could take to promote transparent government and an open dialogue. Foremost among these suggestions would be a letter from the mayor to the public explaining the tough budget decisions, making public the organizational charts of departments, outlining the city’s long-term budget goals, and publicly tracking salaries. 
 
While welcoming the suggestions, Kelly said Jersey City already implements some of the ideas.

Saying the goals of a good city should be safety, well-being and economic growth, the business administrator stressed the administration’s attempts to promote neighborhood development, a dynamic waterfront, and the reclamation of formerly contaminated land, including the former PJP landfill.

He also addressed some of the hot-button issues recently discussed in City Hall, including uniformed-employee layoffs, health care for retirees, and other tough cost-cutting decisions.

The city’s budget shortfall is so large, Kelly said, that if the administration were to solely rely on raising property taxes to bridge the gap, those taxes would jump by an “unconscionable” 43 percent.

The business administrator then proceeded to break down the city’s budget in pie-chart form, pointing out that human resource expenses — including health care, pensions, workers compensation, social security benefits and other items — take up about two-thirds of the budget. As he noted, there is little — if any — room to cut in many of these areas.

On the other side of the balance sheet, Kelly presented a number of ideas on generating new revenue streams for the city, including the first property revaluation in more than two decades, pushing to move retirees to a less expensive health plan (a proposal that was shot down when first presented to the City Council last week), installing a limited number of red-light cameras, and possibly sharing some services with Hoboken.

Kelly then waded into touchy waters, saying that his job of balancing the budget is made all the more difficult because a large chunk of it is devoted to the police and fire departments, both of which are, politically, very difficult to cut.

“God forbid we reduce police and fire,” he said, expressing what may well be pent-up frustration at the ongoing negotiations between the police officers’ union and the administration, which has included plenty of “Fire Jack Kelly!” chants at police protests.

“The fire department says that if we reduce the size of the force there will be a fire on every block. The police [claim] that there will be more burglaries,” he said. “While statistics do show that there are safer streets with more police,” he urged that residents consider the information in terms of the “scale of diminishing returns.”

“Just because we have 1,000 more cops doesn’t mean we’ll have 1,000-times safer streets,” he said. ”You’ll hear them say the sky is falling if we reduce their workforce.”

Kelly’s comments led Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association (POBA) president Jerry DeCicco to lash out at the business administrator in a Thursday morning statement to the press, saying Kelly “clearly” has a “distain [sic] and lack of respect” for the city’s police officers.

“His behavior is reprehensible, especially because his comments were made less than 24 hours after good will was established between the mayor and the POBA,” DeCicco said, referring to the agreement union leaders and the Healy administration came to earlier this week. “Jack Kelly is an out-of-town multi-public sector employee who has single-handily [sic] doomed the vote to failure through his bizarre comments.”

DeCicco wasn’t the only one angry. Mayor Jerramiah Healy later on Thursday issued a strongly worded statement of his own, calling Kelly’s comments “disparaging” and putting him in his place, as it were, saying: “Jack Kelly is the business administrator; he is not the spokesperson for the city and he certainly is not the mayor. His responsibilities include many things, but amongst them is certainly not disparaging our public safety personnel.”

For PDF copies of Kelly’s and Thieroff’s presentations, click here (Kelly) and here (Thieroff).

As many who are engaged in local civic affairs know, the budget process in Jersey City has been a messy one in recent years, with one-time revenue sources filling in gaps and budgets consistently being produced quite late into the year, well after most of the money had already been spent.

But the city’s new business administrator, Jack Kelly, who replaced Brian O’Reilly in May, has pledged to make the process more open and timely and to tame the budget itself, by controlling costs while finding sustainable revenue sources.

It will be against this backdrop that local good-government group Civic JC hosts what it bills as a “major forum on the budget process in Jersey City” next Wednesday at City Hall. The group says the goal of the event is two-fold.

“We want to try to bring together the administration with the electorate, providing direct information from the government to voters,” Civic JC president Andrew Hubsch says. The other part of the equation, he says, is to discuss “best practices” that similar-sized municipalities in New Jersey and nationwide employ in their budget process.

“We want to look at things that are being done elsewhere that we can consider doing here,” he says. “We’re legitimately trying to foster a civic opportunity in a respectful way.” He adds that the tone of the event will be “informational and instructional.”

The program will feature three main components. Kelly himself will be the “keynote speaker,” if you will, speaking for a half-hour or so about the city’s budget process, its oversight and what he thinks are the key issues at play.

Also speaking will be Montgomery Township business administrator Donato Nieman, who will discuss best practices being employed elsewhere in New Jersey, and Civic JC’s John Thieroff, who will give a PowerPoint presentation on innovative ideas happening nationwide in cities of a similar size to Jersey City.

Hubsch will be emceeing the forum, and there will be an opportunity for the public to ask questions.

“We are conceiving and programming the meeting from scratch, aiming towards substance and practicality,” Hubsch says. “‘Civics’ and ‘civility’ seem to be refreshed buzzwords these last few, sorrowful days. Here’s hoping that we can do our part to restore both civics and civility into the Jersey City governance equation, lessening the tensions and barriers between municipal government and its citizens.”

THE DETAILS

Civic JC Budget Forum; Wednesday, January 19 at 7 pm (doors open at 6:15 pm); City Hall’s Council Chambers, 280 Grove St. For more information, email info (at) civicjc.org.

While the final vote on the controversial proposal to merge the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA) and the Department of Public Works (DPW) is currently on hold, questions persist about whether one council member should be voting on the issue at all.

At-Large councilwoman Willie Flood traditionally abstains from votes on matters related to the JCIA, since her husband, Phil Flood, is the chairman of the authority’s board of commissioners. But as the Healy administration’s proposal to fold the DPW into the JCIA was nearing its initial vote, and opposition to the plan was building, Flood asked the Law Department to advise her if a vote on this particular bill would constitute a conflict.

“In my opinion, there is neither a conflict of office or conflict of interest,” corporation counsel Bill Matsikoudis advised Flood in a November 10 memo. With Flood voting in favor, the council introduced the measure by a 6 to 2 vote that evening. But not every council member who voted in favor offered ringing endorsements of the plan, and sources say the Healy administration is fearful it may not have the votes to push the bill through.

Conflict of office, according to Matsikoudis, “occurs when the statutory duties and powers of two offices conflict.” Conflict of interest, on the other hand, “arises when the holder of public office acts on a matter which may affect his or her private interests.”

Later in the memo Matsikoudis outlines that under the Incinerator Authorities Law, permission is expressly granted for office holders to be a member or employee of the Incinerator Authority. What the memo does not address, however, is whether this permission means that the office holder is allowed to use his or her office to positively influence the Incinerator Authority, which is a separate issue from holding these dual responsibilities.

While JCIA commissioners are not paid for their service, anyone in the position is entitled to health insurance paid for mostly by the city (as of this spring, commissioners now have to chip in 20 percent of premiums; previously, they didn’t have to pay anything). Several critics wonder why voting to continue this expensive perk doesn’t constitute a “private interest” for the Flood household. The councilwoman has not returned our requests for comment on this matter.

“I think any reasonable person not connected to politics or government would say that the Matsikoudis memo is absurd,” says Ward E councilman Steven Fulop, who is pushing for the JCIA to be eliminated instead of the DPW. “Sadly, it only furthers people’s lack of trust in government.”

But in a followup email, Matsikoudis says the “primary issue” at play is not “a personal or private interest.” Instead, he says, “the issue arises out of the holding of public offices.”

“Aside from that, the memo speaks for itself,” he says.

We asked for further clarification on this comment, and why Flood’s vote on the JCIA’s future was above-board, but we received none. Instead, the city’s press secretary Jennifer Morrill intervened and told Matsikoudis in an email (cc’ed to this reporter) that, on the advice of Healy chief of staff Rosemary McFadden, “your original answer is all we should say on this.” Reached today, Morrill says the administration simply thought that Matsikoudis’ original response was adequate.

But Matsikoudis wanted to clarify his opinion further, and he issued a new, more detailed memo on the issue December 10.

“In view of questions that have been raised concerning the conflict of interest issue, I thought it appropriate to expand upon my opinion of November 10, 2010, to more fully explain my opinion on the conflict of interest issue,” he writes. “I do not believe that a vote on this particular ordinance would constitute a conflict of interest. A vote in favor of the ordinance will not benefit your spouse nor will a vote against it result in any detriment to him either financially or in any other way.”

But critics say even the appearance of conflict of interest should be enough to have Flood remove herself from the picture when the measure returns to the council agenda.

“I believe she should abstain from voting on this issue,” good government activist Dan Levin says.

A 2007 primer on conflicts of interest for New Jersey officials written by New Jersey League of Municipalities staff attorney Deborah Kole seems to back up Levin’s suggestion.

“It is not necessary to prove that the special interest actually influenced the official’s decision, as long as it creates a possible conflict,” Kole writes.

Kole points to the example of Shapiro v. Mertz, in which a councilwoman from Moorestown voted on the reappointment of her husband to the township’s Planning Board. Kathleen Shapiro, the councilwoman, justified her vote — which tipped the decision to 3 to 2 in favor of her husband’s appointment — by saying he was well-qualified solely on the merits of his experience.

“The court found that, whatever the council member’s true motivation in voting for her husband, it was a conflict of interest for her to participate in the vote,” Kole writes. “The court noted that the marriage relationship between a governing body member and the individual being considered for appointment by that body could clearly be perceived by the public as impairing the member’s objectivity and independent judgment in voting on the appointment.”

But as Kole’s piece notes, by asking the Law Department to issue an opinion, Flood has given herself a plausible defense if anyone were to pursue conflict of interest charges against her potential vote on the merger.

“If a municipal official seeks advice on a conflicts issue from the municipal attorney, and certain conditions are met, such reliance can be a defense for the official against a claim of conflict,” Kole writes.

Matsikoudis’ second memo also references Shapiro v. Mertz and several other court decisions to argue that Flood is legally entitled to vote on items affecting the JCIA.

“Whether considered under state law or the local ethics code or under common law, your marriage to a member of the board of the JCIA does not preclude you from voting in all matters pertaining to the JCIA,” he writes. “Your marriage may disqualify you from voting on the appointment of your husband or conveying specific benefits or privileges to JCIA board members. But a vote in favor of the ordinance will not benefit your spouse nor will a vote against it result in any detriment to your spouse.”

But while Flood seems to be covered legally, critics say simple ethics should preclude her from voting. They say her vote on the matter further tarnishes the reputation of a local political culture that has long been known for incestuousness and ethical malleability.

“The complexities of [Flood's] husband’s role at the JCIA feel typical to our area,” says Andrew Hubsch, president of good-government group Civic JC. “[We've] heard this story before, but [with] different names and different titles.”

Like his former running mate Levin, Hubsch says Flood should revert to her previous practice of abstaining from any votes involving her husband and his role at the JCIA.

“I would be happiest if a Jersey City politician would recuse himself or herself from these types of decisions,” he says.

The proposed merger was tabled at the November 23 council meeting; it is unclear when the council will take up the legislation again.

Photo: Steve Gold

The 9th District covers a large part of the Heights neighborhood, some of the Journal Square neighborhood, as well as other parts of Hudson, Bergen and Passaic counties. It is currently represented by Democrat Steve Rothman; he’ll be on hand Tuesday to engage in debate with Republican Michael Agosta, who is running on the Republican ticket, and Patricia Alessandrini, who is running as the Green Party candidate.

Civic JC president Andrew Hubsch says the group decided to put the event together to counter the lack of public discourse about the local Congressional races. (Voters in other parts of Jersey City will head to the polls to vote for their representative in either the 10th or 13th Congressional District.)

“Nationally, the Congressional election is front-page news, a seemingly endless horse race for the pundits. But locally, too few people know their House incumbent, let alone who all is running,” he says. “Somehow, sponsoring a debate felt like the proper answer to an unmet civic need, a positive-yet-neutral endeavor to spark the electorate’s attention. And of the three Jersey City races, the 9th District candidates were the most responsive, given the narrow window until Election Day.”

THE DETAILS
9th District Congressional Candidates Debate; Tuesday, October 26 at 7 pm (doors at 6:15 pm); St. Paul Lutheran Church, 440 Hoboken Ave.

Photos: Steve Gold

About 200 Jersey City residents packed into City Council chambers last night to learn how to apply for an appointment to the city’s boards, agencies and commissions. Local good-government group Civic JC partnered with the statewide Citizens’ Campaign and city officials to provide a two-hour training workshop on the subject.

“This is the people’s chambers,” deputy mayor Rosemary McFadden said as she welcomed attendees and emphasized the need for the community to participate in the city government.

The city has 39 boards that are charged with advising the mayor and the city council on policy issues. Some, like the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment, were created by state statute with specific provisions for membership and required meetings; others, such as the Human Rights Commission, were created by the city to address a specific need and no longer meet. All of the boards have space on their roster for anyone who wishes to be involved in policymaking.

Last month, Gov. Corzine signed into law the Citizen Service Act, requiring municipalities to create a directory of boards and commissions with information about current membership, vacancies, and terms. Just such a directory of Jersey City’s boards and commissions was distributed at Thursday’s workshop.

Citizens’ Campaign state campaign director Lauren Skowronski said that Thursday’s workshop was part of the Jersey Call to Service, a three-year initiative to recruit 5,000 citizens statewide to serve their communities in one of four capacities: as a “citizen legislator,” or policy advocate; as an appointed member of a municipal board or commission; as a political party committee member; or as a “citizen journalist.” Recognizing that running for elected office is prohibitively costly and time-consuming for most, the Citizens’ Campaign points to these four “paths to service” as alternative ways for everyday people to participate in their local government.

After Skowronski and her co-teacher Matthew Mayo presented general information on municipal boards and how to obtain an appointment on them, City Clerk Robert Byrne fielded specific questions from the audience on the application process.

Speaking after the workshop, Byrne told JCI he was pleased to see “a lot of new faces” in the crowd and said “it’s good that people are getting involved.” Noting that the clerk’s office has kept track of board memberships for about ten years, Byrne said that the requirements of the Citizen Service Act did not create additional work for his staff.

Jersey City resident Lycel Villanueva, an architect and planner, was pleased with the workshop. Citing widespread “apathy” as “the problem with this city,” Villanueva said she was “surprised to see a lot of people” at the meeting. Greater participation is “something this city really needs,” she said.

Civic JC vice president Andrew Hubsch was the principal organizer of the workshop, and he told JCI that he was “happily overwhelmed” by the result.

“We achieved our goal to invite people to participate in their government,” he said, pointing to the high turnout on a chilly, rainy evening as a particularly encouraging sign that citizens are eager to get involved.

Time will tell if the city clerk’s office receives more applications than usual for board memberships in the coming months, but Byrne had already received one application — for municipal judge — by the time he left council chambers on Thursday night.

I woke from a fitted slumber this morning to my landlord calling me to ask if my building was on fire. After I wiped the sleep from my eyes and took a cursory look and sniff about my pad I realized that no, in fact there was no fire. Turns out that construction of the new sidewalks going on below my place had set off an alarm.

After I assured the JCFD there was no cause for alarm I turned to Facebook and Twitter for a look at what was happening in my world. Dan Levin was calling for a meet up at the morning’s Council Caucus meeting.

JC Council Caucus meeting 10 am today, City Hall — while the public cannot speak, a presence can speak for us – come by starting at 9:30 am.

Inspired by my fellow journalists about town I decided to go and make my presence known.

As I reached the steps of City Hall, I met with Levin. He introduced me to a few other local politicians, including Andrew Hubsch. We entered the council caucus room with several other concerned locals and city officials. Let me take a second to say that while I am no stranger to political intrigue, expose is not exactly my forte — that said, I’ll just stick with the facts.

As the meeting came to order, Vega immediately took action for his defense and issued a statement saying he had no intention of resigning his spot as council president.

As Vega attempted to move things forward, Ward E councilman Steven Fulop made a response to the statement, calling for a mass resignation of all city officials entangled in the federal corruption scandal. He touched on his four years with the council and spoke about the discord between him and his colleagues over ethical issues in that time, recounting various pieces of legislation that were voted down 8-1. “The list goes on, and the comments you made at each of those meetings was that I was not a team player, which today I look at as a compliment,” he said.

It was a bold move by the councilman that was met with silence. Dead silence. Vega ignored the statement and moved forward with the “Business of the Day.” Needless to say, it was as awkward as a 7th grade dance there for a few minutes.

As the caucus wore on, I could see that there was going to be no more talk of the scandal swirling around. However, I did find a few things that happened after to be a little strange.

There was a motion to move Wednesday’s regular council meeting to the normal 6 pm start time. Currently, the council is meeting on a summer schedule, with meeting start times of 10 am. Given the corruption probe, the move to reinstate normal hours was pitched as a way to give the many locals who can’t make it during the day a chance to speak out; a chance for the working class to put its hands into the political stew and give it a stir.

This was also shot down by nearly every member of the council, by either not speaking up, by saying that it was of no import what time it took place or by claiming there would be more participation by the senior citizen community at the earlier start time. Fulop once again was a lonely voice noting that 10 am meetings keep those who have day jobs from participating.

Reached by telephone later in the day, Fulop said it seemed like the council was avoiding any potential confrontation by not changing the meeting time. If they’d have set a 6 pm meeting, “there would be more people involved and more people coming out — the common residents,” he said. “And that’s not what they want.”

He added: “As unbelievable as it is, it seems that their approach is going to be pretend as if nothing happened and continue with business as usual.”

The meeting was a “disappointment, but not [a] surprise,” Hubsch said afterwards. Levin expressed concern that the public trust had been breached. They both urged as many people to come to Wednesday’s meeting as well. Anyone who likes may sign up for time and is given five minutes to speak (contact the City Clerk’s office to do so — 201-547-5150). I think there’s a lot to be said in five minutes.

Will that silence prove later to be damning?

At-Large candidate Emilio DeLia and mayoral candidate Dan Levin check a cell phone for the latest election results

The One Jersey City team gathered at the Golden Cicada last night to celebrate both the end of a campaign and what they say is the beginning of a citywide movement. After the polls closed the candidates and volunteers made their way Downtown, spirits high, excited to watch the results come in.

For mayoral candidate Dan Levin, the moment was a special victory for local activists and community organizers. “It’s inspiring,” he said between smiles. “Regardless of the outcome, we built an organization, a movement. We got together and did something really good.”

The candidates and their supporters packed the Grand Street bar, laughing and joking about the last One Jersey City event, a break-dancing session at the Grove Street PATH station. Soon it was standing-room only, as more and more supporters arrived with their families and friends to wish the team one final good luck. Partygoers snacked and reminisced, snapping photos of friends and thanking the candidates for their willingness to challenge the political status-quo.

“Seeing all these people come out for us is really moving,” At-Large candidate Emilio DeLia said. “I don’t care how the polls come out at this point. We fought a good fight and made it to the end.”

As the results trickled in, the unfettered optimism of the candidates became decidedly muted. Clusters of people formed around iPhones, watching as the poll numbers appeared on the county website.

Ultimately, all five One Jersey City candidates fell short yesterday. Levin finished fourth in the mayoral race with 5.6 percent of the vote; in Ward B, Douglas Salters came in fifth, garnering 5.2 percent of the vote; Ward C candidate Norrice Raymaker finished third with 5.3 percent of the vote.

The ticket’s two At-Large candidates, DeLia and Andrew Hubsch, finished eighth and ninth in a field of 13, with 3.2 and 3.1 percent of the vote, respectively.

Many expressed frustration at the lack of voter turnout.

“I am really shocked that so few people came out to vote tonight,” Salters said. “People have been clamoring for real ‘change’ for years now … I’m surprised they didn’t take it.”

A little after 10pm, Levin spoke to the group, expressing pride in all that One Jersey City had accomplished — and reaffirming that the volunteer effort was just beginning. “We knew we were the little guy, but we weren’t doing it for us — we were doing it for everyone,” he said. “One Jersey City is not a political movement; it’s a community.” A few attendees wiped away tears, applauding Levin’s efforts in forming both an alternative political candidacy and in bringing people together people under a banner of reform.

The remarkable thing was that after the poll results had been switched off and the speeches made, hardly anyone had left — and a few minutes after the tears, people were laughing again. Someone even convinced the owner to turn on a bit of karaoke.

When asked what he plans on doing next, Levin said “at this point in time” he plans to run again in 2013, and he also pointed out that One Jersey City will morph into a sort of civic association or similar organization “to facilitate, encourage, mentor and fund political candidates.”

Levin also said his team will actively support Rolando Lavarro, Andre Richardson and LaVern Webb-Washington should they be the candidates in Ward A and F runoffs. (Right now Lavarro and Richardson are neck-in-neck for second place in A, while Webb-Washington barely trails Ron-Calvin Clark in F.)

Ultimately for Levin, losing the election doesn’t constitute failure or the end, but a beginning.

“The campaign was started to get regular people involved in local politics,” he said. “The end result was not the vote, but getting more people involved in the community building process in order to move towards a more accountable and responsive local government.”

Jon Whiten contributed to this report.

The eight candidates that participated included Emilio DeLia and Andrew Hubsch from Dan Levin’s One Jersey City ticket; Joseph Cassidy, Betty Outlaw and Lori Serrano from Lou Manzo’s slate; Ronnie Greco and Frank Scalcione from Harvey Smith’s team (Noemi Velazquez was absent); and Abdul Malik from Phil Webb’s ticket. Independent candidate Marie Day did not attend, and the entire Team Healy At-Large contingent — Peter Brennan, Willie Flood and Mariano Vega — were noticeably absent.

Each candidate was given one minute for an introduction. Due to the time constraint, only a single candidate per slate was permitted to answer each question. The questions were asked by members of the audience.

The audience questions mirrored some of the concerns of Downtown residents, and included the looming property tax revaluation, dual job holding (double-dipping) and improving public schools. Ward E councilman and candidate Steven Fulop got to reverse roles at the forum by asking a question rather than having to answer one. He asked candidates to identify the major challenges facing constituents.

The candidates agreed that a revaluation would be painful, but offered few specific suggestions for lessening the burden. In addition, most candidates expressed their opposition to double-dipping.

Lori Serrano added that providing cars to public employees for personal use should be banned. Abdul Malik and Emilio DeLia stressed lack of accountability in government as a major problem. Dealing with problems of families and seniors, and encouraging young people to finish school were Betty Outlaw’s key platform points.

The final question also served as the closing statement since time was running out. It was noted by the audience member that there was a high degree of similarity among the candidates’ positions. What will each candidate bring as an individual to the position as council member? With the exception of Joseph Cassidy, who touted that his experience as a police officer would make hime “eyes and ears of public safety,” the candidates expressed their earnestness, and to be responsive to their constituents, but did not emphasize their qualifications.

“Before I came to the meeting I didn’t have a clear decisive position on who I was going to be voting for,” Paulus Hook resident Kirsten Greene said after the forum. “After hearing them speak tonight I at least narrowed it down to four or five but I have not decided yet.”

Forum moderator and President of the HPHA president Jennifer Wagner said the evening was a success.

“We had great participation both by our candidates and by our membership,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know the candidates’ names, let alone their positions. Our goal was voter education and to increase participation and we got positive feedback as people were leaving.”

Steve Gold contributed to this report.

- The Statue of Liberty’s crown is slated to reopen on July 4 this year, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said yesterday.

- White House aide Louis Caldera has resigned over his role in the photo-op flyover that caused a stir in Jersey City and Manhattan.

- The city has installed three new CCTV cameras — at Bayside Park/Richard Street, the Montgomery Gardens Housing Complex and the Booker T. Washington Housing complex. The cameras were installed via a grant from the federal Justice Department.

In statewide news:

- The state is looking to set up a $2 billion line of credit to plug an expected revenue shortfall.

- The lead ACLU attorney in an ongoing lawsuit over cell phone tracking of New Jerseyans by then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie says the state was among the most aggressive in the country in using this surveillance. The attorney was a guest on Blue Jersey Radio this week — you can hear the podcast here.

- More bad news for the Star-Ledger: It is cutting salaries and reducing the amount it pays into employee health benefits. Less than two months ago, the paper said it was stopping contributions into employees’ pension plans and forcing each staffer to take 10 unpaid furlough days this year.

- Princeton University, along with five other colleges around the country, will use Amazon’s newest e-ink device, the Kindle, in a pilot program aimed at reducing paper use.