At 19 years of age, Demetrius Terry isn’t always the youngest speaker during a City Council meeting’s public hearing, when residents, union reps, former pols, and business interests address the municipality’s legislative body, (often) airing concerns or (occasionally) applauding city actions. On some days, in particular when the cause is related to elementary schools, Terry will be a good 10 years older than the youngest speaker. But when it comes to issues of substance, of a concern well beyond the years of most pre-baccalaureate degree holding types – crime, crony-ism, or taxes, not to mention layoffs, government transparency or various other public interest concerns – Terry stands alone as the youngest resident ready and able to address the Council.

But Terry’s interest in politics isn’t the idle speculation of a student curious how governments function – though he is studying political science at Seton Hall University – nor is it simply the acting out of civic responsibility as envisioned by democracy-idealists. Rather, it’s the proactive involvement of a young man with large ambition. Terry, in fact, expects to see his name in print next year, and not just in the newspaper. If all goes according to plan, his name will be in the same column as current Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano’s on next year’s City Council ballot. At the time of the election, Terry will be 20, seven years younger than Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop was when he was first elected. He’ll also be running as a Republican, a rarity in the heavily-Democratic leaning city.

“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to sit on the council,” said Terry. “What the council in Jersey City needs is some new fresh young blood. I will bring new fiscal ideas to the table and solutions to problems facing our community everyday: crime, education and taxes.”

He looks to answer the question, “Where are our elected leaders? There have been many times I’ve talked to residents in Greenville and they have no clue [who] their councilperson is.”

Although now firmly in the GOP camp, Terry, the chairman of the Hudson County Teenage Republicans, took a roundabout route to his conservative leanings, one that has seen him make an about-face from his one-time political inspiration, President Barack Obama. And yet, like many of the president’s audiences during his 2008 campaign, Terry cites hearing Obama speak at St. Peter’s College on January 11, 2008 as the reason he got involved in politics.

“From that evening on, I knew public service was destined for me,” he says. “I was very intrigued by the way he spoke and the vision he had for the United States of America. During the time, I really had no clue what politics was about but I knew I wanted to get involved.”

At first Terry thought the Democratic party’s interests aligned with his own, and he joined the Hudson County Democratic Organization to help Obama’s campaign. But like some erstwhile ardent Obama supporters, the years that followed his election – when no simple fix for our ailing economy appeared, with economists split (and still split) over the size of the bailout (if not the necessity), with a massive national debt compiling, and continuing trouble in the global financial market – Terry’s infatuation with the president faded.

“I’m very disappointed by President Obama,” says Terry. “If you just look at his spending record and the economy, how can anyone really be happy with a President like that?”

From this disappointment, he looked to the 2009 gubernatorial race here in New Jersey, and saw that Republicans “stand for lower taxes, less government, less regulations, school choice and fiscal responsibility. All of those characteristics what something I believed morally in.” He says he’s found these values at the state level in Governor Chris Christie, and then nationally in Mitt Romney as he continues to establish himself as the so-called inevitable candidate in the Republican primaries.

While Terry says he has “respect” for Sottolano, presumably his biggest challenger come 2013, it comes down to the need for new points-of-view. He recently wrote a letter to JCI expressing disappointment with Ward F Councilwoman Michele Massey’s recent decision to vote against ousting Council President Brennan from his leadership position.

In the time until the election, Terry will continue to make appearances at Council meetings and posting on Facebook’s Political Insider page – a Jersey City-centric, keep-in-the-know forum for activist-residents – and to work as a part-time model at Hollister Co. at Newport Mall in Jersey City.

Whatever his political fate, Terry says he hopes to inspire the area’s youth by becoming “the biggest advocate for the youth in my ward. The youth are our leaders for tomorrow and they need to know there is someone out there who cares for them,” he said.

In a city of old-hands and so-called political machines, Terry’s candidacy is a hopeful sign for youthful Americans too often described as disaffected no matter one’s political affiliation.

Photo Courtesy Demetrius Terry

I’m writing this letter to express my concern about the ordinance to remove Council President Brennan. On Wednesday, the council voted 5 to 4. Council members David Donnelly, Nidia Lopez, Steven Fulop, Rolando Lavarro and Viola Richardson voted in favor while Michael Sottolano, Bill Gaughan, Peter Brennan and Michele Massey voted against. It was quite obvious Sottolano, Brennan, and Gaughan were going to vote against but I’m surprised at Councilwoman Massey. In the previous council meeting, she abstained. Now, she voted against the ordinance. I hope she is not falling in the hands of the Healy Administration because it’s the wrong team to join.

Although I’m an advocate for the Ward A Greenville community, this really disturbs me. We need new direction in Jersey City and your voting against the ordinance shows that you want the same status quo in Jersey City. The people of Jersey City especially in Ward F, which you represent, are tired of the same old politics and politicians not putting them first. If in this case Mayor Healy vetoes the ordinance, which most likely he will, the council needs six votes to override it. I would hope you have talked with the other five council members who voted for it to get more clarification. I would say, you should go talk to the residents in the community to see how they feel. I’m quite sure they want this city to finally move in a different direction.

- Demetrius Terry
Ward A Greenville Advocate

“The City Council’s action is illegal and as stated in two opinions rendered by the Corporation Council violates the rights of Council President Brennan,” says Mayor Healy. “This ordinance was arbitrary and capricious, serves no purpose, and was created solely for political motives. It does nothing to better the lives of the residents of Jersey City and only serves to expose the taxpayers to the costs of a lawsuit. For all of those reasons, I will veto this ordinance.”

With the City Council’s 5-4 vote at last night’s council meeting, the new majority faction on the council appears to be one vote short of overriding the mayor and enacting the legislation introduced by Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez. At-Large Councilwoman Viola Richardson, At-Large Councilman Rolando Lavarro, Ward B Councilman David Donnelly, and Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop also voted in favor of the measure.

Following the vote – and ostensibly before he knew of Healy’s intention to veto – Brennan made it clear that he would be following through with his promise to sue the city, saying the law tramples on his Constitutional rights. To allay voter fears that they would be stuck footing the bill, however, Brennan said he would cover his own legal expenses.

The Council President found support from both Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano and Ward D Councilman Bill Gaughan. More surprising for some was the support he received from newly-appointed Ward F Councilwoman Michele Massey, who said she could not vote for the measure since she had not been provided with “documentation” showing “just cause” for why Brennan should be ousted.

“On behalf of the taxpayers,” said Massey, referring to the potential cost of Brennan’s threatened lawsuit, “and without documentation, I have to vote no.”

Lavarro, on the other hand, did not require similar documentation and said his vote aimed to better reflect the will of the voters. Noting that there are three new council members and Richardson has moved to an at-large post since the organization meeting where Brennan was elected president, “as far as I’m concerned, it’s a new council” and a new president would be appropriate, he said.

“The people of Jersey City spoke on election day, and they made a very loud and clear message that the city should move in another direction,” Lavarro added.

The vote went ahead despite a legal memo written by Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis, which maintained the ordinance would likely be rejected in court as “illegal,” an opinion the unconvinced majority on the council rejected as “convenient.”

“We lose focus that for all nine of us sitting up here, it’s not a god-given right, it’s a privilege,” said Fulop. “Policies change, perspectives change.”

Before voting no, Ward A Michael Sottolano said ousting Brennan “is totally without merit and without cause. It reeks of [being] self-serving and of political machinations at their worst.”

The “self-serving” argument resonated with resident Esther Wintner, a council mainstay who frequently criticizes the Healy Administration, but who in this case maintained that politicians who change the law for their own benefit are far more dangerous than “bad decisions” by those in charge.

“If members of the council are frustrated and unhappy with the rules that govern their body, there is an organizational meeting to fix it,” she said of the meeting where a council president is elected at the start of each four-year council cycle. “While I understand this is an extraordinarily unusual [council] term given the change of council members, stepping outside the rules to change the law, either out of frustration, expedience, or personal aggrandizement, sends the message that you think the law should be bent to your will, not you to the law’s.”

Still, the majority of speakers were far more enthusiastic at the prospect of new leadership on the council, such as Police Officer Benevolent Association representative Mark Razzoli, who noted the city’s double standard when it comes to contracts. Razzoli likened changing the council president’s terms of office to the city’s decision to change health benefits of retirees despite the existence of a written contract, a move Brennan had supported.

Perhaps articulating the frustration best, Imtiaz Syed, a Jersey City doctor and one-time At-Large Council candidate, said the need for leadership change was due in large part to what he described as spiraling crime in the city, of which he has been a victim twice. First his office was broken into, he said, and more recently the wheels of his daughter’s car were stolen. The Healy Administration’s response, he says, was pathetic.

“If I knew the state of affairs was going to be like this in Jersey City, would I have asked [my children] to come back to Jersey City?” Syed asked. “What kind of message are we sending to professionals, that they should leave Jersey City?”

Photo of Peter Brennan by Eric Schkrutz

These are all good things. They are good for Jersey City and good for our residents. But that doesn’t mean the prosperity of one part of our city should mean neglect for others.

That brings me to Greenville.

Goldman Sachs isn’t building towers in Greenville. Manhattanites aren’t relocating to apartments in this part of Jersey City. When you think about the Greenville section of Jersey City, you often think about the crime rate and the poor quality of life. The empty storefronts and damaged sidewalks.

Now I’m not saying all of these problems are the government’s fault. Our community needs to take responsibility and come together to stop the crime and keep kids off the streets. Community policing is a great place to start – but it is a long ways off. We can and must do other things. I know if we come together and attack this quality of life problem on several fronts we can solve it. We can take back Greenville.

With this in mind, I recently organized a group of volunteers and took to the streets – specifically to Van Nostrand Ave.

The reason for this particular block is that there is a park in the middle of it with a pretty recognizable name, Muhammad Ali Park. The only people that remember that the park is named for great boxing legend are the ones who attended the ribbon cutting back in the 1980s. Most people nowadays simply see a rundown park where a concrete slab lies on about two empty lots with a basketball hoop, a chess board and litter throughout. The sign that once read Muhammad Ali Park isn’t even visible anymore.

Now this isn’t to say Muhammad Ali Park hasn’t been the topic of revitalization discussions. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any action on these plans aside from a new gate being put up. Jersey City’s website – specifically, the page of Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano – lists this park under a “park renovation” header. He is touting an achievement where nothing has been done. And we can’t blame the economy or cutbacks for the failure to refurbish this park. Grant money has been awarded – grant money that most neighbors are unaware of. These are good people looking for a safe place their kids can play after school. Why isn’t the over $400,000 in grant money being spent?

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Until we start investing in Greenville, Jersey City will continue to be weak.

Photo by Andre Richardson

Richardson and Lavarro to be Sworn in Today: Viola Richardson and Rolando Lavarro, the victors in the recent Jersey City council at-large special election, will be sworn in today in a ceremony in City Hall Council Chambers ahead of the council’s 5 pm caucus meeting.

Pedestrian Grandmother Killed on St. Paul’s Avenue: A 67-year-old woman on her way to pick up her grandchild from School 31 was struck and killed by a tow truck driven by an 80-year-old man hauling a United States Postal Service mail carrier van Friday afternoon.

Hudson County’s National Adoption Day Finds Homes for 21 Kids: Twenty-one kids, 15 of which are under the age of 4, with the oldest children 12 and 10 years old, were adopted Friday as part of Hudson County’s Adoption Day.

Jersey City Hospital Hopes for $35 million in Merger: Christ Hospital is asking state approval to be acquired by Prime Healthcare, a for-profit company that owns 14 California hospitals.

Complaints in Greenville about Kearny Heliport: Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano, who represents Greenville, said he and another council member are collecting information regarding the helicopters that fly to and from HHI Heliport in Kearny, and hope to send it soon to the Federal Aviation Administration. Residents are complaining that helicopters fly low over the residential neighborhood.

Latin Kings Gang Member Pleads Guilty to 2005 Murder: An admitted Latin Kings gang member has pleaded guilty to gunning a man down in the Jersey City Heights in 2005 in retaliation for the killing of a man at a Latin Kings Fourth of July party three months earlier.

Crime Blotter: A Jersey City pastor was beaten severely with what may have been brass knuckles during a robbery attempt last Monday near his home on Astor Place; a Pennsylvania woman told police that more than $4,000 worth of gems were stolen from the trunk of her car that was parked in the Jersey City Heights early Saturday, police reports said; a 20-year-old Jersey City man suffered gunshot wounds to the knee, groin and buttocks in a shooting early Saturday morning, police reports said; a 36-year-old New York man was shot in his right leg Saturday evening in the Jersey City Heights, possibly over drugs, police reports said.

Today’s Best Bets:

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Andrea Elliott stops by the Gothic Lounge to discuss her work for the New York Times examining the experiences and range of attitudes of Muslims living in the United States after September 11 (4 pm, free).

In Statewide News:

Backlog of Foreclosures Could Drag Down New Jersey Home Values for Years: More than 100,000 New Jersey homeowners are dealing with foreclosures that are stalled in court and another 48,000 are way behind on mortgage payments, according to a national mortgage delinquency survey released last week. The backlog could be a drag on home prices for years to come.

Gov. Christie Wants to Borrow Billions to Fix Roads and Bridges: Governor Chris Christie is seeking the Legislature’s permission to borrow several billion dollars for transportation projects, even though New Jersey voters said in 2008 they want final say over new state debt.

Education Bills Headed to Lame-Duck Legislature: The legislature will return this week with its first meetings since the midterm election, with a range of education bills expected to be under debate in the coming weeks. But few draw the rancor of the Opportunity Scholarship Act, a pilot program that would use state corporate tax credits to fund school vouchers for low-income students in a select number of districts.

Charging Electric Cars About to Get Easier: Drivers of plug-in electric vehicles will soon find it easier than ever to charge up in New Jersey, which is at the center of a regional plan to install charging stations across the eastern seaboard.

Protecting Solar Subsidies for Homes and Small Businesses: In the latest effort to stabilize New Jersey’s unsettled solar market, the state Office of Clean Energy has floated a proposal that would extend utility-sponsored loan programs to residential and small business customers. Existing programs are due to expire at the end of this year.

But the PILOT agreement, which will generate approximately $19 million over the life of the abatement as well as maintain at least 250 jobs at the plant, did not sit well with Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop and Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson, who both said the city gave too sweet a deal to the $1 billion company.

Along with the abatement, the company is also benefiting from an $89.1 million tax credit from the state. Ward B Councilman David Donnelly and At-Large Concilman Ray Velazquez both abstained from the vote.

Those voting in favor pointed to the much needed revenue for the city that has been otherwise difficult to find in the tough economic climate. The abatement was needed, they argued, as states like New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania compete for these large companies and the much-needed jobs and revenue they bring with them.

“Every nickel counts,” said Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano. “Goya is going to generate $19 million over a 20-year period.”

By contrast, he said, the current amount of tax revenue from the property in the same 20-year period would only generate $6 million, assuming nothing else could be done with the property in that time.

But Fulop, who referred to a New Jersey Policy Perspective study that argues only 9 jobs would be created and that the tax credit is being misused, said, “You have to draw the line somewhere.”

He acknowledged the importance of abatements in some situations — notably for affordable housing and to promote growth when necessary — but in this case, he was left unconvinced that the city could not have attracted Goya without the extra tax savings.

“Would Goya want to build here anyway? I say yes,” Fulop said, who called the move “subsidizing” by taxpayers. The main issue the councilman took — a complaint that resonated with residents in attendance — was what appeared to be a lack of negotiating over the number of years.

“Why 20 years?” Fulop asked. “Why not ten, why not five?”

Jim McCann, a lawyer representing Goya, defended the plan at the council meeting as equally beneficial for Goya and the city. He noted that the incentives were contingent on Goya meeting certain requirements.

“The $89.1 million in tax credits is not money to build the facility; Goya has to qualify for the credits,” McCann said.

The tax credits would be spread out over a ten-year period and, according to McCann, would require a yearly-state audit to ensure they are living up to their end of the agreement.

Goya, he said, is required to invest $127 million in their project in order to qualify for the credits. Another stipulation ensures that 250 employees will be employed at the facility at all times; failure to keep the employment level would result in a lost year of the tax credit.

He added Goya was also required to keep 80 percent of their staff in all of its other facilities in the area, which includes the company’s Secaucus warehouse. Residents had voiced concern that the city was essentially poaching jobs from their neighbor.

McCann also took issue with criticisms levied at Goya’s projected job-creation numbers, saying that 150 construction jobs would be created during the two-year building of the new warehouse and that a temporary job placement agency located in Journal Square worked as a “farm system” for the company, bringing in employees for 90 days while the company determined if they were “a good fit.” He added that although it would be “hard to predict,” he expected some attrition from the Bethpage, Long Island, a two-hour commute to Jersey City with traffic taken into account.

Jersey City resident John Seborowski pointed out that if jobs are difficult to come by all over, relocation may be preferable to unemployment.

“I don’t know what the job market on Long Island is, but I’m sure they’ll come to Jersey City if they have to,” Seborowski said. The deal, he said, “was not worth it.”

At Wednesday’s council meeting, the new plan was described in broad and different strokes depending on who spoke — the service is either “just as good,” as the administration claims, or it will leave retirees with mounting medical bills and a plan not accepted by many out-of-state doctors, according to labor representatives.  

Approximately 1,700 city retirees are on the traditional plan, with 300 others already having voluntarily chosen to switch to direct access, according to business administrator Jack Kelly.

“It’s too expensive a plan for the public to foot the bill,” he said, calling direct access a “phenomenal plan” and noting that the state government had made the same move for its workers a few years ago. “If the city had not gotten out of the state’s benefit plan, the retirees wouldn’t have the traditional anyway. Like the state legislature did back in 2008, this council needs to make the decision now.”

The bill passed by a vote of 5 to 4, with Ward C councilwoman Nidia Lopez, Ward E councilman Steve Fulop, Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson and At-Large Councilwoman Kalimah Ahmad voting against the measure. Several of those who ultimately voted in favor, including Ward B councilman David Donnelly and At-Large councilman Ray Velazquez, suggested it was one of the toughest legislative decisions they’ve ever made.

“When I took the job — and I wonder why I did sometimes — I knew it would be difficult,” Velazquez said. “We’re hitting some really difficult times and people are hurting.”

However, Velazquez, who is HIV-positive, pointed to his own experience with direct access as proof that it is not a fly-by-night, flimsy insurance plan.

“It’s no secret that I have very serious health concerns,” he said. “I’ve been in the direct access plan since the state changed our plan and nothing has changed for me. It’s been a little bit easier to deal with. This plan works. Traditional plan is costing taxpayers $3.5 million.”

But labor representatives who spoke out against the bill said the change would unfairly force unexpected costs on retirees who’ve already paid their dues to the city. Moreover, they argued that the insurance switch represented a breach of contract, and promised to take legal action against the administration.

Local 1066 Firefighters Union president Joseph Krajnik said that while he understood the difficult economy, he was angered by the administration’s lack of discussion with him and other labor leaders. 

“We don’t like being dictated to,” he said.  

This argument struck a chord with Ahmad, who suggested that the city bring the unions into the process to make it more fair.

“When you gave people your word that they’d have these benefits, why would you take them away now? Let’s table it and have some kind of collective bargaining process, let them have a say so,” she said. “Let the people be involved in process.”

After the public spoke on the bill, Richardson motioned to table the ordinance, with Fulop seconding. They argued that there were too many questions to be answered and they should revisit it in two weeks.

“It’s a complicated subject to say the least. Tabling is the prudent thing to do,” Fulop said. ”Clearly there are questions about the lawsuit which are relevant as well.”

But Kelly said that any further delay would only cost the city more money.

“Every delay costs the city $300,000 a month,” he added. ”When we’re looking to reduce the cost of government, we suggested this as a good place to start.”

Lopez joined Ahmad, Fulop and Richardson in voting to table the ordinance, but they were unable to pick up another vote to successfully postpone the bill.

“I don’t see what we’re looking to accomplish by tabling,” Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano said, noting that he too is currently enrolled in the traditional plan.

“I would not vote for something that I thought would create harm for me or my wife,” he said. ”I’m going to direct access and I hope there’s a day I don’t regret this, but this is my position at this particular time.”
 
The vote may have been toughest for Donnelly, who got a bit choked up as he referred to his own upbringing in a labor-friendly household before voting for the measure.

“I come from a union family; I’ve thought long and hard about this,” he said. ”I’m not going to be a coward today. I’ve looked at how we have to balance the budget. I have to apologize to retirees and police officers, but I have to look at the taxpayers too. … I have to do what I think is right.”

Two days before Ward E councilman Steven Fulop’s proposal to eliminate health benefits for board members of two Jersey City autonomous agencies was to come up for a public hearing and final vote, several council members on Monday expressed skepticism about moving forward, offering what they dubbed a compromise plan between Fulop and the Healy administration.

Fulop has been pushing for nearly two years to entirely eliminate the health benefits for part-time board members of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA) and Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA), while the administration has taken smaller steps, like forcing the board members to pay 20 percent of the costs (they previously paid nothing); limiting the benefits to just the board member, not their family members; and asking new appointees to serve without the benefits.

Earlier this month, Fulop’s proposal was finally successfully introduced by the City Council, a big step towards possibly becoming law. But it appears that the bill may not have enough support to pass on second reading this Wednesday, based on comments made Monday by several council members.

Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano said that new members should not receive the benefits going forward, but that the city should wait until July 1, 2012 to take the benefits away from existing board members. He said the city needs to give board members more time to figure out how best to secure other benefits, a point echoed by Ward B councilman David Donnelly.

“It is appropriate to give people who serve on those boards time to find something else,” he said. “There’s a fairness issue of how we treat people. If we treat one group of people one way we should treat other people the same.”

The benefits currently cost the city $85,000 a year, and Fulop has criticized the boards, and the city’s autonomous agencies in general, as “patronage pits.” Not surprisingly, he was less-than-receptive to his colleagues’ latest idea.

“The reality is that these people are not entitled to these benefits to begin with, for working one hour per month,” he said when reached Monday. “It is infuriating and sad. We will see again on this vote which council members are the mayor’s puppets.”

The budget for the 34-year-old program, Williams says, was cut to $90,000 from $140,000 two years ago before being cut to zero.

While the latest developments inside City Hall show signs of promise for some restored funding to CAS, Williams alleges that the budget cuts are not related directly to the library’s fiscal health, but are instead a matter of personal and political payback — a charge library officials deny.

The fight over CAS comes as library leadership is raising questions over how the program is using its funds, a move Williams likens to “entrapment.”

In February, the library’s Board of Trustees sent a questionnaire to Williams and the lone full-time CAS employee, Robert “Kwame” Daughtry to find out more about how CAS was using its $90,000 budget. It asked questions like: “Are you involved with musicians/band members and/or consultants receiving payments from CAS?”

That question springs from concerns library leaders have had about Williams’ involvement with bands paid by CAS; in a statement provided to JCI, the library’s Board of Trustees president James Morley suggests Williams was somehow cheating the library out of money.

“The only recent programming offered by the Community Awareness Series has been jazz concerts, in which a solo artist, or group, is featured, with the Spirit of Life Ensemble serving as backup band. Therefore, any library monies allocated to CAS programming actually become the salary, as it were, of the Spirit of Life Ensemble — the jazz band of David ‘Daoud’ Williams, the retired library employee of the Community Awareness Series,” Morley says. “Mr. Williams retired from the Jersey City Free Public Library on November 1, 2004.”

Williams says Morley simply doesn’t understand what the Spirit of Life Ensemble is or how ensembles operate. Though he admits he is the leading force behind the group, he says the ensemble has a current rotation of 15 members, including professional musicians who offer their time and services for the program. Over the years, “hundreds” of musicians have performed with the Spirit of Life Ensemble, he adds.

Thus, says Williams, he found the library’s line of questioning offensive, since it “insinuated” the ensemble was misallocating funds for its own purpose.

Daughtry and Williams were both upset enough that neither completed the questionnaire; instead, they wrote back separate responses questioning its purpose and calling it “vague,” “misleading” and “speculative.” Williams says the questions raised over the incomplete questionnaire have created a “diversion,” keeping what he calls an “important community institution” from receiving funds.

“I’d be willing to answer any question about our organization, but I want it done in a fair and open manner with the public involved,” he explains. The problem with the questionnaire, says Williams, is that it’s “slanted and biased,” suggesting that it was political payback for CAS leaders speaking out publicly against library budget cuts.

“It’s a form of entrapment; it reads as though something suspicious was going on,” Williams says of the questionnaire. “We’ve been at [JCFPL] board and council meetings raising the issue. This was a way to shut us up.”

But Morley maintains the budget cuts to CAS are simply part of the library’s overall budget problems. (“Under siege” is the phrase he uses to describe the institution’s financial health). The library has faced large cuts in city funding over the past several years that, when combined with double-digit reductions in state aid, have put the institution on precarious financial footing.

“In Fiscal Year 2010, all funding for all programs was deleted from the library budget because the allocation from Jersey City government was so severe,” Morley says in the statement. “Next year, starting in January 2012, with our new fiscal year aligning with the City’s new FY calendar year, the library budget will endure another major hit.”

Morley notes that the one full-time employee of CAS was not laid off, since his salary is part of the overall library budget, not the CAS line item, and the program has retained its office space. Furthermore, he alleges that the program leaders have refused the library’s help to become financially self-sufficient.

“In fairness to the Jersey City Free Public Library, the one CAS employee, Robert ‘Kwame’ Daughtry, has kept his job, [and] CAS has kept its office in the Miller Branch Library, along with computer and telephone equipment and availability of library services (i.e., editing and in-house printing of its flyers),” Morley says. “Also, it was suggested to CAS to form a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization, with the library offering help in establishing it, and CAS refused to do so.”

But Williams claims that the idea of “shared sacrifice” is simply a smokescreen that is being “used as an excuse to get rid of CAS.” He says “politics and personal resentment” are the real reason CAS is being targeted.

“We [asked at meetings] why Morley was president of the board for seven years … does that sound democratic to you?” Williams notes. “They didn’t like that.”

But library spokeswoman Michele Dupey insists that there is no target on the back of CAS.

“The library was told we had to downgrade our budget … and at that point all programs were zeroed out; it’s not just CAS,” she says. “[But] other library people aren’t complaining. CAS is just yelling, and not finding solutions.”

The question of CAS funding is still being discussed by the Healy administration and the City Council, where the program seems to have robust support.

“[I] would like it to get full funding,” Ward E councilman Steven Fulop tells JCI, adding that he has “attended numerous shows and they are packed. It is a destination in the community that showcases talent.”

Council president Peter Brennan said Monday that, to his knowledge, CAS will get “between $40,000 and $50,000″ in the 2011 budget currently being hammered out. But since City Hall’s allocation to the library is a lump sum and it is up to the library board and executives to decide what to fund, several council members expressed concern yesterday that the library might not fund CAS, and they discussed ways to try to force the library’s hand.

“Can we add that as a line item, that it must be used for CAS?” Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan asked at Monday’s council caucus meeting. The short answer to that is no. However, as business administrator Jack Kelley explained, there is a way around that which involves the city funding the program directly.

“We can make it a separate line item, perhaps by funding it through the business administrator’s office,” he said. “But I think it’d be easier if the library funded it themselves.”

Kelly promised to attend library’s next board of trustees meeting to press the issue. And while some council members seemed uncomfortable dictating what the library’s funding priorities should be, others pointed to it as a necessity.

“They know how to run the library better than we do,” Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano said, adding that he wanted to stay away from “micromanaging” the library. “I don’t know if I want to start saying ‘your funding has to be this, this, this and this.’ The executive director and board should handle it.”

But Gaughan said he saw one major issue with that philosophy.

“The problem is, they haven’t handled it,” he said.

Photo of Daoud David Williams at a 2010 City Council meeting by Shane Smith

City officials last week told JCI that they were opting not to apply for a state grant that previously paid part of the clinic’s expense; Ward E councilman Steven Fulop criticized the move as “unilateral” and accused the administration of subverting the City Council’s role in the city’s budget-making process.

But now, in an about-face, the city says it has decided to apply for the $75,000 grant, even though the official deadline has passed. Health and Human Services director Harry Melendez told the City Council last night that both the city and Horizon have applied for the grant, and that the state is “aware of the situation” and will accept the late applications.

City spokesperson Jennifer Morrill, who previously told us the city wouldn’t apply for the grant because it didn’t fit in with the administration’s “long-term goal” of “making government smaller,” says officials came to realize they need to have a safety net in case the final budget approved by the council does not cut the clinic, or in case the transfer of services to private providers takes longer than expected.

“As the council still has questions about this plan that the administration is addressing, we felt it prudent to have both the city and horizon apply for the grant so as to ensure that the funding for this service is made available,” she says.

The city’s decision to pursue the grant comes as questions remain about whether the city’s private providers will offer the same level of services as the now-shuttered free clinic, which provided free testing and free treatment for the sexually transmitted diseases HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia out of the medical building at 115 Christopher Columbus Drive.

Horizon does not currently provide certain services including filing reports with the state on the statistics regarding infection, nor do they perform community follow-up, according to Melendez, who added that one of the stipulations of the $75,000 grant is to ensure those services are undertaken by the health center.

“Providing an investigation to track [diseases] and interview [patients] is part of the requirement,” he said at last night’s caucus meeting. “We’ve been in contact with state, trying to put this in place. [The state] understand[s our situation] and will accommodate us.”

Business administrator Jack Kelly said that the decision to apply for the grant was to make sure the city is covered if Horizon were not awarded the contract. If that were to occur, the city would be responsible for providing the services. Kelly also defended the administration’s broader decision-making process regarding the clinic, describing the ongoing back-and-forth as a case of “the chicken and the egg.”

“The City Council gets wind of what we’re working on and looks for information that we don’t have yet,” he said. “There’s nothing to vote on yet, there are lots of pieces to the puzzle.”

Still, few of the council members were convinced by the incomplete answers, and what Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano has called a lack of “contingency plan.”

Kelly, however, offered one such plan, in which the city could extend its lease at 115 Columbus if the transfer of services to Horizon takes longer than they’d hoped. If this were to happen, Kelly acknowledged that the city would have to pay a higher rent, as well as extend the contracts of at least some of the 14 clinic employees slated to be laid off along with 94 other city employees next month.

“The lease doesn’t throw us out,” Kelly said. “[But] it’ll be more expensive to stay in the space.”

Horizon is slated to make a public presentation at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting.