BOROUGH OF RAMSEY
BOROUGH OF RAMSEY BOROUGH OF RAMSEY
B. PUBLIC SAFETY – Councilman David J. Bisaillon Congratulations to Fred Henry. I want to thank the Library Board for being here. I attended the DARE graduation and the level of enthusiasm was unbelievable. I wish DARE Officer Kane ZuHone the best of luck in his retirement. I also want to congratulate the graduating classes from Ramsey High School and Don Bosco. The graduation was a very moving event. I also want to compliment the Fire Department for their quick action during a recent house fire. Sgt. Rydell was first to respond and by using a garden hose was able to put water on a furnace fire before the Fire Department arrived. Fire Chief Lanning stated that they were able to control the fire within a short time, thanks to Sgt. Rydell’s quick thinking. C. BUILDING & ZONING – Councilman Joe Ratto I want to thank Fire Chief Lanning for showing the fire prevention movie, prior to the showing of Shrek 2. It was very educational. D. UTILITIES, BUILDINGS & GROUNDS – Councilman Christopher C. Botta Two ordinances will be introduced tonight: one for Finch Park creative playground. Even though the ordinance is for $122,000.00, we will be receiving $61,000.00 from the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund. We don’t get a lot from the County anymore and I think we are very fortunate to have this grant. The second ordinance is for the parking lot expansion at the Library. That will add about 20 spaces to the back parking lot. E. PUBLIC & GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS – Councilman Jeffrey C. Heller Congratulations to Officer Mistretta and Sgt. Rydell on their fast police work. Many of you may have seen the headline in the Record pertaining to the $8.6 billion dollar school funding which is gone. Political corruption is bipartisan. I think that there is now another bipartisan activity and that is fiscal mismanagement, shared by Democrats and Republicans. The $8.6 billion was not approved by the voters. Six billion dollars was for the alleged special needs districts to entirely provide 100% funding for those new schools. The rest of the state’s children, 75%, only got 2.6 billion. We got 40% of a state match for the new school next door. New Jersey now has $30 billion in debt. That places New Jersey third among states in total debt, ahead of us is New York and California. Five hundred million dollars was spent on promotion. That’s advertising, events, banners, signs, etc. They did not come to the voters; it was passed in the legislature. Everyone knew that this money was available. It was in all the papers. It actually built 50% of the number of schools that were planned. I work for a very large company and to get 8.6 billion dollars, you would have to go to the Board of Directors. This was a fantastic rip-off. When they come back for more money, we should all be smarter the second time. F. HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES – Councilwoman Julie O’Brien Saturday’s movie was a huge success. Ramsey Responds did the food concession and Councilman Ratto went through the crowd with popcorn and I thank him for doing that. 6
I want to commend Matt Mistretta for his heads up police work, as well as the other two officers who were involved, Patrolman Jeff Kimmel and Det. Brian Huth. My neighborhood is doing a little community project. I was doing some weeding at the little park at the corner of Grove and Manor. The entire park is overgrown. This park is dedicated to victims of Pan Am flight 103 and the little area where the rock with the plaque is, is completely overgrown. We don’t have manpower to weed the park. We are pulled into other directions. Our employees are an asset; they are not a libability. The longer we think about employees as liabilities and that we cannot hire them because they are going to cost us money….it just really makes me very upset. This is how we respect people? G. MAYOR RICHARD MUTI I too am very pleased, whether you believe it or not, to see members of our library union and our white collar union here in attendance. We also have a member of our Water Department union here, although he is getting paid. When Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, one of the items from his speech was that the long national nightmare is over. I guess one could say, now that the Library contract is signed, now that the white collar contract is signed, that the long trail of travail and discord is over, but that is not the case. The present contracts with both the clerical white collar union and the library union expire in one year, six months, and eight days. First, let me talk about the library employees. I don’t know of a finer group of employees in our Borough than the library employees who have increased their productivity to handle all sorts of increased demand on the library resources without a concurrent increase in manpower and they have done so in a way that always gets plaudits and kudos from the public who use those resources. There is no one more appreciative than I of our library employees but that does not mean that I can abdicate my responsibility for the fiscal well being of this community in the future. Every member of this Council just received another letter from our health insurance provider in which they project a 15% increase in health insurance benefits for the coming year. That means that when you negotiate your new contracts, whoever is in charge of those negotiations, if that person in charge of negotiations has as his or her goal the future financial health of this community, there will have to be further cuts or give backs or sharing of the health insurance benefits cost. There is no avoiding it. These negotiations have not been easy. They have taken their toll on the employees, they have taken their toll on me. I take a large measure of the blame for the delay in resolving the contracts. The delay was due in large measure because I would not give in on the health benefits issue. I told you that at the beginning of the process and I stuck to it and I told you that at the end of the process. That was part of the reason for the delay, but I cannot and I will not take full blame for the delay in resolving these labor issues. Part of that blame goes to two members of this governing body, sitting up here on the dais, Mr. Heller who never misses an opportunity when we have employees coming into a council meeting to get up on his grandstand and to applaud in public our employees. They deserve those plaudits but it is hypocritical of Mr. Heller to take that stance in public and in private to take a stand that would cut you off at the knees in what he would like to compensate you for. It is Mr. Heller who worked behind the scenes, along with Ms.O’Brien. Ms. O’Brien is at least consistent. She is irresponsible in public and irresponsible in private. It is the working behind the scenes of those two individuals that gave false hope to the employees; that prolonged these negotiations. On the eve or on the day that we reached a settlement agreement with the white collar unit, at a mediation 7
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B. PUBLIC SAFETY – Councilman David J. Bisaillon<br />
Congratulations to Fred Henry. I want to thank the Library Board for being here. I<br />
attended the DARE graduation and the level of enthusiasm was unbelievable. I wish<br />
DARE Officer Kane ZuHone the best of luck in his retirement. I also want to<br />
congratulate the graduating classes from Ramsey High School and Don Bosco. The<br />
graduation was a very moving event. I also want to compliment the Fire Department for<br />
their quick action during a recent house fire. Sgt. Rydell was first to respond and by<br />
using a garden hose was able to put water on a furnace fire before the Fire Department<br />
arrived. Fire Chief Lanning stated that they were able to control the fire within a short<br />
time, thanks to Sgt. Rydell’s quick thinking.<br />
C. BUILDING & ZONING – Councilman Joe Ratto<br />
I want to thank Fire Chief Lanning for showing the fire prevention movie, prior to the<br />
showing of Shrek 2. It was very educational.<br />
D. UTILITIES, BUILDINGS & GROUNDS – Councilman Christopher C. Botta<br />
Two ordinances will be introduced tonight: one for Finch Park creative playground.<br />
Even though the ordinance is for $122,000.00, we will be receiving $61,000.00 from the<br />
Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund. We don’t get a lot from the County anymore<br />
and I think we are very fortunate to have this grant. The second ordinance is for the<br />
parking lot expansion at the Library. That will add about 20 spaces to the back parking<br />
lot.<br />
E. PUBLIC & GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS – Councilman Jeffrey C. Heller<br />
Congratulations to Officer Mistretta and Sgt. Rydell on their fast police work.<br />
Many of you may have seen the headline in the Record pertaining to the $8.6 billion<br />
dollar school funding which is gone. Political corruption is bipartisan. I think that there<br />
is now another bipartisan activity and that is fiscal mismanagement, shared by Democrats<br />
and Republicans. The $8.6 billion was not approved by the voters. Six billion dollars<br />
was for the alleged special needs districts to entirely provide 100% funding for those new<br />
schools. The rest of the state’s children, 75%, only got 2.6 billion. We got 40% of a state<br />
match for the new school next door. New Jersey now has $30 billion in debt. That<br />
places New Jersey third among states in total debt, ahead of us is New York and<br />
California. Five hundred million dollars was spent on promotion. That’s advertising,<br />
events, banners, signs, etc. They did not come to the voters; it was passed in the<br />
legislature. Everyone knew that this money was available. It was in all the papers.<br />
It actually built 50% of the number of schools that were planned. I work for a very large<br />
company and to get 8.6 billion dollars, you would have to go to the Board of Directors.<br />
This was a fantastic rip-off. When they come back for more money, we should all be<br />
smarter the second time.<br />
F. HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES – Councilwoman Julie O’Brien<br />
Saturday’s movie was a huge success. Ramsey Responds did the food concession and<br />
Councilman Ratto went through the crowd with popcorn and I thank him for doing that.<br />
6
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