8. The Amboy Guardian *July 20, 2022Water, American Rescue Act Funds and Update on Borinqueneer ParkAmongst Topics Discussed7/11/22 Caucus*Continued from Page 7on city property located at AlbertG. Waters Stadium. =Petrick said, “We need toreach out to Dr. Roman (Superintendentof Schools). We wantto repair and not replace thestructure and gates to the mainentrance to Water Stadium. TheBoard of Education was supposedto pay for that. Nothinghas been done and it needs to bedone.”Public Comments (in-personfirst):Resident Ken Balut came upfirst. He asked about the newproposed DPW Building, “Wasthe contract bidded out? We arefinally getting the AmericanRescue Act Money. CouncilmanB.J. Torres was right. Wekeep getting everything at thelast minute. The first $8 millionwas supposed to go to help thepublic, but instead it is going topay legal bills. When the lawyerwas speaking on Zoom earlierin the meeting, you couldn’thear what he is saying. Consultantsare making a lot of money.We are finally getting the AmericanRescue money. Our gasprices keep going up and we arehaving shortages of consumergoods. Did you know that theDEP has an order against us?This government hides everythingfrom the council.”Resident Vince Mackiel cameup next. He made mention ofthe constant change orders regardingour water/wastewaterexpenses. “Can the AmericanRescue Money be used forsome of these expenses?”Council President Bill Petrickresponded, “Yes.”Mackiel suggested, “Theremay be a need for an extra personto look at all of our waterexpenditures, and that personshould work with the comptroller.It seems like someone iscooking the books. We need toget away from the oil companies.”A resident from 377 WashingtonStreet came up next. Hecomplained about a business on389 Washington Street that hascars parked all over the street.“It makes it hard for the residentsto find parking spaces. Ikeep getting tickets when I parkby the hospital which has residentialparking. This auto repairbusiness has some cars parkedin the same spot for 3 months.One time, he had a car that wassitting in the same spot for overa year.”Councilman Pabon spoke up,“I brought this up a couple ofyears ago. This business is amenace to the neighborhood.Maybe the police and CodeEnforcement should look intothis.”The resident stated, “I justwant this business owner toclean up and be fair so that theresidents can park near theirhomes.”Police Chief Cattano came upto address this issue, “The residentsshould have pictures sentto us so cars can be ticketed andtowed.”The resident stated he hadparking tickets. “I went to courtto complain about the lack ofresident parking available dueto the many vehicles this businessparked on the street thatneeded to be repaired. The courtsuggested that I should takeup this matter at a city councilmeeting.”Petrick said, “We can’t doanything to help you with this.You will have to go back to thecourts.”The meeting was opened up toZoom participants.Resident Sharon Hubbermanspoke first. She made a statementabout the American RescueFunds. “The answers givenas to the use of those funds werenot acceptable. I am very patriotic,and I support our militaryand our police. If you give someof those funds to the Friendsof Library, it will give back tothe community. The fireworkswere funded by the sponsorsbefore the American RescueFunds were created. We shoulduse these funds to be used fortax relief.” She then talkedabout the business located at389 Washington Street. “I livein that area, and I never heardabout any complaints about thisbusiness before. I’ve never seenany loitering of cars. I’ve talkedto the owner of this businessto express the concerns of theneighbors. I’ve seen other businessesthat are a nuisance, andno one complains about them.”Councilman Pabon responded,“There were complaints aboutthe business at 389 WashingtonStreet in the past.”The next person to speak viaZoom was Ala Abass who isowner of a multifamily buildingon Smith Street. He spoke at thelast council meeting regardingthis property that he has ownedsince 2005 and the problems heis having with PARA. “I cannotpresently sell this property eventhough I had a buyer. PARAsaid I couldn’t do it because itis already sold to someone else.PARA cancelled Viridian’s projectwithout prior notice.”Pabon addressed this issue,“PARA needs to reach out tothese people who are stuck andwant to get out from owningsingle and multifamily properties.Landlords are not gettingmoney from the tenants becauselandlords are not doing repairs.”Joel Rosa from PARA spokevia Zoom, “I sympathize withthis owner. PARA doesn’t preventa person from selling theirproperty. Viridian is still workingwith PARA and is still thedesignated developer for thatarea where that property is located.Viridian has not presentedtheir plans yet for that area.The man should hire a lawyer.”The council went into closedsession at 8:44 p.m. with no furtheraction to be taken. CouncilwomanRose Morales was presenton Zoom. All other councilmembers were present in person.*Continued from Page 2by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda.Ordinance No. 5 – Regardingthe Smith Street DistributionBuilding for the Water Utilitywas moved by Pabon, secondedby Tejeda. Before voting, CouncilPresident Bill Petrick askedif they could use the AmericanRescue Plan money for thisproject instead of bonding thefinance cost.B.A. Greene said, “Money isnot coming in until the next twomonths.”When it came to voting, theonly two council members whovoted, “No” were Torres andPetrick. Ordinance did no carrybecause you needed 4 “Yes”votes. They council only had 3.Ordinance No. 6 – RenamingLinden Street as Peru Boulevard– was moved by Pabon,seconded by Tejeda.Ordinance No. 7 - Tax exemptin a financial agreement withE-Port Phase II – was movedby Pabon, seconded by Tejeda.Petrick and Pabon voted, “No.”For the consent agenda, R-334thru R-356; R-358 thru R-373;R-375; R-378 thru R-380 wasmoved by Pabon and secondedby Tejeda. R-357 was removedat the Caucus.R-374 – Dissolving PARAwas moved by Pabon, secondedby Tejeda. The only councilmembers to vote “No” wereMorales and Tejeda.R-376 – A Grant to CelebratePerth Amboy for $50,000 forthe Fourth of July Fireworksthru the American Rescue PlanAct. – was moved by Pabon,seconded by Tejeda. Pabon andTorres voted “No.”R-377 – A Grant to the BorinqueneersPark Education Alliancein the amount of 75,000to be funded thru the AmericanRescue Plan Act. – was movedby Pabon, seconded by Tejeda.Pabon abstained since he is apart of that committee.Public Portion:Resident Ken Balut came upand asked the council if theyknew about a marine car stolenon Smith Street.B.A. Greene stated that the carthat was stolen has been recovered.Balut also handed out photosto the council. These photosshowed cats that have beenabandoned on Wagner Street.“Someone contacted the police,and because the animalcontrol office was closed at thetime, the police just left the catsthere. There is several cats thathad conditions that could havebeen cleared up if treated ontime. Animal Control needs tobe on duty 24/7. The EPA hasimposed penalties on the cityfrom 2014. We can’t keep kickingthis down the line. You needto take over PARA and negotiatethe contracts with the developers.Our lawyers are gettingrich.”The woman who lives on LindenStreet came up again andthanked the council again forvoting to make Linden StreetPeru Boulevard. “Also on July30 th , we will be honoring Mr.Rosengarten.”Mrs. Silva, who is on the PeruvianCommittee came up next.She also invited the council toattend the event. “There willalso be other Peruvians honoredwho have made contributions tothe city.”Barry Rosengarten came upto speak, “I’m humbled at thoseThe Continuance7/13/22 Council Meetingwho want to honor me, and thisis about honoring all those whohave made contributions to thecity. I want to thank the councilfor voting to pass this resolutionto give money for the CelebratePerth Amboy Fireworks.”A resident spoke via Zoomwho had several questions regardinga city employee.Council President Bill Petrickresponded, “We cannot answerany questions you present tous because it is a private matterthat can only be discussed inclosed session.”The meeting was opened up toZoom Participants:Resident Sharon Hubbermanspoke first. She referenced aman that spoke at the Caucusthat was having low water pressureat his mother’s house onNew Brunswick Avenue, “DuringCovid, a lot of people weredealing with hardships. With thewater meter replacements, theconnection may not be compatiblewith the older homes, andthey may need to upgrade theirwater heaters. The AmericanRescue Act Funds should not beused to upgrade water heaters.Some of the older homes maynot be compatible with the newinfrastructure with the new meters.It should not be the homeowner’sburden. Who is responsibleto update the service lines?And which homes need to bedone?”Council President Bill Petrickresponded, “Some of thesteel piping in the homes couldhave lead bins coming from thewalls. Some supply lines arecoming from the streets, andthen the lines are separate intheir homes. The Runyan Facilityhas a low-pressure lines andthe homeowners are responsibleif the lines need to be replaced.”Council Comments:Councilwoman Rose Moralessaid, “Thanks to all who participatedand enjoy your summer.”Councilman Joel Pabon askedif there is an office of ethicalmatters.Business Administrator MichaelGreene answered, “No.”Pabon continued, “We needan ordinance to limit the typesof businesses in town. Currentbusinessowners are complaining.I’m looking for suggestionsto see if we should do this. WhenI was growing up, we only had3 barbershops and 3 beauty salonsin the whole town. I wantto thank Eddie and the BrendaTrujillo Foundation and thePAL (Police Athletic League)for teaming up to open up thisnew center (On High Street atthe old Knights of ColumbusBuilding). When the young manwho was speaking earlier abouthis new Timestamp APP at themeeting, he looked familiar. Iremember when he and his sisterused to attend Safe Haven.His parents are also active inthe community. It’s important tohave young people who want tohelp their community. Civiliansand the Police Department workwell together. The PCPP Programwas successful, and I hopethe new PAL is at least half assuccessful. People are still concernedabout Covid, and I have7 test kits in my home. We nolonger get the numbers from thecounty, and I was hoping thatChief Cattano can come up andfill us in.”Police Chief Cattano came upand said, “People are hesitanton getting additional vaccines.Our hospital numbers are verylow. The EMS are not gettingcalls from people having problemsassociated with Covid andpeople are getting less sick.”Pabon continued, “I want tothank the DPW for workingon the park repairs, but someof that work should have beenready in early May.” He thenasked how much mulch is putin the parks. “Rudyk Park hasslides, but there is not enoughmulch or padding at the end ofthe slide. There can be an injurywhich may result in a lawsuit. Ihope everyone continues to enjoytheir summer.”Councilwoman Milady Tejedasaid, “I thank all who participatedtonight and to let us knowabout your problems. I wish theyoung man who is starting abusiness the best of luck. I wantto thank the Peruvians for theircontributions to the city.”Councilman B.J. Torres remindedeveryone about the Liveat the Ferry Slip Concert Series.Council President Bill Petrickreminded everyone that the Covidnumbers are going up, “Covidis alive and well. Take precautions,and we will see you allin August unless we have to calla special meeting.”The council went into closedsession at 8:36 p.m. with notfurther action to be taken. Allcouncil members were presentin person.
July 20, 2022 * The Amboy Guardian .9