The new City Council voted at their reorganization meeting Sunday to make Councilman At-Large L. Harvey Smith council president. There was also disagreement on some of the new mayor’s appointments, but the council ratified them nevertheless.
One of the first orders of business was to elect a new president to lead the nine-member council. Smith, who is entering his third term as an at-large council member, will serve as council president for four years.
The council deleted an ordinance that would reduce the council president’s term from four years to one year. “I think the way it was over he past eight years as a four-year term worked,” said Ward D (Heights) Councilman Bill Gaughan.
“It’s a new experience,” Smith said last week about the position.
Smith received eight votes in his favor, and one abstention. “I didn’t think it would have been ethically appropriate to vote for myself,” he said.
Gaughan introduced the motion to nominate Smith as council president.
“I’ve served with Harvey for eight years,” Gaughan said. “He was my first and only consideration for the job.” As the new council president, Smith is looking forward to working with the new administration. “I think some of the changes are going to be positive and innovative,” he said. “And they are going to broaden the horizons of what we’re trying to do.”
The City Council consists of some members who were elected for the first time this past May and some who are returning. The returning council members included: Mary Donnelly, Ward B (the west side); William Gaughan, Ward D (Heights); L. Harvey Smith, at-large councilman (at-large council members represent the entire city); and Mariano Vega, an at-large councilman and former councilman for Ward E.
The new council members included: Peter Brennan, Ward A (Greenville); Steve Lipski, Ward C (Journal Square); E. Junior Maldonado, Ward E (Downtown); Viola Richardson, Ward F (Bergen-Layfayette); and Jeremiah Healy, councilman at-large.
Some dissention
While the council agreed on naming Smith council president, not everyone agreed on the mayor’s appointments that appeared on the agenda. In particular, Gaughan was against deciding on the appointments because the council had not received the resumes of the individuals.
“I don’t know who many of these people are,” Gaughan said. As a result, he preferred to take the vote at the next council meeting in two weeks. “I feel the mayor needs a staff,” he said. “But he should allow council members to get resumes on new appointments. I don’t think two weeks is going to make a difference.”
The majority of the council disagreed with Gaughan’s position.
“Some of these appointments,” Smith said, “like the ones to the Municipal Utilities Authority, are necessary to make effective immediately.” Smith acknowledged that the council had not seen the agenda until that morning, but felt appointments were necessary “in order to move the business forward.”
The council approved all of the appointments.
Appointments
The appointments included three new faces to the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency – Priscilla Gardner, Edward Santiago, and E. Junior Maldonado, who replaced Gaughan on that board.
Also, the council appointed a few new people to the Municipal Utilities Authority: Margaret Doyle, Howard Jackson, George Kelly, and Kathleen Hartye.
In addition, the council named James H. Carter the director of the Police Department and Sergio Lamboy director of the Fire and Emergency Services Department.
In addition to the appointments, the council also passed a resolution in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommendation to actively remove polychlorinated biphenyl from targeted hotspots in the Upper Hudson River. Polychlorinated biphenyl, commonly referred to as PCB’s, are poisonous environmental pollutants.