"I love my job very much," said Mayor David Roberts, reflecting on his first 100 days as he reclined in his chair in his still freshly painted office. "I’m respectful of the office that I hold, and every day that I’ve been here, I’m proud to serve the community and its needs."
In front of the mayor on a sunny Thursday afternoon was a list of his accomplishments in his first 100 days as the city’s chief executive.
"One of the things that I’m most proud of is that our cabinet represents a true cross section of our community," said Roberts last week. "More Latinos and women have been appointed to high level government positions in this administration than any other in Hoboken’s history."
Among the diverse group is Carmelo Garcia, the youngest and first Hispanic Human Services Director in the city’s history; a female business administrator, Laurie Cotter; a female city attorney, Esther Suarez, and the city’s female director of environmental services, Cassandra Wilday.
The mayor went over what he called "a sweeping package" of government efficiency and fiscal policy initiatives in his first 100 days.
Roberts said that his focus has been on improving government efficiency, managing development, addressing traffic issues, cleaning up Hoboken streets, and embarking upon a plan to improve public schools.
On his first day in office, Mayor Roberts ordered that all cars formerly given to city directors for their 24-hour use be returned to a central vehicle pool. Currently, those cars are used only for city business, such as transporting senior citizens to doctor’s appointments.
Additionally, the city has initiated polices to reduce overtime. According to city payroll figures, city workers have collected $132,000 in overtime payments since Roberts has taken office, compared to $223,000 for the same periods last year. (In order to be fair, last year’s amount does not include all the extra overtime spent for last year’s July 4 OpSail celebration). That saves the city $91,000 over the same time last year. According to city officials, those are the lowest overtime expenditures that the city has seen in the past eight years.
That overtime figure takes into account all police and other departments’ overtime, Roberts said. In a highly publicized move at the beginning of August, the mayor had praised his administration for cutting overtime in the first two pay periods of his term, but it was later revealed that the city was tardy in filing $15,393 in police overtime pay for the months of July and August. However, even now, when all of the numbers are reported and confirmed, the city is still below the rates of overtime from years past.
It hasn’t been all savings for the new administration. Drawing the ire of some in town were the salary hikes and new high-level positions created. One of these pay hikes was for the city’s Business Administrator Laurie Cotter. She was hired at $109,000, which was $18,000 more than what the former administrator earned after eight years in office. The City Council had to vote to change the salary scale to account for the new amount. On the other hand, the former business administrator had held three jobs, and when totaled, his salary was more than $126,000. Under Roberts’ administration, the city has done away with the $5,000-per-year treasurer’s job, but still has an active emergency management coordinator position.
Under Roberts, the city also spilt the Department of Human Services into human services and community development. The two positions combined draw a salary of $140,000, compared to former Human Services Director Robert Drasheff’s salary of $87,500. Under former Mayor Anthony Russo, Drasheff performed both duties.
Redefining development
The first proposal that the new mayor made to his City Council, which passed unanimously, was a resolution authorizing his administration to issues a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to identify a qualified planning consultant to develop a new master plan for the city.
"A new master plan for the city of Hoboken is vital to ensuring that our city continues to grow and prosper, and does so in a way that preserves and enhances the quality of life for all Hoboken residents," said the mayor Thursday. "It’s been 15 years since the master plan underwent a comprehensive review, and so much about our city has changed in that time. This process is long overdue, and I’m very pleased that the council passed this resolution in just my second week in office."
Many of Roberts’ backers felt that there was too much development in Hoboken over the last few days, and that it’s time to figure out how to proceed with buildings that won’t overpower the city’s resources.
Also Roberts’ first three months, the City Council passed an ordinance that put significant restriction on what types of building that Steven Institute of Technology could build within a 100 feet of a residential neighborhood. The new ordinance quashed a 376-car garage that Steven was planning to build.
"It is undeniable that the continued pace of development in Hoboken is exacting a monumental toll on Hoboken’s quality of life," the mayor said last week. "There is a mounting body of evidence that the long term consequences of Hoboken’s development boom may indeed be close at hand. Traffic congestion, drainage and sewage problems, and the crumbling condition of our roads all pose a threat to the health, safety, and well being of Hoboken residents."
Addressing traffic and parking issues
Since taking office, the mayor has ordered the placing of more than 60 "yield to pedestrian" signs around the city as well as the repainting of the crosswalks at those intersections.
While the increased signage is the immediate improvement, Roberts’ long-term goals are to find innovative ways to create more parking spaces. But as of yet, there have been no plans announced for new garages.
Commenting on his ideas to build perimeter parking in the future, the mayor said, "We continue to look at ways we can build perimeter parking facilities at Hoboken’s borders and connect them to a free or very inexpensive system of non-polluting trolleys that will link the parking facilities with the bus and PATH terminal, as well as the light rail station that is coming to Hoboken."
Another of his initiatives over his first 100 days was to start what he dubs "Operation: Clean Sweep," a program designed to make the city’s streets cleaner. A half dozen new workers have been hired as sanitation services personnel to walk Hoboken’s streets and ensure their cleanliness.
Control during the crisis
Roberts, like most officials across the country, has had a new challenge in the last few weeks: participating in emergency services operations and vigils in the wake of the World Trade Center tragedy.
On Oct. 3, the city established "The Hoboken September 11th Fund." The goal of the fund is to raise upwards of $500,000 to build a world class memorial in honor of Hoboken’s victims of the WTC tragedy. The monument will be built on the Hoboken waterfront at a site to be determined later.
The fund will be overseen and administered by a Board of Trustees, of which the mayor will be chairman. The board will consist of 11 members to be appointed by the mayor, and will consist of the family members of the people who lost their lives, artistic advisors, and officials.
The board will oversee the process of soliciting and reviewing artistic proposals, facilitating and organizing public feedback, and ultimately casting the deciding vote on the winning proposal, subject to the review by an independent jury.
The September 11th Fund board is expected to be empanelled within the next month, with their first meeting to be held soon thereafter.
The mayor and schools
In the past couple of months, the mayor has held a series of high-level talks with representatives of the Stevens Institute of Technology, the Hoboken Board of Education, and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), the state agency overseeing New Jersey’s multi-billion dollar school reconstruction and modernization plan.
The result of these conversations has been a framework for a public-private partnership to improve Hoboken’s public schools.
According to city officials, the partnership will prepare Hoboken’s children to excel in the college setting and, ultimately, in the business world. The partnership will implement ongoing cooperation between Stevens’ academic staff and Hoboken staff to incorporate technology in pre-K-12 curricula, and a number of full scholarships to Stevens for Hoboken High School students. (Stevens actually already offers four scholarships annually to high achievers.)
However, there is some doubt as to whether the mayor has consulted enough with the Board of Education to get them behind this initiative (see story, p. X).
Roberts said Thursday that the biggest change in City Hall may not be one of dollars and cents. Unlike the past administration, where some people had reported feeling intimidated when requesting public information or making a complaint, no such stories have surfaced during the first months of the current administration.
"The greatest achievement that we have made since taking office is that City Hall is now a welcoming place," said Roberts. "If there is one lasting legacy that I would like to leave, it would be that we restored courtesy and respect for the citizens to City Hall."