The Jersey City Council tabled, untabled, and retabled $2.2 million in bonding for the Jersey City Incinerator Authority at a Wednesday night meeting. The JCIA is the city agency that hauls trash and assists with snow removal.
Councilman William Gaughan moved to have the ordinance authorizing the bonds removed from tabled agenda and suggested that only part of the money be used for the purchase of equipment for the Incinerator Authority.
"I realize that the Incinerator Authority needs equipment," said Gaughan. "But with the exception of the two firehouses the city recently constructed, the firehouses are falling down."
Gaughan went on to suggest that $500,000 be earmarked for the purchase of four new street sweepers and the remaining $1.5 million be used to repair the firehouses and purchase new equipment.
"Most of the firehouses in are in very bad condition," Gaughan noted.
Councilperson Viola Richardson objected to such a plan, saying the city had received state approval to purchase firefighting equipment in August. Richardson said that during the recent snowstorm, a snow removal truck owned by the JCIA had burned out. She used this incident as an illustration of the equipment crisis facing the Authority.
Gaughan countered that the city did in fact possesses adequate snow removal equipment, but not all of that equipment was under control of the Incinerator Authority. He suggested that municipal equipment be made available to all agencies concerned with city street maintenance.
City Business Administrator Carlton McGee informed the council that the cost of repairs to aging Incinerator Authority street maintenance equipment was exceeding the worth of the equipment. McGee said he had reports to back up the claim.
At this point, City Clerk Robert Byrne interrupted the discussion, noting that if the council planned to defeat the $2.2 million bond ordinance and redo it, the ordinance would have to be resubmitted to the State Local Finance Board for approval.
"I was concerned that if the bond had to go back to the New Jersey Local Finance Board, it would begin a multi-month process with the voting on the bond," said Byrne after the meeting.
Byrne added that an amendment could be made to the present one allowing the council to redirect funding where it chose.
Council President L. Harvey Smith moved to retable the $2.2 million bond ordinance, which was agreed to by the council with a 9-0 vote.
The $2.2 million bond ordinance has been the focal point of controversy in the past. The council first tabled the ordinance last month when Incinerator Authority made a number of hirings and promotions. Members of the council objected to the Authority spending the money on personnel while asking the city for money for equipment.
Calls for cooperation between the council and Mayor Glenn Cunningham were again heard at the Wednesday night meeting, but were low-key compared to previous meetings.
What about the city budget?
During the meeting, Jersey City resident Matthis Sharpless clarified a statement he made at the last council meeting in which he asked the council what "plantation they worked on."
"I did not mean to diminish the Council," Sharpless stated, adding that the council members had to act according to their conscience. "Jersey City is going through a rebirth and you are the parents. How you help with the birth is important."
A number of speakers during the public hearing portion requested that the council pass the newly proposed 2003 municipal budget.
"Please pass the budget which has, for the second year, no tax increase," said Summit Avenue resident Kaushik Amin.
Councilman Mariano Vega said the council had only recently received the budget from the mayor’s office and would go over it very carefully.
"There are assumptions in the budget," said Vega. "They include $10 million in state aid that might not happen. These things have to be considered when looking at the budget."
York Street resident Yvonne Balcer urged the council to have inspectors checking on the condition of affordable housing projects recently constructed in Jersey City.
"We should not be bailing out developers who cannot take of the projects they built," said Balcer. "I am tired of hearing about developers getting tax abatements, but not managing their property."
Balcer was referring to an ordinance passed by the council approving the sale of an affordable housing project at 149 Essex St. which was described as an eyesore in the neighborhood by Richardson.
Passed for first reading by the council was an ordinance executing an easement agreement between Jersey City and the Port Authority on Fourteenth Street. According to the ordinance, the Port Authority would "upgrade and maintain its traffic signal installations which control Holland Tunnel traffic."
Byrne said Port Authority workers would be pulling up sidewalks on 14th Street at the intersections of Jersey Avenue, Erie Street, Manila Avenue and Marin Boulevard.
"The Port Authority has assured the council they will not disturb the flow of traffic in these areas," Byrne said. He added the project will probably begin soon after the final approval of the ordnance.