Councilman Steve Fulop plans to reintroduce this spring a series of reforms aimed at cutting council members’ use of city cars, and taking other money-saving measures. Even though the reforms have proven unpopular with his council colleagues, the downtown councilman said last week that he is still committed to reintroducing them every six months.
In addition to limiting the use of municipal vehicles, Fulop is also trying to mandate that city seals be placed on all non-police vehicles, and he wants to curtail health care benefits for people serving on the Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) and the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA).
“Just hang around my neighborhood any weekday. They’re all over.” – Kelly Montgomery
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But Fulop has failed to get the reforms that he wants. Ordinances he has introduced regarding MUA and JCIA health benefits and municipal cars have been voted down by the council majority.
Under a law passed last year by the council, ordinances that get voted down cannot be reintroduced for six months. Fulop said he will reintroduce these reforms in either March or April.
However, one prominent reform proposal Fulop does not plan to reintroduce this spring is his past attempt to ban elected and appointed officials in the city from holding more than one public salaried position. A version of this proposal that the council rejected in 2007 would have also prohibited city officials from lobbying the city or city agencies for three years after they leave office. The proposal may have been rejecyed due to the fact that several of Jersey City’s council members hold either a city or county job in addition to their paid position on the council.
Cutting cars
Currently, about 30 city employees, including some members of the council, are assigned municipal vehicles which are allowed to be used for both official and personal use. Council members are offered the use of municipal cars, but some, like Fulop, decline them.
The practice of assigning these vehicles has gained greater visibility since the fall, the last time Fulop tried to have the practice outlawed.
Jersey City native Kelly Montgomery recently complained to the council about use of city vehicles.
“I recently received a big tax increase,” said Montgomery, 35, who lives near Journal Square. “Soon I won’t be able to live in Jersey City ’cause I won’t be able to afford the home that I’ve lived in all my life.” She told the council that she has seen several municipal vehicles in her neighborhood. The drivers, she claimed, appeared to be running personal errands and did not seem to be engaged in work for the city.
Later, she told the Reporter that it was easy to find the vehicles: “Just hang around my neighborhood any weekday. They’re all over. You can look on Kennedy, Sip, Montgomery.”
Healy cut cars 20 percent last year
It was a year ago this week that Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy cut the number of municipally-owned take home vehicles assigned to city employees by 20 percent.
Before the cut, approximately 39 employees were assigned city vehicles and were allowed to use the cars for both official and personal use. There are now roughly 30 workers – including members of the council – assigned city cars.
This number does not include city-owned cars that are issued through the Police Department. Citing security reasons, the city has been guarded about revealing the number of take home cars used by cops.
But even this number is too high, according to Fulop. Fulop believes that employees who need city vehicles for work should be allowed to access them only when they are on duty, and should not be allowed to take them home and have them for personal use.
“These cars are given to the mayor’s friends and political appointees,” said Fulop last week. “Even though they’ve cut the number of cars, there are still plenty of political appointees who have cars. This infuriates [taxpayers] for the reason that they’re struggling. Meanwhile, there are other people get a free car and free gas.”
In addition to the municipal car, these employees are also allowed to get up to 18 gallons of gas or a full tank, whichever is cheaper, from the municipal public works station per week.
They pay their own car insurance premiums.
It’s common for municipalities to assign at least a few city-owned cars to public employees who either work in emergency services, or who may need to respond to crisis situations.
Hoboken, for example, has assigned municipal vehicles to six workers “who all need to be on call 24/7 to respond to emergencies,” according to city spokesman Juan Melli.
In Secaucus eight people – the police chief, the three fire chiefs, the three heads of the Department of Public Works, and the buildings inspector – receive municipal vehicles.
But critics of this practice argue that without strict controls, cars can become perks given to favored city workers whose jobs have nothing to do with emergency management.
Scrutiny increasing
Two recent high-profile cases of possible misuse of government cars have received media attention.
Last month, a popular investigative reporting segment on the local FOX-TV affiliate, “Shame on You!,” caught Katia Stack, ex-wife of Union City Mayor Brian Stack, using a city-owned vehicle for personal use. The car had been assigned to the private day care facility where Katia Stack works as director, a practice that been established before she took the job. According to the center’s founder, the car was supposed to be used to pick up school supplies and to cart children around in emergency situations.
But Katia Stack was caught on camera using the vehicle – which had been seized in a drug bust – to run personal errands, including taking her dogs to the vet.
More recently, Anthony Iacono, a former Town Administrator in Secaucus who until recently held the same position in Passaic, was arrested in an alleged drug bust in Hoboken while using a municipal vehicle assigned to him by Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco.
Blanco’s office has since said Iacono was assigned the vehicle so that he could respond to city emergencies.
Iacono was terminated from the Passaic job following his arrest.
Despite the increased scrutiny surrounding assigned city vehicles, Fulop is not optimistic about the chances of getting his reforms passed by the current council, even with the addition of new at-large council woman Kalimah Ahmad, who was sworn in on Feb. 11. Ahmad, who will participate in her first council meeting this week, was appointed by Healy to replace Willie Flood, who resigned from the council.
Some speculate Fulop may not be able to enact his reforms unless he runs for mayor in 2013, as rumored, and wins.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.