The City Council has awarded a $271,000 one-year contract for grant writing and other services to Millennium Strategies over the objections of members Michael Yun and Richard Boggiano. The firm, which already does business with Jersey City and a number of municipalities including Bayonne, was founded by former aides to Rep. Bill Pascrell, and was not the lowest bidder for the contract.
At the council’s Feb. 10 meeting, Boggiano asked how the firm was selected by Jersey City when it was not the lowest bidder, and pointed to the company’s connections to a number of out-of-county political figures.
“I want to know how this firm was selected when it came in with the high bid,” Boggiano said.
City officials said bids were reviewed by a committee of three city workers and the evaluation was based on past experience. The company, they said, was responsible for bringing in large grants over the last few years, more than making up for the cost of services.
Deputy Mayor Vivian Brady-Phillips said the firm has already brought in $2.5 million in grants, as well as grants for a number of programs.
“They were evaluated on the thoroughness of their work, and they have built strong alliances with other non profits, often referring grants to the Special Improvement Districts, Liberty State Park, and the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency,” she said.
“Having them work on percentage is not legal.” – Council President Rolando Lavarro.
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Yun was concerned about future performance, and whether the fees would be a percentage of the grants obtained. This practice, which was common in the past around the state, was outlawed a few years ago.
“Having them work on percentage is not legal,” said Council President Rolando Lavarro.
The firm was hired after the council took office in 2013, prior to which the city used another firm. Councilwoman Candice Osborn asked for the city to provide a comparison of grants obtained for the two companies.
The firm became subject to debate in Bayonne in 2011, when Bayonne voted to hire the company on the recommendation of the city’s then municipal services director, who also had for a time a share in the company.
Joe Waks, then director of Municipal Services for Bayonne, is a former aide to Pascrell, but sold his interest in the company before Bayonne hired the firm. Ed Farmer, executive director of the firm, was also an aide to Pascrell.
Farmers market redux
After significant criticism from various groups last fall, the City Council has reintroduced its farmer’s market ordinance with some changes. The public hearing on the revised ordinance will be Feb. 25.
Last fall, the city tried to establish regulations governing farmer’s markets. Public outcry forced the council to table the ordinance in order to incorporate some of the suggestions made by the public.
Since then, officials from the city department of Health and Human Services have met with representatives from each of the city’s Special Improvement Districts (SID) in order to understand their concerns, city officials said.
On Jan. 7, after getting input from the SIDs as well as the Jersey City Parks Coalition and the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce, changes were made to the original ordinance. As a result, farmers’ markets will be still required to provide mostly fruit and vegetables. But those markets that operate within a SID will be run by the SID or will be run with the SID’s permission.
The farmer’s markets will run from April 1 through Dec. 31.
Street name ordinance introduced
The Irish rock n’ roll band U2 once sang a song about a place “where the streets had no name.” Jersey City doesn’t have that problem. In fact, in some cases, Jersey City has too many names that are too similar.
So the city has introduced an ordinance that will create a policy for naming streets to make sure that no two are so similar that they might confuse public safety in case of an emergency.
Last year, a fire reported on a street in one part of Jersey City may have resulted in a delay in emergency response because of a similarly-named street elsewhere in the city. To complicate this even more, a third street – named by the developer of a new project near the Historic Paulus Hook section – had a similar name.
Led by Councilwoman Joyce Watterman, a committee of the council developed new standards for naming of streets and municipally owned property.
The ordinance will get a public hearing on Feb. 25.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.