Council - Special Meeting

Good morning. Welcome to the special meeting of the Newark Municipal Council on Tuesday, March 24th. In accordance with New Jersey law, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the Star Ledger, the Jersey Journal, and the public at large establishing the date, time, and location of this meeting. In addition, the agenda for this meeting was disseminated on March 20th at the time of preparation and posted on the city's website. Roll call, please. Present

here. Yeah.

Present. Council, President, council members, we have one item for consideration today that inadvertently missed the deadline last week. It is six, I'm sorry, 7R9, which is an acceptance of grant funds for police officer overtime to reduce motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and fatalities from traffic offenses. Council as a whole to adopt. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Absent absent. President Trump.

Yes. President, if I may, Councilman Gonzalez. Yes. I hopefully this will reduce the accident between police officers because every every day we get emails that the police officer has had an accident. So maybe we can train them how to drive with this kind of money. So hopefully councilman maybe in a future council meeting or or conference we can have the uh uh maybe not the director but someone from his department to come in and we have address here. Oh is he? Oh, I didn't even see you in the corner. All right. Sorry about that.

Morning, council president, council members. I'm uh Captain James George from the department of public safety with police department. Uh I second that uh that that sentiment. Uh totally agree. there's too many accidents. We are taking steps to uh to retrain and advise our people on when the appropriate response is to reduce the amount of accidents department safety gets into.

Captain is that every day is we get an email indicating that there has been a police involved accident and some of them are very stupid accidents. Uh some others are let's say a little bit more serious. But I believe that uh the younger people these days don't they say don't think that they need a car so they don't get licenses. So I believe that we have to intensify the training because they have this is probably the first time that they drive.

Uh that's some of the problems. Yes, that that's correct. That's a good observation. Uh there's other things that and measures that we're taking just to make sure they know when to respond with urgency and and sometimes when it's not needed, why why bother? So, we're taking those steps, but the grant isn't intended for that, but we're that's something we're working on every day and I'm just as frustrated as by the emails as you are. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you. Uh yeah, we are in the 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak. Please state your name for our records. Is there anyone wishing to address the council members? Anyone wishing to address the council? Now's the opportunity.

Only once, only twice. Three times. All right. There's no one. Public speaking is now closed. We'll adjourn this meeting. Yeah. Let's uh motion to adjourn the meeting. Council members Bay. Yes. Hansel absent. Gonzalez yes. Kelly yes. Montana yes. Ramos absent. Scott Roundtree yes. Silva absent. President Trump yes.

Council president council members we are now in the special conference portion of this meeting where we have two presentations. The first presentation is an introduction of Carol Johnson, who is the president and CEO of University Hospital.

Good morning, Miss Johnson. I I do appreciate you coming down introducing yourself to the council, although I think many of us know you. I've seen you many times in the community. Appreciate your support and of of what you're doing. and and I see you uh quite frankly out in the community not just watching but actually participating in it which very important and uh I see you brought your team with you too. Thank you so much uh to the council president to the council for inviting me here today again. I'm Carol Johnson. I'm the new president and CEO of University Hospital knows and you've been such champions for University Hospital. We are an essential healthc care provider in this community. We also are the only stateup supported public hospital. So we are the level one trauma center for all of North Jersey and we are the primary teaching hospital for uh Ruckers New Jersey Medical School. I'm I'm honored to have so many of my colleagues here today. You know, many of them. Um but I would like to just introduce um our senior vice president for population health, Dr. Lois Green. Um Mark Swan, who is our government affairs director, and uh many of you know Brooke Tibbons, who keeps it all rolling um on all of our community affairs work and is a real leader um at University Hospital. Uh I am honored and delighted to be in this role. It is a critical time for healthcare services across the country. you just have to open the newspaper any day and know how challenging the environment is. Uh uh my job is to make it easier for the people who live in Newark to access healthcare services. The headwinds coming from Washington make that harder. Um but together I think we can help uh mitigate some of those impacts. I want to just um uh share a few things.

Can we switch to the presentation?

I'm going to use my time today to talk about a couple of topics. One is the ongoing work on our campus redevelopment which is a very exciting initiative for us. Two is uh how we are working with your partnership um to engage more businesses in Newark in that work. Um three is just we're not waiting. We also while this work goes on we need to make sure the facility that we're in um is as functional as possible and we're doing upgrades and expansions in our current footprint. um and then touch on touch briefly on EMS and the changing Medicaid environment in Washington just to make sure that um I share some of those details with you. This photo that you see on the screen is a picture as you well know the folks on this council well know the decadesl long trailers that lived across the street from the hospital that were supposed to be temporary that lived there for many many many years. Um at the end of last year they came down and construction began. The second photo is a very recent photo, but not the most recent photo of our campus development because I when I went by last night, the framing is up for the first floor of the first building of our development. So, we're really excited about the work that's going on here and we're really excited about getting to a place where the quality of our facilities matches the quality of care that we deliver because that's what the people of Newark deserve. This is the the um the various phases of our development. um we will build two buildings on that site um across the street and then uh and that will allow us to significantly expand our outpatient capacity. That's how so much healthc care is getting delivered today. Same day surgery, outpatient facilities. So we want to be able to build out that clinic space. Um and then we will uh bring down some buildings um that are on the current uh campus and be able to build up our clinical tower. All of that depends on resources and a lot of work's going on to be able to secure those resources. We will there's a rendering um on this slide of the first building

that is under development um and we will go to our board this week um to launch the negotiation process with for the second building um that we will build. But as you all know what's a priority I know for this council and it's a priority for me is that this isn't happening disconnected from the community. It needs to be informed by both what the community needs, but also the jobs need to be part of what the community is able to take advantage of. And so we are closely tracking today what we spend with local businesses. There's been a uh continual increase um year overyear in village resources, but where we want to be is to have folks ready to be able to participate in the development of the second building that we at University Hospital are controlling the development of. um in this redevelopment plan. And so so many of you on the council, thank you for your leadership in helping us host events all around the city to bring businesses in for them to learn about how to do work with University Hospital. We are a state entity. It requires a different level of understanding of how the bid process works and what certifications you have and the like. You all have been so helpful for helping us do that outreach and then do those technical assistance sessions. I'll call your attention this photo to this picture in the middle. That is an event we had last week on site at University Hospital where our facilities director did a technical assistance session with some of the construction folks we met at your events at your at the supplier events we did with you to help them understand the regulatory requirements of what it takes to do work in a hospital so that they would be prepared for this first round because we're going to do some construction work bidding related to the current hospital to help get people familiar and prepared with the work as we go into the development of the new facilities. So, we're really excited about this and we hope um that

it expands our footprint with Newark businesses and we have a lot of work that we're doing inside our current footprint. So, just to give you a sense of some of the things that we have going on. We've done recent construction to expand our liver center. We are a world-class liver transplant liver disease facility. Um we are one of the highest ranked liver transplant programs in the country. So being able to expand that facility is critical to meet the needs of this community and our statewide needs. We have expanded our emergency department. I know many of you have seen this, but if you haven't, I would love to have you come and and tour our new emergency room expansion. You will see the contrast and the work we still have to do versus um what new facilities can look like. Our medical special procedures rooms are being redeveloped. We just passed the phase one of our state department of health um clearance on on that expansion. That is really where we do a lot of same day procedures which again is how healthcare is continuing to be delivered and we want the people of Newark to have access to those kind of services too. Um we have refreshed our cafeteria. It's important to us that for the people who work at our hospital to also feel respected and to live and work in an environment that respects them and the work they do and we want to make sure our facilities again serve our employees well as well. Um we secured some federal resources to expand our EMS vehicles. EMS vehicles are not inexpensive. Um, so and they take a a considerable amount of beating, you know, because we have them deployed constantly 247. That doesn't happen in all cities and we are able to do that here. So, we want to make sure that we're continually thinking about the life cycle of our fleet and bringing in new facil new um vehicles. We also built a new clinical skills lab to ensure the training and the ongoing um opportunity for our staff to continue to be trained in the most modern methods of healthcare delivery. again so that quality continues to keep pace with where medicine is going um and the people of Newark are able to to get that same level of quality of care. Um so we're

excited about this. We are going to continue to do what we need to do and we can do within the facility that we have. There are limitations because of the space issues which is why the new redevelopment is essential. Um and we're really excited about where we're going with that and the development process going forward. I'll just say two more things quickly before I turn it back to you, Mr. Chairman. One is on EMS. Um we are delighted to work with you um and the council on the work that is ongoing to continue to strengthen and grow our EMS footprint. We are working with so many folks on the council to um work on outstations in the various wards uh so that we can deploy EMS more readily and it isn't centralized. it's actually localized um to where the need is as well as doing community events so that the knowledge and expertise we have in EMS which is really community- based knowledge about things like CPR delivery, rapid response, um wound um response, those types of things that we're doing more community events to teach the community uh people who want to learn um about some of those um skills and expertise because our data show or the national data show that our um bystander CPR is a little bit lower than um we might want it to be and so we're going to be part of the effort to try to raise those numbers as well. And then finally, I've had the opportunity to talk to many folks um on council about this issue, but um among the many things that keep me up at night, nothing keeps me up at night more than the changes happening in Washington and what they mean for this community. that substantial cuts to Medicaid are going to threaten the health care services available to so many folks in our community. And what what uh will happen first is that the onus will be put on residents to prove that they still maintain their Medicaid eligibility. so many folks are working, they're going to have to do lots of documentation to prove that they're working, which again

is really unfair and really just a strategy to try to make it harder for people to stay on Medicaid, which seems to be, you know, the the goal of this federal legislation was to try to limit people's access to Medicaid. We're going to do everything we can to try to help our patients maintain their access to Medicaid coverage to work with them on trying to meet all of these burdensome requirements. Um, but it is not a thing that, you know, we can do alone, you can do alone, the state can do alone. We're all going to have to be in this together. And I'm so grateful for the partnership with this council. Um, as I talked to so many of you about this and your willingness and interest in trying to find ways for us to help the community be prepared for this, it there is nothing fair about it, but it is coming and we want to be as prepared as possible to try to help people as much as we can as we go into this challenging time. Um, and with that, I will turn it back to you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you very much. Uh before I open it up to the council, I just wanted to say that I do appreciate um you coming not only you coming before the council, but I as I said previously the work that you've done in the community. One of the things about University Hospital that I really love is that they're a community hospital. They're out in the community. Brook does a great job of making sure that when it was time for development that the community there were community meetings in every ward to let them know what was coming. I think one of the things I always say is the the the most difficult part of governing is communication or in terms of issues that may occur is is the lack of communication and through that that was very helpful in terms of making sure that residents from all boards knew what was going on as well as the procurement series that you uh had which I think um was very good. I mean I learned a few things too. I mean it was also in every ward and it also uh helped those who wanted to do business with not only just want to do business with the university hospital but with the state too provided a lot of good information and resources to help those who want to do business and um I'm looking forward to at one point seeing some numbers where we have some of our uh uh businesses and residents additionally additional residents working at University Hospital but as well as working with them in terms of their business. Um, if I didn't say it first, I'd be last. So, I wanted to jump in real quick. So, let me let me open it up. I'm gonna give Council Kelly first.

Thank you, Council President. Um, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for all that you have been communicating, as the president said, in our community is very important. Um, also thank you for allowing our youth, that was just one of my big things. How do we allow the New Yorkers to become part of the health care system when we have a teaching hospital that's right in their backyard? And you have done that um as the hospital by allowing at least in my ward I'm sure in in other wards as well but Westside High School students being able to come and learn and get a job and work there where they can go on you know further their career in the medical field and and that and not just uh doctor and nurses but they can do the things that helps the hospital run as a whole. I really appreciate that and I look forward to the advancement of that and seeing that grow in our community because it's very important. Um when you see it in our community, the young people, the youth, they believe that they can become that and I would love to continue to see that grow so we can have more people to work in our teaching hospital here in the in the great city of Newark. Also, um this is more of a a question. I know that we've been dealing over the years with a lot of uh EMS response and the response rate and and things of that nature of trying to make uh EMS more ready um and prepared to to get to those people who are in need. I know that we put a EMS uh station in the west. Uh, I believe it was in one of the UVSO buildings, but I don't I don't really see see the um I don't see the

ambulances there. Maybe they're on jobs or I don't know how many it is. Can you explain how many trucks do we have there? Um, if if they're still there, what's the operation like? You know, um how the EMS in the section, how is that still still uh ready to work? Is it are we moving?

Yeah, thank you for the question. Um, you know, part of the opportunity of me coming in is to sort of do a refresh look at all of this work across um the city and that's why we're really I'm really committed to diving in on the details of each ward and what each ward's need is. We do tend to when we say we're opening a substation and then people don't see the ambulance there because it's out on runs so much. um that does um create a little bit of a communications issue for us. So, we want to be uh good at communicating to the community and being visible um uh uh so that people know that we're there and that we're serving. But u but my goal is to make um uh these partnerships as strong as possible and I will get back to you with some detailed numbers for the

but the substation is active. Yeah.

Okay. Councilwoman Bay council woman Bay first. Okay. Thank you, Carol Johnson. Appreciate it. Always good to see you. Um, and your, you know, the amazing team that you have at University Hospital. We really appreciate all the work that you do. University Hospital is um, seated in the middle of a section of our beloved city that um, has residents that face a lot of economic challenges. And so when people are usually when they're unemployed, they do not have a primary care physician because they do not have um medical benefits and they don't have health care benefits. And so the emergency room is a lot of times used as a primary care physician for a lot of people. Um, so I appreciate the care that you give to our community and we just want to just make sure that you know and understand how excited that we are about the expansion, but also making sure that we continue with the intentionality of making sure that North residents have an opportunity for for jobs and opportunities with this expansion. um the sessions that you've done with the procurement and and letting um vendors and businesses and local entrepreneurs know how to do business with University Hospital has been extremely helpful. We love the ones that you did in the Central Ward at Apinia Baptist Church. And um I just have to just give a just a special um uh hug to Brooke Tippens um because long before I sat in the seat, she has been the face of community engagement for University Hospital working with so many different nonprofits. as a person who leads a nonprofit organization here in the city of Norc. Um she has made sure that community engagement has been in the forefront of all of the work that University Hospital has done. And so I want to thank you Brooke for all of the work that you have done and that you continue to do. This is something it didn't start with this project. It's

been something that she's been doing for years. and she's really the reason why so many of us um are engaged and know about what's happening at University Hospital and are able to make sure that the residents that we serve have access to that information and the services that you provide. So, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Gonzalez. Yes.

Simple simple comment. They say when you go to the community, the community says if you get a bullet hole and b you're shot, go to university hospital. If you have a cold, don't go to university hospital because you may die. So I believe that we have to change that perception in the community because most people let's say that have private insurance tend not to go to university hospital because they that perception they say that they are not uh treated well that there's not enough beds that sometimes they have to to be on the on the hallways while treatment is going on. So I believe that it's important that that we try to change that perception in the community.

Uh well, thank you for raising that sir. I I would say I am 100% invested in changing that perception because the reality is you cannot be a highquality trauma center that the city depends on without doing everything else well. Trauma depends on us having good cardiac care. Trauma depends on us having good orthopedic care. Trauma depends on us having good wound care. Trauma depends on us being a strong system across the board in all forms of healthcare delivery. And so it's important that our facilities match the quality of care that we deliver. And that's why we're engaged in this effort to really expand our emergency department, make our new footprint for our outpatient services as modern and as accessible as possible because that high quality of care is there and we need people to feel and experience it um in the way that it actually is is um meeting people's needs. I I I believe that this you should have some commercials. So explaining that let's say because there is that there is that perception out there that I wouldn't go to university hospital if they pay me. So I believe that it's important that we communicate that that what you are just saying to the community at large so that that fear of going to the university hospital is is a light and and perhaps solved.

We'll take your advice sir. Um we need to get the word out. My lord Councilman council was first. Okay.

Yes sir. Uh President Johnson uh thank you again. Welcome welcome aboard again. I mean, we were partners during the the whole COVID incident while you were down at the state navigating that and helping the city of Newark uh bringing us through that. So, again, I want to say uh thank you for all that you did uh for those residents back during those six years uh of uncertainty, unsure. You helped to definitely guide uh the measures of what we needed to do here in the city to make sure that our assisted living facilities and our seniors were safeguarded. So, I want to thank you for that. Secondly, just to piggyback off of what uh Councilman Gonzalez said, just the the the earmark about branding again and trying to rebrand the the focus of the hospital and put some attention on that and and what it is uh in terms of best practices and making sure that those things go out. And then more importantly, you've talked about uh the federal Medicaid cuts, which I think is critical for uh all of the residents in this city uh to get a hand on and and working even with uh our uh director uh of health services to make sure that we have more outreach and information about the effects of the cut, what it means, what it looks like, uh especially to uh residents of this city. uh I think is important for us to be able to put together some kind of question and answers uh around that and then again if we can get the data back from the suppliers meeting about how many folks we engage what were their business types and if anyone took the next steps or hurdles uh to enter into uh those portals uh and if we can have some success margins around that I think that would be important and then thirdly uh around uh EMS MS uh we hear a discussion about the amalances called they're not there in time but I think one critical piece that all of us are missing is a walkth through of what happens from the

time uh a EMS person is alerted about a specific incident in a specific area uh who gets to call where are they in terms of getting to that area uh and then from that point how does it move out that they're there in 10 minutes or five minutes or 20 minutes. What what what are those, you know, parameters of being held up or being there on time?

Well, thank you. Um, one, uh, I totally agree with you on the branding issue. Um, I hope not good to, um, expand at least even on our campus um, better signage and weightbearing uh, signage to help people navigate and to know where we are in a large campus that is surrounded by a lot of other Ruckers building. Um but beyond that um communicating with the community about the quality of care um that we deliver. We will be back to you with metrics on the supply events. Metrics drive our work, drive my work and so we'll be back to you on that. Um I completely agree with you on Medicaid and um would love to engage with everyone um um and our other community partners. We are very fortunate in Newark to have um Kelyn running the department of health. She's an incredible partner to us. Um, and we will work together um, on this critical issue. Um, and then going forward um, um, on EMS, we similarly want to be driven by metrics. But I would love to host some walkthrough sessions for you to be able to see both the call center um, because we run 911 as well as how calls are triaged, what deployment looks like, how how um, how trucks are activated um, how decisions are made in the field. If folks want to do some ride alongs, we'll figure out how to do that. We'll figure out how um um because I'd love um for you to have that hands-on experience of what this is like and what um some of the opportunities and challenges are.

Is it possible? I know with our police department, we have a citizens uh uh class where the citizens can go in and learn about the police work, what happens, the breakdown, all of the different things that happens. Then there's a graduation process. Uh, is this a possibility that residents can be able to learn what this EMS process looks like from what you said from call center to dispatch to movement to how things move so that they also can be better equipped and knowledgeable about what is happening in those areas, a graduation that they can, you know, receive some kind of certificate that they've graduated from, you know, EMS class. Well, that's a terrific idea and not um you won't be surprised that Brooke has had an idea like this and that we would actually want to tack on to that some CPR training so people leave with some skills as well. Um so we're working on something like that, but we will um learn more about how um the police department does it so that we can try to look at that model.

Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Scottrey.

Thank you, Council President. 2013 there was uh James Gonzalez, there was John Castanis, Dr. Sherief Elnah, um Ed Gimenz, um and now and then in between all of those men, there came a young lady named Dr. Caitlyn Boston that just stood in the gap while the next woman came, which is the now president and CEO of University Hospital. So, I'm excited about that. Um, my relationship and I know some of us go back beyond um the community engagement because they were not always as engaged with the community as they are. I'm going back to the historical perspective of um blighting the area and the building being built and those trailers being put out there. There was a lot of controversy then and and since then we now have a woman that sits at the helm that hit the ground running. Um my first encounter council president was with a young man named Thaddius Digs who has now shifted to the other side and coming into to Councilman Gonzalez's uh statement when people say they'd rather go somewhere else if they have a cold. I am proud that we do have in one of the greatest level one trauma centers in the world that people come to. If you been ready to die, you want to go somewhere where you think that they have all the expertise to keep you living. If someone's been shot 18 times and they found a way to keep you alive, which I have experienced. So, I always say that if you just give them a chance, but they're definitely known for trauma. We've had our hills and valleys with University Hospital. Um, fast forward to Brooke Tippens, which I used to tell people if you come for her, you're coming for the city of

Newark because she is engaged with in every meeting that I've sat in with her and she's had some struggles too with different administrations. Let's be clear. Uh, but when you have someone that's keeping you connected on the levels that council and counsel is talking about, council president, these are things we need to act on to make sure that the community stays engaged. So when they say they don't know, we can say we got receipts. We got receipts. Dr. Lois Green, I have to say that Council President, you're not the only one I call at 11:00 at night. I call these people 1:00 in the morning. Councilman Kelly 2:00 in the morning because our residents have issues 24 hours and sometime they just want somebody to answer. So, Carol, just the fact, excuse me, madame president, madam CEO, just the fact that you showed up the way you have since you took the assignment. You didn't have to come to the Christmas toy giveaway, but you showed up with the central ward with Amina Bay and Councilman Crup to show people who you are. You didn't have to show up at some of the meetings. The only thing I'm waiting for, Brook Chippens, is the faith leaders meeting so we can lay hands on her for the rest of her tenure. But thank you. Thank you so much. And uh most of the questions that were um asked with Councilman Council saying to integrate the training. I know they do some CPR training um on some other levels with other departments, but to have that as an intricate part to say our main hospital in the city of NORC offered you a certificate, offered you some training. That's another way of engaging. I also do want to change the narrative and I think that's all in

marketing and community engagement. uh you and I spoke about the Medicaid and what's happening in Washington. So there's some organizations that people are not aware of that are now doing uh actual sitdowns for what's getting ready to happen with Medicaid and those health benefits that Washington might be attacking. There are some supplemental programs, but if you don't know about them, so that's um something I think we talked about in the council. I'm going to have a couple of the individuals that reached out to me this week, make sure they're aware of these and we're going to do some sessions and hopefully prayerfully collaborate with you for those individuals to come and do a presentation along with the health department because people also go to the health department and we want to make sure no one's turned away. Brook tippens doesn't care whether you have insurance or not. You going to get a mammogram and cervical screening. I don't know how I get who pays for it, but I do know that we have to make sure our children, our women, and our brothers are taken care of medically because the truth of the matter is if no one has insurance, they're reluctant to even go to the doctor and can be very ill. So, we need to encourage everyone there's a way that they will be taken care of. Just go. But thank you so very much. University Hospital, Lois Green, Brook Tippens, and whoever else is over there. Oh, I see him. Our governmental mark, I see you. I see you. God bless you. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilwoman. I wanted to just hit on um you mentioned Dr. Green. Dr. Green does that incredible work in the middle of the night to help families who are in crisis. Uh she also works every day um and has doubled down on this efforts in my time here to really focus on patients experience of care in our hospital. um uh the conversation we're having here is about the quality of care and services, but if people feel like it isn't a place that they want to go, then we need to make sure we're focused on that and we are changing the experience for them. And Dr. Green is leading that effort and helping to really build strategies so that our very hardworking, very overstressed healthcare workforce gets the tools and support they need to deliver care in the most empathetic and compassionate way possible um so that the experience of care is as good as the quality.

Last but not least, maternal health care. Yes, ma'am.

Very big issue in our city, state and country. and the focus that we put on maternal health care. I pray that it's broadened, that our programs are broadened, that the um funding that we need will come forward of not just for doers and not just for midwives, but even the people that are dealing um on a compassionate level with those with child. Um that has to be something that we make sure that you already know the statistics. I'm not going to go through all of that, especially with African-American women, brown and I I we just want to make sure that we at University Hospital while we're talking about trauma, that's a form of trauma as well. Not the same trauma, but a a form of trauma. So,

I'm glad you raised that because there is trauma associated with the experience for some um uh pregnant women and making sure that they can get the mental health supports that they need, making sure individuals who have substance use disorder issues can get the help that they need for that, and then making sure they have the follow-up care because so much of the risk here for women is about things like hypertension and other things post pregnancy um that can lead to um very poor outcomes. And so our goal is to get um uh women engaged in care early um and get them connected to services and we've expanded our footprint to be able to do that and seen some success with that. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilman Katana.

Just thank you. Thank you so much, Madam President. And um from a historic aspect of 1968 agreement, uh to see those barracks, you know, where people lived, I mean, people were displaced as in the 60 1968 to see those barracks that had been there for decades. To see them moving out, it it really highlights what the mission of the hospital is. I've in 40 years I've run into and I have ran into many of the presidents and you're accessible. The others have not been accessible. They were they would meet with one group uh with the whole body but not individually or what you have done in terms of recruiting folks to for job opportunities contracts and I witnessed it at um Councilman Ramos's community meeting. It was uh that was a great uh uh tribute to your you and your staff uh taking it to the community. In terms of the federal issues, last week at the National League of Cities, the members of the National League of Cities, the largest lobbying group to the United States Congress and Senate, went to Capitol Hill uh pleading to the legis to to the congressional members and and senators about the concerns of the agenda of healthcare. Um healthc care is under attack under this that administration in Washington. not my administration there. That's them over there. And 340B is going to be under attack soon. CDBG grants and all these other things that may help hospitals and institutions are going to be under attack.

The book was written already 2025 explained the whole issue what was going to take place. And you know, we have to be supportive of helping uh the health care issues, the federal qualified health centers, engaging them more into the hospital, they have to because they're the arm of the community, whether it's whatever health community health center is. Uh in terms of e the uh ambulance services, it has improved and very very quickly. But you know, from Camp Street to Forest Hills is a ride. From Camp Street to Lions Avenue is a ride. So in the future, is it possible that with the business administrator and the administration that we can engage something where they could come uh house out of at a firehouse and beyond there? Is it possible? So they don't have to go 30 miles. Norc is a 24 square mile city and it takes from one sector to another sector. It takes time and lights and etc. And I would like to see that also Mr. BA and the department of recreation as we hire uh lifeguards for the future. They need to take courses and we could bring them to the institution. We're short of lifeguards. New York does. We are going to be short too, but we should be able to bring some of these young folks and teach them about CPR or what is the basics and let that be a certification and maybe do because it was before I remember as a as a scout in the city for us to get the M badge, we would have to go up to the hospital and and get uh

certified. So again, these are the things that I would just put to you and I thank you uh because you have been accessible to us and you gave me a personal number and that that meant so much. You know, I didn't get that from other folks. You know, Stanley Bergen would give that to me on a given day, but that's another story for another time. But I've seen the hospital from its existence of the n early uh 80s to now and it's an improvement. I just say we have to be the ambassadors to the hospital too because it belongs to it's a Newark jewel and it's our jewel. Thank you.

Thank you so much um Councilman and if I could just briefly say um uh love the idea of talking about training programs with young people. the more we can get young people to experience the hospital and potentially get them on the footing to come in and get on a career ladder um working with us, we would love to be able to talk to you about that. Two, just thank you for mentioning 340B, which is a very weedy health policy issue, but is a essential way that we support the healthcare safety net. So Medicaid is our existential crisis, but 340B, which is a federal policy related to how drugs are paid for, is changing in real time and again threatening the resources that are available to the community. But I look forward to working with you. Thank you, Councilman Ramos.

Yeah. Uh thank you, Mr. President, and and thank you uh President Johnson for appearing before us today. Um, we partnered on one of the supplier forums in the north ward and Councilman Kintana mentioned, I think the turnout is evidence of the level of interest that exists amongst our business community uh trying to navigate ways that they can do business with uh government, with hospitals, and we definitely appreciate the fact that you and your team uh took the initiative to work with us on those forums. And you know, we also pray for longevity when it comes to your uh stay as the CEO. It's been like musical chairs. Um and every time we get to know somebody who's assigned as the president of the hospital, next thing you know, they're gone. So, uh we we unite in prayer for longevity. And and we're also encouraged to see, you know, the construction going on at at the hospital. You know, my my sister worked there and retired a few years ago. And I think all of us have our personal stories when it comes to University Hospital. My mother was a patient there. She actually passed away there some years ago. So, so we we're encouraged to see that there finally a level of investment that the community here in the city of North deserves as far as um having a state-of-the-art hospital. And I would just say that I that that I would hope that people with common colds aren't going to an emergency room, right? That they're not tying up beds. um much needed beds for for real emergencies. But one thing I I do want to ask and you don't have to provide the details today is I' I've been one of the ones here who's consistently been concerned about response time when it comes to EMS. Um we've we've noted an improvement. Um but at the same time, every time I have an opportunity to visit my seniors in different buildings,

it's it's still something that comes up, right? the managers, social workers, you know, sometimes they're very concerned about what they feel is an extended response time to emergencies. And I know few years ago, um, St. Michael's Hospital made an investment to add ambulances to the fleet, uh, that that would enable us to have a larger, uh, number of of of ambulances that could respond to emergencies. there there was, you know, I would say a reluctance, I guess, on the part of your predecessors to include them as part of the um level of service that could respond to emergencies. I know that that is changing and and in my conversations with Dr. Sickls very recently, San Michaels is actually looking to make even a bigger investment in purchasing additional ambulances. So, if you could provide us at some point with a um update as far as how that partnership is um growing, right? And and what kind of utilization does the dispatch side of EMS have as it relates to San Michaels and also University Hospital um ambulances? Because to me, the more vehicles we have in the fleet, the better ability we have to respond to emergencies. Like Councilman said, we we have a fairly large geographic area that you have to cover. And I like the idea of the little substations, but ultimately it comes down to having enough uh vehicles and support staff in place to respond to all these uh calls for service.

Thank you so much for the question. Um and thank you for your work on this issue. Um I was actually just texting with um uh Dr. Sickles yesterday. We have um worked to integrate um St. Mike's into our deployment plan and we have seen their numbers grow as a consequence. But um I wasn't aware about them acquiring their their growth plan, but we will get with them to to talk about that. Um, I share your concern about making sure that we're continually every day. We just have to push ourselves to continue to do um, uh, EMS as strong and responsive as we can be across the city. I, um, after one of our conversations went up to look at the high density of very tall, very densely populated senior buildings that you have in a very small area and the time to get there and um, the like. And so we have some plans to work with building managers and um and do some education and outreach as we're working on our substation um in your ward as well. Um but it is a it is a every day um everything is necessary but not sufficient um uh until um until the community feels like they have what they need.

Thank you. Councilman Silva. Yes. Uh Miss Johnson, good morning. Uh we met last week so uh there's not much I want to discuss. One thing I want to reiterate what Councilman Ramos says. Hopefully there's stability at this position now. You're the third person in almost four years to come before us. So hopefully you'll see this project through. Uh we had a very successful event in the East Ward. Uh but if there are vendors that are still interested in participating, if you could send us an email or a number they can contact. uh about that. Yeah.

Yeah. If there uh so there there are vendors that have reached out for me that couldn't make the event or didn't know about the event. So if there's an email or a contact number that they can call and just for the record uh you picked the best w to live in. So I just want to she lives in East W. All right. Thank thank you Councilman. I I will wrap up. Is that a paid commercial?

Yeah. Advertisement for the East W. I I will wrap it up by just saying thank you again for coming. Uh we do appreciate you being here and being open and and and we all do want longevity for you. We we would love that. Um I I I do and I know it was mentioned but I will shout out Mark Swan again and you know Dr. Green who has the instit I mean so so many things could be said about her. um her institutional knowledge too is also uh amazing and you know it's good that you have a great team with you to work to help uh the residents of the city of Newark which is at the end of the day what we all want. So thank you very much appreciate you being here. Can I have a can I have one question?

Uh a quick one councilman. In terms of the the say the ambulances be located throughout the the say the neighborhoods. Do you intend on buying uh land or is are you intend on renting land?

Um it's going to vary space to space. We have had some wonderful conversations with the city leadership about where there might be some available adjacent available space to a city facility. Um and that's what we're trying to work through is try to figure out what the best option is because we don't just need a place to park the truck. We need a place for our staff to be and we need a place for any critical materials to be um stored. um if it's you know hot out or those kinds of things. And so we're doing we're doing that kind of assessment right now. Um but starting with uh the mayor's office has helped us um really think through where there may be some um available space and uh if you want to see some greenery you can visit the the northward.

Well, thank you Councilman Gonzalez. Thank you for that. And and Mr. Chairman, I just want to say thank you for recognizing Jesus. Thank you for recognizing our staff and we are just we just this represents just a fraction of the incredible people who work at UN hospital every day throughout these snowstorms throughout all that um the challenges that come their way. Our team shows up every day for the people of Newark. Great. Thank you so much. All right, you all have a great rest of your day. Thank you. Woman got it. Next up, council president, council members, our next presentation is regarding the elevator maintenance and repairs. James D. Adams, director of the department of engineering.

Just before he starts, council members, I already informed him that there may be questions that don't relate just to elevators. Yeah, there's some. Good morning, council president. Good morning, municipal council members. James D. Adams, acting director of engineering for the city of Newark. Um before I start my presentation, the BA would like to make um a slight announcement. Um so I'm going to ask him to come up before I get started. He's not on the agenda. Okay. He's not on a

I just want to announce the new manager of code enforcement. Um, I'm gonna have her come up and just introduce herself and say a few words. Valerie. Good morning, council. My name is Valerie Murphy. I'm a retired police officer. I'm sorry. Could you repeat your name? I couldn't couldn't hear you. Valerie Murphy. Last name. I'm sorry. Murphy. Murphy. Murphy. Okay. Thank you. A retired police officer from the city of Nor. I did 25 years a dedicated officer serving the community. And I'm here now as the manager of code enforcement. and I'm going to do my best to change it and turn it around and get the stigma of what they say about code enforcement. All right. Thank you. Uh I guess

Mr. Chair, uh first Councilwoman Scott Roundry then I'm excited. Thank you. That's all I council president. I'm excited because everybody has to be given a chance to turn things around for the better. And I just something in my spirit tells me that this is a great decision. Um after giving 25 years of service to our city, you really didn't have to do this. Um but I thank God that uh you stepped up to the plate to try to help make a difference in the code enforcement department of this city. So God bless you on this journey and um congratulations. Thank you.

What what I will add and say to you is congratulations and condolences. Yeah. At the same time. It's it's it's it's an arduous task, but believe that you're up to it. Councilman Council was next.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, first of all, Manager Murphy, um, you know, being a former director of neighborhood and recreational services before it was split up to become the department of recreation, cultural affairs, uh, I had the, uh, audacious task of, you know, managing code enforcement as well. And so I am uh you know quite knowledgeable about the laws and everything that is surrounded in code but more importantly uh the professional attitude that needs to be carried uh throughout the community, the responsiveness uh the followup uh in the customer service. And so, uh, it is my hopes, uh, that, you know, you can continue to wrap your arms, uh, around that as you come in, uh, and begin to, um, look at and tackle, uh, some of the things, uh, that needs to happen, uh, around code, uh, and ensuring, uh, the best professional services that are possible uh, and working towards uh, ensuring that our folks are uh, providing great customer service and followup to the residents. of this city.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Kelly. And then that's right. Um I just want to say, manager Murphy, congratulations. Um that stigma that that people say, I I really believe that you're going to change that. you know, um I look forward to to uh working with you and your team because we definitely need someone like you that that is going to get in there and and do what we need to be done for code enforcement. So, um I just want to say thank you. Is can I sponsor this? Uh can I go sponsor it? No, that's not there's no it's already done. You can say congratulations. Hey, Rob, but there's no if I could I would. So

we can co-spons and sponsor. We've already confirmed. So if I could, I would. But since the council president, everybody wants you. Everybody wants you. Now everybody want to confirm. The council president said I can say rah rah. There you go. Ra. Councilwoman Bay. And then

first like I want to go my council colleagues and saying congratulations. Um, and also I don't we don't need to recount to you because I'm sure that you know all of the many complaints that have come in and all of the different issues that have come in. You've seen them here. People come to the council meetings. We get calls and emails and text messages every single day. Um, the one thing that is really paramount for me in my office is as it was stated before is the followup and the follow through because there's a lot of issues that have been outstanding for months into years. Um and that we need to we as a collective have a responsibility to make sure that these issues are abated that the responsible parties are brought to whatever you know however whatever the the consequences are that they pay them and that we make sure that the residents get what they need and deserve um especially when we talk about our senior most vulnerable population um that are right now having a lot of very serious issues. So, um I thank you for taking on this yman task because it is a yman's job that you have in front of you. Um but we are here to work with you to assist you. You definitely will be hearing from me and my team um probably today. But thank you

today, Councilman uh Cana. Congratulations. you know, um, on a personal note, you know, the many years of, uh, working with you as your other role in police, uh, it shows the kind of, you know, your commitment. Yes.

Coming to work, loving the city of Newark tells a lot to me. And, uh, your professional uh, has been your your professionalism has been something I've always looked at. And, um, I have there's a love for law enforcement in my family because you know my daughter, my son are uh police officers and I know what you what you have said and what you have been how you have treated the people and it's that's what we need in code enforcement too. How to treat folks, how to get them on the right path. And I I believe you're going to do a great job. Uh because I know you and I can testify to that the many years over some 20 some more years I've known you and I know you your character, who you are. And congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Gonzalez.

Congratulations, Officer Murph. Uh I believe we need someone that would give structure to that to that division or that department. And also I would like to to see that you don't only work during the days of let's say Monday through Friday. We have a lot of illegal construction and illegal conversions that happen on weekends because they know that there are not that many inspectors out there. So I believe that it's important that we emphasize working on on say Saturdays and Sundays because that's when most of the work that is illegal is done.

Well said, Councilman, because I actually had an issue with that this past Sunday with somebody working on illegally working on the property. Uh anything else from the council? Uh Councilman Silva? Yes. Uh Val, congratulations. We worked together for many years. The only thing I ask is that I get your private number and you'll get mine and we'll become even closer. So, uh, good luck to you. Oh. Uh, shoot. We all need to get that private number. Um, all right. Well, thank thank you, Miss Murphy. Appreciate you coming in. Um, but if someone is building on the weekend, call UCC, not code enforcement. That's right.

Right. Yeah, that's the issue. Another issue. Yep. All right, Mr. Adams. Director Adams, don't think that softened the blow, but it was a good start. All right. Thank you. Thank you, council. I don't think it's up yet. Am I going in the right direction? It's It's not up yet. I don't There you go. I got to go.

Okay. Again, good morning. James Adams, acting director of engineering. Um, we're going to present to the council um the elevator inspection program for the city of Newark that operates out of the UCCC office. The the points we want to discuss this morning are elevator inspection program, the maintenance and repair oversight responsibilities, which I do have to stop here and state that this is the responsibility of the business owners. It is not the responsibility of the city of Newark to maintain and repair elevators that do not belong to the city. We'll talk a little bit about inspection staffing levels, the volume of inspections, and the workload pressures that the elevator um section experiences. I know this might be a little bit hard to see, but what I want to highlight here is the city of Newark has approximately 3,000 devices um of all sap shapes and sizes, including approximately 50 escalators. What does that mean? That means that the elevator sub code and the inspectors are very very busy. As you can see here, um, under this bottom line, we had approximately 429 invoices have been paid to date. Um, what does that mean? On an annual basis, we invoice the owners for the proposed elevator inspections every year. And we prioritize those inspections based on the invoices that have been paid. So all the owners get an invoice in order for them to set up and schedule their annual inspections. Going further down, the role of our inspectors are routine maintenance, new construction and modernization,

repair work. We inspect the repair work that is due to damage, wear and tear, and also we follow up on corrective actions that we've noted during our inspections. There's two main types of inspections that our UCCC elevator inspectors engage in. That's the annual inspection that follows the New Jersey Administrative Code and also ASME. And then there's the long-term five-year inspections that we engage in. The purpose of these inspections is to protect public safety, to certify the elevators for continuing operations, and to identify any unsafe conditions and code violations.

Currently, we have one elevator sub. Can I have a quick question? You know what? I should have said this. You can stop me at any time so you don't have to go back. I have a problem with that. Council Gonzalez say you you invoiced let's say the the owners of the buildings and if they don't pay you don't inspect. If they don't pay we don't inspect. So I am the owner of a building and I never pay the the bill that that elevator is not going to be inspected.

It's not going to be inspected in our priority. We prioritize the invoices that have been paid first. But just because you don't call for an inspection does not mean we do not issue a violation two. But to issue the violation, you have to go there to inspect it, I suppose. Well, let let me let me come back to that. That one I'm not sure of. But yes, it a violation is issued because the elevator in the elevator owners are required to submit an application for their elevators on an annual basis. So if they do not do that, they will be in in violation of the New Jersey Administrative Code, which

So you you will find them for let's say for not submitting the application, but no inspection is conducted. Correct. Thank you, Chair Councilman. Council.

Yeah, because I don't I mean the whole presentation, let let me let me just ask this question. So you talk about the role of a UCCC elevator inspector, right? Uh and we talked the the regulatory principles and what needs to be completed by a licensed elevator uh mechanic. Someone gets a fine uh on their elevator system. We go out, we inspect, we say that you have to make these corrections. Person comes and says, "Okay, I've made these corrections." We send someone back out to check to see if the corrections are made. If not, they stay in violation until those corrections are made. Then they send information back out from their elevator company or whoever they hire to say, "Okay, we've made all of these corrections and we're looking for someone to come out to reinspect what happens." What is the responsibility of the city at that point?

The responsibility of the city does not change. If the elevator is non-compliant and we've made an inspection and the elevator owner's elevator contractor has stated that they've made the repairs, we go back out to check to make sure the repairs have been done in accordance with the administrative code. So, we don't make an assumption or presume of what someone else said. We would send our person, be it a third party or someone else, back out there based on what the elevator contractor from this proposed manager or owner stated about the elevator being repaired so that we would know that whatever the repairs that were needed were corrected. Is that correct?

That is correct. What you're what you're referring to is what New York City had done in the past, which is called selfcertification. We as the UCCC have to go out and inspect to make sure the elevator contractor who's who's hired by the owner has done what they said they were going to do.

Correct. So, Councilman Council, who owns 25 Vanels, sends Director Adams a letter saying that John Smith's elevator company has just repaired all of these different mechanisms that needed to be fixed. Now, is it Director Adams responsibility to go back out and check to see if those things were done to either pass or to continue to violate until those things are abated appropriately? Yes, it is

right. Okay. So, we need to do that at 25 Vanvela, right? We keep providing different levels of bureaucracy saying what other people are saying and information that people are talking about instead of going back out checking. So if if the owner said, "We've sent our company back out there to make these repairs and we have determined that this stuff has been done," we should be responsible to go back out there and check, not wait, not insinuate, not think what somebody else determined about modernization or what we feel we should be doing. We should go inspect it, evaluate it, and determine if it's proper for usage or if it's still not proper for usage. and give our determination, but to continue to wait provides a problem to the residents of this city.

Councilman, I agree. And let me get back to you on that one because I don't have the details of that one right in front of me.

Um, good morning, council president and council members. Raymond Conion, assistant director, Department of Engineering. In response to the particular ask for 25 ambassador, we were received a set letter. uh we made them in contact with the third party inspection agency to confirm whether or not they did do the work because prior to that they anticipated or stated that they were going to modernize the elevators. Now we are waiting for the response from a third party inspection agency to confirm whether or not they actually did the work. So once we confirm that they did do the work then we go out and inspect. If they did not do the work we will inform a coronary as well. So that's where we are. So, we're waiting for a third party that we sent back out to get with the the company that made the the the corrections on the elevator to hear what their reports are.

No, what we're doing is is that this particular property has stated that they did not do the work because they were going to modernize the elevators.

No, they sent a letter indicating that they made the repairs that was requested correct by way of the city. So it doesn't matter what we think or feel. We have an obligation as a city to go out and to check to see if those repairs were specifically made. And this is not in defense of the owner. This is the defense of the residents that's been in that building for almost two years without an operating elevator that have to walk across a roof and down the stairs. And in case of emergencies, EMT workers can't get up, other people can't get up. We cannot be so bureaucratic that we stop progress. We can't do it. No.

And you are correct and that's what we're doing. We did go requested to go back out and as soon as I have the update, I'll be gladly to tell you what what was the outcome.

Councilman Council, it's the same situation with 130 Chancellor Avenue as well. We're going on two and a half years there as well. So I think we need have some serious followup on this matter. Councilwoman uh Bay.

Yes. Thank you, Council President. So um a little similar to what council uh Councilman Council was talking about, we had a situation in the colonades for you know that that long predates me sitting in this seat. And I just want to know what is and I don't know if I'm jumping ahead of your presentation. If I am, I apologize. But as far as the dance that a lot of these building owners do, um they'll do a patchwork. They go out there, they inspect is working for that moment. Literally two 10 minutes after the inspector leaves, the elevators broke down again. And then the residents are in the same situation. So we have elderly, we have disabled that are not able to get around. We've had residents that had to drag groceries up 15 flights of stairs because the elevators aren't working. And this is something that's been going on for a very long time. I mean, it it just really makes no sense. So, at what point will do we just stop and do and and do the complete followup instead of just continuing this dance back and forth with the building owners because they're playing us and they're playing the game. So, Councilwoman, um, that question I don't know how to answer because we are responsible, like I said before, to inspect the elevators based on violations that we've issued or parts or whatever that are not working. When we go out and do the inspection, if those corrections have been made, um, that is what our where our responsibility lies. We can't force the owners to do modernization. We can't force the owners to replace elevators in kind. we can only go out and inspect and issue what I'll say, you know, elevators are safe to use based on the violations that were issued and based on the corrections that were made.

So, so I go ahead. What what I'd like to do I'm sorry, council just say this. Let's after your followup, let's let's uh let let the director finish his presentation and then we'll come back to the council for other questions.

Thank you, council president. So, I understand what you're saying. So maybe that's something that we need to um discuss as a council and maybe there's an ordinance there that there has to be some type of time limit or there's only but so many times that we go back and forth and these issues persist and we just keep restarting the clock on them and and and let them start um you know from from the beginning again because at the end of the day it's the residents that are suffering and I understand what you're saying you're following protocol so maybe that's something that needs to be changed. So, I think that we need to discuss that and maybe there's a new ordinance that needs to come into play. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. All right.

So, let me start back here. The current inspection staff. Right now, we have one elevator sub code, Ernest Goldberg, who's with me this morning. We have one technical assistant and we have a third-party elevator company VDA which is a nationally recognized elevator inspection maintenance um and installation firm and we procured them due to um on an emergency contract. Our our goal is to be able to put out an RFP to have a permanent third-party elevator inspection company um after this emergency contract expires. and we plan to do that within the next month or two. Um we also have um VDA has three full-time elevator inspectors and they have one one to two technical assistance. We are going to look at whether those three elevator um inspectors fulfills the city's needs when we issue the new RFP. Um an an example like all UCCC elevator inspectors, they do field inspections, plan review, and they also issue their reports directly into our system. So this is just a a brief um outline of the workload that we're facing. Um we estimate that we can do approximately 300 inspections per inspector per year. And based on the backload and back backlog that we have, it would take us to have 10 inspectors an entire year to catch up, which we do plan on doing. And as I said before, the inspections include follow-up inspections, initial inspections, and emergency inspections. As you can see by the line under inspection activities that we only performed 93 inspections before we brought on the emergency elevator inspectors and afterwards from I believe

it is November we've done approximately 417 inspectors. So what I want to describe now is what I term the key operational challenges. Uh continued development obviously increases the need for elevator inspections, reinspections and new inspections. The modern elevators are more complicated than the older elevators which means the elevator inspectors need to keep up to date on the new technology as well as well as being aware of the older technology. Um because a lot of the elevators in the city of Newark and I should say vertical transportation not elevators are older, they require more maintenance and they break down more often which means that increases the number of inspection. Um obviously by the fact that we're going to a third-party elevator inspection company. Um elevator inspectors are in short supply. So recruitment and retention becomes challenges if we were to bring this inhouse. And lastly is the documentation required. And I probably should have brought an example of an elevator inspection form to let the council know the amount of detail that an elevator inspector has to go through when they perform an elevator inspection. Going forward, we're going to use the elevator cons the existing elevator fee structure to support our long-term staffing strategy. And like I said before, we're going to look at maybe possibly increasing the number of elevator inspectors to follow the model of UCCC of having one elevate one inspector per ward. keep meaning the strong collaboration between the UCCC office and whatever

third-party elevator company we do procure after the emergency contract expires, improve scheduling and improve proactive invoicing. What I mean by that is in the past we had invoiced the owners on a sporadic basis throughout the year. Now what we've done is we started invoicing the owners all at once in the beginning of the calendar year. um reduce inspection delays, improve public safety, analyze a current deficiencies, and implement corrective best practices. So, that concludes my presentation. Any questions from the council? Any additional questions?

Council Kelly.

Yes. How you doing, director? Um, just listening to all of the concerns about the the elevators, you know, we've had some elevator issues with with private owners and things of that nature in the West W, but I just wanted to know about our elevators here in city hall. You know, what are we doing with the elevators that are consistently broken down? And you know, I I know I hear about what Councilman Council is saying. It's making a lot of sense about the residents in the South Ward, but we have a lot of people who come through these, you know, this building each and every day. And I just feel like we we fluctuate from which elevator is broken down like what what are we doing? Are we getting new elevators? Are we are we fixing?

So, Councilman Kelly, so let me just address that. The engineering department is responsible for the capital repair of the elevators in city hall. So we anticipate that June the elevator contractor will start on and I got to get the numbers right, elevators two and four, which are the two elevators that are currently nonoperational. We believe we hope and anticipate the elevator contractor to start in June on elevators two and four. It is going to take him approximately 20 weeks to repair and bring those two elevators back to be fully operational. At that time, we'll switch over to work on elevators one and three, which will take another approximately 20 weeks. So, the entirety of this contract to modernize the city hall for elevators um will not be completed until the spring of 2027. Um the actual ramp for the employee entrance has already been replaced.

Yeah. And you said two and four starts when

two and two and four. I'm I have to apologize. I'm used to saying the mayor's elevator bank, but okay. Elevator 2 and four is planning to start June 2026. It is going to take approximately 20 weeks to repair and modernize those two elevator banks. Once they're operational and signed off on, we're going to start on elevators one and three, which are which are the which are the ones that are currently operational because we've determined that it's better to work on the two elevators that are in the worst conditions first. Then those two elevators, one and three, will take approximately 20 weeks to repair. So that's going to put us in the spring of 2027. So two and four probably approximately be ready by Decemberish. And then the the three and uh what was it? Three and six you said will be beware about

October. 20 weeks brings me to about October. October. Okay. Of this year. Of this year. October 26. Okay. So that and that will make spring. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Gonzalez.

Director. uh we have a a new a lot of new construction and uh in some cases those buildings do not receive or cannot receive the CEO because the elevator inspector hasn't been able to go there. Are we going to give any kind of priority to those to to those buildings? Council, Councilman Gonzalez, some of the issues in the past had to do with, as you all know, the lack of elevator inspectors. That is why we brought on VDA to be the elevator contract, the elevator inspector company to get us between the gap of us having very few elevator inspectors to when we put out the RFP, when we have a full fleet of elevator inspectors. We should not have to put on put a priority on anybody if we have the proper staffing. We should be able to meet the state requirements for inspection and reinspection regardless of who it is. Whether it's an older owner or whether it's a new owner

when you anticipate having the say this in place. I believe that we're going to put it out to bid. It's now the middle of March. We're going to put out this new RFP in the middle to end of April and then we have to give the company a chance to put in their bid. So, it's going to be late spring that we're going to have this new this it could be the same company, this new elevator inspection third-party company. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman uh Councilwoman Scott Rancher.

Uh thank you, director. Thank you, Council President, uh for your previous remarks. So, we were talking about um inspections. Um we're talking about city hall. When I see our elders come in uh to pay their bills, I know we have the ramp that brings them down to the basement. Um if the elevators are not working throughout the entire building, uh that creates a problem. So, you said that the handicap access the 88 on the employee side that's been replaced. Correct.

Well, people that are coming in the building, they have to go to the first floor to the tax office. How do they do they now go to the employee entrance to get to an elevator to get upstairs if the elevator is working or are we preparing something? Because I looked at the plans that we had before we voted on the monies that were going to be uh spent to repair the elevators in city hall or city buildings. So, how do people what is the fix for those who come through the main entrance that are elderly or handicapped to get to other? I don't know if I understand your question. You're saying people come in if people come in the Broad Street, right,

side of the building, how do they get to the first floor? If all of the there have been times in all of the elevators were not working at all. So, is there a is there something that's planned that if this happens while we're waiting for October and 2027, is there a plan for some type of mechanism or lift or is there anything I I know the building is historic and I know that's a crazy question, but I mean you have to be downstairs when someone comes and cannot get upstairs at all and they've taken an Uber or they've had I was just wondering they come through the broad street entrance because we're still talking another year almost

we are so so counciloman I hate to defer to somebody else but the actual repair of the ongoing elevators is a public buildings issue and I don't know if I don't know if my fellow director Adem is here he can probably handle that a little bit better than me yes sir thank you director council president Kareem interim director DPW currently two elevators working um there's currently two elevators working in the event that uh one of go down, we immediately call the elevator contractor that's on call to come and make the repair.

And because these elevators that the director stated is inadequated and old, we're cannibalizing the tool that they're about to replace first to try to make sure we got some parts because some of this stuff has to be um machined or recreated, right, to fix the current elevators, right? Right. And we don't And we're not just taking the two elevators out of city hall. Also took the taking parts from the one in the old finance building. Mr. Chair C.

Yeah. I just want to take this opportunity while we have uh Director Adem and uh Director Adams here to switch our focus to paving 2026. You know, April is next week. uh Elizabeth from Grumman Avenue to Mika is a dangerous travel and what are we looking at in the area of a coordinated plan from the water department as well as uh engineering to get out here to start this paving process uh for our residents in this community. So, Councilman Council, I carry this with me at all times based on past um questions. This year, we're going to have two municipal aid paving contracts that are come out. MA 2022 and MA 2023. MA 2022 is currently being constructed. What does that mean? That means the contractor is doing the handicap ramps, the concrete curb, and the supplemental work, waiting for the actual paving season to start before he starts work. MA22 is currently with the New Jersey Department of Transportation. It has not been the final approval has not been let by them. As soon as that happens, we're going to start that work. Um, so we're going we will have a two paving contracts happening in the calendar year of 2026. And if it's your favor, we can send over the list of the streets um for both of these contracts. I believe the the clerk has asked for that. Um, but we can obviously send that over to you so you can have the streets that are scheduled to be paid.

That would be great. I I also to uh our uh water director. I I know that there are uh streets based on contracts that was had from work that was done that also needs to be paved that comes under the direction of of water. How how many is that? What does it look like or

Yes. So count council president Dean director department of water and shore. Our pavement restoration projects will start in April of 2024, I mean 2026. Okay. Um, we're we're constantly revisiting areas with streets that we got to do restoration and working with the engineering department to make sure we're not overlapping some stuff that may have gotten done late last year by water and sewers and some stuff that engineers going to do. We'll be having another list to you probably in about the end of next week. So that list will be forthcoming as well. The pavement restoration by the end of next week it be should be updated.

However, we are we do have three pothole trucks out. We're handling some of the potholes. I think we're on Elizabeth Avenue today. We on jumping like ward to ward to ward. Some of the most heavily needed paving areas first. Anything else, Councilman? Councilman Silva. Uh, yeah, that's for more for Director Adams.

Uh, good morning, director. Uh, first of all, thank you for being here. Uh, I think you walked into a very difficult situation. Um, as far as elevators go, yes, there's a problem, but I believe uh under the engineering department falls a lot of other issues uh in the east ward specifically and I'm sure in other wards and I'm not going to talk about that today, but uh I believe that you have the right people in place. Director Conpsion is always always very receptive to my emails. uh showing Savage as well. So, uh I look forward to working with you, but there are other problems that we need to address. The elevators are very important for our residents, but there's a lot of other problems. And as far as the DOT goes, uh through the BA's office, we have representation in Trenton. And so if that represent representation in Trenton can assist us in expediting uh whatever we need from the DOT, let's utilize the resources that we have. And so uh again uh you walked into a difficult situation. I'm sure you're more than uh capable of handling, but there are a lot of issues that I'd like to address with you privately uh and your team uh regarding the esport.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Councilman Silver. Thank you. Anything else from the council? All right. I do have something. I just wanted just going back to the elevator. I'm sorry, Councilwoman. Did you have something? Oh, wait. No, go ahead.

I just wanted to thank Director Adams for stepping up to the plate. Um, and Director Con, Assistant Director Conpsion. I've already seen a difference and a shift in the response and the I've had my firsthand experiences with the department. Um, I just want to put this on record. Councilman Crump, Councilman Kelly and I had a very serious situation in the West Ward and Assistant Director Conpsion literally came with us uh to himself personally to review uh the situation. Am I right, Councilman Kelly? Yes.

And we're still working on that situation, but the response is just like a a 360 uh turnaround. So, I'm praying that we can keep the momentum. If what's going on now that you have taken the helm continues the way it is, I think that engineering is um off to a great start and we're praying that it will continue being great. Thank you so much both of you. Thank you, Counciloman.

All right. Thank you. Uh so, I guess I'm going back to the uh elevator and just trying to make sure I understand exactly what what you're saying here and documentation. So, there are 800 buildings that have been invoiced today or or to date. All right. Well, I guess that was really 2025, right? Or it says current. 2025, but it's current. Yes. And 429 invoices have been paid. Is that based upon the number the buildings or is that based upon the number of devices? Because you have 3,000 devices. What are you

invoiceing? It's based on the building. So the additional 371 buildings that have not been invoiced. So let me say that differently. There's 379 we've invoiced who have not paid. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So they have not paid. What are what is the city doing? What is engineering doing to for them to get to to pay? Are they fined? What is the process for those who have not because as you said every year they're supposed to.

So, council president, we're going to follow up with with those owners, but yes, there will be fines issued. The exact amount of the fine, I'm not I'm not sure of. I would have to defer to the construction official. So, can we get a followup and and it could be in writing an email to us regarding that. Um, and then what is the process to collect those fines? I mean it's basically the whole process if you just break that down for us. Understood. All right. Thank you. Uh and any you know as as as always any information that you share with one of the council members, please share with all of us so we're all aware of what's going on. Okay. Absolutely. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Any anything else from the council? No. Anything from the Thank Thank you, uh, director. anything from the administration at all? All right. Well, thank you everybody. Have a great rest of your week.