Council - Special Meeting

Thank you. Welcome to the special meeting of the North municipal council on Tuesday, I'm sorry, September 15th. 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 September 11th at the time of preparation and posted on the city's website. Roll call, please.

Present.

Present.

Present. Present.

Here. Council President, Council Members, just for the record, Council Member Scott Roundtree is attending via the phone.

Okay, it's noted.

We are on page four of the agenda. Resolutions, 7R8AS is amending the 2026 municipal budget as introduced on June 3rd. This item will be deferred. As known. B is establishing a sister city's relationship with Canton of Nabon, Providence of Azuray, Republic of Ecuador, sponsored by Council President Quintana.

Okay.

Second, please.

Second.

Okay. Thank you. We have one added starter. 7R2A is the first amendment for a grant and grant agreement for property in the Central Ward.

Council President?

Yes, Council.

Are we voting on these matters?

Yes, you're voting.

Can I vote them all as a block, the three?

Can we do, you want to do them separately? I'm just asking just to make sure the class.

Are we doing that as a block? I think one is a deferment at least.

Right. You're deferring the budget matter, and then you're going to do the sister cities.

We could do it separate.

Let's do it separate. Mr. President.

Yes, Councilor. On the budget, I know we're not entertaining the amendments today, but it'd be great if we got the amendments before the meeting when we're expected to act on this. Okay. I WOULD ASK THROUGH YOUR CHAIR AND THE CLERK THAT THE B.A. PROVIDE US WITH A LIST OF ALL THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS PRIOR TO THE NEXT MEETING. WE'RE EXPECTED TO VOTE ON THIS.

MADAM CLERK, THAT'S NOTED BY COUNCILMAN RAMOS.

ABSOLUTELY.

AND THEN COULD SOMEBODY EXPLAIN THE ADDED STARTER OF MADAM SINCERA?

CANYONNA, OH, YOU GOT IT.

Good morning, Council President, Council Members, Alison Ladd, Director of Economic and Housing Development. Thank you for considering the added starter. We attempted to get it on last week's agenda, but we weren't able to. This is just an amendment to the grant agreement that the Council approved a few months back. what has happened is is the development team is looking at additional funding as we expected through the state and so we wanted to align the terms of the grant agreement with the terms for tax credits and other funding sources so there's no no additional funding that's being allocated beyond the original eight million right no eight million still remains the same number thank you any questions thank you

Council president, council members, and my haste to go through the agenda. I was going to group everything, but we're going to go individually. So seven or eight a S is motion to defer roll call to defer.

Okay. Yes. Council absent. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Scott. Roundtree absence. Silva.

She's on the phone. Yeah.

Sofa, absent. President Quintana.

Yes. B is establishing a sister city's relationship with Canton of Nibong, Providence of Azua, Republic of Ecuador. Sponsored by Council President Quintana, second by Councilman Crump. Roll call.

Bay.

Yes.

Council absent. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree.

Yes.

Sova.

Yes.

Sova absent. President Quintana.

Yes.

Yes. 7R2A is the first amendment for a grant and a grant agreement for property in the Central Ward. Roll call.

Bay. Yes. Council absent. Crump. Yes. Jackson.

Abstain.

I JUST HAVE ONE QUESTION. I JUST WANTED TO KNOW WHAT WERE THE AMI LEVELS FOR THOSE 31 APARTMENTS?

YOU WANT TO FINISH THE VOTE? CAN WE DO THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROLL CALL?

WE'LL PROVIDE A RESPONSE AFTER THE, YOU KNOW, WE'LL HAVE THE DEPARTMENT RESPOND.

I THINK THE VOTE IS ON COUNCILMAN KELLY. YES.

Ramos?

Yes.

Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva?

Yes.

President Quintana?

Yes. You want to jump in?

Council President, Council Members.

The Premier is going to give an explanation, please.

Good morning again, Council President, Council Members, Allison Ladd, Director of Economic and Housing Development. To the question posed about the incomes for the units at Coweta Towers, the top range is 80% of AMI. So at this point, we're still using the federal AMI. But the majority of the sites are going to land is going to be at 50% and 30%. So it was trending towards 50% and 30%. Okay.

Yeah. All right. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you. Councilwoman Bay.

No, just wasn't about this, but I need to say something, but it wasn't on this.

Thank you, Council President. I just wanted to let you know and also alert the clerk, the VA and Corporation Council that I will be introducing an ordinance regarding regulations regarding elevators and senior buildings and buildings that have People with disabilities, disabled. We had a situation last night where senior building, both elevators were down, 20 residents were stranded downstairs. The rest of them were stranded upstairs. The elevator company did not come. People had to be relocated. It was a horrible, horrible situation. And our residents should never be in that situation. I'm going to be introducing an ordinance regarding the repairs that need to be made in buildings with elevators and significant fines that will be assessed to the building owners if the repairs are not made in a timely fashion.

so i will be forwarding the details um very shortly woman jackson and i will definitely co-sponsor that with you as of this morning that situation is still not rectified yes ma'am and there are several elders in that building that needed dialysis so now we are putting the hardship on our emergency responders. We're putting a hardship on the medical vans and personnel that come pick people up. And this is a reoccurring situation. So I'm definitely on board. Whatever we need to do, we need to raise the funds. We need to hold ownership more accountable. I think we need to go into even using the state law that has now been imposed where a landlord can get up to six months in jail. I think we really need to start putting people's feet to the fire because this is unacceptable for people to not be able to get out to their medical treatment. Thank God three of the seniors this morning, because I just finished talking to the tenant president, they were on the floor within five. for those people fifth floor and up we now talking about a serious serious problem um i also believe um and if we could check this uh mr ba if that building needs to now be on fire watch because those seniors can't move they were told last night about 10 30 11 o'clock to shelter in place Because they can't, they don't want them to leave the building. They can't leave the building except for those who can make the foot traffic down and back. So is that a situation? I reached out to the state, haven't gotten a response yet, Ms. Beck. But I need to know, does that building need to be on fire watch? Simply because if something does happen, or at least let the fire department be alerted, if something happens, we need to get in line.

They are actually. So I want to thank John James from OEM. He was there with me last night. And so the entire Department of Public Safety is aware and they are on watch.

Okay.

Okay. I'm Mr. President.

Yeah. On a seven, seven or eight a, I want to vote yes for the deferral seven or eight B a yes. And a seminar to a yes. Want to be noted for yes.

It's not a bike councilman council. Okay.

Council president council members. 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?

No one up here.

Public meeting public comment portion is now closed. Can we have a motion to adjourn the meeting so that we can move on to the conference?

Make a motion. Is there a second? Second by the second. Continue.

Roll call.

Day? Yes. Council? Yes. Trump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos? Yes. Scott Roundtree?

Yes.

Silva? Yes. President Quintana?

Yes.

Council President, Council Members, we are now in the special conference portion of this meeting where we will have two presentations. The first will be from InvestNorth with Director Randolph.

Okay.

Thank you, Council President Quintana, Council Members. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak before you today. My name is Marcus Randolph. I'm the President and CEO of InvestNORC. It's my pleasure to serve in that role now going on four and a half years. And I am joined today by some of my leadership team, Carmen Gandula, who's our CFO. Erin Hopkins leads our lending program, and Andrea Mason is here with me. She's our business operations officer and is often forward-facing to the community. As you know, InvestNORC's mission is straightforward. It is to advance economic prosperity for all NORCers through business growth, access to capital, neighborhood revitalization, home ownership, and strategic investment of time and talent. We work across several key areas that include small business support and development, lending, the Newark Land Bank, and technology initiatives that expand opportunity throughout the city. As we sit here today, InvestNORC continues to serve hundreds of NORC businesses and residents. From January to August of this year, our business development team logged 411 unique instances of one-on-one assistance to businesses and business owners, some of them emerging business owners. We've delivered 10 training programs with 261 participants that have been designed to help Newark entrepreneurs start, grow, and sustain their businesses. We also recently finalized our 2025 audit that was prepared by the accounting firm Mitchell & Titus. No deficiencies in our reporting and financial position were identified. Access to capital remains one of the biggest challenges facing small businesses and emerging developers. Many business owners in our community are unable to secure financing traditionally from banks or CDFIs due to their risk tolerance. This is where InvestNORC steps in. Our lending program helps fill financing gaps, allowing NORC-based businesses to invest, expand operations, create jobs, revitalize commercial corridors, and create housing units. Today, InvestNORC maintains a portfolio of 15 outstanding loans, totaling approximately $5.2 million. THESE LOANS SUPPORT BUSINESSES ACROSS MULTIPLE SECTORS, INCLUDING FOOD SERVICE, RETAIL, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT, CONTRACTING, TECHNOLOGY AND WELLNESS CENTERS. IMPORTANTLY, 13 OF THE 15 BUSINESSES RECEIVING LOAN FINANCING ARE ACTIVELY OPERATING IN NORC TODAY, DEMONSTRATING BOTH THE QUALITY AND UNDERWRITING OF THE STRENGTH OF NORC'S ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITY. For the two businesses not operating, we have taken appropriate corrective action to ensure a repayment. More than half of our loan portfolio is in the central ward, with loans also supporting businesses in the south, west, north, and east wards. So the impact of our lending in this capital is citywide. Jobs are being created and sustained, and Newark residents can spend money locally. This work builds on the progress we have made since rebooting the program in 2022. Since that time, InvestNORC has closed multiple loans. To support these efforts, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority granted us $1.5 million last year, and we are looking at a partnership with the Greater Newark Enterprise Corporation to provide smaller forgivable loans. The Northland Bank remains an effective tool for transforming vacant and distressed properties into productive community assets. Our focus is not simply selling property. Our goal is to create homeowners, strengthen neighborhoods, support local development, and return abandoned properties for productive use and the city's tax roll From January to August of this year, the land bank has completed 19 property closings, generating approximately 3 million in gross revenue, while another 12 projects are currently under contract and six houses are under construction. More importantly, these transactions are benefiting Newark residents. This year, in 2026, 68% of the properties sold were acquired by Newark residents, Newark-based businesses, or city employees. Looking broader at the impact since 2021, the Newark Land Bank has successfully developed or sold 115 properties. WHICH IS APPROXIMATELY 50% OF THE TOLL AMOUNT APPROVED FOR TRANSFER, 75% OF THOSE PROPERTIES HAVE GONE TO NORC RESIDENTS OR NORC BUSINESSES. THESE EFFORTS HAVE HELPED CREATE 23 NEW HOMEOWNERS IN OUR CITY, INCLUDING 11 HOUSEHOLDS THAT ARE USING THE HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER FORMALLY SECTION 8 TO COVER PART OF THE MORTGAGE. and this has generated more than $13 million in private investment throughout Newark neighborhoods. The land bank is also driving local economic participation. 24 lots have been sold to minority or women-owned business enterprises, and Invest Newark has hired 22 NWBE contractors to perform construction on land bank sites. InvestNORC is committed to ensuring that public resources generate measurable outcomes. An independent study by the Urban Institute found that from 2021 to 2023, InvestNORC's core programs contributed approximately $178 million in economic activity and supported 982 jobs, demonstrating the broader impact our programs have on NORC's economy. InvestNORC does understand that our responsibility extends beyond managing programs. We are stewards of public assets and public trust. Whether we are financing a NORC entrepreneur, helping a family become a homeowner, returning vacant lots to productive use, or supporting development in our neighborhoods, our objective is the same, to create opportunities for Newark residents and strengthen Newark's economy. We appreciate greatly the support that we get from our board of directors, from EHD, the mayor, our funders, and others who do this work. Lastly, we appreciate the Council's participation and oversight, and we look forward to continuing to work together to ensure Newark's growth creates benefits that are shared broadly across our community. Thank you, and I'm happy to take any questions.

Questions? Councilwoman Bain, then Councilman Jackson, and then Council Council.

Thank you, Council President. Thank you so much, Mr. Randolph, for that presentation. I really appreciate it. I'm interested in knowing about the technical assistance that's provided to small businesses. As you mentioned, a lot of the businesses that you help um open and develop and cultivate our in the central ward and you know we also have an issue with we have so many grand openings and grand closings that we can't even it makes my head spin and not saying that it is invest norc's job to keep everybody in business that is that is not what i'm saying but i want to know what supports are available and how do people know about them how do they access them because we do want to in um encourage you know norkers to open businesses in this city and it seems like as soon as one gets open they're closing several months later so how do we provide support through as um invest north for these businesses sure that's a great question an important one i think we are um

getting smarter Councilwoman Bay about what we can offer. We do have we've had some training classes that we've offered traditionally, one sort of for beginning entrepreneurs and one that's for more advanced with some feedback that we've gotten. We're getting a little bit more nuanced to see what people need. You know, we do promote.

So it's hard to hear you.

We do promote our classes on our website with social media. We do neighborhood walks. We try to get out in front of people and let them know that InvestNork is here and willing to serve. One thing that we are going to be kicking off shortly, I mentioned earlier, we got $1.5 million from the EDA. $500,000 of that is for business training and support. So what we're going to do is we're going to try to get very nuanced and specific. We do find that people need things such as they need an accountant or a bookkeeper. They need someone who's going to review the lease. They need someone who might just be an advisor and tell them, you know, don't sign the lease on that space yet because your bill is not quite ready to open up. Your business isn't ready. So we're looking to do that. But we do understand, yes, that we have a lot of businesses that they open up and then we come down the street a couple months later and they're closed. And oftentimes they close and they're gone. So we don't have any way to track them. But we're trying to figure that out. And we would appreciate your help because a lot of people that come to us are in the Central Ward.

Good morning, as well. Thank you for the presentation. Yes. I agree. But we definitely need to be more steadfast on that. People do not understand the nuance and the openings and closings are and have been for some time, particularly for those who are directly coming from the community, not understanding just we could take the valentine lot sale. People did not understand what needed to happen within the 18 month period, how they needed to have a business plan, all of that. And I think we need to set people up better than setting them up for failure, for lack of a better word, so that they understand what they need to do. I have two questions and then we'll talk offline. Currently, how many properties are there in the land bank? And what is InvestNORC doing to let folks in the city know that they're there? And is there a priority and a preference for NORC residents? Now, when I say that, I mean the business address could be in NORC. The person could live in Kenilworth. I'm talking about Norcas that live on 10th Street, 11th Street, Smith Street, Shear Avenue, Verona Avenue. People that are invested in the city that are trying to, in most cases, take a business outside of their house and find a location for that. So out of the land bank, how many properties do we have? And are we honest with folks when we say things are available? And we are also honest when we say to folks, you need the down payment, you need to this, are we directing them to the necessary avenues, the first time homeowners program, whether it's the state, the county, the banking system, are we making sure that we're not Lastly, referring them to predatory lenders, because everybody that's a lender, everybody that's a program is not doing that in good faith. And people get caught up in the nuance of, like you said, what's on the contract once they're in. And then lastly, in creating a home ownership, particularly those that are coming with the vouchers. are we doing hand-in-hand with housing authority, DCA, and those who are allegedly providing the training before the person is now able to take the voucher out? Are we making sure that folks understand what that entails? And I'm just also going to say sidebar, not anything personal, but I hope that most of the Section 8 vouchers and the families that we're making and creating home ownership for, I hope those are NORC vouchers. Because we have a lot of folks coming in here from out of state and out of different disciplines that are moving into NORC. I don't see enough NORCers in that Section 8 home value program, and I'm hoping we can work on that as well.

Sure, sure. Thank you for the question, Councilman Jackson. Yes, I'll start at your last question. Yes, everyone who has had a voucher and purchased a land bank property has been a NORC voucher or Housing Authority voucher holder, not a DCA voucher holder.

Oh, okay.

We do want to expand that program. I will admit that things have been slowing down a little bit. But as we stand here today, we have proposed to a funder to grant us $2 million to sort of figure out how to build up that ecosystem. So we have fortunately made it from a very large initial list. We're now in round two. And so we're working on from round two to get to round three. I agree with you. We have, we try to make it, all these properties available to Norbert the best way that we can. So, you know, we put them, we do put them on our website. We do a lot of social media. I met someone that's word of mouth. We try not to, how can I say this? We try to make it so that Newark community is allowed to get first dib, just put it that way, first dib, so to speak. That doesn't always happen. So sometimes we hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, and then it falls through. But we do try to do that. Your first question, so over three tranches have been 229 properties awarded to the land bank. As of last week, we had sold or either we served as a developer and then sold 115 of those. We have on our website now, there's 19 properties available. We are accepting bids to the end of this month. Back in May, we did another 10. So those will be awarded shortly. I will say that we have other balance. There's about 40 lots that are not big enough to build a house on them. We call those side lots. We do try to sell those to the person, the owner who's adjacent to that property. What happens sometimes, though, is when we reach out to, we go to the house, the owner is not there. It's a renter, right? So it takes a little while to figure out who actually owns that property. But so this took a little bit longer. And, you know, we have, though, been able to figure out some ways to build houses on smaller lots. So we'll continue to see if that's an option. But some of them are just too small to put a structure on it.

Okay, thank you.

So, Randolph, if you can just talk a little bit about the role of InvestNorth as a catalyst for economic growth, community development and job creation in relationship to not just the downtown area, but facilitating growth and development in the neighborhoods. Can you walk us through what that process looks like in terms of small box businesses or talking to small business investors about giving them a different outlook and conversation around different opportunities of business outside of convenience stores, bodegas and variety stores?

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Councilman Council. So a year or so ago, maybe almost two years, we had a report that was produced that showed sort of what sort of retail businesses are missing in the city of Newark. So we use that report when we meet with potential commercial investors or people who are looking to bring their business into the city. So we point to them like, here's what we need. And we know that we know that things are needed because the report sort of talks about leakage, right? You see where Newark residents are spending their money outside of Newark. That tells you that we need these businesses and services inside. You know, I like to think of Invest Newark as sort of a free advisor, right? So, you know, we meet with business owners who are looking to come into the city, real estate developers as well. We try to give them the lay of the land. We do corridor walks with our team, right, to sort of not only meet with the business owners who are there but also be able to sort of flag where the opportunities are uh for people who are looking to come into the city as well and with everything we highlight that yes you know the services are good we also want jobs right so that's going to be critical um and you know if every business can hire two or three more people then that's that's more jobs we have in the city

Thanks. Can you walk through the process of what needs to happen if someone is interested in a property at InvestNorth so that folks can know what that looks like?

Sure. Well, there's two ways to do it. If you want to do it online, there is a way to identify the property that you're interested in online. A lot of people, though, they still call our office, so they end up speaking to me or they speak to one of our staff members. That's the very beginning steps. We do like to have an understanding of uh the ability to actually acquire the property and also what they're planning to do as well some people do bid on properties um and they haven't done all the due diligence so what they propose the bill can't be done right so then the uh their interest wanes after that so but yes there is a way to do it online or you can you can come to the office

And then just in the area of small business development and support, what should a small business owner in the city of Newark do to seek advice or get advice or critical information from Invest Newark about maintaining their small business and continuing to try to figure out ways that Invest Newark can be a help to their business?

yeah sure so thank you for that question as well we do a considerable amount of one-on-one counseling we have business owners that come like i said some are emerging some have been in business longer we try to point them the way so uh that they can get support either from us or from the uh from the state programs um you know again we get people who sometimes come to us a little bit too late where their back is really against the wall and gets a little bit difficult to help them figure out what to do. But we're always willing and able to speak with folks, whether it's a brand new idea or whether someone, as has happened recently, has found themselves with their sales slowing down. And so we are brainstorming about what changes they can make.

What is the number of folks that we've created home opportunity for through InvestNORC homeowner opportunity?

So we, InvestNORC, as the developer, we've done 23 houses. We've got two more that should be ready any day now. So by the end of the year, we'll be at 25. And then, of course, we sell property, as you know, outright as well. And I think by last count, that's been another 31 units that have been created by the properties that we've sold to private developers.

Out of the 23 houses, how many were Section 8 homeowners that we put in the house? Eleven. Eleven.

Thank you, Council President. Good morning, Mr. Randolph. A couple questions regarding, I think, standing on the same topic or subject. Land Bank had 115 properties. Is that what you said? Is that correct?

We've sold 115.

I'm sorry. So how many properties in total does Land Bank have?

It's been 229 approved in three waves, three tranches since 2021.

So a total of 229, 115 have been sold. So the additional 114, where are they in the process? I guess 25 of them have been sold. Well, you tell me. I'm sorry. Let me not guess.

So roughly we have, so there's 19 right now for sale. So some of these properties we were going to seek to develop or co-develop, I'll be pivoting. So we're selling those. That's 19 available right now. We've got 10 more that we made available back in May. So I just reviewed all those.

And I'm sorry, those 10 that were made available in May, are they all in the process of being sold? They're under contract?

uh close close to having a contract also out of the remaining number there's roughly 40 of the small side lots the ones that you can't build a house on so we've got to figure out you know again like i said we try to sell those to the adjacent owner so what happens if you can't sell them to the adjacent owner well a couple of things can happen um we are looking at a um a pilot to maybe do some sort of like a greening of those lots, maybe some tree plantings, maybe making it something like a small pocket park. Of course, the challenge is who would take care of that, right? But that's something that we've been looking at. People have reached out to us about other ideas for these side lots, which I have not loved, but some people have looked at it, billboards and things of that nature. I don't think that that fits in a neighborhood, but

So let me ask you, so I know, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, but have been asked by residents to do some kind of garden or something to that effect. Is that something we could have them reach out to your office and have a conversation? Absolutely.

Absolutely. yeah i would i would welcome that yeah i would welcome that there's uh there are two lots i think in the west ward i'm not sure councilman keller they've been to see i told him come see you but there's two lots in the west world but they want to try that but if others want to do it i think it's a great idea

Let me, let me, I know we didn't finish this, but I know time is of the essence. Just shifting to the UEZ. Sure. How much money has InvestNorth received from UEZ? I think we just voted last meeting on some more funding.

Correct. Correct. Let's see. I think this is our... third cycle coming up it's been roughly seven to eight million a year uh we don't know i mean they tell us what the number is going to be so we don't know what the number is so when we get the city gets an appropriation each year then there's two years to spend that number so um and we haven't received all that money but i'm going to say probably 12 to 15 uh that we've gotten um

the uses have been approved by the by the dca because every project has to go back to them for approval and to you all as well and so with with that funding how many businesses are two questions in the uez in the zone how many businesses are eligible to participate and how many businesses are actually registered and participate

I have to follow up on that number. Most of our commercial corridors fall for the UEZ. So, we do reach out to them to try to get them to sign up and talk about what the benefits are. I can get a count, though, for you of how many NORC businesses are currently signed up for UEZ. Pretty much every time that we come in contact with a business, you know, we strongly recommend it, or if Mr. Hopkins is making a loan, we make that a requirement that they need to sign up for the UEZ. It's a great benefit.

I'd also be interested in the total number of businesses that are eligible to participate in that zone too. If you can get that number, relatively close to that number. Okay, we'll see if we can figure that out. I guess my last question, I apologize, is how much money has UEZ expended to the businesses as opposed to administration?

Yeah, well, so I guess if I could, flip that around. So the administrative amount of the UEZ allocation cannot exceed 10%. So if it's $8 million, the administrative amount can only be 800,000. However, we don't always know what that number is going to be because when we make that request, the UEZ board looks at the request and they said, we're not going to give you the 800, we're going to give you five or six. So that's always a little bit amorphous. The rest of the money, though, is to go to UEZ projects. So they can be directly to businesses like as you remember, we did the retail reactivation. There's like 13, 14 businesses that are benefiting from that. But also UEZ money can go to improve the zone. So Collabro Square, it went to replace some of the grates and trees on Ferry Street. The downtown artwork over the summer, that was all UEZ because it's in the zone.

Thank you. One last question. Regarding the $3 million that was received for the sale with the land bank, where does that money go? Is that put back into for operating expenses to run InvestNorth?

That's right.

All of it?

Yes. So some of it is overhead. Some of it also just goes right back in. So we do have some ability to borrow funds for land bank property or other WE HAVE NOT HAD TO DO THAT BECAUSE WE'RE ABLE TO JUST CHURN THAT MONEY SO WE'RE BASICALLY SELF-FUNDING THESE PROJECTS. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

COUNCILMAN KELLY.

THANK YOU, COUNCILPRESIDENT. HOW ARE YOU DOING, PRESIDENT RANDOLPH? GREAT. THANK YOU. A COUPLE OF QUICK QUESTIONS. HOW MANY PROPERTIES, LAND BANK PROPERTIES ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE OR POTENTIALLY AVAILABLE IN THE WEST WARD?

Well, I don't know that number off the top of my head. We'll have to follow up to get you that. Currently available in the West. We can get that for you. Please. Yes. Thank you.

Also, how many small Newark-based businesses, based developers have received financing from Invest Newark, like the small businesses in Newark? Do you know the number of the small businesses that receive financing?

just across the board or real estate development.

the small businesses in Newark across the board, like how many have received finances? And I'm asking this question because some of the people are asking me, how do they apply? And what are some of the barriers? I wanted to know how many small companies have invested so that we know how many have been successful at getting the loans and how many have not. And for those who have not, what are some of the barriers? Sure.

So we currently have 15 loans on the books. Before I arrived in 2022, I think there had been a lull in the lending. So I really shouldn't speak on how many have been done before I arrived. I do know of a few more that have since paid off. So I would say maybe about 20 over the last six, seven years, but there was sort of a lull in the lending. Oftentimes what happens is when people reach out to us and we do give them a checklist of things that they need to submit to us, and then we don't hear back from them. So we do try to offer them assistance, like, okay, so if you don't have uh tax returns let us help you find someone who can get your taxes done right or if you don't have a balance sheet or a business plan right and then sometimes but but honestly sometimes those people don't don't get back to us um and so that again that's something that we have uncovered where we need to be more helpful

also um so since 2021 i think you guys reported um 75 of the 115 at that time right it's more now right but 115 land bank properties um developed or sold in newark the residents um Did they go to Newark residents or Newark businesses? And I'm asking this question because I just want to know how many of those were actual individual Newark residents becoming homeowners compared to developers or businesses with entities and addresses in Newark? Sure, sure.

Right, so 75% of the 115 uh then 23 of those are home owners i would say that 23 probably 20 were uh north residents and 11 of those had the uh the section 80 down the home housing choice voucher uh the balance um every every one of the side lots that we sold um went to the adjacent owner now of course we know right that sometimes the owner doesn't actually reside you know in newark right so we know that's that's just a reality but that so those all went to adjacent owners uh to date the vacant the buildable vacant lots i'd have to look at that um i'd say that probably i'm saying at least half because i know some of these folks at least half of them went to newark not just with an address, but like a NORC operating business.

So just for clarity for myself, so you're saying about half of the 23 went to Newark residents and the other half went to, possibly went to people who just have entities and addresses in Newark but do not necessarily reside in Newark?

Well, the 23 were the houses that we developed and sold. Those are the houses that we developed. So I would say about 20 of those went to Newark residents. I think the part that needs a little more drill down is if it was a vacant buildable lot that we sold to a developer. As we know, some have Newark addresses, but then are they actually operating in Newark? I'm saying that population, which we can drill down on, probably about half. And I say that anecdotally because I just know some of these people that we sold the property to.

And I guess my last question, since we're talking about the 23, the 23 of the 115 at the time, since those properties were developed and sold, why is that number only 23 out of 115, right? And before you answer that, whatever that answer is, how do we get it to be more? That's my overall question. I get a lot of people who call from the West Ward and they want to be involved. They want, they always call and ask, how do we get involved in Invest North? So out of those 23 properties, out of 115, why only 23? And how can we substantially make them more?

Sure. So if we just look at the 115, so some of those properties were older dilapidated properties. That's the 23 that we developed ourselves. The entirety of the 115, they're not existing structures or even or even buildable vacant lots. So the number is a little skewed. When I say 115, if we drill down, you would sort of see what's really the population that could either be built upon or could be rehabilitated and turned into housing. To your second point, though, we are always available. We try to make it as easy as possible, but we're always willing to improve to bring more people in. So if people want to get involved in LandBank, we always have an opportunity for them to send in their prereqs. We just want to know, so if you have any experience, who is your team? Who might you be working with? You could either be on the list to to purchase a property or if we get back into a point where we're starting to develop them ourselves we invite all of these contractors to that house and say okay we want to get this house developed we're taking bids but we do want to have a sense right that they can actually can do it okay thank you so much thank you questions and i just have one yes ma'am

yeah mr president just just real quick i know there have been a few valuable pieces of property in the north ward that have been transitioned to invest in orca as part of the land bank um so to me you talk about properties that have been sold but some of those sites i know have not been developed can can you provide us with a breakdown by ward of which properties are uh part of the land bank which ones have been sold and more importantly like what's the status of some of those projects you know because i know there's one on montclair avenue it's a pretty big lot that was utilized for a while to store construction equipment and that was one of the properties that was transacted over to invest north as part of the land bank But you drive by that property today and it's still a vacant lot. So my question is, when are some of these sites going to actually get developed? And the other thing is, when you give us the breakdown by ward, can you list the entities that have purchased properties through the land bank? I know the folks that sit on the board of InvestNorth have access to that information. But one of my... reservations about this land bank is that the council is in the dark and the public as a result is in the dark as far as who is buying these properties. So if you can provide us with information about who are the entities that have purchased some of these properties through the land bank, that would be, I think, helpful for us.

uh the montclair avenue property i know it very well it just recently sold and so i'll let you know what what's planned for it but it just sold within the last 30 days and i'd just like to ask one more thing yes um i did hear you say that at this time north invest north is not participating with dca um section 8 holders

We don't have any we don't have anyone in our pipeline has a DCA voucher.

Right. And I think so. One of the things I'd like us to do as well as educate to allow DCA voucher holders to know that they are also eligible for this program. When we talk about low income moderate income families that have those vouchers, a lot of folks would like to move into home ownership. I know years ago, there was a program within Newark Housing Authority where tenants themselves were paying into a fund to help them create their down payment uh program right i have no idea today where that is however i know there was some sticky points about 10 years ago with funds and being accounted for and what tenants had put in versus you know what was actually there but going forward i would like Because as we close down many projects, when we close down, for example, reservoir apartments on South Orange Avenue and 9th, all of those tenants receive Section 8, some DCA, some housing. And I would like to see a lot of those folks there, as well as other places that are working, been on their jobs for some time.

Some folks do have money put up.

and are eligible and able to purchase. And I just want to see us do a better outreach so that they understand. So just heard the director and myself announce it, Section 8 of Voucher Holders DCA. You can call InvestNORC and get the process started. You are eligible. And Housing Authority residents as well, let's get ready and let's make this happen. Thank you.

Noted.

Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you. Silver? Yeah.

Good morning, Marcus. Good morning. I just want to commend you and your team for all the hard work that you guys do, because I know those 20 residents probably couldn't afford a home if it wasn't for the assistance of InvestNORC. Just like a lot of the businesses that open up today probably wouldn't open up if it wasn't for the assistance of InvestNORC. My only concern is when you drive around, a lot of storefronts are empty. A lot of them. More than I've seen in a while. Do we assist a business before it opens up an area to see if other businesses have failed there before we end up investing and helping them? Is there something that InvestNork does prior to loaning the money to a business before they open up and operate in a certain area?

Yeah. Yes. And thank you, Councilman Silva. So lessons learned. We certainly have had situations where we have advised people not to open in that location for a number of reasons and has proved to be challenging. I do think that now, because we've learned some lessons, so when people come to us for financing and then we look at where the store is or potential store is, we are now being a little bit more cautious about moving forward, given just what we know. I mean, obviously, entrepreneurs, they have a dream. Who doesn't? They want to get open. But there's some practical things that we need to address with people. And also going back to earlier to even the type of retail establishment. We have data now. So, you know, anecdotally, I don't know if we need another coffee shop. There's five on the block already.

Thank you.

Thank you, President Randall.

Thank you. Okay.

Council President, Council Members, our next presentation is from the Department of Public Works.

director hadley recycling good morning council president and council botany hadley department of public works uh this morning uh my presentation is about the clean community and recycling tonnage grant that's issued by the state of new jersey In 1981, it was created. The state of New Jersey created the Clean Community and Recycling Act of 1981. The MTAG program whereby a municipal could receive grants for the amount of material documented as being recycled during the previous calendar year. There is allowable GUIDELINES TO THE SPENDING. THERE IS REPORTS THAT HAS TO BE TURNED IN AT THE END OF THE YEAR FOR THE CLEAN COMMUNITIES AND FOR THE RECYCLING TUNNAGE GRANT. AS OF 2026, THE CITY OF NEWARK RECEIVED $533,000. IN CLEAN COMMUNITY GRANT AND 306,000 IN RECYCLING TUDGE GRANT. I ALSO HAVE MY TWO COORDINATORS, MR. GREEN AND MR. JACKSON HERE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU GUYS MIGHT HAVE ON THE SPENDING OF THESE TWO GRANTS THAT WE RECEIVE. ANY QUESTIONS?

Councilwoman Jackson.

Yeah, thank you, Chair. Director Hadley, as you said, the focus of the Clean Community Fund is for local litter abatement programs focused on cleanup, enforcement, and public education. And for a period of time, and I think it's just important that we begin to change our scope and narrative on how we begin to use clean community funds, clean up enforcement. We don't use it that much on enforcement. We use it a lot. I know we host a slam dunk to jump event. We also purchase vehicles with the clean community funds. But in terms of moving forward, I would love to see us utilize community grants to nonprofits and local community groups, which the Clean Community Funds can be utilized for, to allow them the space to help keep their own areas clean, rather than just cleaning up catch basins on a grant, clean up islands on a grant. But we have to be more innovative with how we use the Clean Community Funds. And that has been a big concern for me. how we have been using the Clean Community Funds. I know we use it a lot around education, sending stuff out about litter and litter control and pick up behind you and every piece of litter has a name. But we're not doing enough in terms of making sure that we put out enough signage direction for a while. I've continued to ask for signage on islands. I've asked for information where folks could be able to tag in and log in to information to be able to pull up when garbage is picked up, when recycling is picked up, QR codes on the island telling folks that they can go to the QR code, push it in and get all of the information about what is happening as it relates to recycling as well as cleanup. And so my focus really is just on how we are utilizing the Clean Community Funds and at what point will we begin to utilize them in a different way? I know some things that had to be done in the past was done in that way, but moving forward, we should be able to be more innovative on how we use these dollars to get the effect that we need in our communities.

Yes, Councilman. I did get your questions on the signage, and we are working on those signs for this year's budget. It's listed in our budget for this year.

Is it possible we can allocate a certain amount of dollars, and I'm not just saying this to you as the director, but also as a side throw to our business administrator, out of the $533,000 that may be allocated this year, is there an amount that we can put to the side to be able to utilize for uh local community groups or non-profits to organize cleanup initiatives put a plan in place for them uh to fill out uh similar to what we do with the love your block grants we can be able to do through dpw through the community

They just have to apply to us. Mr. Green can take all that information and set up that program that they can receive the funding.

I think it's important. One, it puts some accountability and responsibility back into the hands of residents. And with our block associations and nonprofit and CBOs, it gives them the opportunity to create initiatives around their neighborhood to help keep catch basins clean, clean up islands and then offer community cleanups.

YEAH, THEY HAVE TO BE COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS. DEFINITELY HAVE TO BE REGISTERED AS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS.

THANK YOU.

COUNCILOR WOON, ACTION.

TWO QUICK THINGS. YOU KNOW I'M THE QUEEN OF RECYCLING. OH, MY GOODNESS. I know that we as a legislative body need to send a letter to the state to ask for greater reimbursement on the cans and the bottles. I get that. And I work with my council colleagues to get that done. We have too much recycling going on in this city. And I know the state may not reimburse like New York five cents for each bottle.

Not enough recycling.

Not enough recycling. Well, not enough recycling because we're letting it be borrowed. Me and Mr. P working on something with that in terms of enforcement. and I'm going to go out with our truck and we're going to start. Never mind. Next meeting. However, I just think that in the messaging that we are talking about, the Newark Housing Authority and other complexes need to be educated and made to recycle because they're not. They use the green garbage bag. Everything goes in there. It goes into the dumpster and we're picking it up. There's not a lot of separation going on in some places. I know most homeowners separate the glass, the bottles, and so forth. We use our blue recycling cans. And one of my pet peeves have been those in our community who have now made that a business. And if they made it a business and they're making money, we should be making money for that too, to let that go to a property tax relief. I would like to see where we could work at one to get that message out citywide, but also within city entities where that's not happening at because at department buildings and so forth, they're just picking up and people put everything in the garbage and that should not be happening because as we're paying more money, when we take it to a certain dump, because they have to separate and we shouldn't have to pay for that, but we are. Um, and then lastly, um, to go along with my council colleague council, the clean community grants. I think that we should create something, Ms. Gaylord, I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but I love what you do around that corner over there. I think that we should have some of our youth, right? Outside of some of youth employment, I don't even want it connected to that. They could be hired to do this work year round. I know when I used to work for Speedy six years ago, amen. Watch yourself laugh. But when we used to work, every Friday, no matter where you worked, that was clean up. And I know through the 70s and 80s, when you worked for Speedy and people threw stuff on the ground, particularly when you're a young person, yo, you got to pick that up, bro. You got to get that. We didn't allow it because we were doing all that sweeping and cleaning up on Fridays. And we're talking about the catch basins. And so I see us creating a program. inside and outside of the current program. Not that I don't think community-based organizations should be involved, but we need to also put our civic responsibility in place and have some clean community workers, for lack of a better word, that can be possibly trained over at Ms. Gaylord's office and or yours conjunction together. Have Mr. Green, Mr. Jackson go over there and give them a rundown of what it is. Have someone from water and sewer assist them with what's going on with the catch basins, as well as that youth college person could be writing up what sewer is, the cover's not there, they couldn't get it clean because there's so much down underneath the grate, et cetera, stuff like that, where we can now have not only a cleanup program, but also a monitoring of where we need to go out and hit those sites that are difficult. So I would like to see us take some of that Clean Community Grant funds as well and employ our young people, college folks that are here. That could be a weekend program as well for those who are in school, but we could also do some stuff after school, have the islands done. and have that garbage put there. And then that way, when the truck comes through, they're picking up those bags as well when things aren't in place. I just think that's a suggestion. I think that gets our children more civically engaged. And if I got to clean it up, I'm going to definitely say something to you when you throw it down. I think that also helps us with litter. That'll help us with people who throw in the bags from the restaurants, White Castle, McDonald's, wherever it is, the chicken and rice that they get from the Chinese store. Just throw the stuff out on the street. I think we could Really getting some civic and community engagement with us being a part of sending that message, stop littering here, keep it clean. And they could be the watchdogs as well for homeowners who are putting things in the islands and that South Florida and that North Florida that aren't supposed to go there.

take a look at that okay so uh yeah good morning director just a quick uh thing one one question is for you one question is for their business administrator but um do we still offer like the blue recycling bins at uh 62 freeland heisen avenue our residents can still go there with some type of identification and still pick up a blue recycling bin yes We still have that. Okay. My second question was for our BA, Mr. Pennington. Sir, I keep hearing about the delays at Reworld. And I know that we were negotiating or you were negotiating with three world. Has there been a resolution to this? Because we still have 12 hour delays when we're going to dump there. And I was just wondering where the negotiations were at to create their own Newark property to create some type of line just for our sanitation workers.

uh good morning eric pennington business administrator the negotiations we could certainly talk about offline i wouldn't want to discuss our strategy for negotiations with them here but with respect to the two-hour delays and aligns they have suggested that the way that they're set up doesn't lend itself to giving us a special lane um the negotiations for a new agreement are ongoing it's still something that we want to have happen, but we have not been able to solidify that.

Thank you.

Council.

Yeah. All right. If you come back up, I know Councilman Silver talked about the blue recycling cans. But can you explain to our residents, first and foremost, that new New Jersey mandates that we recycle? That is it's a law. And then can you explain the difference between recycling cans and waste cans that the recycling cans are not waste cans? What goes in a recycling can? What goes in a waste can for the edification of the people that are watching?

Okay, I'm gonna have Mr. Jackson come up and do the recycling and Mr. Green can do the other race scan.

Good morning, council. Good morning, council president. Recycling cans are made for the bottles and cans and the cardboard, depending on which recycling can you have. There's two different types that we give out. The small square ones are for the cardboard and paper. The larger ones are for the bottles and the cans. The other material that people don't know about if you look at some of the bottles on they got numbers on the bottom of them some of those things cannot be recycled because they're not supposed to be recycled and they go in the trash can a lot of people put garbage inside those blue containers that we purchase from the city or the city gives them they put garbage in them and makes them contaminated with the recyclables that we put in Thank you.

You just said something important that a lot of people don't know. Right. I think it's important that we get that information out. Like, I didn't know. I just found out this year that you can't put a pizza box because of the oils in the pizza box out on cardboard day. I did not know that. Try driving around the east on a Monday morning and you see 100 pizza boxes out on cardboard day. because people aren't informed and so if we could work collectively with my council colleagues to maybe get some information out to better serve us and serve our residents that way there's really no confusion on certain things. That's just one example. I learned about cross contamination when they don't take out all the liquid in the bottles or in the cans or whatever it may be. Things that I think that are important for our residents to know and educate them. So maybe we should work on a piece of literature that goes out or through social media, some way to get all that important information out to our residents.

What we have developed is a bag that we call the usable bag. And on the side of each usable bag, we give the do's and the don'ts of what can go and what cannot go, sir.

Now, I just have one more question. Is that just written in English?

Written in all languages.

All languages. Okay.

Thank you. Yeah, Councilman Kelly and then Councilman Brown. Oh, okay.

How you doing, Director? Quick question. We have a lot of city-owned lots in our city, of course. And is there a maintenance cycle that we clean these city-owned lots? And the reason I'm asking, because I get a lot of calls when we have overgrowth, you know, or if there's a dumping, or if it's just trash that's blown in the lot, do we have a regular maintenance cycle or do we have to wait for the residents to call the council or call your office for it to be clean?

I'm not sure if we have a regular maintenance, but When the neighborhood call or the council call, we go out and clean, but we will try to put all our lots together. And that's city-owned. There's a lot of lots out there that's not city-owned that we're working on strengthening the... cleaning and the fencing of these lots that these private owners have to do. We're working on the ordinance now, tightening it up. It's pretty loose and we're going to try to tighten it up so that we can put it out that they have to be more strict on how they keep their lots. And that in turn, we are going to clean up our lots better when we get them all listed, what's ours, what the city owns.

So you're saying once you get a list of our lots in that ordinance.

We're going to try to put them on a regular schedule.

A regular cycle.

Yes.

But until then, the residents still call your council person or call DPW to get those lots cleared.

And we don't want to be property owner. The city of Newark don't want these. We wanted to try to get rid of all our city-owned lots.

Another question about illegal dumping. I know it's hard to catch these guys. We deal with a lot of them in the West 4. But in these West 4 locations, when DPW cleans, it gets right back dirty really quick.

are some of the uh what are our top repeat dump locations do you have those addresses yes we we do have some of those areas under the bridges in certain areas that um it's you know not as um there's not much people around so that we get we had those problems those areas that we go by and check and we get calls on those areas. But we're trying to develop something with the neighborhood that if they, I spoke to the mayor about it and it's a program where if the property owner take a picture of the illegal dumper the license plate and the dumping, turn it into us and we will do the investigation to prosecute that person. And I think we get that out and the people know that Newark is going to be strict on these illegal dumpers. We're going to get this done a little bit better. A lot of these people are not from Newark that's coming in here and dumping.

I've noticed several, we have a dumping squad, right? An illegal dumping squad that does just that. You take a picture, you send it in, and then that's how a lot of, some of the people that I've dealt with have been caught. I guess what I'm asking, the illegal dumping sites that are maybe our top five or top ten, those sites, are we monitoring them on a regular basis? Like, do we go through it day by day? Do we go through it once a week?

how often are we monitoring a lot of those sites are not ours that that the dump is being put on a lot of those sites are the state under the bridges uh so we have to notify you know we have to get them to be um notified before we go out there and pick up all of that stuff

So that brings me to another question that I deal with in the West Ward. Some of those lots, right, are not ours. I deal with a specific state one probably every other week. So our process is to just leave it there. We're not.

No, our process is to find them, issue a summons, and then we could pick it, get it picked up.

Even if it's a state-owned lot?

Yes.

Thank you. I just wanted just to follow up and just make sure whenever you send out, and I think you've been good at it already, but anytime you have anything that you're disseminating to community, just send it to us too so that we can share it with our different networks. That was all.

Director, another question. One of the concerns that I have is when you have bottles and cans, what I encourage people is that always, you know, you with the blue can, right? Take a plastic bag, put them all in there. It makes it easier for a pickup. versus just putting everything in that can and it becomes so heavy where, you know, if you take a plastic clear bag, you put it through there, right? But again, a lot of people are not doing that. What they're doing is they're having a party and all the bottles are there and we need to enforce it. You know, it's not being enforced. The other thing with the illegal dumpers, back in the day, we used to tell them, we caught you, you would have to come to City Hall on a Saturday at the end of Green Street, and you would go through the neighborhoods and clean up. That was part of the fine. You got fined, and you would have to do community service. And we got to go back to those days of doing that again. This is the only way they're going to learn. We used to go through the garbage back then, find out the addresses where they lived, and then we would notify the people in their neighborhoods of what they were doing in Newark. Because they were coming to Newark, and if you embarrass them, they ain't coming to Newark. And that was back in the day. We did that. On Saturdays, it would have to come by the courthouse, get on a van, go around the five words of the city and clean up. But again, people take a fine and it's like nothing to them.

Well, we don't want to just give them a fine. We want to fine, take their vehicle. We want to impound the vehicle, take the vehicle.

You know, community service time. Let them do some community time so they can be seen. You know what I'm saying? They will send a message. Don't do construction in Clifton, New Jersey and bring it down to Newark. because that's what happens. They bring the sheetrock, they drop it off here, the aluminum, they take a house, the vinyl, they just throw it off and they come to Newark. So again, if we embarrass them by embarrassing them in sending information to their local town, saying this person is illegally dumping in Newark, New Jersey, We used to do the same thing with the Johns in Newark back in the day. We would send it to the neighborhood. Here, this guy was caught in Newark.

Be careful.

Came to Newark to get it. Mayor James used to say, they come to Newark to buy milk, but it wasn't milk. It was something else they were coming to do. So we would embarrass them by sending stuff into their local neighborhoods, saying this, your neighbor is a polluter. Your neighbor is this. So we need to go back to those days. I know technology is here, but we need to go back to common school.

Mr. director, Hallie, I know you said you're going to have Mr. Green come up, but can you talk about type 10, type 13 garbage, the difference in between both? What happens when illegal dumping happens on not just the city property, but on a private property? And then the city has to go out. site it, and then ultimately come back and do a clean and lean, right? So if it's on private property, we have to make sure that we do a clean and lean so the city is not held liable in any way if someone says we damaged or messed up their property. If it's on city property, we have the right to go and clean it. But in both those regards, for the people that are viewing and watching, can you give them the understanding of what that looks like in terms of dollars and cents of what we pay for as a city?

Thank you, Councilman, Council President, Council Members, Kim Green from Public Works. Type 10 is your garbage that would come out of your kitchen. Okay. Type 13 is the type of material that would be larger that can fit in the garbage can. So that would be stuff that we call bulk. As far as the locations and illegal dumping, there's a process for say the folks that city property, we can clean immediately, but we have to give the owner an opportunity to clean their property before we would actually go and we can find them and bring them to court, but we can't just clean it up because then we cleaned it up for free. So those kinds of things. I'd just like to also, Council President, let you know about plastic bags in the blue recycling cans. That's kind of something that we would not recommend because that bag becomes garbage at the recycling center, which is not a good idea. So we want to make sure the containers are rinsed out and put in the blue container and delivered that way. And just A couple of other things. Any other questions about that? Because I have something that we need to make sure that the council is aware of.

Yeah, I just wanted you to make sure that you inform folks that we pay, the city pays for picking up illegal dumping. So when it goes to the facility that we paid a tonnage cost on any kind of illegal dumping that may have come to our city and however they separate it or whatever happens there. So that folks can really get an understanding of why it's important that when you see someone dumping, Not to turn away. Right. To take the picture, to take the photo of the license plate, to send it to, you know, DPW or click fix and see it so that the city can go and prosecute and get that money back that the taxpayer is going to pay at the tonnage facility.

tax dollars are what goes to take care of those illegal dumpings that are put in the city. And as the director said, a lot of this is done by people that don't live in Newark. It might be construction that they're doing in Newark. They drop it before they go out or other people that might come in and think that the eyes are not looking or don't care. So we've got to get everyone involved because uh we we have uh at dpw staff but the city of newark and the residents are helpful to let us know about those kinds of things and problems that can be taken care of so yes your tax dollars are used to pay for illegal dumping

And can you also elaborate that the law says illegal dumping is moving garbage or property from one area to another area. So if I'm taking a sofa from out of my own house and I put it in front of my neighbor's house, that by law, that is considered illegal dumping.

Yes, sir. If it's not generated from that property, it's illegal dumping. So if you move it, as you said, from one property to the other, that's illegal dumping. So if you have a friend from out of town that comes dump something at your house, that's illegal dumping also.

So just two quick questions. Telfer Street, you guys clean it probably every two weeks. Yeah, two days, but definitely every two weeks. And at one point, this used to be an overnight issue. But they are so brazen in the north right now, they eat legal dump all day long. And it's unfortunate because they know we're not coming. Because we're at 78 or we're at the parkway over south on Jackson because they know there's so much going on. However, the young man was brazen enough to do it at 1.30 in the afternoon when I was stopping home for something. And I was able to get a unit to come and catch this young man. Now, he was illegal dumping for the property on South Orange Avenue in Halstead, who was now built up on that same corner. So he was bringing bags of construction debris and dumping them there. And fortunately, one day we caught him. But then he was also dumping on Halstead Street in East Orange, was able to reach out to Mayor Green and have his team come because North Police did get there. Because the guy was like, oh, you ain't going to get nobody to come. You don't know who calling. And so thank God was able to get a unit there while he was still there. We made him put the bags back in the shopping cart. He had to take the same four trips that he took to put it there. take it back around the corner to the building on Halstead but there's also now a on-slot of because we letting anybody buy anything here and I know we can't restrict too much of that but the folks that are purchasing here that don't live here and have no intention on living here when they're doing any kind of abatement in these units, they're illegal dumping as well. And we should, it has to be a way for us to increase the task force. Yes, people are reporting, I think somewhere in the midst of the last, eight years or so, whatever. There used to be a reimbursement when you reported illegal dumping. You used to get a little $12, $13, whatever that was. So I don't know when we stopped that, when it changed, et cetera, et cetera. And then I know some people reported and never received. So people are like, I ain't calling no more because they're not. So go ahead.

I believe it's when they're successfully charged.

Yes.

not just reporting. So it has to follow through the entire process to do that.

So then I think we need to be more aggressive if people are taking pictures of cars with the license plate. And I guess when you do the investigation and you find out that the son took the grandmother car and came and the construction guy was like, hey, look, I'll give you $100 if you drive these bags. I'm sure the prosecution at that point is a little more difficult to make. But I think we need to do a more concerted effort when we catch people. Um, and moving forward with that, I do know some of the illegal dumping laws come under the state and that they also find as well. Um, cause I remember a truck was dumping over at the cemetery off of 18th Avenue. in that area and they caught him and he had to pay a state fine. And because he had his truck, he was in danger of losing his business license. So I just think we all need to put in on that, report it where we can, but we have to come up with some kind of, incentives to stop people from dumping here. So maybe with that, we need to create an illegal dumping list mugshot type thing and put it up on the city page and maybe the Attorney General's page and maybe the North Police page. And again, embarrass people to stop coming here committing, even those that live here. Let people know, hey, it means Sharif, Donald, that live next door to you, I put myself in this town. Doing illegal dumping, watch them when they come in your neighborhood. We have to identify those folks so that we know that it's them and just be more tough on the regulations and the fines and apprehending folks that are coming.

Thank you, Council President. One last thing for me. I have a clean lease and shared responsibility ordinance that I have been reviewed by corporate counsel. From where you all sit, from the work that you do day to day, what are some of the things, maybe two or three things, that you would want to change legislatively to help with the operation? Is there anything that you would want to change legislatively?

The operation of illegal dumping? I'm trying to understand a little bit better.

I wanna know what you would wanna change legislatively that will help you in your operation and the day-to-day work. Newark has been ranked in some of these different polls as the dirtiest city in the nation or in those type of things. Let's get off of that list. I don't know if these lists are true or not, but what I'm asking is on your day to day, if there's anything operational from DPW or, and maybe this is a question for you, Director, what is this something that legislatively that you can't do that you would want to do to help your operation and help to move things faster or get it done quicker?

We want to be able to enforce directly from DPW. I want to be able to have my guys... with the power to go out and write the tickets and a direct ticket right to the person at the time.

So some type of enforcement from DC, because you guys are on the front line when it comes to that, those sort of things.

The time it goes through the system, it gets... No, I do have to agree with that.

By the time it goes through the system, it's already over.

Yeah.

That would be the main thing.

Thank you.

Yeah, I was able to get some help from local business owners in the east and we put some cameras up. So all my locations that we've studied in the last year that were The areas that were most illegally dumped on now have cameras with license plate readers. And we've caught about a half a dozen people, and you're right, they're out-of-towners that come here. And I always say that Newark police is going to arrest you, the prosecutor's office is going to prosecute you, and I'm going to embarrass you. So as soon as those individuals go through the system, I'm going to take their picture. And I know the BA probably is looking at me right now. I'm going to take their picture and I'm going to embarrass them because this is, I think, what the perception is that you can come to Newark and do whatever you want, and that has to change. And so again, I'm grateful to the business owners, but there is one problem, like you said, about the property owners. One of my biggest offenders where they dump on the most and we end up cleaning it up is Conrail Property in the East. And I think we need to hold them accountable I'm going back and forth with emails and I'll sit with the business administrator offline. We've utilized about 70 man hours in cleaning up an area and trying to make it change the perception, because I've lived in Newark for over half a century, and that area on Stockton, Delancey, Avenue I, has also always been notorious for illegal dumping. And now we're changing the perception of it. So we've asked Conrail that we'll do all the work, the volunteers, for nothing. And we were exchanging emails this weekend where they want us off their property. They don't want us there. And so I said that I was gonna sit down with the administration and hold them accountable. And so that's one of the things I wanna do is making sure that we're not cleaning up everybody else's mess. And if we are, We need to recoup the cost. The taxpayers deserve that. And a company like Conrail that's federal and has a strong holding on the state of New Jersey regarding property, especially in the East Ward, needs to be held accountable. And so that's something that I will deal with offline. But again, I put up cameras, and we're going to hold people accountable. If you come and dump in the East Ward or in the city of Newark, I'm going to embarrass you.

Legislative, those are where we need the help. The biggest dumpers and the areas that Conrail, the state of New Jersey, those are the biggest, two of the biggest offenders that we have

Yeah, and the East Ward is definitely Conrail, no doubt about it. And again, we go, we send a complaint in, we clean it up, and Conrail walks away scot-free without having to pay anything. So we're actually doing the work for them. Like I said, they're a federal company, and what a strongholding in the state of New Jersey, but own a lot of acres of land in the city of Newark. I won't even know how many acres of land they own in the city, especially in the East Ward. And we're cleaning up their mess. And so I think that – We need to do something. And again, that's me having a meeting with the business administrator and corporation counsel offline to see how we can hold Conrail accountable as well.

Mr. Councilman Silver, in terms of that Conrail, years back, we had the same problem on the Verona Trail. We had to bring in congressional members. Someone who was at the time, who was Congressman Silk, I'll be serious, who sat, and he brought the whole Conrail to the site. So I would urge that through the administration, and the administration, to send a letter to our congressional delegation. Two, I believe one or two are on transportation, on the Transportation Committee in Congress. And once they get letters from a congressional member who sits on transportation, they immediately jump because they're at risk of whatever of the jobs or whatever it may be. But we had that problem years back on the Verona tracks with Conrail. They really didn't care until we were able to bring congressional members who took care of the matter. So even with Amtrak, if you get on Amtrak and you go down to Washington and you see the debris that's on those rails too, going towards, those are Amtrak tracks. You see all the garbage on the side. So they also have to be accountable.

Thank you. Well, we don't have, we've heard a lot of bad news about the, DUMP IN AND WE HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS ALSO. MR. GREEN IS GOING TO LET THE COUNCIL KNOW.

WE HAD A SERIES, COUNCIL PRESIDENT, THAT WAS THE BRICK CITY COMMUNITY CLEANUP SERIES THAT LASTED FROM APRIL TO AUGUST. WE WERE IN EACH WARD FOUR TIMES. I THINK ONE WAS CANCELED BECAUSE OF SMOKE. BUT WE WERE THERE RAIN OR SHINE TO CLEAN UP, AND I THINK WE DID A GREAT JOB. THERE WERE A THOUSAND VOLUNTEERS, 80 ORGANIZATIONS WERE THERE, AND A NUMBER OF THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL WAS THERE, THE MAYOR WAS THERE, A NUMBER OF THESE THINGS. SO WE SAID LET'S APPLY FOR THIS AWARD AND WE WANT TO REPORT THAT NEWARK AND PUBLIC WORKS WAS SUCCESSFUL IN BEING AWARDED THE NEW JERSEY CLEAN COMMUNITIES AWARD FOR 2026. IT'S CALLED THE CHAMPION AWARD.

THANK YOU.

SO THE AWARD WILL BE GIVEN ON OCTOBER 8TH And we'll have our rep there to receive it and others too that want the team to do it. So we had, I think, a great time doing it. I think everybody that participated, we appreciate that, that you did come out and do it. And I think what happens is Newark does a lot of things, but we don't advertise. Right. So we want to make sure that we're doing that in public works and making sure that folks know that we're doing these kinds of things. And we thank all of you for your help in making sure it happened. Thank you so much.

All right.

Council President, Council Members, that concludes the special conference. Thank you.