Council - Special Meeting

Good evening, everyone. On behalf of the Patterson Municipal Council, I welcome you to the special meeting of June 23rd, 2026 at 5 o'clock p.m. The meeting is now called to order. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Please call the roll.

Councilwoman Cotton. Here. Vice President Davila.

Present.

Councilman Jackson is absent. Councilman Khaliq?

Present.

Councilman Mendez is absent. Councilman Omar?

Present Madam Clerk.

Councilman Uddin is absent. Councilman Velez?

Present Madam Clerk.

Council President Mims. I am here, Madam Clerk. We have six present, three absent. We have quorum.

Please read the statement of compliance in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act.

In accordance with the open public meetings act and J S a 10 colon four dash six at sec advanced notice of the special meeting of the Patterson municipal council has been provided written notice of the special meeting was provided on June 17th, 2026, at least 48 hours in advance of this meeting set notice was posted in the lobby of city hall, transmitted to the North Jersey Herald news and the record and filed with the office of the city clerk.

Thank you, Madam clerk. Can we do item number two, the ordinance?

For item number two, we have a public hearing and this is ordinance amending Patterson code section 407-18 addressing sewer use charges, which have not been adjusted for inflation since 2021. This is from the administration and ordinance 26-008. I'll move. Second.

Moved by Council Member Pavla, second by Mims and Omar. Public hearing is now open on item number two.

And we are letting IT confirm if there is anybody in the queue right now. We have no calls at this time.

So, you know, one of the form moved to close the calls by councilman, the last second, my VP Davila roll call to close the public hearing on item number two.

Councilwoman cotton.

Yes.

Vice president Davila.

Yes.

Councilman Jackson is still absent. Councilman colleague.

Yes.

Councilman Mendez. Is still absent. Councilman Omar?

Yes.

Councilman Uddin? Is still absent. Councilman Velez?

Yes, we'll close the public hearing.

President Mims? Yes, Madam Clerk. Public hearing is now closed on this ordinance.

Roll call on item number two, Madam Clerk. Discussion. Discussion, Councilman Velez?

Just a quick question. How many votes do we need for this ordinance?

Mr. CFO, how many votes do we need? Five. Five. Thank you. Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Council President. Councilwoman Cotton. When does this take effect?

Council, CFO? It will take effect for the second half bill, so for August and for November.

Okay, so for August and November, they'll see the rate, the increase. Correct. Okay. Now, okay, I see it now. Thank you, Javier.

Thank you. Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Council President.

Council Member Les.

Just seeing the page number two, if it's 4%, that's increasing, right? Right. Only 4%. And page number two, volumetric rate for CCF, and the page number, last page before the last. On number four, say $1,293. If it's 4%, will be an increase of $51.72, I believe so. And then the number that shows there, shows $1,345 and comes up to $1,344.72. So I don't know if that's 4%.

You've got to go to the next dollar. They rounded it to the next.

Okay, okay. I just want to be clear that Castle Woman will be kind. Do you need to be concerned yourself on this because it's a resort? I didn't hear you. Oh, she's on the water.

Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Roll call on ordinance 26008. Councilwoman Cotton?

Yes.

Vice President Davila?

Yes.

Councilman Jackson has not joined. Councilman Khaliq?

Yes.

Councilman Mendez has not joined yet. Councilman Omar?

Yes.

Councilman Velez? Yes.

No.

President Mims?

Yes, Madam Clerk.

Five yeses, one noes, three absence. This item passes.

Items number five and six are removed. The owner has to come in. The clerk will send a notice out for items five and six for renewal of entertainment and dance license. Madam Clerk, let's go to item number four.

Item number four is a resolution of the City of Patterson authorizing the submission of a request to the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for Patterson UAZ Corridor Lighting and Security Project in the city's UAZ zone in an amount not to exceed $1,235,197. This is from Economic Development Resolution 26302.

Move back. Second. Move back. Second. VP Davila, second by Mims and Omar. Discussion. Discussion. Councilman Velez.

Through the chair, I have the director who asked this question, Director Vivero. It looks like a good idea, what we're doing moving forward to bring lightning to the coders of the UEZ. I know this is... a request to urban enterprise zone to give us this money. But do you have a map of what corridor are we going to start doing this? If it's all going to be mainstream, market street, you know, the UEZ zone is wide open. So, you know, if you have a designated area, you're going to start putting these lights with PC and G. Director Rosado?

Or is Washington, are you answering Mr. Washington?

Yes, I'm here. Mr. Washington? Okay. Councilman, thank you for your question. Yes, we do. The way this is going to be executed, it's going to be done in phases. We're going to start off with the downtown area as that's where DPW and PAC&G has highlighted that that's where the most efficient lamps are. So the initial stage will be conducted downtown and it will be guided through DPW, Mr. Instituto, and The NPSCNG executives, in other words, their technical team will tell us exactly which lamps will go first and from there will spread out to the different corridors.

So in other words, can you tell me if that old green light poles are going to disappear from the city?

It's going to be the really tall ones, those 24-footers, those, specifically the ones that right now have become, at this point, broken off or damaged or in any danger of breaking off. Those are the most immediate ones that we're going to address.

Correct, because I had a physician that lived in the Fifth Ward that lived around Main Street and And Grant, that one of the light fissures fell right in front of her. And she was lucky enough to not get hit with it.

And those are the reasons why we're working closely with PSUG to address those specific fixtures right away, because they're dangerous. And we decided through UEC, being that the resources were there to utilize those funds in a way that it creates safety for both the consumer as well as the people who live in the city.

So you considered that downtown is up to Mill Street?

Director Rosado, I know you work closely on what the definition of the downtown areas are.

Yes. Director Rosado, it's going to be a total of 310 total poles. Okay. Okay. The corridors are from Main Street, which is Crooks Avenue to Lower Main, Market Street, which is Mill to Summer, Broadway, which is Main Street to Memorial Drive, Ellison from Main Street to Memorial Drive, and then Ward Street from Main to Clark, and then Memorial Drive from Market Street to Broadway.

So, okay, so let's keep the record clear. When we say downtown, and nothing against with the Crooks Avenue up to downtown, but the reason I'm asking is because I believe Mill Street, Peruvian Square, Van Houten, back portion of it, before going to Great Falls, all that section is downtown. We have the old antique polls here. And we'd be requesting with Satuta way back that we upgraded those polls, especially when they're in the historic district area, but it's included in downtown. Now you mentioned Crooks Avenue. That's not downtown. That's in South Patterson. So we have to make clear to the record that is covering also that section. So when you say downtown only, everybody's going to think it's downtown. Now you stated it's coming from Crooks Avenue all the way down to downtown.

Well, the phase is starting in downtown. Okay.

director if you can just send out the information on the four phases of this project i know we're just starting but just send an overview of the phase out to all the council members for review uh for a committee and then so the council can council president i haven't finished i haven't finished uh director uh and and you're gonna and you're gonna hear this from me a lot when it comes up to uez

Fifth Ward also has UEZ zone. Fifth Ward has area that needs that kind of upgrade. So nothing against anybody else ward, but I have a majority section of downtown that is needed that type of quality of lights and cameras. And I want to see it there too, especially this coming up two years. And I'm going to be an eminence on that. You know, I have supported as a councilman for 10 years here any other project in any other ward. So I don't want to feel like I'm being left behind in any project that we have money to invest. Council President. Council Vice President.

So I want us just to, you know, be clear that the items are specific to UEZ zones. And Director Rosado, please correct me if I'm wrong, if the portion that we're discussing on Crooks Ave is UEZ?

Yes. So it started, yes, it's only on...

The answer is yes. The answer is yes. The reason I'm saying that is because we tend to... you know, when it comes to South Patterson or the Sixth Ward and things are getting done, it's almost like there's some type of, and I'm going to put it out there, some type of favoritism. No, that portion of Crooks app is UEZ. And so you were specific to say, and you sent it in the email as well, that went out yesterday and this morning as well, indicating all of those streets. I don't want anyone to think that these monies or these lights, these fixtures that are being fixed are only, you know, And specific to the 6-4, that's not a U-E-Z zone. To Councilman Velez's point, it is true. He has a lot of the downtown area. Part of it is U-E-Z. And so, Councilman, if you see, you know, part of it is within downtown. the area that you're discussing, but I know that you're going to want more. I just wanted to clarify and make sure that we're not sending a message that we're doing UZ and crooks app because the portion of it is also part of UZ. And I understand also that you are working closely with, um, to Tuto, uh, with DPW and with PC and G as well. Um, the only thing that I heard, you know, um, um, uh director of washington say is they'll tell us i think that within that we the council can also let them know our interest because we understand that they'll give us the overview of everything that needs to be done and then we can say well we'd like certain priorities you know based on requests you know either from businesses or for from constituents who have discussed that you know the lighting needs to be better

All right.

Thank you very much. I just want to clarify.

Thank you. Roll call. I said I had my hands. I'm sorry. I didn't see it.

I just wanted to find out again from I know Director Rosado. You said Broadway. What part of Broadway?

From Market Street to Broadway.

No, no, you said Broadway.

Yes, Memorial Drive from Market Street to Broadway. So this list is based on Statuto telling us where all the polls, old-fashioned polls are.

Okay, okay. So starting from Memorial Drive up to Madison Avenue? Market Street to Broadway. Where's Market Street to Broadway?

On Main Street.

No, I'm asking you about Broadway. I didn't say nothing about Main Street. I said Broadway. I heard you say Broadway.

Oh, Broadway. I'm sorry. From Main Street to Memorial Drive.

From Main Street to Memorial Drive. Now, and then what was the other one?

Ellison Street to what? Ellison Street will be from Main Street also to Memorial Drive.

No. That's not much. Main Street to Memorial. That's nothing.

Those are where the polls are located.

Let me just finish. So you're telling me they can only put these lights on certain polls? Is that what you're saying?

Director Rosado? I'm sorry, Council President.

Point of order for a minute. I'm getting some messages from constituents that the meeting is not on YouTube. Madam Firk, the meeting is not on YouTube? Ryan, could you check into that, please?

We have a delay from what I understand, correct? All right.

I'm sorry that I canceled my apologies. Just said I got two messages right now saying the meeting is not on YouTube.

Okay. So my question is to Director Rosado. You said Memorial Drive to Main Street, which is two blocks. Is that because they got certain poles? Is that why?

Director Rosado, I thought, okay.

No, no, I'm still not finished. So director, I'm saying to you, there's only two blocks. And I asked you the question, is it because it's a special pole that that's why they can use these lights?

It's because they're only focusing on the green architectural lights. Those are the ones where the fixtures are being replaced.

Okay. Those lights are there already.

Yes. So say what now? These are the green poles. Oh, the green poles. The green architectural design poles first.

My next question, and I'm going to do it, like, Director Rodriguez, I asked you many times about the trees. It needs to be trimmed. Trees are kissing each other, which are now really blocking the lights. They're kissing. Like, they're coming across the street and kissing. We have a lot of blocks like that. And one of the main blocks, Director, is Montgomery Street. That they're kissing. So even if you have the lights up there, you still can't. It's still dark because the trees have to be trimmed. So I've got to get some of those trees trimmed, especially around the lights and especially around the stop signs. You've got to get some of those stop signs clear. You don't see stop signs until you're right on top of it. And so I need to put that request in, Director.

Council President, I can just give you an update on what's going on with YouTube. It's my understanding right now this meeting is live, so it is on Verizon Channel 32, Channel 77, the Access Channel. There is an issue with the YouTube streaming. So they are working on it, but this meeting is also being recorded. So once they're able, if we're done with the meeting, it will go on YouTube, but just letting the community know that this meeting is being broadcasted on Channel 77 and on Channel 32. Just wanted to let you know that.

And from what I understand, it's not an issue on our IT side. It is an upgrade or an update to the link from the YouTube side.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Roll call, Madam Clerk.

I was a councilman colleague. Thank you. I just want to clarify 1 thing. These replacement are. For only those green pause that we have, which are not installed in every location of that you easy zone. I don't have any in the 2nd, 1, for example, union after wire. There is none, so there's nothing being done on union with this project. Or with this project, so we need to understand. We might have a new easy zone in in our world does not mean. That if they want to even replace these light bulbs and stuff with this project, they cannot do it, but it has not been installed in this section yet. I hope in future, with future projects, we should be able to put new lamps on the section they are not covered with these green light poles. That's all I'm requesting to our EUZ director. Thank you.

Great point, Councilman. Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Councilwoman Cotton?

Yes.

Vice President Davila?

Yes.

Councilman Jackson has not joined. Councilman Khaliq?

Yes.

Councilman Mendez has not joined. Councilman Omar.

I just want to thank Director Rosado for all his work into this project. My vote is yes.

Councilman Uddin has also not joined at this time. Councilman Valenz.

I'm happy to see that the money at UEZ are being requested and spending wisely in our city, especially the UEZ zone. I went way back to Union City, and it looks like a stadium. They use a lot of money for UEZ to light all that more than... 45th Street UEZ zone they have. In this case, I'm happy to see that the projects will be moved forward. Hopefully, we could do this before the winter comes in if we have the funding coming. And just to keep the director in mind that Market Street between Straight Street and Madison Avenue, we have 15 poles of those already counted when I go way back. Saying that, my vote is yes.

And Council President Mims? My vote is yes, Madam Clerk. Six yeses, three absences. Item passes. As a reminder, before I read number three, for those listening on our channels, for those who would like to participate in public portion, you can dial 973-321-1579 and enter meeting ID 8321. You then press star one to listen and press star three to be added to the speaker queue. And that's been advertised with our agenda. Item number three is a resolution approving transfer of 28 taxi cab registrations from Taxi Patterson LLC to New Jersey Yellow Cab Taxi Service LLC of 742 River Street, Patterson, New Jersey. This is a resolution from our office number 26301.

THE MOVE. MOVED BY COUNCIL VICE PRESIDENT DAVILA. SECOND BY VELEZ.

DISCUSSION FOR A MINUTE.

DISCUSSION, COUNCILMAN VELEZ.

THIS IS ONLY TRANSFERRED FOR 28 TAXI CAR REGISTRATION. IT SAYS THAT IT'S 742 RIVER STREET. WHERE ARE THEY GOING TO PARK THESE VEHICLES? Because whose mailing address and parking address are stated above, but where's the parking location?

Councilman Velez, where's 742 River Street at?

That's between 3rd and 4th Avenue, before the field, where the mattress company ceiling is at, on front of there, where you see a lot of cab parking overnight on the streets.

Councilman Velez, the owner is not on. These businesses are not operating, so it is up to you if you desire to pull them until he comes in. They'll be out of business for a couple weeks, but it's up to you.

No, no, no, no, no. I just want to make clear.

There's no one on the call. None of us can answer where they're parking.

I know it's transfer. They're just transferring registration. I understand that. It's a paperwork. They're transferring paper. But when they come into a conclusion to use those papers that we're transferring, where are they going to park the car? And that's one thing that has to be clear in the resolution because every time that we, you know, put cars out there, they always stay in the resolution where they're going to be parking. Well, I understand the process. We are transferring paper here, transferring this paper to that company. But when those 28 papers, they're going to use it where they're going to park those cars. And I know we have received, I don't know if Councilwoman Cotton has received complaints about those cabs being parked on River Street alongside the... alongside the ceiling mattress company.

So actually, actually, Councilman, that's the third one. Yeah, I know. I'm just saying you say cotton.

So actually, that's the third one. Oh, because you asked because between the third, fourth.

Did I? What did I ask?

I didn't ask. Council members. Like, what did I ask? I understand the concern. But you can send that request to.

The request should be from here and now, Council President. That we have. And they should also list where they're going to park the vehicles. That's all they're going to do. Correct.

That's all they got to do. So let me hold off a minute, Councilwoman. Council President. Let's not create a perception that because it's in that ward, we don't receive complaints. I receive complaints, and I try to address accordingly, even if it's not my ward. But I just want to make sure that they have parking. Anything, Councilwoman Davila? You want to say something?

No, she's talking to someone. Councilman.

Oh, okay. So I just want to make sure that when we transfer those licenses, I know the clerk knows how to do her diligent work to make sure those vehicles, when they're operating, they're not being in the streets taking residents parking.

Thank you. Roll call, Madam Clerk. Roll call.

Council president councilman colleague. Parking location should be attached to the resolution is the practice. Yes. Honestly, I don't have that resolution in the paperwork in front of me. I'm just asking to the department is the parking location attached to the resolution. Can you please check it for me? It's not. It is not. That's mean this application is not completed.

Yes, it is. It is complete. That has not been the practice to add it. That is something that's being requested today. We can do that in the future, but it has- It's not requested.

Every application, what I have known, Council President, even if somebody, I know somebody had one vehicle, He provide the parking lease from our parking authority for his application to move forward.

So, I mean, it's up to you, Council President, if I may address Councilman McLean.

Okay, one second, Council VP. I don't think that's something that should allow us to remove it. I don't want to stop business from- No, no, no, definitely not. I think it's something that we should look into, Madam Clerk. Perhaps that is on the information. Please disseminate it to-

As far as I know, it's been past practice. Every taxi company or any transportation company, they must provide a parking lot or parking lease with parking authority to have their resolution move forward.

Council President. So let's make sure that's the amount of clerk.

I just wanted to just clarify that the application in the application. That's what I wanted to just let because Councilman Kalik is correct. It has always, we always ask that. I know that the clerk also does her due diligence. What we have in front of us right now is just a copy of the reso, which is just saying that it's a transfer. All right. But it is in the application. And I know that... Uh, when I called, uh, cause I know I got numerous calls because, you know, we were having this special meeting and the finance meeting, uh, um, and we weren't having a finance meeting and this goes through finance. Okay. Um, but he is correct that, you know, whenever, if there's a transfer to new in the medallions that they need to show proof that they have a parking, you know, parking, looking at the, at the reso and the address, you can see that they have a lot of parking. Okay.

So Madam Clerk, can you just forward the applications? Because that's not here, and I'm sure it's on there. Just send all those applications to all the council members. We can send them back. Roll call, Madam Clerk, on item three.

Item two.

Item three, I'm sorry.

This is item three. Yes. Councilwoman Cotton.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. I just want to say that we have two taxi inspectors, and when these taxi companies are not doing what they're supposed to do, you can then report it to the taxi inspectors that we have. They do look into it. Whatever you have, they will look into it. Madam Clerk, my vote is yes.

Vice President Davila?

Yes.

Councilman Jackson has not joined. Councilman Khaliq?

I do agree with our being of the council councilman Ruby cotton and my board is yes.

Councilman Mendez, I see that you have joined. We're on item number 3.

Yes, good afternoon to my Councilor Cowley, good afternoon to the City of Patterson. Which item are we, Madam Clerk, and I do apologize.

Item 3, this is a resolution approving the transfer of 28 taxi cab registrations from Taxi Patterson LLC to New Jersey Yellow Cab Taxi Service.

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Omar.

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Councilman Khan, for clarifying that up. You can always report an infraction to the tax inspectors.

Councilman Uden has not joined. Councilman Velez?

Nothing against the applicant. Let's keep the record clear just in case whoever came in late to the meeting and listened to something different. The practice is practice. The council and collegiate state and the resolution state, the license address, where the office is at, and the location also where they park. That's what I was saying in the beginning to say that the place has a lot of parking. It's a mechanic shop. Only with that is for a car that needs to be repaired. So I want to make sure that if I get complaints, I got their numbers and I tell them right and straight in the back. Parking, street parking is for residents, especially in the Fifth Ward. I tell them your cab is parked in the Fifth Ward. You need to move it. Our residents need parking. And this is a complaint that every council members listen every day. Now the elections are over. Everything had to be back in place. We have ordinance in place and we have rules in place. And let's make it effective. My vote is yes to transfer 28 license that eventually is going to convert into a vehicle. And I hope they have parking for that. My vote is yes.

President Mims?

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

Seven yeses to absence, this item passes.

Item number seven, Madam Clerk?

Item number seven is a resolution addressing the renewal of a junkyard license for Remigio Rincon, Remy American Auto and Repair at 4244 Franklin Street in the 4th Ward. This is from Finance and Resolution 26305. Moved.

Moved by Council Member Velez, seconded by Council Member Cotton and Mendez. Roll call on item number seven, Madam Clerk.

Councilwoman Cotton?

I must say, and I need to say this for this company, he keeps his business nice and clean. He don't have stuff all over the place. I got to give him credit. Rico Recon. He really does a good job with his business of taking care of the area that he's in. With that being said, Madam Clerk, my vote is yes.

Vice President Davila?

Yes.

Councilman Khaliq?

Yes, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Mendez.

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Omar.

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Velez?

Who don't know Remy? Remy is a good guy, man. I hope the owner of the parking space next to him do something with that place. It will stick out a lot for his business. And trust me, I see him cleaning a little bit further when he had to clean his lot. So Remy, everybody knows Remy. He's got more than 40 years there, I believe so. Right, Ruby? My vote is yes. And this is one of the business owners that believes still in Patterson. My vote is yes.

And President Mims.

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

This item passes.

Last item on the agenda, the payment of bills for finance chair.

Council President, thank you very much. Once again, good evening to everyone. Council members, we have a summary of disbursements of a totaling $15,977,130.19, of which this has a two payroll. Okay. Summing up, $11,834,310.74. The remaining is $4,142,819.45. That breakdown is... Capital fund is $2,149,547.11, of which I believe the... The capital fund is J.A. Alexander and street resurfacing, for street resurfacing and for River Street. And then the other bigger payment is the $1,028,912.52, which is other statutory expenditures, which are for emergency sewer and sewer reconstruction.

Council President.

My motion is for payment of bills for the amount of $15,977,130.19. Second. Councilman Velez and then Councilman Mendez. I'll leave Mendez first.

Go ahead, Councilman. Go ahead. Go ahead. Councilman Mendez.

You're live outside.

Thank you. Council President. I expressed my concern a few months ago about the way back about, as we all remember, we hired an outside entity to look at the project on River Street. And I've been trying to find the company that is supposed to oversee the project. I've been in multiple occasions being on River Street. I remember I saw them for the first, in the beginning of the project, on site. And as we all remember, that agreement was to they will be on site, oversee the project. I haven't seen that company and I haven't seen any payment for that company. Can I get an explanation on this? Because that's one of that was one of the important pieces that council president means always talk about project manager. And we spoke about that and we and we hired that company. But that agreement was in place that they got to be on site. And I have not seen them on site.

Director Rodriguez.

It's raining, probably.

I don't think he's on. Dr. Rodriguez was on. Mr. B.A., I don't know if you have the information, or can this information be sent to, not just to the councilman, to all council members to get the information on the oversight that's being provided on River Street?

Council President.

Yes, Council President. I will ask the question and then forward the response to the entire governing body.

Thank you, Mr. B.A. Councilman Velez.

Through the Chair to Madam Chair and Finance. You stated there's two payroll. Which one is that? I can't hear you.

My apologies, I said, Council President, if I may. Councilman Velez, if you know that every other week our payment of bills are $5 million plus change. So if you total that number, it's $11 million. That's two payrolls. We only meet twice.

Okay, I'm sorry.

So that's why the $11 million, which is the total of the two, which is $5 million plus each.

Does that payroll include overtime?

That includes everything. And it includes the money that we receive from the state, the reimbursement of $8,513,519.88. Which one is that item? For public safety, you know how we get the- No, no, yeah, public safety.

No, no, yeah, you have to, yeah. Okay, for public safety, we get reimbursement. Okay, that's- Yes. Okay. So to the chair, Mr. B.A., Do we owe anybody any union out there money that we are pending for any budget? From any contract, sorry.

You're asking the CFO or the B.A.?

No, I'm asking the B.A. or CFO. CFO could answer. He's the one that manages the checks and disbursement. CFO, if you're still here, I don't see you, but is there any chance, can you tell me if we still owe any retro to any contract that we already settled and we have vote on it? Mr. B.A. ?

There were several contracts settled this year, and I believe the fire officers retro still has to be rectified. The initial numbers that the city came up with and that the union came up with do not exactly match. So we're going through the process of working through. We did the same thing with the police, and it turns out the city's numbers were correct. So we're doing that due diligence now. It's a process. It's a year and a half that it was out of contract. There's step movement. There's increases. So we want to get it right.

So in other words, the unions are putting the roll numbers? Or is somebody calculating the roll numbers?

The city provided its initial view of what the numbers are. The union comes out to a slightly different number. So we need to get into a room like we did with the police and hash out which side is approaching the math problem. the correct way.

Okay. I trust in you. You can handle that.

Thank you. Roll call, Madam Clerk, on payment of bills.

Roll call on payment of bills. Councilwoman Cotton?

Yes.

Vice President Davila?

Yes.

Councilman Jackson has still not joined. Councilman Culley?

Yes.

Councilman Mendez? Yes.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. I've been very vocal when it comes to the reconstruction of River Street. I want to make sure that we get it right. We're investing a large amount of money by fixing River Street. So I've been making this request. I will not vote against because I know that Yeah, I've been in full support of that reconstruction because it not only take the third ward, but it take the fourth ward, the first. And it's one of the most important role in the city of Paterson that need to be repaired. But Mr. VA, I really, I need that information. We voted this contract and I want to make sure that If we pay that company, I want to make sure that they do the job that they're supposed to do, and they are responsible to oversee this project. And I've been making comment about this and making this request for the longest. So I'm looking forward to have that email, and I'll be available tomorrow. My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Omar?

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Valenz?

One thing I could say is that we see less potholes on River Street and people are getting happy on it. So my vote is yes to payment of bills.

President Mims.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The agenda is now complete at 5.42 PM. My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

OK, payment of bills passes.

Let's open public portion, Madam Clerk.

We have so far two speakers. The first one is coming onto the line.

Just for every speaker before they come on, it automatically cuts off in three minutes. It's not done by us. The system doesn't automatically have three minutes. First speaker, Madam Clerk.

Please state your first and last name.

Good evening. This is Deborah Hannibal. And I'm just calling in to just express my concern that the meeting was not accessible through YouTube. A lot of people do not have cable in the city. And I just tuned in late. I dialed in late. So I don't know what was discussed about the sewer fees. i don't know if that was still on the agenda for tonight but i think that would be something that people would be concerned about would want to hear um and it was advertised as being available on youtube so i just wanted to express my concerns about that and i also wanted to congratulate rodney addison and ada pew on uh Wonderful, wonderful events this weekend for the Juneteenth celebrations and for the African American Heritage Parade. Excellence was on full display. It was a really wonderful event. And that is all I have for this evening. And thank you. And I am concerned that people did not have access to this meeting tonight.

Thank you, Ms. Hannibal. As it was stated previously, it was not an internal concern. YouTube had a streaming issue. Once they rectify it on their side, this content will be uploaded immediately on the YouTube side. Next speaker, Madam Clerk.

Next speaker is coming in. Please state your first and last name for the record. You don't know her name.

Hello. Good evening. This is a bet about a Patterson first. Followed in also to express the same sentiment that Deborah Hannibal had. I did log in on to YouTube at 5 p.m. expecting to watch the meeting and the meeting was not on. Now, even though it's an internal issue or it's not an internal issue, it's an external issue. Does this meeting still qualify as an open public meeting? Since people cannot watch it. That's one question. Second question is the first reading ordinance for the sewer tax for the sewer fees was not on the agenda and was added onto the agenda and never was advertised in newspaper, according to the clerk's office. Um, that's the question of corporation council to, to madam chair, if he could give that a clarity, um, an answer on that, if that is allowed to vote on an item on first reading without it being advertised. Also, the volume for the sewer fee on commercial property, when is the council planning on raising the actual cost per unit for the volume users? I think it hasn't been changed since 2017. I think the council should look at that. and take that into consideration instead of just attacking the homeowners, the single-family homes, the two-family properties.

That's about it.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any more speakers? Madam Clerk?

We do have another person. They're coming into the line. Please state your first and last name for the record.

Good afternoon. This is Mr. Price calling. I don't know if you guys can hear me or not.

We can hear you.

OK, I have some of the same sentiment to some of the other calls about this meeting. And I came to this council several times about making all of our meetings virtual. But there seems to be a convenience or inconvenience decision making process here where it's like you guys don't want to hear from the public. In regards to this sewer increase, one of my questions is how will the increase in the sewer fees help me as a homeowner? Just a general question that you guys, if you're going to tell me you're going to increase sewer fees, it should be some kind of benefit to me. And the other question is if this council can provide details on how the growth in our city with all the buildings, all the overcrowding, how is that positively impacting a homeowner like me and also when will this council who supported a lot of you guys supported this new property revaluation that we received how is this council as a body holding the hands of the individual property owners like myself i'll give you a prime example i submitted my comps And when the cops came back to me indicating what the revaluation company was going to provide, there were two cops that they didn't even include of homes that were sold on my street, across the street from where I live. But I knew the reason why they didn't include those cops, because those cops would require them to charge me or to make my assessed value lower. So they didn't use it. I had to go to the hearing. And I had to bring this up at the hearing, but it's almost like the burden of proof is on me to prove it when these cops are out there. If you look at Red Finney, look at Zillow, these things are all out there. But I need some help from this council, but I want these questions answered as well as what is our plan for balancing the budget? You guys were supposed to, council president, you said you were going to produce meeting minutes. And you're going to produce all of the questions that are asked for every public portion and that they would be publicized on the website. That was almost a year ago. I think only one list has been provided and the public, we need this. I mean, you guys want us to support you, but we need this. And my final question, what is going on with street cleaning? I can't get street cleaning done on a regular basis because no matter what I do. I've called DPW, I've reached out to council members, I've sent emails, and we can't get street cleaning on a regular basis. Why do you guys think we complain about paying more for services when we know we're not going to get those services? So what are we paying for? Thank you. Have a good night.

Thank you. Are there any other speakers, Madam Clerk?

We have no other speakers.

We'll give it one minute. But, you know, just to piggyback, Madam Clerk, I know that is one of our noncompliant issues with uploading that information on our website. So, Mr. Price, you are correct. That is something that they're diligently working on, but that request has been made to make sure those things are uploaded. And then all the other requests and concerns that you guys have stated, they will be responded to. Can I get a motion to close if there are no other speakers in the queue, Madam Clerk?

No other speakers.

Motion to close. Second. Motion to close by Councilman Velez, second by Councilman Omar. Roll call to close the public portion of our special meeting for today, June 23rd, 2026.

Councilwoman Cotton?

Yes.

Vice President Davila?

Yes.

Councilman Colleague? And he just gets underneath it. This is Councilman Mendez?

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk, to close the public portion.

Councilman Omar?

My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Velez?

My vote is yes to close the public portion.

And President Mims.

My vote is yes. Thank you. First of all, before I vote, I want to say thank you to everyone that did call in. And just to reiterate, the YouTube concern was not our issue. It was an external issue by YouTube streaming services. Knowing YouTube and the great content that they provide, they will get it fixed immediately to avoid any issues. lawsuits. So I'm sure they'll get it resolved and they'll upload all the data as soon as possible. Madam Clerk, my vote is yes.

So the portion is closed.

Roll call to close the special meeting of June 23, 2026. Motion to close. Closed by VP Davila, second by Councilman Mendez and Velez. Roll call to close the special meeting June 23, my mom's 79th birthday. Madam Clerk, roll call.

Councilwoman Cotton.

I just want to say for your mom, Council President Mims, I want to wish your mom, I call up my mom to a happy birthday. I know you're going to take her out tonight to celebrate. And I say to all people who still have their mothers and fathers around to please, please appreciate them. Do whatever you can for them because they are so like, when they're not with you no more, you really see this. And I want to say happy birthday to all the June babies. I'm not going to say Gemini and cancel all the June babies. I'm a June 18th baby. And for all the people that were born in the month of June, I appreciate you all to all my council colleagues. We're going to have a wonderful July 1st coming up. I swear to you, for our three women that's going to be on this council, my council president, Dr. Min, my vice president, Councilor Marissa Dabbler, and our newly elected councilwoman, Paula Alford, and our mayor, Andre Sayers. So I look forward to that happening on July 1st. To you all out there, God bless you all. happy for the fathers. I never said happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there, to all the uncles and the brothers and the grandfathers and everybody. So with that being said, Aunt Melinda, Melinda, Melinda, I always forget about you, but I can see you now because I can't see you when I'm in the room because you're upstairs. But anyhow, I'm happy to see you. With that being said, you all, everybody, Madam Clerk, my Secretary Deidre, have a good evening. Like I said, God bless you all. Madam Clerk, my vote is yes.

You had me on timer. I am timing everybody.

Okay.

And you still had more time. I did. All right. Vice President Davila.

Thank you so much. And I did speak to Dr. Verlina earlier today wishing her a happy 79th birthday. And I agree with you, Councilwoman Cotton. If you have your mother and father-in-law, just cherish them, hug them every day. Make videos, take pictures, even if they don't want it, because that is what you're going to keep as they move on, the obvious, the love that they shared. But in addition to that, yes, June was a beautiful month. My son's return, his birthday, you know, he started off with my stepdad, who's been in my life for over 50 years, June 14th. June 15th was my mother's heavenly birthday, my son's birthday, June 15th. We went on to my nephew, baby Liam, which was born on Juneteenth, which, by the way, the parade was beautiful. I mean, I enjoyed it. Took many pictures I still haven't uploaded. And we ended with my father's birthday on June 20th, a heavenly birthday as well. And again, I send out some messages to everyone. I did post, you know, saying happy birthday to everyone, to our council colleagues, to our fathers, to our directors, to those that maybe have not birthed children but have been there to raise children. I think it's so important. You know, men, I always say, When women say, oh, I'm the mom and dad, you know, to a certain extent, I always say you can never replace a man figure in a child's life. So, you know, with that said, and lastly, I will say this. I am looking forward to July 1st as we take office, you know, for a fourth term. I'm thankful to the community and to God for allowing me to be able to serve another term along with my council president for her third term, historic third term as well. And just finally, you know, to Ms. Hannibal, who did reach out to me as one of the constituents, please know that we are in compliance. Our Open Meetings Act does indicate that we do advertise in various places, and we were being streamed on cable, Channel 77, Access Channel, as well as Channel 32 with Verizon. And again, as Council President indicated, and our clerk, this issue is not on our side, and so YouTube, it will be up. soon as this is fixed or whatever you know that you will be able to have access through on youtube so with that said blessings to all um i'm looking forward july 1st is around the corner thank you my vote is yes councilman colleague

Good night, everyone. July is around the corner. Vista Park is around the corner from my house where I grew up. So we'll see you on July 1st. My vote is yes, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Mendez.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. So first of all, Council President, happy birthday to your lovely mom. Hug her and just, you know, enjoy her. Also to our all the students in the city of Paterson that are getting ready for graduation this Friday and throughout the week. Congratulations. We wish you all the best of luck. The sky's the limit. Dream big. Never give up. And just believe in yourself and you will be able to accomplish any goal in life. So to the African-American parade, to the organizer, it was amazing. It was a beautiful parade. I had such a great time at Eastside Park and also throughout the parade. It was amazing. It was great. Let's just continue pushing and doing what we got to do. to make our city better every single day, right? Also to our director, Director Billy, one of the requests that I have with the street cleaning is that we definitely need a report about the street cleaning. We're getting a lot of calls, people asking us. In my third ward, my constituent asking me about why we didn't have the street cleaning passed by today. So if we could get a report, that way we could be fully informed about what happened. And it will help us a lot because we'll be able to get back to our constituents and letting them know what is the problem, what happened, what is the reason why street cleaning didn't pass by. So Council Cali, I'm looking forward to see you guys on July 1st. God bless you all. God bless you, Patterson. And happy Father's Day. All those fathers this past weekend, happy Father's Day. Thank you to all the residents that show up on my event. It was amazing. It was great. We have an amazing time. And we have to celebrate family. We have to celebrate family every single day. So God bless you all. And my vote is yes by the clerk.

Councilman Omar.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Well, first, I do want to wish Mama Mims a happy birthday. I also call her mom. Councilman Mendez, happy birthday to you, too, last week. And also, Councilman Khan, happy birthday. I wish we could have celebrated all the birthdays together. Happy birthday. I'd also like to congratulate Ada Pugh and Rodney Addison on a wonderful and successful parade and also a celebration at Eastside Park. It was beautiful. I think this was the biggest one thus far, um, on a beautiful day and, uh, congratulations to all the graduates, whether it's middle school, high school, um, moving up ceremony from fifth to middle school. I had the pleasure of going to, uh, my Alameda school nine yesterday, uh, Speaking to those kids as they move up to middle school. And I'll be visiting all the schools coming, I believe, Friday's graduation. So congratulations to all our young scholars. The sky is the limit. And I am also looking forward to July 1st. Congratulations to the winners from the previous election. Mayor Andre Sayer, my two lovely council colleagues, Council President Mims and Vice President Maritza Davila. And congratulations to Councilman-elect Paul Alford. Looking forward to working with you. that being said my vote is yes madam clerk thank you good night patterson councilman velez

Yeah, thank you, Madam Clerk. I know you got the time in two minutes. I just want to take 30 seconds to just tell the residents of Patterson that Madam Clerk is new to Patterson, but is not new to the job. And I know that she's not going to risk her license, her expertise, her experience for doing something wrong. We are here live and we are set by the record that we are doing things legally and in order. All this question never happened before when we had other clerks, and we have been doing the same process since COVID. I just want to set that record clear. Last but not least, I just want to say to the Afro-American community and organization that they have been through two important days in my life since three years ago is February, two months, February and June. February, I had to travel to Dominican Republic to celebrate my father-in-law birthday, and June, I had to celebrate my wife's birthday, and that's why we take the time to go out in the city, and those important events, I don't wanna miss it because I want to. I have other commitment in those two months. But I congratulate for the outstanding event. Keep on doing a great job. Let's unite the community because we only won. Happy birthday to Mama Mims. Happy birthday to my friend from Eastside High School, now colleague Ruby Cotton, also in June. Happy birthday to my friend Alex Mendez. And one, I got to say, elections are over. I always say, like Councilman Davila says, elections have consequences. But if you want to correct those consequences after the election, you have to build up relations. And you will see that action and resource and communication will be in play. Saying that, God bless you all. Thank you, DPW County Administration. Thank you. I'm hopefully to be there on July 1st. If God hasn't called me first, I'll be there on July 1st. Thank you for your hard work, Madam Clerk and to Patterson. It's doing a great job. To IT, make sure you take off the comments from YouTube because I see hearts and everything around. I don't know if that's something that's happening, but that's something new, but that's okay. God bless you all. Happy birthday. And remember, participate in the pageant of the Dominican Republic, a celebration here at the Fila Dominicana of New Jersey in August, and we're going to get more announcements down the road. So my vote is yes to close this meeting. Madam Clerk, I hope I didn't pass for three seconds.

Thank you, President Mims.

Thank you. So first and foremost, I want to say thank you to God for allowing my mom to live 79 years. She has been through some tough experiences in her life, especially over the last, I would say, eight to nine years. But God saw fit to still allow her to live. Our family is all in town. They were supposed to surprise her, but she knows they're here. So to surprise her so we can all celebrate her, not just tonight, but every night. So thank you to all my colleagues for your calls, your messages, your love to my mom. It is truly appreciated by me and my sister and my family. Also, thank you. Happy birthday. I already said to Councilman Cotton, but I want to say it here. Councilman Cotton, as was stated, to everyone's birthday in the month of Jude's Babel, my nephew, and everybody, happy birthday. Also to the... The organizers of Juneteenth and the African-American Parade, Rodney Addison and his team, Ada Pugh and her team, for doing a great job. Our flag raising here was amazing. CAPS and all of their youth that came to raise our flag. I just think as we continue to come together and work together, we will do amazing things. Madam Clerk, keep up the great work. We do follow compliance orders. I heard some statements that were made. VP Davila stated it the best, but she talked about how we publish in various publications, as well as it is shown on Verizon, as well as the cable channel, Cablevision. So we are in compliance as we always are. Madam Clerk, you're doing a phenomenal job. Not sure why you're being challenged and no one else has been challenged in the past. But I guess that shows you that God definitely placed you in this position to be an operational authority over the city of Patterson. With that being stated, everyone, God bless you. I can't wait till July 1st. historic, historic reelections of the mayor, my VP Dabla, myself, and also congratulations to Councilman-elect Paula Alford. Looking forward to July 1st. I think I heard Councilman Kalik said that he's going to carry us on his back because he lives around the corner. So if he's going to carry you on his back, that means Councilman Omar needs to hold our legs and then Councilman Mendez and Councilman Velez needs to hold our head. So we're looking forward to it as the women that you carry us through, as you always do. God bless all of my council colleagues, all the directors of the administration, and everyone that is on this call. God bless you. With that stated, Madam Clerk, my vote is yes. The meeting is now adjourned at 6.05.

Meeting is hereby adjourned. Our next, the convening of our governing body is Wednesday, July 1st at Visa State Park at 12 o'clock, followed by the reorganization at 2.30 in the council chambers. Have a good night, Patterson.

Good night, everyone.

Good night. Good night, all.

Good night, Patterson.

Good night.

Good night, everybody. Have a good night.

Good night.