Ulrich: Cancel Old Grants, Track New Ones

A resolution to cancel 125 dormant grants is just a start, Chief Financial Officer Al Steinberg told the City Council Monday, as there are many more to be cleared up.

The grants are no longer viable and the money cannot be be spent or reimbursed to the city, so they need to be cleared from financial records.

"This is really the beginning of financial housekeeping, if you will," Steinberg said.

Steinberg explained after Councilman William Reid questioned the item, saying, "This is the first I'm hearing that we have dormant grants."

Reid said the problem should have come out in city audits. (It was a finding at least in a 2011 audit report posted on the city web site and all council members had to sign a Corrective Action Plan.)

Ulrich, who was appointed by new Mayor Adrian O. Mapp in January, said the council approved two resolutions last year on dormant grants, but they were done incorrectly and had to be rescinded. He said of Monday's resolution, "This isn't half the grants you have."

Cities seek grants to augment property tax revenues and the League of Municipalities advises having a "strategic master plan" for grant management, as noted in this article.

Ulrich suggested Monday that the city consider naming an individual to be responsible for grants.

In 2010, a part-time employee who was responsible for more than $5.6 million in grants for tree planting, brownfield remediation and other programs was laid off, over protests from Shade Tree Commission members. In another past situation, a division head could not provide information on use of Urban Enterprise Zone grants to the council for several months. Grants have also been quickly spent just before they run out, as in the Tepper's basement fit-out.

--Bernice

Muhlenberg Study Meeting is Thursday

It's Thursday!!
7 p.m.
PHS cafeteria

Check for New Muhlenberg Study Date

The highly publicized meeting on the city-funded Muhlenberg study is being rescheduled, but the new date is still not finalized. Meanwhile, the city web site and the message board in front of Municipal Court still have the original date. I realize it is not much help to say the date is being changed without giving you the new date, but at Monday's City Council meeting, Dottie Gutenkauf urged people not to show up on the wrong night. Please double-check before you go out.

Soccer League Alleges Injustice

The 8 p.m. appearance of a large crowd turned heads at the City Council meeting, especially for those who learned earlier about a scurrilous flier urging residents to come out at that hour "to address your support for African Americans and Latinos Community Development."

Though badly worded, that wasn't the scurrilous part. But more about that later - it turned out the crowd was present to plea for soccer teams' use of city playing fields. Council President Bridget Rivers allowed representative Walter Ramos Jr. of the New Jersey Soccer League to speak, although the topic was not on the agenda. Ramos said after 35 years, the fields were "taken away from us" and blamed the decision on "a gentleman who by political favors is in charge of parks now."

It was unclear who he was talking about, as there was no superintendent of Recreation since Dave Wynn left city employment in 2012. Veronica Taylor only became the Recreation superintendent in mid-April. Public Works Director Eric Jackson was in charge in January, when Ramos said he initially applied for use of the fields. Jackson took a leave of absence in March and made a successful run to become mayor of Trenton, resigning as director on June 30.

Although Ramos alluded to a "big incident" that may have affected the league's use of fields, he said he felt the decision was made "because of race."

Rivers said she knew Ramos and the league maintained the field at their own expense and asked City Administrator Rick Smiley to address the problem, though Ramos said earlier he called Smiley and "all of our calls were ignored."

Smiley said he had looked into the issue, but said, "Obviously they were not happy with the outcome."

Rivers asked the administration for a record of permits and how they are processed.

When Councilwoman Gloria Taylor asked who made the decision regarding use of the fields, Mayor Adrian O. Mapp said it was made collaboratively by members of the administration.

Rivers noted high demand for use of the playing fields and also asked how the decision was made.

"Oftentimes when people don't like the outcome of a decision, there is noise," Mapp said, explaining there had been a fight at one of the fields, resulting in an expulsion.

Mapp said he did not think the meeting was the right forum for the discussion, but Rivers again pressed for answers on the permitting process.

Corporation Counsel Vernita Sias-Hill called a halt to the discussion, saying she needed to investigate some of the issues further.

The flier calling for an 8 p.m. demonstration targeted two City Council members as well as two bloggers, a frequent commenter on the blogs and a well-known campaign donor for good measure. Even though one council member is Caucasian, both were described as African American and "tea party supporters." The writer claimed the councilwoman was going to "put forth a bill to reinstate slavery in Plainfield" and that Mapp agreed with her.

The rhetoric failed to bring out a crowd, but may be a harbinger of things to come as the political season heats up. A current flashpoint is an ordinance to convey city-owned property to the Housing Authority, which will be up for second reading and final passage at the Aug. 18 council meeting.

--Bernice

Council to Mull EMS, HAP Deal Monday

Proposed legislation up for discussion Monday (Aug. 11) would make Union County the "primary first due agency" responding to and providing all emergency medical services to Plainfield for the next five years.

The City Council's agenda-fixing session is 7:30 p.m. in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

According to the agreement, the emergency medical technicians will be county employees using a county-owned ambulance and the cost of services will be billed to those using the services. The agreement anticipates "the full cooperation of the City's first responders," namely police and fire personnel and the Plainfield Rescue Squad.

The agreement follows the recent announcement of additional EMS services for western Union County with an ambulance stationed at the Plainfield Rescue Squad building.

Another item of note is an ordinance up for second reading that would convey a city parking lot and another parcel to the Housing Authority "by sale or long term lease." The ordinance itself was not in the council packet, so bloggers could not verify whether it was the same as MC 2014-16, which was passed on first reading in July. A previous version, MC 2013-21, was deemed "not legal" by Corporation Counsel David Minchello at the Nov. 26 council meeting and was tabled. A revised ordinance was submitted by HAP Executive Director Randall Wood for the  July 7 agenda-fixing session, but at the July 14 meeting, officials said Wood wanted to withdraw it, as per a July 11 meeting with the administration.. But as seen on David Rutherford's video, Council President Bridget Rivers said Wood did not have the right to withdraw it, as it was the council's ordinance. Minchello has since resigned and new Corporation Counsel Vernita Sias-Hill will now make any legal determinations on the matter.

A puzzling item to the layperson is a five-page list of grants that the administration wants to cancel as they "no longer represent monies available for either spending or reimbursement to the city of Plainfield." The dates and amounts - $99,185 in 2007, $50,172.12 in 2009, $92,852.94 in 2006, among 126 grants - call for some explanation and maybe assurance that better attention is being paid to grant timetables. It brings to mind the 2007 "Tepper's Empty Box" situation. (By the way, it's still empty.}

--Bernice

South Avenue Redevelopment Study Sought

Click to enlarge

City Council approval this month could launch an investigation of a large swath of South Avenue on whether it is suitable for redevelopment.

The process involves the governing body asking the Planning Board to conduct the study, make findings and hold a hearing, after which the board may ask the council to take action. The study area includes Old South Avenue and the adjacent park, as well as businesses, and may be broadened to adjacent lots.

(Click on links below for more information)

While no mention is made of any future use, the site appears to match the topic of a July merchants' meeting where a Cedar Knolls developer unveiled the concept of two 4-story buildings with more than 200 market-rate apartments. 

The lots were designated last year as a high-density residential zone as part of the Transit-Oriented Development District - Netherwood. The rezoning permits more intensive development near the Netherwood Train Station.

The resolution authorizing the Planning Board to conduct an investigation will be up for discussion at the agenda-fixing session, 7:30 p.m. Monday in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Avenue. If moved to the agenda, it will be up for a vote at the Aug. 18 regular meeting.

--Bernice

SED Wins Final Site Plan Approval

This post was inadvertently not published Thursday. Sorry for the lapse.

Planners gave final site plan approval Thursday for the relocation of a satellite emergency department from the former Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center to Kenyon House.

The new location is at the northeast corner of the 17-acre campus. Preliminary site plan approval was granted in May, with 11 conditions to be met before final approval. Planning Director Bill Nierstedt said six had been resolved before the meeting. Of the remaining five issues, signage and community outreach generated the most comment from board members and the public Thursday.

Despite the fact that there is no longer a hospital at the site, engineer Matthew Robinson said the blue-and-white "H" symbol was standard throughout the nation could still be used to direct drivers to the SED. The proposed new sign was to have "JFK Muhlenberg" over "Satellite Emergency Department" below the H symbol, but speakers asked for the sign to be modified to emphasize the SED. All current "H" signs in Plainfield and nearby towns will be replaced with the revised one.

Commenters on the sign included Anna Belin, Tom Kaercher, Nancy Piwowar, Dr. Harold Yood, Dottie Gutenkauf, Cheryl Bullock and Deborah Dowe. Several called the "H" misleading. Piwowar suggested adding the new information separately. Gutenkauf called for an emphasis on "emergency" rather than "satellite," saying, "The signs need to be extremely specific," but experts for Muhlenberg said they had to use the terminology dictated by state regulations.

Another signage issue, a listing of community services offered at the SED, will be resolved by posting them near the entrance. They include outpatient testing and imaging and certain medical and social services.

In answer to board member Emmett Swan's questions about community outreach, JFK Health System Vice President for Corporate Facilities Frank Tsemberlis said it is done in a number of ways. Swan suggested linking to the Senior Center, developing bilingual information, publishing a newsletter and holding health fairs.

Tsemberlis had already sent the Planning Division a letter detailing community outreach services and copies were made and distributed to board members and the public Thursday. According to the letter, marketing efforts for the SED will include direct mail cards to all Plainfield households, print ads, cable TV notices and information to be posted on the city web site.

Board Chairman Ron Scott-Bey suggested linking with the Plainfield Health Center. For a city liaison, Nierstedt suggested Health Officer Denise Proctor.

The SED relocation will leave the largest of three parcels on the former hospital site unused. In 2012, a real estate expert said the best use for the site would be a 600-unit apartment complex. JFK Health System later put up a web site called Moving Muhlenberg Forward, with images of the complex and a new SED. But it went dark after city officials rebuffed a pitch from Rev. Gerald Lamont Thomas to accept the apartment plan and launched their own study of the site.

The city-funded study included three community meetings and, now complete, will be the topic of another public meeting at 7 p.m. on Aug. 13 in the Plainfield High School cafeteria.

--Bernice