The City Council rejected a second try Monday to get $30,000 in rental fees for a small business program based in a privately-owned Park Avenue building.
In May, Jacques Howard of the Office of Economic Development and Jeffery Dunn of The Incubator said the money was owed to Kean University, but no one from Kean was present to answer questions about any contractual arrangement. On Monday, Nathaniel Sims, director of the New Jersey Small Business Center at Kean, said the program had been at the Park Avenue location for 10 years and rent was paid with Urban Enterprise Zone funds. The UEZ fund is based on sales tax collected from certified retailers and was formerly applied to uses in the zone with approval of the Urban Enterprise Zone Authority, until the Christie administration disbanded the state UEZ office and turned remaining funds back to participating municipalities.
Plainfield received a balance of about $4 million, but has no review process comparable to the UEZA for use of funds. Dunn and Howard pitched the rental issue directly to the council at the May 6 agenda session, but council members said they wanted to hear a Kean representative explain it. When Council President Bridget Rivers asked, "Do the city owe you money?" Dunn turned the question back to Howard, who said it "depends."
On Monday, when Rivers asked why the item was back before the council, City Administrator Eric Berry said, "This is a request by the mayor."
Councilwoman Rebecca Williams said all other such programs are located on college campuses and asked why a private business should be paid. She suggested locating the program in the Plainfield Public Library's new job center, calling the Park Avenue location an "ill fit" aimed at lining someone's pocket.
Sims said the program wants to serve Plainfield and has extended its services to include disaster assisstance after hurricanes Irene and Sandy. He said a new grant for post-storm assistance and readiness for future storms had just come out four days ago. But when Williams asked why the city had to pay if there was a new grant, Sims said it was for consulting services.
After more discussion, Councilman Cory Storch said the proposal has come to the city previously and he has voted "no" because according to the statistics presented, of 480 clients counseled on starting a business, only nine new business starts resulted.
"We have to invest funds where we see results," he said. "This has been given a chance for ten years."
Councilman Adrian Mapp, a chief financial officer in another municipality, said the city is not procuring services from Kean and the city can only spend money on entities with which it has some kind of contract. With that, the council declined to move the item to the Aug. 19 agenda.
--Bernice
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Once again ... follow the money.
ReplyDeleteWe don't know how effective the seminars and consultations are, or how many Plainfield residents participate, or new Plainfield businesses start up. The SBDC rep, Nathanial Sims, didn't specify, and city residence is not a requirement.
ReplyDeleteEven still, this is about the venue, because no doubt the library, Union County College, or the senior center, YWCA, or Teppers basement would work for a fraction of the cost.
How much has been spent on full-time space since 2002 when the use is irregular and occasional? Why the Incubator?
Why not the Incubator, because the City is so practiced in the art of disregarding its own ordinance prohibiting public officials from having a personal interest in city contracts?
On that score, another resolution slipped by, paying CHS Construction the residual on a demolition project so it could make good on the subcontractor's out-of-pocket expenses, which just happen to include $2100 in questionable PMUA fees.
Not coincidentally, the recipients of such latitude represent two of the three votes required that let PMUA's former top-two executives walk away with a $1 million slice of payola.
Maybe whatever Council committee deals with ventures like the SBDC could meet with Mr. Sims to get a better picture its programs and their value without the built-in pork and self-dealing.
Follow the $ ... from your wallet to theirs.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to know that this request was rejected.
ReplyDeleteI visited this office last year, interested in getting some information on possibly opening a local business, after having closed my business in NYC after 10 years.
Although I'm familiar with the process of opening a business, I had some very basic questions as to opening a business in NJ.
Although Mr. Sims was very pleasant, he could not answer any one of my basic questions, then referred me to a phone number listed on the back of a brochure he handed me -- a state agency.
I recall leaving there thinking a few things: 1. what was the purpose of this office when the "expert" in charge couldn't answer the most basic of questions 2. who was funding this organization and 3. that it was a "front" to create perception that something is being done to stimulate local business development.
It's concerning to know that this office was funded with UEZ funds for the last 10 years and it doesn't seem that, in 10 years, effectiveness of the program was ever challenged.
Like this office, undoubtedly, there are many more publicly funded programs that just suck up tax-payer funds and don't serve any purpose, other than providing someone with a job for which they're not qualified.
Thank you to all the council members who voted against more wasteful spending.