PRLIMINARY COUNCIL REPORT

I left the meeting about 11:20 when there were only a few first reading ordinances from the Planing Board for approval in next weeks agenda. Since there were only about 10 citizens left for the public comment period, although Alan Goldstein was one I decided that my old bones should seek bed asap.

The meeting started late as usual (8:02 pm).The Council President before going into the published agenda started a discussion on the recent Plainfield murders. Director of Public Safety Hellwig made a few remarks. Then there were public comments until about 8:50pm relating to the crime situation and what steps individuals thought should be done to combat the problem.

One fact that intrigued me was that the Plainfield Police Department's role in the shoots appears to be ancillary to the Union County Homicide Task Force unit. This shift in authority may represent a Plainfield staffing decrease in expertise and numbers. Although not official this is an example of shared services.

At 8:55pm the Council recessed from the written agenda in order to have the Public Commentary on the submitted budget. More about this in a later post.

Once again the City Administrator admitted to a substantial error in the Fire Departments salary line. To correct this mistake and maintain the proposed "balanced budget, funds were transferred on paper from allocations of other Departments/Divisions. These funds have in part been already replaced b y Grant Funds and it is expected that all will. Councilwoman Rivers questioned where this City found "500,000.00" when there were layoffs and was told that this was money that was not available when the projected budget was drafted.

Of significance is a resolution (on the agenda) appointing Mr Alfred Restaino Director of Community Development as the Department of Administration, Financed,Health and Social Services. verbally added was the nomination of Ron Zilinski to be CFO/City Treasurer. The later title being a new one, although there is a first reading ordinance establishing a salary range for City Treasurer the position must still be created by ordinance.

Two Resolutions after considerable debate were dropped from consideration; The first was to execute a profession service contract with Powell Capital Markets Inc.. The City Administrator reminded the Council that in July it had approved of this vendor but that resolution had been modified to be more specific than this one. The City Administrator did clarify some of the jobs that this consultant would work on including Bond Ratings and debt flotations. In response to cost, which were not defined in the paperwork The City Administrator stated that the usual fee would be passed on the contract and not to exceed 20%. The tenor of the Council's reticence was a this one is written it could be an open check.

The other resolution that by a 4 to 3 vote was not placed on next Monday's agenda was approval of a new replacement agreement with "Incubator"

I will post later more about the meeting itself as well as the above resolution.