TUESDAY COUNCIL MEETING

  A combined Council meeting is on the docket for Tuesday night. The threat of snow and extreme cold will most likely keep this near centenarian who doesn’t bounce well at home. However once again a combined meeting cuts down the Councilor’s chance to explore in detail, if they are to fulfill their charge, items on the agenda.

  For instance they will approve approximately 360K approved legal firm retainers varying in amounts from 5K to 65K to 15 different firms. History has shown by midyear additional funds will be approved. What was the total legal fees in 2017 including Corporation Counsel?

  Councilor Tolliver will be happy to note that there is a resolution authorizing 130K for the updating the firehouse “bathrooms”. This bid was the lowest received.

  They will adopt a Resolution authorizing renewal of a contract with Aetna, and its Third Party Administrator, the Difference Card, to provide employee and retiree group medical and prescription drug coverage and administration This is a big item on the budget; the cost associated with the annual premium for active employee and retiree medical and prescription coverage for the duration of the contract is estimated at $13,473,985.68 (which also includes the employee contribution).

   Another item is the rejection of a bid for the sale of the property at 216 Front St.; “the bid submitted for 216-18 West Front Street, Block 249 Lot 5 is being rejected because the contiguous owner was not the successful bidder” Will the property be sold to the “contiguous owner” at a lower price and if so how much less is the city getting and why? 

 Resolution 069-18 is to approve “Qualified Vendors and Service Providers in Accordance with Plainfield Municipal Code Section 2:10-18 (Public Works Services). There is a large list including ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES, BOARD CERTIFIED MASTER ARBORIST TREE EXPERT, ENGINEERING SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL PLANNING SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL PLANNING AND REDEVELOPMENT, and CONSULTING SERVICES.

  There is a large list of approved vendors in most categories, how they will be selected is unclear. By pay for play?

  This agenda has many items that a responsible Council might question or at least get some answers; how in today’s dollars do our legal costs the last time we had full time Corporation Counsel compare with those this past year? The same question about Engineering; was a rounded full time engineer versus today’s outsourcing? That is only two.