Tonight's Hoboken City Council meeting starts off with two closed session items:
1) Hoboken City Hall Security Measures:Hoboken’s Chief of Police Kenneth F. Ferrante wishes to brief the City Council and Administration on safety and security matters, specifically new security measures at City Hall. One of the reasons to go into closed session is to discuss tactics and techniques utilized in protecting the safety and property of the public, disclosure of which could impair that protection. The City Council wishes to receive the safety and security briefing from Chief Ferrante, which will include discussion of tactics and techniques utilized in protecting the citizens of Hoboken, disclosure of which could impair said protection.
It is unknown whether these measures are related to any specific security threats made towards the Mayor or City Hall generally but some level of security strengthening in these times is likely warranted.
2) Personnel Matters:
This is likely a discussion of the new Deputy Chief of Staff created by new Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Under Mayor Zimmer there was a singular Chief of Staff position in her efforts to reduce the overhead for the Mayor's office and save the taxpayers money as part of her campaign promises. By creating this new position Ravi is asking for an additional slot on the table of organization that requires City Council approval. the discussion will likely revolve around the justification for this new position when in the past just one position seemed to foot the bill.
The two major ordinances for final vote are:
1) Schedule of Classifications for City employees (Table of Organization)AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND AND SUPPLEMENT AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A SCHEDULE OF CLASSIFICATIONS AND ALLOCATIONS OF TITLE FOR THE HERIN MENTIONED POSITIONS IN THE CITY OF HOBOKEN (sponsored by Councilman Cunningham and Councilwoman Giattino) (Z-539)
2) Authorization Ballot for reinstating run off elections. Mayor Zimmer vetoed this in one of her final acts as Mayor. The question is WWBD (What will Bhalla do)? It is likely the City Council will have enough votes to override anyway and let the people decide this November at the ballot box.
AN ORDINANCE TO SUBMIT THE PROPOSITION TO THE VOTERS AT THE NOVEMBER 6, 2018 GENERAL ELECTION THAT THE CITY OF HOBOKEN ADOPT THE HOLDING OF RUN-OFF ELECTIONS AS PERMITTED BY THE UNIFORM NON-PARTISAN ELECTIONS LAW (sponsored by Councilman DeFusco and Councilman Ramos) (Z-541)
Two Council resolutions have some significance:
1) Make Warrington Plaza an open market. This was a Mike Defusco campaign promise. It is unclear to me what jurisdiction Hoboken has and that this could just be a wish list request to NJ Transit.CL3.* RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING THE BHALLA ADMINISTRATION TO PURSUE THE PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED “OUTDOOR MARKET PROPOSAL” WHICH WOULD ACTIVATE WARRINGTON PLAZA AND CREATE AN INTERCONNECTED WATERFRONT IN 2018 (sponsored by Councilman DeFusco and Councilman Ramos, Jr.)
2) Instant runoff option for elections. NJ has to pass legislation to allow municipal elections to have this option but it has merits vs. winner take all or a separate runoff election.
CL4.* RESOLUTION URGING THE STATE TO PERMIT INSTANT RUN-OFFS IN HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY (sponsored by Councilwoman Jabbour
And this ordinance on first reading:
Bar Crowd Control Ordinance - requiring minimum security personnel based on capacity for special events like Santa-con.
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 68 ENTITLED “ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES” AT § 68-14 “RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING LICENSES” TO REQUIRE PLENARY RETAIL CONSUMPTION LICENSE HOLDERS TO EMPLOY CROWD CONTROL AND SECURITY MEASURES
Here is an example of one aspect of this legislation. I spoke to several bar restaurant owners and they claim they were not consulted on this before this was put up for first reading. There is the potential I see that these regulations may be onerous for restaurants and bars that do not participate in events like Santa-Con.
A. Security regulations and Crowd Control.
1. Each licensee shall be responsible for operating the licensed premises in a safe and orderly manner. The minimum number and type of security personnel on duty shall be determined by the occupant load of the licensed premises pursuant to the Certificate of Occupancy, Uniform Construction Code, and/or International Fire Code, subject to the following:
a. 100 occupants or less: At a minimum, one door person and one security person. The security person may also serve as the manager to the licensed premises.
b. 101 to 200 occupants: At a minimum, one door person and two security persons. One of the security persons may be a manager.
c. 201 to 300 occupants: At a minimum, one door person and three security persons. One of the security persons may be a manager.
d. 301 to 400 occupants: At a minimum, one door person and four security persons including a security supervisor who may be one of the four security persons. One of the security persons may be a manager.
e. 401 to 500 occupants: At a minimum, one door person and five security persons including a security supervisor who may be one of the five security persons. One of the security persons may be a manager.
f. 501 to 600 occupants: At a minimum, one door person and six security persons including a security supervisor who may be one of the six security persons. One of the security persons may be a manager.
g. 601 to 700 occupants: At a minimum, one door person and seven security persons including a security supervisor who may be one of the seven security persons. One of the security persons may be a manager.
h. 701 to 800 occupants: At a minimum, one door person and eight security persons including a security supervisor who may be one of the eight security persons. One of the security persons may be a manager.
i. 801 occupants and above: At a minimum, one door person and one security person for every one hundred persons as allowed by the occupant load for the licensed premises and one security supervisor for every four security persons. Security supervisors may also be security persons required under this subsection. One of the security persons may be a manager.
Agenda: http://www.hobokennj.org/docs/council/agenda18/1-17-18-revised-ccm.pdf
Resolutions: http://www.hobokennj.org/docs/council/respack18/1.17.18.revised.respac.pdf
