Council schedules special meeting with DEP, tables lead-service contract and approves emergency intake work and property purchases for Trenton Water Works

Trenton City Council on Aug. 7 said it will seek a special meeting Aug. 18 to hear from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection about long-running questions tied to Trenton Water Works and the DEP’s oversight. The council also delayed action on a contested lead-service-line replacement contract after a bidder’s attorney requested a hearing and the council voted to table the resolution; it approved an emergency intake cleaning contract and an ordinance authorizing purchases of two properties for the water utility.

The council president opened the meeting by telling the public that DEP officials had declined to attend the Aug. 7 meeting but had offered to meet individually with council members. “We have offered them to come before us on August 18,” the council president said. Council members said they prefer a public meeting where the full council and residents can hear the DEP’s position.

During public comment James Ross, a lawyer with Blick Law Firm representing a bidder identified as Roman ENG, urged the council to set aside Resolution 25-302, the lead-service-line contract award. Ross told the council he had submitted two letters raising bid-protest issues and asked for a hearing before the council: “Our position is that the lowest bidder … failed to produce the statutorily required information on subcontractor plumber ownership in the bidder,” Ross said, adding that similar deficiencies were raised for the second-low bidder.

Councilmember Frisbie moved to table Resolution 25-302 “to permit an opportunity for a hearing” on the procurement challenge; Councilmember Edwards seconded. The roll-call vote carried (ayes recorded for Frisbie, Edwards, Feliciano, Figueroa Kettenberg, Williams and President Gonzales). The motion to table postponed any final award and preserved the protest process the attorney described.

Separately the council approved two walk-on items tied to the water utility. A walk-on resolution (listed as 25‑311) authorizes an emergency contract with Commerce Construction Corporation for “emergency cleaning and inspection of raw water intake confined space for the Department of Water and Sewer filtration plant” not to exceed $311,937. Sean Sample, identified at the meeting as director of water and sewer operations, described the work as a preventive step after a recent intake inspection showed debris that could limit flow and contribute to cold‑weather ice problems at the intake. “This phase … will have the intake screens cleaned and reinspected to find out if this was the major cause …” Sample said. He and council members emphasized the inspection and cleaning are intended to reduce the risk of the kind of outages experienced during the past winter.

The council also approved a walk-on purchase (listed as Ordinance 25‑086) authorizing Trenton Water Works to acquire two properties—referred to at the meeting as the Elks property and a Crestdeck property—for a combined price of $1,034,191.14. The ordinance passed on roll call; the council and water‑department directors framed the purchase as part of securing access and operations for the water system.

Council members and department officials repeatedly stressed that Trenton Water Works must meet state and federal safe‑drinking‑water standards. When asked about water quality and the recent public discussion, Sample said the plant meets “the Safe Drinking Water Act regulations on a federal and state level” and that the DEP has said the same. He added that some appearances of purple or discolored water seen in publicly shared photos reflected treatment chemicals (potassium permanganate and coagulants) in raw water during treatment, not finished drinking water.

What happens next: the council expects to host DEP at a special meeting Aug. 18; the tabling of Resolution 25‑302 preserves the protest and hearing process; the intake‑cleaning contract will proceed as an emergency procurement; and the property purchases move forward after the ordinance’s approval.

Votes at the meeting on water items are recorded in the council minutes and the council clerk’s roll calls.