Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the City Finance And Procurement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Votes at a glance: Trenton council approves ordinances, property sale and shared-services items on March 4
Summary
The Trenton City Council approved several ordinances, property sales and shared-services agreements on March 4, including fee changes to the retail food code, sale of 196 Pennington Avenue, long-term tax-exemption agreements and walk-on resolutions extending public-health shared services and authorizing MCIA work at Eagle Tavern.
The Trenton City Council on March 4 approved a package of ordinances, property-sale and shared-services items, most by unanimous roll-call votes and several as part of a consent agenda.
Items approved at the meeting included:
- Ordinance 205-7: An ordinance amending Chapter 113 (Food Handling), Article 1 (Retail Food Establishment Code), section 113-4 (fees). Council held a public hearing and approved the ordinance by roll call.
- Ordinance 205-8: An ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as 196 Pennington Avenue (Block 6705, Lot 4) to Charles C. Lewis for a sale price of $5,000 pursuant to NJSA 40A:12-13(c). The measure passed by roll call.
- Resolutions 2484 & 2485 (walk-ons): The council authorized extension of a shared-services agreement with Mercer County to provide public-health services (resolution 2484) and approved a shared-services agreement with the Mercer County Improvement Authority (MCIA) for work at the Eagle Tavern (resolution 2485). Council members asked about MCIA’s role as property manager and were told the final management agreement and operator selections will require council review and contractual approvals.
- Approvals of long-term tax-exemption financial agreements: Ordinances approving applications for long-term tax exemptions and settlement agreements were approved for Veil Urban Renewal Limited Partnership (Block 18202, Lot 1) and Realty Management Trenton Urban Renewal LLC / IOP Pennington Urban Renewal LLC (Block 4201, Lot 1).
- Competitive contracting for police training (Resolutions 25082 & 25083): Council authorized use of competitive contracting to procure training services for police officers, citing the need to evaluate vendors on experience and other elements beyond price and to allow contract terms longer than a single-year professional-services contract.
- Resolution regarding an officer’s back pay (25-076): Council reviewed a request to make an officer financially whole after two federal jury exonerations and a judge’s critical opinion of prosecutorial conduct. The law director explained the statute requires the municipality to make the employee whole if the employer did not provide representation and the employee prevailed. Council approved the payment on the record.
Other routine items passed on consent included approval of minutes, communications, petitions and various routine resolutions listed on the agenda. Several items were extracted from consent for brief discussion prior to approval.
Votes: Each vote listed on the record was taken by roll call. For consent-agenda items the clerk read a consolidated consent list and the council approved it by roll call. Individual roll-call tallies are recorded in the meeting minutes and the clerk announced each motion carried where applicable.
What council members asked: On the Eagle Tavern item, Councilwoman Feliciano asked about MCIA’s role, who would collect rent and who makes the final decision on vendor/operator selection; BA Maria Richardson and administration staff said a later management agreement will specify responsibilities and that the city would retain ownership of the property. On competitive contracting for police training BA Maria Richardson explained the procurement rationale: competitive contracting allows evaluation of experience and the option to award contracts with extensions beyond a single year.
The meeting closed with public comment and routine adjournment.
