Council Meeting Wrap-Up: January 3, 2024
Good morning Hoboken, Happy New Year, and Happy Monday! But how happy can Mondays ever really be? As promised, this morning I’ll be summarizing the goings on from our most recent Council meeting. I hope you find this summary informative and, more importantly, insightful.
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Wednesday evening’s Council meeting was the first of the year and so was mostly administrative given it was focused primarily on re-organization. We saw the ceremonial swearing in of our new and re-elected councilmembers, the departure of Council President Emily Jabbour (don’t worry, it’s just from the presidency, not from the Council), election of new Council leadership, discussion of an arts plan, and the appointments of some municipal board member. There wasn’t a ton of fireworks and very little intra-council bickering – which is a good thing. And for the second meeting in a row, I agreed with Councilwoman Fisher on something!
New Council and All Hail to the New Chief
While the new and re-elected councilmembers were legally sworn in on January 1,on Wednesday City Clerk Jimmy Farina conducted a ceremonial swearing in for our six ward members. Councilmembers Fisher (2nd Ward), Russo (3rd Ward), Ramos (4th Ward), Cohen (5th Ward), and Giattino (6th Ward) were all sworn in again following their re-elections, this is a long tenured class with Cohen serving his second term and Russo serving his fifth. Councilman Presinzano was sworn into his first term as representing the 1st Ward. City Clerk Farina also hit a milestone having conducted his 1 millionth swearing in! Per state law this entitles him to a free small pumpkin spice latte at Dunkin (he will have to wait until September to collect though). Congrats Jimmy!
The initial business was choosing the new council leadership for the year. As predicted by the Hudson County View Councilwoman Giattino and Councilman Doyle were elected President and Vice President, respectively. This marks a return to the presidency for Councilwoman Giattino and the first time in council leadership for Councilman Doyle. Both were approved 9-0.
Who says this Council can’t agree on things?
Councilwoman Jabbour now joins me, Ramos, and Cohen on the fun side of the dais. Welcome Emily!
Public Arts Plan Presentation (and Later Vote)
For the second meeting in a row there was another lengthy – but informative – presentation. This presentation was on a proposed Public Arts Plan for the City. A representative from Francis Cauffman Architects walked us through a proposal centered around (1) establishing a plan, (2) defining methods and processes for creating public art, and (3) establishing policies and parameters for selecting and maintaining art.
Councilwoman Fisher and I were aligned (are we becoming besties?) on our support for the plan, as it creates a framework for our purposeful administration, selection, and maintenance of public art throughout the city. While we have many great art installations throughout Hoboken, to date our selection process has been ad-hoc. Councilwoman Fisher and I agreed (okay okay – Councilman Cohen agreed too) that a more defined approach to how Hoboken implements art around the City would lead to a better process and more efficient use of city resources. We have $2 million already set aside for future public art secured via the Hoboken Public Art Program Bond, which allocates 1% of all City bond revenues to funding public art projects.
While there were a minority of concerns (mostly from Councilman Russo) on soft costs associated with administering the program, the overall plan passed 8-1 given this would simply approve a framework – it would not commit to any actual spending. Further, any new spending would still need to come back to the council for approval. Now that it’s approved, next steps will be designating a Public Art Program Administrator (possibly out of the Cultural Affairs Office), establishing an annual work plan, conducting a conditions assessment of existing public art, and establishing a project implementation task force.
Municipal Board Appointments
We made the following appointments to municipal boards:
Hoboken Zoning Board of Adjustment: Steve Firestone (Commissioner) and John Branciforte (1st Alternate)
Hoboken Arts Council City Council Representatives: Diane Imus, Ralph Capasso, and Migdalia Pagan-Milano
I’d like to congratulate all our community members who were appointed and thank them for stepping up to serve our community. These positions are voluntary and take a fair amount of time and commitment from those who serve. Our City simply couldn’t run without residents like these – thank you again.
City Council Appointments
The City Council itself is responsible for designating some of our own members to serve as City Council Representatives on certain local boards. Last night the following appointments were made.
Hoboken Planning Board: Council Vice President Doyle
Hoboken Business Alliance Board of Trustees: Councilman Ramos
Hoboken University Medical Center Board: Councilwoman Fisher
Hoboken Cannabis Review Board: Councilwoman Jabbour
While each of these positions will add more to the already heavy workloads of these Council Members, an informal survey conducted after the meeting indicated that Council Vice President Doyle will probably have the biggest workload serving on the Planning board. On the other hand, Councilmember Jabbour will be considered the coolest by local Phish and Snoop Dog fans due to her position on the Cannabis Board.
Fun Other Things - Back by Popular Demand
Best Line of the Evening. Councilman Ramos wins for telling Ed Reep (local Republican firebrand) “I like your parents.” This was said in response to Mr. Reep lamenting to the Council that his parents thinks Republicans are “terrible” and would never vote one.
Best Performance. Jimmy Farina for handing the biggest gavel I’ve ever seen to new Council President Giattino. This is a second win in a row for Mr. Farina, let’s see if he can keep it up!
Best Dressed: Three-way tie to Councilmen Presinzano, Cohen, and Ramos for wearing… ties.
Best Moment. Councilman Jim Doyle finally making his way onto Council leadership.
Thanks for reading Hoboken, hope to see you at our next meeting. Have a great week. Go get ‘em!
