Hoboken Officials Exchange Barbs Over Layoffs And Personnel

HOBOKEN, NJ — Now that Mayor Ravi Bhalla has said he needs to make up for Hoboken's growing costs by laying off 26 employees, members of the City Council are offering alternatives — but their proposals are not without controversy.

Bhalla said on April 17 that he would lay the employees off to avoid a tax increase. He blamed rising costs due to the coronavirus pandemic, but had said earlier in the year that the city was already struggling with cost increases.

All cities have been forced to account from lost revenue from municipal courts (tickets), parking fees, and other income sources.

Hoboken already had faced a budget gap. In February, the city issued preliminary layoff notices to more than 70 workers, before the pandemic spread to New Jersey.

"The city has taken on additional new costs to protect the health and safety of residents, while also realizing substantial losses in revenue due to the crisis," Bhalla wrote in an alert on April 17.

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The municipal supervisors union responded by sending a letter April 22 to the state Civil Service Commission, arguing that the city hadn't followed regulations and was planning to lay off veterans.

In a letter from the union's attorney, the union also said that the city's Office of Constituent Services contained two political hires.

It was those hires who were a bone of contention this week, leading up to this Wednesday's virtual City Council meeting.

Councilman Michael DeFusco said in a release that he and other council members had proposed three alternatives that will be on Wednesday's agenda.

Among them, an ordinance sponsored by Council Vice President Vanessa Falco and DeFusco would reduce the salaries of all City Council members, the mayor, and city directors by 10 percent through the end of the year.

Also, an ordinance sponsored by Councilman Ruben Ramos and Councilman Michael Russo would eliminate the Office of Constituent Services.

"In 2009, an independent and nonpartisan state appointed fiscal monitor referred to the division as a luxury department," said the release.

However, the city has said the office is necessary and has helped residents with specific concerns. On Monday, City Council members allied with Bhalla submitted a letter from the Hudson County Alliance to End Homelessness (HCAEH) dated Monday.

"Since August 2018, Caroline Caulfield has been an active member of the HCAEH meetings as a representative of the Hoboken Office of Constituent Services," wrote Chair Katelyn Ravensbergen, "advocating on behalf of Hoboken Citizens and providing a bridge between municipal and county planning efforts around homeless and housing services. Additionally, in 2019, the HCAEH developed a working group focusing on landlord incentives and initiatives, with the goal of providing additional housing opportunities for low-income and homeless clients. Caroline attended all working group meetings to provide municipal level insight during the planning process."

Hoboken has 53,000 residents, many of whom are renters. The city also has a homeless shelter.

Council members Emily Jabbour, James Doyle, and Phil Cohen issued a joint statement Monday saying, "We fully support the incredible work performed by lifelong Hoboken residents Caroline Caulfield and Migdalia Pagan Milano, and we thank them for everything they have done for thousands of residents since the Office of Constituent Affairs was launched in October 2018."

They said councilmembers DeFusco, Ramos, Falco, and Michael Russo, and Vanessa Falco "are leading the seemingly politically motivated charge to eliminate the Office of Constituent Affairs, an office that has helped hundreds of residents in need as a result of COVID-19 who are out of work and looking for assistance, as well as coordinating volunteers to process and deliver food to our seniors, and much more. This is a clearly targeted move taking aim at one of Mayor Bhalla's first initiatives as mayor."

Later, Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher weighed in with a comment: "This isn’t about ending constituent services. It is about rightsizing during a difficult time. As the mayor reabsorbs this function back into the mayor's office hopefully he will choose to keep Caroline to continue to provide this function, who I think does a great job working for Hoboken, and maybe more appropriately downsize his own staff who primarily just work for him."

A third ordinance would eliminate the city’s engineer in favor of utilizing one of the vendors already approved to do work in Hoboken, according to DeFusco's release.

The statement from Jabbour, Doyle, and Cohen said the move would not save money, as Kimberli Craft's work as an in-house engineer has saved the city from having to hire outside engineers and contractors at a higher cost.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Check out the agenda here.

To submit a comment prior to the meeting, email Cityclerk@hobokennj.gov. To find out how to participate or watch virtually, go here.

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