The Jersey City Council contemplated an agreement to share its public safety training facility with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, one of several important topics discussed yesterday’s caucus meeting.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
According to Kierce, under the terms of the agreement, the PANYNJ will pay the city $1,000 per training session conducted between the hours of 2 p.m. and 10 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The regular operating hours of the facility, located at 15 East Linden Ave., are 5 a.m. through 3 p.m.
“Port Authority currently employs approximately 2,300 sworn members,” Kierce told the council.
“Each officer is required to complete mandatory firearms qualifications twice annually. To satisfy the requirements, the PA anticipates utilizing the city’s Public Safety Training Facility for approximately 100 training days during each qualification cycle.”
Kierce said that based on the anticipated usage, the agreement is expected to generate approximately $200,000 in annual rental revenue.
He added that the agreement maximizes the use of an existing municipal asset during periods when it would otherwise be idle, generates a new source of revenue for the city, and does so without impacting normal city operations or training activities.
In response to questions from Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa, Kierce confirmed that the $1,000 that the Port Authority would be paying the city would consist of $500 per trainee and another $500 for any overtime.
“And that would only be if, in fact, there was somebody out sick or something like that,” Kierce said.
Kierce echoed that the PANYNJ would be using the facility for two training cycles so that their 2,300 sworn officers can complete the mandatory firearms qualifications from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
“So $500 is guaranteed,” Zuppa asked, which Kierce confirmed was correct.
“We may get additional money if one of our officers or DPW or whoever is manning the facility, for lack of a better term, is out sick and not in their normal course work,” Kierce noted.
He continued that the going rate in the region for such agreements is hard to judge since the introduction of conceal carry permits for civilians and that indemnification was built into the agreement.
“A lot of the private ranges choose not to utilize the services of police departments simply because they’re making more money,” Kierce said.
“Based on our review of this, this is a fair and equitable distribution of funds. And there again, will benefit the city when the range is not being used during evening periods and will not impact our qualification cycles.”
Kierce also discussed a settlement agreement on the council’s agenda.
This was a resolution authorizing the payment of a $36,000 claim submitted by C. Dente Towing and Trucking for providing emergency towing services during the winter storms earlier in January and February of this year.
He said the services were necessary to support the emergency response operations and maintain safe and passable roadways during severe weather events.
Answering inquiries from Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore, Kierce said these were different from other similar claims the council voted on prior and were additional funds the contractor had requested and were verified.
He told Gilmore that in addition to this, there was one more company with an outstanding invoices by King Towing which are under review for veracity, also clarifying that this was towing of cars for snow removal.
“This service is for not cars that were towed off premises, this was just to relocate them so we can plow,” Gilmore said.
Kierce affirmed to Gilmore that this was due to this being an emergency contract, with the request for proposals sent out to bid as an emergency contract and this contractor receiving about $100 an hour.
He then presented another resolution authorizing a settlement and payment of a $57,000 claim by Easy Towing and Recovery for emergency towing services provided during the same time frame, for the same reasons.
This prompted Councilman At-Large Michael Griffin to asked what took so long to bring forth these resolutions.
“I think it was a delay in submission of paperwork, a delay in review, and obviously, when my staff had them, I was a DPW director at the time and a person of my OEM staff, Tim Lawrence, was responsible for overseeing the operations,” Kierce explained.
“So we had to verify each item one-by-one to make sure that the items submitted reflected their actual services.”
Corporation Counsel Sarah Levine told Zuppa that she would have a written memo for the council to review regarding filing claim against the city’s salt distributor after a kerfuffle over the amount received before those storms versus the amount paid for.
