The Jersey City Council stuck with Joyce Watterman as council president, with Ward A Councilwoman Denise Ridley taking over as president pro tempore after Councilman-at-Large Daniel Rivera declined to take the post again at last night’s reorganization meeting.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
Councilman-at-Large Daniel Rivera nominated Ward A Councilwoman Ridley for council president, which was seconded by Councilwoman-at-Large Amy DeGise.
“I vote for myself, so of course, aye,” Ridley said.
“I’m confused. Can you explain it again?” Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore asked.
City Clerk Sean Gallagher explained that if the nomination doesn’t pass, another nomination will be taken. If it passed, they would vote on the resolution.
“I vote aye,” Gilmore said.
DeGise, Rivera, Ridley, and Gilmore voted yes, while Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey, Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano, Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh, and Ward E Councilman James Solomon abstained.
“We have a vote of 4-0(5). The motion fails. We would need five votes for that to be approved,” Gallagher explained.
Saleh then nominated Watterman, which Prinz-Arey seconded. Rivera, who had privately asked his colleagues for support as council president this time around, had a lot to say before voting yes
“We had a conversation back in 2018 with Councilwoman Denise Ridley, myself, and the council president. We did say we were going to pass over the council presidency after the first term. 2020, Council President Watterman did tell me she needed another go-around. We did that,” he said.
“We’re a family up here. If we treat each other like family, we need to honor the word we tell each other. I have to handle things here a little differently now. There is no opportunity for Daniel Rivera to be council president. I just felt that I should have gotten a chance at it. And I can never get that at least now. But I’m going to be the big person. That’s my sister. We’ve been attached to the hip.”
Rivera continued that it’s not healthy to agree on everything and that council members need to accept that.
“It’s not healthy to agree with everything we do up here. You’re going to have times when there’s bumps in the road and council members don’t talk to each other. We have to fix that. You get a lot of bull**** out there and these council people take it personally,” he further stated.
“And we need to fix that before we come up before a live stage like this. I thank all my council colleagues that were supporting me. But there’s not a comeback to what I’m saying. Word is word, and bond is bond, at least in Jersey City.”
Watterman choose not to respond to Rivera’s remarks, simply voting aye.
“I thank Councilman Rivera for taking the time to nominate me. I know the dynamics of the council have changed. I’m hoping, as a council, we all can move forward and work together,” Ridley chimed in.
“I’ve always appreciated the council president’s willingness to, whenever I want to talk about something, she always has an open door. Councilman Rivera has always been the same. With that, I vote aye,” Solomon explained.
The resolution appointing Watterman as council president passed 9-0 before Saleh nominated Rivera to again serve as council president pro tempore.
“I do not accept the nomination,” Rivera declared.
“Do we have to vote on it?” Solomon asked.
“I say we vote on it. We can take another nomination,” Gallagher stated.
“If he doesn’t want it, we vote him in, he has to take it? I’m going to vote for him,” Ridley declared.
Rivera voted against his own nomination, which passed 8-1, but he remained steadfast that he didn’t want to serve in the leadership post any longer.
“That’s correct,” Rivera said when asked by Gallagher if he still did not want to accept it.
As a result, Ridley was then nominated by DeGise and seconded by Rivera. Her nomination was approved unanimously (9-0).
“Congratulations,” Gallagher said to applause.
After the meeting, Ridley and Watterman, the first African American woman to serve as Jersey City council president, briefly spoke about what transpired.
“I’m looking forward to supporting the councilwoman, the council president. I’m here to keep the peace,” Ridley said afterward regarding her new position, indicating that she planned on continuing pushing policy issues she had been working on.
As for Watterman, in the new year she said she wanted to continue working on affordable housing policy and sustainability/environmental justice.
“That’s part of my passion,” she explained, also stating she wanted to focus on increasing transparency and having more connectivity between city departments.
“The more they know how it operates, the more transparent we can be.”
She declined to comment on Rivera’s remarks, as well as her run for mayor in 2025.
