Meaning, in a letter dated September 20, 2017 SUEZ informed the City of Hoboken:
"...at this time negotiation of the amended and restated agreement have essentially ceased. Please be advised that negotiations made in the MOU were predicated on the parties entering into the amended and restated agreement, and in the event that this does not occur, SUEZ will be seeking payment for the additional expenses outlined herein because SUEZ did not waive its contractual right to the additional monies owed by the City."
There is a reason for SUEZ's ultimatum. A reason why negotiations between the City of Hoboken and SUEZ "essentially ceased". Because on the night of September 6, 2017, Council President Jen Giattino, a mayoral candidate, did not allow a vote on SUEZ 's"amended and restated agreement" (MOU). Giattino refused to let a SUEZ representative present a $2M benefit included in the MOU: leak detection technology to predict and prevent major water main breaks.
As it turns out, blocking an up-or-down vote may have serious consequences for Hoboken taxpayers.
Blocking the up-or-down vote on the City's "amended and restated agreement" with SUEZ halted the negotiation progress; it is in SUEZ-LIMBO. That is why SUEZ put the City (and Hoboken taxpayers) notice.
So then, WHY did Council President Giattino deny an up-or-down vote? Clearly, the resolution would have failed, but that would have allowed the negotiations between Zimmer and SUEZ to continue.
OPRAed email communications show Giattino campaign coalition- Giattino, Fisher and Cuningham reflexively dismiss the Mayor's plea for a vote.
On September 1, 2017, Mayor Zimmer sent an email to Council President Giattino explaining why it was important to the City of Hoboken to vote up or down on the contract. Giattino forwarded the Mayor's letter to Fisher and Cunningham.
START READING HERE
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There you go, people. What do you think?
The interaction is interesting - even entertaining - particularly the references to OPRA and
ReplyDeletethe really odd references Stan.
However, I for one will reserve judgment until we see what transpires going forward.
It seems likely we will either get a re-negotiated agreement along the lines of what Zimmer presented to the council - perhaps with a few tweaks negotiated by the new Mayor - or a large tax increase and the continuation of the existing contract with all it's acknowledged flaws. Even if another alternative could eventually be found -and thats a big if - the result for now would be pretty costly.
The Council, not the new Mayor, will ultimately make that call. If the public agrees with their choice they should rightfully receive kudos. If the public does not, they will rightfully receive and deserve blame.
I agree with you, numbers. I am reserving judgment.
DeleteThis is what you call transparency. Folks have a right to know about the Mayor's efforts to get an up-or-down vote on the SUEZ renegotiated contract, and how the city would proceed if it got voted down. Folks have a right to know how their 2nd, 5th and 6th Ward representatives responded to the mayor, because the denial of an up or down vote had consequences for Hoboken (see SUEZ letter of Sept 20).
Yes, I think the Council should have voted it down instead of putting negotiations in suspended animation. Could woulda shoulda. What's done is done.
All that matters now is how our legislators handle this problem going forward.
It is pretty obvious they are all playing games. It really is quite disturbing. It makes the entire CC look really bad seeing these emails and reflecting back on all the nastiness that was being floated about online a couple months back.
DeleteThe email thread, of which we're only seeing a portion, is very disturbing because it reveals that Giattino, Fisher and Cunningham were angling for some political gain rather than dealing with an important matter, and a long simmering crisis caused during the Russo administration. May it blow up in their faces, not our wallets. Then there is the matter of Fisher, once again, putting words in Giattino's mouth. Very unsanitary. This time in the form of a draft of a letter that Giattino appears to not have used. During the campaign, many puzzled as to why we heard and saw so much of Fisher when Giattino was the candidate. That candidacy by proxy, plus the "support" of people like Brice and two of the three furies contributed to their collective loss at the polls.
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