Council moves daily COVID-19 meeting time due to DeFusco's POOR ATTENDANCE

underlying photo credit: Reuters

After being called out on this blog for skipping 12 out of 14 of the Hoboken City Council's daily COVID-19 conference calls, First Ward Councilman DeFusco made a formal email request to Council President Giattino to change the meeting's start time from 9:50 AM to 11:00 AM.  His unstated presumption was that the meeting time was at fault for him being AWOL for 86% of the meetings.   

Mind you, the earlier time worked better for the 12 or 13 officials who regularly attend, but as a courtesy to one person, the daily start time was changed. Hence, on March 31, the COVID-19 conference call commenced at 11:00 AM.   

What difference did it make?

The Councilman attended on (Tuesday) March 31, (Wednesday) April 1, (Thursday) April 2 and (Sunday) April 5 calls.  However, without explanation, he was AWOL on (Friday) April 3, (Saturday) April 4 and on (Monday) April 6. In summary, since the schedule was changed for him, Defusco attended 4 meetings and skipped 3 for a 57% attendance rate. That's 57% attendance in the middle of a pandemic where more Hoboken residents test positive every day, and more die.  

Again, his shitty attendance was for meetings moved to accommodate him and at a new time that inconvenienced everyone- 8 Council members and various City officials. Yet the First Ward Councilman still blew off nearly half of the meetings. 

Well, on Monday, the Council's irritation at Defusco apparently boiled over. It took one exasperated person to address the entire group on the April 6th call and say what everyone else was thinking:

"I don't even know why we're having these calls at 11 if the one councilperson who requested them isn't on them?" 

That is all it took; the meeting attendees agreed unanimously to move the daily start time back to 9:50 AM- more convenient time for everyone, including parents who are managing full time jobs and homeschooling along with their civic duty to Hoboken. 

What's happened since? GA heard from a couple of sources that the move made DeFusco angry. The two meetings since the move back (Tuesday, April 7 and today, April 8) the Councilman attended for "5 minutes" then "he just left" and  " his box disappeared." Without explanation.

Why would any Hoboken elected official show so little interest in serving his constituents during a deadly pandemic? 

These are productive meetings. Attendees receive real-time updates from the Office of Emergency Management,  HHS Director Leo Pelligrini reports the latest advisories from the New Jersey Department of Health, Director of Operations Jason Freeman reports on rapidly changing City Hall COVID-19 mitigation, and each Council member reports on their respective wards, and their own efforts in coordination with the City, OEM and HHS.  

What's DeFusco actually doing- aside from collecting names and addresses for his campaign? No one knows. 

By the way, I still think it is unwise for untested Hoboken residents to mail vulnerable senior citizens home made cards that they've touched and breathed on.  There have been no conclusive studies on whether the coronavirus can live on mail and for how long. There have been studies that show that it is "plausible" that the virus can live on surfaces for up to days. That can be extrapolated in ways that are simply not worth the risk- in my opinion- such as sending cards to senior citizens.

The scientific basis for this is the March 17, 2020 National Institute of Health article: "New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces" which references the New England Journal of Medicine study "Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1" posted below: