Jersey City law restricting reintroduction of failed measures is repealed by City Council

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
December 19, 2012 at 7:35 PM

A Jersey City law that implemented a six-month waiting period for City Council members to reintroduce failed ordinances is now set for repeal.

The council voted 6-3 tonight to repeal the 2010 law, which was adopted two years ago after Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop vowed to continue reintroducing ordinances unpopular with the council majority.

Council members Peter Brennan, Bill Gaughan and Michael Sottolano tonight voted against the move to repeal that law, with Sottolano saying he?d prefer to keep the six-month waiting period so the council?s agenda isn?t ?cluttered up? with the same business over and over.

Fulop tonight called himself the ?target? of the ordinance the council has now voted to repeal.

?We returned the policy to what it was for 50 years prior to Brennan and team introducing the prohibition that was clearly an effort to thwart my effort to curb political patronage in City Hall,? he said in a statement from his mayoral campaign.

The measures Fulop repeatedly reintroduced in 2010 would have banned political appointees on autonomous-agency broads from receiving health benefits and would have placed city seals on all city-owned vehicles.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ting_re.html#incart_river

Jersey City law implementing six-month waiting period for failed ordinances set for repeal

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on November 28, 2012 at 7:48 PM

A Jersey City law aimed at prohibiting the City Council from revisiting failed ordinances for six months may soon be repealed.

The law, which Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop believes was targeted at him, was adopted in 2010 after Fulop continued to introduce ordinances even after they repeatedly failed to win approval from the nine-member body.

Fulop voted in favor of repealing that law tonight, and was joined by council members Diane Coleman, David Donnelly, Rolando Lavarro, Nidia Lopez and Viola Richardson. Peter Brennan, Bill Gaughan and Michael Sottolano opposed the move.

The council needs to OK the measure one more time before it is adopted.

Fulop said the council only moved to implement the six-month waiting period to keep him from introducing measures that were unpopular with the city administration. Repealing the waiting period merely restores what had been the law for ?80 years,? he said.

?This is reverting back to the way it?s been,? Fulop said.

Sottolano, meanwhile, said there ?should be some waiting period? before a failed ordinance is reintroduced, while Richardson warned that she hoped repealing the law doesn?t lead to council members repeatedly introducing failed measures.

?When it becomes redundant, I?m going to vote ?no? in the future,? she said.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... nting_s.html#incart_river

Jersey City Councilman Fulop eyes repeal of measure limiting reintroduction of rejected ordinances

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
November 28, 2012 at 3:00 AM

Jersey City's law prohibiting City Council members from reintroducing failed ordinances "too soon" may be history.

The measure, adopted in 2010 in a seemingly direct rebuke of Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop, barred the council from revisiting any ordinance less than six months after its failure to pass.

At the time, Council President Peter Brennan, who proposed the measure, denied it was directed at Fulop. But Fulop had only recently failed to win council support for a host of items, and had threatened to continue bringing the failed ordinances before the council.

At Monday's council caucus, Fulop said repealing Brennan's measure would merely restore a process that has been around "forever."

Fulop is flexing some political muscle after helping Diane Coleman win a special election earlier this month, securing what could be a crucial fifth vote in favor of Fulop's agenda. Coleman is expected to be sworn in as the council's new Ward F representative before tonight's meeting.

Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano said Monday night that he thinks Brennan's measure should stand.

"We're constantly going over the same ordinances. There should be some time restraint," he said.

Tonight's council meeting is at 6 at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... y_councilman_fulop_e.html

what are the costs and time required to introduce resolutions and ordinances? is it necessary that they go before the entire chambers and accept public comments?

if there is minimal cost and minimal time lost in reintroducing resolutions and ordinances... then this ordinance is pure bull.

(it probably is anyway).

one simple point behind reintroducing measures is to put THE OTHER council members on record as opposing the measures. etc. obviously, they don't want that.

It's funny that they say any Jersey City council members barred from reintroducing failed measures for 6 months.

What measures/solutions has any of the Team Healy council members introduce for the benefit of the Jersey City residents?

It is a shame the the Healy Council members never attempt to present solutions for the benefit of the Jersey City residents, especially for those home owners that might lose those homes such as Senior Citizens due to poor decisions they have made over the years and the budget crisis Jersey City now faces.

The only thing they want to do is tax the hell out of the residents as Team Healy use city hall as their own ATM.

At least Councilman Fulop offered up a Tax Relief Plan. Maybe it was not perfect, but Team Healy did not even consider working together on the plan towards a solution that would benefit the residents.

Healy and his council have failed the Jersey City residents!

Jersey City council members barred from reintroducing failed measures for 6 months

By Melissa Hayes/The Jersey Journal
March 24, 2010, 8:01PM

City Council members in Jersey City will be prohibited from reintroducing resolutions and ordinances that fail to get enough support for six months.

The measure passed 6-2-1 Councilwoman Viola Richardson abstained over an issue with the time frame; Councilman Steven Fulop and Councilwoman Nidia Lopez voted against it.

Resident Yvonne Balcer called it the ?anti-Fulop? ordinance, because Council President Peter Brennan introduced the measure after Fulop threatened to reintroduce three ordinances that failed until they got enough support to pass.

?This is a way in my opinion of going after a minority voice on the council and I think that?s wrong,? she said.

Ironically, Fulop was successful tonight in passing one of those ordinances, which would have the City Council meetings televised on JCTV1.

Brennan took issue with Balcer and Fulop saying the ordinance was directed at a specific council person.

?I don?t see any council person?s name on this ordinance,? he said to Fulop. ?We?re not directing it at you.?

Despite abstaining, Richardson said she didn?t feel that council members should be able to continually reintroduce items that have failed.

?I?m not willing to sit here and do the same thing week after week over and over again,? she said.
But Fulop argued that when he first introduced the JCTV1 ordinance Richardson was the only other member to support it.
Tonight Councilmen David Donnelly, Michael Sottolano and Councilwoman Nidia Lopez joined Fulop and Richardson in supporting the televised meeting measure after some compromises were made.
Instead of having Comcast come film the meetings, the footage that City Clerk Robert Byrne tapes will be shown on JCTV1.