Council Meeting Recap

Wednesday night's Hoboken City Council meeting started with an emergency closed session about "potential litigation" and "personnel matters," according to Corporation Counsel Mark Tabakin.

It remained unclear what the closed session—which lasted about an hour—was about.

Earlier this week, the IT office on the third floor of City Hall was padlocked, for reasons that are still unknown. It was not confirmed if the padlock and the closed session are related events.

After the closed session, about which no action was taken, the council proceeded to the regular meeting. Below is a recap of what was decided. The meeting ended around 11 p.m.

• City Council between the city and five hispanic police officers who sued the city.
• City Council approved roughly $14.3 in emergency appropriations, because the city has not yet passed the 2011 budget. The appropriations were passed 7-1, with Council President Beth Mason voting "no." Councilwoman Terry Castellano was absent. Mason said she didn't want to pass the appropriations, because there had been no budget discussion during Wednesday's meeting. Corporation counsel and the business administrator said that without the appropriations, the city would shut down.
• City council unanimously reappointed Rob Davis III to the Hoboken Housing Authority. "Thank you for your vote of confidence," Davis told the council.
• The council also approved the city's participation with the New Jersey Division of Highway traffic Safety for the Click it or Ticket mobilization, between May 23 to June 5.
• Another resolution on the agenda approved the grant application process for the 2011 COPS hiring program, through the U.S. Department of Justice. This program would add more patrolmen to the streets, said Business Administrator Arch Liston. The resolution was approved unanimously.
• A resolution calling for an investigation in was carried over to the next meeting. Council President Beth Mason is asking for all emails between the mayor's aides and local bloggers and press, with the goal of proving that the city hall staffers are politicizing their jobs.
• A resolution to approve a shared services agreement with Secaucus to open its pool to Hoboken residents was approved unanimously.