New Center Hinges on Ordinance
City officials urged seniors to support a $16.5 million bond ordinance, warning that its failure will mean months’ more delay in getting a long-desired new senior center.
About 75 seniors gathered Friday (Aug. 5, 2005) in the present leased center to hear Mayor Albert T. McWilliams and Finance Director Ron West make the case for the ordinance, which is up for a vote Monday. Senior Center President Charles Nelson passed out sheets with City Council members’ phone numbers for seniors to call.
The City Council meeting and public hearing on the ordinance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday (Aug. 8, 2005) in the Plainfield Public Library’s meeting room, Park Avenue and Eighth Street.
The location was changed from the City Hall Library, which only accommodates about 50 people.
The ordinance narrowly passed on first reading last month after residents and some council members expressed concern over its size. The ordinance includes $4.3 million for the senior center, $8 million for road repair and $1.2 for technology upgrades. It also provides for new roofs for fire and police buildings. Several past bond ordinances that the council authorized, but which never went to the market, are included.
“You need the ordinance before we can actually go to Wall Street and raise the money,” West said.
“Same old soup, just warmed over,” a woman muttered as West explained that an earlier $2.75 million bond ordinance for a new center never went to market.
Senior Emily Washington objected to having a 4,000-square foot retail structure attached to the building, but West said the city could not use $600,000 in Urban Enterprise Zone funds unless the stores were part of the proposal.
Helen Miller, a center member and former councilwoman, questioned the city’s financial rating. West said it was poor a couple of years ago when the city had only a $100,000 surplus and a $7 million deficit. Now, he said, the city has a $3 million surplus and its highest tax collection rate ever and its financial outlook is very positive, he said.
If passed, the ordinance would take effect in 20 days and the city will go to the market Sept. 21. It will then take eight weeks to work on bid specifications before a contractor can be hired, West said. Provisions are being made to perform construction through the winter if necessary, he said.
The city currently pays $90,000 annually to rent its present location at 305 East Front Street.
In December 2003, former New Jersey Nets player Jayson Williams said he would build the center. The city set a January 31, 2004 deadline for Williams to have all plans and financing in place. Williams never moved forward with the project, although he did appear in May at a ceremonial groundbreaking on the proposed new site across the street from the current center.
Now the city is relying on passage of the bond ordinance to pay for the center.
--Bernice Paglia
About 75 seniors gathered Friday (Aug. 5, 2005) in the present leased center to hear Mayor Albert T. McWilliams and Finance Director Ron West make the case for the ordinance, which is up for a vote Monday. Senior Center President Charles Nelson passed out sheets with City Council members’ phone numbers for seniors to call.
The City Council meeting and public hearing on the ordinance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday (Aug. 8, 2005) in the Plainfield Public Library’s meeting room, Park Avenue and Eighth Street.
The location was changed from the City Hall Library, which only accommodates about 50 people.
The ordinance narrowly passed on first reading last month after residents and some council members expressed concern over its size. The ordinance includes $4.3 million for the senior center, $8 million for road repair and $1.2 for technology upgrades. It also provides for new roofs for fire and police buildings. Several past bond ordinances that the council authorized, but which never went to the market, are included.
“You need the ordinance before we can actually go to Wall Street and raise the money,” West said.
“Same old soup, just warmed over,” a woman muttered as West explained that an earlier $2.75 million bond ordinance for a new center never went to market.
Senior Emily Washington objected to having a 4,000-square foot retail structure attached to the building, but West said the city could not use $600,000 in Urban Enterprise Zone funds unless the stores were part of the proposal.
Helen Miller, a center member and former councilwoman, questioned the city’s financial rating. West said it was poor a couple of years ago when the city had only a $100,000 surplus and a $7 million deficit. Now, he said, the city has a $3 million surplus and its highest tax collection rate ever and its financial outlook is very positive, he said.
If passed, the ordinance would take effect in 20 days and the city will go to the market Sept. 21. It will then take eight weeks to work on bid specifications before a contractor can be hired, West said. Provisions are being made to perform construction through the winter if necessary, he said.
The city currently pays $90,000 annually to rent its present location at 305 East Front Street.
In December 2003, former New Jersey Nets player Jayson Williams said he would build the center. The city set a January 31, 2004 deadline for Williams to have all plans and financing in place. Williams never moved forward with the project, although he did appear in May at a ceremonial groundbreaking on the proposed new site across the street from the current center.
Now the city is relying on passage of the bond ordinance to pay for the center.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 3:19 PM
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