Youth Issues Dominate Council Meeting
Youth opportunities emerged as a prime topic at the Wednesday (May 17, 2006) City Council meeting.
Plainfield Action Services Director Rick Smiley was on hand to explain a summer youth employment program that the council had questioned at Monday’s agenda session. Members had asked about the application process and how the young people were selected.
On Wednesday, the program received council approval in a single “consent” vote that included almost all the resolutions on the agenda, but Smiley still explained its details.
The resolution was to renew a contract with Union County Human Services in the amount of $86,733 to provide summer youth employment.
Smiley said the program is open to youth ages 14 to 21 and applications are available at City Hall Annex, 510 Watchung Avenue. The applicants must be economically disadvantaged and will serve in jobs at City Hall, non-profit agencies and schools.
Councilman Don Davis asked how the program was advertised and Smiley said, “We usually go right to the schools.”
The job notice is also posted in his office and the information also spreads by word of mouth, he said.
Those employed receive the minimum wage of $6.15 per hour and applications will be received through May 31, Smiley said.
Davis said he didn’t know about the program, but Smiley said it has been in operation for many years.
There are other youth employment programs in the city and City Council President Ray Blanco called for better coordination of them.
The council earlier this year approved formation of a Youth Council to give input to the governing body on needs and concerns of young people, as well as establishment of a Youth Commission to allow young people to serve as liaisons to various city boards and commissions.
“This year has been a planning year for us,” Blanco said, adding the two new organizations will soon be active.
In the public comment portion of the meeting, Josef and Dottie Gutenkauf spoke separately of their dismay that an auto shop program in the high school will be disbanded.
Josef Gutenkauf said a month ago Schools Superintendent Paula Howard said the elimination of the program was only a rumor, but at Tuesday’s school board meeting it was announced that the program would close due to the excessive cost of meeting state safety standards.
Both said the program was valuable because it gives blue-collar youth a means of earning a living by acquiring auto mechanic skills.
Latin American Coalition President Flor Gonzalez also spoke in favor of the program, saying, “We should all support it.“
Another controversial issue at Monday’s agenda session was a plan to use almost $800,000 in Urban Enterprise Zone funds for crime surveillance cameras downtown. The council was asked to endorse an application to the Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for the funding. But the council had reservations about using 911 personnel to do the monitoring and also questioned the proposed locations of the cameras.
Blanco said in a recent crime forum, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow advised using the cameras in the West End and suggested that monitoring should be separate from the Police Division.
“If we have a crime meeting and the prosecutor tells us what to do and we don’t do it, what’s the point?“ Blanco said on Monday.
On Wednesday, he used his power as City Council president to withdraw the resolution on the cameras “for further research.“
Blanco referred the matter to the council’s Crime and Economic Development Committee for more discussion.
There is no primary contest this year, but the council will still take an election hiatus and will not meet again until the June 19 agenda session. Under the new schedule, the next regular meeting will be June 21.
--Bernice Paglia
Plainfield Action Services Director Rick Smiley was on hand to explain a summer youth employment program that the council had questioned at Monday’s agenda session. Members had asked about the application process and how the young people were selected.
On Wednesday, the program received council approval in a single “consent” vote that included almost all the resolutions on the agenda, but Smiley still explained its details.
The resolution was to renew a contract with Union County Human Services in the amount of $86,733 to provide summer youth employment.
Smiley said the program is open to youth ages 14 to 21 and applications are available at City Hall Annex, 510 Watchung Avenue. The applicants must be economically disadvantaged and will serve in jobs at City Hall, non-profit agencies and schools.
Councilman Don Davis asked how the program was advertised and Smiley said, “We usually go right to the schools.”
The job notice is also posted in his office and the information also spreads by word of mouth, he said.
Those employed receive the minimum wage of $6.15 per hour and applications will be received through May 31, Smiley said.
Davis said he didn’t know about the program, but Smiley said it has been in operation for many years.
There are other youth employment programs in the city and City Council President Ray Blanco called for better coordination of them.
The council earlier this year approved formation of a Youth Council to give input to the governing body on needs and concerns of young people, as well as establishment of a Youth Commission to allow young people to serve as liaisons to various city boards and commissions.
“This year has been a planning year for us,” Blanco said, adding the two new organizations will soon be active.
In the public comment portion of the meeting, Josef and Dottie Gutenkauf spoke separately of their dismay that an auto shop program in the high school will be disbanded.
Josef Gutenkauf said a month ago Schools Superintendent Paula Howard said the elimination of the program was only a rumor, but at Tuesday’s school board meeting it was announced that the program would close due to the excessive cost of meeting state safety standards.
Both said the program was valuable because it gives blue-collar youth a means of earning a living by acquiring auto mechanic skills.
Latin American Coalition President Flor Gonzalez also spoke in favor of the program, saying, “We should all support it.“
Another controversial issue at Monday’s agenda session was a plan to use almost $800,000 in Urban Enterprise Zone funds for crime surveillance cameras downtown. The council was asked to endorse an application to the Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for the funding. But the council had reservations about using 911 personnel to do the monitoring and also questioned the proposed locations of the cameras.
Blanco said in a recent crime forum, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow advised using the cameras in the West End and suggested that monitoring should be separate from the Police Division.
“If we have a crime meeting and the prosecutor tells us what to do and we don’t do it, what’s the point?“ Blanco said on Monday.
On Wednesday, he used his power as City Council president to withdraw the resolution on the cameras “for further research.“
Blanco referred the matter to the council’s Crime and Economic Development Committee for more discussion.
There is no primary contest this year, but the council will still take an election hiatus and will not meet again until the June 19 agenda session. Under the new schedule, the next regular meeting will be June 21.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 11:30 PM
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