The Jersey City Council voted 6-3 to approve a resolution to use a federal grant to acquire a $515,000 Skeeter High Water Rescue Vehicle in case it is needed during flooding after some robust debate.

By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View

According to the resolution, the city would utilize a federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to purchase the vehicle for the Department of Public Safety.

“Are there specific deadlines? What’s the stance from Community Development?” Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore asked.

“There’s a deadline of January 31st for these federal funds. They are subject to a drawdown requirement from the federal government. If we do not meet that deadline, then we are subject to penalties,” Acting Business Administrator Peter Horton replied.

He added that it took “a substantial amount of time” to put the proposal together since the funding dates back to 2023.

“Could you just describe the consequence of not making good on the drawn down?” Ward D Councilman Jake Ephros inquired.

Horton responded that future federal funding could be withheld, or perhaps even the possibility of losing the current funding completely.

“I did reach out to someone in the department who told me that this was a grant that could have been fulfilled in a previous fiscal year. The cost of equipment is rising,” Ward B Councilman Joel Brooks noted, indicating this is probably the best price the city will get.

“I had sticker shock. But I did learn fire trucks … cost over $1 million for a new rig. We do have an aging fleet. We do have substitute trucks and engines. My understanding is we do buy used trucks and engines.”

He also recalled that 2021’s Hurricane Ida caused significant flooding on the west side, further stating that climate change is unpredictable and that it won’t come out of the public safety budget.

Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa said he was initially uncertain about acquiring the emergency rescue vehicle, but agreed with Brooks that it was a good purchase considering it was not coming from the city budget.

“I would love to see the CDBG monies going to other kinds of organizations. This is seemingly a really important vehicle. Wish we could find different monies to fund it,” Ephros added.

“I appreciated [Community Development] Director [Déjà] Anderson’s willingness to share information,” Ward E Councilwoman Eleana Little said about the vehicle before voting yes.

Nonetheless, Gilmore felt the situation was a bit frustrating since the grant was over two years old.

“You’re already forced to vote yeah. There’s penalties. You must lose the grant or whatever …. I just think that sets a bad precedent for how the city operates,” he argued.

“My vote no is essentially saying there’s processes that need to be in place to ensure there’s clear communication and transparency during the whole process.”

Councilman at-Large Michael Griffin expressed a similar sentiment.

“I just want to express my disappointment in the disconnect between this department and our underserved communities. We have a lot of stakeholders in Jersey City in need of funding to continue the good work that they do,” he asserted.

“It comes to us, and the deadline is next week or Saturday. It’s extremely disappointing. For the sake of that, I’m voting no.”

Councilman at-Large Rolando Lavarro, a former council president, felt that the funds could be used for a greater good than a Skeeter truck.

“These funds could be used for other purposes. It could be used for an anti-violence facility. It could be used for a youth center, as we talked about. Half a million dollars could be used more productively for something else,” he contended.

“ … I want to make sure our firefighters are well-equipped, and they have the vehicles and equipment they need. But again, we need to start establishing some good precedents. Bringing it to us with a deadline of January 30th is again mismanagement of some sort going on that we need to correct. And it only corrects when we start to hold people accountable.”

The governing body approved the resolution to purchase the vehicle 6-3, with Gilmore, Griffin, and Lavarro voting no.