Recreation Program Salvaged In Budget Transfer Saga

A compromise close to midnight saved a recreation program after coach Lenny Cathcart vowed to bring hundreds of young athletes to the next City Council meeting.

At issue was a resolution for budget transfers in 17 categories, including police salaries, recreation, crossing guards and economic development. In rejecting the transfers because they included $131,091 for controversial police promotions, the governing body also rejected everything else.

The council was holding a combined agenda-fixing and regular meeting Tuesday. In public comment during the first portion, Cathcart made a pitch for approval of the budget transfers, citing athletes in sports on major television channels who all came up through Plainfield recreation programs. But current youth programs faced shutdown for lack of funding for staff and increased gym fees.

"We only ask for gyms, balls and whistles," Cathcart told the council. "If our kids ain't in the gym, I got 400 kids that go to the streets."

Corporation Counsel David Minchello declined comment on Cathcart's assertion that a Recreation Division employee faced layoff by Nov. 19, but Council President Bridget Rivers asked incredulously, "You cannot comment on taking programs from children? I have a problem with that."

The emotion and rhetoric escalated from then on, with allegations all around.

"Find the money for these children," Rivers insisted.

The regular meeting did not begin until after 10 p.m. When the resolution on transfers came up, Councilwoman Rebecca Williams sought to amend it by removing the funding for the Police Division. The motion to amend failed, with Williams, Cory Storch and Adrian Mapp voting "yes" and Vera Greaves, Tracey Brown, William Reid and Rivers voting "no." A lengthy discussion on the police promotions ensued (which Plaintalker will cover in a separate post). The vote on transfers then split 4-3 again, but failed because it needed a five-vote super-majority to pass.

As soon as it failed, Cathcart began yelling from the audience.

"Did it fail? No recreation now!" he shouted.

The council moved on to other votes important to Mapp, who won the Nov. 5 mayoral election and will take office Jan. 1. In 4-3 votes as above, the majority voted "no" on increasing the salary band for the title of chief financial officer, then for a proposed chief of staff. Minchello said the council should not vote on a salary band for chief of staff, as the vote to create the position had failed.

Mapp linked the rejections to his "no" vote on the transfers, a notion that upset Brown and Rivers.

"I feel very disrespected by my colleague," Rivers said.

Later, Storch called for reconsideration of the transfers, asking approval  for recreation and five other categories.

Rivers then alluded to a "shutdown in Washington, D.C." where "what they wanted to do was pick and choose and the president said no."

"Let's do it right," she said, asking approval for all the transfers.

But Williams seconded Storch's motion. City Clerk Abubakar Jalloh said the proper order was to reconsider the entire motion and then amend it. The motion to reconsider passed with Mapp, Greaves and Reid voting "no" and Brown, Storch, Williams and Rivers voting "yes."

The process bogged down for a while over which of the 17 items to leave in or out, prompting Rivers to remark, "We're looking like the Keystone Cops up here."

After a 10-minute recess to sort out the numbers, the motion to amend failed and Williams deplored the loss of recreation and school crossing guards while reiterating her concerns about the police promotions.

"It's just a sad day," she said.

Cathcart yelled, "We shut down tomorrow!"

When Rivers said she understood his feelings, he shouted, "You can't understand! This has been my life!"

In public comment later, he apologized for his outburst, but said, "You're saying no to kids ... y'all are saying no to this? I've never asked nobody for nothing. I'm saying open these doors for these kids."

He pledged to bring them to the next meeting.

After another recess, the council reconvened near midnight to amend the resolution again, this time only for recreation costs totaling $36,000, to be offset by surplus in worker's compensation. The amendment passed unanimously, and then all voted "yes" on the amended resolution except Reid, who said, "No, because I don't understand it."

The meeting adjourned with no indication of what would become of the other $1,079,176.60 in proposed transfers.

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