Mayor Healy vetoes council's effort to regulate use of city vehicles

Jersey City Mayor, Jerramiah Healy, vetoed the council’s efforts to regulate use of vehicles.

The ordinance, championed by Downtown Councilman, Steve Fulop, regulates the use of non-emergency city vehicles.

On Sept. 8, Healy informed the city council of the veto in a memo.

The ordinance
The ordinance was adopted by the councilmen on Aug. 31, by a 5-4 vote.

Councilmen Ray Velazquez, Michael Sottolano, Bill Gaughan and Peter Brennan voted against it.

One of Fulop’s signature legislative achievements, the ordinance would have required non-emergency city vehicles to be affixes with city seals.

Healy’s memo
In the memo, Healy said that regulating city vehicles is strictly an executive function and cannot be regulated by the council.

Healy cited the State Faulkner Act, which outlines how municipalities can be governed.

In his memo, the mayor said, “Any City Council member who wish to place a city seal insignia on their cars are free to do so and the Department of Public Works would be happy to affix the deals.”

As expected, Fulop, a 2013 mayoral hopeful, blasted the veto. The Councilman has frequent clashes with the Healy administration, and took this opportunity to criticize the Mayor.

“It’s typical Healy to hide behind some convoluted law to avoid accountability and transparency,” said Fulop.