Title
Dept/ Agency: Office of the Mayor
Action: (X) Ratifying (X) Authorizing ( ) Amending
Type of Service: Contract
Purpose: Operation of Newark Community Solutions and the Newark Youth Court within the Newark Municipal Court
Entity Name: National Center for Civic Innovation, Inc./Center for Court Innovation
Entity Address: 31 Green Street, Room 310, Newark, New Jersey 07102
Contract Amount: Not to exceed $951,252.00
Funding Source: 2018 Budget/Office of the Mayor/Municipal Court
Contract Period: January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018
Contract Basis: ( ) Bid ( ) State Vendor ( ) Prof. Ser. ( ) EUS
( ) Fair & Open ( ) No Reportable Contributions ( ) RFP ( ) RFQ
( ) Private Sale ( ) Grant ( ) Sub-recipient (X) n/a
Additional Information:
Approval in collaboration with the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts.
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WHEREAS, the National Center for Civic Innovation is a New Jersey based non-profit (the “National Center”) and affiliate of the Center for Court Innovation, which is dedicated to the reform and improvement of criminal justice system throughout the United States (the “Center for Court Innovation”); and
WHEREAS, from January 2007 through 2008 with the support of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, the City of Newark worked with the non-profit Fund for the City of New York, Inc.’s incubator project, the Center for Court Innovation (the “Center for Court Innovation”) and the Fund for the City of New York, Inc., (the “Fund”) and New Jersey Institute for Social Justice to complete a feasibility study of adapting the community justice model to the City of Newark's Municipal Court system; and
WHEREAS, as part of the feasibility study for the City of Newark, the Center for Court Innovation with the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and the Center for Collaborative Change undertook a thorough needs assessment that included more than twenty (20) community meetings, attended by more than four-hundred (400) community residents, focus groups of residents, community leaders and ex-offenders, as well as surveys and interviews with leading law enforcement officials; and
WHEREAS, as a result of this feasibility study, the Center for Court Innovation worked with the City of Newark and its Municipal Court to develop a blueprint for implementing a community justice initiative based at the Newark Municipal Court House (Copy of the Final Approved Blueprint is Attached); and
WHEREAS, the City of Newark and the Center for Court Innovation successfully received authorization in 2010 by the New Jersey Administrative Office of Courts to open Newark Community Solutions, as the project is now known (a copy of New Jersey State Chief Justice Rabner's letter approval is attached); and
WHEREAS, from April 2010 through August 2011, with the approval of the United States Department of Justice and funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Local Program, the City provided funding to the Center for Court Innovation, under the aegis of its affiliate, FCNY, for the development, implementation and operation of the City's Newark Community Solutions (originally known as the "Newark Community Court") and the Newark Youth Court projects, whose aim is to offer alternatives to incarceration for youth and other offenders accused of low-level crimes; and
WHEREAS, from 2011 through December 31, 2013, with the approval of the Newark Municipal Council, the City provided funding to the Fund to continue to provide funding to the Center for Court Innovation for the City’s Newark Community Solutions and Newark Youth Court projects; and
WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Mayor and the Municipal Council to provide funding to the National Center to continue to provide the funding to the center for Court innovation for the operation of Newark Community Solutions and Newark Youth Court projects; and
WHEREAS, from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, with the approval of the Newark Municipal Council the City can provide funding to the National Center for the Center for Court innovation, under the aegis of its affiliate, National Center, to continue operations of the City’s Newark Community Solutions and Newark Youth Court projects; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor of Newark and the Acting Chief Judge of the Newark Municipal Court desire to continue the services provided by Newark Community Solutions; and
WHEREAS, the National Center is a duly incorporated not-for-profit corporation that has been authorized by the New Jersey Department of State to conduct business/activities in the State of New Jersey and therefore is exempt from compliance with the State Pay-to Play Law, N.J.S.A. 19:44A-20.5, Ordinance on Pay to Play and is registered as a charity and files annual reports with the New Jersey Department of Law and Safety, Division of Consumer Affairs; and
WHEREAS, the National Center’s affiliate, the Center for Court Innovation, (created by the Fund in 1996 as an incubator project) has extensive experience, expertise, both specialized and qualitative, training, and a proven reputation in developing, implementing and operating community courts and youth courts in Newark as well as other jurisdictions; and
WHEREAS, the Center for Court Innovation, created the nation’s first community court project, the Midtown Community Court, and has since designed and supported the development of numerous other community court projects in the U.S. and internationally, including among many others, the Red Hook Community Justice Center, Bronx Community Solutions, the Harlem Community Justice Center, Vancouver Community Court (British Columbia, Canada), Hartford (Connecticut) Community Court, and San Francisco (California) Community Justice Center; and
WHEREAS, due to unique nature of the work performed, as well as the qualifications and past performance, the City seeks to engage the services of the National Center with the Center for Court Innovation for the purpose of operation of Newark Community Solutions and the Newark Youth Court from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, in an amount not to exceed $951,252.00.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, THAT:
1. The Mayor and/or his designees, the Business Administrator and the Acting Chief Judge of the Newark Municipal Court are authorized to enter into a contract with National Center for Civic Innovation, Inc., 31 Green Street, Room 310, Newark, New Jersey 07102, for the purpose of the operation of Newark Community Solutions and Newark Youth Court, for the period of January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, in an amount not to exceed $951,252.00.
2. The contract is ratified from January 1, 2018 to the date of adoption by the Municipal Council.
3. Pursuant to N.J.A.C. 5:30-5.5(a), Temporary Budget, attached hereto is the Chief Finance Officer’s Certification, which states that partial funds in the amount of $262,500.00 are available in the 2018 Temporary Budget, Business Unit NW011, Department ID 200, Div/Proj. 2001, Activity A, Account # 97520, Budget Ref. B2018 the balance to be provided in the 2018 Adopted Budget. The Certification shall be filed, along with the original resolution and the executed contract in the Office of the City Clerk.
4. There shall be no amendments or changes to this contract without approval of the Newark Municipal Council.
5. There shall be no advance payments on this contract in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40A:5-16.
6. A copy of the fully-executed authorized contract shall be filed in the Office of the City Clerk by the Business Administrator.
7. A notice of this action shall be published in the newspaper authorized by law to publish a legal advertisement and as required by law within ten (10) days of its passage.
STATEMENT
This Resolution ratifies and authorizes the Mayor and/or his designees, the Business Administrator and the Acting Chief Judge of Newark Municipal Court to enter into and execute a contract with National Center for Civic Innovation, Inc., 31 Green Street, Room 310, Newark, New Jersey 07102, for the purpose of operation of Newark Community Solutions and the Newark Youth Court from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, in an amount not to exceed $951,252.00.