HOBOKEN -- If you plan to attend the Hoboken City Council meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at City Hall and expect to find a seat in the council chambers, get there early.

The Hoboken PBA and PSOA will hold another rally this evening prior to the city council meeting. The rally will begin at 5 p.m. at Hoboken Police Headquarters. The group will then march to City Hall for the council meeting.

At the Sept. 1 meeting, Councilwoman Beth Mason proposed a resolution which would rescind the layoffs. However, since that time, Mayor Dawn Zimmer has said the proposed resolution is not legal, because a council resolution cannot overrule an administrative decision or direct the administration to take action.

The resolution is second on the agenda, “directing the Administration of Dawn Zimmer to rescind a layoff firing Uniformed Members of the Hoboken Police Department.” The first resolution is to appoint Mark A. Tabakin, Esq. as the interim corporation counsel following the resignation of former Corporation Counsel Michael Kates.

Last week, Hoboken PBA President Vince Lombardi asked Zimmer and the council to move the meeting to a larger venue to accommodate the hundreds of people the PBA has promised will attend. On Friday, Council President Carol Marsh said in a statement that the city will hold the meeting at the council chambers, as planned.

“While it is appropriate and important that we listen to the public, we must balance the need to hear from members of the public against the need to conduct the city’s business,” Marsh said in a statement.

The city will provide an “overflow room” at City Hall for the expected large crowd.

The overflow room is designated as the Planning Board room, and members of the public will be able to view the council meeting from that location.

On Tuesday, Lombardi once again responded to the decision to keep the meeting in council chambers in a press release.

“We once again urge the mayor and council to move this meeting to a larger venue to accommodate the hundreds of residents and seniors planning to attend,” Lombardi said. “In order to suppress the substantial opposition the mayor is facing, she will be sticking residents in the basement of City Hall and limiting the public’s commentary on the issue. Zimmer’s refusal to move the meeting is just another example of the blatant arrogance of this administration.”

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