Camacho CB4 chair opposes term limits and politicization

Hello, Chairperson Brewer.

And members of the committee.

My name is Robert Camacho.

I'm the chair of Community Board 4.

I'm Celeste DeLeon's boss.

I don't call her my boss, I call her my friend.

I have been on the board for 42 years, since I was 23, I'm 65.

I became the chair in 2018.

I am term limited in 2027.

What the board means to me, I've been advocating for my community.

Ever since, nobody wanted to live in my community.

We were infected with drugs, dope, bushwhip was burning, and no one wanted to be there.

And now they want to turn someone like me out.

I still live there.

Another important, how to speak out.

Volunteers.

That's their job.

You want the job submitted, an application, let them do the work.

And if they can't do the work,

That's the responsibility and address to the board.

There are already term limits for board members now.

They want to introduce term limits for district managers.

Yet there is no bill to assure members who are volunteer represented to the manager city staff.

The borough presidents are doing different things

One HR does this, one doesn't do that.

You always want to take away the board's job as an independent agency to give the borough president the title to terminate a city employee at will.

That cannot be legal.

The manager is hired by the board, and the board is the only responsibility for addressing the issue before terminating an employee.

This will prioritize or likely further politicize the board's discouraged candidates.

From the position, and guess what?

Weakens the board ability to terminate.

Conduct business.

Board members gone.

Just reminders gone.

What do we do?

Maybe at least encourage new ideas and respective of what happens to people that are underrepresented.

What happens when we're pushed out?

The bill for council members appointed like the borough president.

It might help, or again, it depends.

It's 2026.

Why aren't they considering other options like the priest and community council do?

You sign in.

And that's how every year they put X amount of people that come in to the meeting.

So if they meet 10 times a year, you have to have X amount of percentage.

And then the peers vote them in that are there.

I know you know the procedure very well.

And it won't be politicalized because they didn't do their job.

I'm getting turned out.

So they needed to do their job because I represent my community, love my community.

I'm getting charmed out because they didn't do theirs.

So their point, it looked like it's political to me.

So if you're not part of the clique or you don't agree with them, then they turn me around and say, we don't need you now.

But when the...

The place was burning down and no one was living there.

Or the sun, now they need members.

It took me almost a year myself volunteering to get 13 board members to get on the board.

A year.

I've been getting rid of board members that hasn't been coming to meetings and we haven't had quorum.

I've been doing my job.

Now I'm the bad guy because I did my job and he says, oh, three minutes.

We need quorum and we need, if you want to work for this community and help this community, we need you here.

We don't need you home.

And I did that.

And if you look it up on the Brooklyn Borough Project, you'll know everyone that I terminated with the board.

With their recommendation in regards that they haven't been coming or we don't have quorum to do.

Also, before I end there, I also...

We need to scrutinize also the borough presidents in regards appointments.

Because now we're having people with personal agendas because they're part of this clique, part of that clique, and part of that clique.

When all the time I'm constantly got to tell them it has to be for the community.

Every community is different.

Every area is different.

So you have to work and have the public's opinion, the people that live there, and that's going to impact that area or whatever it is they want, them and not their personal agenda or being biased.

And that's what we're getting.

So please don't let this go.

My district manager, I always thought she was a gentrifier.

It's funny.

I tell this to everybody.

I see this young girl, and then I realize...

That when I seen this man that was there was her dad.

I didn't know it was her dad.

I grew up with her dad.

Her grandfather used to teach me baseball.

You've got to wrap up a little bit, but go ahead.

So I want to make sure that she knows our community very well because she does.

And we want to make sure that our managers that are here continue to stay here.

I agree.