Jersey City Council Members: Wards, Duties, and Meetings

The Jersey City Council is made up of nine elected members: six who each represent a single ward (A through F) and three who serve at-large across the whole city. Together they write local ordinances, approve the annual budget, confirm mayoral appointments, and oversee the executive branch. The current council took office for the 2025–2029 term, and every seat runs on a four-year cycle.¹

Who Sits on the Council Right Now

These are the nine members serving the 2025–2029 term:²

Ward A: Denise Ridley (Council President)
Ward B: Joel A. Brooks
Ward C: Thomas Zuppa Jr.
Ward D: Jake Ephros
Ward E: Eleana Little
Ward F: Frank E. Gilmore
At-Large: Mamta Singh
At-Large: Michael O. Griffin
At-Large: Rolando R. Lavarro Jr.

Denise Ridley serves as Council President, presiding over meetings and setting the legislative agenda.³

Wards vs. At-Large Seats

The split between ward and at-large seats shapes who your representatives are and what they focus on. Each ward member represents a defined geographic slice of the city and typically handles neighborhood-level matters like land-use applications, traffic changes, and localized public-safety concerns. The three at-large members answer to every resident regardless of address, so they tend to concentrate on citywide priorities such as the budget and infrastructure.²

To confirm which ward you live in, ward maps are posted on the city’s website alongside the members’ biography pages.

What the Council Does

Jersey City runs under the Mayor-Council form of government established by New Jersey’s Optional Municipal Charter Law, known as the Faulkner Act.⁴ Under that framework, all legislative power belongs to the council. Members exercise it primarily by passing ordinances, which are local laws that go through a formal introduction, public hearing, and vote. The council also acts by resolution on matters that don’t require the mayor’s signature, including approving contracts and confirming appointments.¹

Budget Authority

The mayor submits a proposed annual budget to the council by the fifteenth day of the fiscal year. A simple majority can cut any line item. Raising any item is harder and takes a two-thirds supermajority, meaning at least six of the nine members must agree.¹

Checks on the Mayor

Because Jersey City’s population exceeds 100,000, the mayor’s appointments to local boards, authorities, and commissions require the council’s advice and consent. The council can override a mayoral veto and formally disapprove the removal of an officer or employee. It also holds investigative authority, meaning it can require municipal officers to appear and answer questions about their conduct, and it may remove any municipal officer for cause by resolution.¹

Meetings and Public Comment

Council meetings are held in the Anna Cucci Memorial Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall at 280 Grove Street. The regular schedule runs on a two-week cycle:⁵

Caucus meetings: 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at 4:00 PM, where members discuss upcoming agenda items.
Regular meetings: 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month at 6:00 PM, where votes on legislation take place.

These sessions are open to the public under New Jersey’s Open Public Meetings Act, which requires the council to set aside time for public comment on any issue residents consider important. The law leaves the length of that comment period to the council.⁶ If you want to speak, contact the City Clerk’s office before the meeting to get on the list. Agendas and proposed resolutions are posted on the city’s website ahead of each session.⁵

Contacting a Council Member

The council’s main office is at City Hall, 280 Grove Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302.⁷ The general council office line is (201) 547-5150. The Council Office Administrator, Billy Wilson, can be reached at (201) 547-5053 or bwilson@jcnj.org. Individual members’ phone numbers, email addresses, and biography pages are listed on the city’s website.²

Pay, Terms, and Elections

Council members earn a base salary of $60,000 per year, and the Council President earns $65,000, with annual cost-of-living adjustments on top. The salary ordinance caps total compensation at $85,000 for members and $90,000 for the Council President. Any member may waive the increase in writing.⁸

Terms run four years, all nine seats are on the ballot in the same cycle, and New Jersey imposes no term limits on Faulkner Act council members, so incumbents may run for reelection indefinitely. If a seat opens mid-term, the remaining members appoint a replacement.¹

Jersey City passed an ordinance in 2024 to adopt ranked-choice voting for future municipal elections, but it can’t take effect until the New Jersey Legislature passes enabling legislation removing current state-law barriers. Until then, council races continue under the traditional system.⁴

1
New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Optional Municipal Charter Law
2
City of Jersey City. City Council
3
City of Jersey City. Council President, Denise Ridley, Ward A
4
City of Jersey City. Ord. 24-017 – An Ordinance Amending the Charter of the City of Jersey City
5
City of Jersey City. Council Meeting Schedule
6
Justia. New Jersey Code 10-4-12 – Meetings Open to Public; Exceptions
7
City of Jersey City. City Hall
8
City of Jersey City. Ordinance Amending Chapter 53 To Modify Salaries