Norieliz DeJesus has filed 40 orders this year, the most on the council, and 37 of them are money. As chair of Ways and Means she introduces every financial order the administration sends over: the $10 million free cash transfer to stabilization in January, the $2 million overlay surplus for 55 Heard Street, every prior-year bill, every donation, every union contract, the $15.4 million sewer separation loan in May, the revolving funds in June, and on September 14 the gala sponsorships and the $26,546.88 in old bills. Her name on an order tells you it has money in it, not that she wrote it.
Her own orders
The three that are hers came in one week in February. One directs the City Manager to build a system for agencies that receive city money to report measurable outcomes; the administration answered in March with a report on nonprofits receiving $25,000 or more. One asks for a list of every landlord receiving tax abatements or exemptions for affordable units. One asks for stricter snow removal enforcement against large property owners who are repeat violators; the DPW and Law Department responded with an enforcement letter to every owner. All three passed under suspension without a roll call.
How she has voted
She dissents more often than most of her colleagues. In June she voted no on the Hines amendment that set the inclusionary fee at $275,000, then voted for the final ordinance. In April she voted no on Recupero’s three-family zoning. In December 2025 she voted no on three of five Community Preservation Act grants: Creekside Commons park (with Jimenez-Rivera), the FitzPatrick Prattville predevelopment money (with Recupero), and alone against $50,000 in top-off rental assistance to The Neighborhood Developers. The minutes do not record her reasons.
She missed the March 23 meeting and the June 22 swearing-in and has been marked absent on seven roll calls. She has made 22 motions under suspension this year, third most. She chairs Housing and Community Development as well as Ways and Means and served as President for the two years before this one.
The profile
The record shows a finance chair who votes the administration’s money through without dissent and reserves her no votes for housing policy, where she has twice voted against the direction most of her colleagues took. Her day job is director of youth programs at La Colaborativa. She ran unopposed in November. Her biography is here.