##VIDEO ID:4lcUY-GgAgg## [Music] [Music] the meeting of Atlanta County Board of Commissioners is called to order and compliance with the open public meetings Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting of the Atlanta County Board of Comm commers was provided in the following manner published in the Press of Atlantic City and mailed to the Hamilton cazette and has been posted on the Bolton boards Atlanta County Office Building in Atlantic City The Still Water building in Northfield and the county office clerk's office in MA Landing uh opening prayer God we thank you for the Wonder of your presence each day help us to realize the possibilities in each one of us and be a positive influence on other others in all that we say and do and help us remember that all we Face we face with you amen amen stand i al to United States of mam CLK have a roll call chairwoman commissioner Cory is unable to attend today commissioner Burns and commissioner porker are attending [Music] virally Bas here fortino here Burns b here G here Parker pres grizzley here K here Commissioners have had an opportunity to review the minutes from August 6 2024 I'll entertain a motion to adopt the August 6 2024 minutes as presented I second move by commissioner d seconded by commissioner any commissioner comments have a call Palace yes fortino yes Burns da yes G yes Parker yes rley yes K yes motion carries anyone attending in person who would like to speak regarding an agenda item or a public comment please come to the podium speak into the microphone state your name the town where you reside you'll be provided up to 3 minutes to speak if you're attending virtually and would like to speak please raise your hand during the agenda item or at public comments at the end I'll call upon your name and a request to unmute will be sent please state your name name and the town you reside you'll be provided up to three minutes to speak as well and we now have a presentation State development and Redevelopment plan by Donna rendero executive director State Planning Commission and we have Donna rendero I think we also have Elizabeth ter in the audience for the atanta county uh City Development Corporation I don't see her here but you did tell me she was yeah she's going to be coming today welcome thank you thank you for being here thank you for having me and um I want to say I appreciate you're having me and I want to say good afternoon to all of the Commissioners and all my friends in Atlantic County um with me today I have Langley admins she is our intern that we're providing to Atlanta County to assist in this effort so she wanted to hear us um there is presentation so my office is the office of planning advocacy we are the administrative arm of the state Planning Commission we are out of the Department of State and so on behalf of the lieutenant governor and on behalf of Melanie Willoughby the executive director of the business Action Center I want to say thank you for having us uh next slide um just really quickly about the business Action Center the business action Center's primary goal is to assist small businesses in a lot of different ways and all that shows is that there's a real connection between good land use and economic viability and it's really um it's really important to know that because a lot of times people don't understand that connection so there really is a strong connection we work very closely with our business Advocates to make sure that um to make sure that wherever there is Economic Opportunity we connect that landage to to uh to that process next slide um so those are the offices within the business Action Center we have export promotion we have uh business Advocates that teach folks um how to where to locate with relocate we have our office we have the uh cannabis Training Academy um and then the um small business advocacy next slide but we're here to talk about the state plan so really quickly next slide um the state plan is required in the state planning act so it's a statutorily mandated document that is designed to present a balance of development and conservation objectives throughout the state and the key word here is balance it's not an economic development plan it's not an Environmental Protection Plan it's not an affordable housing plan it's a way to figure out how to do all of it and to do it all comprehensively um so uh next slide but the state plan is not regulatory I can't come to you and say you must comply with the state plan it's guidance on good land use we really strongly encourage the counties and the municipalities to participate because that's where you have a voice our requirement that's in the statute requires us to not only horizontally within our state agency partners come up with a comprehensive plan but to see how we can be consistent at the state at the county and at the local level at the municipal level now nobody believes that 564 municipalities 21 counties and 18 state agencies are all going to agree but we do need to try to come up with the the highest level of consensus that we can next slide we have to update the the the state plan uh we're a little bit late we're the current plan is from 2001 so we're 23 years or 20 years behind where we should be um next slide um and so there are four processes for this update uh and you're going we're going to end up with four end products one is the plan document itself um the second is an infrastructure needs assessment and the third is an impact assessment and then the state plan policy map and the mapping protocol calls but that goes along with it um what's really critical it's in there in the statute it's in there in our rules is stakeholder engagement is critical we are required to hold 27 public hearings I have to do once the preliminary plan is issued I have to do 21 public hearings in 45 days one in each County um and then there's another six that are required when we do the draft final plan but it's we didn't think it was early enough and we didn't think it was enough so we've done a lot of um Outreach in most of last year and I'll talk about that going forward next slide so the preliminary plan is what we're working on now as we're working on the mapping piece of it um I would have liked that to have been done a little bit sooner and if there's any any delay that that that we're seeing now is I'm not happy with frankly but I think it's an important conversation for all of our state agencies to be aligned and to so they can support the plan and um would I'd like to have the preliminary plan done by probably I don't know let's say in the early part of the summer yes it would have been better but it's really an important process and it's really an important piece to get it right the first time for the preliminary plan and here's our commissioner tranic um so once that preliminary plan is out that triggers that cross acceptance process and that's where we wait at the state Planning Commission 45 days so that everyone has a chance to digest the preliminary plan and that's where we have to hold those 21 public hearings and the way the rules are written no sooner than 45 days and no later than 90 days so I'm going to pack a bag North and just keep going south and keep keep going um and during that cross acceptance process is when and I'll talk a little bit about what cross acceptance does in a minute but once that cross acceptance is completed what comes out of that cross acceptance process is a statement of agreements and disagreements we have to present that to the commission and they need to understand where we agree and where we disagree on not only the goals but also the mapping protocols then we would produce a draft final plan the commission has six more public hearings and then the commission can consider adopting that as a final plan next Slide the infrastructure needs assessment is a separate document that it talks about not only the infrastructure needs throughout the state and those infrastructure needs are are are fairly extensive it's water its Transportation it's Solid Waste its drainage um Shore protection and a lot of different pieces of affordable housing is Farmland retention so infrastructure is more broadly defined um and it's not only for our infrastructure needs today but the infrastructure needs going forward through the life of the plan which at this point goes out to 2050 um clearly there's not enough money on the planet to cover all of our infrastructure needs but it's a way to help us prioritize where where that investment should go next Slide the impact assessment basically just talks about um what what would the set look like if we didn't have a plan if we didn't have guidelines on where to develop and where to conserve and that we've just started to work on both of those two documents need to be completed to the draft plan next slide state plan policy map um this is what we're spending a lot of time with now and this we think is probably going to be 90% of the discussion on Cross acceptance um so starting it now even before the formal cross acceptance process begins it will be that much ahead of the game this is the current map um the state is divided into planning areas planning areas one and two are where that we encourage growth one is like a metropolitan planning like the newars the camons of the world planning area two are the Suburban areas where we do encourage development um and I call that that that that's the magenta colors and and I call that the state plan sash because it kind of goes from nework down to Camden um planning area four is rural planning area 5 is environmentally sensitive and planning Area 3 is kind of a fringe it's in between those two Atlantic County has has a lot of planning area 5bs and those are Barrier Islands because those have have particular concerns and we want to make sure that that's addressed separately the interesting thing about this map is I have a map in my office from 1934 and it looks almost exactly the same 100 years ago the industrial area was where the growth occurred the green areas where you can see the Pinelands and the highlands up in the Northwest those were still even though they weren't named that at that point they were still the most environmentally sensitive areas that we have next slide we did a number of process improvements anybody that has been around for the last goor round it's like daring headlights it was a nightmare of a process the last time there's no doubt about it but we're taking advantage of Technology that we have today that we didn't have 23 years ago and so we've updated our rules to allow for virtual meetings we um can accept submissions from municipalities and counties electronically that was not in the current rules that we originally had uh the preliminary plan we can send out electronically one example here is that it required every municipality in the state to send us their master plan that would inundated Us in paper we thought that was really silly most municipalities have their Master plans online so we're going to take advantage of that um we have two interacting interactive mapping tools that we started that we really think are going to be really ingal in in in the mapping discussion one is called survey 123 it's an ezri product where you can manipulate the boundaries of planning areas as well as centers and send that back and forth the municipal ities would submit that to the counties the counties then submit that to us in in one um in in one file and we can go back and forth electronically as we discuss those boundaries and whether or not we agree with them we disagree with them and how we can work together to come up with a compromise so that really we think is really going to be very integral in it um and a number of counties have already started to use that we also are creating something here it's talk we talk about a develop a development suitability index and this is not a policy it's not it's really a tool to provide information and what this document does what this map does is it identifies environmental features it identifies uh development features sewer service areas are you near Transit are you um in an area that that can be redeveloped and then obviously the environmental concerns flood planes um you know sleep steep slopes if they're threatened and endangered species we write them and we put them together to form a map that will show you where you will have information on where it's best to develop and where it's best to conserve and where you would find obstacles say you're in a flood plane and it will'll identify that but it will be done in context of the development factors as well so that is about to be introduced in about two weeks um and then we have um engaged public input it's a software for tracking and consolidating public comment so we have all of that information electronically stored next slide uh I don't have to go into a lot of this but but um we talked a little bit about the Outreach here um the process is um ongoing we have a number of ways for people to provide input to us and and that um we we we thought that what's required in the rules though is not enough and we did do eight webinars we had a number of I'll talk to anybody who will do an talk so um I've been to the league I've been I've been all over the place have a really really good relationship with the county planners Association and that's really really helped because they will say to us that we don't like the way this process works can you fix it and we'll listen as long as it complies with my rules and as long as it's consistent with the statute I'll certainly listen to a better way to do things next slide um there's some of the ways of us uh getting that public input we have a as Department of State email address we have the uh public input email address you can even leave a voicemail with a comment at that phone number um or just uh just go on to the public input website and then talk about uh about tell us what you think um we are working with our inner agencies uh with our state agency partner partners and as I said the county planners have been phenomenal next slide so through the end of last year primarily we we got our ducks in a row we did a lot of the Outreach we had a lot of conversations with our state agency partners we had 18 County informational meetings we um started research on population Trends and we developed those mapping tools we started the in infrastructure needs assessment with ruers um we uh procured the the software and we began the development of the plan document next slide so in 2024 we want to begin the mapping process and that's what has begun um we require that we get resolutions as you know from counties to be the negotiating entity the the um the rules anticipate that the counties will be the negotiating entity but a municip and a county can opt out if they if they so choose we strongly strongly discourage that because we think it's really important for the counties to have a role and to have a voice just like we strongly encourage every municipality to participate because that's the best way to have a voice in what I can't promise you're going to get everything you ask for but at least you have a voice and you can you have somebody some some way of some vehicle to communicate um 11 counties we've gotten resolutions from 11 counties so we've gotten half the state um that have already sent us resolutions we have two or three that are on their way couple are waiting until the plan comes out but the earlier we can get a jump on this mapping process the better off we're going to be once this formal process takes place because that is as I mentioned probably 90% of the discussion um and so um we're hoping to by the end of this year have much of that discussion um well underway if not completed and then by early 2025 we will complete the um the infrastructure needs assessment the impact assessment um we will have a final draft plan as a result of cross acceptance and then hopefully we can adopt that's kind of the timeline next slide implementation is important I can't say enough about having to implement a plan is only as good as its implementation you have um you have a good plan it's a great plan if it sits on the shelf and it doesn't go anywhere not a good plan um so there are I threw up there a couple of Statistics I will go into them now about how what we're looking at today in today's demographics is very very different from what traditionally we went through into in the 1980s um family size is small smaller um the need for School infrastructure isn't as big as it was in the 1980s um and there's there's a number of statistics and demographics that are very very different so we need to look at land use a little differently and we we can we can provide that information and that information will be in the preliminary plan so um I want to thank the participation Bob has been great um I think um Atlanta County does have challenges absolutely has challenges um Elizabeth always talks to me about Atlantic City we know that's that's going to be a difficult one because we want to invest in Atlantic C in Atlantic City but we also have to respect climate change and we need to figure out how to do it all um you have many barrier islands that are going to be a challenge going forward um and so what our role is is to kind of be the um the mediator and try to figure out how to respect climate change but make sure that there is enough economic growth to support all of our communities I always say planning areas one and two while they're largely um they're largely developed there should always be green space in a planning area one and two in the areas that are four and five where you have a lot of Green Space there should always be some economic development opportunity so the the definition of a planning area isn't exclusively that definition you need to be have green space in in the more urbanized areas you need to have economic growth in the rural areas the question is how do you do it and how do you do it all it's kind of like I want it all and I want it now um and that's what we try to do we're not perfect at it um and clearly not everybody gets everything that they want but we try to get as close to that as we can that's it so thank you question wow thank you Donna thank you for coming out today um it's a little difficult to to answer have some questions for you at this time because if you don't have a plan prepared how are we going to talk about cross acceptance or anything else because I don't know what your goals and the state's goals and objectives are um at this time does the uh State Planning Commission have some specifics on objectives they want to achieve leave um as we move forward that you could provide the Commissioners with at this point in time it's not the actual plan but in order to develop your plan you got to have go goals and objectives that you want to incorporate into correct um the current plan right now has eight goals and um those goals are um primarily around um climate change well the current plan doesn't have it in the one from 2001 the one you working on the one we're working on will include climate change and will include Equity those are the two we want to add to be Equity you mean as far as infrastr I'm just trying Equity is pretty Broad St talk about Equity with housing you're talking about Equity with uh you know energy or you talk I don't um it it was originally thought about to talk about environmental justice and ensuring that overburdened communities do not get um more of their fair share of uh of poor air quality poor um poor groundwater those types of things but Equity is really a border in my mind environmental justice is one spoke of the equity umbrella and that's sprad across the state it yes Equity just are you looking at specific areas that are targeted trying to grasp where your guys are looking I I think Equity is throughout the state you have to have Equity throughout the state obviously the more urbanized areas have the biggest issu with environmental justice and I get that but Equity is also around making sure that Farmland stays as an industry and how do you grow that so Equity means different things in different areas but it is throughout the state we are a very very diverse State and we have concerns about warehouses in forland for example how do we make sure that you the Logistics industry is 12% of New Jersey job growth um how do you make sure you continue to support that without degradating the farmland and H how do you do that so that's one of the questions so while environmental justice deals primarily with pollution Equity goes broadly around housing how do you provide good affordable housing in appropriate places there are many communities who will say I want to put my affordable housing off in the corner of the town where nobody sees it but if you have a train station shouldn't it be closer to a train station or a job center how do how do you do that and how do you make sure you have that comprehensive training well will you guys excuse me I me an interruption but as you're doing that planning document and you're talking about color requirements that the municipalities all have currently is that going to stay part of the state planning Doctrine or is it going to be changed or is there going to be Chang changes coming about that it sounds like you're getting into a quite a lot of planning Statewide that's going to impact everybody if it's agricultural you're dealing with pands communities pands legislation and stuff that's all housing all that's already been talked about for 25 30 years I guess your state planning document is going to try to address all those in these areas I'm speaking just Atlanta County at the yeah that's that's fair um so there is an affordable housing goal it's it's basically providing affordable housing um throughout the state and the need is is huge the the need is absolutely huge and so there is a goal that addresses affordable housing and affordability and and housing we want to more broadly talk about it's not just projects or market rate there are a number of options you can do there's two family homes there's accessory dwelling units there's a number of different options you can use to address that now what DCA is doing with the new legislation in A4 the affordable housing legislation I don't have authority over that and that's really dca's bail with they identify a number and that number is dealt with through DCA and if you don't agree with it it goes to the courts I have no authority over what the number is but we are working on a document that identifies how best to site that affordable housing maybe it should go near job centers so so people don't need two cars to get to their job maybe it's near daycare centers maybe it's not in flood planes those types of things and how you would look at your community differently perhaps through either Redevelopment if you have an abandoned strip mall maybe you can use that land as as a a potential site so we can play a part in that in helping municipalities and helping communities identify how to site affordable housing and where it should go in an equitable Manner and that that's the connection to equity one other question is for the state to reach these goals that you guys are talking about in this planning document I assuming you're going to have funding in place that's going to be specifically targeted to help these specific areas meet these targeted goals is that what the state's planning on doing there there is there are some funding programs I mentioned before that there is not enough money on the planet to do everything we want to do so the reality is are we going to have enough to do everything probably not um but I know there are programs in place hmfa has some really good programs they're the state administrator of the low-income housing tax credit program and they have some phenomenal projects they have really really nice projects um and um it it's going to take um public P private Partnerships there are a lot of really good affordable housing developers out there um but it it's working together with the private sector and the development community and the state to make sure that we're able to provide that and again are we going to be able to meet 100% of the goal probably not but if we can get some of the way there most of the way there that's that's our objective I appreciate if you can get us the information about the your objectives and it's prior you can give it to us I'm think and send it to the clerk so all the Commissioners can have what some of the state's goals are that you're specifically looking at Target we can provide the go goals that are currently in the plan plus the two new goals that we're going to be adding um and they're basically around Environmental Protection economic growth affordable affordable housing um infrastructure and comprehensive planning and there those are that's the top line but we are going to be adding the uh climate change and Equity piece of it so at least we can get you there and then we'll also send you the to the link to the current plan so you can take a look at that again thank you for for the presentation and for I know you mentioned that Atlantic County has a lot of environmentally sensitive areas and I know I don't know if it was result of you speaking in K County but I know a couple of months ago they expressed some similar concerns about the the threat um you know I'm not going to be climate change but concerned that a lot more properties be placed in the flood zone um and going back to I guess the governor's executive order of 2000 resulted in the um they call the protecting against climate threat theact act so and I know you said that these are just guys but are you do they mesh with the njd proposed changes that would affect properties being put into that flood zone along the coast and I know K May mentioned some concerns um this this board a couple years ago also has some concerns um that were initially expressed by the Chamber of Commerce that many more um properties that would not be allowed to be developed along the coast right um so D is regulatory if those rules um um if the pack rules get approved we thinking probably by next September um they will become required and and there there rules that we need to deal with and part of the reason that we have a slight delay in the preliminary plan is we're trying to figure out how best to deal with that but also give that opportunity for for folks to have some growth areas and understand it's it's tough it's not going to be an an easy choice in some cases um but a lot may have to do with where we locate and how we locate whether it's residential or commercial development and how we do that um and that's where you have to look at either a municipality or a county in a comprehensive manner um maybe we also have to look at things regionally a little bit um how how do you look at your region how do you may not be able to achieve all of the uh goals within each municipality especially because some of them are really small but if we look at them either countywide or or watershed management wide or look at things regionally maybe another solution in how to how to get to that okay and again you know I think you mentioned that this would be a 20 to 30 year um plan for guidance I think one of the concerns initially with the pack was that us me it's using um 80-year projections for climate change so that again concern that do necessarily mesh um with the plan that's you know I guess speak guance for 30 years if D is looking 80 years out I think concertiv was you kind of back up a little bit and then reassess after your guidance is it's expired or needs to be renewed so we the state plan is anticipated to be updated well the statute says every 3 years that's a little bit too aggressive but if the state plan gets updated every say like a master plan does every six to 10 years let's say um the reason D is using that 70-year time frame is because when you build a building and you build housing that's the anticipated life of of a building and so when you're building some either whether it's residential or commercial development they're looking out to the life of that development it is a it does not align exactly but also the science will be getting updated every I don't know X number of years and they can adjust that they have projections and those projections may be too aggressive they may be too conservative and so as they're updating their their projections will be updating our plan hopefully every 6 to 10 years keep that in mind for thank you than you thanks um couple of questions in the beginning of the presentation you mentioned um infrastructure is kind of broad term and you listed a bunch of pieces that are included is historic preservation included in there um I believe it is yes okay yeah um and then I heard you say something like pl we put in a plan places where we want to encourage growth like rural areas need to have some growth balanced with like saying rural what if some of our rural is don't want to have growth encouraged are we allowed to that's okay yes you are allowed to say that and where we agree that and it kind of goes back to what I'd mentioned before in that even if it's a rural area there needs to be opportunity for growth it's really a question of where it goes and how it's built so we believe that if you have an area that is um right off the right off of a highway way and it's in an industrial Zone then then maybe that's where the Industrial Development should go we are trying to avoid taking up green space to do that development it's really we really focus on dense development uh compact development mixed juice is really really important to us we want people to be living where the jobs are um the um if you look at the our our um business jobs in 12% of the business of the jobs in New Jersey are from small businesses and so that's that's a fairly decent number that's a large number but we want it to be where it's a walkable Community where people can walk to your neighborhood store way in neighborhood get you get your services and it's really so it's not only a focus of where but how um yes there's always going to be a need for economic growth in the rural areas there's always going to need a a space the Green Space there's a there's kind of a rule of thumb that says nobody should be more than a 10-minute walk from a park and that's great in a rural area not so easy to get to in an urban area so it it it happens and it's there but that's if we're not conscious about those things then it could grow in a way and you don't want to see it grow and that also takes into account things like like I I can think about on Route 30 um heading toward p there's a lot of rural area that can't be developed because there's no gas line running out there there's no water sewer there's no place to even put septic in some cases because there's you know Wetlands or marshlands things like that so does all of that get taken into account before you say uh along the Route 30 Corridor you should do some development well the the state plan talks more about um sort of more like the 30,000 foot level and and as Concepts and when we look at the map we do look at it that specifically um but at the same token what we might do is say maybe the growth should be along an evacuation group because you always want to care for an evacuation group in the event you have to get get out of the coast early um so it does take that into account um but at the same token we also have to look at what's existing where does it make sense to invest more does it make sense to invest that infrastructure where there's repetitive losses and those are really hard decisions they're very hard and they're very emotional decisions there's no doubt um but if you're in an area that has a repetitive loss does it make sense to put millions and millions of dollars of infrastructure in and those are the those are the questions that make this not so easy but yeah those are the things we consider and how are you handling um either vacant retail space or projections on vacant retail space as we're in the more you know online shopping kind of era and same thing for office space uh existing office space that's in use and an office vacant and you know where the projection for companies actually being in an office versus work from home environment in 30 years like how's that being handled so we are promoting red velopment as the um the go-to way to put in some of that infrastructure some of that whether it's affordable housing whether it's that economic growth opportunity um you can take an a vacant office office building and turn it into affordable housing and so if a town comes in and says I have no developable land then maybe you take that vacon office building and convert it maybe that strip mall can become um can become you know a medical facility that might be better for doctor's offices but when we talk about how we would promote sighting affordability and uh affordable housing and that and those important issues then that's where we would look to go is some of the vacant properties because you're right we don't know what retail is going to look like part of what we have to do in the plan is we have to do population and employment projections and frankly we don't know if the patterns that we're seeing today as a result of Co are going to stay are going to go so it it's it's almost like we have to punt a little bit on this um but we do know that there is going to be more work at home and then how do you adjust for people working at home and where are they going to go eat during their lunch breaks as opposed to a normal office office function um and so those are all things that we are considering yeah I think a lot of municipalities and certainly us you know I think we know it would be great to convert retail or office space into housing I just don't think there's a private business case for that and so I think that's where funding would really need to be a priority is you know to to help with some of that construction cost understood understood and then just final couple groups I want to make sure are engaged in the process from our area um first of all Atlanta County Economic Alliance we um I haven't well I've spoken to as as being part of the business Action Center um we do quarterly meetings with Chambers and economic growth folks um and I did present to every County through Melanie's um quarterly meetings with them I think I did it l October so they were at least appr price of it but we will make sure that that they're part of us okay um CDA they they will they are part of it they need to be informed of all of this and they need to yes they will be part of it um yes and then uh the southern New Jersey Development Council I yes I was actually there they're the that are out of the airport I think okay yeah um I'll make sure they they're they're on there sjo as well as the other three NP the other two npos we're actually working with them on the population projections because we think it's important to be consistent with the npos so we're working closely with them specifically on the population projections and then um the groups that are that to good any comments hey Elizabeth did you have anything you wanted to any input okay Don thank you so very much great we know thank you very much for being here and I think our commission send their notes to you as well abolutely great appreciate okay get me through b do you need me to stay no um okay the start with our resolutions with resolution uh 437 amending resolution number 122 adopted March 26 2024 The Professional Services agreement with various contractors to reallocate funds for alcohol and drug prevention education and treatment services no additional cost move by commissioner G second commission bertino any commissioner comments see hearing none anything D yeso yes burs yeah gy yes da yes G yes Parker yes rley yes F yes carries resolution 438 please amending resolution number 95 adopted on March 5th 20124 Professional Services agreement with various vendors to increase the amount of temporary nursing services to Med View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and the division of Public Health Net increase $625,000 second move by commissioner G by commissioner rley any commissioner comments Madam chair I think it's important to note that this is a kind of shift of um employee funds to contracted funds that's why it's such a significant increase we've lost staff and using our contracted funds to replace it at this time thank you any other commissioner comments anything from the public roll call bastino yes Burns yes Cory yes da yes G yes Parker yes rizley yes K yes carries 439 competitive contract with the atanta county sheriff's office for the provision of court security at the central Municipal Court of atanta County amount not to exceed $52,000 Mo by commissioner B second by commissioner G any Comm comments yeah Madam chair um I know we have chair here I know if he's going to want to comment on any of this but we did discuss this at um our uh subcommittee meeting yesterday um did receive you know quite a few bids for this which was nice uh and we went through a pretty rigorous uh scoring process within County Administration with a number of stakeholders involved and um our count Sheriff Department did end up being the highest score so and the lowest bid and the lowest bid but that wasn't the only Factor quite a few factors high score and thank you commissioner any other commissioner comments M chair yes yeah first of all I'm happy to see this back in the hands of the sheriff's office I think it should have been their work all along um second being the sheriff's here may just um invite us on his plan a little bit as to how he's going to um attack this absolutely sh good evening everybody so I first want to thank Mr Del Roso the staff and County counsel for all their assistance in this matter it was a rigorous Endeavor we had to competitively bid to get this back as you know which is something new for the county certainly something new for the Sheriff's Office It's Our intention to staff this with five new employees and several employees that we have in place already we will supply the much needed security that's needed for the court the staff our judicial people in place you know we've had several issues that private security can't handle this also keeps our police officers from every municipality on the street what do I mean by that I want to clarify by May in the transportation of prisoners from the county jail and when they have to testify that means if an incident occurred in Lynwood or Northfield or at you know anybody that's involved in this court system their officer would have to leave that jurisdiction or be placed on overtime to come and transport The Prisoner sit with the prisoner guarantee the security of that prisoner without the security of the building being secured so what I'll say to you is the sheriff's office will assume the transportation of these prisoners from the county jail to the court system will also be returning them as you know to return prisoners because of the amount of problems that we have and the lack of Staffing in some areas uh in policing it's difficult and timely this keeps our cops on the street where they should be for the municipalities involved also it's clearly where the lowest bidder presents the savings to the community and all who are involved in this process of County Municipal Courts I believe I believe in that system I believe it can work I believe it should work but it needs a Cooperative effort by both County and the Sheriff's Office who was part of this County and the policing agencies and the 10 municipalities that are involved I would encourage and I believe I'm encouraged by the fact that we have this we can bring the Safety and Security back to that building utilizing what we have in place already keeping in mind private security has no authority to rest detain or to charge we have all that Authority it's clear to me that there's been an absence of checking the court list to ensure that people in there don't have other warrants we will do that we will effectuate the rest of those people on the spot we will transporting with our transport team to the county jail this also helps municipalities because they would have to take custody of that person for other warrants and transport them as well or be called to the location when it is discovered we have a challenging time that we're all in safety and securi paramont our judges are seem to be much happier that we're coming back to do that we're trained to do that and I think um I'm open to any questions you may have at this point Sheriff you know that we're very proud of you your officers your staff and we have full confidence in you we're very happy to have you back uh any comments from our commissioners thank you very very much well I appreciate it I just want to say to M commission Parker Parker just really quickly I want to Echo the comments of commissioner B I am also very pleased as I know many of the Commissioners are to see that this is back in the sheriff's hands as we all believes it believe it should have been and should have stayed and so anything that we can do to help you throughout this transition just let us know we appreciate that I can tell you that the I have both under Sheriff Lee and under Sheriff Suarez with me here tonight the people in this department and I know Sheriff bis will understand this since taking office clearly we're on we're on post we are averaging fair to say 60 sometimes 70 hour work weeks to accomplish our goals we'll continue to do that we'll pay diligence Duty and obligation to this task we'll make you prouder and we couldn't do it without the county assistance that we've received and all of you and I I have to say it's not me I'm just the person who's blessed to be in the the front of this but I couldn't do it without the leadership and the staff that I have in the men and women of my agency I thank you for your confidence thank you sh M yeah just just wanted to uh mention I mean the the County's position you know with the Sheriff's Office and the sheriff being elected position um you know right now we have a good sheriff in here who's going to make sure that this is ran right coming from a great Sheriff I'll thank you it's it's it's held to the budget and you know not expanded from that um and hopefully you're you're laying out a a template that any future sh sure you know whether it's 3 years from now 10 years from now or 100 years from now you know we'll follow that template and you know this stay with with the county um with the County Sheriff's Office the you know the reason that it it went out the bid and the reason that the other Sheriff you know got rid of it was money you know dollars and cents and you know the municipalities were up in arms because it was costing so much money and it was Ran So Pur poorly so you know we're putting our faith in in you guys and like I said hopefully this is a template that all future sheriffs you know will follow and you know this work stays with the the Sheriff's Office where um as you lay down you know a security guard can't make an arrest you know they can they can stop and and maintain the peace until somebody else has to get there but that's somebody else you know would be either the sheriff's office or the municipality in which that court is held and you know that's an expense so having trained professional officers you know at that door and in that courtroom and making the transports I think is is a home run for our County and uh just want you to stay under budget now I think you know having 12 kids putting a little water in the soup doesn't hurt right so also want to say having had served during that time as a councilman for a Harbor Township I'm aware of the concern of both the public and all the people who are in charge of the purse and Mr Del Roso is probably one of the biggest Advocates of that so you can believe that with his assistance we'll we'll keep it in line that's our commitment and we but again we want to thank everybody for their support this is uh important to us as an agency and it is about the future of policing in Atlanta County I believe in that it's been my life's dedicated work and I made that commitment and I'll continue to I promise thank you thank you any other comments of the Commissioners anything from the PO have a roll call Alice Yesa yes Burns yes yes yes Cory yes G yes G yes Parker yes rley yes turn yes motion carries thank you again thank you folks resolution 440 the contract with ar P Company Incorporated for roate improvements at English Creek Avenue County Route 575 in Township and not not to exceed 1, 397,000 commission second G any commissioner comments what section of uh is this going West Jersey to move forward right any other commissioner comments hear none anything from the public have a roll call alas yeso yes Burns corsey yes B yes G yes perker yes grizzley yes turn yes motion carries resolution 441 big contract with ar Paving Company Incorporated for the resurfacing of B haror Road County Route 561 and County Route 62 in Hamington amount not to exceed 1,548 1800 second move by commissioner G second by commissioner grizzley and comments see hearing none anything from the public call Alice yes bar yes horsey yes a yes Shadow yes Parker yes Grizzly yes yes motion carries resolution 442 please R big contract with Northeast pluming services and liability company for supplemental pluming maintenance and repairs amount not to exceed $336,000 move by commissioner bertino second by commissioner G any commissioner comments see hearing none anything from the public who call bastino yes Burns yeah Cory yes da yes Shadow yes Parker yes grizzley yes K yes motion carries we'll come to commissioner Cory's favorite change orders resolution 443 change order number one a contract with Providence Auto Group limited liability company for preventative maintenance for Atlanta County vehicles net increase $6,000 second move by commissioner G second by commissioner D any commissioner comments a little left I think is feeling just fine over there feeling a little bit better yes man thank you any other commissioner comments anything from the public okay a roll call Alice yeso yes Burns yes corsey yeah yes yes yes Parker yes rley yes yes carries resolution 444 amending number amending resolution number 480 adopted on September 5th 2023 lease agreement with S&T real limited liability company for warehouse space to be utilized by L County division of facilities amount not to exceed $122,000 move second move by commissioner G second by commissioner bertino any commissioner comments M chair yes just the High um this should get us through I think it was year end uh which should get us to the open of the new warehouse and then we can terminate that contract thank you commissioner any other commissioner comments he none anything from the bastino yes Burns yeah Forsey yes da yes G yes Barker yes Grizzly yes turn yes motion carries resolution 445 please amending resolution number 599 adopted on November 14 202 an alternate method contract with Point fo care Technologies Incorporated to provide proprietary build billing and electronic medical record software at Med viw nursing and rehabilitation center that increased $541 second move by commissioner G second by commissioner bino any commissioner comments see hearing none anything from the public B Latino Burns yeah horsey y da yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes turn yes resolution 446 please National County Purchasing Alliance agreement with 84 Lumber Company for the purchase of lumber supplies in m n exceed $100,000 second move by commissioner G second by commissioner days any commissioner comments call altino Burns yes Cory yes da yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes yes motion carries resolution 447 alternate method contract with election systems and software for the provision of election tabulation amount not to exceed $200,000 second move by commissioner G seconded by commissioner bertino any commissioner comment mam chair um as discussed yesterday um they are looking to have that have that at 200,000 just get considering the volume that we're going to have with a presidential election and uh make sure that we have enough uh staff on hand and and things thank you any other commission comments see hear none anything from the public call alas yeso yes Burns fory yes da yes G yes Parker yes rley yes yes motion carries resolution 448 aming resolution number 46 adopted on January 21st 2020 an e contract with alge limited liability company to provide cable television to the residents of medavie nursing and rehabilitation center net increase $7,500 second move by commissioner G second by commissioner rley any commissioner comments Madam chair yes okay um Rich burds can you you yeah just a quick thank you to Jerry Jerry had absolutely no idea that the residents couldn't get the Philly game of all things my mother-in-law was in there can't say enough about the care she had in subtitute for her rehab the staff there is amazing and um the residents were complaining to my husband about his t-shirt and things they couldn't get and I just called Jerry and he like I'll take care of it so thank you Jerry she's no longer there thank God they took great care of her um but thank you to everybody that's all Madam chair that that's what I was going to mention so you guys will probably see this come back up on the agenda as we discussed in our subcommittee yesterday um Sports is a very high priority over there I understand and agree um and uh it's I I don't think they can still currently get it so that we're working with comast to or and a couple other I think providers to see if we have any other options in terms of a whole package or a bundle or whatever that we can figure out so U more to come on this one thank you Eagles games are a high priority yeah but they are working on that that was definitely a priority in conversation commiss ball did you yeah just carer is this 112,000 just for the cable service yes yes as a matter of fact Michelle Michelle is on I think she mentioned yesterday that comast was was higher than this so they they mooved they move I know they moved to this um this this allbridge company and and so you know when when uh commissioner Burns had said that they were having difficulty getting the uh the Phillies games I called Michelle she was telling me that since they they've got they've gotten rid of Comcast because it was more expensive they no one really ever said anything in there that they can't get the Phillies games I mean this was like brought to our local sports I was just wonder whether yeah the Avenue was ever explored to maybe replace the TVs with smart TVs and just work them off the internet like half half the people in the county are doing now well we just so you know we we uh we have a plan to to do something a little bit um 20 21st or I guess 21st century in there we made we made a proposal to um Senator Booker's office it made the first cut then it didn't make the second cut and now we're we're working on on another plan so it would be all brand new televisions it would it would give them all new phone systems would allow there there's a difficulty I believe with with u metaview in terms of Sal service things like that all of that would be taken care of through this uh grant that we we're looking at right now and and was a recommendation from Our IT director uh Brian Ru so yeah awesome so yes we are doing that than you hey Jerry thank you Jerry yes go ahead hi this is Michelle also wanted to to comment that the 112,500 is not each year um that's for the entire contract I believe for 5 years um and then if we need to um to go with Comcast so we're we're trying to look at different options to see if we can get a better package for all of the residents either through this company or a different company but Comcast each year was about 15,000 more than this company so we're we're definitely looking at options yeah thanks for pointing that out it is for years yeah appreciate you clarifying that Michelle thank you yeah she's working hard on it because she's a big fan as well we all know that okay uh any comments from the public he R Bas fortino Burns yeah Cory yes yes da yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes K yes motion carries BRZ 449 contract with various providers for the provision of Hospice Services at meav viw nursing and rehabilitation center no calls second move by commissioner G second by commissioner days any commissioner comments see here from the public call Bas yes fortino yes Burns yeah fory yes B yes Shadow yes Parker yes grizley yes K yes motion carries resolution 450 big contract with El farazi company for the resurfacing of Brigantine Avenue sections 2B and 2 C in the city of Brigantine am not to exceed 17421 7719 moov by commissioner grizley second by commissioner days any commissioner comments okay see heing none anything from the public call Alice yes Cory yes da yes G yes Parker yes grizley yes K yes motion carries to resolution 451 brown brown Greer settlement fund administrator under the caption of opoid settlement account 2022 in the amount of $76 317 34 C second move by commissioner G seconded by commissioner rley any commissioner comments see hearing none anything from the public any we callino yes Burns yeah Cory yes B yes Shadow yes Parker yes grizzley yes Kent yes motion carries resolution 452 appointment of Kimberly Perez to the Atlanta County Workforce Development board firm to expire on June 30th 2027 move by commissioner Val second by commissioner bino and commissioner see hear none anything from the public call Alice yeso yes Burns yeah fory yes yes yes Parker yesy yes yes motion carries resolution 453 authorizing consent for a roadway solicitation event by at for Township High School baseball booster club at the intersection of Ocean Heights Avenue County Route 559 and Zion Road County Route 6:15 in a barber Township on Saturday November 2nd 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. second move by commissioner gther second by commissioner D any commission comments see hearing none anything from the public have bino Burns yes [Music] yes B yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes yes motion carries uh does anybody have any commun Communications or petitions that they would like to okay any reports of special committees that anybody would like to share amen any unfinished business okay any new business commission Parker M chair through you to Jerry Jerry I received um a phone call from our officers Union um president from inside the jail and they're telling me that there was a letter that was sent two weeks ago to you asking to um open the contract to receive competitive salaries and the issue being they're down 35 officers for my understanding and they only have three applicants uh to replace those 35 and this uh things are getting pretty um they're pretty concerned about the conditions inside the jail so I want to know if there's anything that you can um tell us about what's going on with this letter if in fact it happened what it's about and what we're doing to address the issue I haven't I haven't seen the letter commissioner so if they they emailed it to me I have not seen it I can't tell you the president of the Union called me I would say a month or so ago and and asked me to consider salary increases and um I have spoken to uh Mr Toro and Mr Kelly and you know it's on my now to call a meeting and um I guess to determine whether or not we can afford to um to make that you know that that that kind of uh move and so that's you know again but I haven't received any letter if they send a letter they should they should send it to me again because I haven't seen it and what they ask for J things are getting pretty tough in there and I mean if and and I hear you saying if we can't afford and I get that portion of it but if we can't afford what would be like what are our options here because we I mean if if we're not if we're we're losing officers and we're not replacing them and the situation inside of the jail is getting dire what what are what are our options Well we'd have to talk about them I mean you know the point would be is can we can we move inmates out to some other Jail uh would we be allowed to do that I'm not sure I we'd have to explore that but I mean I think let let me go back so the state the state has made yes I just this really sounds like a personel issue no no I know I'm just trying to just jump I'm just you know commissioner Parker I think this should be a committee just basically it's a personel it should be a committee you know discussion okay I don't think I'm not talking about person I'm not talking about Personnel M I'm talking about saf in our jail I think it should be a committee discussion what you're talking about right now we do have so which committee the jail so are we sending are we going to send this to committee I don't have a problem with sending this to committee that'd be great yeah it would have to go to two committees Madam Chair by may it would have to go go to the budget committee and also a go the Public Safety Committee um that's a conversation that need to be house in-house um some of that stuff should not be discussed publicly um for various reasons and so I think the the the move is to go to committee and I think the chairwoman should assign that to Public Safety slash the budget committee as well very very good input commissioner that will you will do that Madam CH at least if if you guys could get the letter sent again and through to commissioner Parker if they can send it to me have not seen a letter but I will ask they'll send it to me so I can forward it to you Jer at that point commission be we'll do what I'll do I'll send it to you madam chair and then you can disate it out sure once I get once I receive it sure if that's okay thank you commission just for the record I mean in budget of committee yesterday we actually did have a pretty lengthy discussion um with regard to uh the jail and jail operations and this continued discussion that we'll be having in budget sub committee for sure I think this is probably a more immediate issue that need to be discussed in jail committee but we are we are discussing it sorry words um I was just going to suggest that um instead of duplicating the process of uh just going to two different committees um we just get a couple members of each committee as as we're not um adding enough people up to be a um you know some members you know create a committee of couple people from the bud committee couple people from the jail committee and um then we can absolutely set a duplicate the process okay any other new business mam chair yes commissioner Cory mam chair I have a question through you uh to through you to our solicitor uh um as most of you know um West Atlantic City and may not be this may not be the setting but I'm going to put it out there anyway West Atlantic City as you know over the years have been come a very bad accident PR as y'all all know a couple weeks ago two people lost their lives and a woman that was 8 months pregnant as well the question I have through you madam care and to our solicitor if there any kind of way we can draft some kind of letter resolution something to the Department of Transportation the governor's office to see if in fact what we can do out there on that Highway yall know it's pitch black at night uh it's um I don't know we can put barricades up I don't know what we can do but every it is just a crying shame that people losing their lives whether they are driving uh whether they are walking across the highway Etc something something has to be done um again just a couple weeks ago another tragedy accident out there uh and this gets worse and worse and uh I would ask our solicitor uh Madam chair if you would look into perhaps drafted a resolution uh that all of us can support and send it up to the state uh and to do some type of study there's been enough accidents out there if they should need a whole bunch of studying uh the fact of the matter is that the county and other municipalities can give them a number of how many deaths have taken place over the number of years and it doesn't seem to be getting any better uh seem to be uh getting worse and so again that's my suggestion recommendation uh through you madam CH to ask list Madam chair I believe we've done something similar like that in the past so I don't think that's going to be a problem at all and uh Commissioner of course I can coordinate with you about getting appropriate information and um you obviously you're going to be the sponsor and I I'll talk to the chair about putting that together thank you so much yeah just to to um highlight a little bit the um do has already been in the process of um supposed redesigning that roadway raising that roadway you know it's there was meetings at the firehouse and everything else that's been going on for 10 years Le 10 years and I don't think the first Pebbles removed out there um I know there Township got great money to to buy up some of the motels thinking that would help from people crossing back and forth across the street but um you know maybe the language we could include in that is for them to you know speed up this process and you know whatever studies they've been doing for the last 10 15 years as far as raising that road and and uh putting the barrier down the center and everything like that think they got to get moving forward on it so uh commiss Madam chair I me through to through you to uh commissioner Bor again I I concur with that but how many more deps do we have to do before something be done so what we will do is once we draft this resolution or letter um we would then reach out to the dev's office for one a spokesperson maybe we get them to come down do a tour and maybe we can get some data uh from the county uh Prosecutor Office or major or you know people crossing that Highway cars going in the wrong direction crossing the lane uh I'm not saying what you saying is wrong I just think at some point women is enough enough um and there's enough data out there to be able to have been move a little quicker than they mve it yeah I think we all agree M chair we to our solicitor we can use the uh very lengthy uh resolution that we did for 322 in Cologne Avenue that cited all the accident data and commissioner Cory if you can get the governor's office down here for a tour there maybe you could get them to come down and see the work that's just sitting there not getting on there where which is a huge accident it's one of the worst uh intersections in the state of New Jersey so um if we can get a fire lit and do and state government that would be amazing that was Jersey yes maybe maybe we should get the State Office of planning put in the Redevelopment it should definitely be in the state yeah infrction they were talking about it that might be well col you know they sent us a letter and said they were proud to tell us that in 2 to 3 years it would get done so maybe if they put something that you know in 20 to 30 years something might get done in my but thank you commissioner Cy that is very important in that area is tragic thank you uh do we have any other new business chair this is probably not a million new business item but just wanted the governing body on I did attend the midye review by the ACA in regards to their Wastewater uh budget and spoke with Matt Deno who was uh as you know very very approachable and um he's certainly willing to come here you know and do a presentation whether it be on trash or waste waterer at any time yeah he's been very open to that yeah he's very very good very approachable on that and that's a good thing I also uh attended the second night of the 4H fair where the county presents the seashell Awards I I do that every year and I enjoy doing it and uh they are awarded to U two young people who are going to be the ambassadors for 4 for the following year so they congratulate the outgoing ones and welcome the new the new ambassadors for the year those two young ladies and uh that was very very very well and I also met there the new uh State agriculture Secretary of New Jersey and wierson and U we got to chat with him a little bit so he's making all the rounds and doing the right things as the new secretary of state for New Jersey for agriculture and um and finally I did attend with some of the others on the governing body here Rich you were there and then Mr Burns um I'm not sure is just the three of us there Gana was there for the virtual okay virtually for the hearing that uh Congressman of Andrew and mayor Sarah hosted and and britin very very informative and we got a lot out of that so that was a well time well spent thank you any other new business sure um again maybe new business maybe not but anyway with with the election coming up this year um I got a phone call from a County employee apparently last year um after the election there was mail imbalance that were put into the I guess there was a mailbox that sits outside of the County office building um that paperwork goes in for welfare department and there was mail and Bots that were dropped in there apparently several of them and I guess the question was what were they going to do with them and so forth and so on and from what I'm being told I didn't look but these two the the Dropbox for mail and ballots and the the box for the welfare department look similar and they're close they're right next to each other um just worried that this is going to be an issue again this year here and if it can if it can get addressed um although I spoke with the clerk and he told me he believes that the bail boox for the drop box was set on fire so maybe if if it was then it's going to be put back out maybe it get put in a different location yeah we had we had a fire at the building and somebody set a fire and so yeah the one box actually There Were Three Fires we had three separate days three different fires one of the fires was set behind the election box and for the most part it it destroyed the structural Integrity of of the box so yes they they were going to have it moved uh Chris poo or facilities director spoke with uh I think ten Bry from you know Board of Elections and they were going to work on a new location for that box just has to be in in atantic city I believe so yes it won't be there next to the existing FCD all right perfect thanks any other new business okay um anyone attending M yes commiss Cory I make one one second just want to chime in I did get a call from uh Folks at the election board as well concerned about their box out there being damaged and uh they asked if there was going to be a different location uh I had not had a chance to talk to Jerry um about it but I'm glad it was brought back up again today because before you know it' be time to put them out put put it back out so I'm glad paying attention to it thank you commissioner okay um anyone attending in person that would like to speak now a public comment please come to the podium speak into the microphone state your name the town you reside if you're attending virtually and would like to make a public comment please raise your hand I will call upon your name and a request to unmute will be sent please state your name name the town you reside and you will be provided up to 3 minutes to speak I think there's somebody virtually did you say Kristen yes okay and is Nick niini yes he's the president of the he's unmuted Nick Parini Nick are you there any you guys he Mr Pro yes we can hear you how you go um first off I just want to thank Mr Parker for speaking up for us uh been in communication with him he's been a big help to us um I want to give you a timeline um on what was been going on at the jail I first met with uh Jerry in March and uh explains him how bad the jail actually is with officers working 80 70 hours a week we can't hire anyone this is not something that uh you know new new to the jail but uh it needs to be addressed and if you don't do something now I don't know how much smaller going to stay at foot that's that's kind of the point out that I think uh Parker was trying to make for us uh the thing that uh the the letter he's referring to I sent that to the County Council I guess is the new one is Mr Hughes I will send it to all the Commissioners um we're about $10 to $15,000 and $330,000 under the state salary right now um people are leaving us to go to them um I invite anyone in there to come into that jail and see what's going on right now I'm not making this up I've been president for 10 years I don't complain about much but you need to do something or it's going to be like Cumberland we're going to be closed and you know a subcommittee you need to have people that are actually in the jail on these subcomittees not not uh you know pencil pushers as you would say or we need people to see what's going on I'm not trying to bust too many chops here I'm just trying to inform people on what is going on here I've been quiet long enough I think you guys need to come see it for yourself and uh Jerry I met with him in March kind of got hey we're going to do something Nick nothing got done I called him two weeks ago it was more all right Nick we'll work on something so it's up to you guys now I mean I did my part I'm informing you and you know that's all I can I appreciate it I watch all the videos you know you guys do a great job with the budget but this should be top concern it is your biggest expense in the county I believe right so give us some love thank you no thank you very much for being here uh you know we do have very active Commissioners uh we send things to committee we do take care of you know who's on this committee and I'm sure you'll be seeing some of them but thank you and we appreciate your comments is there anybody else in that like okay uh any comments for the go of the order yeah oh so the county ex asked me to come this week and talk about the some new developments at the metav view so two things occurred probably over the course of the last two weeks first one is the fedal VA um the staff had met with them and discuss the uh through to Congressman Lana's office the I think I mentioned this the last time Congressman VRE right I'm sorry we we were just talking about a location today I'm sorry so anyway so congressman dandrew and and he actually had people from the VA speak to the staff and they they were going back and forth on some of the things that they they can do they have called back and I think they're sending or they might already have an agreement that actually shows um another process to get veterans into metaview it's called V VA Veterans Administration that CCN Community Care Network and it it deals with Medicare and how Medicare is used as you probably all know Medicare is not a long-term care solution it it allows for up to 100 days of of some type of service G rehab of some form so they're working and sent us an agreement it's being reviewed by the staff at Med then then we'll go over to County Council for for a review to determine whether or not we can actually you know uh agree to the those particular terms the second thing that occurred was commissioner um of course he called called the governor's office and they they uh assigned a gentleman by the name of Rob field I think he is the um new assistant uh Chief of Staff uh spoke with the commissioner Cory they got me on the phone I spoke with with Rob uh we explained we had sent a letter to their their uh I this it's Colonel ma who who's now the director for uh veterans veterans and Military Affairs for the for the state and what we agreed on was we send him the letter he'd look at the letter and then he would uh consider uh I guess speaking to the I guess the individuals in the governor's office to determine that they would come down and look at that view to determine whether or not they would want look at uh creating metav view as a VA home which which you know was a recommendation from the county executive and or whether or not there were other things they could do to us to expand the number of people we have in the nursing home or make recommendations to us on on on the next steps so the executive is asking me as part of this conversation with with the state if the board would be willing to put together a resolution in support as you know and and I would defer to uh commissioner Dallas the veterans Advisory board has agreed uh to to send a a letter of support for this particular concept so I'm not asking you to to vot tonight but I we will work along with you if you'd be interested in the resolution and if you if there are things that you'd like us to to put into the resolution that be more uh uh for clarification as to the exact process that we're looking at working with uh with the stay on so we're willing to do that so you you tell me if how you'd like to proceed and you know I'll ask and missuse and I guess we can work with uh your your uh your solicitor on putting something together for the board to review take that I comment on that sure so the everything Jerry said is absolutely correct so what happened was I wake up I don't get much sleep but I wake up early in the morning I see this article in the paper I immediately called the governor and asked him if he had look at it and he had received the letter so the Govern put two people on it right away what we did was got Jerry on the conference call um actually Rob he supposed to reach out to me this week as well Jerry um I'll do another followup to see if in fact um the new Chief of Staff Hy um Tim H uh had a chance to start looking at it but I did request that they come down and take a look at the facility uh I think we are going to get that uh at a minimum uh we just hope this supp to be sooner rather than later uh but we have the attention on it now that whatever language legislation you got to move on or go from there but um great great opportunity to stay take it over and I'm told and I didn't know this that the state runs three veteran hospitals anyway right that's correct we take a look at it and see where we go from here so the resolution of support obviously would would would obviously support or you know the the whole concept of the letter that went in and that and that the county is in you know full support of the concept if you like we'll work I I'll work with isues and and your your solicitor on on getting you some some information yeah bring it to our next budget and administration sub commmittee we'll review it and make the recommendation F great okay you great good okay M CH chair did you Comm B you said that the veterans Advisory Board was support this as well the past we spoke about it at the last veterans a board meeting um there was a lot of information that was given from the county exec to um the chairman Mr Davis and um also from executive to me and the information that Jerry presented to us the night before um at our last meeting um we meet on Tuesday they made on Wednesday and um with all that um it was unanimous to UM Vet Advisory Board does support the uh concept of the county making met view more accessible to Veterans here in Atlanta County um and if if it does come that that that we need a resolution um after there it goes to I guess budget committee whatever want have a sponsor we can do a joint so it's coming from veterans and from Administration totally that makes sense Madam chair um as the Human Services commissioner um that M of you f under me and having gone through this personally recently with my mother-in-law I support it 100% and um so if you'd like to put my name on it I'm in suppored it I think they do a great job and I'm all about the vet and moving forward that's at difficult times for um assisted living and they do an amazing job and I think it's a great idea thank Youk CH just just one comment I guess you know we talked about the staffing issues I've better of you earther in the meeting and I just want to you know I know the county executive sent a letter to the staff I just want to make sure that you know we keep the staff in mind and we you know and I guess informed as much as possible we hate to lose staff them not knowing exactly what's happening with the the facility and that you know we explore all this and try to move as scrip as we can to make sure that we keep the staff that we have in place youbody just says he doing an amazing job there so so miss just say you know we we have been miss n has been meeting with the staff and going through all all the discussions we've been having so I mean obviously you know there there's there are concerns but you know the the from what I understand from the most recent conversation if in fact the state would be willing to partner with this it it helps them because it doesn't hurt them at all because they'll be in the same you know pension system it wouldn't be a private entity it be another public entity and that that's really quite a concern F the more books and beds um and we have a revenue Source potentially from you know some support um that should then help with being able to attract and retain higher compliment anyone I just want know you this board did ask us to do a few things so at least one of them is you know we're working on a non-disclosure agreement um you know to look at the potential sure to get an additional nursing staff in the facility so we are we are looking at you know Community agencies that have that capability so we we we were asked to do that by the board we've done that we were having uh conversations and and hopefully you know they'll be fruitful at the end thank you anything else for the go of the order another El entertain to a Jour all in favor [Music] [Music] [Music]