the commissioner meeting of May 23rd 2024 at 6m at the Sussex County administrative Center commissioner meeting room one Spring Street Newton New Jersey can I have a roll call please deputy director Carney here commissioner shik here director space here commissioner degr here commissioner Hayden here thank you a moment of silence and a salute to the flag um and I would like to please observe the moment of silence for all those that have paid the ultimate price for our country and I also would like to give my fellow Commissioners an opportunity to say just a couple of words before the moment of silence and in typical order I will start with uh commissioner Hayden give them over to silence RS and pay the ultimate sacrifice overseas our country for our freedoms and Liberty God bless them and their families thank you commissioner degr God bless the many individuals who are serving have served and have made the ultimate sacrifice serving our great country my thoughts and prayers are with them today this Memorial Day Weekend onward thank you commissioner shik thank you um we are not entitled to this Freedom the freedom was paid for by the blood of the American Soldier God bless our Heros thank you commissioner Carney God bless our freedom and thank you for giving that us and the ultimate sacrifice thank you I pledge of allegiance to the flag flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you number four public statement first pursuant to the open public meetings act chapter 231 PL 1975 adequate notice as defined by section 3D of chapter 231 pl1 1975 has been made by regular mail and email such notice being submitted on January 7th 2024 from the administrative center of the county of Sussex located at one Spring Street Newton New Jersey to the following New Jersey Herold and the Star Ledger and is also posted on the bulletin board maintained in the administrative Center for Public announcements and has been submitted to the Sussex County Clerk in compliance with set act at this time please mute all electronic devices and I always ask my fellow Commissioners to please put their phones away number five approval of agenda we have one change to tonight's agenda item number 14s will be voted on separately tonight can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended deputy director Carney and a second a second commissioner shik any discussion all in favor I I opposed abstain motion carries number six proclamations certificates and presentation commissioner schik is going to read one for Augsburg historical society's 40th anniversary Judy Penton is here to accept hi Judy welcome Proclamation recognizing the bur of augsburg's his historical society's 40th anniversary whereas the bur of Augsburg was established in 1914 and whereas the burrow is rich in the history of SS's County and the mining industry of this nation and whereas the ausburg historical society was established on February 21st 1984 and whereas on September 20 2014 the burrow celebrated its 100th anniversary now therefore be it resolved that the susus County Board of County Commissioners does hereby recognize and honor the Augsburg Historical Society on their their 40th anniversary for all of the work they have done preserving the history of the burrow of odenburg for past present and F future Generations be it further resolve that the susus County Board of Commissioners extends its best wishes for the ogdenburg historical society's continued success by order of the board of County Commissioners commissioner director space deputy director Carney commissioner the group commissioner Hayden and myself s today May 23rd 2024 thank you thank you would you like to say a few words for us um I appreciate the proclamation and um we are hosting a dinner on June 1st um I extended the invitation to commissioner Shi to see if he would like to attend um just cheing with you um we appreciate it uh Augsburg is a small little town in this County uh Big Rich in history as we know um um and all things fluorescent um but appreciate it our museum is now open once a month on a Sunday from 1 to 4 if you want to stop by because we're making that more of our town history and letting the mine be the museum his the mineral history so um starting this Sunday we will be open and the fourth Sunday through the summer so far then will re we'll check our schedule but thank you very much and what is the address uh it 100 Main Street in the parking lot of the school it's uh it's actually more on the sake Avenue but the building is in the parking lot of the main building okay nice nice get a picture with you sure perfect somebody it to me oh perfect yes Mo this way over this way so you're under the seal all right you go in the middle I'll go in the interior beautiful one more thank you very much did you stand back here did you stand back here how over there way away from the zoom okay um we have a proclamation recognizing Bernard Cutler and he is The 95-year-old Graduate of Sussex County Community College he was unable to attend tonight but he's going to try to make our June 12th meeting so we're not going to read it tonight uh and here comes bill truan right in the nick of time you're up you sure oh wait that isn't Bill TR I was going to say you're freaking me out yes you're right in time you're up here yes thank you he's got ready New Jersey presentation okay did uh did you get a hand out uh yes we got it from via email email yes we did thank you so um I'm the susex keny uh historian and uh I'm uh glad to be here today I got held up because the uh route 994 was uh detoured through uh Beaver Run uh and uh part of our work for the next two years uh is the uh recognition that in two years from now uh July 4th 2026 will be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and so made us free country and uh some of us are old enough I remember 1976 and there was a very big demonstration parades uh historical societies got to be re uh reinvigorated and we we still have the Ripple effects of that now some people who are older uh are still with us and they got uh interested in our country's history through uh the 19 76 200th anniversary but here we are 50 years later and it's uh time again for us to do it takes a lot of effort to put it forward so uh it's really two years out and uh I'd like to start uh letting people know on a day-by-day basis next year in April Paul R's ride April 18th 1775 which will be uh next year so uh the that's the program and New Jersey state also recognizes that and they're promoting it uh as well and it is National too they have come out with a proclamation a boiler plate Proclamation that could be uh taken and massaged by uh municipalities and counties to uh recognize it uh for uh purposes of showing that they're in support and uh there's a proclamation template that has been handed to the County Commissioners uh by me and uh I'd suggest or be interested if they would support the program like that for uh us to move forward some of the municipalities in the county four or five of them already have done their own custom made more or less while the template of the Proclamation and uh I'd like to see the County Commissioners if they're interested to support that so that's thank you so how do we move forward with this is this something that uh so this was uh something I you know addressed in my commissioner comments last meeting uh I drafted that resolution for you guys to review um and basically if there was any questions on that and regard to the equivalence to the proclamation that um know B truan has talked about um they can be addressed at this moment uh there's you know if we have to table it for now um that's no problem at all but essentially uh what I provided you all um last meeting was just the revised version of the state template Proclamation for uh rev 250 um really bringing it to a Sussex County um level similar to what Mammoth County uh did a year ago per se um I know vill has been working hard um I attended a you know R 250 type of meeting and uh they were very eager to uh just have our support and uh yeah that's why I drafted it and should we put it on the agenda for the next meeting we can get it on the agenda so that and then we can vote on it does that sound good yeah that sounds good for me then this way it's like put on there and then we know it's coming and yeah and I mean if there's any questions at all um so be it now or um you know whenever but uh I I think it's you know time that the county step up I mean uh July 2026 is gonna July 4th 2026 is going to come you know pretty soon quicker than you we can all imagine and uh you know rightfully so I think it's you know time especially with five five municipalities or you know getting started so so sounds sounds good we'll put it on we'll definitely put on the agenda for next meeting okay so thank you we appreciate it anybody have any questions for them questions no thank you okay number seven public hearing we have none number eight public session from the floor this public session is for those wishing to make a comment of 3 minutes or less regarding an agenda item please line up at the microphone and state your name municipality and agenda topic for the record can I get a motion to open the floor for public comment so commissioner degr in a second second deputy director Carney any discussion all in favor I oppose abstain motion carries okay floor is open Agenda topics only okay okay Allan I just look at the agenda items of BB resolution for the purchase and CC purchase of vehicles what are they purchased for which one page six and seven authorize the purchase of 25 for Explorer that's kind prosecutor's office that's for the prosecutor to use MH all right and the other one the uh Transit cargo F it's on the bottom of page six BB you said that is for the uh office that's office for Fleet so that's going to go into the general Fleet more than likely that's going to be used for uh the sheriff's office as well for prisoner transport Okay so we we pay the um prosecutor plus we provide a vehicle for him Pro oh go ahead I'm sorry this is for transporting the no I'm back to CC on page CC the prosecut yeah when they're going to uh they go to court don't they in Mor toown and also they respond we have detectives that respond we have this is for the prosecutor's office it's not for the prosecutor it's for the office and they respond the detectives respond to issues and emergencies and that you have vehicles that you use for that okay just curious because s taxpayer money want to know who's using it no joy R that's thank you thank you anyone else can I get a motion to close the floor for public comments still Mo okay Deputy Carney and commissioner deg gr all in favor I oppose obain motion carries number nine commissioner comments I will go with commissioner Hayden first please team volunteer at the library this summer newon New Jersey s County Library System team volunteers ages 14 to 18 to assist with the upcoming summer reading program The Venture begins at the library team looking for service hours this summer can apply online as Library volunteer than or by visiting the local library bran volunteer applications along the supplemental medical note and parental consent form are due no later than June 15th applicants must all so attended team volunteer orientation at their local branch details on times dates and locations and orientations are available at sus County library.org events summer reading program June 27th to special opening events at each Library location and runs through July 27th volunteering teens are invited to participate in the summer reading program reading books bring Raff tickets and enter into in prize visit susex County library.org summer reading for more information on from the 2024 summer reading program all that programs are free it'll get all Prize winners must have a library card thank you okay commissioner shik thank you um so I've had a busy week around veterans um I've visited a number of installations one in Stan hope for the um for the county meeting one in Newton and one in Sparta at the VFW and they're all voicing concerns about different programs that we uh should look into to help the veterans um so I told them I took some notes and I told them I would get back to them I believe that some of the uh Transportation issues are already being covered and I wanted to go over that with Ron before I answered them uh I attended the uh Unified sports program uh prom their very first prom Unified sports is where a um a uh a a young person joins with a special needs child of their um of their high school and they train together in sports programs could be um a team of swimmers or track meet or basketball uh Sparta's UniFi has actually won their league and they qualified in their track and field for the Special Olympics uh being with them at their first ever prom uh I learned a lot about what they do and how many towns in Sussex actually have this program so it'll be something I'm going to be more involved it in um I visited and spoke with many people at the block party inong and of course on freeding day and um let's not forget about the vard uh the votte Board of Ed meeting that we attended and uh heard from the public and um I thought it was a pretty produ very productive meeting so uh for me outside of um my um my love for seniors in in my vocation I work with seniors uh outside of the commissioner board the older American event was amazing and I thought Chris uh commissioner Carney did a great job with the proclamation and I just thought it was a well-run event Lorraine going to give you all the credit um but it was really one of the more more Stellar events that I've been a part of um in in many years so uh that's it for me thank you commissioner degu yes uh to begin the Farmland preservation revitalization tour uh recently h a stop actually last night at fre committee meeting uh the committee was more than happy to be educated on the recent updates to the program and help the initiative of preserving Farmland here in Sussex County um just reiterate as of today uh that marks 13 stops on the tour and uh you know I'm pleased with the foundation that we really established receiving two Farmland preservation applications in just five months and just to remind everyone you know um Farmland preservation really does benefit sus this County and it does benefit the farmer by offering them an opportunity to sell their Land Development rights uh in return for a payment that payment could be used for infrastructure like fixing a leaky roof um buying a tractor uh paying down their mortgage uh really you know is a great benefit um and give to give them that opportunity um Su count Farmland preservation program is helpful and I will continue my work in educating not only farmers but you know everyone on the updates um with this additionally progress has been made at susus County Community College in enhancing both Agriculture and cyber security program cyber security is something um bring and forth you know right now to you guys but first with agricultural program this past week I met with Hudson Farms to fine-tune the curriculum and expectations for the internship program it was terrific meeting with them and I can't take them Hudson Farms enough for their Hospitality uh the next steps forward really are myself and the administration at SEC are now making Minor Adjustments um to you know the curriculum that were establishing and really it looks like the agreement is soon to come to completion um which is very encouraging I'm having to report on that now with cyber security um and their program over the past month I've been in communication with uh checkpoint a software and cyber security company that actually offers Partnerships with higher institution education institutions to implement their secure Academy program uh secure Academy provides a Hands-On learning curriculum that prepares students for careers in cyber security um and this opportunity actually includes a direct um you know hiring process with checkpoint um this partnership is no C cost to the college or to the county and truly benefits sus County community college students by allowing them to directly enter the program and have job opportunities coming out in that 2-year period uh this partnership can be compared to other Partnerships already established between SEC um one of them is the Optics program with uh Thor lops you can think of it that way um but I'm pleased to report this progress with you um to my fellow Commissioners and of course that will keep you updated on my behalf um for the division of Health uh for the Office of Environmental Health the Office of Environmental Health has been busy conducting temporary food vendor in uh inspections and contacting recreational bathing facilities and preparation for the upcoming summer season as the weather becomes warmer communities host more activities which often include food vendors and markets the Office of Environmental Health must review and approve temporary food vendors before they can participate in these events approximately 14 events will be held over the several next several weeks with multiple vendors and weekly farmers markets in Sparta there are nearly 200 recreational bathing facilities in susus County such as beaches pools waiting pools hot tubs flash pads and water parks at the beginning of each spring environmental health contacts these facilities to establish communication and inform them of the necessary requirements for obtaining permits to operate for the season the office carefully reviews all documentation submitted and once everything required has been provided a permit can be issued as the season begins the office conducts operational inspections at each facility in addition during the first quarter of 2024 the Office of Environmental Health inspected all registered tanning facilities in susus County to establish minimum safety and sanitation standards further operation and to protect consumer health and safety for additional information about the services provided by the Office of Environmental Health visit the susex County website at www.sex.nj.us804anddate.com will be held virtually by Zoom from 2: to 3:00 p.m. on Friday June 7th 2024 this groups helped to reduce negative effects of stress and increases the physical and psychological Wellness of the caregiver it also provides information about programs and services available to the caregiver information on how to access these services and provides referrals are as necessary uh please call the division of Senior Services as 973 579 0555 extension1 12 288 to obtain additional information or to register to attend these meetings uh thank you that's all God bless thank you uh deputy director Carney thank you susex County division of Public Works uh DPW Crews began their first round of roadside buffer mowing operations utilizing two different types of mowers including a side Mower and an over the rail mower each of our eight District garages are assigned a mower and responsible for M for the maintenance of the County Road Road buffers within their District typically it requires between 6 to 8 weeks for district to complete each round of mowing roads are then monitored throughout the growing season with subsequent mowing as required and resources allow Crews also work to maintain Clear Sight lines at intersections so for you candidates out there putting signs out you might be losing some signs soon the say um CS County division of Transportation operations County route 521 and 610 detan safety enhancement just going to Bree through just a little bit I don't want to bore anybody uh existing school crossing signage was enhanced and reconfigured to be a dual faced at the existing cross crosswalk near the Stillwater Elementary School existing pedestrian uh Crossing signage was enhanced and reconfigured to be dual facing at the two existing cross blocks located now or formerly Still Water Presbyterian Church New Advanced P pedestrian and school warning signage was also installed along County route 521 and County Route 610 regards to three existing crosswalks the horizontal curve along County route 521 mile marker 12.1 was evaluated enhanced with six dual sided Chevron assemblies and a new dual facing pedestrian Crossing signage and advanced pedestrial morning signage was installed along County Route 610 in the area of Cedar Road um I have a a report that I want to read this is important this is something that we should be proud of um this is from the order this is the order report on behalf um of us that will go to the rating agency um so this is a a summary um strong wealth and income levels that exceed State and National averages strong tax base compromise of 83% residential and 11% commercial industrial the top 10 taxpayers represent only 1.71 the total assessment net valuation has increased by more than 33% over the past 5 years fund balance increased to a 10-year high of $21.76 million in 20123 and current currently represents 17% of expenditures consistent with adop policy the county has successfully improved its fin financial position including fund balance and other reserves over the past 10 years the county is well positioned to mitigate effects from an economic downturn or any unforeseen event strong financial management as evidenced by formal adopted policies low and decreasing debt burden with rapid repayment of principle the county has signific significantly increased its pay as you go capital and reduced Reliance on debt issuances so because I feel like this was Deja I read this somewhere um I just want to read this I think this is really important um the County's net debt has declined by approximately 133% since 2019 and is well below the 2% statutory debt limit that's great um so in 2019 just so you guys kind of understand in 2019 our debt was 999,000 I'm going to round this up to 99 million $400,000 which typically that's not bad throughout the state I did check on that what are order as odd as that sounds um and at right now it's at 88,200 th000 that's a big difference so good job Kudos in the last three years that I've been here at least it was at 90 918 and now it's at 884 three we'll say so good job that'll make our bond rating I'm sure as good as it can be as a A++ run right we will know next Friday at noon so that that keeps our bond rate down which is nice when we need to borrow but we are doing pay as you go it's like your credit rating it's it's your credit rating so we are in very good shape when it comes to that um I'm not going to take too much of Jill Thunder because she was uh she was the reader as director at the county graduation but I did attend it was an Irish Mist but uh it was better than being as hot as I was at the High Point scholarship dinner that I went to yesterday um it is my alma moer and maybe I'm a tad bit biased but they gave out $164,000 in scholarships yesterday um which was pretty amazing cuz the last time I was there it was 2 years ago when my son got a scholarship and I believe it was like 111 million um so about 74 students got scholarships um which was nice it was nice to see a little hot but um we got over that uh and as commissioner shik said old Americans day kudos to you uh Lorraine and and your staff they do a good job they do a great job everything that you guys do is a great job our our service our services here in susus County are are second to none really are between the senior services the veterans everything that we do here um it's just ongoing and and really kudos to you guys as always it's our pleasure yes it's always nice to get a free meal once I want to um good meal so I I know I've been talking about it and I hate talking and things don't get done but the the plaque I brought here a while ago the palia plaque is finally up in Milford um uh it's actually a headstone place it's the only place I could find something that would match the the green over here at the Veterans Memorial so I'm hoping in the next week or two that'll be mounted and then we'll get uh facilities to to come up with a base and then we'll stall that over the green cuz that's the only plaque that we're missing all the other branches are there except for our prisoners of War missing an action plaque so happy to say it's going to be done soon nice finally that's all I have to report thank you thank you division of Senior Services annual public hearing the Sussex County division of senior services will hold its annual public hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday June 6th at n Heights Village Senior Center 40 trapasso Drive Sparta New Jersey the purpose of the hearing is to receive comments on the proposed 2025 area Plan update which generates funding for Sussex County through the older Americans Act of 1965 as amended the public hearing will summarize the planning and Contracting process in addition a presentation of currently funded programs will be provided several Serv service agencies will be available to provide information and answer questions attendees will have an opportunity to voice their opinions on current service needs for the seniors of Sussex County anyone who would like to testify at the public hearing or submit written testimony should contact the Sussex County division of Senior Services by May 30th 2024 at 97357 n555 extension 1382 or email Senior Services sussex.nj us individuals re requiring transportation to the public hearing may contact Sussex County Skylands ride at 97357 n480 no later than 11:00 a.m. on May 29th to make a reservation senior Farmers Market nutrition program the senior Farmers Market nutrition program provides financially eligible individuals who are aged 60 years and older with a $50 electronic benefit to purchase fresh fruits and veget vegetables at participating Farm stands in New Jersey many local community Farms participate in the senior Farmers Market nutrition program and each recipient will receive a complete list of the farm stands with their package this once a year benefit is available at the division of Senior Services Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. eligible seniors who are disabled and not able to come to the office can have an application and their benefit mailed to them this benefit will be available from June 1st 2024 through September 30th 2024 and must be Redeemed by November 30th 2024 for specific qualifications and to apply please contact senior services at 97357 n555 um I recently attended with commissioner schik which he spoke about the Sussex Tech meeting and I spoke on behalf of our board and we are committed to working with Sussex Tech and keeping that line of communic open and that was the first stop of it we can't attend all their board meetings um but we will try to periodically go to some and have our quarterly meetings with them um you know two Commissioners at a time uh I attended a Board of Elections meeting last week and uh one of the Commissioners Dan Perez he resigned he was uh one of the Democrat appointees so the susex County Democratic committee um sent another name and the governor has 10 days to sign off on that uh and I do have to say the Board of Elections works very hard this time of the year and what we don't realize is that they meet weekly um at you know they're there quite a bit they put a lot of time and effort in um and like deputy director Carney said him and I attended the college graduation I had the honor of being able to address um the students and the staff and the families and it the power went out not while I spoke so but it was a good night even though it was very wet um I had a Sussex County Economic Development partnership meeting with Ron taen last week and uh we do sign confidentiality agree agreements so I can't comment on that but it was very interesting uh commissioner schik and I attended uh at the Veteran Cemetery a gold star byway Memorial um event and hop pacan councilwoman Dawn Robert's son Sergeant Michael chrisal who was killed in combat in Afghanistan in October 10 was remembered by her and her story of uh her son wanting to become uh in the service and it was definitely good um and then of course older American day which was great thank you to senior services and Lorraine hence for putting on such a nice thing and the turnout was great even though it rained there too because all it does is rain okay and I have I have one more thing I had a letter direct director just real quick uh just because I'm curious the the new name for the new Board of Elections do we have that we do not have that name so we ever get that we will get it once the governor makes the appointment the appointment yep and then that one's been sworn in but as of last week no so but they have they have somebody they yeah they did submited in okay well that's at least good yeah that's what they said they had submitted a name and they'll have a replacement because it's three three um Democrats and three Republicans and in fact they can't even like someone can't even call say Ron if they have a question has to be Republican and Democrat at all times have to be together to keep our elections fair and and clean thank you okay and I have drafted a letter that I'm going to uh pass out to each one of the Commissioners and it is going to Philip Selinger US states attorney general and Matthew plankin the attor Attorney General of New Jersey and this is in regards to the Sussex County food pantry dear us attorney Selinger and attorney general plen I write in my capacity as director of the Sussex County Board of County Commissioners with the approval of a majority of its members in connection with what is locally known as the Sussex County food pantry here and after food pantry I thank you in advance for your kind consideration although records are unclear when the food pantry was first established it is Undisputed that it has existed since in or about the 1950s while the food pantry operates out of space provided by the county of Sussex in the County Administration Building in Newton New Jersey it is run exclusively by unpaid volunteers who place food orders take food deliveries organize and run food drives solicit and receive Food and non-food donations like diapers paper products and the like package and redistribute donated items keep records and promote the food pantry while small dollar donations are received rarely they are processed and recorded in accordance with standard business practices in the two years that I've served as County Commissioner I've not witnessed or been made aware of any impropriety maleficence misappropriation misconduct or illegal activity of any kind at in or surrounding the food pantry I visited the food pantry on a handful of occasions during my tenure met with its volunteers and as recently as yesterday held meetings with select volunteers County Council administrators staff and members of the county Boards of Health and Social Services who interface and interact with the food pantry volunteers last year the food pantry provided some 21,000 meals to adults and 25,000 meals to children while donations come in all shapes and sizes via organized food drives bearing names like stuff the bus and cram the cruiser they account for only approximately 20,000 pounds of food per year the vast majority of food and non-food donations comes from the young green Foundation here and after the foundation in the following Manner and usually total between 8,000 to 10,000 per week that's dollars of food food pantry volunteers Place weekly orders online for primarily non-p perishable food items at the local shop rate those orders are processed and packaged by shoppr and delivered to the food pantry palleted and Shrink wrapped where volunteers unpack divide repack and redistribute all the donations the foundation maintains an account at shop R funded by the foundation which is charged by shoppr right with each order no money is handled by Sussex County the food pantry or its volunteers a packing slip is delivered with each delivery which volunteers reconcile against the online order then twice monthly the county and its volunteers send the receipts and Reconciliation to the foundation for its records while the foundation and/or its members or sponsors have their own account at shop Ray and occasionally order items for themselves it is separate and apart from the food pantry account and little else is known about it since neither the county nor the food pantry volunteers use or have access to it on the singular occasion of which I am advised that the foundation made a nonc monetary contribution of $50,000 to the food pantry that donation was tendered and processed by the county Chief Financial Officer in accordance with applicable law nonetheless the county and food pantry have faced repeated allegations by one or two current candidates for County political office and others who say they are speaking with the FBI and requesting and providing documents to you in furtherance of and some Phantom inquiry into the food pantry contrived for their personal political gain and at the expense of the families the food pantry serves we have been cautious to speak directly to those allegations other than to say publicly and repeatedly that no County employee or food pantry volunteer of whom we are aware has been contacted by any law enforcements agency state or federal asked to provide documents answer subpoenas or answer questions of any kind related to the food pantry its operation or existence we are grateful for the generosity of the many donors who make the food pantry possible while we understand that we cannot speak to the actions or recordkeeping of them and we do not profess to do so we also do not want to inadvertently interfere with any action actual inquiry if there is one therefore this letter serves as notice of Sussex County's voluntary willingness to open its books provide documents answer questions and cooperate fully in any and all manners necessary to end the baseless and persistent assaults on the county the food pantry the pantry volunteers and 45,000 food and secure residents who benefit D directly from the food pantry each year moreover and to that end we have packaged up and included here with all documents that have been requested and provided in response to the Mad oah requests regarding the food pantry as well as the self-serving statements of the handful of opponents to its charitable P purposes who claim publicly to be acting on your behalf very very truly yours Jill space director Sussex County Board of County Commissioners and I would like to ask County Council again has the county been contacted by the feds or the AG in reference to our food pantry that you are aware of no no thank you and that is all that I have and I do have a cop send that as if it's coming from the board I think you have to ask for a motion you speak as if it's coming from a majority of the board so the majority of the board okay let me [Applause] them I got okay I was read can I get a motion to approve this letter to be sent to the US attorney and the Attorney General I didn't hear who that was okay commissioner Hayden makes motion and can have a second uh deputy director Carney uh roll call vote uh discussion oh discussion Sor can I just ask Council um paragraph uh three three four paragraph four I didn't know if it it made a difference if we um took out 11 words from here to there and replaced it with individuals and some instead of kind of specifically say does it make it make a difference I think you just spell it out for everybody here so they can so instead of um it doesn't make a difference to me yeah uh just like uh paragraph like I said one two three four second page um nonetheless the County food pantry oh have faced repeated allegations by one or two current candidates for County political office and other who say they are speaking with the FBI and requesting dot dot dot um I just was wondering if uh we should replace that with nonetheless the county and food pantry have faced repeated allegations by individuals and some who say they are speaking with the FBI and requesting and providing documents to you dot dot dot so just taking out 11 words kind of saying individuals and some um it's just discussion just I think I think I like it the way it is okay if you're okay with that um any other discussion that was a well letter okay thank you uh roll call please uh deputy director Carney yes commissioner shik yes director space yes commissioner dgrou yes commissioner Hayden yes thank you okay okay number 10 approval of consent agenda there is no consent agenda tonight number 11 approval of minutes the regular meeting May 8th of 2024 can I get a motion to approve the minutes from the regular meeting okay commissioner Hayden second second uh deputy director Carney any discussion all in favor I oppose abstain motion carries number 12 there's no ordinance number 13 appointments Andor resignations there are none number 14 we have resolutions a through HH HH okay other than x right oh yes okay can I get a motion to approve a through HH omitting resolutions 14s can I get a motion still moves deputy director Carney makes the motion can I get a second uh commissioner shik any discussion uh call vote commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner de gr yes commissioner Hayden yes can I get a motion to approve resolution 14s I'll make the motion in a second second deputy director Carney any discussion a roll call vote commissioner Shake yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner degr obain commissioner Hayden yes okay number 15 Awards of contract change orders bids we have a through F the board of County commissioners of the county of Sussex has reviewed the award of contract change orders bids consisting of various proposed resolutions and determined that an adoption of the said resolutions is in and will further the public interest can I get a motion to adopt resolutions a through f uh commissioner degr and a second second uh deputy director Carney any discussion can I get a roll call please commissioner Shi yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner de grou yes commissioner Hayden yes number 16 financial payment of the bills May 22nd 2024 can I get a motion to pay the bills so move second okay commissioner shik and commissioner de makes a second any discussion roll call vote commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner the group yes commissioner Hayden yes thank you okay and uh B we have a resolution resolution determining the form and other details of the offering of 12, 872 th000 General obligation bonds consisting of 10 , 72,000 General Improvement bonds series 2024a and 2,800,000 County College bonds series 2024b 2024b County College Bond act 1971 NJ laws C12 as amended of the county of Sussex state of New Jersey and providing for the sale of such bonds and additionally determining certain matters with respect to the sale and issuance of $7 million $555,000 Bond anticipation notes consisting of 2, 55,000 General Improvement notes series 2024a and 5,500,000 Vocational Technical school notes series 2024b New Jersey school bond Reserve Act 1980 NJ laws c72 as amended can I get a motion to adopt resolution B I'll make motion and uh I made the motion and commissioner de second it any discussion uh roll call please commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner the group yes commissioner Hayden yes okay number 17 Personnel uh there is no oh wait can we make it uh a motion to adopt to approve Personnel agenda okay I'll make the motion and I'll make the motion and then deputy director Carney will second a roll call please commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner the group yes commissioner Hayden yes okay number 18 administrative report uh real quick yes so it was a pleasure to go to the economic uh development partnership meeting the other day why we say we can't talk about the individual uh activities that are going it's confidential but we did go over almost over a doz uh companies and investors that want to come to the county and invest in the county they're looking for properties either to redevelop build on on bare land or those sorts so I was really really excited to see the number of activity that was coming in and people are still looking to come to our County and and and invest in um and lastly I sat at the round table the education to superintendence Round Table that was sponsored by susex County uh College it was over at The Culinary uh Institute over here at Maguire it was a breakfast Roundtable meeting and it was some of the local businesses that were interacting with the principles and the superintendent of schools and talking about how the college can align how education can align to the business needs of future employees um and it was a very very very um Diversified conversation about how employees are or how students are looked at coming out in into the into the world now to get an employment it it varied from from those that are you know using good communication skills that they're working from home with that they have to maintain versus the diversity of those people that don't may may not know want to go to college they want to go and have a a labor job or or a Hands-On type of job and the education that provides them to to understand how to run a business what I was most amazed of was this was the very first time that anybody from the county had been at that table to represent the county and the operations that we have in the in the most diverse we're the we're the third largest employee employer in the county and have a v wide range of classifications that the County employees and to be able to interact with the Educators to say yeah we would be more than happy to speak with your guidance counselors particularly at the early age at e8th grade where they're most impressive about what they're thinking about doing in life about the different opportunities that the the county has I said it's it's it's rich in all types of different disciplines from all degree programs from all types of of different things so starting in September we're going to be asking my department heads to go and speak to to younger kids about the opportunities of going into the engineering department or the road department or Senior Services or social services or being a nurse in public health so it was very refreshing to go through that and and be a part of that so that is all I have for tonight thank you thank you County Council yeah the only update I have is that our quest for documents uh read the left over from the pandemic from the Department of Health we do have a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 28th uh it's been postponed multiple times by the state already so I thought a lot of confidence that we move forward but we'll see what happens I'll certainly give you an update at the next we thank you thank you number 20 unfinished business uh I do have unfinished business I just wanted to ask uh commissioner Hayden did you ever follow through on your Oprah resolution no so worth at that point right but I I read somewhere that um that this board refused student o resolution so I wanted to go on the record saying that there was never a vote up here at our last meeting on uh supporting an oer resolution and you didn't follow through on giving us one to vote on so there was nothing for us to vote on so we couldn't refuse on something that wasn't here so I just felt I needed to address that anyone else have any unfinished business okay number 21 new business I just came up with new business while sitting here um motions when when we're up here and we make motions it has been overwhelmingly deputy director Carney that has to make these motions and if we could have more participation from everyone else I mean I have to make motions today because otherwise we wouldn't be able to uh pass any resolution so um if we could just have more cooperation for everyone to make motions unless you don't want to vote on it um thank you that's all I have anyone else new business no okay thank you okay number 22 public session from the floor this public session is for those wishing to make General comments of 3 minutes or less on non-agenda topics please line up at the microphone and state your name and municipality for the record can I get a motion to open the flo thank you commission makes a motion in a second commissioner Hayden any discussion thank you I appreciate it you okay yeah I'm sorry all in favor I I oppose abstain motion carries the floor is open back again uh Sandy Hall Late New Jersey um I like again thank you all for the opportunity to speak with you about the designation change proposed for the Delaware Water Gap National Breck area uh in April 2022 you all passed a resolution opposing this proposal again I thank you for your support at a previous meeting committee members were provided with copies of that Pro revised proposal and our comments as to why we object to it recently congresswoman Fantasia and assembly men in Gort have introduced ar133 a resolution opposing this designation change and all future attempts for change Senator space has introduced Sr 93 to the Senate Senate the same language as ar133 I'm providing each of the committee members a copy of ar133 the opposing resolution and the contact list of assembly members sandon Township passed a resolution this past Tuesday opposing the news proposals designation change the committee also passed a resolution supporting ar133 and AR and Sr 93 copies of both resolutions are attached we are asking you to pass another resolution opposing this designation changed based on the revised proposal which was issued in September of 2023 and a resolution also supporting ar133 and Sr 93 I have copies of those for you also um I'm also asking you to address members of the New Jersey assembly asking them to support this resolution um I've been doing this for two years I had the support as you know of congressman cartri and Pennsylvania Congressman Kane and gimer in New Jersey I've been around to about 14 different municipalities in New Jersey to get in Sussex County rather to get their support I'm going to address each one of them one more time asking them to oppose this revised designation which is really environmentally dangerous to the county uh to our Farmers to our surrounding communities to the infrastructure of our County and also to dgna as it stands now um I'm going to give you all more information to read you know how to reach me if I can have vir you know future discussion with anybody I'm always around to answer questions and again thank you for your support for the record director I'm Senator space's co-pa thank you wonderful um the board like to get this as a resolution on our next meeting thank you yeah 100% thank you okay then we will we will put it on for a resolution at our next meeting great thank you so much for your support Sandy thanks for everything you do as always it's like your full-time job this is my retirement we're looking for in the county no it's how I Spent My Summer Vacation for two years thank you Alan Henderson left at township I'm going to commend you on your letter uh regarding the food pantry this topic has been kicked down the road here for the last seven or eight months that I've come to meeting I think it's time to address it and I will commend you for doing that if you have not had the opportunity to go there at Food Pantry I can tell you I go every Thursday morning this is the first day I miss because of the storm you need to go there and see what it's doing for our County residents cuz it's absolutely incredible how many people are starving here in this County and I will commend you for finally taking action on that hi I'm sorry to be here again J Buckle from bym um I just had a few things um I'm wondering for susex of course who determines the amount of people on the board there everybody I've talked to says it's the smallest Board of Education they've ever seen so I'm just wondering I know I think that's probably in our uh our uh St by Statute yes okay so I know it's been brought up even by the the teachers there that they want to have 79 they want to run committees but I don't know who gets to deide how many board you know I'm one for smaller government usually well and I would be too but they can't have all these committees that they don't have today with five people when they're volunteering all that kind of thing but anyway um we're still trying to figure out the I guess we can't really contact the individual board members we've got to go through Jenny duel to get to the board it's the only communication that the school is telling us we have um so we're just trying to still find out like their turn dates um about Mod's contract I know at one point it was brought up if he had extended it when he wasn't supposed to or he did it early we still don't know um it the information that we're getting even at the board of ed meeting um he's telling us that he's working with CES County about getting um I'm going to forget the word where you can take my daughter takes English at Tech and she gets how many credits for it right he mentioned that that's what they were working on but we have that and I don't know if he was talking about a shared service and saying a lot of the information he gives us is just completely off and doesn't make sense um none of the parents still have a fullblown understanding of the theater program of course that's week um he tells some parents that the current freshman will get to Sunset in the program while he tells others they can't while he tells the teacher of the class we'll see how it goes next year again we so we just don't know you know hear one thing he will respond to some parents and a lot of the others maybe not um it seems the loud Mouse he'll respond to to shut us up maybe give us something so again we're just still lost on a lot of information when is when is the next meeting do you have a date I don't I know it's in June I'll find out though not let know if you could get back to me I I will attend again as long as I'm free I'm going be away for a little bit in June but I'll I'll attend again and I'll ask some questions but as for the board members we should be able to get that date the the terms the terms it should be on I believe it's on their website well I I didn't see it on their website it was it must have been taken down well it was on su's text but it did not have the dates I didn't see their dates that might be a reent change I believe it was reason but we can get you that would be amazing takes that off all right thank you I know they reorg November 1st if I'm correct like that's when when their board reorgs so there will will be I'm I'm pretty sure there's one up that's what I've heard and is there a reason and and I don't know you guys know this because I know you've all talked to them um all of the changes changing the meeting time maybe adding this parent committee thing they're saying they can't do until or they're going to look into doing it in November is that because that's when they can that's probably where the November is coming from so they just can't do anything until then is that they could change their meeting dates they could I mean they're meeting times cuz I mean we we normally meet on a Wednesday and here we are on a Thursday it's publicly noticed okay they they're stuck with the same room as we are two weeks dos right yeah yeah so I mean she's right there's no reason re why they can't tell we're here on a Thursday we're normally Wednesday director Point director when we sat down with um Gus he did say that he was going to look into that changing to change that's his answer and like I said at the at that meeting I love a 4:00 meeting because I don't I don't like to go out at nights but hey look I mean it's it's not like it's every night right all right well thank you all right we we'll keep working on things thank you thank you anyone else Kathy brenon and Hansen tup I'm here again for the same reason calling for resignation of commissioner Hayden I've changed my comments a little bit tonight after what's gone on at this meeting I want to thank you for uh hopefully addressing the concerns about the food pantry because I know that's very necessary as I've said before I volunteer at another program that helps Working Families in the community and I know it's really bad times and this does not deserve a bad reputation um I also wanted to change another comment after listening to Commissioners Hayden's I would say Hollow insulting and appalling supposed tribute to our military stallin Valor is such a horrendous accusation it shows total disrespect for the people who are actually serving perhaps this would have been a good time for commissioner Hayden to come clean apologize and tell everyone yes I will resign again I'm just saying I I think it's time way past time for commissioner Hayden to resign thank you thank you anyone else okay can I get a motion to close the floor for public comment and return to regular business commissioner Hayden and then commissioner degr any discussion all in favor I oppose abstain motion carries number 23 reminders please check the County's website at www.sex.nj.us804anddate.com [Music]