this is the commissioner meeting of April 24th correct yes okay 2024 at 6:00 p.m. at the Sussex County administrative Center commissioner meeting room one Spring Street New Jersey can I have a roll call please commissioner de grou here commissioner Hayden here commissioner shik here director space here deputy director Carney here okay going to get a moment of silence and a salute to the flag I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all number four public statement that's a seven right yes okay 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 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 susex county clerk in compliance with said act at this time please mute all electronic devices and I every meeting I ask my colleagues to please remove our phones off the de um and put them away thank you okay number five approval of agenda we will be going out of order tonight I'm asking for a motion to move to consider items 13 14 15 and 16 right after the approval of our agenda I'm I'm asking to also consolidate our two separate public sessions into one public session from the floor for all items to be heard after item number six proclamations certificate presentations I also would like to add an additional presentation by Gus MLA and Jenny duel from the Sussex County Technical School can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended still move okay deputy director Carney motion and second uh commissioner Hayden any discussion all in favor I I oppose abstain motion carries number 13 appointments and Andor resignations uh resolution a appointment of Ed Meyer as first alternate member to the Sussex County planning board to fill the unexpired term of John dalas said turn to begin immediately and expire December 31 2025 and B resolution appointment of William marada La Regina as a general public representative to the Sussex County Agriculture development board for a term of 3 years effective immediately and expire on December 3st 2026 can I get a motion to adopt the resolutions A and B okay commissioner shik and deputy director Carney seconds any discussion roll call vote commissioner degr yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes okay number 14 resolutions a through the uh X ax can I get a motion to adopt resolutions a through X okay deputy director Carney and commissioner deg grou any discussion roll call vote commissioner degr yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes Awards of contract number 15 Awards of contract change orders bids resolution a through C 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 adoption of the said resolutions is in and will further the public interest can I get a motion to adopt resolutions a through C still move okay deputy director Carney second uh commissioner shik any discussion can I get a roll call please commissioner de group yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes okay number 16 Financial um resolution a payment of bills lists April 24th 2024 can I get a motion to pay the bills lists okay uh commissioner Hayden and commissioner seconds it any discussion roll call please commissioner deg grp yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes okay Proclamation number six proclamations certificates and presentations we have two proclamations one is recognizing the 30th anniversary of the center for evaluation and counseling and the second is a proclamation recognizing may as older Americans month and we are not going to read them today um because we're going to do that at a later date we just needed to approve them today and um now we're going to go into a presentation by Gus Modas superintendent of Sussex County Technical School and Jenny juel from the technical school thank you thank you for coming thank you thank you I just want to really thank you guys for coming and I just want to tell the um people here that we we hear your concerns and um we're hoping that we can all get some answers today I'm a parent of three Sussex Tech graduates 2013 14 and 17 so the school is near in dear to my heart and I want to see it continue to thrive just like you guys and I want to see all you kids graduate there and be as proud of your school as my kids are thank you so we came here um invited to come to the meeting today so to answer questions that you may have about microphone if you um the microphone does not amplify so just ask if you could speak up okay so we were asked to come here today to um answer questions and please feel free to ask us what you would like okay I have some questions um so one of my I've been I've been taking questions and I'm sure the other Commissioners have we've been having parents have been emailing us Facebook messages phone calls um everything they're very concerned about the three shops that are being cut and before I ask a question and I'll say that I put myself in their shoes and none of my kids shops were cut while my kids were in school I know one of them graduated from business administration which is now gone I had another one that was commercial Arts which is still there and the other one was cosmetology um and I know how I would feel if one of my children were in a shop that was being removed say the end of their junior year they found out or even the end of freshman year so um that's just a concern that I have um so I just jotted down a few questions well maybe quite a few but we'll we'll see where we go with them and then a lot of the parents have reached out and I highlighted a few of their questions um in the past two years have any uh Jobs been created in administration only the last years out yeah outside of uh this year there's no administrative jobs but we did cut up the administrator this year from our child study team supervisor um retired we did not replace her and the position was merged into an existing administrator who was in charge of guidance okay there was a salary increase for that administrator due to taking on a full Department of um the whole other staff okay um and what is your this this question actually came to me yesterday by Sparta mayor um what is your five to 10 year vision of Sussex Tech do you have plans to create new shops and phase others out no we okay want to maintain our current um programming based on we have to revisit our board meeting was all the Personnel matters were tabled so at this point we're meeting with board members to discuss how we can move forward um we're back to looking at everything again and we have to come up with a plan with our board um we did receive funding for our securing our children's Futures Bond act we put that application in probably 2016 17 the a bond Act was awarded in 2018 and that that Bond Act was for vocational schools throughout the state a competitive Grant we were lucky enough to get um County Commissioner support it's 75% State supported for the grant and 25% local and the intent of the grant was to improve um programming at the high schools the 21 vocational schools in the state and also provide for expansion so we were we were halfway through the the phase one was to uh demolition the pool and we are adding um two classrooms in the back for um Allied Health and a new program sports medicine that was part of the grant we have to honor the Grant and put that program in hopefully at the end of construction which we hope to go out to vid um probably in a few weeks we went to sport a planning board uh last week and we got through that phase and all protects putting together the good packet we were also going to add on to to our engineering shop we're going to add a uh classroom space so they can move the computers and teaching space outside of the the footprint of the shop so gives the teacher um some more space there and a Better Learning environment for students and then in the grant there was also money set aside for upgrades to electrical HVAC and U mechatronics okay so um unfortunately with the scale back of expenses the the our our first vision of that expansion had to be scaled back to what we could afford based on the construction prices of today right and now my question that led me to the next question I was up last night reading um hours of minutes from susex Tech which your minutes were taken well I will say that I had an easy time reading through them um when and you just said now that 25% is funded locally so and I read that it was funded by the Board of Commissioners so is that money that's already been allocated yes so um the county commissioner board um when we when um Greg PFF was still working at Sussex we were we went back and forth with then we worked um to get that money secured through Capital through the county so that 25% share comes from the county of Sussex 75% share comes from state of New Jersey okay I noticed to which I've had questions um with the parents um employee benefits went up um the health insurance I if health insurance premiums have gone up are you committed to the plan you are in or did you recently switch we we switched last year to a self funded plan unfortunately um due to experience ratings that were high we were going to see a much larger increase so our broker um came with us and discussed where we what was the best fit based on the schools and experience rating so we had the best spot was to go back into the state plan um at the start of this and that's additional money that's coming out of your operating budget this year that that wasn't funded okay um I've had people ask me do you guys have a grant writer on staff we don't have one on staff but we have a person who who's from the county and we use her as a per DM hourly rate okay and she does help us with our Perkins Grant and um other things that we could um work with on I keep hearing that the engineering department they um write their own grants like was it engineer maybe engineering I'm not quite sure which department there may be a teacher or two puts like something together and works with um their department supervisor but they don't have an individual grant that they and I I should say to the public that the county um hasn't always had an an individual grant writer we through arpa funds last year which is the American Rescue plan act we were able to get a grant writer and and um they brought in a lot of um additional monies for us and we are going to have the grant writer again um next year because it was very successful to us so it was worth what we had to take what we're going to have to take out of our budget this year it's worth it for us to have this grant Rider um I want to say it was 30 30,000 is that correct okay um and uh if I I can interject I would love you to okay I got you um so uh I just want to ask you because I am a brother of to ass sus County uh technical school graduate uh you're actually cutting his former program which is I couldn't imagine the families you know going through that of course uh which program was that uh graphic Communications graphic design yeah so uh I just wanted to ask uh what what criteria or data did you use to determine those three programs and uh cutting them potentially of course and again as as a parent myself we are sensitive to the students and the parents we want to have all of our students as susex Tech to be successful um you know we were faced with a challenge we we use the criteria of enrollment as a first look um interest coming in as incoming freshman and then and how does that project for transition to senior year so we identified shops that fit that criteria and then we look at we as administrators we looked at that how does that how do these programs fit the profile of Sussex County they all do we understand that they all fit the profile of Sussex County they're they're all very important shops but we had to find a way to identify which ones we want to move forward and really um look at the ones that have the cnla which is our comprehensive local needs assessment that goes through Perkins and we wanted those programs that um we have now that are um more robust with enrollment and unfortunately these were the three programs that we decided to uh to my first proposal to the board to elate if shops don't have 10 students per grade we don't receive Perkins funding for them so that means we have to take that directly from our bottom l so per so Perkins funding is um Federal money that comes through the state of New Jersey and the criteria every shop is is eligible but what they the first criteria to be eligible you have to have 10 students per grade level and programs that don't we can't use the Perkins funding towards so most of all of our Perkins money that we're spending in the school is directed toward programs that have that um that first criteria so there are no shops that have less than 10 people in other everything you cut was less than 10 people correct there there other there are other programs that do have low enrollment also but we feel that they um really like agriculture for example we know that agriculture is a very important piece of Sussex County and that is something we wanted to maintain as a program for the students at the school something much bigger is going to be phased out because there was lower enrollment something else that you thought correct but we have we feel that by opening opportunities we could could still um allow students to transition to another program again if if the plan was to work with parents to allow that students for example in graphics design and communication they can merge in if they wanted to into um Commercial Art it's a similar um cert same certification of adobe that the students will have a chance to take when they seniors in that program and same thing with if we if the uh recommendation for AG um architecture had been passed we were going to look at transitioning those students into maybe engineering the construction cluster um areas that fit their their profile as students Now with uh and then lastly for the back because I'll finish this and I'll answer your questions and in theater um we did decide that uh due to certification the staff member could continue working at Sussex Tech teach intro to theater to all the students at Sussex Tech would be their Fine Art graduation requirement and still allow for the 10 seniors in the program to graduate next year as seniors to allow those students because it's it's a big senior class and we want to have those uh students have the opportunity to graduate under their theater arts program allowing still then we're going to have the drama club next year which was really important we saw those students we we heard them we want to make sure they have that opportunity going forward and all students at Tech will have a one-year intro to theater program if if that initial plan was um approved um as a graduation requirement in Fine Arts uh you mentioned like the seniors but those current eighth graders getting into those programs was I guess the transition going to be for a graphic to approach them to get into same same plan a lot first step would be room in this program similar to what you applied for if you would like that fine if not there's another opening that you might be interested in we were going to work oneon-one with families so you said there were several factors in the determination of what you cut do you have a anop a protocol a flowchart how I mean is there something the public can see so they can understand what you did and how you did it how you came I don't have a written protocol just um conversations we always have with the administrative team to say um lot a lot of our decisions for U how how a program looks is dired from the Department of um education through the career Readiness um office who manages all the Career and Technical education programs so our vice principal who does that job has to follow their guidelines for example it was mentioned at the uh meeting that um vehicle maintenance closed and that that was accurate but vehicle maintenance was a lower um program in terms terms of high skill High wage high demand that's the three criteria the state uses in determine the rigor of a course so um when we get notified of these changes vehicle maintenance would not be um considered as a Career and Technical education program any longer and it wouldn't be eligible for Perkins funding so um we did phase out that program um our teacher stay remained on campus we transitioned that person to our Automotive program and Diesel and through um retirement one of the teachers left and he just continued taking on that program so programs do um evolve and change and we try we try to we have to follow the the guidance of the department there so these guidance documents are they available for everybody see if you go into the State website there is um there's the career Readiness uh CTE uh standards that that you can find um on on the website or you could come to our school and the parents could meet with us and we could go over our um our program approvals and what looks like and I have another question there's also I'm sorry there's also um um guidance on our website for outlines of what each of our programs looks like director may I say something oh sure go ahead I I would suggest that we made that readily available to the parents they're all here okay um I would suggest that they shouldn't have to go on a wild goose chase to find that information uh uh I think uh commissioner Hayden uh brings out a good point you know uh parents want answers where do we get it can we furnish that via email to the distribution list you have for the parents maybe through uh any other means of communication so that they can find it very easily and and understand could it be put up on the website possibly so our out we can we can make links from the Department of bed web page to our website that yeah that would be very helpful because a lot of these parents are very upset it's change it's going to change the life of their child so going there that that's just general knowledge about programming it's not about the criteria or discussions we had that's that's not something the state would guide us on we're just we're we're just following the outlines and the criteria that that puts in place what we teach in the classroom do you think going forward it might be better to have set up an sop a protocol so that there would be no guessing everybody would understand what was done in this decision um we could do that but my goal is to not ever go touch base and have to um come back and say we have to close the program that's that's our goal but it could happen I will definitely ready for it happened happen again we can can I think that's something you really need to work on so that somebody has an answer without understood lot of people calling okay we'll do that director yes yes you mind if I up yeah go ahead I uh I have a lot of questions um and I'm going to try to be as nice as I can so gos when you came here for your budget um we had no clue us Commissioners had no clue you guys were in the hold that you're in you never told us that well you did tell us that you were have to you're going to have to cut a couple things and you had teachers contracts coming up that's what you told us well let me tell you you asked for 700 7,9 57,124 we gave you $7,997 th000 and 108 7,976 which was a difference of $249,000 that's what we gave here or 2 95% of the past year again never knowing that you're going to be in this hole it it it strikes me very odd if you have a problem or you need something that you should come to us right we're the ones who set your budget for you that we're in this predicament today all these people around here i' have to come to this meeting when I be home with their families as we as us here right and we're dealing with this it's a little disturbing no botch is a good school or technical school I apologize is a good school and I just don't understand why we're here that's number one question okay the enrollment from my understanding is it's about $2,500 per student that's what you get from the setting districts set 2700 next year 27 so you're raising at $200 is that correct 250 so when I used to attend a high point meetings and a per pupil at High Point was around $26,000 per people that was years ago maybe it's changed that was right around there monu was paying about 19,000 how is that how are we only paying $2,500 per student is there an equation is there some kind of variable some kind of that we we come up with all right so Jenny could go over the first how we got here the question of um how over the last seven years how what the impact of flat funding from the state has has caused at sus Tech and also quite frankly the whole County um this this is in a position where this the state funding formula is really U affecting education throughout the county so Jenny could speak um about those those factors well before we start that may be true in other municipalities in school systems have been cut and you haven't I understand flat doesn't necessarily mean cut but with inflation it really is a cut I I I get all that I don't know how the numbers work but um superintendent when you were here last you told us that you had a waiting list of people to come in and that your enrollment was substantially higher than you thought and that you you were very positive about the enrollment the extra funding and you were a little bit more jubilant you know in in your presentation regarding that positive information to us and unfortunately for me I just can't wrap my hands around how we can have that meeting at 4:00 here everything is great and then just not even a week or so later the information was different and I'm sorry for you know getting in way but this is very emotional for all of us to say we we don't feel good about that presentation we and we found out just like the parents probably did on social media right you know this is this is how we fin like just scrolling through Facebook thinking you know whatever and then all of a sudden there it is so then you start like clicking things and and investigating come to find out that there's you know a hole in the money you know and I saw heard a rumor of 800,000 I don't know the exact figure and I sit on the board of school estimate and if that was the board of school estimate meeting was before we passed our budget so our hands are tied there's nothing we can do as Commissioners to to fix this problem and we are dealing with the problem we can't sit on your school board um you know we do appoint the people on the school board and uh we just recently appointed one it's a board made up of um Republicans and democ rats and the one we just appointed was a Democrat which I think was a good choice he is uh like me a former parent he had three at least three kids that graduated from Tech so he has a a passion for the school and he has Schoolboard experience um but uh the college has term limits here the Board of Trustees can serve two four-year terms that's not an option at the Sussex Tech because we did look into that but um with when it comes time for reappointments we might be we might be reappointing some new board members after long term like maybe people are ready for some change we've had parents today I mean my email was flooded today with parents like begging for a Citizens advisory committee and you know it's from the board's Vision um from your website and I would hope that you take the parents up on the C citizens advisory committee and that would be a good start I think for rearing the trust of the families in your school we did um pass that information on to the board and we we investigate yeah I would love to see that when I spoke at that meeting for board School estimate I I I had positive um comments about one phase of funding that I control U that is student um tuition that's that's it that was my positive we I was asked does this budget represent cuts I said yes and programs I I I said that I was directly ask I did ask that you asked about this the line for uh security which represented a cut and I explained that so I don't believe I came here in a joval way I came here with facts and Jenny will provide that data about how we got here from your first question Chris thank you okay so I'll start with um tuition because we have three sources of revenue of tech we have tuition we have tax leg from County Commissioners and we also have state funding and federal funding and just just a go back to the question or I think gu actually said it you the the state aid obviously we know that it's cut throughout the county but you guys didn't get Cuts am I right we didn't get Cuts but from 2012 to 2024 we only received an increase of $34,000 in state aid okay all of those increases happened prior to 2017 so between 2017 and 2024 we received a 0% increase in state a at the same time in 2016 17 and 19 we've received a 0% increase from the County Commissioners so we were flat funded both ways we were flat funded through Commissioners and we were flat funded through the state what was the year that the Commissioners at that please uh 2016 17 and 19 we receive zero so we were that was a long time ago it was a long time ago but it it catches up things compound that understood like I said to you as well though we gave you 289,000 truly apprciate this your increase this year and I've set down several occasions it's it's a very good increase but again looking at the history of this flat funding and um county Support it's it's compounded and Jenny could could further explain how how that has impacted us okay I hate to interrupt but the County Attorney just told me that we have exceeded capacity and we're going to have to adjourn unfortunately which is not what I want I mean this is AB can we can we reduce the capacity so you don't have to so let me let me what I told her what we should do we kind of thought this was was going to happen we can't just move the location no nobody here could just move the location today no can I just reproduce can I leave and will that help what I'm saying is we advertise as we said in the beginning of this meeting we advertise these meetings in January for this location in order to change the location we would have had to I understand that I'm not telling anybody that they have to leave I'm just saying right now people leave and the parents can speak and I'm just saying that at this point we at capacity it seems that the doors keep opening more people come in that would like to come and be part of this meeting at this point they are uh prevented from doing so due to capacity um that's my concern right now how many do you have how many have to leave I I can't answer that because I just see a bunch of people and the door keeps opening is it a capacity of the building capacity of the room room the fact that there are people waiting out there is part of the problem though because I I don't want to adjourn the meeting this board does not want to adj the meeting but legally we have meting and try toj out theall please app yep SE avilable now I think I think we're good I'm good you go with if anybody would like to be part of this meeting please come in just un okay at this point uh based upon what I see in the room and right outside in that hallway directly uh the board can proceed okay thank you okay thank so um our tuition we are to what we can charge for tuition and that is based on a state funding formula so what happens is after my audit I get my audit in November I get my reports in December and I have to upload it into the state budget software um at that point the state goes in they utilize a formula to determine what our tuition cap is um I get what's called a tuition certification for the previous year so like just an as an example if I was charging $5,000 student this year but when I got my tuition certification it said I could only charge 2500 I then have to reimburse each of our sending districts the 2500 per student that we overcharged them the following budget year so so no no fault to you it just seems like that's a little bit of a broken it is equation so so so basically and I and listen I'm a matter side point and some some others as well so if it is if I'm correct with my $26,000 number they're given 2500 plus Transportation right because they're paying for transportation and they're walking away with the 22500 my math sech me right um or 235 that's correct so wait repeat that so basically if if they're it's per people $26,000 and they're given V 2500 or 27 however you want to add it will go three for just the sake of it they will they have that money basically Surplus for them they don't have the student they just put that in their pocket I just want to understand that that math is is just not doesn't work for your situation feel like you're you're getting robbed a bit so so our so our number from from last year not this previous audit but from last year we always work one year back the letter we received from the state was your your tuition go to 2700 so we're we're at that cap from that that previous oil and it should be a lot more it's unfortunately the way the formula works for Sussex Tech is that we have a low um ability to raise tuition further than that at this time okay that goes to my next question is your shortfall 800,000 as as director space asked is it so um we when we build the B we come in October M our budget is school budgets start after January so we're so far ahead we can't forecast um like Jenny can't plug in but she can put find out some of our increases for healthcare for example and other things so we do our best to estimate those big increase we have our salaries we put in there so when we came in October we didn't have all those figures yet because way it works with us they come they come in trickling in through typically January through March is when I'll get all of my vendor updates with any increases that they have and that's also when my state aid number is released it's 48 hours after the governor's budget address so I don't receive that number until just about March this year I think it was February 28th that I got our state aid number so I don't have a full budget until we're towards the end of March I don't have a full idea of what our expenses are going to be until the for the next fiscal year until towards the end of March when I start getting my renewals for health insurance for all of our software systems all of that and then we plug in what we think what the administrators are going need for the Departments and that that happens in um in December January with us so we start getting into to frent school year to next year so the budget we we knew we were going to um we asked for 3.5% increase initially that was Jenny's first um budget we submitted she actually submitted three options correct yep yeah so that's when we came we knew that we we were losing eser money we talked at the meeting which over the last three years how much did we receive an eson that we no longer get so starting March 20th uh 2020 sorry we um received Sr 2 and sr3 funding which is a Federal grant that all of the school districts had received we received um in sr2 $250,000 but that ended September 20 2023 so last year we lost that additional funding this year um September 2024 we're going to lose the rest of sr3 funding which is $61,900 which is a total of $850,000 well there is conversation which is positive um on March 13th we're we're members of the New Jersey Council of County vocational schools um there there's a lot of dialogue now about some districts in different regions of the state that haven't seen Cuts in um state aid are starting to see that uh we have an executive director Jackie Burke who who advocates for the for the council all 21 vocational schools so seven year eight years ago when when we were faced with S2 implementation Sussex Tech would have lost money in the funding formula and four other uh County vocational schools so we advocated as a group we have a louder voice as a group and we were able to become flat funded so whatever we lost from adjustment Aid the state recognized it's it's more expensive to run a Vocational High School like we talked about cost going up just in our culinary Department this the amount of amount of increases in food or welding for steel um from where we were 7 years ago to now it's it's it's grown um significantly so we had an adjustment in vocational support through the state that kept us flat but we're advocating that flat is not going to make it make it work for us so uh Jackie Burke um did testify at a senate at a hearing at Trenton on March 13th to advocate for these um discussions uh we feel that we will be at the table if when Once the governor and his staff and other uh state officials begin discussions on state funding and I talked to Jackie today just to confirm and she said yes we we will be at the table and we were going to advocate for uh vocational schools that are ping flat so we we want to continue that we don't have to come here next year and be in the same situation that we want to see um an increase in state funding because we have to to survive understood three years ago when I got here I I met with Dr connley and yourself whether it be at the budget I actually took a tour with him I specifically ask both of you guys to meet and do shared services together Dr Connelly said Gus doesn't want to meet nor does his board and you told me the same thing about Conelly well I can care I can care less who's saying what the truth the point is you guys don't me and you don't do shared services you guys are doing the same programs for my understanding I know you do college credits at your school I just don't understand why you're not working together you don't have to like the guy nor does he have to like you I don't recall that conversation where you said um I had to to back what you said up to same okay I'm sure there that's a conversation that's out there one my one of the goals we had this year was to work closely with the college and we've had several meetings with Dr Conley and uh Corey Homer they come to our school it's when we talk about shared services we look at what how are we going to help students and you're right we we have the large school enrollment courses in the county um credit wise we have um our seniors for roal Public Safety students are over at the college we have students um we have an AR a new agreement for Allied Health so our our discussions are about students and opportunities um in the past we did talk about looking at using facilities between the two buildings and that it just it was just a difficult um lift and then the county did support the college to open muire properties and they are a career programs so that that's that's a thing from the past and the college um is providing opportunities for students and we want to provide opportunities for our students to go up to the college we have the Optics program on our campus which is a transition program hopefully they go to the college and that could lead to employment over at um Thor Labs so we we focused on that in terms of shared services um the high school and the college I don't I don't we it would be hard to grasp unless we're sharing classroom spaces well why why not well when Maguire when Maguire was built that was a decision from the college to put those tech programs over there I wasn't part of that conversation and that's the point right you should be right again I've been here for three years and I told uh commissioner uh shik earlier I'm not going to the ason he's leaz on to college and go Tech if I was him I would tell you guys you're going to meet end the story you guys want money from the county you're going to meet that's how I would handle it I am not to the aison um so again I told you three years ago I do have to put some blame on your board um we do have a new board member uh the board is supposed to look after you guys and and watch what you're doing what you're spending and so so forth you got a contract when your contract wasn't up to me that's very odd they did in Frankfurt I didn't like it there and I don't like it here all right you you're your contract wasn't up this past contract was up it was the fifth year of my contract that was your fifth year this this current contract I started it was up at the end of that yeah I thought they Reid that when you had four years it was your last year was my fifth year of that contract okay well I believe you on that one uh going back to uh as as commissioner space said you know we can't do term limits but what I do want to put in as long as you guys are good with it a vetting process for the new board members I would like to see who who wants to be a board member and and look at their resume before we appoint them um no cuz complacency what I see is it's just no good doesn't work you know board members and Commissioners the same you get lazy you're here you vote it's like yeah fine give him what he needs whatever and this is what happens we got a bunch of people here and we we can't even get our business done because we're filled we have filled room so that needs to change too uh Gil Carrick she's the county superintendent I don't know what she does I got to be honest with you I don't know if you have any dealings with her my dealings with her haven't gone anywhere she should be overseeing not only your school but all the county school and make sure things like this shouldn't happen so I'm going to throw a little blame her away too um I personally have no confidence whatsoever on what's going on there and I will be motioning to have a vote of no confidence here tonight uh that's really all I have to say uh very disappointed and in what's going on here again CU you sat you sat across from me and things were not this bad so I don't know what changed so drastically to again have this conversation but not real happy so that's all I have and I have uh two questions going back to the shops um what Solutions and mitigation efforts have been explored and implemented after the deficit was detected um and was it successful or not sorry commissioner Hayden has a help situation he'll be back could rephrase the question oh sorry about that uh what Solutions and mitigation efforts have been explored and implemented after the deficit was detected like what did you try to do to save these shops because there was some point when you guys realized that you had to you know get rid of shops like to cut them out like my on that agenda was the the proposal to the board they tabled it so my ours was to eliminate those three programs well there had to be a point before that because if we all knew on social media before it hit I would hope your board knew before social media yes so I'm saying but that that process was held up after the board TBL that they they heard they saw the parents in the audience they wanted to hear from them before they made a final decision right and I will say it's it's nice to see so many parents um that care about their children's education if I may update the board we have received quite a few um I've received quite a few emails today of many interested individuals who have put together resumés for interest on the board of education very nice give my email director to follow up on your question um I didn't get the answer that I think you were looking for and that was we didn't just find out last night that we don't have this money Thursday right or Thursday last week when I was in in a uh 5H hour plus meeting listening to the parents I mean I understand you have to forecast how many years do you forecast in advance and the numbers had to be somewhere they didn't didn't just all of a sudden drop out of the sky and you guys have been doing this a while so for this to come out of left feel like this happen like he said you didn't come to us when you came to us you didn't say there might be a problem problem there wasn't a hint of a problem now all of a sudden you guys have done budgets for years and there's a problem um I disagree with that um we we had came in October we said that we were faced with um challenges we were losing EST money and we did the same thing at the board of schooles meeting um we have S made through several years of flat by teachers who retire you get breakage teachers who left that we could merge a teacher into another program we've done that we've eliminated ad ministrator this year um so we are we are conscious about how how how we spend money um looking at coming to ask we have the the um percentage of the county has been very consistent around 2% so for us to come and ask for 35 that's that's above and beyond what we've ever asked for in terms of what the county can provide um if we were going to ask for um a huge increase I don't know would the county have provided 10 to 15% increase I I don't see that happening so we have we know we understand the constraints of everyone and it really goes back to the state funding formula that put us in this position yeah I just don't see how we ever bring on more shops if we can't like I I see a downward spiral if we have to cut free shops now how will we ever get money to increase shops or to change with the with the times again a lot of lot of the changes in program could be within the program itself um we in terms of how the state tells us the allight health program should move forward so those changes have happened throughout the renewal process once we renew a program it's just not once and finished that process is cycled we we have to do that with um when the state puts out the broadcast of what shops have to be renewed they're adding rigor or different uh Pathways within those programs so it's a it's a constant updating based on the state's plan of updating the ccum of those programs uh just just I set up I wasn't going to say anymore just just one more thing you know well maybe you know you said you didn't want to come to us and ask for more and and and you're probably right we probably wouldn't give you more but but you should have put yourself in that position to ask us and let us be the the ones who said no because then we would be aware that you have this shortfall and then when people come to us and email us and text us and call us they could we could explain why hey he did come to us he was doing the right thing you have a good school right I think everybody here knows that you have a waiting list I think the only enrollment that's maybe around the same is is Newton it's it's a good school it's a lot different from when I went to high point and we called it a different name okay much different again just the disappointing part there in this pos position I would have asked for five or 6% maybe you would have got three I don't know but you took it you could have took it off your back and put it on ours and everybody would have known we tried but you didn't and there's a big difference between we have challenges and we're closing three shots it's off that's volume's off why keeps doing this I just want to take the moment to remind the board uh remind the audience um to please mute your electronic devices um director space had indicated so at the beginning of the meeting and also commissioner Hayden I don't know why Zero Tolerance on this board turn it off my uh and if I could add uh tror space um you mentioned conscious of spending money was there any consciousness of saving money I know that commissioner Carney brought up a great point of collaboration between the TCH school and Community College and I'm not uh liaison to the tech school I'm liaison to County Community College and we just had a meeting and I told president Conley you guys are going to sit down and talk and we're going to look and see how we can you know get these efforts going but I want to bring up collaboration because I do have a colleague that approached you a number of years ago um he's an executive at a car manufacturer and he looked at you know collaborating with your auto diesel program and from his perspective you said it's all good and dandy and then he never heard from me back and instead of you know wasting his time he went over to Bergen County and he's doing great things over there so hearing that you know I I want to do great for tech school and have those collaborations with you know uh County Community College with these car manufacturers but you're not giving me good faith when I'm hearing that and hearing these other stories of the Community College because what I'm doing with the community college is great stuff with Hudson farms and I have no problem expanding my role and helping you know the tech school make those you know connection well but I'm just not hearing it and I'm wondering if why there was no collaborations in maybe that instance or I don't know the reference you're speaking of but we do have partnership um advisory boards we're having a partnership day um I believe next week the week after and that's where the our the partnership um it was BMW okay I don't recall that okay um we do have um our Auto and Diesel teachers are working with local um we put our kids out with cie they work some of at the County garage so through the programs we have advisory boards and that is part of the process of working with local businesses so we'll make when you're we'll make sure that we send hopefully two of us to your next meeting I couldn't attend last week on a business trip may ask but I did get two new sloths very cute my question is how many students are uh per teacher it depends on the program so um engineering the teacher has he has a full he has he has a split shop so he does freshman sophomores Juniors and seniors separately and he we take in 20 students for his program um and it could it drops down to like we said with um agriculture I I use the example of uh graphic design communication um I have the numbers here for their enrollment right now for 23 24 he has two freshman nine sophomores one Junior and 10 outgoing seniors so it again it's based on interest and based on um trying to get all the students into those programs may I rephrase the question how many how is your uh how are you structured how many students can your faculty handle per class we we try to keep our ACC mic classes between 22 to 26 27 students 22 to 26 and and how many do you currently average in those classes that's that's the average of which would we keep it so they're full they're full at that number yes unless it's a um assisted support CL class for special education students you have you have caps on how many students can be in there and they have power professionals okay so I guess what I'm trying to uh come to to grips with is uh in our meeting I think it was last Thursday what whatever day it was and um there was mentioned that there was 11 to 17 students per class and I don't know if that was a real figure or not so that's why I'm asking you it seemed to be awfully low especially by the you know what we uh what we're saying you're being paid or what the cost per student that's being dist distributed amongst the responsible parties that would if that is really an inaccurate statement and 22 is the right number what is the maximum and can we bring more students into our school and get that Revenue we could bring more students in um for academic capacity we probably would not want to exceed 800 students because that would put our um academic teachers in a position where they have their class size would be too large and that's not that's not a healthy environment for for the academics understood what would be too large 30 35 students okay I agree and and and many years ago when I went through school uh we did have 25 to 30 in the class and no larger than that but I thought that the numbers that were uh communicated would rather low and I saw an opportunity to maybe bring more students in and and get the $26,000 per student is that what I got 2 my example was $26,000 per people at High Point back in the day again that might have changed there 2500 now they're looking for 2700 So it's it's it's really Pennies on a dollar that's 10 students compared to the high point at 26 which is very weird again that's not your fa that's just something that needs to be looked into again maybe got Gil car maybe do we have any ideas how we can save these shops um we're having discussions with the board and um and we haven't made a final decision you can always include any of us that you want in your in your executive sessions we would be happy to send our leaon okay to the school um we do have to make a decision by may may okay 13th and that's our next board meeting there'll be a special board meeting for for personnel okay are there opportunities to phase Out programs and not start the program for incoming freshman for instance if you had a junior in a in a program uh and it's instead of cutting that program allow that Junior to finish their year next year but not allow a freshman to sign up for that program do we have that ability to at least let them finish their education but not starting it with recruiting eighth seventh and eighth graders to come to the school Under the pretense of possibly getting that program the the initial plan that was put forth to the board I was tabled allowed for one of the programs to let that happen the theater students would have had the chance who were going to be seniors next year to graduate the students in the graphic design class would have had a chance to go into a very similar program where we could have even included some of that um curriculum into it and they still would have been on the same type of platform with the U Mac Apple technology and receive the same Adobe um credits this going back to architecture and that original proposal we were going to try to see the students merge into make maybe engineering or one of the trades construction electrical um carpentry HVAC so a light program not the same but that was what we were looking at that time but we could go back and revisit what you're suggesting I think maybe for the short term that um showing that commitment to the current enroll Le in in the school and not starting uh or recruiting uh seventh and eighth graders to come to the school under a pretense that they may not have that so for instance what I'm thinking of is auto shop right I did a wonderful tour at your school with you I thought it was beautiful I thought everything was was terrific and I love what they do in in the diesel engine repair facility and and I L your comments I thought it was great and um I wouldn't want somebody from Newton who couldn't get that same program at Newton High School enroll after leaving their eighth grade year either in uh in uh Mikan or Florence bird excuse me or long Bond or here in holstead uh to assume they can go to get that diesel program at your facility when you don't have enough to get them through all four years so how do we get to that point where we understand we can sustain the curriculum we have for the freshmen that are signing up today and that they could get to the end and get their certificate um that's kind of I think what the parents want to know I think that's what we want to know how do we how do we get a uh a better climate around what's going on at the votch working on the numbers of course is critical you know and that's the bottom line but uh we do want to see these children come to your school we we don't want them to go from theater to autoshop because we cut theater out in sophomore year you know nor do any of the parents that are here or that have been excused for the lack of size you know so I think you know that's the fashion that they're you know they're very uh interested in finding out answers for so it goes back to we can definitely take on more students we have a room we're looking at maybe 770 next year if everybody comes and stays um that's that's a positive that drives up our tuition Revenue we'll revisit what we can charge next year maybe there'll be an increase um I'll come to the county next year and ask for I'll ask for 10 15% and put it on your shoulders you could say no I was I was working his historical facts when I come we we know and all of you are pretty very very new to the commissioner report and I've been here my 10th year and there has been years of zero so we know the history that there's there hasn't been um complete support based on the econ economic factors that you all face I I don't understand that that's why you were elected that's your your realm so we try to come in with that understanding to be conscious of where you where you sit but I will foro that in the future I and I know you gave us what you could this year and at 2.8 that's probably the best you could have done for us I I appreciate that we have to fight the fight for state aid I know U Craig hutchon Dr hutchon from keny emailed the commissioner board I was on that chain he he he was very passionate in his email to you he attached a resolution that hunterton t County Commissioners um passed to go to Trenton to say we need to all advocate for a change to the state funding formula and that that's the momentum I would also ask you to do not only for Sussex Tech but for the whole County of Sussex um we we we've we've had challenges with our budget there's no doubt and we have survived by doing different things to make it work for our students to give them the best environment possible unfortunately it it has come to a head this year and we have tried our best to forecast some schools in the county did receive a increase in state aid Vernon was down $10 million they cut 46 teachers last year this year they did get a million dollar increase which was good for Veron but they're still behind $9 million we were still hoping that we would see an increase this year we we didn't have that information until uh March so the more that we all could Advocate myself through the council through um you as Commissioners and reaching out to our state uh legislators in the 24th office that that's what we need to do to help our myself at Sussex Tech with my students and administrators and teachers and hopefully our colleagues in the county okay I think we're going to start to wrap this up anyone else on the board no okay I want to thank you so much for coming okay thank you I appreciate it hopefully we were able to give some of the parents um uh some answers and if you guys wanted to stick around and parents are probably going to address us but they won't be able to address you so if you just want to if you want to sit and listen that would be wonderful but thank you excuse me you'll understand the question yes so I've been copy on many of the correspond thank you thank you um director I just want to clarify um commissioner uh deputy director Carney had um had indicated a motion okay that he wanted to put forth regarding no confidence did you want to do that now or do you want to do that um in new business we can do it right now okay sounds good okay goad go ahead the FL you you exp um but Council for the education of the public um advise what a no confidence uh vote would entail yes so uh before this board is a motion for a vote of no confidence that's an expression that this board will no longer support a leader or a board in this case um V T is this for the board for who is this no confidence for we could break it up to the board or we could break it up to the superintendent we could put it together we could do two separate do two separates I mean does does everybody feel comfortable to have enough information motion's on the floor if we have a second we can have a discussion okay so you're making a motion I'm moving it I'll second um so are we doing this as two separate motions one do it just one do it just one yeah all right so this is a um a motion for vote of no confidence for the administration of the Sussex County Technical School and the Sussex County Technical School Board of Education okay I have a motion from director Carney and a second from commissioner Hayden any discussion okay roll call vote commissioner deg gr yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner schik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes okay motion carries okay number seven public hearing a vacation of bridges x52 and C6 at our regular meeting held on March 27th 2024 we introduced for the first reading the following resolution which was advertised in the New Jersey Herald issues of March 29th 2024 April 5th 2024 April 12th 2024 and April 19th 2024 together with the notice of public hearing stating it would be held at this meeting at 6 p.m. implementing the procedure to affect the vacation of Bridge x52 located on black dirt road in wage Township and Bridge c06 located on a private common driveway at the end of Netcong Avenue in bym Township said vacation procedure to be implemented after notice and hearing in accordance with the provisions of njsa 27 colon 16-28 B motion that the public hearing be open is anyone present to be heard regarding this resolution we just have to motion it first okay can I get a motion to open it still moves okay deputy director Corney in a second with commissioner Hayden okay all in favor I I opposed okay motion carries is anyone present to be heard regarding this resolution I am sorry about that okay just state your name and municipality please Harvey rosef byon Township uh the bridge in byon I just wanted to remind everyone up there that bridge is brand new brand spanking new I don't think it's more than eight years old 10 years old it's on a private driveway and now you're abandoning it so the county built a brand new bridge on a private driveway and today you're vacating it I I just want to put it in perspective thank you thank you anyone else okay um can I get a motion to close the public hearing move okay deputy director Carney and a second commissioner to group okay uh motion that this resolution be finally adopted oh all in favor sorry my script is missing a few things okay any opposed abstain motion carries okay motion that this resolution be finally adopted can I get a motion still move okay deputy director Carney in a second I'll second any discussion yeah real quick so tell what he saiding did any did we get any compensation for vacating this bridge at all uh we would have to ask Bill copel I don't think so right no and I'm not sure he's correct on that either I'll look into that though okay I mean the resolution has nothing to do with compensation now like we're a piece of prop that's what I'm saying Chris understood but we don't own that property so anything on that property is technically theirs so we could ask them all we want I mean what would you say if it was your bridge I'm not sure um Mr if we replace the bridge why did we do it there had to be a reason I understand that I don't have that answer for you could look into it again I I wasn't under the impression that this bridge was fixed by the county uh and if it was then you know that was before our time okay I'll get you the aners oh I'm sure I'm just maybe we not vote on it tonight okay so you want to yeah could we I think we table would be the best thing and find out if we did this I'll I'll table that are we on a mo right now we're on a motion to finally adopt and we have a second we have a second so there needs to be a vote okay so there needs to be a vote do no vote and then take move it to another name right well well no right now there is a motion on the table that was seconded so there needs to be a vote on that MO motion if that motion fails you can move to table it or move it to another meeting if we're in the time frames necessary I'd have to double check on that this was the public hearing for this ordinance or for this U matter so may I recommend you take a vote on the motion on the table first okay um we'll do this as a roll call vote oh okay that's good um could you let me can you clarify the can you clarify the motion please the motion is the resolution be finally adopted and authorize the clerk to advertise this resolution as finally adopted and also post same on the bulletin board in the lobby of the county administrative Center and deputy director Carney made the motion I seconded it so roll call please commissioner degr no commissioner Hayden no commissioner shik no director space yes deputy director Carney no okay okay number eight may I recommend so it it didn't pass pass motion to table and um placed on a future agen uh agenda for a date certain so future advertisement is not necessary U may I recommend the next meeting of May 8th I'll make the motion okay so we have a motion and a second second okay deputy director of commissioner Hayden deputy director Carney and a roll call or I guess all in favor I think all yeah all in favor Iain as Le on to engineering and planning I will get those answers tomorrow um I was not under the impression that that was a new bridge whatsoever so if we have any doubt let's not just make sure we're correct before we uh okay number eight public session from the floor this was going to be the agenda item so this we combin that's the one we combined okay so we are going to the public set oh we're going to comine we're skipping eight okay so commissioner number nine is commissioner comments and I'm going to start with uh commissioner Hayden so uh last week commissioner Bas attended election uh meeting I attend I encourage everybody to attend the election coming up we want to make sure the Integrity is maintained was good to go to that um I also have a little blurb from the library s County library system is decided to announce that the community members now can access award winning ABC Mouse curriculum both within the library buildings or wherever they are Library car holders can create a free ABC Mouse account using a number from the back of their library card or community members can continue to access the ABC mouse at any s sou County Library branch without creating an account utilizing elor card Wi-Fi the ABC Mouse Early Learning Academy offers more than 10,000 learning activities in reading and language arts Math Science Social Studies art music for children ages 2 to 8 these 10 ,000 plus funfill learning activities including more than 2,000 stem and over 1,200 Spanish language learning activities consist of dig occasional games puzzles Arts activities poems songs music videos science videos and more 2,000 plus book titles can be access at by age level guided reading level or Lex Lexile level we're delighted to offer enhanced access to ABC Mouse ass director Ellen cian remark this s expands our dedication to lifelong learning and ing the educational journey of Learners of all ages within our community s library system is committed to fostering learning opportunities for all patr all ages within its walls and in the community library wealth online resources include explore research uh resources P say tested rear prep teacher reference Center as well as language learning gen genealogy Comm the group all right yeah um the farmland preservation revitalization tour had a stop um this past two weeks with freeden's mayor uh this past week it was pleasure to update him on the revision of the appraisal formula for the farm centering Farmland preservation Pro uh program uh freeden's mayor was very excited of the de developments of the program and wants to assist in uh you know the Outreach uh speaking of Farmland preservation I also want to mention that our very own Agricultural Development board had a meeting last Monday um I was in attendance and uh was very happy to hear and announce to all you uh that we received our second application of the year for a farm interested in being preserved uh the applicant Farm looks very promising and the committee plans to have a site visit in the near future uh as stated at our January 1st reorganization meeting I did a goal of doubling our numbers of applications uh for the year from two applications to four um I'm happy that within three and 3/4 month uh we're already at two so halfway to the goal um between the Farmland preservation revitalization tour support from that cultural community and great developments from legislator I'm happy to see everything come together to get to the point uh that we're at now with two applications uh nonetheless the goal is for applications by year end and I will continue to work hard to perform Outreach to let Farmers know the great opportunity on hand uh with that being said sticking with agriculture New Jersey's very own secretary of agriculture Ed wingren made a trip up north to suss County Board of agricultural meeting uh he was very happy to hear the progress I made with Farmland preservation and was delightful to agricultural progress uh for programs at seccc uh looking forward to continuing uh you know we're helping him and him helping us with keeping you know not only New Jersey M Garden State but suss County are agriculturally rural uh revisiting my other goal I spoke of on January 4th with seeking opportunities of supporting agricultural programs at the community college I had a meeting this past Monday with the a director and the dean uh where we created the curriculum and requirements that we are envisioning for the internship program at Hudson farms uh this afternoon I actually sent those details over to them uh and now you know I'll see how they respond I planned to schedule a collaborative meeting with secc and Hudson Farms to you know progress it even you know more um just want to make you all aware of the progress in the next step forward because as you know with Commissioners and all of us uh we want to make sure the ball is always moving forward and uh with SEC and this Farmland preservation uh I'm always going to keep going never standing still um additionally I wanted say congratulations to uh Melissa Rockwell Mary Lou an amazing uh County Tax Board uh they organized a breakfast two Fridays ago uh with Municipal uh councils Mayors committees CFOs um really to educate them and answer uh questions on uh Municipal assessments uh it was very well organized and the presentations were very informative I was in attendance and learned a lot myself on the municipal level uh just really want to thank them again for putting that uh together and they're planning on doing some more and uh of course course all you Commissioners uh you know are more than welcome to attend I also attended the Su County's medical reserves Court appreciation lunch in last week it was an honor to attend recognize and thank the dedicated individuals a part of susus County's Medical Reserve corpse for those that do not know uh the medical reserves courts coordinate volunteer health professionals and citizens with an interest in health issues to provide ongoing support for the community Public Health needs and resour resources during large scale emergencies they were a vital part in uh the pandemic we had back in 2020 um a big thank you to Juliet and Christine from the division of Health for organizing uh really you know such a great event that's all thank hey commissioner shik gosh I don't know how I could follow that up um Jack do you ever sleep it's getting less and less so um you know thank you director uh so I had the I think the honor of reading proclamations to Daisy into Jenny's house uh on a uh a Monumental day of awareness here on the green um and then subsequently being Appo appointed to to jinny's house board of directors um that uh was an amazing just an amazing event and an amazing opportunity for me to learn more about what they actually do uh I met with the prosecutor and I've met with a number of people on that board uh former Freeholder and mayor of Vernon um Howard Burell is also on that board and many people with long deep uh long-standing Roots uh that are involved in caring for the victims uh and and the victims of this County um it was heart-wrenching to hear some of the things because I've never been in that type of an environment and and to believe that that kind of stuff is out there and uh I wanted to let everybody know that uh they are an excellent institution and do great work and I just my hats off to those those uh people there so enough of that um I I just without becoming too uh overwhelming with that I attended the ld24 uh event in Branchville where the Mayors and Council people of the County showed um to hear what um Senator space assemblywoman Fantasia and assemblyman ort what they're doing in Trenton and what uh what it does for us here in the county uh that was an an exceptional meeting very very um well attended I don't I don't think there was a municipality that wasn't there so um you know that was great um uh today uh I attended a veterans luncheon uh and giving thanks to the veterans of our Sussex County uh many of of them are Vietnam veterans but I did recognize a few that were from World War II very very very elderly for that number uh and um I had the distinct honor of of thanking them and some from the Korean War too yes yes and um being a veteran myself when when I see a a service man or woman of that age and what they went through and and what they've done for our country to protect the very rights that we have have to vote to to live in America in the greatest country in the world and to see those people who came back from the beaches of Normandy and and different areas and speak with them and sit with them for a few minutes was absolutely amazing so um due to my shorten schedule because of things at um at home um that's all I have to report for now thank you deputy director Carney thank you this first one's for back this is Farmland preservation annual monitoring uh once a farm is preserved the deed of easement requires division staff to monitor Farms on an annual basis as of 2024 staff are responsible for monitoring approximately 186 preserve Farms of the 186 Farms required to monitor 45% have been monitored for the fiscal year 2024 I'll give you this Jack I know you're chomping out the bad I'll give you the information the most recent Farm inspections are located at kti Valley East project area scheduled annual monitoring for seven farms in the kity valley East project uh this is the mile status I'm sorry conducted site inspections and annual meetings with each Farm owner identify any concerns violations of deed or easement new construction or new agriculture operation and prepared to submited monitoring report to sadc put that right there for you uh DPW purchased under arpa projects uh the 2024 Elgen Broom Bear sweeper was delivered last week through Timberland equipment Timber Min equipment for a purchase of representatives from Timberman were on site to provide initial training and service proed procedures to County staff equipment operators and Fleet mechanics DPW expects a sweeper to be in service May 1st um of this year I see mayor chamings in the back mayor chamings um this is about County Route 5 521 I just I want to point this out because it has something to do with still water it's uh or single single lane closure uh this is something actually you can take with you if You' like um this is the status update I know we had a couple um constituents coming here and concerned about the light and how they're stopping in front of his house and we understand um so our engineer department is working hard but this is a status update for you who come to our meetings um and hear this so in the interest of the public safety a temporary traffic signal was installed along the segment route of uh County route 521 in still order the specific concerned relates to deter deteriorating roadside retaining but Encompass encompassing to integral C and a dam Spillway during today's meeting the commissioner board included an award of professional engineer design and a service contract that's what we uh agreed on today the engineering firm is being hired to perform an engineering evaluation of the temporary traffic control measures currently deployed at the location so basically they're going to see if where the light is right now if it's in the right spot if we can move it or so on and so forth if they can car with our Engineers most likely from my understanding is it will stay there hopefully that won't be the issue and we can move it following the evaluation of firm will transition in a scoping uh portion of the project project scoping will include identification of existing conditions hydraulic and hydrologic studies determination of the counter route right away identification of environmental sensitive resources which may impact future project identification of AR archaeologic archaeological historical and cultural resources in the project area evaluation for threatened and endangered species traffic studies public Outreach and identify identification utility impact you get the gist um this is a report from the mouth of our County Clerk Jeff parrot I pleased to report revenue is up for the month of March 2024 uh by $6,595 180 compared to the 2023 D data the year-to date revenue is up $48,990 from March of 23 the economy remains sound at the time as of last month the Federal Reserve is considering lowering interest rates in June however the economy remains stronger than anticipated the Federal Reserve is now indicating a rate reduction which will not take place in June as previously stated uh property alert systems have gone up um in March we had 93 uh today 825 so it continues to go up and same thing with Daniel's law we had six in March and to date 562 uh this last past this past week I was around the county um there's a couple new businesses that were open uh that I was able to go to uh one was in Sanderson the lon Cattle Company uh basically what that is is is Farm to butcher shop which was pretty neat uh and then I actually went to Burger and butcher which was our was our former Freeholder Josh hburg which opened up in Sparta um as you head into into town there probably you know I'm a little biased cuz Josh is a friend but probably the best burger ever had um a really really good uh Burger again as as commissioner schik said we were able to attend the veteran lunch in which means a lot to me I'm a I'm a son of a two-time warvet so that was uh nice and thank you to senior services and everybody who helped out your whole crew they do a great job year after year so that was nice um we did have some as you heard on at a in um in our reading we have a couple spots open uh one with the planning board and one with the a board I have a couple other people that I hope you guys will consider for the a board possibly uh the open space and or the water quality uh I'm looking at that now and uh Branchville was looking for some information with the Force main um that we're looking to do so that information is here I'm looking through that uh to get to them we need to keep them up to date a little bit more we kind of lacked on that a little bit and I told the mayor that we will fix that so that's what we're going to do we're going to fix that uh and then last but not least I bring that up a new business I'll bring it up in the mle that's all I have thank you okay thank you um so so deputy director Carney and I have a meeting on Monday with Warren County officials and Hunter on um helping to increase hopefully internet services here in the county um deputy director carne has been working hard on that for the last few months at least if not longer um I also heard from the county clerk today they had an election in Byrum a school election and he said that everything went smooth so I want to congratulate the Board of Elections for a job well done um I also want to thank senior services and our Deputy Administrator Lorraine hence for the veterans luncheon that um four of us Commissioners attended today it was very well a very well turn out at The Farmstead and I've been working with Deputy uh administrator Lorraine hence on bringing um a support group to our local veterans in need and we're also working with Catholic Charities and we think that we have it set where we will have two meetings a month two separate types of meetings and a zoom option so we're anxious to get that going um so we were really excited to talk about that today and I think Lorraine's going to talk about that in a minute uh and then I apologize for missing the school board meeting last week but I was out of town getting my two new sloths um and uh commissioner degr and I also attended a meeting with some people from the college because I am going to be over informed when we have the College Board of school estimate meeting which we don't have a date set but I can guarantee you that I will have all the information that I need and it to keep things short I am going to tell you that if you want to hear my Health and Human Services report you can get it online um tomorrow uh no that would be oh by the next meeting okay okay um but we can certainly post it on the um Facebook that would be good page so I'll and I'll also post it on my um um my commissioner Facebook page and I want to thank all the parents here that have reached out and I have read every every email that you sent and tomorrow I will respond personally to all of you Facebook messages Facebook posts I can't because I won't see them all but I do appreciate all that you've done for your kids and keep up keep up the good work that's your good role models to your children um you know to fight for your education you know I'm sure they have been getting a good education of Sussex te that's not in question you know we all know that that's that that's a good place and that's where you want to keep your kids so we'll hope there's a resolution on that okay and that's all I have today so um number 10 approval of consent agenda and there is no consent agenda tonight number 11 approval of minutes approval of the regular meeting on April 10th 2024 can I get a motion to approve the minutes from the regular meeting okay uh commissioner Hayden and commissioner deg grou um um this is this we're just going to do uh all in favor yeah all in favor I have to AB yep opposed abstain I motion carries okay number 12 uh there's no ordinances number 17 Personnel we have none number 18 administrative report that's me um hi I'm Loren Henson standing in for Ron Tappen today um one thing I do want to say is today is uh administrative assistance day and I just want to like commend all of the assists we have in the county it you know I've been at the county for 28 years and I've never seen such groups of people work so hard be so dedicated and give so much so I just want to give a shout out to all of them for all of their hard work um and dedication to the community that they serve and recognize all of their efforts um I do want to thank all of our commissioners for attending our veterans appreciation luncheon this was the third one we've had this year and we went from having a capacity of 100 to having to expand that capacity up to 150 this year so it keeps growing and growing and having um our ability to recognize everything our veterans do for our community and all of the services that they have given um I can't say thank you enough um and I'm just going to piggy back on what Jill said not three weeks ago um Jill and Park had reached out to me cuz they had people calling them and saying we're looking for a support group we're being referred to to mental health professionals they're really not meeting our needs we're looking for somebody that's a peer to talk to they called me on my way to work at 7:50 in the morning um I reached out to Catholic families David Pearson who does their vsso services there and talked about well how can we meet this and did a zoom call with Jill kind of going over what are they looking for what are those needs and in less than 3 weeks um we're able to really pull together working with the Mental Health Association to bring a clinically focused group and then staff in my area social workers that are one is a veteran saying yes I'll gladly lead a peer support group and reaching out to people that she knows to get certified to be able to do these things so we came up with this option of one that's clinically based um through new mental or um Mental Health Associates peer-based through the division of Senior Services as well as then offering Zoom for those that can't make it to the building are not ready to do a face to- face um really meting all of those aspects and those connections for where a veteran is and you know that concept of collaboration and communication and working together how quickly something happens so I do want to say thank you to Parker and thank you to Jill um thank you to Catholic families and working together we we make it happen so that's that's a really important thing and something I like to see and share um the other two things I want to bring up is that department of engineering and planning are putting forth a grant that is due April 30th to the New Jersey Division of Highway and traffic safety we'll be doing a resolution at the May 8th meeting but I just need you're okay to apply for it it is the state and Community highway safety Grant it's for $ 17,1 16565 to replace a radar trailer um that's out of commission so it does save our tax dollars and um there is no cost share or match so I just need a kind of like a verbal okay to hit the button we'll have the formal resolution on the May 8th meeting sounds good to me um is that okay can you just do a motion to let them apply yes still moved okay a roll call Vote or any discussion any discussion no all in favor I opposed abstain motion carries thank you look forward to having done on the agenda um and then I do have I might as well bring up the one I want to do for amend uh so I've been working with commissioner Carney for the past year um really talking about the wellness of our staff and employees and how to engage them and um improve morale and services we could do one of the things we were talking about is um physical fitness and access to nutritionists so I made a commitment to him that I will work on this and Newton Medical Center Atlantic health does have a two-year Grant out there that focuses on Community Health I would like a motion to support us applying for $60,000 for 2-year Grant to do um use Consultants that are physical trainers that are certified as well as using a nutritionist dietician to do education on healthy eating um assisting in meal planning and working with them as well as bringing that physical um exercise to employees here in the building that we would do it after work in this location getting them connected then into our community and Community gyms so if I can get well that director space would have to yes can I get a motion and yes you want you want to make the motion I will move that I just had something to add but we can do that we do in discussion and I'll second um any discussion yeah so with that I appreciate what you did because it's been a long time coming you know how I am um if I'm correct and correct me if I'm wrong they also are employees if they go to this and they could create as many steps as possible and they can prove that they're exercising they get $20 a month back from our insurance is that correct they're 25 I believe it's $25 credit and that's one of the things that we would be then like encouraging them to do um as part of the outcomes so essentially they can make a little money on this y okay want to make sure deputy director Carney made the motion and I seconded it um all in favor I I opposed abstain motion carries thank you thank you anything else good I'm good okay number 19 County Council report I have nothing to report nice okay number 20 unfinished business so I will ask you has anyone in the county been contacted by the FBI or federal investigations on our food pantry this comes up every meeting um you know has anyone been contacted no so thank you how about from the AG's office um on a no-show job no okay thank you I should just elaborate that uh our food pantry does wonderful things we have wonderful donors and um you know I'm not going to get into it with Mr commissioner Hayden tonight but uh we go through this every meeting and I did get a reminder email in my uh commissioner email from um a friend of Mr Hayden's uh saying you know oh you know who you know who emailed me to to to you know put a spark in my mind about the food pantry right before the meeting so and I will do whatever I can to make sure that the people in Sussex County that need the food pantry continue to get fed thank you okay uh anyone else with unfinished business okay uh number 21 new business any new business I do have uh just something real quick this goes back to the development of uh the the Su County local Road Safety Action Plan that uh bill copol was talking about um this is the board um that potential participants he's looking for the initial S County local safety and action plan the implementation of a committee what he was asking for some Commissioners um the County engineer um different townships that he's looking for so basically they're looking for 15 to 20 people to get on this committee I mean it's going to be a tough one but I don't know if you guys want to look at this all or you guys want to give me car blanch on picking people obviously could only to do two Commissioners he recommends commissioner director the Lea on the department of engineering and planning that's me but if you guys want to take it I'm okay with that too it just kind of goes hand inand with what I do with the county uh and so on and so forth but we need to do this no matter what I don't know if you guys I could we could copy this give it to you but he's got the talents that they're looking to do uh Aron monu Sparta susex Sparro B pans Stan hope he's got people from the Chamber of Commerce if there's anybody that you guys know that you think would be uh good for this committee then let me know too we can pick them print it out or have uh Christina email all of us yeah so I'm going to send it to you if you guys could get back to me by the end of the week if you don't care I'll just you know I I'll work on this with director um and Bill copol and uh try to fill these this committee all right so this is for the safety uh action sounds good any other new business okay number 22 this the 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 floor for public comment okay commissioner degr in a second second second okay commissioner shik all in favor I I opposed abstained motion carries okay the floor is open just state your name and municipality too hi my name is Jennifer Buckaloo I live in bym um I just had a few points to make of course my daughter goes to Tech um just just a few points and I know I'm speaking to you guys the parents still haven't had any real communication we just got a generic email that the shops were closing we did find out that the I think some of us found out that the seniors incoming seniors would be able to stay and that the drama club would stay for one more year my point to that is that there are 60 kids in the drama club if they're only going to do it for one more year those 60 kids could leave the school just as well as any athletes could leave the school if they're not there um so just I I just want to make sure I know when I was in school the football and cheerleading all the money went there it's where all the concern was but 60 kids in a drama club is a lot and it's a safe place for a lot of the kids so it should just be something considered um and then the other thing if if I've run programs I was a total sh as a kid I cheered I sof but I don't never want to see Sports gone but if it comes down to saving sports or saving education I don't know how there's a question and I know there's a lot of money put out for sports and that's great if you can afford it so just another thought um I know at football games and whatnot there is no admissions to get in you can get in for free I've never gotten in anywhere else for free for a football game um so again parents are more than willing at least now maybe not always um to try to raise money maybe we can have booster clubs for these after school programs to help raise money for those to save money for the school just food for thought for when you guys do attend the meeting which I'm hoping the Board of Education the special meeting which we just found out today about will be open to the public as well just so we know what's going on or wise or or any so thank you sounds good thank you I'm sorry um ma'am can you just fill your last name for please it's Buckaloo b a e thank you hi I'm James Gaddy for Township I'm the Chief Operating Officer of Sussex County Community College hello again um I'm here today because I've have been suspended from the college for two months and I'm here because I was suspended for bringing up two different issues with President John Connelly one is that he had a gun in his office um and when I reported that uh he then turned around and told everybody that I made up the story when I have him on recording saying he did have a gun in his office the second thing is is in interestingly uh Mr Carney very similar to what you just experienced with Gus you asked about financial issues you asked about the budget Gus got sort of the riot act because he doesn't have enough money but yet John Connelly is sitting on over $25 million over there when I know for a fact that he asked for an increase in the amount of funds that the county supported the college with this year so Financial impropriety misreporting of financial information over there is very different I wish we could just take the money from the college and support these wonderful students over at Tech um but Al last John Conway has that $25 million uh sitting in a in in an account for his uh leisurely spending uh the final thing that I'll just bring up is is it strikes me as interesting when you asked about shared services as the chief operating officer at the college um I will tell you that John Connelly does not like Gus and therefore does not want t does not want us to do any shared Service as the Chief Operating Officer I see wonderful opportunity to figure out how to do synergies on the non-academic front which is where you really save the most money in your budget so that's that's truly interesting and then finally uh It just strikes me as interesting a man has a gun in his office he's accused of uh you know sexually harassing people he's accused of tapping people's phones and those sorts of things and really we have a person with a mental breakdown and unfortunately I think what we have I don't know we have board members here tonight I think we have a man who is not only manipulating the staff and students at the college but also manipula manipulating the board because after the first of at least six letters that I know of has been received the board still has not had anyone contact any of us to understand anything else about the problems that we brought up we're talking about violating laws so it's interesting that you do a vote of no confidence on the gentleman who's trying to solve a problem over at Tech where's the vote of no confidence for John con we haven't even had our Board of school estimate meeting um for the college yet oh did you have it with Gus uh we did we did with we did with Sussex Tech we haven't had it with the college yet okay so the other allegations and board who is failing to act on those allegations when when you say board I'm just going to go on the board of the college sorry you mean the board of the college okay to be clear right okay yeah so we we have been meeting with different board members so we are still you know they I know that the College Board of Trustees have an inquiry going on and you know we are a very due diligent board great I'm sorry for taking up time for wonderful tech parents appreciate every every that comes hello hi Lisa CH still a Township I will grab that Mr corne in said Demitri is here actually so if I was going to I can get you a cop I can email to you I'll hand that to thei sorry cut that's fine um just three quick things thank you for the leap grant information to St to Township thank you for sending Mrs King there on her birthday to talk to us we tried to get her out quickly so she could go enjoy her birthday dinner so thank you for that um St was appreciative I had me so so um also uh as a 38-year now retired teacher for a few months budget cuts are never fun I wish you all the best as you try and figure all of this out it is not an easy task I I can attest to that and I retired to make sure that a couple of our younger teachers could still have jobs so after 38 years it was enough finally as to St order I wasn't quite sure what was happening with the agenda because I was out there um I am in support of resolution K which is awarding uh Engineering Services for County Road to Van CLE engineering for the preliminary design for County route 521 at my marker 1160 and CLE is an excellent firm very familiar with still water so I'm looking forward to progress in that area I know it's a long process it is one of the most historic I can't even call it a bridge Spillway dams Waters it's not an easy fix so thank you for all the work um and that was really all I wanted to say was about resolution K but I got lost in the crowd so you can give that to Demitri thank you mayor thank you very much thank you Ken Collins and over Township I've been coming here since commissioner Deo was born to speak truth to power and I'm here tonight to speak to you about honor dignity and respect at the previous Commission commissioner's meeting commissioner Hayden made claims that some documents reported to indicate that he is a veteran are fraudulent unfortunately for him it is irrelevant what about his misrepresentations made to his own family members what about the misrepresentations he made to his political supporters who have so bravely come forward what about the way he Hoodwinked his colleagues right here on this very board into thinking he served our nation as as a soldier a na seal for God's sake I've got to hand it to the Sussex County Republican committee as if sticking it to the community with Parker space's $30 million solar Scandal wasn't enough damage they continued to anoint the inept to run Sussex County's government Parker space and his anointed inept cronies on the County Commission were asleep at the wheel and I came here and question their judgment me and Harvey rosev we're the only two people in this whole community who questioned their judgment and we were right they didn't listen to us I'm here questioning your judgment Bill Hayden's political implosion was predictable yet once again the inept was anointed by the Sussex County Republican committee anyway one only needs to watch the video of the infamous Oro hidden debate which can be found on my YouTube channel to understand how thoroughly unqualified and unfit for public office Bill Hayden is and that was before allegations of Stolen Valor came to light so what should Bill Hayden do resign one minute be a man of Honor do what a man of Honor does confess to the validity of your indiscretions admit admit that you pose as a military veteran to your friends family and colleagues apologize to everyone for these indiscretions especially to actual military veterans like me repeatedly profusely solemnly and with remorse the SCRC owes it to our community to write its own ship and recall Bill Hayden chairman Joe La barara said he would we're still waiting to sign Mr lab Barbara's petition we can only hope that Joseph labarbara is a man of Honor who keeps his promises I have my doubts as I believe he has is as inept as Mr Hayden for Community it is deeply unsettling that we must rely on the SCRC which has done so much harm To Us by anointing the inept to do the right thing and recall Bill Hayden the SCRC is a clown circus and I expect they will fail to act good evening hell um I apologize I did not intend to speak my name is Aaron shovak I'm a teacher at Sussex County Technical School um I am a teacher of 16 years in fact I had two of the you're too oldest um I'm the NHS nths adviser the yearbook adviser a teacher Mentor I'm also the co- Union VP um in fact it was two years ago we sat in this room with several of my other teachers speaking with Mr Fano about many of the same questions that you all just asked um while the presentation just given tries to place blame on the lack of funding either from the state or the Commissioners the fact of the matter is that we have an inefficient and apathetic board and administration with the possible exclusion of our newest member Mr heyen um we have a director of guidance and child study team who is not certified for those roles but instead Works under Mr mod uh Mr Mod's certifications we also added an administrator in February of 2022 who replaced an administrator who previously handled curriculum as well as discipline they now only currently handle uh curriculum as well as State Testing we currently have one administrator for every 90 students while the state average is 140 this is the first I'm hearing about a perdm grant writer we as a union approached several years ago and we were able to secure a part-time grant writer when that individual left he was not replaced our board agendas are almost always blank in the grant section the other thing that needs to be clarified is that the students in the shops that are possibly being closed do not have similar shop programs to go into graphics for example commercial Arts is the alternative which is almost almost full will give them yes a similar certification in Adobe however commercial Arts revolves around drawing many of the students and graphic designs do not draw nor do they want to draw so it is not a viable option for them um despite what was just said after seeing eight shops disappear in the past 10 years I fear for the future of our school many of those programs yes were closed due to some setting sip codes but they could have easily had adapted curriculums to allow those programs to change and roll into new programs so I just wanted to clarify some of the statements thank you thank you for your time good evening uh Demitri ganis beautiful and historic Stillwater Township um I'm here to I want to thank commissioner Carney for the update I really appreciate that and you could take this to when you're done okay thank you um it's um it's a relief to know that there's some progress and we do appreciate that um but I just want to inform the Commissioners that you know this this is really racking up some dollars being spent I mean still would just increase their uh policing with the county sheriff's department by 375% because of these lights I believe it's because of the lights because it's kind of odd that we added that much of a budget to police the community that's been um policed by the state police for many years um now we have a $267,000 paycheck to Van CLE which I hope is well spent um uh the mayor chamings feels that that they're a good outfit and they they'll do the right thing but I really am concerned that there's there's not going to be like a rubber stamp situation where there's actually going to be real debate and discussion over this like pretty significant problem that we have in town which is basically two traffic lights literally going from one of my driveways to the other driveway in front of my house and I could just tell you that um it's a political season coming up we're going to have signs we already have signs for people to cut grass and cut trees and all kinds of services right in front of my house now and um soon I'll have probably a lot of political signs hope you don't uh I won't put a sign on but I I also want to just say you know we have to look at we're a lot of people here right at Center many of which are are affiliated with a particular party and that stands for small government stands for you know fiscal responsibility and I think that you know time could increase that cost if we can just get to the point and get this thing moving along I think that the county and the people of the county are going to save some money yes so I just wanted to bring that up and then lastly you know I'm I've been stonewold to hate to use the pun but by the uh custodian of Records um I'm asking for information regarding where um the County engineer where he received his facts about these his executive summary which is basically one the department was advised by still Township of multiple accidents that have occurred along CR 521 near 916 Maple Avenue and this was on November 6 2023 I mean the issue is there were 15 accidents from 2006 to 2015 12 of which happened by deer were caused by deer three accidents happened near this area we don't nowhere one two of them were during a snowy condition apparently according to this report and one was during a rainy condition I just think that we should we have to like sort of like take the bubble wrap off and start looking at how seriously ridiculous it is to have the two lights there time thank you thank you thank you thank you may I approach yeah yeah abely thank you have a good evening you your questions all right appreciate it Kathy Bren in Hampton Township um I'm here again about the same issue I feel like it's been the elephant in the room and coming back to meetings and pretending things are back to usual whatever to me is just like throwing it under the rug and forgetting about it this these are accusations that should not be forgotten um there are there are accusations um put out there by this person there and there are accusations about the person so far there have been no resolutions to any of these matters and I think there needs to be some sort of resol solution I think someone needs to say what exactly is going on um and also this is a person who um ran a CA campaign of supposedly uh saving the county money and you know work working on a good budget and whatever and this person has cost us more in time money and reputation between threatening lawsuits uh illnesses and not being able to come uh I'm not taking initiative to do their job and attend County functions and and make their reports like all of you do I mean we pay you Commissioners and you're expected to do a job and also um the accusations which I've said before about the food bank I feel like it's one of those things if you say it enough maybe people will think it's true or you want people to think it's true I at every meeting you ask is there anything legal going on every meeting no no one has been contacted about any case so why are we ruining the reputation again of the food bank I think this needs to stop I think there needs to be apologies I would suggest a resignation but honestly you're Shameless and you would not resign one minute and okay thank you thank you um excuse me thank you hello hello um my name's Lisa DeMarco I'm from hardest in Township um I would like to start off by saying that Sussex Tech saved my son I don't know where he would be without Sussex Tech he is a sophomore in engineering and he's thriving he's a I have said these words to the board and to Mr modla he's a varsity Letterman in cross country and um cross country is the only sport at Tech who doesn't have an assistant coach and in September of this past year there was a serious medical emergency that required parent intervention and there was only one coach and that student that had their medical emergency's parents were not there after it was over I learned the rules about parents not being able to intervene or chaperon the kids back to the school that it all relies on the coach and there is only one coach okay it is the only Sport with only one coach so I attended the next board meeting at the convenient time of 4:00 in the afternoon on a weekday to advise the board that these kids they deserve better and that they feel unsupported by their school administration because their team is treated like second class citizens in September at that meeting I also offer to volunteer to become an assistant cross country coach I attended multiple meetings and emailed every month reminding them that I was still offering my services I just found out last week nearly s months later that I can volunteer if I obtain seven certifications and am approved as a substitute teacher well I am calling their Bluff I will do those things it will cost me about $200 but I'm willing to do it because I believe in our students they deserve the best we can give them I had to work so hard and be a pet to volunteer to volunteer teachers have volunteered to be assistant coaches or to do SK club and they have been denied now my son tells me about Ski Club may be cancelled well if I need to volunteer for that too I will but I am only one person there are parents and teachers willing to help I just wanted to tell you that there are other things happening behind the scenes our frustrations as parents Run Deep and it started well before the latest budget issues thank you for your time thank you hello good evening Commissioners my name is Linda I am from Sparta and I am a proud mom of a sophomore at Sussex Tech um I want to thank the Commissioners here tonight for really taking this budget issue seriously for taking the time to hear the parents' concerns and the students concerns and for asking the hard questions this evening it is really appreciated um I for one know that I am not a guru when it comes to budgets just ask my husband I'm terrible pays so I get it and much less you know having the school budget concern and knowing the kids lives are on the line um but I would love to understand the math how closing these three shops will make us whole $850,000 and when do we expect to realize that by cleaning them for next year we're magically make the budget whole I I cannot understand that um I am also concerned about the student teacher ratio for the kids being absorbed into other shops if they choose to go there this evening was really the first information received by the superintendent about what the plan is we had as parents we had no plan as to what was going to happen to our kids last last year when my son was looking to transfer out of a shop he was told commercial Arts was full if this year he's Graphics Communications he's thriving and he loves it if he's in commercial Arts now suddenly there's room for him and lots of other commercial Arts students I don't know so I appreciate you also being willing to use your Liaisons to help the board find Solutions I'm really really hopeful that we can find Solutions and help these kids stay in their seats thank you thank you okay uh Nancy abson at Arlington New Jersey proud mom of a sophomore who's shop is not being affected it's not I'm here to mention that only sports kids got a surprise little email not the parents just the children would you come here if there were no Sports now are they looking to cut Sports I don't know what's going to happen I hope not cuz my son is thriving my son is um um dyslexic he's high honor role since he started in the school the other thing they want to cut is like leave busing why would you do that to these kids and take it down to two days so that they can't hang out with their friends they can't go to the stud Student Center which they were also going to cut last year there was some rumor going around they were cutting the Student Center I think they have to re-evaluate their um priorities and um I I know I opra the um breakage I was denied the Oprah because maybe it's not worded correctly so I will resend the Oprah on the breakage so that I see what's happening because there's money somewhere everybody has money everybody knows a budget right they're not under budget it's just here and you have to find it to make it work appreciate your time have a thank you I'm I'm from hardest in Township covid-19 took away my freshman year and now the class of 2028 has their freshman year jeopardized by a seemingly self-inflicted wound transparency is a basic form of decency and we all ask for that transparency massive changes to the school were on its way to being approved without any notice to the public and the school continues on like nothing has changed my younger sibling was scheduled for freshman year in architectural technology and I was glad that my siblings experience would be different from my own in freshman year during my co freshman year I didn't have any classmates I didn't go to any clubs and I didn't know anything about my shop and the hope of having a better year up ahead kept me going I didn't want to give up because I wanted to get to know my shop better to understand that unfamiliar mechatronics but it and megatronics was so significant to me because it was my first conscious step towards a career that I would love and nurture and I truly believe that each of you had an instinctive calling towards public policy and the sacred nature of the content that comes with the job that comes from a job you're passion about is being Dishonored right now the class of 2028 would be disbanded even before they could get to know architectural technology graphic Communications and Theater Arts you're only in high school once and I'd never want anybody I know to be deprived of the resources I've was back in 2020 and it disheartens me that these current freshmen might not these um upcoming freshmen might not have the same experience please save these shops for our future students and represent your and represent the students in this public policy really has a chance to make a moment is change at this moment thank you thank you Miss I'm sorry can I just get your spelling of your name I'm sorry um i n a a y a any last name Ali a l i thank you my heart's beating my minute um so I'm here to advocate for can state your name in municipality sure um my name is Don rowski and um I live in Hampton Township and I am here um to Advocate on the shops that are closing the wonderful theater Community that's behind me but most importantly my son um speaking with the theater kids with some kids from the other shops and living with my son the mental health impact that this has had hurts um it's refreshing to be here with this board here I see the passion I see the advocacy and I see the emotion and I wish we had some of that in last week's meeting I know everybody's trying to do their best and trying to do their jobs but some of the question questions I have are I know that we have Liaisons for the schools but is there any way we can have a group that's like a liaison for the parents finding this out by accident was the Panic that set in was just unnecessary and the groups of parents that I have met over the last week or so I'm just learning about a lot of the steps here but we have some super sluth on our side and we have parents who are advocating for their children and we're finding out information on our own that I really wish that we would have been presented by the school um also interested in seeing if there are any ways that parents can get involved with funding with trying to help ways um to replace some of that money um some of the shops that we have can be profitable um working with the public and uh um I can't read the rest of my handwriting so people me thank you I am like I said before I am hoping that they'll establish a Citizens advisory committee I think that would be very good for the school it would be amazing because I I just feel like especially hearing that maybe we can increase enrollments I mean I know kids who were turned away or weight listed and it just breaks my heart so thank you thank you hi there my name is Madison Allen um I'm currently a junior in the feder Arts shop at Tech I spoke at the board meeting last Thursday and I didn't really prepare too much to say because I think I said everything I had to there and most of that direct was directed to the Board of Education I just hope um you will help us save our shops because they are essential um we are a technical school and I know this is by no means your fault and I appreciate it so much that you are willing to do what you can to help but like I said we are a technical school and us getting rid of our shops doesn't make us that our school has six administrators and a lot of us don't even know them and I'm sure if we don't know them they don't know us um people want to know our school for the good but right now the school doesn't have a very good reput reputation and certainly will not if our shops are cut um I just want to EMP emphasize how hard the kids work to get into and continue to stay in these shops and for some like me these shops are guiding them to where they need to be to have a future in that industry um we spend years building up our portfolios and preparing for college auditions and doing what we love and not only did the school not really give us an indication that these Cuts would be happening they knew for a while beforehand and I'm sure most people um in this room can agree that this is very weird and kind of shady and I didn't want to come in here and be super factual cuz I'm sure you've heard the facts you don't need to hear them from me to know that this shouldn't be happening and I've said this before and I'll say it again these are our careers they're not just normal high school classes that are being taken away and I know we have intro classes at our school but you can't graduate with those you need at least 3 years of a shop to graduate and if they are cut a lot of kids will not have it and I know Miss SP I think you asked Mr Moda what the school should could do to avoid closing those shops and I don't think you were provided an answer um so that makes me believe they didn't do anything um I don't really have anything more to say but to leave it there and thank you for listening to what we have to say and thank you for taking everything we say consideration thank you and Civic involvement is so important on this note I'm going to say we are going to take a five minute break so that we can but we want everybody to stay because we really want to hear what everyone has to say but we are just going to take a five minute break only one she's I don't need to to reop the floor right we I can I should okay okay that's my dress CH my gabble okay we're back in session thank you hi my name is Emily goic and I appreciate you listening to this all tonight I also didn't have very much prepared because I spoke at the original board meeting and I didn't want to be too repetitive for the people who already heard me speak but I believe that I should reiterate because I believe it'll help um I'm just here to talk about my experience and the impact that theater has had on me um um I remember the moment when I decided I wasn't going to my sing District I was sitting in my room after cheer practice in 2020 debating what to do and I told myself that if the bullying got worse I would go to T it did but the next choice was whatshot I was going back and forth between law and theater I had people around me telling me to be realistic and choose a safe career But ultimately I decided to follow my heart and I could not be happier in e8th grade when the bullying was at its peak I joined a show called Greece that theater was the one place where I felt like I could be myself without being judged I saw it as a second home those people had dug me out of a hole that kept getting deeper and deeper when I went on stage for the first time I knew that it that I made the correct decision now as a junior in Theater Arts my shop will be being cut will greatly affect my future and the futures of my peers casting directors will see where we all graduated from they will also see that my peers just quit theater this means that the resumés will just be tossed to the side which will negatively impact their chances of booking a they will think we just quit when in actuality it's being ripped away from us even though it goes against the miss statement which says the CSS County Technical School a school of choice in partnership with family community business industry and institutions of Higher Learning Empower secondary and adult students to become self-directed Learners and active participants in their Community by providing a competitive advantage to pursue any career opportunity when I came to Sussex Tech I was given a promise that I could pursue any career opportunity so I tried and all that has led to is my school potentially shutting down my shop because they don't see that it is just as important as some of the other ones the Arts have always been a special place for me and the people around me this decision affects all of us as well as the community Mrs Milani has created such a positive environment for all of these students to thrive she has made it a safe space for so many students one minute thank you I'm sorry I lost um this decision affects um all of us as well as the community um she works so hard to make sure that her classroom theater can be another home for kids who thank you so much for listening thank you before I go to the next speaker I just want to say it's so refreshing to sit here and hear all these positive things about Sussex Tech and that you kids are really proud of your school and your parents are too so thank you we in Sussex County we should all be proud to have this school thank you hi I'm Molly Williamson from wage wage New Jersey I'm a sophomore in Theater Arts and I'm so lucky to be one of Al's students Theater Arts graphics and architecture are all safe places for these students whether it's a safe place from home a safe place for trusted peers or simply place where they feel accepted and at peace with a clear gateway to their future this theater program has been a safe place for the lgbtq plus the disabled and Naro Divergent communities these communities have strugg struggled to find safe places and now the school wants to take one of the few places that these students have taking this is going to feel the make the people part of these communities feel unsafe and unwanted the Arts are needed at the school the Arts are needed in this society and taking them away will force the students here to either disconnect from their peers or make them leave it go somewhere better or their Futures seem better without these shops they are making it making the dreams and aspirations of these students disappear making the current students and future students feel as though their own features in their lives are irrelevant compared to money balani has done so much for all of us in her class not just through our education but also socially and mentally see she has been a positive influence for each and every one of us and through our education in theater we have also been able to learn skills in theater and also valuable skills that we can use in any field these three shops may not be seen as important or infuential to others but to the people around and involved we see how important these shops and programs really are we are realistically just as important as any other field thank you for listening and thank you so much for your time thank you thank you Peter lachenauer from Branchville my son is a freshman at Tech in the graphic Communications uh program and to say the least he is not one to put himself out there to step out of his comfort zone but he did he put together a project he went for an interview and he got in and if this gets taken away from him I don't know the next time that he would put himself out there again because how often do we talk about children who won't go that extra mile who don't feel that the world has their back and if we take this away from them we're telling them that they're right about that that the that we do not support them that it's not worth going that extra step and putting themselves out there and doing that extra bit because it's just going to evaporate on them anyway it's we're telling them it's not worth it we have to show them that it's worth it for them to do the extra to put themselves out there to make themselves vulnerable to stretch for that little bit more because we are going to support them we have to we we owe that to our children we owe them to teach them that this is worth their time and not something that despite their best efforts is going to be ripped away from them after the fact thank you thank [Applause] you John Leo I live in Green Township uh good evening Commissioners thank you for taking the time to listen um my name is John Leo my daughter Elsa is a freshman at Tack and she is in the theater arts program which she absolutely loves um I want to take a minute to speak on behalf of all three of the shops because I think these students as we probably all know and many of us being parents uh went through an extraordinarily difficult time we all had a difficult time with the pandemic but imagine uh being a middle schooler at the time with pandemic and how difficult that was have uh your middle school years disrupted in the way that it was um Sussex Tech gave each of these students the opportunity to say this is who I am I'm willing to apply and commit myself and have the maturity to dedicate my high school years uh to these specific shops um I think it's highly commendable and this space as you said we should be extraordinarily proud uh of the of the school and of each of the teachers inv and each of the students involved I think we should do everything that we can do uh from a funding standpoint to find ways to continue to support the students who are currently there but don't lose the opportunity uh that they've already embarked upon and that we don't lose the opportunity for future students to following their footsteps um with specific regard to Theater Arts uh I want to emphasize that just how transferable just how valuable the skills are that they're learning uh in addition to their work on the stage they also study theater um every College admissions test and every college program looks for critical writing skills critical reading skills and those of course are valuable in all walks of life um they learn that by studying Theater which you know is a little bit more challenging than picking up the comic strip and reading the comic strip if they have to read Shakespeare or chower or whoever it is they're learning to read critically and they can use that skill in in all one minute all walks of life wish I had more time time um I want to transition because I could talk about how great all these things are for for a bit but what I want to do I'm sure you heard all these things is the question now is how do we find a solution um my understanding is that the funding comes from their sending districts from the county which has supported the school's budget and from the state um so talk about the school applying for uh building permits and such so I really think it's a question of will uh hopefully the the assemblymen and the Senators are engaged as well because I'm sure if there's a will there's a way uh and I can't think of a better way to support these students and support this school than to keep these programs going thank you thank you hello think a crisis to bring people together so um I'm hoping that this turns into a positive thing I want to thank Mr your oh I'm sorry I'll get there I don't want this to counts my time yet I want to thank Jack you're on the clock sir thank Mr she for actually going up to the last event my name is Frank COA I live in hardyston New Jersey I have two sons currently rolled at Sussex Tech their older brother graduated two years ago I'm here today to speak on behalf of the architecture program I am a I'm speaking as a concerned parent as well as someone who has dedicated my time to support the students of this important program as an adviser mentor and juror to the students I have three points of discussion number one is the students first and most important is the students they have dedicated one two three years of their lives to pursue the career of architecture in teenage years that's like 10 or 20 years it's heartbreaking for the students to learn that their hard work invested in the program was all for nothing all those countless late nights and weekends working on countless projects and presentations all for nothing especially after pouring their Blood Sweat and Tears into the projects broken promises and abandonment by the people appointed to and protect them the architecture profession is a challenging one that blends Art and Science the program offers students a wide array of skills from public speaking to creativity things like model making computer drafting problem solving and teamwork overcoming challenges and facing their shortcoming strengths and overcoming challenges and facing their shortcoming strengthens their resilience and helps them grow as individuals secondly is the programs it looks like a targeted attempt to eliminate certain programs due to some political some sort of political agenda as we all know the humanities are a critical component of a well-rounded education but they have been under attack Lately by the very people who claim to be liberal-minded the humanities the very programs you propos to eliminate prepare students for college and the real world to be well-rounded individuals each one shining bright in their own way they become people who can think for themselves in a world where thinking for yourself is no longer the majority the humanities teach us ethics values and tradition in a world that increasingly has no value for these lessons the rigor and structure of the program instills work ethic and love of knowledge in each student it also teaches each student who they are through their projects it gives them a positive way to express their creativity one minute is there a Ral reason why these programs are being cut without consideration for evolution expansion or consolidation there are new technologies and innovations that should be considered Technologies like AI in my opinion it is shortly it is extremely shortsighted to eliminate programs unilaterally and without a phasing plan for those who may not know this program is a pipeline for the profession by preparing students for University admissions these students go on to find work as Architects and firms throughout our state after they graduate the students go on to represent who we are as a community without this program we will be underrepresented as a county in the profession of architecture our children have no other feasible Alternatives funding we need a better accounting of how the board is spending the public funds and why are these programs being defunded abruptly as a practicing architect I did not have the opportunity to attend the technical school I did not have a head start and had to play catchup to keep keep up with my college CL uh College classmates my wife and I did our best to get our children excited about careers early on in their lives they in grade school and I I'm I'm going to speak on behalf of my wife who who donated personal time and money to the school sind they won't let me read until you read yeah she can read thank you I want to say my own thing okay sounds good thank you sorry yes please thank you hello my name is Katrina Manzo I'm from hakon I have two children attending Sussex Tech first I'd like to thank the Commissioners for their communication um over the last few days and for hearing us tonight um and for seemingly taking this issue seriously it is Our obligation to protect our most vulnerable who in this case happen to be our children while I wholeheartedly appreciate the vote of no confidence we cannot stop with just that we need real solutions and we just aren't there yet we still don't know where the money is we still don't have a solution we want real answers and we want real continued quality education for our children even if that looks like a phase out there are other solution the one Mr modet is proposing is not the only one and it is not the right one to be frank budget should never be a reason to deprive our children of their education we have heard from many of our kids that their shops gave them purpose and even saved their lives I can validate this personally two years ago to the month my at the time 12-year-old daughter's immune system began attacking her brain she nearly died she had to learn to talk again walk again sees up to 10 times a day for months and now lives with a traumatic brain injury she still receives monthly confusion and fights hard every day just to make it through she was lost a shell of a child I once knew and then she started her cinematography program at Sussex Tech her words she found her purpose and reason to keep pushing through every day how can we take that away from a child we can't I will tell you one way that this affected me as a parent was it gave me fight I didn't know I had a fight for not just my own child but for all children this budget issue I can tell you has reignited that fight in me and just as I didn't give up on her I will not give up on this I would like to reiterate on the record so it doesn't get lost parts of an email I sent to the Commissioners the executive superintendent the ba and Mr MDA my name is Katrina Manzo I live in hakan and I have two children currently enrolled in Sussex County Technical School one minute I am writing this letter to request the susset County Commissioners executive County Superintendent or Board of Education Implement a Citizens advisory committee for Sussex County Technical School in accordance with District policy 9140 not only am I ready willing and able to serve on that committee but I would be honored to do so I omitted some personal details here due to recent events it seems the current Board of Education would benefit from a committee of liaison to help ensure that the voices and perspectives of the of the community members are heard and considered in decision making in the decisionmaking process as community members we all want what is best for the students I understand the current board is in a tough position and I am willing to help I am confident that I would be an asset to the school citizen advisory committee as I would have the opportunity to provide Insight encourage communication between the district and Community offer suggestions and work together with all members to help SATs work towards a successful future I appreciate your time and consideration please reach out to discuss any further steps or procedures that may be necessary time thank you thank you if I may just real quick anybody who does run out of time you know please feel free to um email the commissioner board the rest of whatever uh your statements were U my name is Jason B and I'm a proud resident of Stillwater uh you may remember I was here last month over the issue at Sussex County Community College uh commissioner Carney very graciously told me that you all this is a priority um when something's a priority for me it gets done right away uh just like all of these good people at the vote Tech who keep telling you stories right very graciously very politely they keep telling you stories about how damage has already been done like I've already been slandered by all my colleagues because Dr Connelly has manipulated that I have a lawsuit sitting there clear's day but I'm not going to hurt the college so I'm not going to act on it I look to you all my elected representatives and I got told very graciously again that something would be done right the vote you made tonight excellent symbolic but at least you did something but like when are you going to actually do something for real you all are the ones who created the Committees whether or not you personally some of you personally you created the Committees that put both these two gentlemen that are ineffectively running the only two institutions of Education you're in responsible for into the ground you have people's lives being ruined there's no one from the College here to talk other than Mr Gaddy or myself because I left and went to Ruckers he's on administrative leave and everyone else is too scared grown people who work too hard for not enough money you think vot Tech's underfunded we're paying the same tuition at Sussex County community colleges students going to Montclair State who get quadruple the amenities and actual full-time staff we have 300 adjuncts at the County College and 12 full-time faculty members I've coming here since 2013 because when I was a non-traditional student working myself to the Bone getting hospitalized with a family trying to go to school I was paying out the nose and then I found out you all R ditching on your responsibility the county none of you were there obviously but the county that and it just didn't matter you didn't care and you know what else I noticed nobody on the commission's kids went to County they didn't go to County I go to County County okay I I am from the county people in here are from the county and what I think has happened and this is across the board it's not your's fault it's a whole soric system in this country working people have no more representation in this country not any representation no one listen you bleed us dry but you don't listen to us and the only time you even pretend to give us back the rhetoric like you give two crafts is when we do this and I've had enough and I've had enough so much so that although I'd rather swim through an ocean of glass I am announcing right now that I am I am starting a writing campaign to run for County Commissioner because I had enough I've had enough the people of sus County deserve people who are going to actually represent him and when they talk at them they don't just use words they actually back it up you're going to talk to talk Walk to Walk hi my name is Aiden Kone and I'm a freshman in the theater Art Shop this shop has saved my mental health and me as a whole cutting this shop will means I have to go back to my setting school and I've been there before and it's not a great fit for me I've experienced many years of bullying bullying and mainly for my career choice in theater and while I still faced at Sussex Tech Miss fani in the theater Art Shop has helped me cope and greatly improve my mental health as a whole cutting this shop will also decrease my chances into getting into a great college for my passion and colleges will think that I just quit and while I'm still young I'm thinking about this every single day I've been given so many opportunities by Miss balani and she has greatly improved my skill and knowledge in theater please just save our shops and save our futures thank you for your time thank you hi my name is Haley Phillips and I'm from Andover and I'm a junior in the theater Arts shop I would like to say first of all thank you all for listening and if it wasn't for theater Arts I would not be up here today at all I would 3 years ago I would have never stepped up here um but here I am today um and I just wanted to say Mr M said class sizes ranged from TW um 21 to 27 my classes aren't that big so I looked out in Google classroom and looked at all the kids my English class has 15 kids my math class has 19 Spanish is the only class of 24 physics is 15 my PM shop has 14 which is seniors and juniors but if we had enrollment issues we can always accept more kids we have many people apply that the school does not take um also I don't know if you know but if these shops get cut we will not get Tates we I was terrified because I wanted to go into Theater Arts I want to be a lighting designer and I'm going to be a senior next year and I would graduate with no certificate for theater and that's what I came to the school for so thank you for the thank you hi good evening my name is Lisa Carlson I'm from Lafayette Township I am a 13-year employee at Sussex Tech 12 out of those 13 years I sat on the Lafayette Township Board of Education so I have a little clue as to how that's supposed to go and I appreciate your vote of no confidence because if you came to one of our board meetings we're faster than dominoes we get done in 20 minutes or less not 30 um they do committee as a whole for 12 years I've been asking for subcommittees and I've been told that's just not how we do it we do committee as a whole and for those of you don't know what that means that means they don't know what's on the board agenda until they sit down for that meeting and look at it they don't get it as it's posted a week in advance we had a board member unaware of the cuts that were happening until 3 days before the board meeting so that's a problem this is how we do it isn't working we need subcommittees we need a finance committee Mrs duel unfortunately has stepped into it she's been with us for little over a year and she is doing a great job she has stepped into it and it's unfortunate that she is cleaning up the mess but she is doing a good job trying to clean up the mess as far as the Esser grant money is concerned that always had an expiration date on it that should never have been part of the budget going forward that was given to the schools from the state with the expectation that it would fund non sustaining programs it was put in place mostly for mental health from coming back from the pandemic it had an expiration date so that's something that needs to be made aware of as well thank you for your time thank [Applause] you my name is Cynthia cunia I'm from partisan Township and I just want to say I really hate my husband right now for here we go we have three boys that all went to tech one is in the architecture program last year he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to have emergency surgery so here here I am again leaving other people deciding his future cuz as you know as a mom when you see your child in the hospital and you don't know what's going to happen you don't so now I'm up here hoping to save this program and when I tell you that administrators teachers families friends people I didn't even know reach out to me in the hospital why to help in any way possible so I hope tonight you guys will find it any way possible save these shops we're working together with the school and the teachers and the parents I am the booster club president for the football team last year he could not play and when I tell you when you see your son with tears coming off the field cuz he still wants to be part of the team and be part of something I know cuz I stayed on the board and I couldn't walked away so I'm hoping that no matter what we can find a way to save these jobs that's it thank you for your [Applause] time hello my name is Grace guile um I graduated from uh Sussex Tech last year in the commercial Arts shop I'm here because of my best friend Madison Allen who just gave a wonderful speech um earlier um she is a junior in the theater artarts program I just want to say that I'm not affected immediately by these shop cuttings but these shops are the best thing that could ever happen to these students they work so hard to get into these classes and if these shops are cut they're deprived of friendships and careers and just overall just like a peace having having peace in like being safe in a school the way I'm affected by shops being cut is my brother Nathaniel guile he graduated from Tech in 2017 his shop was cut in 2016 he had to move to a completely new shop which was e-commerce which got cut last year um so we've seen this happen before to these students I've seen people from the e-commerce shop that had to move to completely different shops that they weren't even interested in why why would cutting the shops do us better now why why would that make anything better for the school it it the shops make the school what the school is the teachers in these shops have helped so many of my friends grow and just pursue further education and that's that's my speech I just want to thank all of you guys for listening to the students the the parents everybody here thank youy can I just get your Township please I'm sorry what your Township oh byon okay than hi my name is Logan Kel Fraser I am a junior in the theater Arts shop I understand enrollment numbers are a concern but students aren't going to want to enroll in a school who's determining education with just and error you can't take away our shops and throw new ones in their place hoping that they will work students want to be confident in their choice to go here but they can't be confident to a school that just turns on them and abandons their future and has such a divide between the administration and its faculty its students and its parents if parents are calling for the resignation of Administrators then something's wrong everyone here wants Tech to succeed and grow but these new shops are they're only going to do so any opportunity for Tech to grow is being thrown away by eliminating theater and creating more tension between the school and its Community I came to this school because my parents and friends loved going here this was a deciding factor for many other students too but in the future this isn't going to be the case in the future how are any of us supposed to recommend this school to our kids or to our friends or to our cousins or family and I mean inflation can't be blamed for these changes because because inflation isn't new it goes up every year and it's going to continue to go up it should have been adjusted for and I mean what's going to happen when inflation does keep going up are you going to cut more shops again these new shops are only going to do so much I came from High Point where they had many different musical and acting classes some of which had to be split into multiple periods and multiple classes because they had such a surplus of students they had classes for instruments and vocals and Performing and creating these are what kids want and this is what kids need this is what's going to draw people in and this can be such a big thing we can turn this into such a big thing lastly I would like to address the lack of consideration taken when making this decision one minute Mr MLA made an argument that agriculture was not cut because it is an important PE piece of Sussex County and to that I say drama Geeks in Crescent theater at in the Sussex burough Northstar theater in ogdenburg Newton theater right here Rising Star Theater in Sparta SATs can be the perfect place for a thriving theater Department if we support it instead of tearing it down we are right next to the biggest Theater Arts B business in the world New York City the offers to Juniors to give one more year of theater and drama club these aren't realistic whether it is possible to allow students to switch shops or not students aren't going to enroll in different shops they're not going going to change their career path and put themselves at a disadvantage to stay at Tech they are going to enroll at other schools who support their Arts I strongly encourage our student uh and considering our student body parents and education and coming up and I encourage us to come up with an efficient and effective solution instead of tearing down these shops ruining our futures and removing your greatest assets in US creativity and teachers like Miss Baker and missan thank [Applause] you hello I'm Haley Frasier I'm from Sussex County I'm here to talk about how much cting the shops will affect me and a bunch of others in the theater I went to my sing district for my freshman year this year but I was lucky enough to be accepted into to the theater Art Shop for this incoming Year my brother who just spoke is was lucky enough to get a second chance to be in the theater shop for his sophomore year and now his junior year and sorry I was my spot um I'm just beyond happy that I was allowed to be in the shop this incoming year and then I was told that it's trying to be kept um to me theater is a way for people to break out of the shell and believe that [Music] theater for me theater is a way for people to break out of their shell be who they are and forget what's outside theater can help us be who we are and our mental health I just think that if you C if theater gets cut then they'll be affecting a lot of people thank you thank you so much hi my name is Nisha McQueen I'm from ogdenburg New Jersey I'm speaking on behalf of my daughter who's at work um she is a senior in the theater department just to kind of let it hit home um she received a presidential merit scholarship to Pace University because of this theater department and the preparation that it gave her um she had she didn't even know what stage management was and there's such a wide variety of things that Mrs bani teaches them um it was unbelievable I really thought it was kind of a a BS thing that that that she was getting into and it's it's changed her drastically you know she um she has Drive she has stage presence she doesn't even need the stage presence but she has you know organizational skills and she's learned so much from that um so I just wanted to make sure that you guys realize um yeah she she was able to present a portfolio that was complete she has stage managed she's um actually worked for Northstar as an intern and all of these opportunities came from the Sussex Tech theater Department um conversely my uh son would have graduated from Sussex Tech last year but um during the pandemic he wanted want to he was stuck in Virtual autoshop did not um and did not want to continue once he got back he realized that he didn't like it but he was a sophomore and he was denied changing to Commercial Art um if there had been some sort of a parent advisory committee or some sort of communication between the faculty and the parents um I think we I would have been able to fight for that and um I think that would be a a really good idea instead we pull him out he went to County College and we footed the for an associates degree he floundered he didn't have his um his family um we didn't realize how important it was one minute um and um and it was um he he really um went downhill and um is still struggling um he's he's getting it back together but it's been it's been a couple years that didn't have to be that way um he should have been able to stay he is and they could have worked worked through it so um I think the parent advisory commit is a great idea to uh to start communication because there's been a divide um it seems like in the last in the last few years especially um where parents really haven't felt welcome and I think that would be really helpful thank you thank you on another note I'm Marge McCabe I am the secretary of the Newton rotary um if you didn't know it Newton rotary is 100 years old it was started in Newton by 18 very dedicated businessmen two of whom were uh Charles iff and William Dolan very prominent names in this County over the years we have made significant contributions to our community did you know that the two stanions that go AC that are on the sides of Spring Street that hold the banners were donated by the Newton Roary did you know that some of our members individually donated the land for the hospital donated the land for memory Park and the pool um so the organization has been very prominent in this town and I'm very proud of the fact that we've lasted 100 years some of our members now include Larry cond Condit Mark Hans John eth Bob McCracken Nancy morsy Heidi Weber buzz thomasino John Frank George morville and Alden Welsh and that's just a few of our 60 members so in honor of our our 100th anniversary we're having a dinner it will be May 16th at the Newton Country Club and if I may I would like to give some invitations thank you thank you uh the deadline was the 24th but I'd like to extend that I left my phone number on the envelope and that we would love to have any of you come and celebrate with great thank you thank you thank you thank you T down hi good evening my name is Melissa Marino Andover Township um I just want to put it out there that I came here a couple of hours ago with the intention of just participating and not speaking and after listening for quite some time my heart is racing a million miles in right now but after listening for quite some time I did feel compelled to stand before you just to let you know how I feel about the current situation so so that being said the speech was made in the moment I would like to begin by saying thank you for taking the time to listen to each and every one of our concerns regarding all the challenges we are currently facing with the Sussex County Technical School my son kale Marino was accepted to Sussex Tech in March of 2024 and enrolled in the culinary program in September of 2024 while he could not be here tonight I can assure you that he has made every effort every day to express his concerns and disappointment with the decision to eliminate or reduce Le us remove three shops cut a fabulous teacher like Mrs Baker and terminate an amazing Ski Club program Mrs Lynch Mrs Lynch has been running for over 30 or close to 30 years I also want to make sure that you are fully aware of the lack of transparency that Gus molda has portrayed the students staff parents and Community while I have social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram I do not I do not frequent them often or on a regular basis I have a degenerative eye disease and I do not see the same way that you do I try to stay off social media as much as I possibly can but unfortunately we live in a community and an environment where it's next to near impossible to do so I make every effort to try to keep informed and these parents have been nothing supportive and loving and embracing to me and my son and making sure that we were well aware of all the things that were available to us at Tech Mr MLA has not the mere fact that the superintendent suggested that the information regarding the financial challenges that we were facing with such Tech was available on the website is quite frankly a joke their website is far from helpful and a result nothing some something that I do not frequent often one minute I feel that the lack of making the community fully aware of the deficits and the suggested Cuts were purposeful I did not receive the answers I was looking for today from Mr modla about the data used to make these decisions instead I heard a subjective perspective that did nothing but add further shade to the matter at hand I am begging you to make every effort to help Sussex Tech come back from this setback so that we can ensure all the kids get what they were promised with their shops keep an extremely valuable teacher Mrs Baker who has addressed all of my child all my all of my child's special needs and has ensured that he has been academically successful for the first time in his academic career Sussex sex has saved my son and they have saved thousands of children I am begging you to please keep your vested interest because this school is worth it thank you thank you Christy Le Hardon um I I want to start with I'm so nervous up here even as a grownup so I I really um I'm so impressed with the children that showed up and um you know the courage that they displayed um first off I just want to say that um I do have a vested interest in Tech um I have a stepson that graduated I have a daughter that that's a junior and I have a son who um is hoping to go into the Engineer program um and he's very excited about that Prospect so uh something that was stated earlier was about how um you know hearing positive things about susex tech and I can only say positive things um I'm so grateful for the school I think it's so unique and it really appeals to Children's um skill set that you're not going to find somewhere else um so I again I'm I'm very grateful for it um it wasn't until recently that I had anything to be concerned about and um and last week I attended the Board of Ed meeting and um I was struck by um the public coming out and speaking um the testimonies from the kids some of the kids um that spoke today spoke then and it was just it was beautiful and compelling them you know sharing their vulnerability um also I think it's worth mentioning um the dean of NJIT um showed up and he was advocating in addition to um some local filmmakers which I didn't know we had um just to to come out and um speak to the importance of um the shops that were being cut um I recognize that this board has limitations in what you can and cannot do I just implore you um to I implore you to do what is whatever is within your power um clearly there's a vested interest in our community for Sussex Tech and um and nothing really has moved me more than the children that have come forward and I'm sure that you guys have been as well so uh thank you thank you thank you migan hardest my son's a freshman architecture don't know where I'm going with this I was last week but my main concern is I hope this isn't just for this year like last week I explained two weeks ago last week exhausted um we need to if we're cutting anything phase it out it's not fair they can't see their forecast they couldn't even make eye contact with us past week playing on their phones I hate public speaking I get I when I'm M no consideration for the kids for their hard work to be accepted he captur Heen my heart's racing it's not fair they worked hard whether it's one year in three years in you guys I hope you're not looking at this year I don't do elections I'm sorry I don't vote I'll tell you right now I've never voted I apologize too busy with medical and other things to deal with take however you want I'm honest I have no filter don't do what you're going to do for one year make sure whatever you're doing that you can help it at least affects who's enrolled and going forward like don't accept don't talk about classes either that's that's nonsense I'm tell here now I can't talk to them right that's what I address it's nonsense because architecture is full the class for this coming year it's full there's a waiting list so that one should not be on The Cutting Board just simply shouldn't I'm making ey contact with you cuz I feel comfortable sorry if you are uncomfortable you contact we speak I'm mad I own my I said last week I own my own business if I can run my business and I can see maintenance forecast make sure my guys are taking care of in the winter no one's left out or blindsided you guys should all be able to do it they never once asked us for help alumni saying they did three fundraisers a year to raise money we haven't done one there was a little girl in the front seat who wanted to speak before one of the parents dir her told her go she's not going to be heard I told the dad she should stay they left she's an engineering I was EAS dropping one minute she has not even got to touch a machine sopie if I like what did she what did she say junior junior they haven't touched the machine she's complaining there's a million dollars of Machinery in there they're not even touching so if we're not using machines in there why are we getting rid of why are we getting rid of no offense cut whatever you need to but there's got to be other ways to change the budget and just don't take the new kids or you shouldn't have accepted the new kids like no one should be planning on coming there as a freshman or take those classes and phase it out if you really have to but help all these kids they they've really earned it my son goes there he doesn't really do he does well in school but high honor roll since he's been there like puts in 100% And I don't feel like the school's giving them 10% that's kind of all I have said thank you you did good public speaking you did good with public speaking hate it come back next I six kids exactly six kids this is the second meeting I've ever attended and it was for the board and for this and it's not fair so two on one week you're on a roll Harvey Rose by so most of what I was going to say I think has already been said I I kind of wanted to hit on some of the highlights that that rang true with me um one is Theater Arts the kids that are in theater Arts are great communicators and that's a very valuable thing to learn whether it's in school for 20 years later you want to learn it in school and that's very important out of the theater arts and it was one word that really resonated and that was the situation was absurd and and that's what it sounds like tonight uh there was some talk on phase outs a number of people have mentioned the word phase out I think the better word is transition if it's going to be and it because transition is a positive word and it also means somebody thought of a plan and it's not there and even the phase out you can't call it a phase out it was just a door closing so uh the other thing I wanted to mention was when you look at school budgeting it's got all these acronyms it's got money coming from a million directions bunch of different Tim lines different purposes and you can get very lost and there was the word mentioned tonight you know Esser funds are going away and as also mentioned earlier tonight Esser funds were designed to go away they were only temporary funds so things went wrong in Sussex County probably all across America Esser funds were used for operational needs they were used for things that were supposed to continue and that was a wrong use Esser funds should have been for a temporary need and and anything that was funded with Esser funds one minute should be looked at as to why eser funds gravitate to that need because that's the problem that you have in front of you now uh there was mention of Vernon Vernon's a poster child for for short-term money they hired dozens of teachers and then within I think two years or a year and a half they they fired them all and nobody knew why they had to hire a forensic accountant and if you want to look at a system that went bad went went financially on the Rocks it's still ongoing and it's still burning uh lastly my family's been in theater for over a century it should be valued uh it's it's the one business China's not going to take for this and it's also it it gravitates to all different directions business creative uh clothing I mean my family's been from A to Z small business and large business you should value Theater Arts thank you thank you good evening my name is sylvana wika I'm from Hamburg I've emailed with many of you Commissioners this week I appreciate the two of you who came out to our Board of Education meeting last week um I stand up here with nothing prepared I don't know what I'm going to say my daughter is a freshman in the architecture program this year and I am so disappointed with Sussex technical school I heard so many wonderful things about this school when we applied and my daughter's had the best year and she's grown so so much she's made a family for herself in in architecture they do uh Friday breakfast as a family together her teacher has brought them to a level that they just the things that he expects of them that they expect of themselves it's the maturity that I've seen this year has just been remarkable I wish I could see that growth in the administration um to say that we learned all of these Cuts online through a rumor when we reached out to the administration we were met with silence I still have not heard back from the email that I sent um Mrs space when you sent when you asked Mr MAA the question today of what could have been done there was no answer there was no what could have been done the architecture for September has 19 incoming freshmen that currently have no spot because the shop is being cut how is that shop not thriving last Wednesday Sussex Tech stood in front of the sparta planning board with their new plans for expansion with Architects at their side yet Mr Modas said tonight that the shops being cut have no future in the county one minute Architects are a very high demanding career in this day and age we had a speaker at the Board of Education meeting that said Sparta believe it was the mayor of Sparta that said Sparta is becoming a theater Town they're going to be movie and TV show ready how are these shops not not having a future in our community when we have the need for theater we have the need for Architects the Commercial Graphics that that is being cut make all the posters and and banners for our school so we would rather Outsource that to businesses than to keep that in house all of these things are just astonishing to me as a taxpayer as a parent and I know you guys don't have much say over what happens in this grol but I ask as someone did if there's anything that can be done from your side to please perhaps call like bring an audit an independent audit to our school to see where the money is thank you so much for your time thank you Smith Hong I just would be remiss and if I didn't say the Sussex County Community College is performing starting tomorrow night AR Snick and Old Lace it may seem like why why is she saying this now but how else are we going to get the message out this is a positive thing where students who are loving theater are sharing that love with audiences but they can't have an audience if you don't know about it so Thursday Friday Saturday this week next weekend Friday Saturday please come out and see old arsonic and old lace it is Sussex County at its best in theater in addition to the best that I'm hearing about here thank you uh good evening Alan Henderson I just realized my first generation gap when everybody walked up with their cell phone and I'm writing my cell phone's in the truck I promise you I do have one but I just want to make a comment I'm going to bring you back to my own town a Township or i c as the mayor Lafayette our Board of Ed in Lafayette currently has a finance committee and a planning committee I find it hard to believe a school of this size does not have any committee set up and it's left to two people to decide what they're going to do with this budget I find that astonishing to me another thing that sticks out to me and I will praise all these parents and students for coming out and speaking it's not easy to come out and voice your opinion I have grandchildren my children fortunately they're grown and did not go to votch I wish they had I can tell you I wish I did myself I just want to tell you don't quit the fight there is a fight there is a battle I think it can be done and as I say I have no children in votch but if you need a volunteer to sit on that board I would be the first to stand up for any of these kids or parents in this room thank you uh good afternoon my name is leis Mogan uh I'm in Hamburg my mother spoke just a few minutes ago I also hate public speaking I know everyone wants to get back home I got 30 minute drive back right now keep going and I just want to say that my shop architecture I don't feel like it's been talked about enough I hear theater artists being talked about all the time I know it's important and I see it everywhere It's Entertainment and we need entertainment for people and not only that graphic design the sweatshirts you wear the clothes you wear the things you see in advertisement buildings is everywhere and even in this room right now I can see the architecture all around I see some parts over there I can critique already one year in my AR class that I want to go ahead and build upon myself shaking right now you're good I believe that we can do much more and hearing all the other things I believe they shouldn't have s new freshman full class students architecture which I'm shocked because last year we had a lot of people coming too I believe that other shops shouldn't be cut but I feel like there should be budget restrictions I don't think engineering should have as much as a budget uh raise when other shops being taken out and as I just heard not touching the Machinery that they have which are millions of dollars architecture ourselves we learn many important things and we growing as a family basically became really close I believe that we don't use use much of the budget I believe that we can learn and do well without having to have as much taken away from us I don't really know what else to say but thank you for your time thank you Don Banker Hong I was not going to speak however one thing I am a mom of a freshman he's in the engineering program this does not affect him directly per se there are issues with some of what I've been hearing as far as Le busting and all of that that does affect my family I work in Floren Park I live in oong my son goes to school in Sparta it took me an hour and a half to get here tonight just to sit back and listen this school seems to pit class against class they seem to pit parents against students and they're they're all battling each other Mr Moda I speak we actually have a meeting I've never met him before never saw him before weeks ago several of us went to a first PTA meeting and found out that there is no connection between the PTA and the school there's an untapped resource here look at all of our parents showing up I don't know any of them ex she said I know his man though but I don't know these other parents but I showed up for their kids about their shops while I listen to so many talk about the engineering program who happens to have a teacher who writes their grants they get money they bring money into the school so why aren't we tapping into that resource you have a teacher right there at Sussex Tech who can write grants ask him to help Mr M doesn't seem to be asking any of us for help we're here we're asking to help so let us do that there's no fundraising being done by the PTA for anything with the exception of a lunch in for the teachers which God bless them all they deserve it Project Graduation and some scholarships that they can't even fund there's also class advisers who are supposed to be running fundraisers for our kids over the course of their four years I only just found that out last month I know nothing about what happens in the school and we were so excited my son worked hard to get into that program he studied he one minute interviewed he he went through so much to get into that and he's isolating himself he does not like the environment in school we don't like the environment in school it's awful talk to us why is no one talking to us everyone is pitted against each other when we should be working together to earn this money to fund these programs and all of the things that these senior kids want to go for we've got senior class trips that are being funded by fundraisers through the class advisers but the PTA is not involved at all there's only 58 paid members in the PTA all of these parents back here I don't think they're even they even know that their PTA is not working for the entire school we are running to take over the board of the p several of us have stepped in and put our names in this parent committee or or Community Committee that you're talking about sounds amazing and should be working with the school and the PTA so that we can all come together and raise the money thank you thank you he anyone else before CL I am going to make a motion to close the floor for public comment and return to regular business for a motion okay deputy director carne and can I get a second commissioner Hayden any discussion all in favor I I I have something I'm finishing this motion carries okay and we are going to go back [Applause] to the public hearing number seven so I'm going back to that there we have more information on the vacation Bridges before you start that I just want to say a couple things just because I appreciate everybody coming out but I just want to clear up a couple things we have le liaison for a reason and number one the most important reason is because we don't want to create a quorum for those who you don't know what a quarum is it's basically the Sunshine Law which which states that there can no more be no more than two Commissioners at a meeting so if we have a commissioner there commissioner shik and and commissioner uh de Gro was there you know they're able to to speak so that's why we're not we're not always at at at certain meetings so it's not because we don't care trust me we don't by the way my son goes to SEC so that comment was egregious um you know we we do care just because our kids don't go doesn't mean we don't care we have friends we live here we live in a county we have friends and family that go to votch in SEC so I don't want to hear that we don't care we are doing our best that we can we are limited at what we can do but I will tell you what since we found out this last week pretty much to the day seven days ago we've been working real hard over the weekend I met with some folks to find out you know some some details from people that work there um or go there I know commissioner schik and and uh Mr uh commissioner deu they went to the meeting as as director space said she was looking at the minutes for hours and hours so we really are I I just want to make sure that everybody understands that and we're going to continue we're going to continue to help as you heard us uh speak we care about the school or we would never have asked um the school to present tonight we would have just gone on with our meeting we would be home but we were we were happy to get the school in front of us we we need to hear and we are supportive you know we are supportive of your school supportive of you we want you guys to succeed because we want all of you to succeed because we want to keep the school going I love the school and just just one more thing you know you all come out and that's that's great but you you should always go to meetings you should always go to board meetings no matter good times or bad times just keep going find out what's going on in the school that's that's you have a vested interest and you should keep going thanks that's all okay now we're going to go back to during our five minute break we got some information on the number seven the public hearing um do should I reread it yes okay so I'm going to I'm going to reread it and we are going to are we going to discuss the additional information Council are we able to bring this back up since we said we were there was a motion to table it the next there is going to be a motion now and there's a second we can have a discussion and consider it okay if if you're bringing this I'll make a motion for the board to bring this back into consideration so I'll make a motion to bring uh the vacation of bridges x52 and c06 back to the board okay commiss I made the motion commissioner de seconded the motion any discussion yes should I reread it or can we go right into the discussion we need a vote oh we need a vote unless there's discussion about bringing it back to the table okay yep so this is the dis the vote to bring it back to the table so I think a motion vote I mean I think that uh all in favor I I opposed abstain are you I'd rather just wait till I I could read the information no offense I just want okay you can motion carries so I'm going to open it back up for discussion and do you want to take this one well now we are going to have a motion you have to have the motion read it again and one in second then we'll have the discussion okay sounds good okay um at our regular meeting held on March 27th 2024 we introduced for first reading the following resolution which was advertised in the New Jersey Herald issues of March 29th 2024 April 5th 2024 April 12th 24 April 19th 2024 together with a notice of public hearing stating it would be held at this meeting at 6 p.m. implementing the procedure to affect the vacation of Bridge x52 located on black dirt road in wage Township and Bridge c06 located on a private common driveway at the end of neong Avenue in Byam Township said vacation Pro procedure to be implemented after notice and hearing in accordance with the provisions of njsa 27 16-28 b um so now I make a motion to get like starting it from scratch yes okay can I get have to do the public hearing yeah that's what I'm doing we do have to do the public hearing again yes do it again yeah okay can I get a motion that the public hearing be opened stay move okay deputy director Carney and a second commissioner de grou is there anyone present to be heard regarding this resolution okay no one being no one wanting to be heard can I get a motion that the public hearing be closed okay uh we got commissioner Hayden making the motion and commissioner de grou second okay and uh Voice vote all in favor I opposed abstain motion carries okay abstain okay uh can I get a well we're going to discuss it after okay can I get a motion that this resolution be finally adopted will make the motion I get a second second okay deputy director Carney okay I'm going to open this up for discussion uh during our break before a five minute break we got word from Bill copol from division of planning that this road was um maintained by Byam Township and Byam Township is no longer maintaining it because it is not a public road it is a private road so therefore they've relinquished their responsibility to the road and the bridge which and we are hoping to release the bridge also yes so we spoke with Bill copol he informed us that Byrum was maintaining it they were shoveling it or plowing it and running it as a result then we were inspecting it and maintaining the structure of the bridge since they were maintaining the road Byrum did an investigation found that it's a private property and private road they did a resolution saying no longer belongs to them we got a copy of that as a result as a public entity we can't take care of private property hence the reason why we're relishing the bridge right because then we're no longer responsible for it that's how it came about that's why then we're doing the resolution yes so so to clarify we were following suit of Byron correct okay and we and he did go over this with us in the agenda meeting because I knew I had heard this I'm like didn't I hear this before that was the agenda meeting and um we have relayed the information to the other Commissioners uh but I just never it just we were on there you're going over 20 things said so um any other discussion we do have all the supporting documents that it up yeah so I again will make the motion that the resolution be finally adopted and authorize the clerk to advertise this resolution as finally adopted and also post same on the bulletin board in the lobby of the county Administration Center can I get a second second okay deputy director Carney makes a second a roll call vote please uh commissioner de gr yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner shik yes director space yes deputy director Carney yes okay motion carries okay now we are at uh remind number 23 reminders please check the County's website at www.sex.nj.us804anddate.com we have no executive session so number 25 is an adjournment can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting move okay commissioner Motion in a second second deputy director Carney any discussion all in favor close abstain motion carries meeting closed at 923 9:23