this is the commissioner meeting of March 13th 2024 at 6:00 p.m. at the Sussex County administrative Center commissioner meeting room one Spring Street Newton New Jersey can I have a roll call please director space here deputy director Cony here commissioner de grp here commissioner Hayden is absent commissioner sh here hey moment of silence and salute to the flag I pledge of allegiance 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 pursuant to the open public meetings act chapter 231 pl1 1975 adequate notice as defined by section 3D of chapter 231 PL 1975 has been made by regular mail and email such notice being submitted on January 7th 2024 from the administrative center of the county of Sussex located at one Spring Street Newton New Jersey to the following New Jersey Herald and Star Ledger and is also post posted on the bulletin board maintained in the administrative Center for Public announcements and has been submitted to the Sussex County Clerk in compliance with said act at this time please mute all electronic devices okay number five approval of agenda there are a few changes to tonight's agenda first item number 10 will be amended to include item a consenting to the proposed Sussex water quality plan management WQ M plan Amendment which was tabled last meeting item number 11 will be tabled to next meeting under number 14 resolutions we need to table items o and P to the next commissioner meeting 327 2024 can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended still move a second second okay deputy director Carney makes the motion and commissioner shik second it any discussion okay all in favor I opposed abstain motion carries um motion to approve agenda well that yeah I was going to say that was underneath okay sorry about that okay proclamations certificates presentations the first Proclamation is Rec recognizing November as veterans month in Sussex County and commissioner deputy director Carney will read that and present thank you director um so this was a proclamation I brought up at our last meeting um this hits home for me my dad was a two time oret uh this is for everybody uh in Sussex County and really hopefully all over the state hopefully they pass these all over uh as we do tonight um I would like if if we have veterans which I know we have in the in the audience if you could guys could please stand while I read this I would appreciate that including our commissioner Earl chick and I read this too okay whereas susex county is home to thousands of brave men and women who have sacrificed in many instances PID the ultimate price to defend our freedom and whereas these Heroes serve Faithfully humbly and Bently in times of War and Peace and continue to exhibit these admirable traits within our communities and whereas it is our duty to recognize and honor the selfless and personal sacrifices of our veterans and whereas the people of Sussex County greatly appreciate every Soldier sailor Airman marine and Coast Guard and Coast Guardsman have rendered the highest service an americ any American can offer and whereas declaring November as veterans month in Sussex County is one way this County can extend our deepest gratitude to each and every man and woman who chose to fight for our freedoms now therefore be it resolved that the board of County commissioners of susex County proclaimed the month month of November each year shall be known as veterans month in the county of Sussex state of New Jersey and be had further resolve that the board of County commissioners of Sussex County asks all residents to take a moment and be more appreciative of the many freedoms we possess As Americans and remember those who have fought for those freedoms I order of the border of County Commissioners Jill space commissioner director Chris Carney Deputy Commissioner director Jack the group County Commissioner William Hayden County Commissioner and Earl shik County Commissioner we all thank you for your service this means a lot to all of us here so thank [Applause] you okay and um the next Proclamation we have is recognizing March 10th through 16th as multiple sclerosis awareness week uh do we have Tammy quis oh hello thank you for coming to accept the proclam okay if you want to just come up and you can stand stand by the podium go okay okay you're um I tried to ask okay I'm going to have to just stop the meeting before I go on and I'm G to have to you can you can still stand that that's good I'm going to have to ask the gentleman in the second row is going to have to leave um you know your your shirt I'm all for free speech but in this meeting we're not going to I'm not going to tolerate a shirt that that has the writing on it while there's children here so you're either going to have to change your shirt or you're going to have to leave a law for you to kick me no it's not we have every right to maintain the quum here you have every right to express yourself but not like that and shame on you if there's children in the meeting sir you're going to either leave or you're going to be escorted out of the meeting I have every right to myself this way don't you do not I do Sheriff's he needs to leave be hearing from my attorney I look forward to it I'll send you my address this is how the honor veterans here folks I'm sorry sorry sorry about that okay just don't want to take away from the important things here um to the young guys young ladies that are here to learn a little bit about the government we conduct ourselves better than that so I'm glad you're here and Hope enjoy yourself and learn a little something yes thank you okay whereas multiple sclerosis Ms is a neurological disease of the central nervous system affecting nearly 1 million people in the United States alone and whereas multiple sclerosis generally strikes people in the prime of Life between ages 20 through 50 and the cause and course of the often debilitating symptoms of MS remain unknown and no cure currently exists and whereas the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has been committed to a world free of Ms heightening public knowledge about and insight into the disease and whereas together we have transformed what it means to live with MS and provided Global Leadership to help achieve our vision of a world free of Ms and whereas since 1946 the national Multiple Sclerosis Society has been a driving force of MS research relentlessly pursuing prevention treatment and accur and has invested more than 1 billion in groundbreaking research and whereas funds raised through the national Multiple Sclerosis Society fuel research on Pathways to Ms cures and invest in the MS research Workforce at the best medical centers universities and other institutions throughout the US and abroad leading to make breakthroughs in the treatment of Ms whereas the mission of the multiple National Multiple Sclerosis Society is to cure Ms while empowering people affected by Ms to live their best lives and one that all Americans and new jerseyans should support and whereas the county of Sussex New Jersey recognizes the importance of finding the cause and cure of Ms and expresses its appreciation for the dedication that the national Multiple Sclerosis Society New Jersey metr tror has shown toward creating a world free of Ms therefore now therefore be it resolved that the Sussex County Board of chosen Commissioners by virtue of the authority vested in US by the Constitution and laws of the great state of New Jersey do hereby Proclaim March 10th through 16th 2024 as Ms awareness week and do commend this observance to all our citizens we encourage all new jerseyans to learn more about multiple sclerosis and what they can do to support individuals with MS and their families by Board of County Commissioners juel space commissioner director Chris Carney Deputy Commissioner Commissioners Jack degr Bill Hayden and schik III thank you would you guys like to say something sure um need a microphone but um thank you all for tolerating all those wear asses I know there's a lot um so I want to thank the Commissioners for um observing this uh this week for Ms awareness you've done this several years now in a row we really appreciate it um I just want to mention to everybody that um Ms is an autoimmune disease um and it affects the nerves in our system and our symptoms that we experience depend on what nerves are are affected and there are treatments to delay progression uh for some people but not all people and some people just progress and become more disabled and debilitated um as as a deputy as commissioner space I said that wrong as Deputy I'm not saying commissioner space commissioner space uh stated a million people about a million people live with that mass in the United States and it affects those of us living in it with it like Nicole and I but it also affects our families and actually it also affects you guys because Ms is a very expensive disease uh a 2019 uh estimate of the National Economic burden of Ms on the nation was 84 85.4 billion dollars with a b as a b and that includes direct medical costs to people living with Ms indirect and non-medical costs and it it affects us all so as commissioner space mentioned there are ways you can support you can a lot of people know somebody living with a M right it seems like it when you start to hear about you like oh yeah I have a friend I have a neighbor best thing you can do is support those friends and neighbors um as our commissioners are supporting us here living in sesex County you can uh attend events we have walk and M coming up in April um April 21st in Roxberry that's our closest walk we also have a great bike event coming up in May and if you know someone who is living with MS and they need some support please direct them to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society the multiple sclerosis Association of America the MS Foundation Nicole and I are co-founders and leaders of a Sussex County Ms self-help group so there's a lot of support out there and it starts right here in this room and we really appreciate it thank you thank you all than you a picture a picture oh thank you so much I'm like really taking all your time you mind picture why we the whole board up oh the whole board let's bring everybody down come on down mid got it the [Applause] sides it's a good looking group right here get the wide okay and next we have a proclamation recognizing March 18th to the 24th as National drug and alcohol fax week uh Michelle wolf are you here I am okay great if you want to come up um executive director of the center for prevention and counseling and Tina Al AE okay from the center to accept accompanied by Lisa Lombardo from the County Division of Community and youth services and that's going to be read by commissioner shik thank you ladies um thank you commissioner director Proclamation whereas National drug and alcohol facts week is sponsored by the National Institute on drug abuse and Ida to encourage teens to ask questions about drugs alcohol and substance use disorder and receive scientifically based facts and answers in return and where as it is important for parents to send a clear and strong message of disapproval regarding youth substance abuse 77.8% of Sussex County 12th graders have reported that their parents disapprove of substance use in teens parents are a major influence on their child's decision to use substances when parents create supportive and nurturing environments children make better decisions and whereas perception of harm is the single business indicator biggest indicator in the likelihood of Youth substance use when perception of harm is low use tends to rise since the legalization of marijuana perception of harm has decreased across most substances on local National and international levels and whereas National drug and alcohol facts week is a celebration of the inquisitive Minds teenagers and encour of the inquisitive minds of teenagers and encourages them to ask questions about drugs alcohol and substance abuse disorder get scientifically based answers without judgment bias comment and whereas National drug and alcohol facts week celebrates the efforts of national and Community organizations working with teens to encourage this science-based conversation about drugs alcohol and substance abuse disorder now therefore be it resolve that the susus County Board of Commissioners has recognized that March 18th through the 24th 2024 is National Drug and Alcohol fact week and it encourages susus County Citizens to support and participate in drug prevention education activities and making a statement that we are strongly committed to a drug free County by order of the board of County Commissioners commissioner director space Deputy Commissioner Carney commissioner deg grou commissioner Hayden and myself we thank you thank you guys have something you want to say just we wanted to um thank you all for the proclamation recognizing drug and alcohol effect week and thank you to the Center for prevention and counseling for their assistance with the facts and the proclamation today and and all of the great prevention work that they Implement all over Sussex County every day their work in our schools and our community is truly making a difference in this County here representing cfpc executive director Michelle wolf and Tina AE director oftion thank you we'd like to get a picture with you guys too say a few words want to say few words I just wanted to thank you I'm new to the center I just joined in joined the team in June I'm really grateful to be here but I thank the County assessments and the Commissioners for all the support that you give our agency we're really GR f for the chapter 51 funding the O settlement funding we use that towards our prevention work as well as working with our alliances to further our prevention work because we really believe prevention is critical as the Children and Youth are our future and I'd like Tina have a few words about our hi everybody so uh just quickly this past year with the generous funding that we received from the county of susex we served almost 3,000 kids in grades 2 through n in evidence-based programming which means nearly 3,000 kids received at least a minimum of six weeks six session of programs all the way up to our middle school kids where they received 15 sessions of prevention programming and with the funding that we received we expanded into Manu so we're serving Manu grades 2 through 8 we are serving Sussex wage grades 2 through eight um and also hakan grades 2 through n in hakan and that's the the generous funding uh through our County programs and and alliances so thank you so much um substance use right now is at an alltime low uh here in Sussex County and we're really proud to share that information uh back in 2011 almost 40% of our 6th through 12th graders engaged in underage drinking and our latest um results from the 20124 our last survey was done in 2024 in January we're down to almost 17% so that's really great prevention work and it it can only be done with the help of all of our Community Partners um including the Christine fio and her work with the county our school administrators um our young people that are here in in the audience today so thanks again thank you thank you like to get a picture with you guys [Applause] too get a chance hey director director since we're photo en already had it planned thank you thank you and if we could just bring up all the veterans we'd like to get a picture with you guys too we get need to get closer it's theum come come on over tight a Little Closer [Applause] [Music] Ang now I'm going to call up Autumn Sylvester um from the county to give us a water quality improvement Plan update director would you mind if we switch that with Jason p and and have Rich do you do you guys mind no no okay then I'm going to switch that and I'm going to uh get the presentation by Rich rabis is that how you say it where is he J from JC pel thanks rich thank you director and uh thank you to the board foring me the opportunity to uh speak tonight and present our infrastructure investment plan uh as the Director mentioned my name is Richard Biz I'm the external Affairs representative from jcpnl for our Newton operations District uh which includes basically 98% of susex County and then three municipalities from Warren County uh so something to keep in mind as I go through the presentation itself uh a couple disclaimers I wanted to mention before I actually get into the presentation uh one I'm going to actually be throwing out uh a few uh dollar amounts keep in mind they're they estimates uh the proposal is just that as a proposal and every number that's included within the actual proposal submitted to the BQ is just that as it's an estimate so when I start uh mentioning the investment being made within Sussex County keep in mind bartk uh estimate for the lack of better RS um before I actually get into the uh infrastructure investment plan itself I just wanted to uh kind of introduce our company a little bit to you give you a sense of what we do on a daily basis and who we really are uh but essentially we serve approximately 1.1 million residential commercial and Industrial customers located within 13 counties and 236 municipalities in the entire State um we basically employ approximately 1500 New Jersey based workers 1100 of which are ibw electricians line workers and technicians who build and maintain our critical assets on a daily basis uh as a company we maintain and operate more than 26,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines in the in the entire state so it gives you a sense of our of our footprint here in the state of New Jersey um the new operations District itself is about 450 square miles give you a sense I mean you know the county already but give you a sense of the operations district is about 450 square miles um in total uh continuing on with uh a little bit of an introduction to our company itself over the last decade or so we are Economic Development norts have helped facilitate more than 7,000 new jobs and $1.7 billion investment in New Jersey uh in 2022 alone we purchased more than $90 million in local goods and services and approximately 30% of those and purchases actually came from diversifiers which is something that's important to us it's one of our core values as a company um plan itself it's uh like I mentioned it's our infrastructure U investment program we actually branded it as energize NJ so I'll refer to the plan as energized NJ throughout the entire presentation uh but essentially it was F filed back in November of 2023 with the BPU and it was filed by us obviously it's a 5year $930 million excuse me 93.5 million program initially it was actually filed with the $935 million program over 5 years that was recently amended uh uh last month uh and the BPU is actively re reviewing this actual proposal as we speak and one of the things they actually mentioned to us is our 18 um most challenging circuits some going to call uh they the BPU basically requested that we take those circuits out of the energize NJ proposal and actually focus on them uh immediately cycling The Proposal itself um which is actually great news for Sussex County because three of those 18 circuits actually fall within Su Sussex County and serve Sussex County customers at the same time and what we're going to actually do on those circuits is a lot of what's actually done going to be done within eniz MJ other portions Li R but essentially installing more bu wiring stronger more durable durable poles adding trip Savers which are aut fuses which I'll get into a little bit later on during the course of my presentation but it's really just fortifying those 18 circuits that are a constant problem and challenge for us to maintain on a daily basis and they experience the most um customer outages at the same time so eliminating those three uh circuits within Sussex County from those 18 troubling circuits will will go a long way toward towards a reliable uh electric grid um so going back to energ guys NJ uh really quickly goals of the plan uh there's really four goals of the plan itself it's enhancing reliability as I already mentioned it's hardening the grid against storms expanding capacity and then it's uh really building the backbone of the electric grid of the future preparing for the future three components to energize NJ and I'll go into each each one of them uh something to keep in mind with the three components every single municipality within Sussex County even the ones that don't fall within my operations District are going to benefit from this plan so no municipalities being left behind that 15 $150 million estimates really spread out through uh every single municipality here and honestly uh we don't really look at things by municipality or by county or anything like that we really looked at things by substation and by Circuit so something I keep in mind but um uh it'll um it'll go a long way in places like susex County that basically had the same grid for over 100 years that's very difficult to maintain and it's time to basically take that grid into the 21st century so going back to the three components the first is grid monitorization um and what this component basically entails in this program inails it's a $271 million program focused on reliability storm hardening and expanding capacity some of the highlights of this section uh I mentioned previously those 18 circuits installing more robust wiring stronger more Global coals there's going to be 410 plus miles of um of overhead power lines that are actually going to be upgraded as part of our grid modernization plan uh it's replacing 46 mies of Aging underground lines for additional durability and capacity it's also buring another 7 miles of specific overhead lines and implementing additional circuit protections and those seven miles of line are really some of the worst performing areas on the grid itself and what really is going to happen there by burying those lines the lack is a back should something catastrophic happens to the line above that 7 Mile Stretch that we're focusing on and it's not really specific to S count I should mention that to at the same time it's overall but that seven miles of burying that conductor will actually help us uh as as a as a form of a backup should something catastropic happen to the distribution lines overhead uh and then finally the last highlight of the section are those trip Savers that I mentioned previously now trip saers are are are a huge thing for us uh they're like I mentioned previously they're automated devices right so right now what's common on our grid are the older fuses they require somebody to go out once that fuse pops open they require somebody go out on the truck Patrol the circuit see what that fault is and if they don't see the fault or if they clear the fault they can place that fuse back into the into uh into into a closed position now if an automated fuse is put on the circuit itself that that fuse if there's a fault on the on the circuit that fuse pops open by itself and it tries to reclose itself three times before it actually fails completely uh and it requires somebody to actually come out and a Truck to control the circuit to see if where that fault exactly is best way to look at is is really with this automated uh uh fuse this trips saver is if you have a tree Lim it's hanging over one of our overhead lines that tree Lim Falls raises our overhead lines that fuse trips that tree Lim continues down to the street level fuse tries to close itself again because that fault now cleared and hit the street the fuse doesn't sense the actual fault and and closes itself automatically it really results in uh a lessen uh duration of the outage and the size of the actual duration for customers uh in some instances at the same time now if the tree branch gets actually hung up in the conductor that fuse will like I mentioned try to close itself three times on a third attempt it'll just shut down requiring somebody to go out and actually physically remove the fall meaning that tree limb that's caught up in the overhead Waters so it saves us a lot of time and um I apologize for even doing this but I'm going to actually read this verbatim to you guys because I think it's important um you may have remembered back in 2019 our first part of our infrastructure investment program was called life ility plus that was The Branding of it it was a $97 million program but essentially and half of that was here towards far Street um what a lot of that program entailed was the installation of these trip Savers and I just wanted to read to you really quickly the actual benefits of having those trip Savers uh installed as part of our reliability plus plan plan in 2019 so again verbatim and I apologize for doing that but I think it's important as written uh trip Savers installed during 2019 reliability plus investment program prevented more than 3.2 million minutes of cumulative customer outages within 24 months of installation within 80% average benefit identified for outage causes that are temporary in nature this means that for such identified causes it is expected that 80% will no longer experience a sustained outage so something uh to keep in mind uh as it relates to trip Savers themselves in the amount of time it actually saves our crews but also saves uh time on the municipal side and on the county side uh by basically res shifting resources our crw can focus on outages that are real uh if trip Savers are working as intended uh and then at the same time County County Employees like DPW police fire I guess if you want to throw fire in there even though it's not on the county level um like I mentioned DPW all their resources can be diverted somewhere else too it's not that uh that power outage that's happening in Frankfurt as an example um where you know it's that par pole accident that happened over around 23 somewhere trips saers actually not only tried to reclose themselves a few times but it also enables us to isolate issues like a car pole accident uh and what I mean by isolate issues is essentially it between protective devices so if a circuit has 2,000 customers on it car pole accident happens and affects a portion of the circuit that that serves 500 customers that trip saver can actually isolate the issue to this just those 500 customers not the entire 2000 so again saves his time saves our crew's time saves Municipal uh excuse me Municipal and County employees time as well and for a place like Sussex County I think it's uh vitally important because the majority of home owners are on on well right so power's not out well water is not working things like truck Savers automatic switches all those will benefit uh customers within the actual County itself um one last thing on grid monetization before I move on to system resiliency how we actually identify the circuits and substations we're working on it's really meant um it's really driven by uh by data and it's determined by determined by historical outage patterns for maximum benefit so we're not going to invest the money on behalf of our Ray pairs on a circuit that's functioning perfectly we're going to focus on uh where where those customers are the most Challenge and where those circuit can actually benefit from an investment Still Water System resiliency second component still waterers tree and Ron smile because I know Ron's always on my generator runs a lot and I know when it's running because I get a phone call uh system res second component uh $559 million program focused on aage recovery accelerated uh restoration after severe weather enhanced flexibility in the energy of the system and an increase equipment automation so some of the highlights here uh 18 substations will be uh actually upgraded to support additional load and rebuild circuits and we're also going to f focus on voltage standardization this I can't stress how important it is to Sussex County customers and the best way I can describe this V standardization um so a lot of what we have out there right now operates at at a at a standard 12 12 uh 12.5 kilovolt um configuration now there are Pockets out there that I like to refer to as Island that still operate at 4 KT uh uh voltage now something happens in that island that 4 kilog Gold Island and we want to isolate that issue and then switch customers over onto a neighboring circuit to restore them quicker while the permanent repairs are made we can't do that because it's operating at 4kv now to marry it up to the 12.5 KV neighboring circuit we're proposing to actually eliminate those islands those 4 KV islands and we see many of those within Cela County eliminating those islands will help us tie into neighboring circuits again decreasing uh outage times and decreasing the actual uh size of those ades should they occur this isn't by the way uh one thing I want to mention this isn't the the magic bullet it's not going to cure all outages out there I I semi joked about still water but still water trees are are a big concern and mainly trees off of the RightWay outside of our trimming quarter that are really customer responsibility um so if that tree falls customers are may still feel an impact by with an outage uh but again trip Savers automatic switches uh getting rid of these islands all factor into uh basically decreas ing uh those adages as best we can basically the size and duration of those addes so some of those isolated uh customers may be impacted while the permanent repairs are made but we're going to try to minimize the amount of customers uh by placing all this type of equipment onto the grid itself um so part of eliminating going back to those islands really quickly part of eliminating those islands is actually building out new circuits I mentioned tying into existing neighboring circuits to switch customers over should something happen or should in the event something happen um building out new circuits is part of that as well so that'll those new circuits will actually help us tie into those new circuits that are being developed within those 4 KV islands for left and again additional capacity so basically uh adding this additional capacity accommodates additional energy resources such as Solar Development but it's also planning for the future with with capacity demand and low demand moving down the road so a lot of what what's going to be installed here will support things like increasing electrification Society you see more and more EVS on the road those EVS have a large large load behind them and our grd has challenges keeping up with with Demand right so not everyone's going to go run out and get an EV tomorrow just like not everyone ran out and get got a refrigerator back when May first came out done in phases but basically this increased capacity here and the leg work we're doing here is planning for the capacity of the future and of demand of the future so it's something to keep in mind as well last component substation modernization $100 million program focused on upgrading equipment and increasing uh remote access and automation capabilities again monitorized protective devices would be installed and various substation components upgraded as part of these rebuilds so I mentioned those trip Savers they automated fuses relays are really going to be what with what are upgraded at the substations and like the fuse is in like a trip was an automated fuse a relay is essentially like an automated switch so that relay senses a fa on a circuit it can automatically uh prevent that from occurring and basically switch customers onto a neighboring circuit at the substation level um some of the work that's actually included within the substation monation program has a lot to do with our Coastal substations we have a challenge down at uh in Central Jersey mainly in Moman ocean counties uh anywhere near the atanta go essentially that salt water that's that's just destroying our our substations and our equipment there so some of the100 million that's being invested here we'll focus on those Co Coastal substations um last component I really wanted to stress to everybody here and is very very important not only for our customers in Sussex but it's basically jcpnl part of the uh $100 million program that's focused on substation modernization actually includes the addition of a mobile substation to our Fleet so we have one mobile substation on our Fleet already and what that is it's basically built on a flat bed trailer so should something catastrophic happened at one of our substations or planned maintenance is happening under our substation or unplanned and outage happens out our sub station where we need to take customers offline we can bring this mobile step station in on a on a flatbed put customers onto that mobile substation switch them on to that mobile sub station while the permanent repairs are being made to the substation the temporary excuse me the permanent Subs itself itself um huge huge Lifesaver for us that one that we have in our Fleet currently uh has gone a long way it's been utilized quite frequently and again it's it's a planned uh backup in the in the event actually needed but it's a it's a huge benefit of this actual program uh last couple things I wanted to touch on are actual customer impact right and I mentioned the investment itself it's a it's 5 years 93.5 million with every investment there is a a customer impact at the same time in terms of rates something to keep in mind we're heavily heavily heavily regulated by the BPU so we don't necessarily get to dictate where we spend our money basically the BPU tells us where we can uh spend our money money with our input of course and then they leave us a little bit of profit on the on the end so something to keep in mind when we're regulated company like we are uh but the customer impact itself so I mentioned again 5 years $935 million the investment itself according to the US Department of energy Interruption cost estimate tool the investment itself should pay uh should pay for itself in an approximately 3.36 billion uh return in your liability benefits to customers by helping reduce non-store bages like I mentioned previously and then basically improving our ability to restore power following a major storm event now what does this mean for the average typical residential customer using 777 kwatt hours of electricity per month they would see a total increase of $4.70 uh for 3.3% on the monthly electric over a 5year term of our actual plan um and those incremental increases will actually happen in seven stages the first would be effective 1st 2025 and that would be roughly 42 cents as an as an initial increase the seven incremental increases as I mentioned range over the over the course of 5 years and it really ranged from 17 cents all the way all the way up to 89 cents um as an increase as well um something that we're really proud of and again a rate increase is not something we ever want to talk about or discuss or even Ponder be completely uh Frank with you but what we're proud about and what we really stand uh we really keep our head high is knowing that our residential rates even with this proposed plan and the rate increase that would come along with it our residential rates would stand long as the lowest amongst the four electric distribution companies in the state so that's us that's JC that's uh excuse me T that's atlanic City Electric and that's orang Bren electric so our plan is always to uh to maintain rates at a reasonable uh amount uh it's important to us being the lowest amongst the four is is just proof in itself that uh keeping those rates as low as possible for our customers as well um so again that's that's energizing J and a nutshell as I mentioned 5 years 93.5 million investment specifically for the circuits and substations feeding Sussex County customers it's about $150 million investment that we would be making um like I mentioned the BPU is actually reviewing this proposal as we speak their docket uh remains open they haven't scheduled public hearings they haven't given us a schedule for those public hearings or anything like that so while that doet remains open it's my job to actually go out within the community and present this plan uh to municipalities to the county whoever it may be to drum up public support and to Garner public support for the plan and maybe you're wondering how you can actually do that and it's really through the form of resolution so I urge you to pass the resolution in support of the actual plan get in front of the BPU we understand how important this plan is your propos for the be we want our our municipalities our customers our counties to rein Force our message back to the BPU saying approve it as written it's a plan as written historically those plans are never approved as written but all these resolutions all the public support that we're Garing will go a long way hopefully convincing the BPU that the plan should be approved as written um thank you again for your time thank you I really appreciate it glad to answer any questions you may have okay thank you I do have some questions okay yes go ahead all right um so you did say 700 77 kwatt hours a month that's average uh typical average is maybe your stronger use it's the typical residential customer in I'm just way over that yeah most TVs cuz I'm 20,000 yeah most cust are I'm going to bring this on to my family shut the lights off right um is there any of this money go to any more tree clearing or you guys done with that no so the tree in is totally separate from this this is simply infrastructure itself perfect to go back really quickly on forestry so I mentioned 2019 reliability plus half of that was focused on forestry we still have our fouryear on cycle maintenance program that we we do every four years it's based on substation so you may not see the same tree crew in the same town two years in a row it's every four years and they do by Circuit by substation the good news too with uh with our for Street program obviously everything's gotten more expensive right with sure but the thing that uh we've done recently is actually added money to our forestry budget to focus on more things like trees off of the RightWay that are really out of our control to begin with but there are real big Nuance to us because they result in 80% of our adies so I mentioned previously and it was in passing but I mentioned that it's really customer responsibility to maintain those P it' still be customer responsibility but at least we would have some additional funding of about $1.5 million annually to actually address some of those problems to resol the right away that we're maybe a customer that's just an AB and he land because they don't live you know in Sussex County they actually live in New York state or something like that so something keep mind um 18 substations you said uh 18 circuits circuits yeah oh I'm sorry 18 substations with the grid monitors with the substation monitorization okay that's what I thought um so that's just getting upgrade or is that demo and rebuild no that's up just upgrade no demo no rebuil upgr upgrad U so your Transformers or your foundations it's really the relays that are going to be focused on the relays automatic switches that were going to be install no hard construction per se no like another Transformer that's being installed or something like that okay a lot of it going to be automation commissioner that will be install out substations it allows us to basically reduce the size and duration of those outages that they mentioned and just to synopsize this is this mandated by the state or or the Feds that we do okay so you just so it's a 100 EO system that you want upgrade because we don't have enough power to basically subsidize our County and areas uh so no it's not the power itself generation is always going to be an issue right we don't actually First Energy our power company doesn't own any generation aside from a couple coal plants that are actually still in existance down in West Virginia so this isn't really focused on generation at all it's really focused on hardening the actual grid itself and modernizing the Grid at the same time it's really bringing it to the 21st century by installing a lot of equipment onto the Grid it's installing additional uh excuse me it's installing more stronger robust durable wiring larger thicker wires that basically allow uh a larger uh demand to travel through larger capacity to travel through C so this is really lay the foundation for the future demand low demand that we'll be seeing in places like Su more and more people move out the count the larg the larger the demand gets so this will actually set the the foundation for that future uh but it's really the planet in itself in a nutshell I to simplify into one second really Storm Restoration it's hard in the great reliability reliability thank you it's like 20 presentations in and I blank on the that's all I have rich thank you anyone else no all right thank you I do have one more can we get a copy of thatr has I didn't get the updated one the last email I got from you that you were sending the update but never actually got the up we could resend it if you did yeah I actually I um actually flipped it over to you a couple days ago that's strange but I'll flip it over to you again perfect thank you uh and then you also have the resolution at the same time a template resolution I I sent your way template so keep in mind can actu can take away from it um if you're wondering if you're going to be no pun intended on an island if you actually pass the resolution you will not be uh Sussex County Police Chiefs Association I wrote a letter of support this back before the new year a couple nonprofits in in the actual operations distri the same uh indor police chief uh Chief Danielson actually wrote a letter of support as well from the ovm side um resolutions are being passed this throughout the entire County as I know if been making my around so most recently I was in Frankford last night uh prior to that I believe it was last week Vernon Township passed the resolution uh Branchville is following uh same with byon um blank Andover Township passed a resolution and S pass resol solution and support and I have a bunch of teed up still on schedule to uh presentations still to make so it's uh putting a lot of wear in my power yeah good thank you again thank you okay now we're going to call up uh Autumn Sylvester and Bill copol from the planning department on the water quality improvement plan so good afternoon I'm Bill this is Autumn we certainly appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today about the Sussex County Wastewater program Amendment and revision policies and practices um I'm going to let Autumn go through most of the the details and the steps of the process itself before I let her get in here I just wanted to highlight a couple of things that I think are are important to understand as part of the process um and and to give you an idea currently the division is working with five applications that have requested amendments to the Sussex County Wastewater management plan and there are two that are pending or on hold so this this is always an active program and these applications generally can take you know years 18 24 months or more to go through this process it is a combination of an internal process that the county has as well as a process that's regulated uh through DP so I kind of equate it to you know the same way as as engineering may do you know an application for a freshwater wetlands permit we'll prepare the application but then it gets submitted down to D and D actually has full authority to approve or disapprove the applications and this really is the same type of thing in this process so we'll go through the county part of the program and then it goes to D and D confirms and assures that it that it complies with all their rules and regulations and we ultimately once that's determined it'll be back at the county level and back in front of the board again for final consideration so the Commissioners what's your role in this your role in this process is really twofold because Sussex County as part of the water water quality management Act is actually identified as one of the uh uh designating planning agencies so the ACT identifies agencies that have initial overp put on advancement of applications for amendments so in this particular case the County Board of Commissioners is identified as one of those designated planning agencies for a portion of Sussex County so the board will see those as preliminary approvals to an application process for an amendment the board is also obviously the local government entity so one of the steps that D has as the application is then pushed on the DP for review is then reach back out to the local governments looking for continued uh concurrence with the application so you'll the board will see it as the designated planning agency and then we'll also see it as the actual governing body for both concurrence with continuing the application and final approval of the requested Amendment uh there's a the board established the Sussex County water quality water quality management policy advisory committee uh the committee is has representation from all 24 municipalities and it has I believe five the seven General members that can be appointed to that committee by the board one of the functions of the the pack is that it is The Advisory Board to the the Commissioners not only as the designated planning agency but also as the commissioner so when an application is received the PO the pack policy advisory committee really has the front line on reviewing and and holding informational sessions and gathering information related to the application and they will ultimately make a recommendation to the Commissioners on you know what what they see as it either conforming with the the goals and objectives of the Wastewater management plan or if additional information might be needed or disapproval uh you'll hear references to pack staff so the pack doesn't actually have staff the administrative code assigns the responsibilities for administration and technical support for the pack the pack as well as the general compliance and administration of the D Wastewater uh planning rules and regulations to the division of planning so that's how the division of planning really becomes involved in all this is it's part of the admin Administrative Code assignment to the division itself uh rules and regulations there's two predominant rules and regulations that apply to this uh first one is part of the state Administrative Code it's 7 col 15 which is D it's the water quality management planning rules the most recent version of those was adopted in 2016 in addition to that the county has adopted and be has approved local water quality management program rule Amendment PR process that is is actually administered at the county level through the pack of the division of planning um within the county we really have two primary types of Wastewater Disposal Systems you have individual subsurface Disposal Systems septic systems everybody's familiar with those those are not regulated under this process the other thing that you have is you have these sewer service areas which are areas where the waste water is collected and and routed to a treatment facility so that's really what we're talking about as part of the Wastewater management plan and any of the amendment processes to that so suus county has a water quality management plan which is really you know governs the Wastewater management plan the plan that currently exists is dated 2001 the division of planning has been working with D since 2011 to update our our water quality management plan the last submission to D was in 2018 it is kind of stalled in the process for a number of reasons you know every time the board had actually approved it it was resubmitted in 2018 DP came back with a whole post of other questions and comments related to it and we have yet to be be able to to address those comments so that's that's where we are with the planning process and the document itself in the absence of the plan there is a a Wastewater management map that D has approved and it's a it's really the future Sewer Service Area map and what it does is it identifies all of the locations within Sussex County that are approved for Wastewater management planning and really discharges to treatment works facility all of those permits are all of those areas are managed really through the need the the D jypy permit process so what ends up happening if if an applicant wants to amend the plan modify one of the uh authorized areas or propose a new area that's where this planning process comes into play and they will make the application so autumn away so as Bill stated um if an applicant wants to amend the County Wastewater uh map they need to First submit a request to staff for a site specific Amendment at that point staff will then set up an a pre-application meeting with the applicant and their technical representatives to go over the submitt requirements and the process we typically calculate the uh projected Wastewater flow based on the development proposal at that time once the applicant prepares their application um they then submit it to staff and we review it for completeness and consultation with pack so once an a complete application is received pack then conducts the substantive review of the application and that is includes a formal presentation pack will review it for General compliance with the water quality management planning rules consistency with County uh land's policies and will determine if additional information is necessary and this often occurs over uh any number of meetings um and once that's complete Pac will then make a formal recommendation to the Commissioners via resolution and that resolution will be submitted along with all of the application documents studies reports analysis that were completed during the substantive review um to the Commissioners who will then review that and then either Grant a preliminary approval once preliminary approval has been granted that's what starts the D process and the applicant then can then proceed to submit the application to the DP for their review and um the applicant and de the D will work together to review their application again for consistency to the water quality management planning rules and DP will either disapprove an application request more information or allow the application sorry to proceed to public notice for public comment at that time D will identify local government units that may be impacted by a site specific plan Amendment they'll including uh County Commissioner boards the local governing agencies any other type of regional planning agency or or Municipal Utility Authority that's impacted by the waste water management plan Amendment and at that time they'll request State written statements of consent um in conjunction with that DP will then allow and notice the application uh for public comit period and that is published in the New Jersey register by D and then the applicant is required to publish it in the New Jersey Herald as well as part of our procedure we then hold the public comment period based on the public comments that are received and interest generated staff will work with DP to determine if a public hearing is necessary and if the public comment period should be EXP ended at that point if a public hearing is if we feel that a public hearing is warranted the public comment period gets extended and then we notice um with d uh the public hearing and that again is published in the New Jersey register and the Herold so after the public comment period and the public hearing period has ended that's when it comes back to the Commissioners for final commissioner consideration and then the Commissioners you guys can either approve the amendment as as proposed disapprove the proposed amendment and approve the proposed amendment with minor changes that are acceptable to D and the applicant if an application is disapproved do you have to State the reasons and writing and provide that in written notice to the applicant and then um if it's approved then it goes back to DP where they are uh the final Arbiter and they will review it and get Grant final approval so it typically takes between 18 a year and a half to two years and there are appeal processes throughout this so if it gets disapproved as part of this process and I guess even if it gets approve anybody has a right to appeal it'll get appeal to Superior Court okay I have a couple questions go ahead of course you do um the recommendations came from schuma Highlands depends so it depends on the the where the application is located so if it's located within the area under the musken Eon sewage Authority then we would need to get a concurrence resolution and a capacity confirmation from The musch Authority so that includes a firearm St hope and her pack on um all other areas are in the county are um under schuma so it depends and they agree that it should pass oh I'm just talking about generally right the one that we're talking about number 11 particular number 11 yeah resolution that we have I didn't see this is the blue chip um resolution okay so schuma did adopt a a statement of consent as the the other entities the high the highlands cancel so scho in the highlands they both accepted it as is and if we were to reject it we would have to come back with the plan to revise it right if you were to reject it you would just have to put those reasons in right and your professional opinion both yourself and Bill is of there's no reason to do this there is a reason based on our well I think I think our our professional opinion yes you have to understand that predominantly our focus is on the administrative of administration of these applications and that really the professional opinions and the opinions um really go back to pack and their process and then DP so we look at it from General conformance with the standards and existing plans we we don't necessarily have we can tell you if it conforms with them and it is generally in conformance with the plans that would govern this and that all the information that they have provided is appropriate and does appear correct for the application and then that application goes to D and D ultimately does the review of all the individual components of the application so we do a highlevel review to say okay they need this they have it it looks appropriate so we can tell you that everything with this from a Wastewater management planning perspective appears to be an agreement with the plans that the county has so the the open space plan the AG the form personation plan and the 2007 strategic grow and and that the application it's itself has appeared complete and that we have seen nothing that would appear to indicate a problem with this moving forward perfect okay and then just just one more question it's kind of a little off topic but the water the waste water that they're going to use or accumulate is a lot less than what's on there now in this particular instance the projected Wastewater flow for the for the proposed me is 10,000 gallons per day their current water allocation permit is 116,000 gallons per day and that's consumptive use so they're a little different but the consumptive use means that it doesn't come back to the city water go to that understood okay I have questions sure if that's okay go ahead uh make it really easy um just yes or no if that's okay with you um you know basically with this consent agenda we are considering to the proposed susex water quality management plan which has a vote record of Four A's one exstension on May 11th 2022 and a resolution labeled preliminary adoption of the spite site specific Amendment mment to the suss County Waste Water Management plan to include block 12008 Lot 23 Demers Road located in Sparta Township susex County as proposed by Diamond ship reality is that correct that's a preliminary approval yes and we're consenting to that no so it's two separate processes so the preliminary approval is our process and the consent resolution is part of the D process and so D because not all counties are designated planning agencies they require ire any any applicant for a sight specific amendment to submit a written statement of consent to any local governing body and that includes the counties so for some counties that aren't dpas they have this is the first time they might be seeing the application so we're a little bit different so the preliminary approval is for our process the consent written statement of consent is for the D process yes resolution based on this resolution based on that it's based on that resolution and that resolution was pushed to the board as the designated planning agency so not as the commissioner board and what that did was it allowed the application to be sent to D so we said generally this appears to be conforming with the goals and objectives of the county so here's the application submitted to DP then D did a very in-depth review of it against their regulations and as part of that they they concluded that it appears to be compliant now what they do is they request these these consent resolutions with the governing bodies that they consent to moving forward with the amendment which will then put it into the public comment and public hearing process understood I just have a problem because within this resolution and you talked about it briefly beforehand um it me it mentions the suss County strategic growth plan and it says that um it is supported by it the goals and objectives including expansions of job creation centers uh concentrating in the line of development manufacturing industrial all that stuff is within this and so D requires that practice like so there's the rules and then there's practice so D staff requires that type of clause within any resolution that's that's adopted for Waste waterer management plan amendments okay so that's at their request they like that in resolution form okay understood I just have a problem because you know the book The strategic growth plan uh I read it of course um it was uh created in 2005 as you said um specifically 2007 was it was endorsed in 2007 adopted yes so it was endorsed in 2007 uh this was the preliminary adoption was voted in 2022 and now we are in 2024 and reading this um you know I mean we're talking 17 15 years a lot of the data is not where it needs to be um the Water poity Management planning rules require that the any the County Planning documents that are adopted and in endorsed pursuant to certain rules so like the ml so um and the and the County Planning enabling act so that is the most recent adopted plan element that Master Plan element that we have in terms of growth and so that's what we are required to use okay understood and that's all we have the base it on yes understood I just feel that it's definitely out of date uh for example if you you know went through the sus County grow strategic plan specifically in appendix a labeled planing foundational elements so I assume that's the foundational elements of this whole plan page 109 we have figure seven which is a chart of the municipal population projections and at the bottom of the chart they have the total population for Sussex County right all added up and everything and it states that the 2020 Sussex County uh projected population was 178,0 35 people the actual 2020 sent here in Sussex County was 144,145 14 person difference uh so in my eyes I'm looking at this and saying this growth plan was way off um it wasn't successful because we didn't hit those you know population growth as we saw so I'm the population growth are just really projections and they didn't anticipate the economic recession that really hit Sussex County hard in 2008 so you use the best data that's available and at the time that was the best data that was available I just think that now that you know we're in 2024 you would think maybe there's something from 2007 to um you know 2022 that this would be based upon just like you know with Farmland preservation uh that you know program is going to be updated this year which is great um open space will be in 2026 I believe um we updated that in 2016 yeah 2016 yeah will be2 yeah good point um but you know for me I'm looking at you know this was made when I was 8 years old uh put it in reference it was made before um this came out in May uh 2007 an iPhone came out in June 2007 when we had you know data at our fingertips so so so the plan is a function of goals and objectives of the board and the board sets the priorities for this the department and the division on where we focus our efforts the plan had a draft update that was done in 2014 the then sitting board elected not to adopt the plan interesting and since that time no additional effort has been allocated to updating the plan I think from a planning perspective ideally you know we would be in a position to have relevant and current plans for a lot of our for a lot of our goals and objectives strategic growth Farmland preservation open space Transportation Planning local safety planning and and you know the the Department of Division does the best we can but at the end of the day we're subject to really referencing back to the last updated version of these plans that's unfortunate I'm sorry um yeah it's just you know that I mean there was you know I read through and something that came you know to my attention I think you know the board should know I know that's hard as a part of the Highlands region and further an appendix a if you turn to page 163 specifically under the section Highlands water quality it states in conclusion over time new development in the highlands will severely affect the amount of water being withdrawn from W Wars and aquifers while at the same time reducing the flow of water and streams and rivers that is vital to Aquatic ecosystems new pavement and impervious service cover will also decrease recharge of aquifers and increase runoff into service water leading to poor groundwater quality and increase incidence of flooding um so so the highlands Council has determined that the proposed Diamond ship Amendment is consistent with their Regional master plan yes but they didn't have to base it on our sub they Bas it on on their master plan so that they're the overarching planning Regional planning agency and so this is in a a the highlands planning area in a non-conforming municipality okay so there's different rules so if it was in a preservation area it may be a little bit different yeah of course of course so I think that's what that document is really touching on the president okay I just know in this specific consent agenda um we're approving the resolution that included what I previously said that the The Proposal is supported by the susus county strategic growth planning goals right there so that is my problem with that and and I don't think that you know I a and I would both encourage that our plan documents be updated and relevant but it's it's just something has to be prioritized into a work CU that you know is extremely demanding working on it know I app but um that is all that I had thank you for your time I think we're good thank you thanks guys okay number eight public hearing there is none number nine public session from the floor this public session is for those wishing to make a comment of 3 minutes or less regarding an agenda item that's just for things that are on the agenda here please line up at the microphone and state your name municipality and agenda topic for the record can I get a motion to open the floor for public comment deputy director Carney makes the motion in a second I'll second uh any discussion uh all in favor I I oppos abstain okay motion carries okay the floor there wasn't one I'm sorry no that's we're we're getting there we're on public session for the agenda topics only okay if anyone wants to step up go ahead step up and state your name and municipality and agenda topic my name is Ed Sabo I live in still water and uh I've come here to uh inquire about a a project you folks are involved in replac ing a bridge that washed out in Stow water as a result I believe of drunk driving and they destroyed the bridge and so on I don't believe this is on the agenda agenda it's not on the agenda so this would be in the uh the open public session this is just agenda topics that we're discussing Now isn't the budget on the agenda that that would be you would be discussing the entire budget not something like a specific thing from the budget should I wait tonight come back another day or you can wait until the regular public session which we will have that's just later on right now we're just we're we have to get through the agenda so it's agenda topics only investment here I better wait okay sounds sounds good you can you can come up shortly just a quick comment I would rather have poison ivy or a toothache then deal with the [Music] D you're not alone okay anyone on agenda topics only okay can I get a motion to close the floor for public comment agenda only okay I'm not certain this is an agenda item because it's not showing but you're discussing it this is the water quality management plan agenda has been uh amended to include that on our content agenda for tonight so yes it is on the agenda okay so thank you so um Jenny D Happ just far at just wondering um if the Commissioners are considering that the township has not approved the Wastewater management the water quality management plan at the local level if you're considering that and also considering that the um NDP is holding a public Hearing in May May 21 on this issue are you considering that when you're talking about voting tonight yeah I think what we are voting on is just the plan that was presented to schuma correct wrong yeah yeah so it's just that they had everything in order on the county end it doesn't mean that we're approving this project to go on or anything it's just that they did what they needed to do to get through schuma and then we just would be approving that that what schuma presented what's what they did to schuma is approved but it doesn't it doesn't have anything to do with that happening and I appreciate all's presentation right but uh the local level has not approved and so just cons right we're just on the county level so as long as they not taking into consideration that the local as Autumn referenced the the area that's going to be impacted by the amend amended plan and that would be Sparta and Sparta has already not approved the updated water quality management plan I'm not sure that's true I think they they uh table that no they voted no when when was this this was it was resolution 99 at the February two apples is it does matter okay February 13th meeting V because we just have to go by what is you know brought to the county and approved through the county so if it's if it's not approved through through the town then they still will have to go through Sparta yeah legally they're like app and orange there two totally separate jurisdictions two totally separate authoritative bodies and what Sparta's Sparta has its jurisdiction the county has its limited jurisdiction and that's all they're considering here it's also you know up until about 5:00 this evening there was no indication that you were going to be hearing this application or the uh the management plan that I could find any wasn't it on our agenda not that I could find no we had to amend that okay just the presentation okay okay anyone else from the public uh on agenda topics only Kathy Brennan hand Township um you need my mailing address no no okay um I wanted to speak about the the uh resolution about the veterans I think that's a wonderful thing and I think it's long time coming I find it very interesting and maybe somewhat ironic that it's being brought up right now when one of your your very own one of the Commissioners is being accused of Stolen Valor I I've been a resident of this County for over 35 years I have known of this person for many many years and I have known of their demeanor some of the actions they have been involved in and as as a board you promoting this person to become a commissioner I find troubling um I feel like maybe like you should have known better um perhaps not this specific issue but issues like this I feel I expect to come up with this person and I just feel like you've opened the can of worms and I think something needs to be done about the open and can of worms and I think it's a very serious accusation and I think um not being a veteran myself my husband is a veteran many people here are veterans I think it's very appalling and disgusting for them and I would hope that you would be uh doing something about this uh as soon as possible with serious accusation and I hope that the person would either address it uh show some kind of proof of some kind of service or basically just apologize and admit and basically I feel resigned from the commission okay I'm just going to comment on that thank you I just want to comment that this board we have kept ourself um away from this the issue that you're discussing we have stuck to we did sens censure commissioner Hayden but it was on different topics which was before this uh particularly came to light and we do have other veteran things going on at this time so it wasn't like that was picked the resolution the Proclamation was picked specifically because of what was going on um you know I think something should be done we legally we legally this board there's nothing that we can do we did censure on other issues but there's nothing we can't we can't fire a commissioner and you know we really can't there's there's nothing that this board can do we can't vote someone out so I understand you can't just say you know don't come back but there are other there are other options um possibly recall and possibly um you know uh discussing with the person that maybe it would be a good option if they would I don't think come public and say something about it either way I mean right now I get it it's an accusation but I don't see anything that's says no this didn't happen or yes this didn't yeah and the role of this board is County government like we are here to pass the budget pass resolutions to benefit the county of s well this is not benefiting the county it certainly isn't but I feel like this is a big stigma right now over our head and it's not benefiting the county at all if anything it's a it's to me a big detriment to yes and we have struggled with trying to get County Business done over all of this so thank you okay anyone else on agenda topics only okay uh can I get a motion to close the floor for public comments deputy director Carney and commissioner Jr second any discussion all in favor I I opposed abstain motion carries okay number 10 commissioner comments we'll start with commissioner shik please thank you director um so after our last meeting um where we were inundated with a number of students and faculty from the college I had a meeting with the um chairman of the board of directors of the college and uh we went over a number of things that was that was stated in the meeting uh we went over some uh planned actions and some resolutions to try to come to a um a a uh an idea of how you know whether or not any of these things are relevant or not um they have committed that they're going to do their own internal investigation and then submit to us what it is the independent audit audit would produce for us for our review okay um we did although everyone is highly excited about what's going on over there uh they're just giving me as the liaison as one of the liaison uh a lot of information of which I forwarded to to both you councel and uh the chairman of the board k um so that is a u moving Target at the moment we don't have any resolutions as of yet but it is a work in progress um second thing is is I had the uh the honor to um attend the uh north northern New Jersey Commissioners meeting in um Bergen County at the American dream Mall uh was extremely impressed with the uh Bergen County Executives uh and what he showed us about uh um shared services his uh in his uh um infrastructure around internet um and then the uh the service um location he has for the dpws of smaller towns and the CER certified repairs for the school buses cuz every school bus has to have a certified uh certification whatever repair uh and that all comes out of the county money and they do spend a lot of money in taxes there a lot more than we do however um I think on another scale as we talk about shared services in the last couple of meetings and I've only I think this is my third or maybe fourth meeting you know um and we're talking about it it was really enlightening to see how a county of that size and then their plans to carry on the uh the World Cup in 2026 uh and lastly I had a meeting commissioner Corney and I went to the fire academy uh and uh they laid out their plan in about 2 and 1/2 hours worth of a presentation regarding how they're going to make a multi-use facility for law enforcement EMS and fire uh we toured the facility we turned the burn the burn boxes as they called them uh which simulated flash right flash fires uh we toured the um obstacle course for firefighters we uh toured the uh Main Street uh simulated Main Street location where uh they could um address accidents and uh fire in a uh in a very compacted area uh for training uh we talked about electric vehicles and the suppression of how uh with all the Teslas on the road uh so it was an enlightening and and extremely educational process um they um they are very um active in going to the communities to get our young people as as young as I think 16 at the uh County high schools to try to you know enroll in the college by the way for those who don't know what the fire academy is um is is underneath the County College jurisdiction so they're going to go to job fairs at Schools they're going to go to recruiting uh locations and they're going to try to recruit here um we were in in company of two other two police Chiefs and they were extremely excited that they would be able to uh generate local law enforcement have them trained right here in our County as well as young firefighters uh as young as 16 so um you know it was it was a busy you know week and a half but um learned a lot learned a lot that's all I have for today good commissioner D grp all right to begin the Farmland preservation revitol tour has continued since our last meeting I made my 10th stop visiting monu Township committee it was great to talk with the mayor and Council there I do want to point out that last night the township did pass a resolution uh declaring the Gypsy moth uh a public Nuance in the township of monu uh yeah it's really like bad then um so I wanted to point that out so just be on the lookout uh look out for gypsy moths not only in monteu but all around the northern part imagine we'll probably see some orange maybe Frankford or watch out um but um nonetheless you know with 10 total stops uh on the tour I will continue to perform Outreach and follow up with the boards and committees next up is wage and siston uh for the month uh for NJ like commissioner uh shik mentioned uh we had our Northern County New Jersey meeting for that which was held in American Dream Mall in Burton County myself commissioner schik and commissioner Carney attended it was great to discuss common County issues and learn how different Northern counties handle uh additionally read Across America occurred last week and myself and Sheriff Strada went to elementary school to on Wednesday the read with kids um it was great to return to the familiar halls and classrooms where I W once walked as a student few years ago 2010 graduated you know may um I decided to read the book why do rabbits hop and I actually did this because I did a 4 presentation on this uh and where I showed and brought into families uh bunnies you know and uh did all that but I bring that to your atten mention because I wanted to remind everyone for each we'll need judges on Friday March 22nd at keni Regional High School uh I have the time judges should arrive at 6:30 um I know that you know myself in the rain uh will be doing it and I invite you know all you please you know let me know was that a Friday yeah Friday yeah yeah so we're have a good Friday thank in addition I also attended the senior services advisory uh Council last week it was terrific to introduce myself and meet the council as another one of my goals I mentioned at the January 1st reorganization meeting I said I'll be actively contributing to the support and Improvement of programs offered by the division of senior services so I'm happy to start the conversation for the start of collaboration on ideas and health betterment um for our seniors and in addition to that um for the division of Senior Services they have some you know great things going on uh the center for lifelong learning at SEC the division of senior services collaborates with suss County Community College to offer educational presentations and classes to seniors through the center of for lifelong learning Learning Center located on site at SEC is hosting the following presentations and classes during March um to register or obtain additional information about the programs uh please contact the division of Senior Services by calling 97357 n555 extension1 27 in addition to that um becoming a community journalist uh this is of real interest you know uh this is a free certificate program uh the 8we course is designed to teach journalism skills and design practices for anyone in the Great susus County who wants to share stories and information about the communities participants have the option to attend in person or online uh both the inperson and online classes begin on March 26 2024 and the end uh and they end on May 14 2024 inperson classes will be held in secc's Media Center every Tuesday from 12:45 to 2:45 uh spaces is limited and registration is required uh lastly I just wanted to quickly congratul uh Mario pogy uh from you know our hometown susex wage for his grand opening on the susex wage Historical Society Museum on Saturday I attended Wednesday and uh I attended last Saturday um and it was fantastic to see the history of susex swanage being preserved and display for others to learn um they are open for visitors Any Sunday between 12: to 3: highly recommend um some really great stuff so and Mario's uh dedication to uh the history of Sussex and W is just incredible it's a lot of time and effort into it it is great thank you deputy director Carney thank you thank you uh DPW DPW crws work to repair Basin on County Route 622 Newton schw book Road uh 2023 DPW Cruise inspected 496 storm motor inlets as part of our NDP Highway occupancy permit inspection process resulted in identification of 1,161 inlets that required cleaning for work orders issued and 657 inlets requiring repair uh work orders issu um repair work orders has assigned a priority which helps manage allocation of resources work orders included 24 High 135 medium and 498 low priority assignments allocation of resources is directed to high priority repairs first high priority repairs include deficiencies such as Basin wall failures crate or casting failures severe concrete uh deterioration undermining and failures of adjacent Pavement in 2023 DPW completed 1161 cleaning work orders and 167 repair work orders um moving along pedestrian warning Beacon systems in mid block crosswalks along County Route 644 at to Veron Crossing Township of Vernon construction forces sus County Office BR Traffic Safety that's who does the work sus County and obviously sus County uh Public Works county S countship of Burman have entered into shared services agreement to work collectively towards the enhancement of pedestrian safety installing a regular rapid flashing Beacon for rrfb deser and Warning Systems in mid block Crossings along County Route 644 burning Crossing andity of burning Recreation Fields the anticipation is as follows honor about Thursday March 14th 2024 construction is to begin construction is anticipated to last approximately 2 to 3 weeks tenative schedule subject to change B on the weather hopefully you don't have any bad weather um and other foreseen circumstances um as I spoke at our last meeting we did have a a meeting with the BPU along with District um 23 and 24 about bring some money back to help out the infrastructure of our Broadband or Internet service um a meeting again to understand it was a lot of logistics that I personally don't understand um Warren County is a little bit ahead of us uh and I'm going to be working with their Commissioners uh as well but we are meeting with them Comm dor of space and myself along with Ron and and uh our chief um Friday at 12:00 to kind of go over the logistics of all that and then we're going to start heading out to our municipalities to figure out where where where they need service and whatnot um they're my understanding is the BPU is about a year behind on their Maps so basically uh some place like still water which I've been driving through lately in the middle of nowhere get nervous there sometimes um Pur you know that would be in my eyes but I don't know would be a place where we need to hit monu out out there in sandon over in Leighton uh you know west of Vernon I believe those places need it more so than maybe say like a Newton or Franklin or maybe even a Florida so we're going to be working with them and trying to get that money rolled in updating poles uh wires uh so on and so forth so that's Friday's meeting um I did get to plan I I went to a planning board meeting on Monday uh uh Commission ship couldn't make it um so I was I was uh doing a commissioner there seeing what's going on um they were pretty busy uh with some some um applicants but that was uh experienc I went to the Christmas Market along with mayor Silverthorne they were giving out grants so the German Christmas Market as you guys probably know is at the fairgrounds they gave out 100 $122,000 in Grants so when we need money for the F Pantry because we're running low I spoke to the chairman and he was willing to let us put a Grant application that Christine floro is working on so hopefully in the in the future here we can see you know maybe 5 $10,000 from them um he was pretty he he he liked the idea and he's willing to uh to accommodate us uh as commissioner shik said we did go to the fire academy uh met with Dave Dixon he what was his title John Dix John John Dixon I'm Sor I'm sorry John Dixon who's the um director of the uh he seems like he's going in the right direction as commissioner shik said uh getting law enforcement in there open up possibly a rifle range um if you guys shoot guns it's a good place to to shoot guns there's the public opening I think once a week it is you have to look on our website I don't honestly remember um everything there again we we attended the njac meeting in Bon County American Dream Mall uh it's very big you can spend easy Daya if you're interested in going there that was our NJ meeting and then I went to nj8 dinner which is the New Jersey outdoor Alliance which I got to witness uh ld24 uh our own Senator Parker space get award for all his legislation uh with helping the Outdoorsman in hunting and fishing and trapping and so on and so for so it was a it was a good day um for that and that's all I have okay okay division of Social Services backpack snacks for kids feeds children in need wnj 103.7 wsus 102.3 and the bear 106.3 will host the n9th annual backpack snacks for kids food drive at the Weiss markets in Franklin and Newton on Saturday March 23rd 2024 from 10: to 3: the backpack snacks for kids program provides children in Sussex County with meals and snacks for the weekend and is all possible thanks to our generous community and team of dedicated volunteers at the Social Services food pantry items such as uh meals in a can soup oatmeal granola bars and applesauce are packaged in snack-sized containers and distributed to children and participating school districts to bring home at the end of the week the food pantry distributes approximately 2200 backpack snack weekend bags each month donations from the backpack snacks for kids food drive go directly to suss County Children in need if anyone is in need of food for themselves or their family they can stop by the division of Social Services located at 83 Spring Street in Newton from 8:30 to 4:30 Monday through Friday food or pet donations are accepted during these hours or special Arrangements can be made for after hour donations by calling 973 383-3600 division of Health there are four resolutions on the agenda this evening to approve memorandums of agreement between the Sussex County division of health and the Sussex County Fairgrounds the moas will allow the division of Health to provide an immediate health response to the citizens of Sussex County in the event of a public health emergency the mo MOA support the following steps to ensure that the division of Health can be ready for immediate response the division of Health would establish and staff a receiving distribution and storage RDS facility to store equipment material and medication s received by the State Health Department the division would then open a point of distribution pod site to distribute the resources in the RDS to the community the division would also establish a vaccination site and ensure it's ready to function within 48 hours in addition to the above Services Public Health nursing will have the ability to set up a medical needs shelter MNS Mobile hospital and drive-through facility which is being purchased through a grant Public Health nursing will be able to utilize either one of the buildings on the site or the Mobile hospital for surge overflow and Sheltering of those County residents that may need medical treatment or care outside of what a general shelter can offer Office of Public Health nursing a woman's health screening clinic will be held on Thursday March 21st 2024 from 4:30 to 7:30 at the Office of Public Health nursing 2011 wheatsworth wheatsworth Road in Hamburg this Clinic offers a variety of Health screenings and education this service is available free to uninsured and underinsured County residents who qualifi to the New Jersey cancer education and early detection n j seed program to schedule an appointment call the Office of Public Health nursing at 97357 n570 extension 12 1246 um also we have coming up uh I know that Lorraine works very hard on this every year and since we have quite a few veterans in the audience now is the time to say it the Sussex County Department of Health and Human Services Division of senior services along with Catholic Charities veteran services invites the Sussex County veterans to a veterans appreciation lunch and that is Wednesday April 24th 2024 at The Farmstead golf and country club in Andover and it's from 11: to 2 uh veterans do need to pre-register by a April 15th to the Sussex County division of Senior Services by calling 973 579 0555 extenstion 1277 or they can email Senior Services sussex.nj us and this event is open to just Sussex County veterans so we don't have enough room to have like family members to so it's it's just our vets right well basically we just do veterans for the veterans appreciation um lunch in in April we do a veterans picnic which is for all of the family and then in November we do the veterans parade which is for our entire Community yes so it's really trying to recognize all our veterans so our appreciation for all the services and while we have um veterans appreciation lunch and we also have vendors all there that provide services to Veterans to make them aware of what's available to them that up there if anybody wants them just yes and this is something that we've we do these events are not new these are uh existing events that are very well attended so I highly recommend going to that uh recently I attended the green fire department installation dinner and uh it was pretty interesting because they uh swore in uh well my husband had the opportunity to swear in the line officers and one of them was Chief G who started out um with my husband in beerville and he spent 10 years there and now he became a life member in green and he was sworn in his chief so that was exciting and I attended the NJ NJ OA dinner with uh deputy director Carney and then yesterday was the chamber breakfast and I would highly recommend any businesses in the community to attend uh to join the chamber I think it's like 280 something a year to become a chamber member and um it's it's just a very good resource for uh small businesses um in the area and a good way to network work with other um businesses and community members and nonprofits tomorrow the chamber is hosting an agricultural tourism event and that is from 9: to 4 at minerals I'm looking forward to that maybe commissioner D grou will be attending with me um and I think that's about all I have today uh okay all right let's see where we are okay number 11 approval of consent agenda a resolution consenting to the proposed Sussex water quality plan management wqm plan amendment can I get a motion to adopt resolution a I'll make that motion I'm sorry director I just you said that was 11 I have it that's 10 okay my numbers are always wrong she's I don't know if you're wrong or I'm wrong okay I'm with you you have which one uh mine's 10 right so just for just for the public that's all mine is always like one off I shouldn't even do numbers okay so so is there a motion to adopt the resolution consenting to the proposed Sussex water quality plan management wqm plan Amendment move okay and a motion and a second second and uh the motion was by deputy director Carney and the second was by commissioner de grou any discussion oh no I'm sorry Jack sorry about that no the I me commissioner shik you're making me younger let me let me rephrase let me rephrase that the motion was made by deputy director Carney and it was seconded by commissioner schik okay sorry about that any discussion uh I cannot support a consent agenda that includes and relies on the plan finalized and endorsed back in 2007 and created in 2005 uh I just definitely think we need to address the problem update this plan and hold some accountability uh for this I'm going to be voting no okay and this is not a roll call so all in favor I opposed I abstain okay motion carries okay uh 12 approval of minutes that's tabled to the next meeting 13 or whatever number it is it's 12 okay 12 okay ordinance I got you I'll keep you I'll look over yours for the number ordinance a introduction for first reading ordinance 24-1 Bond ordinance providing for the various 2024 Capital Improvements by and in the county of Sussex state of New Jersey appropriating $3 m7500 therefore and authorizing 2, 775,000 bonds or notes of the county to finance part of the costs thereof can I get a motion to adopt this ordinance on first reading and authorize the clerk to advertise this ordinance as introduced for first reading and also post same on the bulletin board in the lobby of the County Administration Center together with the notice of public hearing stating that a hearing will be held on March 27th 2024 at 6: p.m prior to final adoption of the ordinance can I get a motion some move okay commissioner degr makes the motion and a second second uh commissioner shik any discussion roll call please director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner de grp yes commissioner Hayden is absent commission yes okay B introduction for first reading ordinance 24-02 Bond ordinance providing for the undertaking of 2024 Capital Improvements at and for certain facilities of Sussex County Community College located within the county of Sussex state of New Jersey appropriating 2.8 million there for and authorizing the issuance of 2.8 million bonds or notes of the county of Sussex state of New Jersey for financing such appropriation the principle of an interest on the aggregate principal amount of which will be entitled to state aid pursuant to chapter 12 of the laws of New Jersey of 1971 motion to adopt this ordinance on the first reading and authorize the clerk to advertise his ordinance as introduced for first reading and also post same on the bulletin board in the lobby of the office of County administrative Center together with the notice of public hearing stating that a hearing will be held on March 27th 2024 at 6: p.m prior to final adoption of the ordinance can I get a motion okay deputy director Carney and commissioner degr seconds any discussion uh roll call please director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner de grou yes commissioner Hayden is absent commissioner shik yes okay C introduction for first reading ordinance 24-3 Capital ordinance providing for General Capital Improvements and the acquisition of certain Capital Equipment in and for the county of Sussex state of New Jersey and appropriating the sum of 7,242 consisting of 6,250 78678 cents from the County's Capital Improvement fund and $993,000 22 cents from the County's reserve for departmental improvements to pay for the cost thereof can I get a motion to adopt this ordinance on first reading and authorize the clerk to advertise this ordinance as introduced for first reading and also post same on the bulletin board in the lobby of the County Administration Center together with a notice of public hearing stating that a hearing will be held on March 27th 2024 at 6: p.m. prior to final adoption of the ordinance can I get a motion so move okay commissioner dgr makes a motion and a second I second uh commissioner shik any discussion roll call please director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner de gr yes commissioner H is absent commissioner sh yes okay 13 appointments Andor resignations there are are none 14 we have resolutions uh a through q and we are taking out o and P can I get a motion to adopt resolutions a through Q excluding o and [Music] pay I'll still move okay deputy director Carney makes a motion and a second I'll second uh commissioner shik makes a second any discussion a roll call please director's Fe yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner the gr yes commissioner Hayden is absent commissioner s yes yes 15 Awards of contract change orders bids that would be a through F the board of County commissioners of the county of Sussex has reviewed the award of contract change orders bids consisting of various proposed resolutions and determined that adoption of the said resolutions is in and will further the public interest uh can I get a motion to adopt resolutions a through F uh deputy director Carney makes a motion and commissioner degr is a second any discussion roll call please director space yes deputy director carne yes commissioner deg yes commissioner Hayden is absent commissioner shik yes okay 16 uh Financial that would be a payment of bills March 13 2024 can I get a motion to pay the bills list uh deputy director Carney and then commissioner degu any discussion roll call please director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner de gr yes commissioner Hayden is ABS commissioner sh yes B resolution transfer of 2023 appropriation reserves can I get a motion to approve resolution Bay uh deputy director Carney makes a motion a second a second uh commissioner shik seconds any discussion roll call please director space yes deputy director Carney yes commissioner degr yes commissioner Hayden is absent commissioner shik yes 17 Personnel we have none 18 administrative report uh thank you uh just real briefly we had a very very um I was talk about one item that's going to cover a lot of different topics but we Lorraine and I had the privilege of uh having a meeting with our grant writer Millennium yesterday because a lot of the grant monies are coming available through Congress the state and all the associated areas that provide grants for us we are putting in for anywhere between four and six grants uh to cover shared service agreements with all the municipalities to have senior service recreation activities the rain has already started that conversation amongst all the municipalities to agreements to that and that that that can provide for things of capital they can provide for programs it can provide for activities it also will allow us to apply for a grant for a senior bus that will get a new bus dedicated for seniors and we can also use that for our helps over here in the courthouse we are bombarded when when the courts people go to court they get sentenced they have to go somewhere to like therapy or to some other agency they hit the street and they have nowhere to go they there's no secondary uh Transportation here in in Sussex County so it ows us to get a boat that will do a bus that will do both service seniors and service that activity that we have a need for uh we have historical grants that we're looking at for preserv historical sites such as the prosecutor's office they can give us a grant to do a scoping and planning grant for that office once that's approved then we can go after a capital Grant under that same historical process um we're looking at U um uh water quality improvement grants that will help us fund the um Wastewater line that we're getting ready to put in in Frankfurt we can get offset costs if not all for that particular project so those in a nutshell are a lot of the things that we're going after we're applying for it we're applying for everything that we think we can but the the Appropriations Committee has already released money um we are already in the queue now to start getting as much of that as we can to help out the the residents and to do shared services with the municipalities so that's all I got for tonight that sounds good 19 County Council report not tonight okay uh number 20 unfinished business uh I'll use that point just to ask you has there been any uh response from the feds on our food pantry investigation of commissioner haen not been contacted by anyone from any law enforcement agency nor has been contacted by any employee of the county to indicate that they were contacted by any law enforcement agency state or federal okay okay and then the other one was have you been contacted from the AG on a noshow job that commissioner Hayden likes to talk about no okay I didn't think so all right thank you I have new business you do you have unfinished yeah just real quick just an update I know because it's a kind of a pet peeve now we don't uh have pins and placards for our employees that been here so we are looking into getting prices Linda's been working on that we receive the prices so hopefully by the end of the month we'll have that set just so we all know so it's going to go from 25 to 50 years fivey year increments with the pins and the placards so each you know uh year will have their own placard or plaque and then the ni people's names would be on there the 50y year I was just thinking that the N the placards with their names on there would be a little larger cuz I'm not sure how many we're going to have two so have two so that's how that'll look but I'm hoping at the end of the month we have that large font large font so they can read it so that I so I can read it too we can kick that off once they get here and start uh appreciating our employees a little bit more sounds good cool uh any other unfinished business uh no no okay new business new business I have okay unless anybody else has any deputy director Corney so I have another resolution um I'm just going to read you some of it and I'll have it prepared for our next meeting this is sponsored by Senator buo and tyer it's alternate proposal fully funds the TTS and avoids higher gas tax and closes e uh in an effort to hold New Jersey Transit accountable and re reauthorize the transportation trust fund for the ttf without higher taxes Senate leader Buco uh District 25 and Senator leam tyer uh District 8 plan to introduce a proposal to B buil upon the 2016 program to make it more Nimble and functional in 20124 this plan reflects reflects the postt transportation usage of New Jersey residents and shifts f from a trouble agency back to local communities the plan proposed by again Senator buo and tber would address ways to fix the transportation trust fund the ttf reauthorizing the ttf and creating an 8-year program to fix transportation funding conducting a forensic audit of New Jersey transit to hold njt accountable closing electric vehicle loophole which currently pays nothing into infrastructure maintenance so everyone would pay their fair share putting dep depth avoidance funds to better use by investing in transportation reimaging the program distribution so more money for local infrastructure uh bringing back the susex obviously uh buot tab proposal would provide short-term Gap funding to njt for operations and capital prior to implementation of audit recommendations with the goal of sing so I will have that prepared for you guys to look over next week and then uh to introduce at our next meeting okay all right sounds good any other new business no okay and that's that okay next is the public session from the floor the 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 I a motion okay commissioner dgr makes a motion and a second please what okay I'll let yes okay and uh did I did I get a second I second second it okay uh any discussion all in favor iose motion carries okay the floor is open go ahead Mr Sao boy it's nice to have friends well I think he lives I think he lives in your town so he probably knows calling uh uh really I'm here for uh uh to discuss a little bit the bridge that's out I've gone to talk with Mr Tan who's helped me given me information I've talked to our own mayor tried to get an update on what was going on and so on and U so I'm here to try to put myself in the shoes of my neighbor and a friend who's kind of suffering over this whole issue you all may recall maybe an hour ago this gentleman policeman had to close the the window here because there was so much noise from the trucks the motorcycles take a look at the distance from here to the roadway now if you reduce that by 75% that's about what my neighbor has to put up with and we're talking about sitting here for an hour can you imagine a living at that location and not feeling that it was important enough to do something about it and the feedback I've gotten from various people is that we're talking about a five or a sixy year period who could put up with that not a single person in this room would be willing to put up with that and yet all I hear is that well the water is so so pure on one side of the the road that Water Crest grows there and Water Crest only grows in perfect water okay on the other side of the road it's full of geese on another little tiny pond and so here you've got Perfection and you've got a mess and to have to live with all of that for six years this is a an investment that this person made to buy this place a few years ago we are not the luckiest commercially available group or organization or community that you can find and this man not only invested in this Farm property that he has the acreage that goes with it but when he because he fell in love with our community when he finds out that just a few feet from his house he's got to wait for a traffic light to turn to get out of his driveway I mean it's an outrage and just to think that we can just arbitrarily blame it on the D and by the way I said before I'd rather have a tooth egg you know I think that I might rather have a kidney stone out God I've never had one but I've heard knock on what okay so is there an engineering report available to the public to understand better what the issue is is there a way do we know if we have an engineering report on May I continue uh no sorry time is up so we keep a three minute limit so we keep the meetings going but we'll make sure that we get you an answer your to your question in terms of timing on the bridge I assure you okay and and director if I may yes been in touch Mr Sabo Mr sa Mr I just just one comment on that I've been if you're referring to Demetri and I forget his last name to be honest with you I've been in contact with him and giving him updates as as we progress just so you know that thank you okay thank you thank you have a good night good evening I'm my name is Joseph laa I'm from Stillwater I just want to thank you all first for the veterans resolution that's near and dear to my heart I served five combat TS in Iraq Afghanistan I have seven campaign Stars I'm legitimate uh I've actually done it and uh what I'm here for today is that you know there is a scandal going on but with what the specific reason I'm here is in a number of capacities I'm here to address threats made to the public by Bill Hayden who sits over there but he's not here now and in the military this is called the a w or UA which is now becoming a pattern and uh for the guy who cares so much about taxes it' be nice if he takes the for the tax money that he gets paid he shows up um and Veterans have courage so veterans show up and face the consequences of their action we have an empty seat over there again U but what I'm here to say is that I have to protect Council buildings government buildings from car bombs snipers and all kinds of nasty things I've gone face to face with ansar I've gone face to face with the Zara people I've gone face to face with some nasty people around the world I've been shot at I've shot back and we've lost a lot of good men if Hayden was sitting here right now I was planning to name the the names of a lot of the guys we lost but I think their names are too good for him the threats uttered and the the threats that his opportunistic Confederates are uttering what I'm here to say is that first of all it's laughable to think that I could face the Taliban and Anar and Zara's group and bend a knee for his ridiculous threats I want the people of my County to know that those threats are bogus he can't sue you he can't hurt you he can't put you in jail and neither could his dishonest opportunistic Confederates you have every right to foer a public official's military service you have every right to question whether that person abused and lied and took advantage of the public trust and the public treasure to get leverage and he personally lied through his teeth through me and many other people in public saying that he was a veteran that he was a Navy SEAL and it was all a big lie one minute now we deal with a a manufacturing Scandal we deal with all this other drama but what I want the people here to know is that better men than Bill Hayden stood up and died against a lot meaner enemy do not not be afraid to stand up for what you believe is right and no con artist in no con artist blogger or no opportunistic Confederate looking to gain Advantage is going to intimidate me or any other American in this County thank you thank you for your service good evening Commissioners uh thank you again for that resolution can you say your name in this Steve svio pacan uh tonight I'm speaking in honor of my grandparents whom both were board veterans and issue at hand commissioner Bill Hayden is stolen Valley uh I just want to say I'm so disappointed that he's not here tonight uh looking forward all day to confronting bill but I guess he uh called out again but I'll be back a few weeks ago it was reported and verified that Bill Hayden never served in any branch in the military which he told numerous people he was a Navy SEAL including myself my grandfather and my mother's side served for the French army in World War II and was a prisoner of war for a few years then immigrated to America my other grandfather on my father's side was a Marine in cing Korea where received the Purple Heart for a service lying about your military service is the most despicable thing you can do which I don't get bill was a big reason why I got involved involved with politics years ago his work ethic and the way he reached people was actually remarkable but it makes me sad the platform he ran on was all fake all the veterans past and present made the ultimate sacrifice for their country whether they enlisted or drafted years past you make a mock rubit by lying bill you need to I know you're listening Bill you're going to listen to it tomorrow you need to to do your colleagues a favor and the county a favor and resign immediately no coming back from this whatsoever and another suggestion is use caution with these food pantry allegations there's no investigation going on as the senator Doug steinhardt alluded to last week it's not a good look and the tier future and current volunteers lastly I want to take a moment to thank all the veterans that are here uh for your service and who are in the crowd tonight again thank you for your service is so appreciated thank you very much thanks for letting me speak commissioner thank you thank you hi there I'm Gail just I live in Leighton and I was here last meeting but I got cut off CU my speech was more than 3 minutes so I'm back today to finish my speech and I'm not sure where I left off but I do believe that I got as far as going through the food pantry issue that Bill Hayden uh um was talking about that it was totally done wrong from the very beginning because it should have been investigated not by him not by anybody or making the comments here at the commissioner's meeting it should have been investigated by the state police and or the prosecutor's office long before it came here I I forgot to tell you I'm a retired New Jersey state trooper so I know what I'm talking about it should have been investigated there okay so that's that part's finished as far as Bill and the um Stolen Valor goes you know I had a very long talk with him the night of Jack citarelli's uh run for governor against Murphy and I don't know what date that was and I'm not sure what year but he and I and several members from the uh Skylands um Republican Skylands te party uh went down to attend the party when I left we were winning when I got home he weren't so my point here is I had time to talk to him and he told me over and over again that hey I was a Navy SEAL I was in modish I was wounded I saved my entire Squad I received the highest Medal of Honor that the country gives I mean I'm thinking all the stuff I did in the State Police I didn't do any of that stuff he is so much better of a person and I was very impressed with him as I have had other conversations with him now I want to get to the other conversations of which I feel very embarrassed that I actually fell for his con truly because I really am smarter than that so back several years ago when he was running for a commissioner one minute oh [Laughter]  so back several years ago when he was running for commissioner at the Skylands tea party meeting uh he said to me I'm collecting donations for my run for commissioner so I wrote him a check Wells Fargo check 2207 written to Hayden for commissioner Hayden for commissioner he told me that he was a veteran that's the only reason I gave him the money I've done some checking it is unethical for Bill Hayden to collect campaign money or or contributions based on a falsehood that has that tells that you were a veteran so to take the money under these certain conditions violates the ethics laws to which he indeed never did serve as a veteran and if he did if he's not guilty then when I report him to on to the ethics Bureau for me giving him his this check they can figure out and he has the DD214 and I want my $1 thank you gaale Gil before you walk away I want to thank you for your service to the state and your career with the New Jersey State Police thank you well thank you but I want to tell you that my uncle Under World War II was was held prisoner for years wow and my son is in Syria as of tomorrow Syria Ken Ken Collins and over Township um I had no idea that uh there was going to be anybody here from still water so first I want to uh thank you guys for the veterans resolution and second I want to uh voice my support for the issue in still water with the temporary traffic light it needs to be removed as soon as possible and some other solution needs to go in there because uh you know I drive through there every single day and I see accident to that are about to happen all the time and what he said about the noise outside that gentleman's house it's literally from 10 ft outside there the road's right there right outside his front door trucks are sitting there idling um I came here tonight to address commissioner Hayden who's not president present and demand his resignation which I will continue to do until Mr Hayden resigns I want to thank you for censoring him and I urge you all to twist all the arms it takes to secure Mr Hayden's resignation without further delay as I personally advised him to do before tonight's meeting but since he said there were no resignations apparently he didn't do that um pretending to be a veteran is as Despicable as it gets um without question almost nobody in this room except for the seven people who are facing me right now and the two police at the entrance uh were even aware of what my t-shirt says uh tonight until Mr steinhardt ch was to bring it to the attention of literally everyone in this room uh there was no disruption until Mr steinhardt chose to cause a disruption uh my t-shirt did not cause any disruption whatsoever um free speech is protected by the United States con Constitution and the use of the words on my t-shirt are protected Free Speech as defined by the United States Judicial System uh I I would like to thank Mr steinhardt for making sure everyone saw my t-shirt and knows exactly what it said and uh for giving me a valid reason to sue him for violating my civil rights thank you and have a good night thank you for your service and I was also very distracted by your shirt so that was why another reason why you were asked to cover it so Jim balini stand um I'm not going to speak long I just wanted to say enough has been said about Bill time to put him behind his for him to resign um things are clearly out there that need to be need to be done I am going to add something about the food pantry though um I've worked in the food pantry volunteered my family's been there my daughter can you talk louder we can't hear sure my daughter my son my entire family has been down with food P volunteer and I would I would tell you that they do some damn fine work and to disparage it in this way is uh you know I like sunlight If there really is such a thing as as something needing to be investigated fine but this is a separate issue in Bill and a lot of people want to put them together and they're not together they're two separate issues You' got to step down um the reality is the information is out there it's not rumors plenty of people including myself have had this conversation and heard this conversation with him so I think that at this point he should be the the person in the room to do the right thing but like I said I'm put we should put him behind us and uh please make sure that we continue to support the food pantry in every way that we can U because like I said they do damp fying good work thank you thank you Glon Hall sers in town ship um I'm bringing up the Broadband issue and I spoke to Mr carne about it last night is there an application for this for this grant I am not the director and this is not Q&A so there's no application it's it's comments it's your public comment I'm not going to well I would like if there is I would like to have it consider you know I'm just understanding I don't understand why susus county is applying for a Broadband Grant are you going to do the work yourself applying this broadband and I don't know what you mean by Broadband I'd like to have an explanation of it you keep saying Broadband yeah this is just for your comments not for questions to the well all right I'm commenting the county should Express themselves on what Broadband is uh is it fourth generation fifth generation is it sixth generation we're past third so that's why I mentioned these three generations fourth fifth and sixth is you're talking about about is this a transmitter that's going to be put on telephone poles 5G or what I I would like to know because there is dangers in certain Broadband it's microwave not everybody wants Broadband so my point is you keep talking broadband and there's no explanation of it I just the term Broadband is General it doesn't mean anything so let's have an explanation of what it is what and why are we bringing it the statement was people don't have internet last night that's false that is false that was a false statement Mr K you blew it there's all kinds of internet in this County and it comes by copper wire it comes by fiber optic it comes by cable wire and it comes by solar so you know I don't I don't understand why this push for this I think it's $6 million that's that was a number that was thrown out so I think the county needs to have an ex ation to the people so I minute one minute all right thank you so it's if we're going to talk Broadband let's be specific let the people know what is being presented what's being you know encouraged on this County by this commission you understand what I'm saying can you get that out to the public now I think an explanation is needed of what you mean by it and what you're presenting to the people can you understand it Jack so all right very good so what do I have left seconds thank thank you um director if I may um not to it back and forth as I as I told you last night Glenn pardon me I'm sorry partial death I'm sorry I'm again I'm not I'm just giving you my comment now I'm not asking for you to return the comment like I I said to you last night at the meeting I've been more than happy to talk to you on a side note okay I said to everybody in public before we have a meeting on Friday so I can educate myself a little bit more so once that happens I will be more than happy to give it to everybody in the room I am very very transparent again I'm not looking for your comment I am not looking for your comment I'm just telling you what I what I'm willing to do could I go to the meeting you cannot come to our meeting I cannot that's all I have to say thank you thank you okay we're ready Tammy ques fire Township notex county has good internet I'm just going to say that I'm in bym my husband works from home we have very few options with with what our internet provider is very few very few Alternatives and working from home he gets dropped from his meetings if our believe or not we still have a we in line when the landline Rings the internet goes out we had people there I don't even know how many times so it it actually is is a problem in the county so that's just all I wanted to say I I I applaud this being looked at so thank you have inferior internet you still have time do you have inferior internet or do you not have so we don't do that it's not a QA sorry okay anyone else for the good of Sussex County okay can I get a motion to close the floor for public comment and return to regular business still moved okay deputy director Carney makes a motion in a second second commissioner shik any discussion all in favor I I oppos abstain motion carries number 23 reminders please check the County's website at www.sex.nj.us804anddate.com a lot of things uh the 16th I didn't mean to insult you if I did I the 16th is is our uh parade in New in oh yes y you forgot that in your commissioner comments then what time is par you should know I'm not telling 11 11 a.m. is the everybody should show up and throw beads or whatever you guys would do can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting okay uh deputy director Carney and commissioner deu all in discussion all in favor I oppose motion carries end of meeting