[Music] [Music] okay so at this time I will call our regular meeting to order Clerk of the board can you please call the role commissioner Baker president commissioner bodek here commissioner delis for commissioner granados here commissioner Kowalski here commissioner Mirabella present commissioner Williams here Vice chairwoman Leon here chairwoman pal mudet here chair chair we have eight Commissioners present for this evening's regular meeting thank you Clerk of the board please lead us in the prayer and salute to the flag humbly we ask God The Giver of peace and lover of Charity to give the entire family of Nations true agreement with his will and to Grant the light of his Spirit on all all who work for justice and peace amen pledge allegiance to the FL of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all Clerk of the board please read the statement of compliance with the open public meetings act the chair wishes to announce that pursuant to the requirements of New Jersey statutes annotated t 10 chapter 4 section 10 of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting of the board of County commissioners of the county of Union has been given by mailing the annual meeting schedule for the year 2024 along with periodic changes necessitated by circumstance to the newspaper circulating within the county of Union who are designated to receive such notice and by posting the annual meeting scheduled for the year 2024 in the administration building and further by filing the annual meeting schedule for the year 2024 with the office of the C count clerk thank you tonight we have a need to go into executive session County Council please make your statement relative to tonight's executive session thank you chair pursuant to provisions of the open public meetings act a public body may enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing certain enumerated subjects this board now wishes to enter executive session for the purpose of discussing attorney client privileged discussion concerning review and contract negotiations for Cornerstone Behavioral Health Hospital of Union County the minutes of the executive session shall be separated from the minutes of the open public session the minutes of the executive session redacted as appropriate and necessary shall be available in approximately 30 days the clerk to the board shall retain the original minutes until such time as the confidential limitations have been removed at which time they shall be made available upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the members presid pres the board May retire to Executive session upon the board's return it may or may not take formal action on the matter discussed thank you chair thank you may I have a motion to enter into executive session so move mam chair second a motion was made by commissioner Mirabella and was seconded by commissioner Williams Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker I commissioner bodc I commissioner granados I commissioner Kowalski yes Mirabella I commissioner Williams I Vice chairwoman Leon I and chairwoman palmary mudad I for the record reflect you have eight votes in the affirmative to enter into executive session okay thank you okay may I have a motion to return from executive session so move Madam chair second uh a motion was made by commissioner Mirella was seconded by commissioner Williams Clerk of the board please call the role okay this is for a return from EXE commissioner Baker uh present commissioner bodc here commissioner granados here commissioner Kowski here commissioner Mirabella here commissioner Williams here Vice chairwoman Leon here and chairwoman P mudad here have eight eight votes in the affirmative to return uh from executive session thank you uh County Council Bergen do you have anything to announce as a result of the executive session thank you chairman nothing to announce at this time thank you may I have a motion to approve the communications so move Madam chair second a motion was made by commissioner Mirabella was seconded by commissioner Kowalski Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker I commissioner bodc I commissioner granados I commissioner Kowalski yes commissioner Mirabella I commissioner Williams I Vice chairwoman Leon I and chairwoman pal mudad I chair you have eight votes in the affirmative on all the communications thank you um may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the following Thursday January 4th 2024 installation ceremony and reorganization meeting Thursday January 25th 2024 agenda setting session and Thursday January 20 5th 2024 regular meeting so moved second second uh a motion was made by Vice chairwoman Leon and was seconded by commissioner bodak Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker I commissioner bodc I commissioner granados I with the exception of January 25th regular meeting commissioner Kowalski yes on January 4th abstain on January 25th commissioner Mirabella I to all commissioner Williams uh I with the exception of the uh January 4th reorganization meeting Vice chair Leon I to all and chairwoman P Mar mudad I to all chairman you have uh seven votes in the affirmative with one exstension for the the Thursday January 4th Installation ceremony and reorganization meeting uh seven votes in the affirmative one exstension of the Thursday January 25th uh agenda setting session and six votes in the affirmative with two abstentions for the Thursday January 25th 2024 regular meeting minutes okay thank you tonight we have one ordinance for adoption and one ordinance for introduction Clerk of the board please read the ordinance for adoption by title certainly ordinance number 848 d202 an ordinance to amend the laws of Union County administrative code and policies and general legislation by amending part one Administrative Code chapter one Union County government structure and part two policies and general legis legislation chapter 26 benefits at this time I will open the meeting to the public for the purpose of commenting on ordinance 848-2288 before you begin if I may um just to be sure there's no misunderstanding I'd like to reiterate what I said forth an email to you uh the day before our meeting two weeks ago your recent Behavior necessitates the following warning as to your actions and words during and following meetings of the Union County Board of County Commissioners as you well know the published and posted bylaws of the board provide that quote no speaker shall make any inflammatory personal comments or attacks threats or engage in the use of vulgar comments or profanity close quote further the county has quote the authority to enforce these rules by ending a speaker's time early or by having the speaker removed from the meeting room close quote the purpose of the public comment portion of the meeting is to allow residents to express Express reasoned opinions as to County policy for the board's consideration unfortunately your implicit and explicit personal attacks do nothing to further the goal of legitimate public discourse and will not be tolerated you have been warned on more than one occasion as to the impropriety of your remarks yet you continue to do so further violations will not be allowed and will be dealt with appropriately including your removal from the meeting room further your gross misconduct immediately after the meeting two meetings ago was adjourned will not be tolerated acting in a physically threatening matter toward any Union County employee is totally unacceptable should you do so again in the future there will be appropriate penalties including the potential for being barred from attending board meetings or entering the County Administration Building Clerk of the board you may begin the speaker five minutes at this time thank you chair I'll basically respond to that in the next public comment portion uh good evening ladies and gentlemen Bruce Patterson Garwood New Jersey uh for this ordinance please uh detail the public What specifically has changed in the benefit section since this could have an impact on additional tax monies expenditures for employed benefits and does this have to do with that uh reso that's upcoming about the positions being included in the dcrp thank you seeing no one seeing no no one else I will formally close this portion of the meeting and ask our policy chair commissioner Mirabella a question first yeah go ahead um no this is nothing to do with the resolution this simply clarifies the um health benefit plan for uh retirees it clarifies what's in our manual thank you thank you I will ask policy chair commissioner Mirabella to move ordinance 848-2288 48224 for final reading and authorize the clerk of the board to advertise the same in accordance with the law I'll second the motion a motion was made by commissioner Marabella was seconded by commissioner kski Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker I commissioner bodc I commissioner granados I commissioner Kowalski yes commissioner Mirabella hi commissioner Williams Vice chairwoman Leon I and chairwoman pal mudad I chair May the record reflect have seven votes in the affirmative on uh ordinance number 848-2288 please read the ordinance for introduction by title ordinance number 849 d224 an ordinance to modify the Union County District Solid Waste Management plan to one include the waste management of New Jersey in facilities in Elizabeth New Jersey as the County's designated facilities to which Solid Waste types 13 I'm sorry include the waste management of New Jersey and facilities in Elizabeth New Jersey as the County's designated facilities to which Solid Waste types 13 13c 23 and 27 are directed for disposal two incorporate the solid waste disposal services agreement by and between the Union County Utilities Authority and waste management of New Jersey Inc for the provision of disposal services for solid waste types 13 13c 20 3 and 27 and three direct all Solid Waste types 13 13c 23 and 27 to the waste management of New Jersey Inc facilities in Elizabeth New Jersey for disposal pursuant to regulatory waste flow control at this time I will ask UC see UA liaison commissioner granados to move the ordinance I move ordinance number authorize the clerk of the board to advertise the same in accordance with the law the public hearing and final reading will be held on March 13th 2024 second a motion was made by commissioner granados and was seconded by commissioner Mir Bella Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker I commissioner bodc I commissioner granados hi commissioner Kowalski yes commissioner Mirabella I Vice chairwoman Leon i chairwoman p mudet i you forgot somebody and joining is commissioner Williams hi I'm sorry about that chair you have eight votes in the affirmative on the introduction of the ordinance thank you at this time I would like to call upon County Manager opman to comment on his 2024 executive budget which has been presented to the board thank you madam chair as County Manager I am pleased to present the 2024 executive budget for the last four years we have maintained a 0% tax increase in order to sustain our commitment to providing quality services and programs for our residents it is necessary to make the difficult decision to submit a 2024 budget with a 1.75 tax increase which is d by infl excuse me which is driven by inflation Rising operating cost and the labor market challenges despite this our AAA credit rating is maintained reflecting a strong fiscal responsibility Union County also continues to prioritize shared services to come funding challenges which optimize our resources this decision was not made lightly and we will we want to assure the community that every effort has been made to minimize the impact on our residents excuse me we appreciate the community's understanding and support as we navigate these fiscal challenges to uphold Union County's high quality of life I want to thank our Board of County Commissioners our department heads for their support and specifically the Department of Finance including VB Taylor John diic and Ali henriquez who have worked tirelessly during this process in crafting this budget thank you thank you the meeting is now open to the public for the purpose of commenting on resolutions being offered for adoption Andor on any governmental issue that a member of the public feels may have be may be of concern kindly state your name and town of residence for the record and if speaking on a resolution on the agenda please note the resolution number to which you are referring to and adhere to the five minute time limit good evening Commissioners first I'd like to thank Madam chairwoman and and commissioner Mirella for responding back to us last week and giving us a little insight on your feelings on how we're going to move forward um commissioner Mirabella listen I I I apologize ol for myself and whoever if you thought we were trying to be sarcastic that is the last thing we want to do we do not want to come here cause issues or problems for you guys all we want to do is could you just give your name in town of residence pleas Wilson thank you par thank you all we want to do is play golf as we stated before I also want to thank your engineer and and your director from State about 20 minutes extra just to answer some questions which was very enlightening to us um and of course the two police officers that made sure we behaved ourselves um chairwoman as I said all we want to do is one thing we all we want you to do is clear the debris out out of the creek and that's going to solve all problem then we go away simple as that um Ricardo Mr Matas the engineer not much I can say about him he's a very nice guy he's a gentleman he knows his job um he's very committed um he did have a couple questions that that we asked that were not able to be answered maybe someone else can answer them tonight for us so I want I want to look at uh and and one other thing uh commissioner Mir Bella I've only been new to this County since 2012 and you mentioned that the money that you whatever with whatever happened with Oakridge I never had the opportunity to play there but you mentioned that that you put the money into Ashbrook and and Galloping Hill and I was just curious how much money did go into the Ashbrook back then when you closed the golf course um so I I want to just talk about where we are today um we talked to the engineer as I stated we mentioned that had a de deep permit that was a five-year permit and this handled uh mosquitoes and debris and so forth that that that permit expired which they reapplied for my one of my questions is why we had to wait why we didn't clear the creek last year the year before that the year before that because all this happened as we State and we got we got proof of that all this took place some hurricane Ida so here's my two questions you get the permit who makes the decision on who's going to do the work because apparently from what I understand from the engineer it's not going to be his call so if you do it in house you can do it right away if you Outsource it to Fletcher Kramer then you got to develop specs and then you got to go out the bid and we know how long that takes and that's another problem because now you're talk in the end of the summer so that's one question the second question is all we want is the creek to be cleared we got we got video we got we know what the problems are we going through the engineer one of our members did all the research from Google Map um it goes back to that area where the excavator got stuck um and basically it all started from Hurricane Ida as I mentioned um I don't want to have a back and for I know we can't have a back and forth but I'd be willing to sit down with maybe three of you your engineer and your director and so we can iron this out and develop a plan how we're going to move forward even the county manager I'm all for that but we don't want to come here every every two weeks we don't want to what we want to do is play golf and in order to play golf the only way we're going to play golf there is someone's got to clear that Creek and it has to happen sooner than later because we know what happens in March we know what happens in April it rains and when it rains it just backs up the water is flowing in the wrong direction it's flowing onto the course and set her out to wherever it goes out that way so we ask you again Madam chairwoman please help us because all we want to do is play golf and in order for us to play golf there all we're asking all one thing clear the creek I don't care about the building I don't care about anything else on the golf course clear the creek so the water flows off the golf course that's all we're asking please thank you and again I was told I was mean it might be my Irish taking over but it's all about passion all right I'm very passionate about playing golf ashb thank you all and these are all the guys all the goodlooking guys see the good-looking ones there so they're all here tonight too for support so please thank you okay Chuck Snider from uh Clark I am following up kind of with with Fran I'm the person that you uh mentioned is doing the Google Map search so what I did did was uh I looked at Google Map the history you can look back at from 2012 2013 2014 you can get view so what I did was I went online and I looked and you can see the where the where the creek is and how it's flowing and you can see the history of everything that happened and um what you could see is that uh everything was fine up until hurricane Ida on on September 1st you can see it's clearly it's flooded completely the whole course is flooded the the swamp itself back there is all was all flooded a few days later the water has receded but after that you could see that the creek just stops right right about where the power lines are uh right where the uh there's like a burm kind of um and that that all of the all of the garbage that came through in Hurricane I got trapped right there there's a little Bend in the brook and everything got trapped right there so the way it is right now the the uh I guess the uh the company that went back there and cleaned out the uh uh got the excavator unstuck uh they built a wooden roadway uh right underneath the U power lines and that um bcts the the creek and so right now that that that wooden path the wooden planks are still there and they're actually impeding the flow of the Creek right now so there's there's definitely a Time U component to this in getting it done we you got to get those wooden planks out of there where you'll you'll never get done so with with that being said since the wooden planks are there um now is the time to get an excavator uh you can you can reach over from the roadway without going without putting the excavator in Jeopardy and and you can clear out the creek and then get rid of those wooden pranks and and open the whole thing up so there's there's some urgency to it and and there's an opportunity to to do it without having to reinvent the wheel so um there was a couple other things the um uh oh the other the other thing that I want to just touch on real quickly was there was a we got a set of plans um I think Ricardo or somebody had forward it to us uh about the the drainage issues and the plans to uh to fix the drainage both at Ashbrook and at at Galloping Hill unfortunately all of those plans those 28 pages of plans none of them addressed the the issue of the creek they all had to do with uh uh creeks and and tributaries and whatnot on the course itself but none of them addressed the the big issue which was the one in the back there so I'm just wondering how how that can be that we came up with all of these plans and they did all these studies and everything and you know the elephant in the room wasn't wasn't addressed at all so I'm just trying to understand that all right thank you thank you uh good good evening ladies and gentlemen the commissioner board Bruce Patterson Garwood New Jersey my statement to council Bergen but anyway I apologize for missing the last meeting I was under the weather at that point uh during the previous meeting from various interactions I received a friendly warning email from Council Bergen in stating Mo no speaker shall make any inflammatory personal comments and it had some threats attached to it that sounds nice but the ACU would certainly take exception to that since citizens have a right to confront and criticize their government and its high-profile officials through relevant free speech I would also hope Council Bergen sent a warning to commissioner leyon for her conduct on becoming an elected official calling a resident with an inflammatory and senseless insult and Hope berens sent another warning to the $300,000 Finance chair who approached me after the meeting stared at me and threatened me let me address that meeting I attended where absurdities invectives and insults were thrown around on both sides of the aisle and regretfully also after the meeting although I did not initiate that discourse but I'll apologize Upfront for my actions the main absurdity during the meeting was when commissioner Lords Leon called me a misogynist while she acted un professional in this she was also sadly ill-conceived to my reputations back in 2017 I stood at this microphone and advocated that the new County Manager the highest appointment in this County should be promoted from within I recommended Amy Wagner since she has the experience and was properly next in line for the position however Senator scutari your political boss forced his BFF Ed Oatman who doesn't even live in this County and with no such experience for this position to be the new County Manager scutari obviously did not want a woman in the highest ranking position in the county talk about being misogynist in addition just last election I wrote a letter supporting three women running for local Council Plus at every meeting I gave deference to former commissioner Dr Garson maybe commissioner LS Leon Daydreams while up there since she missed many of my criticizing of males not getting into details of their corrupted activities I blasted at Marella which I do to this day Sergio granadas Oatman Hudak Bergen Sanchez Sullivan lesnak crying the worst of the worst seratus Jr Romano Frolic daini Graziano even scutari many times going back 15 years and plenty other males in the past uh many of you weren't probably even here when I was when I was criticizing them so the question is do I hate women do I hate men no what I hate is all all of you the corrupted commissioner board agents who have embraced our or turned a blind eye toward such a corrupted system of tax money waste and abuse and the self-serving riches beyond compare to yourselves your relatives friends and donors while trying to hide huge disasters and expensive boom doggles created knowingly by all of you so much non-transparency I and others have pointed out over the years sadly the scrutiny is frequently by only one resident who attends here your level of government to your luck disconnected from the local level but that doesn't mean you should keep doing the abuse someone must stand here to scrutinize and point out that you are not the Silver Bullet you think you are just because you have half a billion dollars to Foster your unwarranted arrogance proven in the courts and the com controllers report and of course the scrutiny and criticizing will continue uh if I have time to resolutions 165 is giving CME Associates A4 million dollars for an onall environmental engineering services this is a lot of money for not describing anything please explain to the public how many projects are involved and how this dollar amount was determined number 187 is spending nearly $7,000 to CMS for the nagan pedestrian bridge replacement I've seen that bridge many times it looks in good shape so what is motivating its replacement and 190 is giving UC Pac over $300,000 for booking in facilitation of the Fall concert series back in 2010 the prosecutor found ucac had pilfered $100,000 of tax monies and was forced to give it back how are we monitoring their spending to assure the taxpayers won't thank you hello Madam commissioner and Madam chairman Commissioners Jeff risel Cranford been a resident for a long time and also a member of uh the Ashbrook men's group Association which you see 17 of us have showed up tonight um we really do value Ashbrook uh Ashbrook is a beautiful course beautiful layout Parkland style course the only problem right now is that four holes are being reclaimed by Nature the water problem at Ash Brook is such that many times we cannot play there if there's an inch of rain in in the on the park so I have to tell you that a lot of us are now playing in Somerset County when those days happen because they're always open we are just asking please I mean Fran Chuck they both gave very logical explanations about what's going on there but we are actually losing four holes they will eventually be completely destroyed destroyed by the water the water is literally the same height as the fairways now and that's because it's backing up in the creek and this Creek can be cleared out it just hasn't been maintained we've heard and I was the president of this Association back in 2010 and showed up at this uh meeting uh for the uh Oak Ridge closure um this could be addressed but supposedly the D rules like God in uni County and they will not allow us to clear out that Creek I mean you guys went back there and tried to do it and lost an excavator we applaud the effort but not the result we really just want to see the course playable this this this year and if you wait till September to get it bided out these holes are getting worse and worse I mean there's puddles mud throughout all four uh holes that I'm talking about from 14 15 16 17 and also number five hole they're literally coming quag Meyers and if you don't do something you guys are in charge of parks if you don't take some kind of effort some action some kind of plan to fix this we're not going to be able to play at this course in a number of years it's going to be completely destroyed that water is literally completely destroying those four holes and if you don't have four holes you have 14 hole course that's not golf so please take it to heart and do something come up with a plan and fix it it's been years and years and years and we need some action now thank you yeah that's VI Commissioners Bob casone Westfield New Jersey Commissioner Mirabella last week you said you were offended by sarcasm we weren't trying to be sarcastic we were trying to be truthful okay I would think a jersey guy doing this as long as you would be be a little bit more thick skinned than that so come on you're going you're not going it again you're not going to be you're not going to be offended you just apologize for it then just did it so appreciate thank you for nothing that's that's that's the nature of my uh my talk tonight but you know what I'm not going to talk about the course itself I'm going to give you something that you can do something about uh Monday I went to uh Somerset County and uh was able to get a Somerset County card for $200 out of County Senior rate pretty fair deal senior rate in County Union County $300 there's no discount yet there's a senior discount for the 7-Day card it's 20% less than you know uh if you're not a senior so you guys can make a senior rate for the 14-day card for us like every other County in New Jersey that has gol courses does seniors are afforded a discount all right so you can go from $300 for everybody that plays the senior rate at 62 and above would go down to 240 that's something that's you know well within the realm of your your powers and something you could do that would be a nice gesture and sign to the rest of us that something's moving along on a positive note for us just a thought my second thought for you is everybody that you've had come in to work on that course and I've been playing there all my life but the last say seven or eight years uh you haven't had really a golf architect company come in you've had the county guys doing it you've had this you know the guys that work at the golf course I mean these guys are you know uh Architects that are you know know where to grade and you know where water's going to flow there's so many golf architect companies in New Jersey and today when we were driving down to Mammoth County I passed two on Route 35 for why can't we get somebody like them to come in even if they just come in to do a survey for you you spent $50,000 last year for a company to come in and tell us the creek was blocked up and I told you we could have given you that for $200 all right that's not being sarcastic that's being truthful okay so there's something you could look at you know can we bring in somebody you know a golf architect company golf design company to come in and take a look at ashburg and what they can do and if you could take a look at that card you know for with a senen your discount for the 14 day that' be a help that' be at least a shot in the right direction okay thank you thank you good evening uh Matt Lachlan Westfield uh I won't take five minutes I just want to reiterate some of the message that you heard today and just move it perhaps in a slightly different direction which is the loss of Revenue and the loss of access by Union County Citizens to what is a jewel that has unfortunately become tarnished over the last decade or so maybe a little bit more I think the neighboring counties that you do business with that we travel through all the time Essex and Somerset both sides of the aisle represented there have facilities that outshine ours Galloping Hill certainly is a fantastic facility but we have another course that is slowly wasting away and so from a pride standpoint we've lost that battle for instance this weekend Ashbrook has already announced that it's closed now I grant you it's February and there's only a few crazies who will be out there necessarily golfing but as the the rain continues and water issues go unabated revenue is lost by keer and I presume the county because you can't use the facility so from a lot of standpoints Pride and finances I think it would behoove all of us to find a solution to it there are easy steps that can be taken cleaning out that Brook which would be a start there may be more expensive approaches that are needed in order to fully take care of the problem but if we begin to take steps I think you will see that that gem that Jewel that's over 70 years old will come back to condition that all of us can be proud of I don't know how many of the board golf I don't know whether or not you utilize the facility but I can tell you that those of us who do would love to see something done to make it as good as it can possibly be so thank you for your time thank you hi my name is Ray Moscow I've been a Scotch Plains resident for about 60 years and I just like to say for me personally I don't know what people think about golf but it's not just golf for us it's it's ju men it's like a little leager playing baseball that day that's the excitement we get from it and I'm getting on it aged I don't know how much time I have left I can't play golf as much as I used to and this year could be my last I don't know so the quicker you get this done these months are important to us every round of golf we have left we have older members every round is important we don't know when it's going to be our last so just imagine we're a bunch of little leagues that's how anxious we are to play and if you take the Little League fields away from them that's what you're taken away from us and I hope you understand that thank you [Music] okay see you must know I have five little children at home so you knew how to tug on the heartstrings there I and I love guys I love fix I don't deal fix thank you uh seeing no one else I will formally close this portion of the meeting um I'm going to ask uh Vicky if she could please come forward our director of Parks and Recreation to address number resolution 187 the nagan uh pedestrian bridge thank you chair um the nagan pest pedestrian bridge is deemed in need of replacement structurally um evaluated it we went out to bid um lowest bid was awarded the lowest reasonable bid and it was under our estimate thank you thank you and I'd like to call forward um our engineer Ricardo Matas to please uh address resolution 165 as well as um make any comments on the golf course thank you chair uh resolution uh 2024 165 is uh for CME Associates for environmental onc call services this is to address U various issues going on at all County buildings anything related to any type of environmental um concerns uh issues that may arise during repairs and work um in terms of the the golf um I was trying to keep track of questions as best as I could but um uh in terms of the plants yes the the the the issue was to try and we spoke about this last week uh to try and um create long-term improvements to the golf course um because we don't want to get into a situation where we okay we clear the creek but now I think it's kind of INE inevitable that we're going to have another Ida at some point and then we're kind of back into the same position so the idea is to try and clear the creek which was an attempt that was made uh and then also perform long-term improvements uh to the golf course okay thank you director um before you go uh back that was the purpose of the excavator that we waited two years to get because of the supply chain issue so we did go back there to we knew about the blockage we did go back there correct to um to perform the clear right correct what was that I'm sorry we were speaking we're trying to answer your questions guys but um that was the purpose is correct so cor correct they they went back there to try and clear the obstructions that was kind of like a first phase a first approach to it and then also separately which is why we hired an engineering firm to try and do long-term improvements so that hopefully when the next Ida hits we don't have such an accumulation of of buildup and and debris Downstream thank you okay at this portion I will ask for a motion to adopt resolutions 20241 158 through 2024 d204 so Mo bound chair second uh a motion was made by commissioner Mirabella seconded by commissioner Baker Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker I commissioner bodc I commissioner granados I commissioner Kowalski uh yes except on number 202 4158 no yes on the rest commissioner Mirabella I commissioner Vice chairwoman Leon I and chairwoman pal mudad I chair you have seven votes in the affirmative on all resolutions with the exception of resolution one uh 2024 d158 we have six votes in the affirmative and one in the negative okay thank you clerk uh I'm going to move to commissioner comments and reports I'll start with commissioner bodak sure the Union County Board of Elections wants to remind all voters who plan to change their party affiliation that they must do so by April 10th to participate in their new party's primary election on June 4th please keep in mind a new law that went into effect in 2023 and was updated in 2024 any unaffiliated voter who has opted to receive a vote by mail ballot for all future elections or for the June 4th primary election must declare their party by May 28th 2024 to receive their vote by mail ballot through the mail voters can call the Board of Elections at 908 527 4123 to confirm their party affiliation residents can view all the ways to change their party affiliation at www.nj.org booe the April 10th deadline does not apply to voters who are currently unaffiliated they may declare their party at the polls during early voting from May 29th through June 2nd or on June 4th election day for all Union County Board of election information please visit www.uc j.org booe or by calling the election board at 9852775034 TPA Board of Trustees at its January meeting in accordance with the board's bylaws un Ocean County Commissioner John Kelly elected chairman of the board appointed commissioner Kowalski to that position the njtpa provides a vital Regional perspective to Transportation issues whether it's supporting the critical role that Freight plays in our local economy or prioritizing the funding for much needed local safety improvements safety is a priority Union County and through the application of the njp TPA local safety program we are able to secure 10.7 million for improvements to 14 intersections in five of our municipalities and that's no small part to commissioner kowal's efforts the the work involves C crosswalks and accessible curb ramps in Berkeley Heights lyen New Providence Rosel and Summit commissioner kosi has been legislator in Union County since 2004 and a member of the routon valley rail Coalition she's long advocated for transportation improvements as well as for parks open space social services and cultural Affairs she joined the njtpa board in 2020 after previously serving as an alternate prior to being named the third vice chair she served as Secretary she served as Vice chair of the project prioritization committee and been a member of several Freight initiative committees congratulations commissioner Kazi keep up the great work thank you very much also quick note Madame chair um last weekend I was able to attend a conference the National Association of counties in DC uh along with director Anderson I thank director Anderson for always um supporting no and attending her own um set of meetings down there but at that meeting I was a able to lead a panel discussion on a national level on the salt tax state and lo local tax uh that hurts New Jersey residents every year they file their uh taxes uh several years ago there was a cap put on to the amount that could be deducted of $10,000 uh and the na is advocating for the full um restoration of of being able to deduct the full amount so um I was happy to lead that effort I hope it amounts to some change at the Congressional level it's certainly a federal program and needs Federal attention and I'll be advocating with our uh Congress people and Senators to uh try to restore that deduction for us and the cap was made and it hurts people in Union County and across the state of New Jersey so I just wanted to give you an update Madam chair and with that update I'll conclude my comments thank you thank you commissioner May Bella commissioner Kowski thank you chairwoman um thanks to uh commissioner Mel for the nice uh statement I of course um working with the njtpa um it's uh important to note that we couldn't I couldn't do the work with them without the support of this board and um and and with the support of the uh economic devel development department and um Deputy County Manager Wagner and uh Liza bets who is uh one of our transportation experts who can answer just about any transportation question you have so um anyway enough on that but um tomorrow we'll be uh announcing well we're announcing tonight but tomorrow we will be celebrating uh Dr deand Hargrove who is the vice president for student development for Union College of Union County he'll be two 2024's award recipient of the 12th annual Chester Holmes humanitarian award and we'll be presenting this award and then there'll be a free jazz performance in honor of Black History Month uh at the Union County Performing Arts Center Hamilton stage in raway um Dr Hargrove is an accomplished public uh published author and speaker and he has focused on topics such as student retention goal setting leadership development and Emergency Management so he's a very very deserving uh awarde um and just about the Chester holes humanitarian award itself we established this in 2012 um as a highlight of Black History Month and we honored former County Freehold and raway Resident Chester Holmes who passed away later that year um CH was a former police officer a community volunteer member of the Army National Guard as well as a businessman and a raway councilman and he was somebody who really devoted himself to Union County um this program is funded by impart by a grant from the New Jersey historical commission a division of cultural Affairs in the department of State and by the New Jersey state Council on the Arts which is a partner of the National Endowment for the Arts and another event I'm I'm sure everyone is aware we've been having multiple events about black history and I'm sorry um commissioner Williams had to leave because she has been a speaker at a number of these events and uh all all of the Commissioners have have attended uh one meeting or another including uh the uh Elizabeth NAACP Galla which um um commissioner Williams and commissioner granados and prosecutor Daniel and I were were pleased to attend but um another event that's coming up is the an a speech in remembrance of the landmark Supreme Court case Gibbons versus Ogden and this will be um held at uh at the courthouse house um it'll feature a presentation by Professor uh Professor Edward hartnet um of Sean Hall University on Monday March 4th from at 12:30 in the courtroom of honorable Lisa Morales Walsh on the first floor Tower of the Union County courthouse uh we recognize the bicentennial of this significant event in the early history of the US due to its connection with our area and Gibbons and Ogden were both residents of Elizabeth Town now known of course as Elizabeth and it was a court case that dealt with Steamboat navigation so this is a also free of charge event but registration is required so you can do that by going to ucnj.org gbo and this is also supported by the New Jersey historical commission and the County Office of cultural and Heritage Affairs so more information if you don't want to check the web uh 558 2550 thank you chairwoman thank you commissioner Baker thank you um the Union County Board of election advises Westfield residents that Tuesday March 26th is the deadline for voter registration for the April 16th 2024 annual School Board election the election will take place from 700 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. voting will take place at the regular polling locations which can be found on the uh election board website ww. nj.org uh SL UCB e the secure ballot Dropbox for the Westfield annual School Board election is located at the Frasier building uh 300 North Avenue East Westfield and will be open for the selection for voters wishing to return their mail and ballot by using the Dropbox for full information on the annual School Board election please visit ww. ucnj.org booe or you can call 9852775034 4123 thank you thank you commissioner granados thank you very much thank you chair um just to address some of the comments that were mentioned before by Mr Patterson um when it comes to our County Manager County Manager Atman County manager oan came in as a County Manager hitting the ground running but someone even before BEC the County Manager for our County he was someone who was dealing with local state federal and County um issues programs policies someone who I think we've gained a great asset when it comes to being our County manager and someone who as we see before mentioned already four years having a 0% tax increase someone who's created new initiatives someone who twice already I think twice as me being a chairman of his commissioner board has uh worked extremely close with me but also most importantly someone who has worked on a daily basis to improve the lives and the programs here in the county of Union so I thank County Manager Omen for all his hard work and his dedication to the residents of the county of Union because it's about where your hearts at and about your dedication more than anything else and I think County Manager shows that on a daily basis when it comes to females in our County government when it comes to females on our County um elected office positions you know simple math I think does it for all of us this is a majority female commissioner board a majority of our directors are are female so when it comes to other individuals who are elected officials when it comes to our County government we hold females in such high regard and appreciate their hard work and as you can see something we uh see as Irreplaceable when it comes to um taking their lead when it comes to a lot of our initiatives a lot of our programming so I'm grateful and thankful because I think there's not many counties or maybe no counties at all or a lot of elected um offices where you have a majority elected board that's females where you have majority of directors being females so um I think that's extremely wrong and what you said before I to make sure clear the air with simple math when it comes to addressing that issue when it comes to finance director BB Taylor and you know there zo comments in reference to her she's someone who I hold to high regard when it comes to leading up our AAA Bond rating when it comes to making sure that as we give credit every year when it comes to being our Director of Finance and making sure that all the numbers are right when it comes to having 0% tax increase when it comes to making sure we're using our dollars fiscally responsible when it comes to be somebody for guidance when it comes to daily operations so Mr Patterson you continue to come here and nobody ever says anything going against you can say what you want to say there's no issue with that whatsoever but when it comes to sometimes the bling disregard of the way you talk to people that's where people are against you know you can come here you can tack like you say you've tacked me before and I have no issue with that whatsoever but it's the manner you carry yourself sometimes is with the issues and sometimes you know we come here we show you respect it's sh same level of respect for us as we show you so I think that's something simple enough that we ask for all individuals who come here we have no issue with you talking about any issue you want to have or any negative issue or anything positive we're doing but it's that level of respect that makes a difference when we're talking to individuals or individuals are talking to us so with that said thank you very much chair thank you uh County Council Bergen nothing tonight chair thank you County Manager Oatman no chair thank you thank you uh Vice chair woman Leon thank you the Union County Board of County Commissioners and the department of Parks and Recreation are pleased to announce the Woodcock talk and walk PowerPoint presentation and guided indoor outdoor experience discussing the Woodcock on Monday March 18th at masers Barn at the deserted village and Thursday March 21st at lappi Park Nature of fion and bird lovers are invited to join an informative event showing showcasing the American W coock led by Nature Enthusiast Pete axle Rod the annual Woodcock talk and walk provide seasoned birders and beginners alike with a chance to catch a glimpse of the American Woodcock and learn more about this unusual and Elusive bird participants are advised to dress warmly wear sturdy shoes and bring a flashlight the event is free and open to adults and children's age ages 10 and and up with an adult participants have the flexibility to attend either or both events and must register online at www.org slw Woodcock dtalks DW walks SL event details the watchong reservation event is on Monday March 18th from 6:30 to 8 the location is at masers Barn at the deserted village 13 cataract Hollow Road in Berkeley Heights Len Park event is on Thursday March 21st time 6:30 to8 location lppi Park 1:30 Kenworth Boulevard in Cranford for more information you can um visit ucnj.org forward Woodcock uh dtalks DW walks forward slash thank you thank you thank you uh and I would just like to close um I guess being a mom there's words like hate I hate somebody I hate this person I don't care they don't care um that I try to keep out of my um my speech because I don't want my kids thinking those things and and hating other people or or thinking that people don't care um so when I hear those types of of phrases or words it sort of triggers something in me um and it made me start thinking about uh since becoming chairwoman in January it's was important to me to to meet with all of our departments um we again as Commissioners get to take a lot of the credit and and we get to be the Stars sometimes of of what our people do here at the county um our directors our from our County Manager down to um our our volunteers um and I have been so humbled by what I have seen and what I've heard from County Employees um again everyone from the top down um these are people that do not just do a job these are people that are devoted to making the life of residents here in Union County a special place and I have been so impressed by all of that and I can't I can't listen to the idea of nobody cares right because they do these are people that work every single day to make things happen for people little things like providing activities for our residents to really big things like providing housing for homeless people or a meal on the table for somebody who literally has not eaten in days um so I'm really proud of of who we are as a county I think we have some really fantastic uh features to be really proud of our parks and and even some issues with our golf course I think our golf courses are absolutely beautiful and they are something that we are proud of and of course nothing comes without issues and as we stated in our last meeting um we are doing our best to address those issues in a timely manner and we certainly um are all here to keep anyone who's interested a breast of of where we are um and and that is what we're doing um but I just I I I'm so proud to be part of this County I really am and my commissioner colleagues I I cannot believe how often they have reached out to me with ideas with Solutions with hey why don't we try doing this why don't we try doing that I just went to a conference and learned about this why don't we try to implement that um so these are not people that are just here to sit at a day twice a month um these are people that are working every day they're on serving on boards they're volunteering at events they are thinking outside of the box um to make our County a great place and I am certainly proud of all of us and all of you all and I I really appreciate all the work that our County does in all of our departments to make sure that our residents are served the best as they possibly can be so just wanted to say that in closing um and I will ask for a motion to adjourn so move mam chair a second second thank you a motion was made by commissioner Mirabella seconded by Vice chairwoman Leon Clerk of the board please call the role or all in favor all in favor I I thank [Music] you