##VIDEO ID:2HAx3cobr9s## the meeting of the Atlanta County Board of Commissioners is called to order in compliance with the open public meetings Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting of Atlanta County Board of Commissioners was provided in the following manner published in the Press of Atlantic City and mailed to the hamton cazette and has been posted on the Bolton boards in the county office building in alanc City the Stillwater building in Northfield and the county clerk's office in MA Landy there open prayer Lord we ask for your blessing on this meeting and all those assembled here may our actions be righteous and kind and may we always be mindful of our obligations to each other and to you amen amen please FL flag United States America roll call chair commissioner Cory is unable to attend today commissioner bertino commissioner G and commissioner rizley are attending virtually thank Dallas here patino here Burns here da here G here Parker pres grizzley K here Commissioners have had an opportunity to review the minutes from July 10th 2024 I'll entertain a motion to adopt the July 10th 2024 minutes as presented move second move by commissioner Ballas and second by commissioner Parker have a roll call Bas yes fortino yes Burns yes da yes D yes Parker yes rley ker yes motion carries Commissioners have had an opportunity to review the minutes from July 16th 2024 I'll entertain a motion to adopt the July 16th 2024 minutes as presented move second move by commissioner Parker second by commissioner days have a call Bas yes Ino Burns yes da yes G obain Parker yes rle K yes motion carries anyone attending in person who would like to speak regarding an agenda item or a public comment please come to the podium speak into the microphone state your name and the town you reside you will be provided up to 3 minutes to speak if you're attending virtually and would like to speak please raise your hand during the agenda agenda item or a public comment at the end I will call upon your name and a request to unmute will be sent please state your name and the town you reside you will be provided up three minutes to speak I'll entertain a motion to move resolution 433 to the top of the agenda move by commissioner Parker by commissioner ball any commission comments none any Comm any comments from the Al yeso yes yes Parker yes grizzley yes appointment of aana James LSW to the L County criminal justice Advisory Board to fill an unexpired term to expire on April 1st 2025 just wanted do my name is Mark Sanson I'm the chair of the uh County criminal justice Advisory Board um I you can hear me without it oh the people on it was moved by commissioner Parker and seconded by commissioner da any commissioner comments any comments from the public yes my name is Mark Sans hold on hold on Judge I'm used to be you retire got it we need a roll call well roll is from the public yes I am I'm I'm of the public from the public judge tell me when right all right good my name is Mark Sanson I'm the chair of the L County criminal justice Advisory Board we had an opening and I was really delighted that uh I was able to uh convince a James Jes young lady right here to join our board she works for uh Jewish Family Services the executive director Andrea seinberg of Jewish Family Services you've seen her name all over the place that in fact is the person uh she is here supporting Ayan as well um and I wanted to before she you vote on her and no doubt hopefully approve her to be on this board um know something about her she is the person who at the very beginning of the Atlantic County uh Municipal Court the county court system um through JFS organized the process at the Atlanta County Municipal Court whereby every person that appears there is given an opportunity to be screened by Jewish Family Services and to detect issues of substance abuse um uh uh domestic violence or um mental health needs uh we find it in the criminal justice system those are the three greatest criminogenic what they call criminogenic factors they create crime and the theory behind the entire court which you so you know uh preent I think created in Atlanta County uh is that if you add address identify and address those issues early on in most cases the first Contact people will have with the criminal justice system is Municipal Court they don't usually go directly to uh the superior court and with a felony type matter uh that you can um address those issues and in many cases if those issues are addressed you can uh cut some of those issues in the bud and then you know create a person who's going to live a crime-free life so it's very important has been extremely successful and Ayana and Andrea too through JFS deserve a tremendous amount of Praise which I have done but it's meaningless coming from me it is more meaningful I think coming from the Commissioners that this is what they've done it's been an uphill battle um it's frankly the only only uh Court like it in the state of New Jersey uh where the where they have gotten together as a county and agreed to overcome some of the home rule issues that there have have existed in many of our our our municipalities in Atlanta County and frankly throughout the state uh the governing legislation that created the court only created it for certain counties because they wouldn't touch some of the counties mostly in North Jersey where it would never fly because of the home rule type issues so um Atlanta County deserves to be praised for that we are monitoring and one of the things that JFS does is monitoring the success of the court in turning people around at a very early stage so I'm really proud of what's going on there and JFS did a lot of it aana was was involved in every single step along the way so I just wanted to come here and introduce her Zana James go say hello to everybody hello everybody I understand the program is going very well Soo percentages and everything or extremely high and doing very well yes so the people that we do encounter in the court system we are able to help and extreme extremely reduceed recidivism not many people have come back a lot of the people that do come back are typically tickets and that's not many of the people that we see but the people that we do see that if they are homeless in their charges of surrounded homelessness or shoplifting due to substance abuse we have been able to get them link to services and divert any other their charges that's one think of the the money that we're saving the superior court system by cutting and also forget about the money because money is one issue and I know it's important but think about the lives were really we're really saving and that's what has me very very uh excited about what they have primarily done they work with the judges over there hand and glove they're in on every single adjudication that the judges make over there and as you know they 90% of them are are virtual in nature people don't show up the court anymore at least in municipal courts and so it is a it is a system that's really well working well I have high hopes that one of these days the rest of the municipalities in the county will join it it makes a lot of sense it is it is efficient and it most importantly from my perspective not from you know there's people of other perspectives uh cuts off criminality at the bud uh and and I came I just want to tell you one other thing and then I'll shut up and and we can sit down but I was just showing it to Andrea um the one of the things I'm doing otherwise is working with the court system uh with the spear Court in in an employment program with people on probation I want to give you one statistic which Frank is even going to people will tell me that I'm lying uh what it's called The Waiting Workforce many uh make Second Chances happen are you aware that one in every three Americans has a criminal record one in every three Americans have a criminal record 77 million Americans have a criminal record therefore even after they fulfilled their justice system obligations many face still face significant VAR barers to finding meaningful employment so the impact of somebody adopting a life of crime has tremendous impact on our on our uh on our society in in every way shape and form so really Innovative efforts like what we're doing at the Atlantic County uh Central Municipal Court I think are one of the answers and we're trying to be part of the solution and I congratulate you for that was it like did I hear like in the 90% or something like that the recidivism right so over we just did stats and over the last year there's only been four people that came back with new charges which is incredible over thousands it it is incredible you know thank you we do have um Ari which is our at risk initiative that happens every month and those individuals we hold on to a little longer um just to make sure because they do have mental health and we want to make sure that they are going to be on the right path and not recidivate so we hold on to those people just a little longer and they do go to court more often getting the care they need but think about the problems they address homelessness mental health domestic violence they're the three biggest generators of cases in the municipal court and then once they get serious enough they end up in the superior court and then the cost it cost $74,000 a year just the stats just came out Frank to keep somebody in state prison for a year $74,000 a year i' rather send your kids to Harvard well maybe not now but Rucker Ruckers or some place something most importantly these people are getting the care that's that that's the most important thing that they're getting diverted from things that could become serious in the long run and also although you call them non-serious crimes but you know shoplifting while not a horrible crime it's very it's very defea of our business people to have to deal with shoplifters so where it's not not you know a hanging offense and never was if we can stop that we can make life in Atlanta County one heck of a lot better and I think that's going to be the end of this the end result of this thank you anybody else have any comments Andrea you want to say anything she's good thank you any other comments from commission M chair first of all just congratulations it's a uh it's a great board um you know J Sanson has taken it to a whole another level than what it was in years past as a criminal justice advisor has touched on so many different initiatives um I I can say when I was Sheriff the you know the criminal justice adviser board meetings were very D very stale you got you know a bunch of stats and you know meanwhile the judges are coming in off the bench and eting their lunch while we're having the meeting but right you know he's you know taking it to I take their lunches away from when they're hungry they're meaner but um with that said and I know this resolution isn't about this but um you know this court system has been you know in process now for I guess almost two years and uh now CH if uhal you know maybe we can get you know programs like JFS to come in and do a presentation as to what you know what the programs are and you know I know they just touched a little bit on you know some of the statistics but you know so not just we understand what's going on because we heard tons of presentations all around the county from from Jim and judge Sanson you know as to what we could expect right and you know and we did approve the court but you know now that you know it actually came to fruition and it's you know been working for some time and you know we could the contracts out for the different service providers um it'd be nice to have the service providers come in and give us an idea as to you know how it's working or what's not working and I do so we do uh quarterly stats um we have a report I get it to Jerry every quarter and to others so I'm happy to share that I don't know what the best way is to do that but we can certainly distribute it here as well you will be blown you will be blown away by the success of this program and because it can be measured and they measure it the beauty of what they do they can measure how many people lives are diverted I mean we ignore if we ignore the homelessness if we ignore the substance abuse if we ignore domestic violence it's going to end up somebody's going to get hurt somebody's going to die somebody's going to end up in state prison all the horrible things that can happen now I'm not saying this solves every problem in in the criminal justice system it does not but it gets people at the right time when the when the rubber first meets the road which is almost always in municipal court and the problem with having 23 municipal courts in the county is you can't afford to have these people there at every single uh session of the court and diverting people at every every single session and does not happen so they go and it gets worse and worse and worse substance abuse doesn't get better unless it's treated mental health doesn't get better unless there's treatment homelessness doesn't get better unless we find alternatives to homelessness all those things they're doing at the right time and I'm really proud of what's going on that's a good idea back not overwhelming yeah that's that's what I'm saying I mean I think know the pal is the people who watch this online yeah right exactly hey look you paid the money for it as well see what you're getting for your money I agree helps us to get the word out exactly and that's important right I mean we we know it's working and just like you know you wake up in the morning and there's puzzles outside you know it rained last night but unless you really that's our circumstantial evidence that hear how it's actually we want to hear how it's working and I think the public should know and you know maybe just maybe it draws more municipalities there's 13 municipalities in this County that are not members which is crazy sense they could save so much money for the taxpayers if they did it now why aren't they doing it hey look I you don't have to be a weather man to know which way the wind blows correct so we all know why they haven't done it Jerry and I have had conversations about this and and the county executive and I have had conversations about this for for a long time uh it was really a bold move to do this and we've we're saving Jerry we're saving people money are we not absolutely yes like a lot of money and the in what are you say that's right and the more people's lives you save the better the county is yep thank you thank you very much I appreciate you being here okay congratulations just have a just a quick comment I I I want to thank you for volunteering to to see this through since you were I guess there for the outset of the help to formulate this but judge I think you're right I think um more than just a financial impact for as Comm R to come in and talk about the human impact that the court and the services that FSA and others are providing um I think would hopefully open up a little more eyes about what's what's actually occurring in Atlantic County correct so again you know you mentioned the taxpayers and and the cost savings um but the the human impact I think is you know we can't lose sight of that as well so for you know I went to every municipality in Atlanta County everyone they would everyone they they wouldn't let me in for to two or three but I but Jim and I went to every other municipality that would let us in and we told the story and and Jim part of the thing is how much money you're going to save my part of the thing was how many lives are you going to save there's two stories and I'm not discounting the importance of either either story but my story was look at if you divert people at that stage of the of the process when they're first in the court system first meeting in the court system you will have successes and that's what the story that they can tell and I think you should hear it thank you thank youbody thank you and congratul thank you she voted in is she in yet not yet but it sounds good a roll call Bas yes patino yeah Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes Grizzly yes carries thank thank you very much thank you thank you thank you appreciate it thank you congratulations thank you app sorry 395 gr application and acceptance from New Jersey Transit and the United States Department of Transportation for fiscal year 25 section 5311 grant funding pursuant to the Federal Transit act on it amount 573 57,8 44.50 County cash match $1,281 second like commissioner B second commissioner days any commissioner comments see hear anything from roll call B yes yes Burns St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley ker yes motion carries resolution 396 Grant submission of the fiscal year 2024 annual action plan to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Community Development black grant program and the home investment partnership program amount not to exceed 1,833 yes G yes Parker yes grizzley Kern yes motion carries resolution 397 Professional Services agreement with Dr Christopher laosi Doo for the Consulting physician for communicable disease and biot terrorism program amount not to exceed $24,000 moved second moved by commissioner Burn seconded by commissioner Corker any commissioner comments see hearing none anything from the public okay we have call Bas yes Martino yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley K yes motion carries oh I'm sorry can can we combine 398 to 401 they're all basically the same exact thing just extending the firm dates and no call I'm just looking at it you want to make a motion I don't see why that would be a problem there I don't know that you all have ever done that before but I don't see an issue with it as long as you provide you know the standard public comment 401 because they're all Architects I hearing right you're that make a motion to combine and adopt number 398 to 401 any second I um yeah you got to go through uh the comment by the by you all public comment and then go to adop any commissioner comments see hearing none anything from the public any Dallas yes fortino yeah Burns yes da yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes car resolution 42 Sor amending resolution number 404 adap on August 1st 2023 Professional Services agreement with various Architects Engineers designers and other Prof Consultants from the 2023 2024 pool to extend the term date only no additional cost about something by commissioner second by commissioner Parker yes any commissioner comments see here none anything from the public and we're on 402 for the record the public 402 nothing from the public roll call bastino yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley Cur yes motion carries resolution for break competitive contract with the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City for the provision of a work first New Jersey two work activities program amount not to exceed $600,000 second mov by commissioner Parker second by commissioner Burns any Commissioner of comments seeing hearing none anything from the public any Callas yeso yes burs yes St yes G yes Parker yes rizley Curr yes motion carries resolution 404 amending resolution number 108 adopted on March 7 2023 competitive contract with recap Professional Services Incorporated for the provision of physical occupational and speech therapy services to residents of medw nursing and rehabilitation center net increase $24,275 second like Parker second by commissioner Burns and commissioner C see he yes commissioner G uh yeah just to highlight that the the increase is um it's it's uh in parallel with the amount of usage um just wanted to point that out thank you commissioner any other commissioner comments call Bas yes fortino yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes Grizzly K yes motion carries resolution 45 please amending resolution number 643 adopted on November 23rd 2021 an addendum to the license and Concession agreement with mcfaden catering Incorporated concerning the operation of food and catered event facilities located at the John F GNE Green Tree Golf Course in Lake leny East to offer vendor credits amount not to exceed $1,685 move second move by commissioner Parker seconded by commissioner burn any commissioner comments mam chair commissioner G just also want to highlight um as discussed yesterday in our um committee meeting this is memorializing agreements that were made with our V under um during the course of CO as they were kind of going through um you know when they were and weren't able to operate so it's simply memorializing that for the um the rest of their contract and just a note for the Commissioners um this contract will start um the process to go back out to bid in probably 26 because this contract ends uh uh at the beginning of 27 I believe thank you any other commission comments see hearing none anything from the public any call Bast yeso yeah Burns yes SE yes G yes Parker yes grizzley Kern yes motion carries resolution 406 big contract with Thomas Company Incorporated to provide welding maintenance and repair amount not to exceed 19496 by commissioner d seconded by commissioner commissioner B any commissioner comments see hearing n for the public any call alas yes fortino yes Burns yes B yes C yes Parker yes grizley K yes motion Carri resolution 407 big contract with Marley contractors limited liability company to provide maintenance and repairs on the kitchen equipment for Atlanta County amount not to exceed $140,000 second move by commissioner Parker by commissioner Burns any commissioner comments see hearing none anything from the public call alas yes Martino yes Burns yes da yes G yes Parker yes grizzley current car resolution the contract with the list of Mechanical Incorporated for HVAC central plant upgrades at the main jail building and jail Annex amount not to exceed $2,321 600 Mo second move by commissioner Bon second by commissioner Parker any commissioner comments mam chair yes yeah with this and the next two resolutions um we're about to give about $8 million contracts to this one company um just want to make sure I guess Jerry or U or had facilities are they able to handle this I know there was other biders but they've been the lowest bid per for all of them you know which you know most of them are $100,000 or so dollars in savings but um are they going to be able to handle it bu of extensions and and um yes we believe so and if you like Mr Karan who who is representing kers can can go through and explain you know some of some of the work that's going to be done so you understandable but we firmly believe that they'll be able to do that I'm assuming the work is phased right Tim you want to just explain there's nothing in our paperwork as to what the sco work is it just you know upgrades why you use that or should I go up here it's up to go up there I excuse me Justin good afternoon Commissioners um Tim kand again with cs we're confident that felasa mechanical has the manpower to perform this work they're they're a sizable company they they do perform good work and all the work is really replacing existing equipment at the various complexes so we're we're confident okay that's over a series of a couple years it's not going to be a couple years I'm not sure what the term is standing here but I would imagine it's within a year this one says through December 1st 25 Frank yeah yeah this one I'm talk I'm talking about the three of them I think one takes us in the 26 and the 26 the bigger one just so you this is all part of the Energy savings program this part of the energy Savings Program so we're using you know ARP funding or American M plan funding and so if I remember correctly Bonnie hit me in the back of the head we have to spend income the money by the by the end of the year 2024 right and then has to be spent by the end of 2026 so we we believe this work will be done as you see the money's all been encumbered I mean I I know Chris could Chris could not come today because he he had an emergency his daughter was was sex emergency operation so but if there are other like particular issues I ask U him to write write down uh specifically the technical pieces of this if you you like it we'll get it out to you but this is all part of the Energy savings which means like like Tim say we're replacing HVAC equipment air handler those kinds ofers boilers yeah correct right great now I I just you know sometimes get concerned and we see it a lot with the with the road projects where you know we keep giving the same right you know to the same contractors same three contractors but they're also bidding on other work we're not their only customer and you know we have to keep extending you know um like you said we need to get this money encumbered and spent and you know you can't spend it until you actually do the so we don't want to lose M well there's one one piece of this that and I think U commissioner G uh heard yesterday as well as the budget subcommittee on some of this equipment we went out and actually purchased it it's on it's on a St State contract so we actually made the purchase of the equipment directly so we're getting the equipment in and then so that would that delay it it doesn't delay the ordering by this by this particular contractor for all of the projects that they have with us at Le so so that equipment that we purchase isn't isn't in it is not no corre exactly right so it's much more than 8 million well yeah in some cases correct yes okay that's for project 1A for the Justice complex Central plan upgrades um we're purchasing chillers through the co-op which saves US money to do that way as well sure thank time I missed that question just com just com yeah sorry thank you thank you appreciate you being here any other commiss comment we have any from the public okay we will have a yeso yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley ker yes yes motion carries I do believe John if you're on I think we might be getting a little feedback so if you can mute yourself once and all I'm sorry say again we're getting some feedback I think once why if you can mute yourself when you're not replying we'll do thank you sir we'll do thank you commissioner resolution 409 B contract with Alesa Mechanical Incorporated for agback upgrades at the 2B civil courthouse in or city amount not to exceed 1,678 600 move move by commissioner Burns second in by commissioner Ballas any commissioner comments here none anything from the aoll Alo yes erns yes St yes Shadow yes Parker yes grizley yes K yes carries resolution 410 they contract with of Mechanical Incorporated for aack central plant upgrades at the 2A civil courthouse in l City amount now to exceed $3,383 600 second move by commissioner B seconded by commissioner D any commissioner comments seeing hearing none anything from the public Dallas yes fortino yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes grizley yes K yes motion carries resolution 411 Bay contract with various vendors to furnish and deliver custodial supplies for the Atlanta County cooperative amount not to exceed 8,170 66 second move by commissioner B second by commissioner D any commissioner comments see hearing none anything from the public okay roll Dallas yes Latino yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes grizley yes yes motion carries resolution contract with arac Company Incorporated for the resurfacing of Alo Street and the township of galile am not to exceed 1 million 1, $197,700 by commissioner D second in by commissioner B see hearing none anything from the public roll call Alice yes yes Burns yes da yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes C yes motion carries resolution 413 change order number six and final contract with L as a concrete company for the signalization of several locations in Atlantic City veter city Margate City and Laport borrow to extend the term date net increase $627 61 move by commissioner B second in by commissioner Bas any commissioner comments seeing hearing none except anything from the public okay call Alice yeso yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes K yes carries resolution 414 amending resolution number 54 adopted on February 6 2024 contract with South State Incorporated for additional repairs to the Dorset Avenue Bridge in the city of bner net increase $25,000 second by commiss Parker second Alice yeso yes Burns St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes K yes motion carries resolution 415 change order number one a contract with South State Incorporated for the replacement of lakes Creek Bridge e29 and a car Township net increase $ 57,6 5619 by commission Parker by commission any commission comments hearing none anything from the Bas yes Martino yes Burns yes St yes yes Parker yes grizzley yes K yes motion carries resolution 46 public donor agreement with Atlant County women Center doing business as atar to provide in kind contribution of services for shelter and counseling services amount not to exceed $695 76 by second commission and commission comment none anything from the public B yeso Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes C yes motion carries resolution 417 alternate method contract with Landing prevention resources for the provision of an overdose fatality review team amount not to exceed $100,000 second move by commissioner Bell second by commissioner Burns any commission com hearing none anything from the public have roll call B yeso yes Burns St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes K yes motion C resolution 48 memorandum of understanding with Atlanta County officials and the Atlanta County Workforce Development board for a chief elected official move second move by commission Val second by commissioner D and commissioner comments see hearing none anything from the public call Al yeso yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes Grizzly yes K yes Mo carries resolution 419 emergency contract with Walter's Marine Construction Incorporated for the Emergency Reconstruction of bridge M39 at Columbia Road over Hamilton Creek in Mica Township amount not to exceed 3 $ 5 6,312 Second move by commissioner B seconded by commissioner Burns and commissioner see hear none anything from the publico yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes Grizzly yes yes motion carried resolution 420 inter agency Services agreement with the township of Hamilton to reestablish a dam advisory committee for the construction of a new dam Spillway and related improvements at Lake Len second move by commissioner Parker second by commissioner Burns any commission comments another damn committee any other commission comment being hearing none public yes yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes K yes motion carries resolution 421 agreement with telan services to Inc incorporated for the provision of back scan kiosk at various library branches revenue generated good second move by commissioner B second by commissioner days any commission comments see he none anything from Roll Call yes fortino yes Burns yes B yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes K yes so she carries resolution 422 shared services agreement with the Atlanta County Sheriff's Office and the fulam school board of education for security services within the fulam school district Revenue generating second Comm Val second by any hear none anything from Alo yes Burns yes St yes G yes Parker yes rley yes C yes Mo carries at this time I'll entertain a motion to combine adop resolutions number 423 to 432 byker any comments see hearing N I think from the publico yes Burns yes St yes Shadow yes Parker yes grizzley yes ker yes motion carries this time I'll entertain a motion to combine adop resolution number 434 and 435 mooved by commissioner Parker second by commissioner Bas and commissioner com Sen n anything from the public alas yeso yeah Burns yes B yes G yes Parker yes grizzley yes yes car resolu authorizing consent for a roadway solicitation event by Northfield Volunteer Fire Company at the intersection of tilon Road County Route 563 Shore Road County Route 585 and M Road County Route 662 in the city of norfield on Sunday August 25th 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. second by commissioner Parker second by commissioner da and commissioner see hearing none anything from the public yeso yes Burns yes da yes G yes Parker yes rley yes K yes motion carries br Communications if anybody's received any copies of BR Communications and petitions and they like to share and comments okay uh special reports any report special committees in board M chair yes par Library committee Library committee speaking of H the certificate of completion has not been issued for the HB generator uh project at the E har Township Library uh on July ju 29th Drew dingler I guess the architect met with alasco reps regarding uh regarding the recent temperature and humidity issues in the library around the circulation desk front entrance and public restrooms on July 18th the M Landing hbag generator for of project meeting was held in the second floor meeting room work will at Maz Landing work at maze Landing will begin on August 5th uh mostly in the side I'm sorry the alleyway behind the library and in the basement by mid August Velasco will Begin work in the second floor meeting room uh starting August 26th the main Landing Branch will be temporarily closed the closure is expected to last until January 25th during the closure M land staff will be dispersed to other libraries uh work continues on the installation of the emergency exit door in hamton library the Galloway library has closed is closed for two weeks Monday the 15th through July 29th for cleaning and preparation for upgrading HV and that so ends my report that also noted on the um yes yes thank you very much any other reports from special commit Madam chair just to piggy back on on commissioner's um Library report I I know I've heard quite a few comments about you know the LI planning being closed um for such a long time without an alternative option we did about it yesterday in our committee meeting and um he did share that you know basically with the the amount of of work that they're doing and particularly basically touching all of the duct work um that they have to basically remove the ceiling tiles on both the second and first floor to do so and that's why there's really no way um to keep any part of the library open to the public safely um so there's an extensive amount of work going on there and I just think it's important for people to realize that you know those kind of things were thought out and were were thought through um they are prioritizing the work in the area on the second floor where the early voting location will be and the goal is to get that started and get out of that area in time for early voting um and have it be you know a safe safely accessible area thank you commissioner because I know you did bring that up and you wanted clarified to make sure that there was absolutely no way that you could open portion of that CU it was important to the community so thank you for bringing that up yeah okay um any other reports okay unfinished business does anybody have any unfinish I know Jerry would like to bring up some UNF I just want to get everybody up to date on on Meadow View can you hear me you can't hear think it's it's not on yeah we can hear you okay technologically hand so anyway so if you remember we we began having conversations with the county executive about met View and he asked us to to come here to the board begin our discussions that um the amount of tax dollars we going into medw you know we're we're beginning to increase every year and that variety of reasons why we won't go through all them again but you know Co a number of number of people that are staying in the community through through the existence of these of programs called Medicaid long-term Social Services mltss you probably heard that and the fact that it's very hard to hire staff now so those those issues are impacting the number of people that can come into to medicate if you remember we we talked about several different issues one of which was you know potential to sell the nursing home you know uh get somebody to run the nursing home the board actually asked us to go and look at options so if if you remember we did get a company Healthcare resources uh we we negotiated with them they came in and did a study and they came up with at least you know five or six different recommendations and three three we're actually working on right now as you if you remember K May sold their nursing home there there is a an individual that was doing admissions at the hospitals for them we we hired that person that was one of one of the areas that they they figured that they thought we were weaken and that is is working with the hospitals directly on admissions into metav we work with uh at least one of the local hospitals and they put us on their preferred list we've had meetings with them and and and we're working through those issues now the other issue is is the building they they found uh in in ring our building processes that we needed to to strengthen them and and we've done that we're going out and getting a a company that actually does building uh we were able to do that because uh one of the individuals that were doing building is retired the second person is retiring and so therefore we won't refill those slots we're going to have an agency that that specializes in in Billing for nursing homes and then the third area is a there's a thing called MDS that's that's every every single person has a speca sheet that is designed you know through through the doctors and the nurses in in uh the nursing homes on those mds's there are what they call cities if you don't pick up those acties correctly you don't get the appropriate funding or or Revenue back into your facility and so you know in the review of some of our mds's they were saying that we were not picking up all the acuities and you're you're leaving a lot of money you know that you that you're eligible for you're not U actually actually uh making the application so we we have somebody now that we are working with to begin looking at every NDS and reviewing it and then that they will work with the billing team to make sure that we're accounting for all the ulties so so that's on that on that side in addition the county executive is is looking to make the nursing home uh a full if we can a full veteran home and so we we've done several things he's asked us to look at several different options so the first option was he called Congressman van Drew and said on the federal side are there things that we can work with you on in terms of metaview with respect to making the a full veterans home so Congressman VW set up a meeting and we began discussing the the present agreement that we have the present agreement only allows us to get veterans from the Delaware region we don't have any agreements we didn't know that I got to be very honest with at least I didn't know that when we when we all sat around began and began our discussion with the VA so Congressman Congressman the Drew's Aid is going to be working with the Philadelphia region the Philadelphia region and within northy region to see if we could sign contracts with them as well which means we would be able to uh have U applicants from those particular regions apply at medal the second area when we when we um signed the forms with the VA from Delaware we didn't fully understand that the um want me to use that one we didn't quite understand that in order to be eligible to come in as a veteran you had to have a 70% disability now that's not that does not happen at the da you know in viir uh you have to just me the nursing home standard there in addition at the the VA in in Finland you can also have your spouse and or other relatives come into the nursing home with you and you know there there are there are reimbursements for those particular situations so we Congressman VRE is also looking at that and he told Denny that he would he would work on those issues and then the last thing Denny is an to really look at was when you talk to the VA about the violent nurse div veterans nursing home is run by the state they have three in the state of New Jersey right now I think there's one here in South Jersey and then there there are two others in I believe in North Jersey and so then he wants us to explore with the state to determine whether or not they'd be interested in either running or managing this facility in Northfield as a full veterans home so we are now exploring that uh you know with the state uh then he also called the the veterans Advisory Board and and the the the Lea is on commissioner Bas and I believe they're going to have conversation tomorrow night at the veterans Advisory board about whether or not they fully support the concept of making you know meow view a full veterans home and obviously the other question would be is there are people that are not veterans in the home and what would we do well they they would continue to live there as long as you know they wanted to live there if they you know obviously if they if they are in a rehab program they'll probably rehab and then and move out and then if obviously the the uh if they pass away then those beds will be open to Veterans so so that's right now that is the the steps that we're taking so we have two big ones coming up one negotiating with the state about looking at the facility and then working with Congressman van Drew on one getting into the Philadelphia and and North Jersey region and then changing the uh the concept of 70% disability to a full nursing home you meet the nursing home requirements which is which is less than the 70% disability are there any questions okay thank you thank you does anybody else have any unfinished business they want to discuss this time okay uh any new business anyone would like to bring up at this time public comments anyone attending in person that would like to speak now public comment please come to the podium speak into the microphone state your name and the town you reside if you're attending virtually and would like to make a public comment please raise your hand I'll will call upon your name and a request to unmute will be sent please state your name in the town you reside you will be be provided up to 3 minutes to speak anybody from the public that would like to speak at this time come to the podium anybody online no okay uh for the good of order any comments for the good of the order I think we have a public we do okay Swit this out hi good afternoon good evening my name is Marlene W I live in Atlanta County C EG Harbor Township and I'm here for you to hear what I would like to do for a Harbor Township actually for women and children I would like to start a mommy and me at a haror Township to help women who have drug issues alcohol issues and for the children so therefore we can all work together to keep the families together we have men here and they call us sober living and they're all men we don't have any specific thing for women and if we do they can only stay for 30 days and the children would be taken away if they would will um go back to whatever they were doing and I would like to do that and the reason I like to do that is because I've been a social worker for almost 30 years I have worked in almost every field mental health um young girls young boys uh drug and alcohol and I just see that things happen you know these these young children they get caught through the cracks and the parents if they don't do what they say if they don't work hard they don't have people to support them they're still back on the street and that's the issue we do need support and I would like to do that I have some of my fellow social workers help with would have come in and help me and I just know that it would work because this is something that's bigger than all of us and I'm sure that every one of us sitting here one way or the other has had that issue with alcohol maybe drugs or whatever the case may be and I think that if we put our heads together and work as a team I think that we can help and save some families and have resources um of course they have to go to meetings and the children would go to school and if the mothers relapsed dius wouldn't have to pick them up because I see it as though the children can stay and continue to go to school still get Services they wouldn't have to be transferred out what after they get used to being somewhere where someone pays attention to them someone help them with their homework or whatever the case may be so I'm hoping that all of you would think about this cuz I really do believe in my heart that it will work and it would help our young people you see so many young people on the street for whatever reason and a lot of their parents or parent works three maybe two or three jobs they have to watch their sister and brothers now we know as teenagers that we like to do that you know we wanted to be with our friends or at the wine or somewhere but they can't do that they cannot do that because they have to watch their children and they resent it but I know if a program like this they could have a place to be we could we could assist with many things so I'm here at asking you would you please consider it could we work together to do it and that's all I had to say is there some type of a parent or an organization that does this already that there's there's not a mommy and me program in the whole Atlantic count anywhere in New Jersey the the mothers can only stay for 30 days I researched that myself is there a national group like this or um um there are some in other states yes and the children would stay they wouldn't have to be separated from their surroundings that they're used to which would be um you know doing homework playing with children their own age they would stay there and hopefully the moms will get the assistance that they need and the children definitely will and it's better than seeing these young people Ro the street or getting into things that really they shouldn't and I would like for everyone just to think about you can ask me questions I'll give you my phone number where I reached I work for a hospital now like I said I've been doing this for 30 years and I love it I love working in Social Services and I just said you know what I just sat back listen to the news I listened to the radio and I see these young people walking up and down the street and I'm like you know where are the moms some of them I know some of them I don't and the ones that I do know they're not in a very good place and I was always put up not to judge anyone because you can't judge someone if you never walked in their shoes and that's what my mother taught me she said you do what you can and assist and help so that's why I'm asking you to please consider it I leave my phone number I'll leave my address where I work I it doesn't matter because I really really want to do this and I have people who really really want to do this m chair yes yeah M Watts um do you have a a business plan or facility or anything that's in in the works I do have a business plan I just didn't bring it with me um I was just invited to come and I left from work but I do have one if you will invite me back again I will have my business plan yeah what I would suggest is for you to contact I don't know if you're familiar with the vanzar you probably heard one of the one of the resolutions we did today awarding money to them they get a lot of state and federal grants yeah um they're located right in uh fenville the area Aila Road and Main Street their um their building is right back there um they do have transitional housing for for women they do have a lot of programs and maybe you can talk with management there I will see them on Friday yeah talk with them and you know present your business model to them and they may be able to sit down with you and help write a grant and collaborate with you and them to um you know make just come to fruition okay I don't know it's it's really a county you know that the county can get into a private not for-profit but that's a that's an organization that's right here in Atlanta County it's been been around for many many many many years and um you know if anyone could could make it work it could be them good group good group and thank you for caring said it's a it's a great group that um commission about he's been very involved with that group for many years I used to do work with them it is a great group so uh that's a great starting point they could help out thank you for being so caring for you know the citizens and the people in our community but that's that's a good way to start M chair just for the board's information she has been um M rechen hat Penny I believe her last name is that came and did a presentation before us a few weeks ago they've been in conversation just to see if there's something already out there that can you know may work together on so they're not creating a will so she's not really sure she's going to use her Professional Resources as well so she's working on it so at some point time I wanted her to come and present before the board just just so you know this wasn't being done behind close do going on so they're they're working on trying to figure out whether there's something that can be done and so if there is something that can be done in this regard I'm sure they'll get it figured out all right thank you you're very welcome thank you everyone thank you thank you is there anybody else from the public think so IUD any comments for the the out I many of our commission are going to be out there with all the communities you know help I will entertain a motion toour so all in favor thank you everyone for being here