##VIDEO ID:QixYOVaPrNU## good afternoon and happy New Year my name is Lou imhoff Clerk of the board of County Commissioners and I would like to welcome you and thank you on behalf of the Bay County Board of County Commissioners for attending this afternoon's 188th reorganization meeting being held today on January 7th 2025 at 12:00 noon ladies and gentlemen the notice requirements of the open public meetings law has been satisfied with respect to this meeting specifying the time date and location with the count uh filed with the county clerk posted in the administration building and Publishing the both The Herald news and the Bergen record on December 22nd 2024 in accordance with the provisions of the law I am pleased to introduce this afternoon's Master of Ceremonies Matthew P Jordan Esquire administrator for the for the county of P anded ALG all right commissioner dedge Allegiance join me Al flag United States America stand naice heavenly father as we begin a new year in the service of the people of pic give us your wisdom your spirit of wisdom to guide us allow us to always be mindful of those who are marginalized the elderly the poor the sick children and families and shelters allow us to cooperate with your holy will and give all the dignity they deserve may we be the example of good living you have called us as Leaders to be and do what is best for those who have trusted us and expect nothing less than our very best amen you please remain standing for a moment of silence to remember all the men and women who have died while serving in the United States armed forces and all who have died from covid-19 especially the 2,315 residents of pay County could also keep uh Shirley Force our director of Senior Services uh in your prayers as her brother James Solomon Brown passed away recently thank you uh I am honored to uh introduce uh St County's assignment judge judge rud Rudy filco to provide a state of the Courts for us thank you Matt afternoon everybody I'm honored to be here today um I want to begin my remarks today with some brief history and some welld deserved thank yous as well it's now been uh 19 months although it feels much longer uh that I've taken over as the assignment judge here in Pay County uh since that time we continue to have a substantial turnover in our court management team our TCA Melanie ning who is here uh today started uh with me 177 months ago and together we've hired five new division managers six assistant division managers a new Ombudsman two new presiding judges and dozens of new staff members we are also down approximately 70 staff employees at this time which is 14% of our allotment uh through um the administrative office of the courts so we're struggling um with turnover a very experien um staff as well as um hiring new staff um it's become very difficult currently we are still down as we sit here today five judges out of our allotment of 27 we will be increasing that number to seven vacancies at the end of February because we are expecting um judge Dela Carrera to retire early February at age 70 and judge portelli is also uh retiring at the end of February so that'll bring our vacancy number to seven out of our 27 um and the reason why I'm pointing this out is just to again point out um to everybody how much change we've continued to see in the P Visage over the last year it really continues to be unprecedented um change is not a bad thing but when it all happens at one time it just gets a little bit difficult to man AG um and because we're losing a lot of experience our judges our managers our staff have all worked extremely hard I'm proud of all of them quite frankly to keep our ship afloat and they all U deserve the biggest thank you for their dedication and efforts um I have a lot of other um thank yous that I I just wanted to briefly um give out today without the unwavering help and assistance of all of you here that run pay County are job over the last year would have been much more difficult I want to specifically um thank Matt Jordan um Matt as County Administrator has been there for us uh every time we need anything um he and his staff are extremely responsive and helpful and I want to thank Matt for that continued partnership as we move forward [Applause] um um also a little special thank you today um to Matt and the commissioners quite frankly for approving our uh two new courtrooms on the sixth floor of Hamilton uh Street Building um when I was here last year that was in the planning stage we um had begun the process of working with your department of engineering your Architects and Steve uh orini putting this all together and I'm happy to say that this week construction has uh begun demolition is uh moving uh quickly as we speak it's a mess but it's it's going to look really good when it's done these are going to be two of the best courtrooms in the Visage they're going to be state-of-the-art they're going to be uh set up with all kinds of um electronics that are uh current and um appropriate for for a typical modern courtroom and I'm happy to say that um we're moving along very quickly um the county staff including um Steve Orsini who I I know is here um your engineering department Andrew Thompson and Isaiah Miller have been very very helpful they have been extremely responsive as you can imagine planning um this type of a construction project where you're involved with wiring and Demolition and all the things that go into something like this because it's it's they're gutting that entire area and starting from scratch um The Architects here have been fantastic in terms of your engineering um amending the plans as needed we have to submit everything to Trenton for approval Trenton looks at it and says what about this for security what about that for security and you guys um should be proud of your engineering department because they've been very helpful of planning and and now starting the project so I want to thank them specifically for their help as well um I want to thank Sheriff Adamo uh who I've met with um we've met um initially now to just outline some of the uh concerns or issues really not much so much concerns but issues that I've identified and he's pledged to work closely with with me um to try to make sure that we continue what we've always had here under sheriff bernick and um and the acting sheriff is as well so the daily assistance from anything that we need helping keep the judges and our Visage safe continues and I I want to thank the sheriff for that um just so you guys I I threw out some numbers last year but the number of persons walking through our Courthouse doors and when I say Courthouse doors it's all the buildings it's now about 60,000 each month month so people don't realize sometimes in our little vacuums of where we work throughout this Visage how many people actually come into these buildings and they're not all for court obviously the county offices are involved in that as well but we track this or the sheriff's department tracks it through the magnetometer so we know how many people are walking into all these buildings and we are now um back pretty much back to postco numbers and the numbers are going up so we're back to do mostly in-person events we do have some virtual events still but those are other typically just attorneys for conferences they don't involve a lot of people but any time any trials any hearings um all of that stuff is now back to inperson so we're those numbers have gone up and that's one of the things that I've spoken to the sheriff about and we continue to talk about making sure that we we um properly Safeguard the the buildings with the increased amount of people that are coming through our doors um it's been going really well um Steve Orsini and Joe Baker they they're here for everyday issues as I mentioned uh last year the new courthouse I like to point out was built and opened when I was six years old so it's not that new um 1968 the new courthouse was opened as you can imagine with two historic buildings and a new courthouse from 1968 we have our maintenance issues AC heating uh water leaks all which are not new to to the Commissioners I know you guys know about this stuff but I just want to again thank Steve and Joe because um anytime we call any time of day uh on sale they get right on it they do the best they can under the circumstances with some of the age of these of facilities to try to help out so that's important um because again all we're trying to do is keep the building safe um keep it efficient for our staff uh and for the people who who we serve um again thanks uh to the Commissioners and and Lou Lou's also been very helpful anytime we need anything uh from the county um it's just a phone call away so thank you guys um I'm hoping uh as I said last year to gain some new judges this year but again I I think I'm still an optimist although that's fading a little bit but uh I'm hoping for new judges we need judges we need staff um we need them both and um we'll see what happens I'm going to continue to work as I can um as much as I can behind the scenes to try to expedite some of this but as you know I don't I don't appoint judges uh or select judges um this is a special place in Pay County as you guys know I grew up over in Woodland Patterson next door over there and um I look forward to another good year uh 2025 I think is going to be a great year and uh working with all of you to just make pay County that much more special so thank you thanks for having me here today thank you man judge I I had a a rule with our old County engineer Steve Edmond that he wasn't allowed to call it the new courthouse he had to call it 77 Hamilton reason so it's actually called the new courthouse on all the directory so I point out to everybody that welcome in fact when I had people up from Trenton to look at the I said welcome everybody to our new courthouse they all looked at me like I was out of uh some movie but commissioner lazar's father was on the free board at the time when that that when that was done new courthouse just want to thank you and Melanie and Kim and your entire team you've made my job a lot easier um also exciting to announce uh in February we're opening up bids for the complete restoration of our historic Courthouse to return to its former glory um primarily using Grant hunt Grant funds from the New Jersey historic trust so thank you for your partnership in moving some of these projects along and fixing some of these older Bild and and Matt's been really good uh we're working together on that in terms of well I'm not doing it Matt's doing it but but they're keeping us um up to date on the construction schedules we've been meeting with Kelly uh and Matt and Mark and anybody else who's involved in these projects just so that we can try to tailor whatever we have to do um to accommodate because it's going to be quite a bit of um disruption at some point and we'll work around it we'll work together thank you thank you judge I'd also like to recognize uh the pay County Clerk Daniel Ireland IM imhoff thank you for joining us all right I think we're to you right clerk thank you Matt uh for the record as Clerk of the board I am in receipt of the oath of office for the County Commissioners Bartlett D'Or and lazara for three-year terms beginning January 1st 2025 through December 31st 2027 all right can I have a roll call commissioner Barlett here commissioner Cruz here commissioner D'Or here commissioner Duffy here Commissioner James commissioner lazara here commissioner laor here may I have nominations for the county commissioner director for the year 2025 I nominate commissioner Pat leapor to be director for 2025 second second uh dvor seconded by D'Or uh are there any other nominations may have a nomination to close nominations so moved second okay uh roll call County Commissioners Bartlett yes Cruz yes D'Or yes Duffy yes James lazara yes leapor motion to vote upon the nomination for County Commissioner director so moved second County Commissioners Bartlett yes Cruz yes D'Or yes Duffy yes James lazara yes leapor yes congratulations um director leor [Applause] congratulations yeah we'll we'll do the um do this first here may I have nominations for deputy director for the year 2025 de director I nominate Sandy Lazar for deputy director seconded by Cruz are there any other nominations I have a motion to vote upon the nominations nomination I'll move it roll call County Commissioners Bartlett yes Cruz D'Or yes Duffy yes James Lazar yes leapor yes okay uh mo may I have a motion to vote upon the nomination for the county commissioner deputy director I'll move it County Commissioners Bartlett yes Cruz yes leapor yes Duffy yes James lazara yes leapor yes uh congratulations deputy [Applause] director um let's we do the that first there so if you yeah I'll hold the Bott the we it's like peeling the band off the government establish the United States and in the state under the authority of the people I will faithly all the duties all as County Commissioner deputy director of my ab [Applause] y that [Music] one what raise your right hand all right you ready I state your name I do solemnly swear doly swear that I will support the Constitution will support the Constitution of the United States the United States and the Constitution and the contition of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith I will bear true faith and Allegiance and algi to the same to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully I will faithfully and partially partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties as County Commissioner director County Commissioner director to the best of my abilities my abilities and understanding and understanding so help me God congratulations your thank you Danielle a full full service county clerk holding the Bible for us first of all I thank my colleagues support um and at this time we'll move things along here uh I'll take a motion to open the public portion second Cruz second by Bartlett roll call County Commissioners Bartlett yes Cruz yes D'Or yes Duffy yes James deputy director Lazar yes director yes at this time anybody wish from the public wishing to address the uh the board uh please step forward state your name and address and also keep in mind that uh everything you say is a matter of public record seeing no one at the podium I move to close the public portion second motion made by Duffy second by Cruz to close for roll call County Commissioners Bartlett yes Cruz D'Or yes Duffy yes James deputy director Lazar yes director leor yes this time take a motion on the consens agenda second by Cruz second by Rara and just for the record uh director the consent agenda consists of T1 through uh t uh 20 21 21 roll call County Commission uh County Commissioners Bartlett yes Cruz yes D'Or yes Duffy yes James deputy director Lazar yes director uh leapor yes uh next we'll move to the administration of the alal of Allegiance to voting members of the following boards The Honorable rudol filco assignment judge New Jersey Superior Court vage that would be bate County Community College Board of school estimate bate County Technical Institute or of school estimate Camp hope commission New Jersey Association of counties delegate alternate delegate and second alternate delegate say County Planning Board youth Service Commission women Services advisory Council say County Board Social Service open space and farmland preservation trust fund New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority representative of the office of emergency management and the P County Insurance Commission your honor all right we're going to obviously do this all together so I need everyone please raise your right hand and just repeat after me I state your name I do solemnly swear or affirm swear orir that I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same algi to the and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially partially and justly justly perform all the duties of perform all the duties of please name your your position thank you to the best of my abilities to the best of my ab and understanding understanding so help me guys congratulations everybody thank think of everybody me your sign and I will give them to the judge all right sign them all um well first U one of my first duties as director I want to thank uh judge filco for participating in this reorganization um de honor you had mentioned earlier that uh we have a number of vacancies in the the judges um for the courts uh you indicated that um you do not appoint or higher I just want to know who do I send my my um my number to well there are three interested parties the governor of the state of New Jersey and our two local Senators right now we have one but our two senators thank you thank you very much all right if you need their phone numbers I I'll give them to you no no thank you I appreciate it um okay moving along uh I have the assignments uh for the Committees um first off Administration and finance Orlando crw chair myself and John Bartlett LA Public Safety Bruce James chair Sandy Lazar and Rodney d'Or budget uh Orlando Cruz chair myself and Bartlett planning and economic development Rodney chair John Bartlett Terry Duffy Health and Human Services Sandy lazara chair Rodney D'Or Bruce James and Public Works um John Bartlet chair myself and Orlando Cruz um with that there's anything my colleagues would like to say announce okay um I do want to thank uh DOR dor Bartlett uh for an outstanding service as director uh we're very fortunate to have you here and and your talent and expertise so appreciate it very much thank you okay I'll take a motion to adjourn motion made by Bart Bruce second by Cruz roll call County Commissioners Bartlett yes Cruz yes D'Or yes Duffy yes James deputy director Lazar yes director leor yes have a good day safe trip home thank you right sirs [Music]