##VIDEO ID:tO55x6DCyG4## e e e e e I call this meeting to order this is the commissioner's meeting of January 22nd 2025 at 6 pm at the Sussex County administrative Center commissioner meeting room one Spring Street Newton New Jersey roll call please here here here here director here number three is a moment of silence and a salute to the flag United States of America the stands indivisible liy and justice for all number four is public statement pursuant to open public meetings act chapter 231 pl1 1975 adequate notice as defined by section 3D of chapter 231 pl1 1975 has been made by regular mail and email such notice being submitted on January 7th 2025 from the administrative center of the county of Sussex located at one Spring Street Newton New Jersey to the following New Jersey Herold Star Ledger Strauss news it is also posted on a bulletin board maintained in the administrative Center for Public announcements and has been submitted to the suss county clerk in compliance with said act at this time please mute All Electronics Commissioners please remove your phones number five is approval agenda I have a motion to approve the agenda so moved commissioner ha that was commissioner Hayden right commissioner Hayden moves second commissioner Henderson any discussion see a problem with that a motion we have a second second have a second okay uh oh I guess we'll keep that we'll so we'll amend the agenda with eliminating 11 approval minutes so we have a first we have a second any other discussion on that all right roll call or Voice vote all favor I I oppose Asain carries all right number six Proclamation certificates presentations there is none public hearing there is none public session from the floor this public session is for the those wishing to make a comment of three minutes or less regarding an agenda item please line up the microphone and state your name municipality and agenda topic for the record motion to open the floor for public comment commissioner deputy director space second commissioner deg Groot any discussion all in favor say I I oppose abstain carries anyone all right motion to close the floor for public comment commissioner Henderson have a second commissioner de grou any discussion all in favor say I I I oppose Iain carries number nine commissioner comments start to my left with commissioner Henderson okay since our last commissioner meeting uh commissioner deg and I finished our visits with Frankford Leighton Pon DP at w garages I can say it was very informative hearing the employees views and concerns moving forward in 2025 I attended the reorganization meeting in Newton and Vernon I'd like to congratulate all that were appointed or ran for election this year I commend them for doing that I met with the IT department for anybody trying to send me email I am all up and running in email I accept good and bad email along with commissioner director Corney and members of the secc college we toured the former Kio dwire Correctional Facility it's been years since I had been there and I just want to clarify with you I was not there as an inmate I was there as a police officer so I just want to make that clear I also had the pleasure of being here with commissioner director Carney and deputy director space commissioner de gr presenting uh years of service pins to the employees of the county I remember it saying but I don't know for my notes Here how much time people have given their life to Sussex County as employees here it's commendable uh yesterday along with deputy director space rored public nursing Sussex County Transit the fleet division meeting with most of the employees of the various departments it's a pleasure to meet them all and I hope we let them left them with an impression how valuable they are as employees of Sussex County this morning deputy director space and I met with votch superintendent we did a two and a half hour tour of botch school as I say I haven't been there in years myself incredible opportunity for children to go to botch it's certainly one of our jewels of the county as far as I felt when I walked out of there uh this afterno 3 attended my first scua meeting uh my first 10 minutes there I was put out for executive sessions so that was my to the board meting but excellent looking forward to working alongside of them and uh tomorrow I will be attending the votek meeting at six o'clock as I'm the liaison for votch and that's all I have thank you thank you for reminding me of some of the things that I did because I completely forgot some of the things that I did bouncing around uh commissioner Hayden you're up all right unfortunately I've been under the weather for the last two months with pneumonia but I did have the use of the IT department the other day and I got to say how professional they were and how quickly they help me and every time I've had a problem and that's all I really have right now thank you commissioner degr uh following up from our last meeting um as mentioned commissioner Henderson and I visited Frankfurt Lafayette and hopac on garages and met with the crews from Frankfurt Lafayette Lake uh Leighton uh Bridges and signs and hopac on Crews these visits marked uh the completion of our County Garage tour and gave us the privilege of connecting with our dedicated County workers each interaction provided a valuable opportunity to listen learn and more importantly gain a deeper understanding of both the daily and long-term challenges of our crews that they face uh I want to extend my sincere thanks to Scot house and Jason Schwartz for their efforts in coordinating these events um the njtpa recently held its first meeting of the year and I was happy to attend and deeply honored to serve as our board's liaison I want to say a special thank you to to director Christopher Carney and my fellow commissioner board members uh for their trust and confidence in me uh and serving on the board the meeting covered key 2024 Milestones the NJ tpa's long range plan and an insightful presentation on state development and Redevelopment plan I look forward to Future meetings and I'd like to also say thank you to Tom draic for his help catching me up to speed on all the information in addition since our last meeting I had the privilege of attending alongside uh commissioner Carney commissioner Henderson uh the public safety training Academy's graduation uh in addition to that uh alongside commissioner Carney director Carney deputy director space and uh commissioner Henderson um attending the county e Employee Appreciation Day event that we had uh both events served as a powerful reminders of our dedication hard work and significance of our First Responders as well as our County employees who deserve our deepest gratitude for the division of Health Office of Public Health nursing there will be a child health clinic from ten a.m to 12:00 p.m. in a regular Health Clinic from 2: to 400 p.m. on Tuesday January 28th at the Office of Public Health nursing 2011 wheatsworth Road Hamburg to make an appointment call the Office of Public Health nursing at 97357 n570 extension 1275 finally quick reminder uh that as we spend more time indoors during these cold winter days pretty chilly uh I encourage every encourage everyone to take a moment to participate in Sussex County's Farmland preservation survey uh with two weeks remaining uh we've already received an impressive 480 responses which is really really good uh but we got two weeks left so look into to aim for about 500 responses uh until the survey closes uh your input is very vital and greatly appreciate it um thank you as is all God bless thank you deputy director space thank you well I'll start with uh my favorite thing of the week that I didn't have any involvement in but I sat and watched them my living room watching uh president Trump become our 47th president so that was the highlight of my two weeks but on another note uh director Carney and I attended uh went to the hopac con garage which was the only garage that we didn't get to hit last year on our tour and it was nice to see all the things that they've done with the arpa funds um their new kitchenette and the flooring and to hear how appreciative that they are that we thought of them in that way and uh just everything that they've done and I attended a Senate voting session and the State of the State address by Governor Murphy and he painted a picture of a better economic climate after seven years as Governor I totally disagree yet I believe we need a new Direction after taxing our residents and businesses making New Jersey extremely unaffordable people want change so I'm hoping to see that this year um and I attended a meeting here with our our current website provider along with Christina marks and our County it and they showed us what our website could look like um when we do redesign ours which is in our budget for this year so once we put it out for an RFP we'll pick the company and now we have a direction on which way we'd like to go and I'm hoping that this project will be done by the end of the year they said it'll take about six to eight months after it's approved so that's the goal um and then of course Alan said we toured Public Health nursing and uh Fleet and Transit um it was nice it's always nice to get in front of the employees and let them know that we appreciate them and hear what they do on a day-to-day basis um so I want to thank all the employees if we haven't hit your department hopefully at some point we will and then today we toured Sussex Tech and um they were telling us about all their improvements that they're going to do with capital they're putting on a new engineering department and Sports Medicine is coming in September so that's really exciting and uh Mr Moda said he's really looking forward to working with uh Dr Corey Homer who is the new interim at Sussex County Community College who director Carney and I are meeting with tomorrow so we look forward to the board here looks forward to working with you and hoping to see you and Sussex Tech work more together so they were very optimistic so that's exciting um and then lastly I just want to thank everyone for their support and well wishes uh for my husband and he is recovering from a snake bite and he's just suffering with a swollen finger and hand that's it that's it thank you thank you deputy director and congratulations Corey for uh that new appointment um I'm sure we work very well together and as commissioner space said uh working with votch is I think uh very important so from the division of Public Works uh the Public Works has responded to 10 winter storms events so far this season the most recent storm C over the weekend and and fully required full activation of all DPW garage garages office of bridg and the office of bridge and traffic safety part-time plow drivers in Fleet the response included the use of 67 plow trucks and eight yard loaders the storm brought an average of seven inches of snow to the county and Crews were activated on Sunday at approximately 11:30 in the morning and remained in service until around 10:30 Monday morning once again the crew's performance was second to none as they work through the night maintaining the county roads in a safe and passable condition kudos to them as always just a little something I wanted to bring up to everybody here today and even uh the Commissioners um there's been some conversation at the state level amending the Farmland Assessment Act it is too simple to call this issue about fake Farmers we have a strong farming Community here in Sussex and their interest must be protected so we will be working closely with District 24 legislators in their office and I'll have more to report in the coming weeks as this important issue continues to unfold um as the Commissioners noted all the things that we did I guess being director you always come last so you don't get to say all the good things that we have done but we heard a lot of Commissioners say that what we have done so that is good means we're involved um I just want to say a shout out to our workers our employees we gave out pins for anywhere from 25 to 50 years we had two employees that have been here for 50 years one was 50 a librarian another one was DPW at 51 years still here and and he is still here which is it's just crazy but uh we we put a nice little um presentation on we uh as one of the Commissioners said we gave out pins add some cake coffee and whatnot we're going to keep doing that every year come February we're going to have um the board out there to placard with their names on there to keep forever in the foyer something that we've been planning on doing for a long time finally came to fruition which is good I'm proud I'm proud to work here I'm proud to work alongside those people that's what makes us this County go around so kudos to them another note yes the inauguration was good um but uh big congratulations to senator steinhardt for becoming our new US attorney so kudos to him we are proud of you that is awesome congratulations to you and your family you worked hard you deserve that so good for you um that is all I have on my comments um um all right we up to 12 10 I'm sorry 10 I already screwed that yep number 10's approval consent agenda we have no consent agenda skipping minutes because we moove that number 12 is ordinance there is no ordinance number 13 is appointments and or resignation I get a motion to adopt resolutions a through e so moved commissioner de group have a second second commissioner Henderson any discussion no all right roll call please commissioner de group yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson yes deputy director space yes director Carney yes 14 13f we are going to approve executive after executive session all right that's on yours everybody's agenda then okay all right 14's resolutions uh can I get a motion to adopt resolutions a through C so moved space commissioner Hayden second any discussion all right roll call commissioner to group yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson yes deputy director space yes director Carney yes 15's Awards of contracts change orders and bids the board of County Commissioners of the county of Sussex has reviewed the award of contract change orders bids consist consisting of various proposed resolutions and determine that adoption of the said resolutions is and will further the public interest motion to adopt resolutions a through D so moved commissioner Hayden moves commissioner degr seconds any discussion all right roll call please commissioner de grou yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson yes deputy director space yes director Carney yes 16's Financial uh number one a resolution payments of Bill list from January 22nd 2025 motion to pay the Bill's list so moved commissioner Henderson commissioner Hayden seconds any discussion call commissioner de grou abstain commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson yes deputy director space yes director Carney yes number 17's Personnel resolution this resolution a is the Personnel agenda of 12225 motion to approve the Personnel agenda so moved second deputy director space commissioner Hayden seconds discussion all right roll call commissioner deg grp yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson abstain deputy director space yes director Carney yes 18 is Administrative report thank you turn it on thank you director uh just real quick I want to update everybody on the weeds forth building I know you guys were out there this week with public health nursing and Transit it's been quite the process out there um in the last couple of weeks we had a pretty well past couple months actually we've had a significant mold issue that was that was in that building it was CED by a faulty faucet and facet on the front facet of the building had completely deteriorated and was creating mold um um so we had to evacuate the transit office completely remediate that area um Public Health nursing was already in a revision mode so we had to shift them out and move transit in and it was kind of a shuffle there for a while so the good news is all the mold remediation is complete um Transit is in and back up in operations next week we should have the furniture company come in and and start sizing up getting everything ready for the new Public Health nursing Arrangement there get them up and going what's the original intent out there and then in the spring we've got contractors going to start and replace that whole facial side so we don't have that leakage anymore so give you quick update on that and repairing another damaged building and wheel turns very good thank you 19 County Council okay number 20 unfinished business body no I do have a little bit just good news uh for our audience out here today we we will be closing on The Provident Bank January 29th so that is a very good thing um we've been working on that for quite a while so it's happened uh 21 new business anybody new business the only thing I have is I forgot to finish my commissioner comments so if I can just now absolutely I'm not normally that forgetful but I did forget today um but since it's Senior Services I don't want to leave it out division of Senior Services volunteer income tax assistance program the volunteer income tax assistance program through nor westc cap staffed with the IRS trained and certified volunteers assist seniors and lowincome and disabled individuals and families with free tax preparation in Warren and Sussex counties uh vaita is also what they call it services will be available at three locations in Sussex County by appointment only Christ Christ Episcopal Church 17th 17 Church Street Newton Mondays from 9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m Norwest capap Sussex burrow community and Cultural Center 37 Main Street Sussex Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sparta Library 22 woodport Road Sparta Fridays 9:00 a.m to 1 p.m. nor westc will begin scheduling appointments after January 24th 2025 to schedule an appointment or obtain additional information please visit Norwest cap.org or call 973 784 4900 extension 2902 division of seniors matter of balance a matter of balance is a program designed to reduce the fear of falling and increase activity levels among older adults the division of senior services will hold a matter of balance class at Liberty towers located at 32 Liberty Street in Newton from 1:30 to 3:30 on Mondays beginning February 3rd 2025 and ending March 31st 2025 to register or obtain additional information please contact the division of senior services at 97357 n555 extension 1225 Division of Community and youth services county of Sussex participates in New Jersey counts 2025 New Jersey counts 2025 New Jersey's annual point in time pit count of unsheltered homeless individuals is being conducted Statewide on Wednesday January 29th 2025 the county will be taking the lead once again on the planning and coordination of this important event in order to capture a Statewide count of homeless families and individuals in our community including where they find shelter what their needs are and what factors contribute to homelessness County staff and volunteers will be outreaching Community Partners human service provider agencies and shelter locations in an attempt to raise awareness and participation in the event a full Statewide report will release later this year thank you for letting me finish of course thank you any other new business all right so I just have a little bit it was it's I'm gonna have Lorraine chime in a little bit as well um it's about the outside Wellness health facility as I like to call it as of today um this is kind of what I've been talking about for a long time again about the gym or some kind of physical fitness that we were talking about with our employees here uh in the county uh Horizon is our provider and they offer $20 a month um if you can prove that you work out or walk a certain amount with your Apple watch or so on and so forth so working with Lorraine she she's working on some grants we're g to be working with the college um especially now that Cory Homer's there um to try to set up basically if you can picture it and and Lauren's going to work on some pictures and whatnot and and the price of it and the grants and all this stuff I just want to put on your radar basically if you if you seen if you've been at a park and you see those outdoor workout facilities they usually have a kind of um uh like a bouncy mat that you see at a trampoline park and or around pool sometimes that way if you're using glass to drink your beverages whatever they may be that you know it doesn't break um and they have workout equipment using your own weight and so on and so forth so that's what I have if Lorraine if you could kind of clarify some of that and I employ ch set fa at Rel together just anything that Corey has to add that would be great perfect I appreciate that so as the time progresses R will get some more information as Cory said he can go to his um and get permission find a spot for it and then we'll have a I'll have a little bit better presentation for you all to take a look at and see what it's going to look like see where it's going to be um and see how it's going to get funded as well but uh I think it's a good idea unless somebody has a different thought good okay 22 public session from the floor this public session for those wishing to make General comments of three minutes or less on non agenda topics please line up at your microphone and state your name and Miss py for the record motion to open the floor for public commissioner hay second deputy director SP in discussion all in favor say I I I oppose abstain carries the floor is open for non agenda topics thank you tro I thought I was to come here to well I also Subs of minute I so that continues toen I have soci thank you anyone else Bally it's another another meeting and we still have commissioned himself withies Sten unan ACC at I feel unfortunately weas stuck I feel like a basically useless commission for the rest ofm all we've isef at I don't know what to except he has sh everyone now colors reelection again I'm he would certainly not win because in and probably the whole state thank you is there anyone else wants all right motion to close the floor for public comment return to regular business commissioner Hayden second the second from commissioner the group any discussion all in favor say I I I I oppose abstain carries 23 reminders please check the County's website at www.sex.nj.us804anddate.com as an exception to the open public meetings act pursuant to njsa 10 412b and whereas it appears necessary for the board of County Commissioners to discuss such matters in executive session now therefore be it resolved that the board of County commissioners of the county of Sussex in accordance with the provisions of njsa 10 4-12 B and nj4 uh njsa 104-113 that the board at this time enter into an executive session from which the public shall be excluded and be it further resolved that the general nature of the subjects to be discussed relate to the following items authorized by njsa 10 412b as designated below item number six matters relating to the public safety and property state plan for roads item number seven matters relating to litigation negotiations and the attorney client privilege County Administration uh and and over Subacute and number eight matters relating to the employment relationship Sussex County Community College be it further resolved that the deliberations conducted in close session may be disclosed to the public upon the determination of the susex County Board of County Commissioners or provided by law that the public interest will no longer serve no longer be served by such confidentiality and be it further resolved that upon completion of the business for which the board has entered into the executive session the board shall reconvene and resume its meeting open to the public and be it further resolved that the board expects to take formal action after returning from executive session and to adjourn the regular meeting so moved second hi