[Music] [Music] this time I will call this meeting to order Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker commissioner bodc here commissioner dallis for president commissioner grados commissioner Kowalski here commissioner Mirabella presid commissioner Williams here Vice chairwoman Leon here and chairwoman palmary mudad here chair let the record reflect you have seven Commissioners present for this evening regular meeting thank you Clerk of the board please lead us in prayer and salute to the flag humbly we ask God to give her peace and lover of Charity to give the entire family of Nations true agreement with his will to Grant the light of the spirit on all who work for justice and peace amen Clerk of the board please read the statement of compliance with the open public meetings act the chair wishes to announce that pursuant to the requirements of New Jersey statutes annotated title 10 chapter 4 section 10 of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting the board of County commissioners of the county of Union has been given by mailing the annual meeting schedule for the year 2024 along with periodic changes necessitated by circumstance to the newspapers circulating within the county of Union who are designated to receive such notice and by posting the annual meeting schedule for the year 20124 in the administration building and further by filing the annual meeting schedule for the year 2024 with the office of the county clerk thank you may I have a motion to approve the communications second uh a motion was made by commissioner Mirabella was seconded by commissioner Kowalski Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner bodc I commissioner dallis for I commissioner Kowalski yes commissioner Mirabella I commissioner Williams I Vice chair Leon I chairwoman pal mudad I chair you have seven votes in the affirmative on all the communications thank you may I have a motion to approve the March minutes so moved second a motion was made by commissioner bodak was seconded by commissioner delis Fort Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner bodak I commissioner delis for I commissioner Kowalski yes commissioner Mirabella obain on the March 27 agenda and regular meeting I to the rest commissioner Williams I to all Vice chairwoman Leon I to all and chairwoman pal Mudan I to all CH you have seven votes in the affirmative for the March 13th uh 2024 agenda and regular meeting minutes uh you have six votes in the affirmative with one exstension for the meeting minutes of March 27th agenda and regular thank you the meeting is now open to the public for the purpose of commenting on resolutions being offered for adoption Andor on any governmental issue that a member of the public feels may may be of concern kindly state your name and town of residents for the record and if speaking on a resolution on the agenda please note the resolution number to which you are referring and adhere to the 5 minute time limit good evening chair ladies and gentlemen of the commissioner board Bruce Patterson gar New Jersey thank you for the agenda it's actually a short agenda so I appreciate that not spending a lot of money this but anyway um just reso 313 and 314 is giving an additional $85,000 total to neglia engineering for design and construction management for uh Road resurfacing projects back in 2021 in 2022 uh the question is these projects were done a couple of years ago I'm just wondering why you're increasing the contracts now uh reso 3177 is adopting yeah this is a stranger I've never seen this before reso 317 is adopting prequalification regulations for prospective biders for NJ do funded projects with a total construction value over $5 million and is this something new being created by the state and what is the purpose behind that uh just some regular comments uh the county budget normally over the past couple of years I mean I've been getting it right around uh now the middle to the end of April and it's not out so I'm just wondering what's the status when is it going to be available to the public because I'm I'm going to be looking for some hard copies uh also asked this at you at the Union College meeting earlier and it was just a parking situation I mean has anybody has anybody even roached that situation because it really is bad over there at Union College maybe just a comment on that if you're considering something uh also the status of the courthouse stairwell project this has been going on for a long time supposedly was supposed to be done at the end of October past October so I'm just wondering what the status is if there's any ISS isues and uh finally last meeting I ended my commentary with statement please stop the corruption to which commissioner Baker whoever commissioner Baker is right now found fault saying he does not see any corruption uh and that's fair enough that the osc report of the grifting of tax monies by the two top administrators did not call it corruption uh however he was silent on my continual use of the phrase corrupted system uh which I wonder what he thinks about uh but he's not here at this point so I I like commissioner Baker he's the he's one of them that actually asks a lot of questions and I appreciate that that he's interested in the operations of the County so I I commend him on that uh I I really have to wonder if he really even thinks about whenever the term corrupted system comes up when I say it that I know I know one thing he was he was surprised he was reading his report and the contact person inside the County employee was uh Andrea Staten and I think he stumbled on that because also he realized that she was a former commissioner now she's an employee of the county and I mean this is one of the reasons why I continually use the term corrupted system so thank you very much uh hopefully you can answer some of the questions I thank seeing no one else at this time I will formally close uh this portion of the meeting I will ask um Rick Matas please to come forward to respond to um resolution 313 314 3177 thank you chair the two resolutions for neglia are for additional Services requested uh by my office up NE during those two Paving projects uh for design and inspection uh specifically related to storm order requirements that are required um as part of state requirements and also additional Ada considerations uh the pre-qualification resolution uh 317 is actually a new requirement through NJ do uh any project that receiv state DOT funding uh that is over5 million now is going to require a pre-qualification through the Contracting entity I thank you um and Mr Pon the budget is on the website you could just access it there or download it as you need thank you and also the stairwell uh we're currently working on the closeout of that project there's some additional work that's needed so to do it okay thank you so much at this time I would like to ask for a motion to adopt resolutions 2024 d312 through 2024 d356 so move second uh a motion was made by Vice chairwoman Leon and was seconded by commissioner delis for Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner bodc I to all abstain on resolution 327 commissioner delis for I commissioner Kowalski yes commissioner Mirabella abstain from uh two 323 3 I commissioner Williams I to all Vice chairwoman Leon I to all chair p mudad i to all chair let the rec reflect you have seven votes in the affirmative on all the resolutions with the exception of the following three resolution 2024 327 resolution 2024 323 and resolution 2024 3 two four where you have six votes in the affirmative and one abens thank you at this time I'm going to ask for our commissioner reports and comments I will start with commissioner Kowalski thank you chair we mentioned the recers Cooperative Extension earlier when we had our our young poets here and the coop recor Co-op is also involved with our master garders of County who are hosting their 33rd annual Spring Garden fair and plant sale on Sunday May 19th from noon to 4: at their demonstration garden at Trailside Nature and Science Center and that's at watching reservation um in Mountainside so the Spring Garden Fair showcases a wide variety of of vegetables and Native and ornamental flowers uh and many house plants and you can also get advice from Master Gardener helpline and squarefoot gardening demonstration tables uh the tree stewards will host a children's activity and visitors are invited to explore the 24 themed garden beds uh situated in the demonstration garden so this free event is held rain or shine on May 19th visitors are advised that all sales are cash only and the recomended to bring a small wagon to transport purchases uh service animals are welcome but pets will not be allowed the parking is free and as I mentioned it's organized by the Master Gardeners of Union County and all volunteer organization run by The recer Cooperative Extension of munion County um so I can't mention what the prices are but I think if you go there you'll notice that they're considerably less expensive than some of theal venues so for more information about the Spring Garden fair and the Master Gardener program you can go to master garders d.org or um just Google um Union County master garders um I would also like to add my condolences to the bulock family and to um the family of uh Congressman Congress P um served this County for a number of years uh always um willing to step in wherever we needed help he ese was especially um expert on transportation and infrastructure issues um worked with us to help get uh infrastructure support from the federal government and um appeared at at numerous County events and uh was he was um a very good public servant and will definitely be missed thank you chair thank you commissioner Williams thank you chairwoman um earlier this week actually uh yesterday uh I joined some of my fellow colleagues local elected officials and some of our partners from Roselle and Rosel Park to celebrate the full and complete uh finally reopening of the Gordon Street Bridge uh it's now completely renovated but retains its pedestrian accessibility uh this long awaited reopening symbolizes not just the restoration of crucial infrastructure but also the culmination of our community's dedicated efforts throughout the process uh the county team collaborated with professionals and staff from uh both Rosel and Rosel Park along with the njtpa to rejuvenate this vital pathway for our residents the new the new bridge as you will see uh features a wider single span steel Pony truss whatever that is uh with a can levered sidewalk I know what that is and a steel Stringer approach span uh the project faced as many of you know many challenges such as multiple stages of overhead utility relocation traffic maintenance and construction staging uh Community involvement concerns included historic preservation and potential relocation of the original structure so we want to extend our gratitude to everyone involved for their committed uh efforts in making this project a reality and bringing it to fruition um and this does highlight the power of collaboration in creating accessible Pathways for all of our residents and the Rosel Park officials as well as the Rosel officials who were on hand were very very pleased to finally see this project um completed and um drive across it it's very safe um the other uh thing I wanted to mention was uh last Friday uh commissioner Mirabella and I attended the fourth annual lavender graduation at can University um and this was dedicated to honoring undergraduate uh and graduate lgbtq students it was a really wonderful uh celebration and uh kudos to Kaine for putting it together uh that's all I have thank you chair thank you commissioner bodak Union County residents interested in helping voters at polling locations on this year's election day um have time to apply to become pole workers pole workers will earn $300 for the day starting at 5:15 a.m. through at least 8:15 p.m. after the polls close the primary election this year is held on Tuesday June 4th 2024 any uni County resident who is 16 years of or older can apply to becom a pole worker Union County residents who are 18 years or older must be registered to vote no experience is needed new poll workers must attend a mandatory in-person training prospective poll workers can apply online or by using a paper application form to apply online visit the Union County Board of Elections at www.nj.org pole worker to receive a paper application call the Board of Elections at 9852775034 j.org for all Union County Board of election information please please visit ucnj.org ucboe um this past Monday I had the opportunity to attend the open house at the fire academy and there's a lot of amazing things going on and training and um the equipment provided to our various departments throughout the county is is truly amazing and something that should be seen and you know um at this point um the next time there's an opportunity like this the public should make itself available and take a tour of that facility it's supplied by Union County to provide training to the firefighters and some other individuals throughout the county I'd also like to offer my condolences to the family of Lisa bolock on their tragic loss of their father thank you thank you commissioner Dallas Fort thank you chairwoman Union County Board of Elections announced that the polling place list and the dropbox locations for the 2024 primary elections are available on their website www.nj.org also the 2024 primary election will be held on Tuesday June 4th as you just heard um all 24 secure ballot drop boxes will open April 19th for the 2024 primary election and will remain open through the close of the polls on June 4th at 800m dropboxes are under camera surveillance 247 they're available to voters 247 and they're also Ada accessible for a complete list of polling locations and ballot dropboxes in Union County please visit the Board of Elections website at www.nj.org Boe um I'd also like to extend my sincere condolences to Lisa and family um and also would like to express that with the passing of Congressman Donald Payne Jr we've lost a beloved public figure I've witnessed firsthand his unwavering dedication to serving the community and advocating for critical issues um like health care and education and transportation his dedication to improving the lives of people in his districts and Beyond earned him WID widespread respect and admiration and so for that he will sorely be missed and may He rest in peace and that concludes my thank you commissioner Marabella thank you madam chair the 2024 Union County Senior Art Festival featuring 158 original works of art created by County residents AG 60 and above is open now through May 29th in the conference center at the ucj Union College of Union County New Jersey uh 1776 R Ro in Scotch ples the exhibit is open 9 to 5 Monday to Friday and open until 8 800m on Tuesday evenings the annual senior Art Exhibit showcases artworks by both professional and nonprofessional artists in a variety of media categories including oil painting acrylic watercolor pastel drawing photography digital art mix media print Mak craft and sculpture many the senior Art Exhibit is made possible by the Union County Office of cultural and Heritage Affairs a partner of the State uh Council on the Arts the exhibit is coordinated by Union County Office of cultural and Heritage Affairs and division of Parks and Recreation for more information you can email mm.org or call 85582 uh for more information on other cultural programs offered by the county you can visit ucnj.org cultural uh earlier in addition earlier this evening I was able to participate in the board of school estimate for Union College and uh president McManaman always does a nice job presenting uh her budget capital and operating requests from the county Jamie seagull does a teric job running that uh meeting as a secretary to that board and uh but for me I'm sure my colleagues commissioner bod and Madam chair the Highlight was seeing the students and the students came out was about 25 of them talking about their Hometown and their major and getting excited for their upcoming graduation so really a great and a highlight for me uh I did and commissioner Williams I'm glad you did mention the lavender graduation you to mention was that you were the honored and guest speaker and did a terrific job uh for the students there so nice job and I'll join my colleagues uh in condolence wishes to the Bullock family and the pay family uh Congressman Payne was always quick to help always happy to take a minute to talk to any issues that I ever had or anybody from his district and uh he'll be missed thank thank you County Council Bruce Bergen thank you chair nothing tonight thank you Deputy County Manager Amy Wagner comments thank you okay Vice chairwoman lordis Leon thank you thank you chair uh first and foremost uh my deepest sympathy to uh Lisa bulock and her family on the Lost of her father and to the Donald pain family also we would like to invite seniors and their caregivers to visit their local ask service kiosk this may ask is a problem program within the Union County Department of Human Services specially operated by the division of Aging it offers adults 60 and older so I'm going to start going to these um because I just I'm a little over 60 now okay along with their caregivers a friendly and convenient Avenue to discover valuable programs and services and speak individually with division on Aging professional staff at the as kios can help older adults and caregivers connnect with various services including home delivered meals respit Care Home Care adult daycare and support services for caregivers any Union County Senior like myself or caregiver can visit Asos regardless of their Hometown no appointment or pre-registration is needed bilingual staff will also be available at several of the events to offer support in Spanish for a complete list of dates times and locations in May please visit www W ucnj.org DHS aing or contact the division on Aging and Disability resource connection at 1888 28822 which is tollfree thank you that is all for me tonight thank you I would like to again thank uh commissioner uh Vice chairwoman Leon commissioner Mirabella and commissioner Kowski for joining me today for those presentations uh I know we had a little hiccup with the the poems but um it is always such a great thing to have our students here so I was really happy to have them and the New Jersey sharing network is a great partner of ours and and the need for organ donation unfortunately is is a growing need and an everpresent need um and then it's always wonderful to highlight our coaches and teachers who influence and make a difference in our children's lives on a daily basis so it was so nice to have them here as commissioner mirel said as well as the students from Union College uh always nice to hear what they're doing and what their plans are and and how much they love school um I also last night I attended with commissioner delis for the Lata volunteer dinner um there was such a wonderful volunteers that uh were being recognized for all the work that they do uh on their own terms you know everybody we talk about it last night people have home lives and children and families and care you know their caregivers to elderly parents and the list goes on and on and on but somehow they find time to volunteer and the hours I I don't remember off the top of my head but the hours were just tremendous so um it's just such a great service to have here at the county um I know tomorrow is take your child to work day my children were very excited to be able to check that box off and not go to school tomorrow I said earlier they they all told me like I think we'll just stay home you know that that's okay too but um but they'll be joining us throughout the county so I want to thank in advance um our departments who are participating tomorrow um for doing that and and providing that um little bit of information and fun uh for our our children uh and then this Sunday um we do have at our Trailside Nature and Science Center and in our watch Young reservation our wild Earth Fest uh which is always a highlight uh for our County I don't know I have not checked the weather so I hope the weather is good we're good okay even though last year we had an absolute torrential rainstorm but somehow it was still a fantastic event inside so they they know what they're doing there um but I do hope we have some good weather uh and I think with that I am done um I don't think I have anything else to say so can I have a motion so m m chair second all in favor I I thank you [Music] [Music]