We gotta get our routine going. Right. Mr. Christopher, how are yourself?
what's good? I mean, there's,
right, right, right, right, right, right.
no, I see.
and then,
yeah, renee's work. Yeah. I don't think she, I don't think she did yet.
there, there's some other stuff too. I know, I saw that. I, I thought she, I thought she did something else.
there was something else. I, yeah, I remember they was working on the, the new, the new,
uh, for, I'm sorry, sir. You and siebel?
no, I, I think it was doco plus. There was a,
yeah, there was, there was another,
there's another sheet. Maybe, maybe there wasn't a ta
was we send it because there was two, there was two pieces. Uh, commissioner
one was just that project and then there was others. I think it was like,
it was two sheets. You might, maybe it didn't come through. Been so why
I thought that was, it was from 2025.
so, so that's what I was saying. I dunno. Oh, I heard.
what was the well, we'll talk
is here.
I don't think he got all, I don't think he got everything.
yeah,
the honorable. What's that?
okay. We have quorum now.
good evening. This meeting of the essex county board of county commissioners is hereby
called into order. This meeting, uh, meeting is being live streamed in addition
to taking place in person. Madam deputy court, please call the rule commissioner
gi here. Commissioner luciano. Here.
commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas.
absent. Commissioner richardson. Here. Commissioner siebold.
absent. Commissioner sermons absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper.
here. Commissioner, president palms here. Please stand for ms. Luc
to flag. I'm gonna ask vice president cooper to lead us in the solution. I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the united states of america
to the republic of what stands one nation under, under god,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'm just gonna ask
for a moment of silence and honor of those that we've lost since the last time that we came together.
thank you.
I have before me certification for the deputy clerk that this meeting is in compliance with the open
public meeting, zach. So we're gonna move on to the approval of transcripts. Madam
deputy clerk, are there any transcripts to be approved? No. Mr. President. Okay.
do we have any topics for discussion? No. Mr. President. Okay. So let's
move on to public comment. Tonight's meeting is a combined conference board meeting.
we will board on every item on the agenda. So if there's any member of the public who would like to comment
on agenda items only, please come to the microphone and state your name and affiliation for
the record. You will have three minutes of speak. There will be time later in the
evening for public comment on any other item. So I ask you, please
limit your comment at this time to agenda item only.
lemme recognize that commissioner mary thomas has joined the meeting for the record.
good evening commissioners. Uh, my name is danielle toro. I currently serve
as a vice president of the board of trustees for winona's house here
in newark. Um, winona's house, as many of you know, because
you have been, um, amazing supporters of our organization for a number of years,
is a designated child advocacy center, um, here in
essex county. Um, again, I wanna thank you for the support that you've given us over the
year in supporting our organization. We are, um, a very unique organization
that serves victims, child victims of abuse. We
serve almo close to a thousand children a year in our
facility. We happen to be celebrating our 25th year anniversary this year
of providing support to children and families. In our 25
year history, we have served close to 13,000 children and their families,
as many of you know, we are facing, um, a dire situation
of nearly $575,000 in funding being cut from
the state budget. My team, um, along with, uh,
robert crocker, who is our ceo, um, and supporters are here tonight.
um, we understand that there are resolutions, thankfully, in both the senate and the
commissioners. My name is christian baltista and I am the director of prevention
services at wyn house child advocacy center. And I've
had other, I've fulfilled other roles, including the role of family advocate.
um, we serve families, um, who've experienced, um,
child abuse and neglect, the non-offending family. And
we are in the front lines providing different kinds of services for them.
um, and I'll give you, uh, an example of the kind of of
families that we serve. Um, recently a family, uh,
of five children and their mom walked into wynonna's house.
uh, the two younger girls who were ages three and four, uh,
suffered child sexual abuse from the hands of their father.
and, um, they also had a prolonged history of domestic violence.
um, so this problem was compounded by intersections
of different kinds of abuse. And they were also homeless at this point,
living off of their cars. So, um, when they walked in,
we provided different services such as
can be built up and can finally be broken.
this family today is living in their own apartment. Mom is conne
has been connected with job resources. She's working, the family is
sustaining themselves. Um, the oldest child is now been
accepted to njit university here in newark, new jersey. And this is
the kind of work that we do in our communities. Thank you. Thank you.
recognizing commissioner seabold, joining the meeting.
good evening county commissioners. My name is brian hackett. Uh, I'm the
director of government and community relations for associated humane societies here in
newark. Um, speaking in reference to item 31, commissioner
cooper's resolution on june, adopt a cap month. Just want
to very briefly, uh, thank commissioner cooper for her continued time and attention
to this. And thank the county commissioners for your support,
uh, on the community cat issue and spay neuter and vaccination
of outdoor cats throughout essex county. Uh, we
continue to have great success and great support with that program. Thanks to your
support and thanks to that support, we're able to
actually get more of these adoptable cats into loving homes
of many, uh, essex county residents and, uh, residents of, of the
state beyond essex county. Many folks don't realize that 95%
of the animals euthanized in our state, uh, are cats.
so this type of effort, this type of work, is really near and dear to
the hearts of many of your constituents that we serve every day. So I
just wanted to recognize that. And thank you all for your great support and great
work. Thank you. Thank you.
is there anyone else wishing to speak at this time for public comment on agenda items?
okay. Seeing none, uh, madam deputy kirk left the record reflect despite
the nice sized audience that we have here, we have no more public comment for agenda items.
uh, so we're going, uh, to where do they want to turn for a second here?
I know we're, we're a little bit different today. I'm going to call on commissioner
gil to speak on number 69, which is the resolution related
to . Uh, uh, thank you, mr. Chairman. Um,
uh, excuse me, mr. President . Yeah. One works. Either one works . It's
a, it is a different meeting. Uh, very quickly. First of all, I want to, uh,
thank commissioner, um, seabold, um, for agreeing to be a
co-sponsor on this, um, resolution. Uh, but most likely, I think we
will, uh, probably end up doing this by, um, acclimation. Uh,
but this is a, uh, as we heard, uh, earlier, uh, today from, um,
two of our speakers. And I know there are some other people in the audience who are here to support. This is a
resolution, uh, supporting, uh, the restoration of funding to
winona's house, uh, in the fy 26 new jersey state budget.
um, as we've just, uh, heard, um, uh, about, uh,
I think all of us here on the board are familiar with juan winona's house,
um, and, uh, named of course after the late great senator win
lipman, but it's our child advocacy center here in, uh, essex county.
it serves, uh, over 950 cases annually providing,
uh, wraparound services, uh, to child victims of abuse across the
22 municipalities of essex county, and offers prevention services
reaching over 3000 community members, um, each year. Uh, this
year, unfortunately, I know that we have a, a, a particularly challenged, um,
challenges with our, our state budget. Uh, but there was a cut of 575,
uh, hundred thousand dollars of a grant in aid and appropriation, uh, in the state
budget. And, um, I know that at least, um, and I'm hoping,
uh, that we're all in agreement that we would very much like to see that restored before
the state budget is passed. Uh, hopefully, uh, in the next few weeks.
so this will be a resolution to send a message both to, uh, uh, members of our state
legislative delegation, uh, the governor, um, and anyone
else who's paying attention that, um, you know, that they're gonna have to find somewhere else
to cut , because this program is too, too, just too critical, um,
for, uh, for our own community here in the county. So, um, with that,
um, mr. President, um, I'm happy. Would you like to move? Move, sir. I'm happy to move it. Thank
you. Thank you. Commissioner. Steven, would you like to second? Very much so our commissioner.
are we, uh, all good with by acclimation? Yes. Yes. Okay.
uh, commissioner gill and siebel, are you okay with that? Yes. Yes. Thank you.
uh, so we have moved by commissioner gill. Second by siebel. We'll call madam deputy clerk
for number 69. Commissioner gill. Yes. Commissioner
luciano. Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas.
yes. Commissioner richardson. Yes. Commissioner seabold? Yes.
commissioner sermons. Absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper? Yes. Commissioner,
president pois. Yes. So moved. We're, uh, gonna just modify things a
little bit. We're moving into our summer schedule, so we're trying to, you know, we only have one meeting a
month, so we're gonna modify things just a little bit. Commissioner gu, would you like to call your representatives up into
the well, we're photo opportunity? Sure.
this, this may come as a shock to anyone in the audience, but we also have vacation plans at times
too, and we change the schedule. So, mr. President,
is there time for comment on the information? No. Now what we're gonna do right now, we're gonna hold our comments in the
interest of time, but we're gonna do is we're gonna get up for a group picture. We're gonna save our
comments for the comment session a little bit later on in the interest of time. But
I know everyone is eager to, you know, uh, show support for this.
mm-hmm. Come up here in front, in front of me and face that way. We'll get a couple picture. Commissioners,
would you like to join the well, please.
we're not to make like a semicircle here. Make like a c everyone. So the
big cameras, take picture.
this is our camera. Yes, we're good.
do you wanna join? Trust me this, I had like 40 kids.
this is your, this is your opportunity. Get in now. Hold, join,
please. Come, tommy. We got a meeting. Get in. There you go.
I'm doing six jobs for you. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
I lost the smile.
ms. Pamela gaston. There she is. Right. And, and
I'm gonna read a little bit of this and then maybe you can come up and take a quick picture
with us. But you, you gotta hear this. For 51
years of service to the blind and visually impaired community with
new jersey commission for the blind and visually impaired, and
she's retired. Mm. Uh, you, you are definitely going to
be missed. So, ms. Gaston is a writer, events coordinator,
worker advocate for the individuals with disabilities. She's a founding
member and past president of new jersey network of organizations for
the blind and visually impaired. She's a volunteer advisor and mentor
for justice involved individuals. She is also a longtime member
of new jersey cultural access network and her 50 plus year
career as an employee of the new jersey commission for the blind and
visually impaired is highlighted by several awards for her efforts
in to improve the quality of life for all people with disabilities.
thank you. And thank you so much. Please come up and take a quick picture
there. Make it
richard,
I I want to thank brother whi, richard whi, uh, for bringing this to my
attention. That's right. To the board's attention, uh, about your service.
I
welcome, welcome, welcome back. Really?
okay. Yeah.
richard, you wanna get in one? You wanna get in one? I can take it if you wanna get it one. Okay.
you trademark that. Same, by the way.
congratulations.
okay. Adam, can you facilitate the exit?
this way may be better if you're leaving this way. May be easier for you.
this way may be easier. Yeah, that's true. Can I mess
with that? Hopefully
that's his focus. He's not even thank you everyone.
it would just make it easier,
right? Correct.
all right everyone, let's move along. Yep. We're gonna move on. Uh,
last one on the cycle here. Uh, number 31, commissioner cooper.
thank you, mr. President. June is adopt a cat month. And
we wanna take a moment to recognize
some community groups and residents that for their extraordinary work. First, let me
thank the board, my colleagues for supporting the t and r activities,
mr. Jackson and the county executive entire administration for funding the
initiative. We've, um, had a tremendous impact with our community
cat population. I also wanna take this moment to, um, acknowledge
and, um, highlight some folks in this community that work really,
really hard. Pam pariso of the associated humane society.
um, her certificate is gonna be accepted by brian. Thank you brian
too. 'cause you equally do, uh, a big amount of work in this arena.
amanda, on for, please forgive me if I mispronounce
your name. Marcia sanford fishkin. Liz
faras. If she's here. Julie.
julie is julie here. I'm sorry. And, um, amanda and
marcia melendez. I'm gonna please ask you all to come to the front and
we have a certificate and we wanna acknowledge you and thank you for all of your incredible work
that you've done around community cats. And naturally we have to ask mama
meow, to please join us because without you, none of this would be
possible. Your strong continuous advocacy. We, we thank you mama. Meow. So
please come forward.
,
why not,
uh, 31. Face that way if it want. The guy with the big camera's.
got it. Elizabeth commissioners,
please come join us while me take this picture. I'm gonna be a right guy
here, commissioner.
the
don't start big smiles.
and we're grateful to all these wonderful commissioners.
excellent.
thank you very much. I'm gonna move.
say it again.
I can't, I gotta do, I gotta do something specific. You'll see them in
as they make their way down. Uh, commissioner, vice president, would you like to make a motion
to move number 31? Yes, please. Second. Thank you. Second by commissioner
richardson. Let's vote on number 31. Roll call. Madam deputy clerk
commissioner gill. Yes. Commissioner luciano.
absent. Commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas.
yes. Commissioner richardson. Yes. Commissioner siebold? Yes.
commissioner sermons. Absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper?
yes. Commissioner, president pois. Yes. So moved. And thank you all
for joining us today. Alright. Let's move on to ordinance and resolutions on introduction
and first reading. Madam deputy clark, do we have any ordinance or resolutions for introduction and first
readings? Yes, mr. President, we have two ordinances for introduction
and first reading. Okay. Let's move on to ordinance number one for introduction and first reading.
it will be read into the record at a later time. Mr. Jackson? Good evening. Good evening, mr.
president, members of the board. Um, this ordinance will, um,
uh, simply codify speed limits within our parks, uh, system, uh,
which wasn't, uh, properly done, uh, here before. Um, and it
will establish speed limits and will enable our sheriff's department, uh, to
enforce speed limits, uh, in our park system.
thank you. Mr. Parley, do you have any questions? No, I don't. Mr. Mcinerney? No questions. Commissioner.
questions or comments? Commissioner, vice president. Thank you, mr. President.
one quick comment. I'm happy to see that we're moving to do this, to post this
in our parks. Mr. Jackson, I just have one additional request. Can we
also please post the no smoking signs around
the playground equipment at some of the parks? I in the park recently, and folks were
smoke. They were watching their kids play, but they were smoking cigars and vape pens
and things. So I was wondering if we could do that and then double check if the ordinance
speaks to, you know, the vaping pens and the other new, um, items
that people use to smoke. Thank you. Absolutely.
wayne commissioner riches is vice president. Uh, uh, I, I just
like to piggyback on that. I get a lot of complaints in weak way park
around the track going around the, uh, the lake, uh, where people
walking dogs, uh, and they're not supposed to be any dogs or lights
on those tracks. So, can we put signs up?
no dogs on the tracks and no bicycle riding? Yes, sir.
thank you, sir. Any other questions or comments?
do I still maneuver it? I'll move it. Move by sea both. Second by vice president cooper, roll
call. Madam deputy clerk commissioner gill? Yes.
commissioner luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado.
absent. Commissioner murray thomas? Yes. Commissioner richardson?
yes. Commissioner bol? Yes. Commissioner sermons absent. Commissioner,
vice president cooper? Yes. Commissioner president ez? Yes. So, move.
okay. Let's move on to ordinance number two for introduction and first reading. You'll be read into the record
at a later time. Mr. Jackson? Mr. Uh, director del.
good evening. Mr. Delgaudio.
good evening, board of commissioners, frank delgaudio, director of, uh, department of health
and rehabilitation. Uh, this ordinance, uh, is requesting
an amendment to the original ordinance that was passed back in 2021
regarding the hospital fee program that
provides increased payments of, uh, medicaid to, uh,
nine of the county hospitals. So
has, um, amended the legislation to bring this
from a pilot program to roll it out to every county, to every hospital in
the state is now eligible. So with that, they also included,
um, the state to, to assess the maximum fee, which is 5%
of all net hospital revenues, and at the
same time, um, increase the funding to the program. So basically
what this does with double the amount of money going to the esus county hospitals
and the county basically as an administrative fee. Okay.
mr. Parva, any questions? No, no questions. Mr. Mcinerney? No questions. Commissioner.
any questions? I'll move it. Move by luciano second. Second
by vice president cooper. Roll call. Madam deputy clerk commissioner gill?
yes. Commissioner luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent.
commissioner murray thomas? Yes. Commissioner richardson? Yes. Commissioner
sibo? Yes. Commissioner sermons. Absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper?
yes. Commissioner president pois? Yes. So moved. Okay. So I think at
this time we're gonna move out of order to take resolution number 14, which is in the hospital center.
and as, uh, an added starter number 58 through 62,
which are all insurance policy contracts. They can be read into the record
so we can take advantage of mr. Gaudio being here. Number 14,
frank varrio, director of health and rehab. Uh,
resolution 14 is a, uh, affiliation agreement with felicia college.
it's a nursing affiliation agreement. So, uh, this, uh,
agreement, we haven't had students in about two years going
back to the covid pandemic and they, uh, wish to reintroduce and bring
nursing students to the essex county hospital center for their psychiatric
rotation. Okay, let's go and take 58 to the 62
as well, and then we'll take questions over once if we have any.
um, frank delgado, uh, risk manager for
essex county. Uh, resolution number 58 is
a, uh, request for renewal of the county's excess general
liability, automobile liability on law enforcement
liability for the county. Um, had
a couple of tough years, but I think what, uh, we put
together on this policy is a fair renewal. We're also able to
increase, we had a total of 7 million in liability coverage
in excess of our 1 million. So this presents an
increase up to 10 million, so an additional 3 million of an
increase there with, uh, only actually $12,000 200
in order to get that increase with that additional $3 million. So
this was, um, a very aggressive marketing by our broker,
connor strong. And, um, this was the recommended way to go to
increase our, our liability coverage. Okay, let's go on 59.
item 59 is a renewal of our, um, excess workers' compensation
program. Uh, this renewal renewal represents an
increase of $31,318,
um, due to the covid pandemic and still some open claims that we're
seeing the counties facing over 300% loss
experience on our workers' comp line. As all of these claims are starting
to resolve themselves. You know, I I had put our program up there with one of the best
public entity risk and workers' comp programs in the country. We
really manage this tightly and, um, the program is working well
and I think that's what the underwriters see because with that type of loss experience,
all the public entities in the state are actually seeing that our
increase has actually been less than the other counties have seen.
okay. 60 item 60 is a renewal of the active assailant
policy. Um, slight increase on that policy of, uh, $2,500.
okay. Forward 61 61 is a renewal of the county's
professional liability. That's the medical malpractice for the hospital center.
uh, again, another tough line of business. Um, small increase
on that, uh, policy by 5,000. Okay. And 62 62
is the, uh, renewal of the county's commercial property insurance. This
was the, uh, largest increase, although our rate was dropped
considerably. Um, we added quite a bit of properties
as of six one. We added the new winona lipman family courts building
over $180 million in value. Some of the parks improvement buildings.
so our values have gone up by over 200 million. So, um,
having an increase of 93,000 to take on that 200 million is
a reasonable number stands reasonable. Okay. Thank you. Uh, mr. Parva,
any questions on 1458 through 62? Ju uh, mr. President,
just regarding some of these renewals, frank, are there additional policies
that are still outstanding or still, uh, need to come to
the board for renewal? I, I think there's more than just this right through you mr.
president. This is, uh, there's four additional policies that are through the massey agency,
so we didn't have all of our numbers and premiums together in time to present.
and I appreciate you, uh, having this as an added starter for this meeting so
we could get the premiums paid quickly. Great. That, that was it. Thank you
mr. Mckinna. Any questions on these items? No questions. No questions. Commissioner, any
questions on 1458 through 62?
motion, seeing none moved by vice president cooper? Do have a second? Second.
second by commissioner richardson, rule call madam deputy clerk 1458 through
62. Commissioner gill? Yes. Commissioner
luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas?
yes. Commissioner richardson? Yes. Commissioner siebold? Yes. Commissioner
sermons. Absent. Commissioner vice president cooper? Yes. Commissioner president
pois? Yes. So moved. Okay. Thank you. Alright,
let's go back in order. Uh, let's go to ordinance a second. Reading in public hearing for listing
purposes only. Madam deputy court, do we have any? No, we don't. Do not, mr.
president. Okay. Moving on. Do we have any ordinance resolution of second reading in public hearing?
yes, mr. President, we have one ordinance number o 20 25 0 0 0 8.
okay. So let's move to public hearing for ordinance o dash 2025 dash
0 0 8, which will be read to the record at a later time. I hereby
declare the public hearing on ordinance number o dash 2025 dash 0 0 0 8
is open. If there's any member of the public who would like to comment for against this ordinance, please go to the microphone.
state your name and affiliation for the record. You will have three minutes to speak.
let the record reflect there's no one from the public wish to speak at this time. So we're gonna move on
to mr. Parla. Do you have any questions or comments? I don't. Mr. Mcinerney no
commission. Is there any questions or comments? See none.
do I have a motion and a second to close public hearing on ordinance number o 2025
dash 0 0 8? I'll move it. Move by sebel. Second
by richardson. Do I have the same mover and second to approve the ordinance? Yes. Thank
you. Roll call madam deputy clerk commissioner gi
absent. Commissioner luciano?
yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas.
yes. Commissioner richardson? Yes. Commissioner siebel? Yes. Commissioner
sermons absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper? Yes. Commissioner president
pois? Yes. So moved. Okay. Let's go to resolutions one through
four. Uh, these are advice and consent and reappointments
to the l-g-b-t-q advisory board, mr. Jackson?
um, yes, as you said, ms, these are just reappointments of, um, members to the board.
thank you mr. Parla becker, do you have any questions? No, I don't. Mr. Mcinerney?
no questions. Commissioners. Commissioner siebel. Thank you. I serve on this board
as the, uh, commissioner representative and I'm very pleased that they're all willing
to be reappointed. So thank you very much. Thank you. Any other questions or
comments? And I'll move it. I was gonna come back to you. Don't worry. I didn't get you. Okay.
I'm on the ball. Move by siebel. Do I have a second? Second. Mary thomas
on second roll call madam deputy clerk for one two four. Commissioner
gill. Absent. Commissioner luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent.
commissioner murray thomas. Yes. Commissioner richardson. Yes. Commissioner
siebel? Yes. Commissioner sermons absent. Commissioner vice president cooper? Yes.
commissioner president ez? Yes. So moved. Let's move on to resolutions
five through 10 and added starter number 63, which are from the department of public works.
and we'll be read into the record at a later time. The voice of essex county. Mr. Antonio
is here. Good evening. David antonio, department of public works.
item number five is an award of contract to, um, sum
engineering to provide the construction, engineering and construction
support services required to successfully construct a walnut
street west brook gap roundabout in livingston
in an amount that to exceed $254,991.
amon engineering submitted the highest rated proposal of the six
received by the county. This contract
cost will be fully funded with a federal grant. And today we have both
mr. Deon patel and brian smith of amon
engineering group. Both very excited to introduce your company and
answer any questions support may have. Great. Please
just state your name and affiliation for the record. Tell us about your company and what your
project, uh, over, you know, scope is all about. Uh, my name
is dickon patel. Uh, I'm a project manager for m sum engineering.
uh, we'll be overseeing, uh, brian will myself, uh, and brian will be
overseeing this project. Uh, the project, uh, is a construction
of a three-legged intersection to a roundabout. Uh, and we also
have a contractor, uh, here present who will be carrying
out this work as well. Great. Tell us about your company. Where are you based, your employees?
we are out of, uh, uh, we are located in pisca, new jersey. Uh, we are approximately,
uh, 60 employees. Uh, we are a minority company.
um, anything else? Uh, we have a, we do employee,
uh, we do have a, a resident here, uh, who's local to
essex county. And we are always looking to hire more people, uh, as usual.
good. And we'd like to see companies like yours hire more essex county residents,
so we appreciate that. Any other questions, mr. Beckio? Any
questions? I don't, no, I don't. Mr. Mcinerney? No question. Commissioners any questions
for the vendor while he is there? Okay. Scene none. Thank
you. You're off the hook. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. You're welcome.
david, an antonio department of public works. Item number six is the award of the
construction of the walnut street and west harbor gap road in
livingston, roundabout to ja alexander in an
amount not to exceed $1,147,967.
ja alexander submitted the lowest of the two bits received by the county.
this construction cost will also be fully funded with federal funds.
uh, this construction contract will convert existing stop control three
legged intersection of walnut street, west brook gap and
pacific avenues in livingston into, into a modern roundabout. And mr. Frank
ro of j alexander also here this evening to introduce
this firm. And as always answer any questions to board may have. Thank
you. Please just state your name and affiliation, tell us about your company and the scope of work.
my name is frank sro from ja alexander. I'm a project manager.
we're a minority company located in bloomfield, new jersey.
uh, we're a heavy construction, a roadwork company, and,
uh, we are, we also are a union company, 4 72 8 25.
we, our, our employment is about 35%,
uh, essex county residents. If
I have any questions, uh, you said you're from bloomfield? Bloomfield. Oh god.
the best town in essex county. I idea, but I wouldn't be biased when I say that.
thank you mr. Parlove. Any questions for the gentlemen? No questions mr. Mcinerney? No
questions. Commissioners. Commissioner siebold, I have a question. First of all,
when will this work start? Uh, we just got notice of the
award, so we're gonna have probably a pre-construction meeting with
sanjeev. So I would assume probably another
four weeks. And when do you expect it to be finished? We
figure the duration of the job should be about six months. Six months?
yeah. Because people in living center are watching to see when it will be done because
that's a difficult intersection. Yes. It's in phase and they're all waiting for it
to be done. Yeah. There's been a lot of problems in the past about people who wanted
a traffic light there. They wanted one thing after another, so hopefully
this will solve the problem that's been there for years.
thank you. Like bloomfield's coming to the rescue, so
absolutely. Like you're living. Some people know it's a difficult intersection. Thank
you. Any other questions or comments? Thank you, sir. I thank you. I have another
question. Wait a follow up. I'm, I'm sorry. We're gonna have to charge you extra. We taking land
away from some of the, uh, facilities that are around that area.
I know there's trees on the one side that are coming down. I know public service
has to move some of their utilities. So there is a, a section
of, uh, which was wooded, uh, and there's a church right there
that won't be affected. No, no, we're not taking any property because they have a lot of
property in the front, near the intersection and that won't affected just on the one side there.
you know, the county has a right of way over there. Alright, thank you. Okay. You're welcome.
okay. Thank you sir. Thank you. Alright, mr. Antonios mon number seven,
david antonio, department of public works. Item number seven,
awards, vip services, a two year contract
in a amount not to exceed $388,600
to perform the caulking of windows of various county facilities
on an as needed basis. Vip services submitted the
lowest of the five bids received by the county. Item
number eight is the exercising of a two year extension
to the existing contract with aurora environmental incorporated
to provide the regulatory inspection, repair, and
maintenance of the county's vehicle fueling locations on
an as needed basis in an amount that you exceed $167,100.
this contract extension does not increase the contract toward unit
cost nor the contract amount. And item
number nine, it's an award of contract to add
northern llc to furnish a four by four heavy duty
truck chassis to replace a mason dump body truck, which
is currently used at the division of roads and bridges. This new truck
will be used for leaf leaf pickup, catch basin, and
cleaning power hole repair and other similar, similar activities.
item number 10 authorizes the submittal of an application for funding
to the nj tpas local capital project delivery program
in an amount of $4,427,750
for the replacement of the jackson street bridge over the passa river
between the city of north and the township of harrison. This movable bridge
was built in 1900 and was last rehabilitated in 1991
and is jointly operated and owned with hudson county. The local
capital project delivery program is the initial step in
the federal project delivery pipeline and funds. The
planning and preliminary engineering projects that successfully complete this
step are then eligible for other phase like final engineering,
rightway and eventually construction. And item number 63
is the exercising of a two year extension to the existing
contract with timothy bryan electric to provide for the repair and maintenance
of the county's electric vehicle charging stations on
an as needed basis in an amount that you exceed $79,250.
this contract extension does not increase the contractual unit cost
nor the total contract amount. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you mr. Antonio.
mr. Beck, any questions on these items? We had five through 10, although we betted some.
and number 63. Uh, just a question, mr. Antonio. Number eight,
how many fueling stations does the county have to you, mr. President
nore will be the conventional fueling stations. Those are eight, there's eight of them. And, uh,
those are both are unleaded and diesel, uh, fuel.
thank you mr. Mcinerney. Any questions? No questions. Commissioners. Any
questions? Seeing none. Commissioner siebold, we will move
five through 10 and 63. Do I have a second? Second. Second by vice president
cooper. Roll call madam deputy clerk commissioner gill.
absent. Commissioner luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent.
commissioner murray thomas? Yes. Commissioner richardson? Yes. Commissioner
seabold? Yes. Commissioner sermons absent. Commissioner, vice president
cooper? Yes. Commissioner president ez? Yes.
so moved. Let's move to the resolution 11 and 12, which are from the division of youth services
that will be read into the record at a later time. Mr. Jackson? Uh, thank you mr. President.
item 11. Uh, we have, uh, nine contracts, uh, a contracts with
nine, um, community partnership providers, uh, three year
contracts. Thanks. This, uh, will, uh, these contract amendments will, uh, insert
$932,543 for the
2025 funding year. Uh,
item 12 is, uh, approval resolution required by the
state, uh, as part of our, uh, alternative initiative innovation award program
in the amount of $60,000, $57,000 for program
services and $3,000 for administrative costs. And this program supports
the youth on probation age, age nine, 16 through 19, uh,
to help them to develop, uh, critical life and job skills. Thank you mr. Parlove.
you have any questions? No questions. Mr. Mackin. Ernie, no questions. Commissioners questions on 11 to
12 comm mary thomas. Thank you. I was, um,
really just happy to hear that we received that grant in resolution
number 12. I was wondering if you had kind of insight on what those programs
look like, just because I know it's such important work and it really helps reduce
the rates of recidivism that we see in folks who are in the system. So if you
had any insight, uh, on what those programs include, if not, um, I'm happy to
get it a later date, but if you could yeah, I'll, um, commissioner, I will, uh, have, uh,
director, uh, martinez put together a profile of what those programs are for you. Great.
thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Commissioner mary thomas, would you'd like to move it? Sure.
thank you. Thank you. Second, second, second. Bye. Vice president cooper, we will call
madam deputy clerk for 11 and 12. Commissioner gill. Absent. Commissioner
luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas.
yes. Commissioner richardson? Yes. Commissioner bol? Yes.
commissioner sermons. Absent. Commissioner vice president cooper? Yes. Commissioner
president ez? Yes. So moved. Let's move on to 13 and add started number 64,
which from the department of parks, recreation and cultural affairs. They will be ready to the record
at a later time. And I dare say I don't see mr. Zas. Mm-hmm
. Well, mr. President, I'm substituting for mr. Zas
. Good. Thank you. Mr.
coran department parks, uh, recreation and cultural affair.
contract change would, uh, do jet tree experts and
the amount of $180,000, uh, total amount
will now be $1,080,000. Uh,
this is a 20% change order. Okay. And
number 64 is contract cultural affairs award to acqua miss irrigation
of new jersey, llc to provide irrigation system maintenance and
repair services. Provera park facilities. This is a
one month contract extension from june 10th, 2025
to july 16th, 2020. Uh, five mountain out to
exceed $138,803 and 83 cents.
thank you mr. Parlow. Beck, you have any questions? It's just a question on 13. Uh, jay,
the resolution says, do jets and then and downs tree service. Are they two
separate companies or one combined company? One. They are two separate companies. Okay.
so they each have different responsibilities under the contract. Yes. It's
all for tree stump, grinding, taking down trees, et cetera.
thank you, mr. Mcinerney. No questions. Commissioners. Any
questions? I'll move it. Move by siebel 1364.
do I have a second? Second. Second. By richardson, who's very disappointed. Mr.
zas isn't here today. Yeah. Roll call madam. Deputy clerk commissioner
gill. Absent. Commissioner luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent.
commissioner murray thomas. Yes. Commissioner richardson? Yes. Commissioner
siebel? Yes. Commissioner sermons. Absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper?
yes. Commissioner president ez? Yes. So moved. That's move on to
resolution 15 as resolution 14 was already done earlier. 15
is from the office of purchasing and could be read to the record at a later time. Mr. Coltrane,
mr. President, uh, mr. St. John stole my mic.
so, uh, uh, we're not there yet. Mr. St. John, we have to wait. You have
to be patient, sir. Contract award to four loafs responsible bidders
items of unit cost space to provide printing services. This
is a countywide service for each department. We had a, uh,
four vendors receiving the contract previously.
we spent $182,000. This is not to exceed
$225,000 for the year. July 12th, 2025
to july 11th, 2027. Thank you mr. Parlove.
no questions. Mr. Mcinerney? No questions. Commissioners. Seeing
no questions. Someone to move. 15. Motion moved by vice president cooper. Do have a second?
second. Second by richardson. Roll call madam deputy clerk on 15. Commissioner
gill. Absent. Commissioner luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent.
commissioner murray thomas. Yes. Commissioner richardson. Yes. Commissioner
siebold? Yes. Commissioner sermons. Absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper?
yes. Commissioner president pois. Yes. So moved. So let's move on to number 1617
and added start of 65, 66 and 68, which are in the office
of county council. They'll be read into the record at a later time. Mr. St. John,
now it's your turn. Thank you, mr. President jerome, st. John county council.
uh, number 16 and number 17 are two more, uh, amicable
settlements of contracts with, uh, two of our additional unit, uh,
unions. Uh, they both follow the 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5 year,
uh, uh, template that this board and the administration has set up.
I want to thank mr. Jackson, ms. Hall, who, uh, as you know is our
director of labor relations, as well as the union representatives who
were tough partners, but, but are bargained in good faith and I appreciate
that. Good. Uh, any questions? Any of the matter? We'll
move on. We'll take the questions all at the end there. Thank you. Let's move on. Uh, and that was, we'll
take 65. Next 65. Yes, sir. Uh,
65.
thank you, judge. 65 is, um,
65. This is the professional service agreement, uh, to the,
uh, ambrose group. Uh, with regard to third party
subpoenas. Uh, this is an amendment to their contract in an amount
not to exceed 20,000 bucks. Uh, next
number, 66. 66. This is an
amendment to, uh, the outside counsel, uh,
contract with the county by the name of wars. Their name is wal ian o'reilly.
uh, increasing the amount to an amount not to exceed $600,000.
uh, because of the complexity of this litigation, which I've discussed
with members of this board on, on several occasions. Uh, same thing,
uh, with number 60, I think you want me to 68? Yes. Okay. Not I
can do 67, but 68. Uh, this is a shared service agreement
with the county of lauer for essex county juvenile detention
facility to house, uh, ju juveniles from the county of
gloucester. Okay. Mr. Becker, any question on 16, 17, 65, 66,
and 68? Just with, excuse me, with respect to 68 with gloucester
county? That's an existing relationship we have with gloucester.
no? Yes. Uh, I, I shortened the term to only six
months. 30 day. We can get out in 30 days because of the pricing
situation. They understand, uh, we're doing this as a favor to gloucester county
and also to the, uh, jjc. Uh, and I expressed that favor
also to, uh, the jjc. So we're really just to
help people out. Gotcha. Thank you, mr.
mckenna. Any questions? Uh, number 66. What was, what was the original
not to exceed prior to this? Maybe not the original, but what was,
what was the not to exceed prior to this amendment?
uh, uh, number 66. Uh, this is the,
uh, this, this case. What was the original amount? Mr. Mc? Yeah. Recollection
a hundred thousand. How how much? A hundred thousand. So this is amending
it by half a million, amending it up? Yes, that's correct. From 100
to five to 600, excuse me. 100 to 600? Correct.
any other questions mr. Mckinrey? No. Okay. Commissioner
stifel, how many negotiations are still outstanding?
thank, thank you very much, commissioner. I was gonna mention that we have successfully completed
24 out of 26, so we now have two, two
more to do. Uh, mr. Jackson and I spent today with, with,
uh, a group, and hopefully that will resolve. Uh, and then we're hoping
to get both done. But we we're, we're very, I'm very happy
at the negotiating team that we've got 24 out of 26 completed.
once we have all 26, how long will that last
till we have to start all over again? We, well, we have one contract
that expires at end of this year, of the, of the 24. So that will have to
be negotiated. But the other, all the rest of them are five year contract, 2028.
so we're in good shape. So 2028. Uh, I'll be the only one left
here by then. , thank you for your great work. Wonderful. May very well
be, sir. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner,
vice president cooper, do you have a question? I do. Thank you. Um,
I missed a conversation related to, um, item number 66. So, mr. Parillo,
can you can offline just give me, why is it jumping so much from
a hundred thousand to 600,000 offline?
yes. Thank you, commissioners. Any
other questions or comments? I'll move it. Moved by sebel. This is 16 17 65.
66 of 68. Yes. You have a second, second. Second
by richardson. Roll call madam deputy clerk commissioner gill.
absent. Commissioner luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner
murray thomas. Yes. Commissioner richardson. Yes. Commissioner
bol? Yes. Commissioner sermons absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper?
yes. Commissioner president pois? Yes. So move, let's move on to
18, which is from the department of corrections. We'll be right into the record at later time. Mr. Jackson?
uh, mr. St. John. Mr. St. John number 18.
thank. Thank you. Uh, this is a, uh, amended to the sheriff's service
agreement with union county, again to h house union county
inmates in the yeses county correction facility. Uh, it is, it has
escalations in the, the per diem, and other than that, it's, it's pretty
much the same agreement. Okay. Thank you mr. Par baker. Any questions? No questions. Mr. Mcinerney?
no questions. Commissioners. See? None. Does someone move it?
move it. Moved by vice president cooper. Second richardson. Roll call madam deputy clerk for
number 18. Commissioner gill. Absent. Commissioner
luciano? Yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray
thomas. Yes. Commissioner richardson. Yes. Commissioner siebel?
yes. Commissioner sermons absent. Commissioner, vice president cooper? Yes.
commissioner president ez. Yes. So moved. Let's move on to 19 and
20 and add it charter section seven, which is on the office of the prosecutor, and that'll be
right into the record at a later time. Mr. Colter, mr. President, uh,
this is a contract award to three different vendors, uh,
elli ford inc. Herridge fleet service
for the purchase of eight vehicles, uh, ford explorers
equipped with emergency lights and sirens. 4 20 25
chevrolet malibu, full size vehicles and one ford
utility police interceptor. Total cost for this is
$503,435 and 44
uh cents. Um, these are all purchased either under the
state contract or co-ops, and it is funded through
the trust fund for the prosecutor's office. Uh, number
20 is a resolution, approving participation with the state
of new jersey grant program administered by the department of law and public safety,
accepting a sub-grant, uh, award for appear march 1st, 2025
to february 28th, 2027 under the 25 0 4
help and hope, uh, grant program.
let's take 67 57 60 67 67.
uh, officer of the prosecutor, professional service agreement.
continue legal service and public safety training administrator hillary
m barnell, a 12 month agreement amount not to exceed
77,000. This is a publicly advertised fair and open rfp,
and they were the only respondent. Thank you mr.
parvino. Questions on 1920 and 67? No questions mr. Kiner.
no questions. Commissioners, someone to move it move by vice
president cooper. Second. Second. Second by richardson. Roll call mad deputy clerk
nineteen twenty sixty seven. Commissioner gill. Absent. Commissioner luciano?
yes. Commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas. Yes. Commissioner
richardson. Yes. Commissioner siebold. Yes. Commissioner sermons
absent. Commissioner vice president cooper? Yes. Commissioner president ez.
yes. So moved. Let's move on to fun time resolutions 21 to 29, which are 2025,
budget insertions of items of revenue that could be read to the record later time. Mr. Jackson?
uh, thank you, mr. President. Uh, 21 is from the new jersey department
of law and public safety to our prosecutor's office in the amount of $225,000
for the help and hope grant program. Uh, this was, this is, uh,
an early intervention program that's done at the municipal court level. Uh, it was
a pilot program that started in a star and it's actually expanding now to,
uh, irvington and there's no match, uh, from the county
item 22 department of new jersey department of children and families,
again to our prosecutor's office for the child advocacy advocacy
program. Uh, this is the amount of $358,182,
uh, grant period from j uh, july of this year to,
uh, uh, june of next year. Uh, and this enables our prosecutor's
office to investigate, uh, crimes involving sexual abuse of children.
uh, it provides a percentage of salary infringe for four staff members
at the prosecutor's office. Uh,
item 23 is from the department of law and public safety, uh, also
to our prosecutor's office for the mental health diversion support grant
and the amount of $1,812,416.
and this helps with, um, um, individuals, uh,
with our, uh, hospital center, with individuals who have, um,
uh, uh, mental challenges, shall I say. Um,
and it's broken up to, uh, dollars that go to our prosecutor's office or personnel
and also to our hospital center, uh, for that purpose.
item, uh, 24 is from the new jersey council on
substance use disorders to our division of community health, um,
services. And it's the amount of $343,414.
uh, this is the, the municipal alliance grant that we've, we've heard a lot about over
the years. Uh, we have 18 of our communities in the program.
four are not, uh, participating. Um, and the, the orange
, newark and montclair no longer, uh, participate. And, uh,
there's no, uh, county match item 25 from
the new j new jersey department of health to our division of community health,
uh, in the amount of $2,891,800.
this is our early intervention grant. This provides, um, uh,
an ability to identify, evaluate, and treat children with special needs
from, uh, birth to three years old. And the contract runs from july of this
year to june of next year. Uh, it covers, uh, $2,747,681
in salaries for 38 employees, um, and some additional
monies for supplies and equipment, et cetera. And there is an in kind ma
in kind match of $1,117,226
that we, uh, uh, match by providing print benefits
of other, um, facility, uh, expenses to,
to provide for that match. Item
26 is from the new jersey elections to our, uh,
superintendent of elections, uh, commissioner of registration, uh, $509,686
to 84 cents. This is reimbursing, uh, for the 2024 early
primary and special primary elections. Uh, item 27
is, uh, similarly from the new jersey elections to,
uh, our, the superintendent of elections, correct, uh, commission registration.
and this is reimbursement for the 2023 early general election
expenses. Item 28,
uh, 28 is
from new jersey elections to the board of elections in the amount of $20,429
and 1 cents. This is for the 2024, uh, special
primary election. Uh, there was $706,557
and 5 cents inserted previously. And this is additional, uh, funding
for that, uh, election. And, uh, item 29
from the department of treasury to our department of public works. It's
a clean communities grant in the amount of $95,311 and
52 cents. And this is funded that focus on, uh, picking up
and disposal of litter, debris, and trash along our county roadways.
thank you, mr. Parve. Any questions? No questions. Mr. Mcinerney?
no questions. Commissioners. Any questions on 21 to 29? Commissioner mary thomas.
thank you, mr. Jackson. Uh, first of all, we love money coming into the county
budget, so it's always good to see these. Um, are any of these that's right.
mr. President. Um, are any of these grants that we're receiving for the first time or are most
of these, uh, recurring and just kind of a renewable? Uh, most, uh, they're,
they're recurring. The only one that's a little bit different is when we are, uh, with the
prosecutor's office, when we're expanding the program into, uh, irvington. Got it. Thank
you. Any other questions? Commissioner,
mayor thomas, would you like to move it? Certainly. Thank you. I have a second.
second by vice president cooper. Roll call. Madam deputy clerk 21 to 29th.
commissioner gill. Absent. Commissioner luciano? Yes. Commissioner
mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas. Yes. Commissioner richardson.
yes. Commissioner bol? Yes. Commissioner sermons. Absent. Commissioner,
vice president cooper? Yes. Commissioner president pois? Yes. So moved.
let's move on to resolutions 31 through 57 with the exception
of 31, which we already moved earlier this evening. These are I memos,
ation proclamation resolutions. They can be read to the record at a later
time. Commissioners, any questions?
see none. Someone move it. Move by richard. Second by vice president cooper. Roll call. Mad
deputy clerk. This is 30 through 57, the exception of 31, which was already
moved. Commissioner gill, absent. Commissioner luciano? Yes.
commissioner mercado. Absent. Commissioner murray thomas. Yes. Commissioner
richardson? Yes. Commissioner siebold? Yes. Commissioner sermons absent.
commissioner, vice president cooper? Yes. Commissioner, president.
yes. Sole moved. Alright, madam deputy clerk, any you to start us or we covered them
all? Uh, they've all been taken care of with the departments. Good news. All right, let's move
on to report of board committees, commissioners, any report of board committees
and ma we already heard from the cac committee quasi, you know, report there earlier today,
so we were in good shape seeing none. Do you have any legislative
reports? Right in communications,
any unfinished business? New business?
seeing none. Let's move on the public comment. Uh, if there's any member of
the public would like to comment on any matter, please turn to the microphone. Yeah,
mom calling me out. Don't need it. I'm loud enough. No, no. Wait, wait. Mom, I
wait, I gotta finish making my statement. Charlotte me out. I want,
hold on, hold on, hold on. For the record. I have to
read the paragraph or the people who type this up get mad at me for not
reading it and I'm not compliant. Okay. Understand. So if there's any member of the public who would like to comment
on any matter, please come to the microphone and state your name and affiliation for the record.
you will have four minutes to speak now, recognizing you, please state your name. We
all know who you are, but please tell us who you are. Okay, maiya. I'm gonna make this very short and sweet.
I wanna thank everybody in this room. That's the commissioner, especially commissioner
cooper, who believed in making a difference and making a change.
and tonight you make so many people those rescuers, they are so
grateful and appreciative that you recognize them. And everybody needs
a little kindness sometimes. And I wanna thank again, I'm not gonna elaborate.
you know, my mission, my mission is to make a difference like each one
of you did in this room by the residents, by the rescuers,
by the feeders, and especially those community cats that are voiceless.
so they just wanna say meow, meow in their own way.
thank you. And god, thank you ms. Gallo. Now you've made our night complete. Thank you. We've
been waiting for that. It's been a while since we got the actual meal.
is there anyone else wishing to speak at this time?
let's adjust the microphone there, adam. Thank you. Good evening.
good evening everyone. My name is danna dennis. I am a resident of east orange, new jersey,
formerly of, uh, newark, new jersey. And so I've been in essex county in a total of
almost six years. I, um, I'm here on two issues tonight. Um,
I'm also a parent. I'm a taxpayer. Um, I am professionally
for almost a decade. Um, a little over a decade now, excuse me. Uh, transportation
and environmental justice advocate. I mostly work on city, state and federal
campaigns at the new york city level. But I live here and I care about my community and what's happening
as six county. And I also also serve in essex as the east orange
special education parent advisory council. Uh, policy director. I
have two children. Um, they're both toddlers. One is neurodiverse
and the other is, uh, also neurotypical. And I'm here mainly on the first
issue around my neurodiverse child and all children I guess I am.
um, I've been watching and emailing and calling around the renovations
that are happening at monte irvin park. Um, which I live in east orange, but
I'm one block away from the park. I'm in a really peculiar intersection on harrison, which
puts me a few blocks from south. Um, orange puts me right there next
to orange and puts me in east coast, right? And so, um, I have gone to council
meetings in both municipalities. I have called the parks department
several times. I have emails dating back to may of 2022,
where almost every year around this time, as we know, kids are about to get out of school.
they'll be entering the playground on heavy rotation, right? Mainly a
daily basis. And we have a playground that is falling apart and
it's really offensive to see all of the amazing upgrades. It's
kind of like a bittersweet thing that's happening in monte park, right? We just got this really great,
uh, baseball field. We have the community center being built,
and I'm so excited for those things. But then to see the playground be ignored,
um, on parts that, you know, I keep being told on the phone, hey, they're
on back order. Hey, you need to email maintenance. I've emailed maintenance, I've cc'd other people.
I'm not sure who's over that, but I just wanna put that issue out there. Um, and I will,
you know, start to bring more parents if I need to or if we need to get a petition. But hopefully being
heard tonight is enough, and whoever is, um, you know, responsible for oversight
can look into that. And the issue, the main things that I will say is the
swing. It's been broken since 2022. The marigo round has holes
and dents also broken, and most of the structure is not inclusive to
children of all needs. Second, I have a question. Um, I'm
just wondering what's happening with the safe routes to school, um,
and safety street safety plans? There's been no update in
both in,
um, and so I have a lot of concerns around that. I've been working with my city, both cities,
the county as an advocate, trying to get some updates. It's really great to
see the cash that has been infused into the freeway drive project, but we need
to talk more about highway two 80 and also what is gonna happen on
central avenue and main street, which are both county roads and how we're gonna make those safer
for residents. Thank you. Thank you madam. And is our policy, we will respond in writing,
but if you see adam here in a moment, uh, you'll,
he can take your email, uh, you can synthesize your questions, we can
send 'em over for parks, for example, we would send it to the administration, which
are colleagues across from us, and they will forward it to the parks. And then when they get the
response, we'll forward that to you. Okay, thank you. Of course. Good evening, sir.
good evening. Uh, mr. President and everyone, uh,
everyone here present? Um, my name is rayor steel dames. I decide on
lake street in newark, new jersey, here in the county of essex. I'm
an oath taker. I was in iraq when they first voted, uh, providing
security with the united states army. Um, I'm a veteran of this country.
I'm also a retired new york firefighter. And, um, I have concerns
in my city that has not been addressed for over two and a half years. I assume
everyone here drove, um, to come to this meeting. But, um,
we are facing a safety issue on lake street, right in front
of the park. Um, I am glad that you guys are enforcing the 25, lowering
the speed inside the park, and I wish the same thing newark pd can
do on lake street and enforce the speed limit there as well. Um,
my, my wife, um, lost, uh, a vehicle in a total loss
accident coming out of our homes. Um, the reason why is 'cause lake
lake street, it's the longest road in, in the
city of newark. I don't know if there's probably another county that has a longer road, but in newark is
the longest stretch of road without a a, um, stop sign, stop
sign, stop or traffic light. My house is on the 10th house from second to
edmonton. For the past two and a half years, I've attended the new york city council meeting,
and I've spoken with the norfolk councilman who works for this county, um,
to help alleviate the issue. He lives on the street and
he only comes whenever he wants to get votes. And, um, we
are, the whole entire block is already up to here
with the, the safety concerns that we
have. So this body here at some point voted to remove
the parking on, on branchwood park between second and a and bloomfield,
which was a great thing as a newark fireman. I used to work over on
summer avenue, and I used to drive the firetruck, and it was very difficult maneuvering through, through
there. So when you guys remove that parking there, the people that live on the
montley apartments, they started parking over on our side. Now we're
having physical interactions with the people living there, meaning they're blocking our
driveways, physically moving barriers, doing things just to, for
us to have a physical altercation. And we do not want that. Um,
like I said, our insurance went up, we lost the vehicle. My wife was
badly hurt. I have three children. Um, I don't want anything to
happen to my family or to anybody. My block. I have already attended many
meetings that have the signatures. I have submitted it, it's been two and a half years, and
I don't know what the process is for us to get the county to help
citizens down at the local level. But, um, I'm here for anybody
to help me out on the public safety side, perhaps, um, so that we could get some
resolution down over on lake street. Thank you. Thank you. So what we could do, sir, is
we, I don't know off the top of my head, is lake street a county road? It's not. It is a, it
is a town, it is a city of newark road. So I
think what we can, we can do, we, we can certainly send, uh, an
overview of your concerns to the engineer on behalf of the city of
newark. We don't do those roads and that county roads per
se, but we don't live in vacuums and engineers from all of the
towns in essex county do work with our engineering department. And maybe
there are, you know, some of the concerns could be raised, could, uh, inquire
if there are traffic calming measures for one, uh, and any other measures
that are specific to lake. I, I, I think I heard commissioner richard said there's no,
uh, stop signs or things of that nature. It, it pro it needs a lot more
analysis than I can give you at this moment. Clearly understand. Uh, so what we could do is adam
perhaps can take your information, he's in the back there, uh,
and then we can just, uh, send a general inquiry to the engineering departments that we've
had some concerns, uh, on the road. You know, are you, are
there any mechanism or any plans for them to do anything on lake
street with traffic, calming and parking or whatever the, whatever the issues may
very specifically be. And we can certainly inquire that because
I, I can guarantee that our engineering departments don't live in different worlds. You know, they, we,
we have to work together. So thank you, sir. Okay. Thank you, sir.
is there anyone else wishing to speak at this time for father dun? Good evening.
good evening. Maggie freeman wway park sports authority. Um,
I wanted to hand the commissioners, um, a copy of the,
um, long jump request that we came at the last meeting, kind of discussing with the improvements that
you're making with the track. We can add to adam in just a moment. So you, okay. So yeah, so that's what we are coming to
advocate for because it's needed. We wanna just improve the quality of the track, um, uh,
facilities that's at weak way park, and we wanted to make sure that it's not just up to date
for the, this park, but that it kind of meets the, the, um, demands of the entire
essex county system. So we just wanna make sure that the youth have the potential to expand.
thank you so much. Thank you, your honor. Adam will have that, he'll distribute that to the
commissioners and we'll send a
copy to the administration as well, adam, so that they of course have
a copy of it. Is there anyone else wishing to speak at this time?
mr. Freeman? I say that because I see you just walked in how today?
okay. Um, mr. Freeman great park sports authority, um, nine
two thomas carmichael drive. I'm here on behalf of the community for the long
jump pitt. We do have a petition on maggie gave
it name. What we found out is the youth
are really starting to settle when it comes to recreational sports
and athletics sports. What is happening now is because of the county parks,
they're able to practice even on their own. Um, you have high school students
who are coming to the tracks and they're teaching the younger children on their own.
what they asking for is to be able to have a facility that has
the long jump head so they can start practicing on that too. Um,
some of them want to be able to look and see if they can go to the olympics
or even with college, but if they don't have the, the actual
equipment, how do they know that they're doing it right? If they don't
have the equipment? Um, wellsburg do have one,
and we have been going up there, and it's a great, um, complex
for sports, uh, to see how it has transformed. Wellsburg
park is amazing. We just asking that you consider adding the
long jump pit into weak great park so that we can actually have the, the
official, um, track field in that facility. Thank you.
thank you, sir. Mr. Jackson?
yeah, just, just a couple comments on, on on some of the items that have
been raised. I know we don't normally do this with fresno, but I just quickly, um,
monte irvin park, the, the playground. We looked at, uh, plans
at our parks meeting, uh, tuesday, uh, to do a
total rehab, not even rehab, a total redo of the playground.
so that'll be a totally new expanded, um,
playground with, uh, areas for older kids. Um,
and, and for the young, real young guys too, with shade structure. It, it'll be, I think it'll
be fantastic. And also addressing some of the needs for kids with,
um, uh, disability. So I, I think it'll be a, a tremendous, uh, it's great to hear
addition, um, and the, the accounting executive, uh, at the same meeting, instructed,
uh, director sante and deputy director hartwick to figure out
a way to do a, a long jump pit at, uh, week wake. Great.
that was a great update. See, you folks came. We heard, we listened, and now they're working on it.
so thank, we want to thank the administration and the county executive for looking into
it. Now, folks, please, this won't happen tomorrow. I don't want to set, you know,
this doesn't happen in a day, you know, this takes a little bit of time, but, but
there is traction here, uh, for mr. Jackson. And, uh, if there's one thing
essex county does, right, it sparks. So certainly we do that. Thank you mr. Jackson for sharing
this stuff. Is there anyone else from the public who would have, uh, any public
comments at this time? Okay, see none.
we're gonna close public comment to, uh, commissioner, comment session. Commissioners, any
comments? You don't get flowers today. Commissioner mary thomas last
week. We did that once in a while. We don't do it every meeting. , I think
comm commissioner mary thomas. Thank you. I did get flowers today in the form of
being able to celebrate, uh, two groups of young people. Um, one the
13th avenue elementary boys team who are state
champions, or rather, not state champions, but city champions. Um, and they're like sixth, seventh,
and eighth grade. And just brilliant on and off the court. So that was my flowers,
getting to celebrate them today and hear them speak so eloquently, not just about,
uh, athletics, but also like about character and how they try to change their community and the things that they're
doing, as well as celebrating the, um, sparkle motion, uh,
women or women in non-binary, non-binary youth, uh, frisbee team
of, of maplewood columbia high school and skin in the game, which is an interfaith
organization between a jewish synagogue and, uh, bethany baptist church
here in newark. And I think it's, uh, synagogue benet in montclair. Uh, so tho
those are my flowers, mr. President. So all good. Um, beautiful celebrating them.
but I did want to, uh, just briefly kind of share something that
is a, a deep passion of this board of commissioners and certainly, uh, commissioner
gill, which is the safe rose and transportation legislation and initiatives
here at the county. And I'm just thinking about some of the comments that were lifted up by two of the, uh,
community members and seeing how there could be some potential synergy and maybe even how the municipalities
both in north where I'm from, and then even east orange, could look at some of the work that we've been doing here
in the county to, uh, potentially kind of apply it to those contexts.
uh, because that is, you know, community safety is
real and roads are dangerous. And unfortunately essex
county, um, and new jersey has had a lot of issues, right? Uh, when it comes
to, to pedestrian safety and, uh, commuter safety. And there's
some common sense legislation that we can do and be supportive. And, and this county
has really also led the way in a number of ways there as a county government. And there's certainly
ways that we could collaborate with other municipalities. So looking forward to seeing how we can explore
that. Um, and I also wanted to lift up the, you know,
con concern about the sandpit, uh, for the track and field
at weak way. That seems like something that is doable. And I definitely will
be following up with, uh, the office of parks and recreation just to see what's possible there,
what a rough timeline could look like, and how we can work on, um, getting that done.
so thank you again, uh, to doug and, and maggie for lifting that up. I did wanna
just highlight a few, uh, really beautiful community, uh, events. I
know this is our one meeting in the month, so I wanna celebrate as much as we can
in this meeting that we have. Uh, just last week I was able to attend,
uh, well, many of us, several of us attended the flag raising for the l-g-b-t-q
community. Uh, so that was really beautiful. And then a few days after that, I was able to attend
the lavender graduation and the queer prom at, uh, maplewood south
orange columbia high school. And so it was so beautiful, and so shout out to those incredible young
people, their teachers, the co-chairs of spectrum. And then shannon,
who's actually on the lgbtq plus advisory board here at essex county,
who organizes that every year with incredible hard work and hard work.
also wanted to acknowledge the 59th annual, uh, celebration of
guyanese independence day as proud guyanese and african-american women.
it was really an honor to celebrate, uh, those incredible honorees and
the annual flag raising that took place at the newark city hall. Shout
out to alyssa for all her work for that incredible, um,
really beautiful event that day. And one of my young people, ri was one of the honorees there, so
I was really proud of her. She's doing amazing things. Um, and I just wanted
to just acknowledge that it is caribbean heritage month. Um, and,
you know, just want to shout out to everyone, particularly in a time in our country where
there's so much emphasis on hate and division and ostracizing people
based on who they are. It's so important that we celebrate who we are and we celebrate
the differences that make up all of us. And so, whether you are an immigrant
yourself or descendant of immigrants, or also like me, a a descendant
of people who, uh, were forced to come here without choice, um, know that
your difference is your superpower. And I think it's so important that this county
always makes time and space to celebrate, uh, the different
heritages and communities that make us be it through our juneteenth celebration coming up
next week, or every single ethnicity and culture and
religious minority, we find a way to celebrate them here. Um, so certainly wanna celebrate caribbean
heritage month, which is near and dear to me. Uh, but all of the differences
that make us as a county and to councilman president larry crump of
newark for providing transportation today for the young people who we honored from
13th avenue boys basketball team. He was the reason why they were able to get here safely.
and so we thank you president crump for that support of
our young people everywhere. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner. Commissioner.
any other questions or, uh, comments I should say? I'd just like to add,
uh, uh, we unfortunately had to reschedule our jewish
heritage celebration because a, a very close relative of one of the honorees passed
away that day. And we thought it would be, uh, be very, the
appropriate thing to mourn with them, uh, and, and not proceed. We
have not yet, we scheduled that. Uh, but we, we will when the time is
right. I think we need a little bit of time, uh, for that honoree to,
you know, mourn and, and give a little bit of time. So I just want to make sure
that everyone's aware, we, we certainly didn't forget where we're mourning with, uh,
with that person. So I will ask you to please keep, uh,
those folks, uh, in, in your thoughts and in your hearts, uh, as they go
through a very difficult time, uh, which is something none of us would ever like to experience. So,
I hate to close on a somber note, but we will, we will come back. And,
uh, if there's nothing else, do I have a motion to adjourn? Move it
a second by the president. Uh, all in favor? Aye. Aye.