[0:00] >> our regular session meeting agenda.

[0:09] not mentioning that this coming sunday, april 13th is kids opening day at somerset patriots,

[0:18] and our somerset prosecutor's office will be hosting a child abuse prevention awareness event,

[0:25] so please come out and get to chance to meet bluey,

[0:29] which is a cartoon character, and which would have been equivalent of a barney or blues cues back in some of our days.

[0:43] come out. The game begins at 1:05.

[0:47] again, child abuse prevention awareness event hosted by the somerset county prosecutor's office,

[0:54] and you get a chance to meet bluey. Is there a motion to approve the above-listed minutes from

[1:02] our march 25th meeting? Roll call, please.

[1:10] >> commissioner drake? >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry? >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes.

[1:15] >> deputy director marano? >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes.

[1:19] >> the moment we all have been waiting for, 2025 budget presentation.

[1:32] >> come on. >> get the presentation up.

[1:46] >> while we're waiting, I would just like to publicly embarrass, I mean, publicly thank.

[1:51] julia, for a great job. Standing in for our clerk.

[1:56] you're doing a great job, so thank you. [applause] >> there you go.

[2:19] I saw your face, julia. [laughter] I saw the moment where you

[2:24] were wondering I was looking around for it in the house.

[2:30] good evening, and thank you for giving us

[2:34] your attention as we set to introduce 2025 budget.

[2:40] julia, if you can, it.

[2:56] there we go. As we

[3:03] start off every year and as I think all of us that work for the county,

[3:08] we always keep front and center, what the mission statement is.

[3:12] that is our guiding light, and it is worth repeating and saying it out

[3:16] loud that we are committed to excellence and innovation, public service, that it's about promoting the well being

[3:22] of all of our residents and communities by providing effective, efficient, and responsive leadership.

[3:27] this budget presents programs that continue to provide critical and necessary services.

[3:35] there are no cuts to services in this budget. But the federal cuts, as commissioner marano had mentioned, are looming.

[3:44] there's information out there. We will talk a little bit about what we have seen already here in somerset county,

[3:51] which we have been able to absorb. It's very important, I think, before we look forward that we remember

[4:00] where we came from and what last year's budget was able to accomplish.

[4:05] these are just highlights because it would be nearly impossible to

[4:10] bring everything that we do on a daily basis by the strength of our staff.

[4:15] we would be here for quite a long time. The key accomplishments of 2024,

[4:19] we start with human services. When we look at richard hall, we understand that their mission is to be

[4:25] a recovery oriented and person centered facility.

[4:29] we looked to last year where we were able to expand services into our gambling disorder support and harm reduction support.

[4:39] we also had a veterans wellness and job fair that was exceptionally well attended.

[4:45] that office once again reached new heights of records of 5.8

[4:50] million dollar in bringing back va benefits right here to our somerset county veterans.

[4:55] we also saw in human services under volunteer services that they have a new online application,

[5:02] which actually was really successful because it actually drove new volunteers into our system.

[5:10] we have over 200 new senior volunteers and 14 new partner agencies.

[5:15] it's really actually wonderful. Under our aging and disability services,

[5:21] we served over 26,000 breakfast meals to support food and secure seniors.

[5:27] this is separate and apart from the meals on wheels, and this is separate and apart from the nutrition and

[5:33] wellness that we do with our alda care services.

[5:37] we also realize that it is our belief that we are one community that if we work together,

[5:43] that we can combat and address the overdose crisis,

[5:49] and that we have many partners out in the field. Part of that commitment,

[5:54] we have trained 58 county staff to administer narcan.

[5:59] we are already out in the field doing that recently, we were at the library, where we did a no cost training to them.

[6:07] in public works, we celebrated 50 years of public transportation services,

[6:13] and we had in the past 15 years alone, we provided over four million para-transit trips

[6:19] and one million public transportation trips.

[6:24] last year, 6,400 residents drove up to utilize

[6:28] our free saturday shredding in our e-waste recycling services,

[6:32] and we actually have one the saturday, I believe, on the 12th.

[6:39] engineering and planning, relatively new office in the sense of being combined,

[6:45] but such a strong office, especially the engineering of what they have been doing. I would be remiss if I didn't really start out and say

[6:52] that I want to acknowledge the success of our engineering department, because it really is the work that they do in the parks,

[6:58] which is really behind the scenes with our engineering, planning, we'll oversee the design and the management of the construction that

[7:06] ultimately leads to these beautiful projects that we get to cut ribbons.

[7:12] in addition, they constructed four bridges. They paved 18.5 miles,

[7:17] either sit slurry seal or reconstruction. Then there's a list of all of the great park supports that they did from the pool,

[7:24] to the picker ball courts, to the tennis courts, to the golf courses,

[7:29] and the new horse barn. We all like the picture with commissioner sooy. Good picture there.

[7:42] I think this was great. Last year was the third year of the police scholarship program,

[7:49] which we coordinated with the prosecutor's office, and last year we had five new graduates.

[7:53] over the past those three years that we did, 12 county residents actually graduated through the program and are in place

[8:01] today to assure what the goal was to diversify our police departments across our communities,

[8:06] and you should be very of this effort because I know none, I know no county near or far that actually has done this.

[8:14] our constitutional officers are always there supporting what we do.

[8:19] county clerk peter and surrogate jalloh have their mobile outreach services,

[8:24] and that they both are now using credit cards to integrate some of their purchasing capabilities.

[8:29] the sheriff russo, launched last year a program, vip vital identification program,

[8:35] which helps to find missing children.

[8:41] economic development and office that was started in 2021,

[8:45] had a very busy year. We launched the wise somerset, which was the very first county in new jersey to do a talent attraction.

[8:52] we established one of our goals is looking at the cosmetic and personal care industry here in the county,

[8:59] and because of us, choose new jersey now has cosmetic and personal care as a target state sector.

[9:07] that we continue to be out in the ground and we welcome our new businesses,

[9:12] cellares, freshpet, intra-cellular, biocon avnos just to name a few.

[9:17] we've hosted five major film projects and partnered with barton valley community college,

[9:22] as we heard earlier to really put the next generation of film lovers into that industry.

[9:29] lastly, we really pick and choose where we think we need to be

[9:33] statewide and even nationally to increase the retention of the companies that are here,

[9:38] and we're having really good success because we picked up sanare bioscience as one of those new investments.

[9:46] open space, which we know we love. Last year, we surpassed 15,000 acres of preserved land,

[9:53] which is three quarters of it is undeveloped, and that really cannot be understated.

[9:58] because it's the protection of the habitat. It removes it from development and it supports

[10:03] really the overall community health of somerset, county. Culture and heritage always does a great job in giving out grants and funds.

[10:13] here you can see the amount of money that we awarded or re granted with open space,

[10:19] historic preservation, the local arts, and the county history partnership funds.

[10:25] that's always a really nice night when they all come for the checks.

[10:31] then safety and oem. Another great milestone, I think that deserves recognition is that we've

[10:37] trained over 1,400 volunteers last year to become first responders,

[10:41] and that we've achieved, I believe early for the first time, 100% adoption of our 21 municipalities having the operation plans.

[10:49] in the health department, we were really happy that we saw a problem,

[10:55] focused on it and actually came up with a solution, which is providing vaccines for children at a satellite clinic,

[11:01] where we right now are probably over 70 school age children that we have

[11:05] made sure that are vaccinated and contend to school. In our it, we've moved to a more secure.gov web domain.

[11:14] they always have our best interests at heart and that necessarily do a lot of good stuff behind the scenes.

[11:20] at our 911 communication, we expanded to provide dispatch services now for 16 police departments,

[11:26] including two out of county, which are dunellen and middlessex.

[11:32] that's the look back. It reminds you of all the good stuff that you have allowed us to do.

[11:39] as we move forward and some of the stuff that this budget will allow us to do,

[11:44] I'll start with economic development. We will launch city data,

[11:49] which is a tool together insights into travel and spending within downtowns

[11:54] that we will will be able to find of the foot traffic in our visitation at our historic sites,

[12:01] where our tourism sites are. We think this will help us in advance of the two 50th and fifa.

[12:07] we'll be able to share that information with our small businesses,

[12:11] with our business partnership, and with our local municipalities.

[12:15] we will launch a volunteer database to facilitate corporate and nonprofit partnerships.

[12:20] this is done in concert with our volunteer services and our business community,

[12:25] through economic development is always asking, where can they go? How can they give back?

[12:30] that's becoming a really nice thread to try to help ourselves out there.

[12:35] we celebrated the launch of new jersey bio futures, which is a clean training program.

[12:41] while it's being led by rvcc, it's supported with a million dollars from j&j.

[12:46] we played an integral part in this, which I don't think necessarily got the attention it deserves,

[12:51] but we quarterbacked the grant. We wrote it here, we quarterbacked it,

[12:56] and we made sure that it really was what j&j was looking for, which resulted in a million dollars.

[13:02] we will continue to partner with our municipal leadership to deliver state resources.

[13:07] the picture here is in montgomery, where we brought the business action center and the eda

[13:13] out to our municipalities and they bring in their local businesses,

[13:17] and we make sure that they get registered, that we make sure that they understand all the help that's out there.

[13:23] when we pivot to tourism, you'll see probably maybe the next meeting or two,

[13:28] the business partnership will come here, and we will be launching, seated in somerset,

[13:33] which will be the promoting of the county's agra tourism and how we think that that should really be rolled out.

[13:40] we're excited to show you where we are. Then we are going to be launching an updated restaurant guide,

[13:46] which is exceptionally outdated, and we've been working on that pretty diligently and

[13:52] we are dedicating that space there on our website.

[13:56] when the world cubs come, and there's interest from different ethnic foods,

[14:02] people will be able to find it. We've also, by accident,

[14:06] stumbled upon a lot of restaurants that don't have websites.

[14:11] we are now in the process of working with the towns and

[14:16] linking them to the eda because they have a grant that will give them free websites.

[14:22] we expect that to really be a nice piece that we can come out of that.

[14:27] engineering and planning just last weekend. Right in this room, we graduated

[14:32] the inaugural volunteer docent program of 32 residents in preparation of our 250th anniversary.

[14:39] that's been a really wonderful program that started with an idea. We received a grant to make it happen,

[14:46] and we have now the first class with a lot of excitement.

[14:50] the department will be finalizing cross acceptance for the state plan in cooperation with our 21 municipalities.

[14:58] that's not an easy task, and it's taken a lot of focus, and as the director knows who sits on the state plan committee,

[15:06] but it's very important work. We will continue to invest in our bridges.

[15:11] we will continue to invest in our infrastructure. One of the biggest projects will be the hvacc system that you call.

[15:18] a nice project that I thought deserves a little recognition, we will complete the final phase of the van horne house exterior repairs.

[15:27] also in under engineering and planning. They will continue the county wide annual improvements which cover

[15:34] traffic safety and county roadway, reconstruction and resurfacing.

[15:39] we will complete the new entrance and driveway at washington valley park,

[15:44] which again is another initiative to 250th. I don't know when we started if we thought we would make it,

[15:50] but we're going to make it in the time to spare for that project.

[15:55] then we will be seeing actual really great improvements to two parks with new playgrounds.

[16:03] in 911, because we believe that we should never stop

[16:07] supporting and investing in our employees and especially our front line workers,

[16:12] we'll be a launch of a quality assurance program to enhance customer service and improve our call takers training and our capabilities.

[16:20] nit for all of the employees sitting in this room.

[16:24] they completely understand that we are trying to digitize our records with record retention,

[16:30] move away from keeping paper, move away from the thousands of boxes that we have to

[16:36] store while also remaining in compliance with record retention.

[16:41] this is a real focus that we're going to stay on, and I think we'll have great success.

[16:47] in public works, we are really excited about where

[16:51] the transitgo app is taking us to serve our needs and this data,

[16:57] which is going to be in real time, which will be used to analyze the routes and make

[17:02] recommendations so we make sure that we are really putting buses where people are.

[17:07] we have the additional of curbside recycling trucks.

[17:14] >> health, we'll see the accreditation from the public health accreditation board,

[17:19] which is pursuing this demonstrates our commitment to delivery of high-quality coordinated and equitable programs and services.

[17:27] the process of achieving this accreditation is not easy, and it improves accountability and performance,

[17:33] providing the 10 essential public health services and the foundational public health services that aim to

[17:39] improve our health outcomes here in somerset county. In new jersey, out of 104 local health departments,

[17:46] only seven have or were accredited or accredited since 2015,

[17:50] so that to go off. Then, under human services,

[17:57] which does so much and probably now more than ever,

[18:02] when we deal with food security, we need a county focus cohesive strategy to really address food security.

[18:11] that was done by creating a food security coalition, which we did not have before,

[18:17] that actually just had a first meeting several weeks ago. We are really watching our two employees that are embedded in the food banks,

[18:26] which are really providing the link with signing up those most vulnerable with the services that they need,

[18:34] and they are very busy, and those two young women with commissioner singleterry are doing excellent, excellent work.

[18:41] we will see the completion of the onsite pharmacy, which will serve their clients.

[18:46] then, we have our opioid settlement fund money,

[18:51] which is really doing fantastic stuff. You've seen the presentation before.

[18:56] but some of the highlights will be small project grants that we will be able to give.

[19:02] I think it's up to $5,000 to local groups that are doing good work out there and that really money will help them.

[19:09] we will launch the mobile harm reduction or a heal,

[19:13] and heal is harm, education, assistance, and live safer.

[19:18] this is a van that will give resources to reduce the impact of

[19:23] substance abuse and high-risk behaviors in safe, non-stigmatized approaches.

[19:29] it really is about how each of us can be responsible for healing our community.

[19:35] this is really something that we're looking forward to getting out into the community.

[19:43] I really want to thank all of the staff that is here because it really is a reflection of the good work 24-25,

[19:52] or since I've been here for the last couple of years. Is really shining a light on them,

[19:56] which is really taking your mission and your goals that you set forth through me each year and making sure that it actually works.

[20:04] I get to do that good stuff, and yvonne gets to come up and really talk about some of

[20:13] the 2025 directives and then get into the numbers and where we're going to land with tonight's introduction.

[20:28] >> I get to put you to sleep here.

[20:32] I'm going to talk about the numbers with regard to the budget for this year.

[20:37] as always, we have our directives, and this budget is budget directives,

[20:45] maintained our aaa bond rating. It funds all existing services.

[20:49] it maintains a fund balance, and it funds all of our statutory obligations,

[20:54] which include our debt service pension and health benefits,

[20:59] liability insurance, and things along those lines.

[21:03] it presents a well thought out budget that's funded by a sensible tax rate with no surprises for the taxpayer.

[21:12] this next chart gives you a tax dollar breakdown of where,

[21:19] out of one dollar, $0.15 is being paid towards your county taxes.

[21:27] so that's what that represents. Just as a point of reference in 2023,

[21:32] it was still $0.15, so that has remained consistent year to year, and it's been flat.

[21:39] as you know, or some two of the commissioners had

[21:45] mentioned the grant funding from the federal government has been,

[21:53] I would say, slightly unpredictable in some areas.

[21:59] we knew that going into this budget cycle

[22:03] that the covid funding was ending at the end of 2024,

[22:11] and we had prudently phased in some of

[22:15] the expenses that we had used covid funding to cover,

[22:21] such as the american rescue plan funding and covid dollars that we had received.

[22:26] but we had most recently received some short-term notice

[22:30] regarding some grants, particularly in health,

[22:35] mental health, and I believe the office on aging,

[22:39] where we got a notification

[22:43] that were not going to receive the grant funding that we were anticipating.

[22:51] we took a minute, took a pause, and we pivoted,

[22:56] and it does impact where the numbers of

[23:01] this budget lands because we had to make up the difference in some of those instances.

[23:10] moving forward, we are trying to keep an eye on what grant funding is.

[23:18] hopefully, we won't get any more surprises, but just know that this budget does cover so that, like cole said,

[23:29] we can still maintain all of the services that we had originally planned to provide to our residents.

[23:49] I can talk about that. With regard to,

[23:56] with the tax dollar breakdown, there isn't a slide for this,

[24:01] but the controllable costs of the county represent 32% of the budget.

[24:11] then there's the 68% that's we call obligated costs,

[24:17] which we are obligated to pay,

[24:24] and we don't necessarily have control over that. Some of the obligated costs include things like

[24:31] our we have an emergency way back in 2021 with hurricane ida,

[24:38] we declared emergency, and we had to make this [inaudible] revenue.

[24:45] we had to make a pen payment on the emergency every year to pay that down.

[24:50] nice thing is that this is the last year that we will have to make that payment.

[24:56] some of the other obligated costs are our debt service.

[25:00] we're already committed to whatever debt we have issued, that we have to make those payments,

[25:06] things like pension payments, our insurance costs,

[25:10] our health costs, those we are obligated to fund.

[25:16] as I mentioned, at 68%,

[25:20] that represents 68% of the budget. Moving on to revenue,

[25:27] if you can go back a slide. Moving on to the revenue slide. This represents the revenue that we anticipate bringing in this year.

[25:38] I want to point out that under the interest income,

[25:45] we are anticipating less interest, and I think for obvious reasons,

[25:51] interest rates are declining so we are anticipating

[25:56] less interest than we had actually received in or taken in last year.

[26:03] then, also under special items of revenue.

[26:08] that is also down. That includes the big item under that item is the roberton valley community college,

[26:19] the bateman center, the debt service on that.

[26:25] the commitment was that the roberton valley community college would pay up to a certain amount.

[26:33] they have met their commitment, and so that is the reason why that revenue item has been decreased as well.

[26:45] under notable increases on the appropriation side, the insurance,

[26:52] which includes both health insurance and our liability insurance,

[26:57] is up 8.56% over last year.

[27:01] for health insurance alone, the increase year over year from

[27:08] 2024-2025 that has by itself been a 15% increase.

[27:18] our debt service is up 10.38%, and pension 4.36%.

[27:24] then, our affiliated agencies, which include the park commission,

[27:28] the port social services, barton valley community college, and vo tech are combined up by 2.74%.

[27:39] I should note that the park commission and the barton valley community college,

[27:45] we were able to negotiate with them and they have come in flat with their budget.

[27:51] they've been supportive of our needs

[27:55] to try to stabilize the budget as well.

[28:03] under our expenditures, the total expenditure increase is up 4.81%.

[28:13] pretty much, I think I just ran through most of the cost drivers on this list.

[28:21] you can see county departments are only up 3.51%,

[28:28] and then the bulk of our cost drivers are things that are obligated,

[28:34] like the insurance and debt service.

[28:39] those are the two big ones on that list.

[28:45] we're always about building a healthy surplus.

[28:49] last year, we were able to regenerate surplus in the amount of $2,893,884.

[29:05] we utilized 24 million to support the budget,

[29:09] but we were able to regenerate the 24 million and have an additional 2.8 to add to our surplus.

[29:21] at the end of the day, the net tax rate effect on the average home in 2025.

[29:29] if the average value of the home is $590,863,

[29:37] you will see an increase of $79.08 in your 2025 tax bill from the county.

[29:50] then finally, living in somerset is a great investment.

[29:55] rateables are moving at a very fast pace,

[30:00] and they are, I think that's about six billion or so.

[30:06] they're up to $85 plus billion in rateables,

[30:13] which is a pretty significant jump from 2024.

[30:22] I don't know if anyone has any questions.

[30:29] >> I don't have any questions, I would say. I do have a comment. Thank you all for meeting the needs of the residents and dealing with

[30:39] the directors that were given and handing us a budget that we could be proud of. Thank you.

[30:46] >> thank you to

[31:09] all the department heads and all the staff that really compromise to make this possible.

[31:14] every budget season, we go back and forth quite a few times because everyone has a wish list,

[31:19] and of course, we're using taxpayer dollars, and we're all taxpayer,

[31:24] so we try to be as conscientious as possible about that. We're not asking you to pay anything that we're not personally paying as well.

[31:31] we always take that under consideration. Colleen. Thank you because I know with the finance committee,

[31:38] there was quite a bit of overtime that went into this with a lot of the other constraints that we face,

[31:44] and we're not the only local government that's also having the same conversations,

[31:49] but I would say it's fair given all of our externalities that came into play. Thank you.

[31:55] >> I want to say good job. I know it's tough anticipating what some of the cuts may be,

[32:01] but I think you did a really seller job trying to anticipate that,

[32:06] respond to the comments coming in, knowing that we have a great deal of services we provide our residents,

[32:13] and being able to accommodate them just the same,

[32:17] I think is really important. Obviously, more to come with any future potential changes or cuts.

[32:26] but I think being able to provide services, especially in the human services department,

[32:31] which is really important for so many of our residents. I want to say a great job for that, keeping it all.

[32:40] >> in that regard, you have various resolutions that need to be adopted.

[32:45] >> I just wanted to echo what the other commissioners had said. Thank the finance committee for what they've done and the staff,

[32:52] obviously, yvonne and her team. But also just make mention that this budget in the initial thought is a lot higher.

[33:01] you guys did a lot of cost savings and cutting and very interesting techniques to get this to the level it is.

[33:09] I just want the public to know, this came in a lot higher, and we did a lot of cutting to get it to a more reasonable number here.

[33:18] great job. Thank you. Counsel. >> I'm sorry. There are several resolutions that need to be adopted.

[33:25] first one is 790 authorization, to exceed the county budget appropriation limits and to establish

[33:31] a cap bank and set in the public hearing for the budget for may 13,

[33:35] 2025 at 06:00 pm. Authorization for reading of the 2025 budget by title on only.

[33:43] that is important otherwise, we'll be here forever. Authorization for equal employment opportunity commission certification aeoc,

[33:51] authorize in somerset county to exceed the county entity budget request cap for the surrogate.

[33:58] authorize in somerset county to exceed the county entity budget request cap for the board of taxation.

[34:03] authorizing somerset county to exceed the county entity budget request cap for the prosecutor,

[34:10] that is, 790-795.

[34:19] >> roll call, please. >> commissioner drake. >> yes.

[34:23] >> commissioner singleterry. >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano?

[34:28] >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. We have 25-796,

[34:35] 2025 somerset county budget, motion to introduce the 2025 budget and set a public hearing for may 13th at 6:00 pm.

[34:45] >> motion. >> second. >> roll call, please.

[34:49] >> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry? >> yes. >> commissioner sooy.

[34:54] >> deputy director marano. >> yes. >> director robinson. >> yes. We have two capital bond ordinances, ordinance 25-797,

[35:04] and ordinance providing an appropriation of $33,654,438 for various improvements and purposes for and by the county of somerset,

[35:13] and authorizing issuance of $31,971,716 in bonds or notes for financing part of the cost thereof.

[35:22] then we also have the public hearing 25-797, setting the public hearing for bond ordinance 25-797.

[35:30] is there a motion to pass ordinance 25-797 on first reading,

[35:36] and set the public hearing for april 22nd, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.

[35:41] >> second. >> roll call, please? >> commissioner drake.

[35:46] >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry. >> yes.

[35:50] >> commissioner sooy. >>yes. >> deputy director marano.

[35:55] >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. We have ordinance 25-798,

[36:00] ordinance providing an appropriation of $3,004,932 for the improvement of

[36:08] barton valley community college and authorizing the issuance of $3,004,932 county college bonds

[36:15] or notes of the county of somerset for financing such appropriation.

[36:19] we also have the public hearing 25-798 setting the public hearing for bond ordinance 25-798.

[36:25] is there a motion to pass the ordinance and first reading and get the public hearing set for april 22nd,

[36:32] 2025 at 6:00 pm. >> motion.

[36:37] >> second. >> roll call, please? >> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry.

[36:41] >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano.

[36:46] >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Capital ordinance 25-799,

[36:52] ordinance appropriating $650,000 from the capital improvement fund for

[36:56] various capital improvements in and by the county of somerset, public hearing 25-799, setting the public hearing for ordinance 25-799.

[37:05] is there a motion to pass the ordinance on first reading and set the public hearing for april 22nd,

[37:12] 2025 at 6:00 pm. >> so moved. >> second.

[37:19] >> roll call, please? >> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry.

[37:25] >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano?

[37:29] >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Open space acquisition 25-700 authorizing the purchase of

[37:37] real property known as block 9 po lot 2-04 in the township of franklin,

[37:45] owned by marcus nolton. Total acquisition costs not to see exceed $669,900.

[37:54] >> motion moved. >> second. >> roll call, please. >> commissioner drake? >> yes.

[37:58] >> commissioner singleterry? >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano.

[38:03] >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Is there a motion to approve resolutions 25-701 through 25-714?

[38:13] >> moved. >> second. >> roll call, please?

[38:18] >> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry? >> commissioner sooy.

[38:22] >> yes. >> deputy director marano. >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Is there a motion to approve resolution 25-715 through 25-730?

[38:31] >> moved. >> second. >> roll call, please. >> commissioner drake.

[38:37] >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry. >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano?

[38:41] >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Motion to approve resolution 25-731 through 25-762.

[38:49] >> so moved. >> second. >> roll call, please?

[38:53] >> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry? >> yes. >> commissioner sooy.

[38:57] >> yes. >> deputy director marano? >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Is there a motion to approve resolution 25-763, excuse me,

[39:06] resolutions 25-7632 through 25-771?

[39:13] >> moved. >> second. >> roll call, please? >> commissioner drake.

[39:17] >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry. >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano?

[39:22] >> yes. >> director robinson? Yes. This is a public portion

[39:26] of this meeting where anyone from the public wishing to speak. Come forward, state your name and address.

[39:31] you have five minutes, no yielding of time, no coming up a second time. And we also entertain questions and comments

[39:37] from previously submitted e mails and telephone. Is there a motion to open to public?

[39:42] >> second. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> ayes have it. Anyone from the public wishing to speak.

[39:54] no offense, I don't know, but if you are a minor, you do not need to enter,

[39:59] give us your address. >> good evening commissioners.

[40:05] my name is masa kamar, and I live in washington new jersey. I'm a high school junior at rs somerset,

[40:12] on the washington green team and a member of the executive board at the new jersey students coalition.

[40:17] I'm here to urge you all to pass a resolution in favor of bill acr 119 in the assembly and acr 43 in the senate,

[40:26] which is dictate the new jersey greene. Somerset county had the opportunity to join franklin township,

[40:33] both in somerset and 100 counties, essex county, burlington county, and a number of other towns.

[40:40] I e-mailed a fact sheet to all the commissioners that has the links to

[40:44] all the resolutions passed by all of these parents that you could look at if you so desire.

[40:49] the green amendment could be a valid resolution and an upcoming november election.

[40:55] if both the new jersey senate and assembly hold hearings and up members then if passed by more than 50% of voters,

[41:03] it could be added to the new jersey constitution with the following wording.

[41:08] every person has a right to a clean and healthy environment, including pure water, clean air,

[41:14] a safe climate, ecologically healthy habitats, and to the preservation of the natural and seen qualities of the environment.

[41:22] the state shall not infringe upon these rights. The state's natural resources.

[41:26] among them, its waters, air, flora, bana, climate and public lands are the common property of all the people,

[41:33] including both present and future generations. The state shall serve as the trustee of these resources.

[41:39] I shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all people.

[41:44] basically, what this does, that it puts environmental rights on par with rights

[41:48] such as the right to bear arms and the right to special speech. This is not a radical idea in any way.

[41:55] montana and pennsylvania have had this in their constitution since the 1970s,

[41:59] and new york passed their environmental rights amendment in 2021.

[42:04] additionally, the green amendment is not about politics. It has bipartisan support.

[42:08] recently our republican assembly woman matsikoudis, submitted her application for co sponsorship.

[42:15] it's about prioritizing clean air and water, which of the rights, not a privilege or a luxury.

[42:23] prioritizing the environment now is important not only for today's residents but for our future residents in wild life.

[42:30] goring about the climate issue is something as you can just to my generation as social media is.

[42:36] I remember watching me video about global warming in kindergarten class. My little brother just did a project on the conservation.

[42:43] currently microplastics are in our blood, our organs, and even in our babies.

[42:49] climate change is accelerating and our biodiversity is. We're seeing more and more problems pop up,

[42:55] but we're not seeing enough real or far reaching solutions. European amendment could be illegal to

[43:03] a larger global warming mitigation strategy. It grew groups.

[43:08] for example, a minority community that's being targeted for toxic facility or a large warehouse a legal pathway to protect their homes.

[43:17] it basically prevents harm from happening. Somerset county currently has eight superfund sites.

[43:23] if someone like a corporation tries security another one, the green amendment can stop it or delay it

[43:29] until it's proven that it won't contaminate the air or water supply.

[43:34] now, I know that there are existing and wonderful environmental regulations in place today.

[43:40] but they don't provide as much protection and security as a constitutional.

[43:45] a regulation can be ignored or rescinded quite easily,

[43:50] but a state constitutional right is much more secure. It's terrifying to think that things are about to get even worse.

[43:57] as the federal government is actively dismantling environmental regulations and detections that took decades to establish.

[44:04] last week, there's an executive order opening up half of our natural forests to logging.

[44:09] just a few hours ago, president trump signed an executive order that will boost coal production.

[44:15] the green amendment, that will be able to protect our states natural resources.

[44:21] this amendment will bring people out to vote and be popular in. In new york, their amendment was passed by over 70% of voters.

[44:30] let's allow our residents to vote on whether a healthy environment is

[44:34] a constitutional right by passing a resolution in somerset county week,

[44:38] signaling to our legislators that this is an issue that their constituents care about so that they work towards getting it on the ballot in november.

[44:47] somerset county has made great steps to sustainability, thanks to the efforts of this council and many others.

[44:53] this is just another time for you to further show that you care about new jersey's youth and wildlife.

[44:59] show us that you will take bold action now when it matters to us.

[45:04] somerset county by example, by standing for the people, for the future, and for our right to a healthy environment.

[45:11] as the resolution is supported. Thank you.

[45:18] >> before anyone says anything. It was on tonight's agenda. >> I was going to say. I wanted to say terrific job. Great job.

[45:27] on your presentation, the information you provided as well as the delivery,

[45:32] I think very factual, important information the public needs to hear,

[45:36] as was just mentioned by our county council. This resolution was on the agenda for tonight's agenda,

[45:45] and I believe we all adopted it unanimously. It has been adopted. But I want to say great job.

[45:52] it was so important to come out and speak about this important topic. Thank you very much.

[45:57] >> you said it and we listened to her. >> because I think part of the discussion had always been,

[46:06] would we adopt this amendment? I know you reached out.

[46:10] there was some e-mail exchange, what have you, but it is important to you come here and really let the public know what it's all about.

[46:19] I think you explained it very well. Thank you. >> thank you. [applause]

[46:24] >> are you going to law school? [laughter]

[46:34] >> says the lawyer. >> you get ice cream on your way out.

[46:40] >> yes. >> harry. There you go.

[46:46] your three minutes, my friend. >> hi, everybody. Harry bos logger,

[46:53] ristown, new jersey, franklin township. I'd just like to say that I think the budget,

[47:00] I worked for hands across new jersey and we stood for honest and efficient government.

[47:06] twenty years ago, we worked really hard. To bring things under control.

[47:10] unfortunately, I don't think we were very successful, but now with the county,

[47:16] I think we should try to be as conservative as we can,

[47:20] and inflation is caused by too much government spending.

[47:25] the point is this that we have to grow the private sector.

[47:29] we're in competition with the chinese, and we have to have the private sector.

[47:35] we need them to create the real wealth in the nation, and it's important.

[47:41] I'll tell you the truth, I've been in contact with the white house with the president and well,

[47:48] anyway, I'm talking about new jersey and bring things under control,

[47:53] spending and everything else. I feel it's my job to make my voice heard and just say, like,

[48:02] I just want to honest and efficient government cut spending and cut waste and new jersey,

[48:09] we were fighting $11 billion budget now last year was 56 billion.

[48:14] we got a lot of work to do. I'm hoping that president trump gets on it here and cuts

[48:20] to new jersey because I told them the legal governments from the bottom up,

[48:25] not from the top down, and I want to be represented as a citizen,

[48:29] not as the subject. Well, anyway as a veteran,

[48:34] I'm very disappointed with the way this country has gone. I was very disappointed with losing a war in vietnam.

[48:42] we fought a war to win. I fought a war to win. I didn't fight a war to lose.

[48:47] one thing about harry truman, he did the job. He went to end of war, he did.

[48:52] world war ii only lasted 4.5 years. The vietnam war lasted from 65-75.

[48:59] people didn't know what they're doing. That's why we lost the war.

[49:03] many veterans commit suicide, and I understand it because they feel like,

[49:08] what the hell did we do? But let's all pull together and work together to get government under

[49:14] control and beat the chinese before they kick our ass,

[49:19] that's all I want to say. >> thank you, harry. >> have a good evening. >> you too. >> bye.

[49:27] >> hearing nothing else, seeing nothing else, is the motion to close the public portion of this meeting? All in favor.

[49:34] >> aye. >> ayes have it. We will go into executive session, coming out,

[49:39] not making any decisions we adjourn immediately from executive session, is that correct?

[49:43] >> that is correct. We need to go into executive session to discuss the purchase and acquisition of

[49:49] various projects in raton manville and potentially hillsboro.

[49:58] we will not take any direct action. With regards to that,

[50:02] I do need a motion pursuant to the provisions of the open public meeting act to

[50:09] go into closed session for the purposes discussing the possible acquisition of land.

[50:16] >> so move. >> all in favor. >> aye.

[50:21] >> aye's have it. Good night and be well. Great job. [applause]

Apr 08, 2025 Board of County Commissioners Regular Meeting

Agenda

Transcript