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>> our regular session meeting agenda.

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not mentioning that this coming sunday, april 13th is kids opening day at somerset patriots,

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and our somerset prosecutor's office will be hosting a child abuse prevention awareness event,

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so please come out and get to chance to meet bluey,

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

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come out. The game begins at 1:05.

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again, child abuse prevention awareness event hosted by the somerset county prosecutor's office,

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and you get a chance to meet bluey. Is there a motion to approve the above-listed minutes from

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our march 25th meeting? Roll call, please.

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>> commissioner drake? >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry? >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes.

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>> deputy director marano? >> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes.

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>> the moment we all have been waiting for, 2025 budget presentation.

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>> come on. >> get the presentation up.

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>> while we're waiting, I would just like to publicly embarrass, I mean, publicly thank.

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julia, for a great job. Standing in for our clerk.

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

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

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were wondering I was looking around for it in the house.

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good evening, and thank you for giving us

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your attention as we set to introduce 2025 budget.

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julia, if you can, it.

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there we go. As we

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start off every year and as I think all of us that work for the county,

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we always keep front and center, what the mission statement is.

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that is our guiding light, and it is worth repeating and saying it out

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

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of all of our residents and communities by providing effective, efficient, and responsive leadership.

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this budget presents programs that continue to provide critical and necessary services.

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

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

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

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where we came from and what last year's budget was able to accomplish.

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these are just highlights because it would be nearly impossible to

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bring everything that we do on a daily basis by the strength of our staff.

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we would be here for quite a long time. The key accomplishments of 2024,

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we start with human services. When we look at richard hall, we understand that their mission is to be

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a recovery oriented and person centered facility.

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we looked to last year where we were able to expand services into our gambling disorder support and harm reduction support.

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we also had a veterans wellness and job fair that was exceptionally well attended.

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that office once again reached new heights of records of 5.8

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million dollar in bringing back va benefits right here to our somerset county veterans.

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we also saw in human services under volunteer services that they have a new online application,

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which actually was really successful because it actually drove new volunteers into our system.

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we have over 200 new senior volunteers and 14 new partner agencies.

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it's really actually wonderful. Under our aging and disability services,

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we served over 26,000 breakfast meals to support food and secure seniors.

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this is separate and apart from the meals on wheels, and this is separate and apart from the nutrition and

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wellness that we do with our alda care services.

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we also realize that it is our belief that we are one community that if we work together,

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that we can combat and address the overdose crisis,

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and that we have many partners out in the field. Part of that commitment,

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we have trained 58 county staff to administer narcan.

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

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in public works, we celebrated 50 years of public transportation services,

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and we had in the past 15 years alone, we provided over four million para-transit trips

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and one million public transportation trips.

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last year, 6,400 residents drove up to utilize

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our free saturday shredding in our e-waste recycling services,

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and we actually have one the saturday, I believe, on the 12th.

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engineering and planning, relatively new office in the sense of being combined,

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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

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

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

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ultimately leads to these beautiful projects that we get to cut ribbons.

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in addition, they constructed four bridges. They paved 18.5 miles,

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

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to the picker ball courts, to the tennis courts, to the golf courses,

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and the new horse barn. We all like the picture with commissioner sooy. Good picture there.

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I think this was great. Last year was the third year of the police scholarship program,

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which we coordinated with the prosecutor's office, and last year we had five new graduates.

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

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today to assure what the goal was to diversify our police departments across our communities,

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

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our constitutional officers are always there supporting what we do.

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county clerk peter and surrogate jalloh have their mobile outreach services,

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and that they both are now using credit cards to integrate some of their purchasing capabilities.

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the sheriff russo, launched last year a program, vip vital identification program,

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which helps to find missing children.

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economic development and office that was started in 2021,

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

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we established one of our goals is looking at the cosmetic and personal care industry here in the county,

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and because of us, choose new jersey now has cosmetic and personal care as a target state sector.

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that we continue to be out in the ground and we welcome our new businesses,

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cellares, freshpet, intra-cellular, biocon avnos just to name a few.

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we've hosted five major film projects and partnered with barton valley community college,

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as we heard earlier to really put the next generation of film lovers into that industry.

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lastly, we really pick and choose where we think we need to be

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statewide and even nationally to increase the retention of the companies that are here,

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

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open space, which we know we love. Last year, we surpassed 15,000 acres of preserved land,

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which is three quarters of it is undeveloped, and that really cannot be understated.

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because it's the protection of the habitat. It removes it from development and it supports

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

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here you can see the amount of money that we awarded or re granted with open space,

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historic preservation, the local arts, and the county history partnership funds.

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that's always a really nice night when they all come for the checks.

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then safety and oem. Another great milestone, I think that deserves recognition is that we've

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trained over 1,400 volunteers last year to become first responders,

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

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in the health department, we were really happy that we saw a problem,

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

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where we right now are probably over 70 school age children that we have

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

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

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at our 911 communication, we expanded to provide dispatch services now for 16 police departments,

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including two out of county, which are dunellen and middlessex.

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that's the look back. It reminds you of all the good stuff that you have allowed us to do.

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as we move forward and some of the stuff that this budget will allow us to do,

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I'll start with economic development. We will launch city data,

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which is a tool together insights into travel and spending within downtowns

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that we will will be able to find of the foot traffic in our visitation at our historic sites,

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

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we'll be able to share that information with our small businesses,

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with our business partnership, and with our local municipalities.

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we will launch a volunteer database to facilitate corporate and nonprofit partnerships.

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this is done in concert with our volunteer services and our business community,

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through economic development is always asking, where can they go? How can they give back?

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that's becoming a really nice thread to try to help ourselves out there.

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we celebrated the launch of new jersey bio futures, which is a clean training program.

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while it's being led by rvcc, it's supported with a million dollars from j&j.

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

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but we quarterbacked the grant. We wrote it here, we quarterbacked it,

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

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we will continue to partner with our municipal leadership to deliver state resources.

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the picture here is in montgomery, where we brought the business action center and the eda

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out to our municipalities and they bring in their local businesses,

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and we make sure that they get registered, that we make sure that they understand all the help that's out there.

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when we pivot to tourism, you'll see probably maybe the next meeting or two,

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the business partnership will come here, and we will be launching, seated in somerset,

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

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we're excited to show you where we are. Then we are going to be launching an updated restaurant guide,

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which is exceptionally outdated, and we've been working on that pretty diligently and

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we are dedicating that space there on our website.

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when the world cubs come, and there's interest from different ethnic foods,

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people will be able to find it. We've also, by accident,

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stumbled upon a lot of restaurants that don't have websites.

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we are now in the process of working with the towns and

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linking them to the eda because they have a grant that will give them free websites.

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we expect that to really be a nice piece that we can come out of that.

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engineering and planning just last weekend. Right in this room, we graduated

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the inaugural volunteer docent program of 32 residents in preparation of our 250th anniversary.

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

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and we have now the first class with a lot of excitement.

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the department will be finalizing cross acceptance for the state plan in cooperation with our 21 municipalities.

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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,

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but it's very important work. We will continue to invest in our bridges.

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

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

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also in under engineering and planning. They will continue the county wide annual improvements which cover

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traffic safety and county roadway, reconstruction and resurfacing.

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we will complete the new entrance and driveway at washington valley park,

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

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but we're going to make it in the time to spare for that project.

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then we will be seeing actual really great improvements to two parks with new playgrounds.

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in 911, because we believe that we should never stop

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supporting and investing in our employees and especially our front line workers,

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

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nit for all of the employees sitting in this room.

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they completely understand that we are trying to digitize our records with record retention,

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move away from keeping paper, move away from the thousands of boxes that we have to

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store while also remaining in compliance with record retention.

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

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in public works, we are really excited about where

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the transitgo app is taking us to serve our needs and this data,

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which is going to be in real time, which will be used to analyze the routes and make

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recommendations so we make sure that we are really putting buses where people are.

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we have the additional of curbside recycling trucks.

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>> health, we'll see the accreditation from the public health accreditation board,

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which is pursuing this demonstrates our commitment to delivery of high-quality coordinated and equitable programs and services.

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the process of achieving this accreditation is not easy, and it improves accountability and performance,

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providing the 10 essential public health services and the foundational public health services that aim to

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improve our health outcomes here in somerset county. In new jersey, out of 104 local health departments,

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only seven have or were accredited or accredited since 2015,

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so that to go off. Then, under human services,

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which does so much and probably now more than ever,

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when we deal with food security, we need a county focus cohesive strategy to really address food security.

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that was done by creating a food security coalition, which we did not have before,

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

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which are really providing the link with signing up those most vulnerable with the services that they need,

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and they are very busy, and those two young women with commissioner singleterry are doing excellent, excellent work.

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we will see the completion of the onsite pharmacy, which will serve their clients.

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then, we have our opioid settlement fund money,

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which is really doing fantastic stuff. You've seen the presentation before.

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but some of the highlights will be small project grants that we will be able to give.

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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.

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we will launch the mobile harm reduction or a heal,

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and heal is harm, education, assistance, and live safer.

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this is a van that will give resources to reduce the impact of

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substance abuse and high-risk behaviors in safe, non-stigmatized approaches.

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it really is about how each of us can be responsible for healing our community.

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this is really something that we're looking forward to getting out into the community.

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

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

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

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I get to do that good stuff, and yvonne gets to come up and really talk about some of

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

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>> I get to put you to sleep here.

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I'm going to talk about the numbers with regard to the budget for this year.

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as always, we have our directives, and this budget is budget directives,

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maintained our aaa bond rating. It funds all existing services.

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it maintains a fund balance, and it funds all of our statutory obligations,

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which include our debt service pension and health benefits,

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liability insurance, and things along those lines.

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

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this next chart gives you a tax dollar breakdown of where,

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out of one dollar, $0.15 is being paid towards your county taxes.

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so that's what that represents. Just as a point of reference in 2023,

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it was still $0.15, so that has remained consistent year to year, and it's been flat.

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as you know, or some two of the commissioners had

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mentioned the grant funding from the federal government has been,

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I would say, slightly unpredictable in some areas.

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we knew that going into this budget cycle

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that the covid funding was ending at the end of 2024,

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and we had prudently phased in some of

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the expenses that we had used covid funding to cover,

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such as the american rescue plan funding and covid dollars that we had received.

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but we had most recently received some short-term notice

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regarding some grants, particularly in health,

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mental health, and I believe the office on aging,

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where we got a notification

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that were not going to receive the grant funding that we were anticipating.

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we took a minute, took a pause, and we pivoted,

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and it does impact where the numbers of

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this budget lands because we had to make up the difference in some of those instances.

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moving forward, we are trying to keep an eye on what grant funding is.

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

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we can still maintain all of the services that we had originally planned to provide to our residents.

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I can talk about that. With regard to,

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with the tax dollar breakdown, there isn't a slide for this,

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but the controllable costs of the county represent 32% of the budget.

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then there's the 68% that's we call obligated costs,

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which we are obligated to pay,

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

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our we have an emergency way back in 2021 with hurricane ida,

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

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we had to make a pen payment on the emergency every year to pay that down.

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nice thing is that this is the last year that we will have to make that payment.

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some of the other obligated costs are our debt service.

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we're already committed to whatever debt we have issued, that we have to make those payments,

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things like pension payments, our insurance costs,

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our health costs, those we are obligated to fund.

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as I mentioned, at 68%,

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that represents 68% of the budget. Moving on to revenue,

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

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I want to point out that under the interest income,

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we are anticipating less interest, and I think for obvious reasons,

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interest rates are declining so we are anticipating

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less interest than we had actually received in or taken in last year.

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then, also under special items of revenue.

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that is also down. That includes the big item under that item is the roberton valley community college,

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the bateman center, the debt service on that.

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the commitment was that the roberton valley community college would pay up to a certain amount.

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

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under notable increases on the appropriation side, the insurance,

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which includes both health insurance and our liability insurance,

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is up 8.56% over last year.

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for health insurance alone, the increase year over year from

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2024-2025 that has by itself been a 15% increase.

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our debt service is up 10.38%, and pension 4.36%.

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then, our affiliated agencies, which include the park commission,

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the port social services, barton valley community college, and vo tech are combined up by 2.74%.

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I should note that the park commission and the barton valley community college,

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we were able to negotiate with them and they have come in flat with their budget.

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they've been supportive of our needs

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to try to stabilize the budget as well.

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under our expenditures, the total expenditure increase is up 4.81%.

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pretty much, I think I just ran through most of the cost drivers on this list.

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you can see county departments are only up 3.51%,

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and then the bulk of our cost drivers are things that are obligated,

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like the insurance and debt service.

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those are the two big ones on that list.

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we're always about building a healthy surplus.

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last year, we were able to regenerate surplus in the amount of $2,893,884.

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we utilized 24 million to support the budget,

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but we were able to regenerate the 24 million and have an additional 2.8 to add to our surplus.

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at the end of the day, the net tax rate effect on the average home in 2025.

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if the average value of the home is $590,863,

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you will see an increase of $79.08 in your 2025 tax bill from the county.

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then finally, living in somerset is a great investment.

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rateables are moving at a very fast pace,

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and they are, I think that's about six billion or so.

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they're up to $85 plus billion in rateables,

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which is a pretty significant jump from 2024.

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I don't know if anyone has any questions.

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>> 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

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the directors that were given and handing us a budget that we could be proud of. Thank you.

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>> thank you to

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all the department heads and all the staff that really compromise to make this possible.

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every budget season, we go back and forth quite a few times because everyone has a wish list,

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and of course, we're using taxpayer dollars, and we're all taxpayer,

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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.

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

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there was quite a bit of overtime that went into this with a lot of the other constraints that we face,

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and we're not the only local government that's also having the same conversations,

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

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

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but I think you did a really seller job trying to anticipate that,

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respond to the comments coming in, knowing that we have a great deal of services we provide our residents,

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and being able to accommodate them just the same,

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I think is really important. Obviously, more to come with any future potential changes or cuts.

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but I think being able to provide services, especially in the human services department,

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

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>> in that regard, you have various resolutions that need to be adopted.

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

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

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

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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.

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

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first one is 790 authorization, to exceed the county budget appropriation limits and to establish

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a cap bank and set in the public hearing for the budget for may 13,

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

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

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authorize in somerset county to exceed the county entity budget request cap for the surrogate.

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authorize in somerset county to exceed the county entity budget request cap for the board of taxation.

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authorizing somerset county to exceed the county entity budget request cap for the prosecutor,

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that is, 790-795.

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>> roll call, please. >> commissioner drake. >> yes.

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>> commissioner singleterry. >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano?

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>> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. We have 25-796,

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

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>> motion. >> second. >> roll call, please.

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>> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry? >> yes. >> commissioner sooy.

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>> deputy director marano. >> yes. >> director robinson. >> yes. We have two capital bond ordinances, ordinance 25-797,

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and ordinance providing an appropriation of $33,654,438 for various improvements and purposes for and by the county of somerset,

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

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then we also have the public hearing 25-797, setting the public hearing for bond ordinance 25-797.

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is there a motion to pass ordinance 25-797 on first reading,

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

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>> second. >> roll call, please? >> commissioner drake.

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>> yes. >> commissioner singleterry. >> yes.

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>> commissioner sooy. >>yes. >> deputy director marano.

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>> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. We have ordinance 25-798,

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ordinance providing an appropriation of $3,004,932 for the improvement of

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barton valley community college and authorizing the issuance of $3,004,932 county college bonds

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or notes of the county of somerset for financing such appropriation.

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we also have the public hearing 25-798 setting the public hearing for bond ordinance 25-798.

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

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2025 at 6:00 pm. >> motion.

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>> second. >> roll call, please? >> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry.

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>> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano.

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>> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Capital ordinance 25-799,

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ordinance appropriating $650,000 from the capital improvement fund for

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

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

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2025 at 6:00 pm. >> so moved. >> second.

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>> roll call, please? >> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry.

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>> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano?

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>> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Open space acquisition 25-700 authorizing the purchase of

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

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owned by marcus nolton. Total acquisition costs not to see exceed $669,900.

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>> motion moved. >> second. >> roll call, please. >> commissioner drake? >> yes.

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>> commissioner singleterry? >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano.

353
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>> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Is there a motion to approve resolutions 25-701 through 25-714?

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>> moved. >> second. >> roll call, please?

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>> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry? >> commissioner sooy.

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

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>> moved. >> second. >> roll call, please. >> commissioner drake.

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>> yes. >> commissioner singleterry. >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano?

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>> yes. >> director robinson? >> yes. Motion to approve resolution 25-731 through 25-762.

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>> so moved. >> second. >> roll call, please?

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>> commissioner drake. >> yes. >> commissioner singleterry? >> yes. >> commissioner sooy.

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

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resolutions 25-7632 through 25-771?

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>> moved. >> second. >> roll call, please? >> commissioner drake.

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>> yes. >> commissioner singleterry. >> yes. >> commissioner sooy. >> yes. >> deputy director marano?

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>> yes. >> director robinson? Yes. This is a public portion

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

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

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from previously submitted e mails and telephone. Is there a motion to open to public?

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>> second. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> ayes have it. Anyone from the public wishing to speak.

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no offense, I don't know, but if you are a minor, you do not need to enter,

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give us your address. >> good evening commissioners.

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

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on the washington green team and a member of the executive board at the new jersey students coalition.

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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,

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which is dictate the new jersey greene. Somerset county had the opportunity to join franklin township,

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both in somerset and 100 counties, essex county, burlington county, and a number of other towns.

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I e-mailed a fact sheet to all the commissioners that has the links to

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all the resolutions passed by all of these parents that you could look at if you so desire.

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the green amendment could be a valid resolution and an upcoming november election.

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

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it could be added to the new jersey constitution with the following wording.

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every person has a right to a clean and healthy environment, including pure water, clean air,

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a safe climate, ecologically healthy habitats, and to the preservation of the natural and seen qualities of the environment.

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the state shall not infringe upon these rights. The state's natural resources.

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among them, its waters, air, flora, bana, climate and public lands are the common property of all the people,

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including both present and future generations. The state shall serve as the trustee of these resources.

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I shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all people.

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basically, what this does, that it puts environmental rights on par with rights

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

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montana and pennsylvania have had this in their constitution since the 1970s,

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and new york passed their environmental rights amendment in 2021.

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additionally, the green amendment is not about politics. It has bipartisan support.

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recently our republican assembly woman matsikoudis, submitted her application for co sponsorship.

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

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

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goring about the climate issue is something as you can just to my generation as social media is.

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

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currently microplastics are in our blood, our organs, and even in our babies.

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climate change is accelerating and our biodiversity is. We're seeing more and more problems pop up,

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but we're not seeing enough real or far reaching solutions. European amendment could be illegal to

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a larger global warming mitigation strategy. It grew groups.

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

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it basically prevents harm from happening. Somerset county currently has eight superfund sites.

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if someone like a corporation tries security another one, the green amendment can stop it or delay it

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until it's proven that it won't contaminate the air or water supply.

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now, I know that there are existing and wonderful environmental regulations in place today.

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but they don't provide as much protection and security as a constitutional.

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a regulation can be ignored or rescinded quite easily,

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

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as the federal government is actively dismantling environmental regulations and detections that took decades to establish.

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last week, there's an executive order opening up half of our natural forests to logging.

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just a few hours ago, president trump signed an executive order that will boost coal production.

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the green amendment, that will be able to protect our states natural resources.

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

416
00:44:30,490 --> 00:44:30,490
let's allow our residents to vote on whether a healthy environment is

417
00:44:34,625 --> 00:44:34,625
a constitutional right by passing a resolution in somerset county week,

418
00:44:38,690 --> 00:44:42,365
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.

419
00:44:47,720 --> 00:44:50,570
somerset county has made great steps to sustainability, thanks to the efforts of this council and many others.

420
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:55,720
this is just another time for you to further show that you care about new jersey's youth and wildlife.

421
00:44:59,670 --> 00:44:59,670
show us that you will take bold action now when it matters to us.

422
00:45:04,555 --> 00:45:08,365
somerset county by example, by standing for the people, for the future, and for our right to a healthy environment.

423
00:45:11,365 --> 00:45:11,365
as the resolution is supported. Thank you.

424
00:45:18,310 --> 00:45:22,100
>> before anyone says anything. It was on tonight's agenda. >> I was going to say. I wanted to say terrific job. Great job.

425
00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:27,560
on your presentation, the information you provided as well as the delivery,

426
00:45:32,270 --> 00:45:34,025
I think very factual, important information the public needs to hear,

427
00:45:36,875 --> 00:45:39,980
as was just mentioned by our county council. This resolution was on the agenda for tonight's agenda,

428
00:45:45,410 --> 00:45:48,515
and I believe we all adopted it unanimously. It has been adopted. But I want to say great job.

429
00:45:52,835 --> 00:45:55,055
it was so important to come out and speak about this important topic. Thank you very much.

430
00:45:57,980 --> 00:46:01,100
>> you said it and we listened to her. >> because I think part of the discussion had always been,

431
00:46:06,305 --> 00:46:06,305
would we adopt this amendment? I know you reached out.

432
00:46:10,310 --> 00:46:13,070
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.

433
00:46:19,670 --> 00:46:23,610
I think you explained it very well. Thank you. >> thank you. [applause]

434
00:46:24,710 --> 00:46:27,560
>> are you going to law school? [laughter]

435
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:37,510
>> says the lawyer. >> you get ice cream on your way out.

436
00:46:40,415 --> 00:46:42,610
>> yes. >> harry. There you go.

437
00:46:46,955 --> 00:46:49,510
your three minutes, my friend. >> hi, everybody. Harry bos logger,

438
00:46:53,240 --> 00:46:56,210
ristown, new jersey, franklin township. I'd just like to say that I think the budget,

439
00:47:00,380 --> 00:47:00,380
I worked for hands across new jersey and we stood for honest and efficient government.

440
00:47:06,035 --> 00:47:08,825
twenty years ago, we worked really hard. To bring things under control.

441
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:14,000
unfortunately, I don't think we were very successful, but now with the county,

442
00:47:16,595 --> 00:47:16,595
I think we should try to be as conservative as we can,

443
00:47:20,900 --> 00:47:20,900
and inflation is caused by too much government spending.

444
00:47:25,415 --> 00:47:25,415
the point is this that we have to grow the private sector.

445
00:47:29,750 --> 00:47:32,180
we're in competition with the chinese, and we have to have the private sector.

446
00:47:35,270 --> 00:47:35,270
we need them to create the real wealth in the nation, and it's important.

447
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,630
I'll tell you the truth, I've been in contact with the white house with the president and well,

448
00:47:48,650 --> 00:47:48,650
anyway, I'm talking about new jersey and bring things under control,

449
00:47:53,660 --> 00:47:56,255
spending and everything else. I feel it's my job to make my voice heard and just say, like,

450
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:02,600
I just want to honest and efficient government cut spending and cut waste and new jersey,

451
00:48:09,935 --> 00:48:09,935
we were fighting $11 billion budget now last year was 56 billion.

452
00:48:14,855 --> 00:48:16,745
we got a lot of work to do. I'm hoping that president trump gets on it here and cuts

453
00:48:20,930 --> 00:48:20,930
to new jersey because I told them the legal governments from the bottom up,

454
00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:26,360
not from the top down, and I want to be represented as a citizen,

455
00:48:29,870 --> 00:48:31,595
not as the subject. Well, anyway as a veteran,

456
00:48:34,940 --> 00:48:38,435
I'm very disappointed with the way this country has gone. I was very disappointed with losing a war in vietnam.

457
00:48:42,125 --> 00:48:44,975
we fought a war to win. I fought a war to win. I didn't fight a war to lose.

458
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:50,660
one thing about harry truman, he did the job. He went to end of war, he did.

459
00:48:52,805 --> 00:48:55,700
world war ii only lasted 4.5 years. The vietnam war lasted from 65-75.

460
00:48:59,300 --> 00:49:01,325
people didn't know what they're doing. That's why we lost the war.

461
00:49:03,890 --> 00:49:06,755
many veterans commit suicide, and I understand it because they feel like,

462
00:49:08,870 --> 00:49:10,430
what the hell did we do? But let's all pull together and work together to get government under

463
00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:14,600
control and beat the chinese before they kick our ass,

464
00:49:19,130 --> 00:49:22,595
that's all I want to say. >> thank you, harry. >> have a good evening. >> you too. >> bye.

465
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:30,560
>> hearing nothing else, seeing nothing else, is the motion to close the public portion of this meeting? All in favor.

466
00:49:34,730 --> 00:49:35,465
>> aye. >> ayes have it. We will go into executive session, coming out,

467
00:49:39,185 --> 00:49:39,185
not making any decisions we adjourn immediately from executive session, is that correct?

468
00:49:43,775 --> 00:49:46,565
>> that is correct. We need to go into executive session to discuss the purchase and acquisition of

469
00:49:49,070 --> 00:49:49,070
various projects in raton manville and potentially hillsboro.

470
00:49:58,340 --> 00:50:01,745
we will not take any direct action. With regards to that,

471
00:50:02,945 --> 00:50:02,945
I do need a motion pursuant to the provisions of the open public meeting act to

472
00:50:09,140 --> 00:50:09,140
go into closed session for the purposes discussing the possible acquisition of land.

473
00:50:16,330 --> 00:50:20,105
>> so move. >> all in favor. >> aye.

474
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:25,030
>> aye's have it. Good night and be well. Great job. [applause]