[Music] [Applause] [Music] heat heat
[Music] [Music] at the meeting of the Atlantic County Board of Commissioners is called to order compliance with the open public
meetings act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting of the Atlantic County Board of Commissioners was provided in the following manner published in the press of Atlantic City and mailed to the Hamilton Gazette and has been posted in the on the bulletin boards in the county office buildings in Atlantic City the stillboard building in Northfield and the county clerk's office
in Maze Landing an opening prayer let us pray lord we thank you for this opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other may our gratitude create an atmosphere of positivity and mutual respect guide our hearts and minds as we
begin our meeting today amen amen right please rise place the flag i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all all right roll call please chairman Commissioner Gatau is attending virtually today and will be a few minutes late thank you martino here burns here corsy gatau kern here parker
present grizzly here ruff here d present commissioner Corsy it's great to see you here in person with us thank you good to be out great thank you so much commissioners have had an opportunity to review the minutes from April 1st 2025 i will entertain a motion to adopt the
April 1st minutes as presented moved second been seconded please call the role martino yes burns yes corsy yes gat Kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes anyone attending in person who
would like to speak regarding an agenda item or a public comment please come to the podium speak into the microphone state your name and the town where you reside you'll be provided up to three minutes to speak if you are attending virtually like to speak please raise your hand during the agenda item or a public comment at the end i will call upon your name and a request to unmute
will be sent please state your name and the town you reside you'll be provided up to three minutes to speak let's get to the agenda bond ordinance number one bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements for fiscal year 2025 by and for the Atlantic Cape Community College
appropriating 2,820,126 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $2,820,126 bonds or notes of the county of Atlantic State of New Jersey for financing such appropriation the principle of and interest on the aggregate principal amount of which will be entitled to state aid pursuant to
chapter 12 of the laws of New Jersey of 1971 one first reading second second moved and seconded any commissioner comments all right so this is the the first reading public comment so please call
the role bertino yes burns yes horsey yes gat Kern yes parker yes grizzley yes ruffio yes the Yes bond ordinance number two bond ordinance providing for various 2025 capital improvements and the acquisition of various capital equipment
by and in the county of Atlantic State of New Jersey appropriating 23,300,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $22,135,000 bonds or notes to finance a part of the cost thereof first reading
second moved and seconded any commissioner comments again this is first reading so there will be no public comment at this time please call the role certino yes burns yes corsy yes gat Kern yes parker yes grizzley yes ruffw
yes d yes moving on to capital ordinance one capital ordinance providing for various capital improvements equipment and furnishings in and for the county of Atlantic State of New Jersey and appropriating $4,342,000 from the capital improvement fund and/or the capital surplus fund to
pay for the cost thereof first reading moved second moved and seconded any commissioner comments at this time again this is a first reading so be no public comment please call the role bertino yes burns yes corsy Gatau kern
yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes resolution 148 annual open space trust fund tax 2025 final reading move second motion in a second any commissioner comments any comments from the public
please call the role martino yes burns yes horsey Gat Kern yes parker yes grizzley yes ruff yes d yes resolution 213 application and acceptance from the Firehouse Public Safety Foundation for
new equipment for the county's dive team amount not to exceed $17,790 move second second been seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the role pertino yes burns yes corsy yes gate Kern yes
parker yes grizzly yes ruffio D yes resolution 214 amending resolution number 15 adopt on January 21 2025 a grant from the New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services for the fiscal year 2025 Older Americans Act area Plan Contract Grant
Funding net increase $11,166 move second it've been seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public let's call the role martino yes burns yes horsey yes gat Karn yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes days
yes resolution 215 amending resolution number 285 adopt on June 6 2023 a grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for the replacement of Clark's Landing Bridge 06 and Bungalow Park Bridge EHC08 project to extend the
term date only no additional cost move second motion and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the role bertino yes burns yes corsy Gatau kern yes parker Grizzley yes ruff D yes
resolution 216 professional services agreement with Atlantic Care's Physicians Group and Health Med Associates PC doing business as HealthMed Urgent Care for the provision of post offer pre-employment physicals and associated diagnostic testing amount not to exceed $43,270
move second move and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the role martino yes burns yes corsy yes gatarn yes parker yes grizzley yes rafio D yes resolution 217
renewal competitive contract with Royal Printing Service for the provision of election ballot printing services for the 2025 elections amount not to exceed $812,000 move second move then second any commissioner comments any comments from the public i
please call the role bertino yes burns yes corsy Gate kern yes parker yes rley yes ruffio D yes resolution 218 resolution consenting to the assignment of an agreement from Partners Pharmacy to Far America regarding the provision
of pharmaceutical services at Meadow View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center no cost move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments anyone from the public please call the role bertino yes burns yes corsy yes gat Kern yes
parker yes rley yes rafio D yes resolution 219 bid contract with Arowak Paving Company Incorporated for on call maintenance for surfacing amount not to exceed 1,437,700 move second moved and seconded any
commissioner comments any comments from the public right please call the role bertino yes burns yes corsy Kurd yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes yes resolution 220 change order
number one and final a contract with Arowak Paving Company Incorporated for the roadway improvements to Mill Road County Route 662 sections 1A and 1B in Aar Township net decrease $16,232.75 second move and seconded any commissioner comment i think we had a
change order just for um Ernest Corsy being it was a decrease it was a decrease that was amazing and welcome back commissioners thanks Moren let me get you back any any other commissioner comments any comments from the public
please call the role martino yes burns yes corsy yes gate kerna yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes resolution 221 cooperative purchasing agreement through the National County Purchasing Alliance with 84 Lumber Company for the purchase
of lumber and building supplies amount not to exceed $100,000 move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the role martino yes burns yes corsy yes gat Kern yes parker yes
grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes resolution 222 resolution authorizing the sale of surplus and obsolete equipment through an online auction move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any
comments from the public let's call the role martino yes burns yes corsy Gatau kern yes parker yes grizzley yes ruffio yes d yes resolution 223 interlocal agreement with the city of Summers Point concerning pedestrian improvements
within the county right ofway of Shore Road County Route 585 moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the role bertino yes burns yes corsy yes gat Kern yes parker
Grizzly yes yes something the rhythm resolution what was the change out 224 resolution authorizing the town of Hamilton to enter into the Atlantic County Commodity Resale system agreement
second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public right please call the role martino yes burns yes corsy yes gat Kern yes parker yes grizzley yes ruffio yes d
yes resolution 225 agreement with Cape Atlantic Soil Conservation District to provide technical assistance on soil conservation projects amount not to exceed $20,000 second move and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right please call
the role certino yes burns yes corsy yes gate Kern yes yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes resolution 226 shared services agreement with the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission Youth Justice Commission for the provision of
management services at Harbor Field Juvenile Detention Center amount not to exceed $4,273,47 second moved and seconded any commissioner comments right any comments from the public please call the role martino yes burns
yes corsy yes gate Kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes resolution 227 professional services agreement with MRL Consulting Limited Liability Company for the provision of Prison Rape Elimination Act auditing services amount
not to exceed $5,910 move second motion is made and seconded any commissioner comments anyone from the public all right please call the RO martino yes burns yes corsy yes gat Fern
yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio D yes um chapter 159 i'll entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolutions 228 through 229 chapter 159's move second and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public
all right please call the role bertino yes burns yes corsy Gatau kern yes parker yes grizzly yes rafio st yes all right i'll now entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolutions 230 through 231 roadway solicitations move
second 30 wait I messed up sorry appointments sorry I missed 230 and 231 230 231 appointments sorry I jumped ahead i'll go backwards i'll entertain a motion to adopt resolutions 230 through
231 appointments move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments on appointments right any comments from the public all right please call the role martino yes burns yes corsy yes gate karna yes parker yes grizzly yes rafio
yes please you guys blame that on my fuzzy contact lenses all right at this time I'll entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolutions 232 through 235 roadway solicitations second moved and seconded any commissioner
comments any comments from the public please call the role bertino yes burns yes corsy yes gate kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes commissioner sponsored resolutions resol
resolution 236 resolution recognized April 2025 as community college month sponsored John W grizzly Jr second moved and seconded any commissioner comments sure Mr chairman thank you um as you know in this
particular agenda today we've appropriated money through bonding for various improvements to our community college and I think we're all very proud of it um it's been run very very well in my
opinion now we have a baseball field i know they're doing different upgrades to the facility all the time and uh that just doesn't include the main campus in Maze Lane but that also includes the Warthington complex in Atlantic City um
the upgrades are being done all the time and we need as to do as a body to promote our community college you know there are so many people that um for whatever reason think that their son or
daughter has to go away to a 4-year college to have the experience well that experience is very costly very costly if you're talking about investment it's a huge investment and I think that the investment is much
better spent here in Atlantic County let them go to a community college for the first two years figure things out and then go from there um we need to to talk up our our community college because we're proud of it i know a lot of us have have attended
there at various times in our lives and uh it's a good school and I'm proud that we have it and we should uh embrace it and embellish it any chance we get thank you thank you Commissioner any other
commissioner comments commissioner uh Commissioner Parker uh Mr chair just one thing we still have the three in one program yes yes so you could actually do three years at the community college in one year and a four years and receive
the same degree that's correct and we have one of the major uh colleges on campus there Ruckers yeah i just move with a parent that the child just did that actually just compliment how great it was that's awesome awesome awesome
commissioner Corsy Chairman just uh on what Commissioner Rizzley talked a lot of improvements is going on over the college however as he's indicated we've got a boost that enrollment is down yes it is um pumping
money into this community college we're not seeing kids coming to the not kids but adults coming to the college taking advantage of it so I don't know talked about the marketing over and over and over and over seems like since we talked about the market it must have went down still going
up how we continue to try to get folks send their kids to community college and I'll tell you my kid wanted to go away to college way to college yeah man I want them back home why you want to go to community college we should have thought about that before you left
right but you got to get that experience to kind of figure out what you really want to do and in this day and time stuff is so expensive y'all talking about groceries expensive etc college is expensive but do the community college get your foot in the door and see if you
like it so I said all that to say I don't know what the next plan for community college with Dr dobin them in terms of trying to increase uh the numbers over there but if you look at it it's not going up at all continue to go down how do you stop the bleed it is
nationwide phenomena as well that I know it's it's not just here it's nationwide i think we need to take a look at just from the educator standpoint we need to take a look at as adults on how we're preparing our children to make those decisions because I know that a lot of
kids are not prepared to make those decisions by the time they're graduating high school they don't really have a real concrete clue what they want to do with their futures so it sounds good they want to go away to this big school you know it just it sounds good and then they get out there and realize that
maybe that's not for them but like you said they should have thought of that before they made that investment but I just I you know a lot of kids are going into school no majors you know getting into school coming out of school no majors you know and uh spending four
years and three years of school with no major you know and no I real idea concrete idea about what they want to do once they come out of school and even you know even like my son he just graduated recently four-year degree came home first day I said what do you want to do
he's like what do you mean what do you mean what do I mean you spent four years in in college you you you must have a plan you know come home the plan was to come home and so I that's that's a story that I hear more and more often you know
not just with my son but I'm hearing it more and more often so maybe we need to take a look at what we're doing even on the education side you know we have a few teachers up here these kids to make those decisions as opposed to just saying get good grades and go to college it has to be a deeper conversation than
that and I think maybe we're not having it and then the other thing is to piggy back on that for a moment is that when these kids go off to college and come back they're going to look different there's no job can't you can't $90,000 to go to college you come home and find
a $21,000 job that's right right i don't know how you pay that off but um cash you know I'm not that I got to talk to my investment no no no one's paying it off in this i can tell you not with the park my kids went to community college investment in the future i I you know I
agree the community college and trade schools and um Taran Dr gab is coming in in May correct yes may 6 may 6 so those are some of the conversations we can continue when Dr gob is here as well absolutely great um any other
commissioner comments any comments from the public all right please call the role martino yes burns yes corsy yes gat yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio
yes resolution 237 resolution in opposition of the NJBPU's approved 17.23% electricity rate increases opposition of the additional proposed 8% increase by Atlantic City Electric expression of concern and disapproval of
the NJBPU equity proposal and rise of social benefits charge plan and urges the NJBPU to uphold their fiduciary duty to look out for the best interest of the rateayers of the state of New Jersey sponsor John W grizzly Jr
been seconded that was a a mouthful but I think it's important that we cover all all aspects of what we're all faced with are there any commissioner comments on this um Commissioner Rizley yeah sure um this I think tries to express you know our
feelings about this topic and um the planning obviously was not there the planning of having you know generation of electricity something that is just as important as water for us we
need electric uh the generation was not is not there plants have been closing down and of course the silliness in my opinion of the offshore wind deal was a big big problem added to this problem i know the
governor was pushing BPU to push this wind energy thing along and of course it didn't happen and we have a situation now where we don't have enough generation going on so Atlantic Electric and other companies
have to purchase electricity and they purchase it whatever the market is at the time one thing that I would be certainly be interested in is getting a real breakdown of the um societal benefits
charge as to where that money went i've seen some data on it where it mentions that 0.00002 of a kilowatt goes to this and 0.0000 whatever goes to this cause or
whatever but I've not seen the actual dollars that um the uh fee charges fee generates so that's that's something that's um troubling i mean the PJM
failed to adequately plan and they believe they cover a 13 state area they're supposed to do their job the BPU is supposed to do its job and prepare for this we we need electricity because
uh everything runs on you can't run your hospitals you can't do anything it's a just as essential as water we have to look at it as a as that type of commodity so I think this resolution kind of expresses our outrage with the
whole situation um as you know there were representatives of Atlantic Electric that met with the committee of this board they have declined coming to the full board to try to get that arrange
that but they respectfully declined the invitation so respectfully declined yes so so here we are declined thank you can we respectfully decline to pay our bill thank you Commissioner Risley that's um Any other Commissioner comments
commissioner Mr corsy yes well as you know a couple weeks ago went to sign to the budget we had representative from Atlantic City Electri was a more suit than I was when he started talking about all this killer
and all the lost me so I bring the layman talk explain that to consent was the question grizz Grizz was right with him he he was bumping the punching back at him quick said that to say when we met
we and I said to them in the meeting I said well why don't you come before the full board and come and make that same presentation to all commissions that you made to the committee um and of course as chairman just said they declined to to want to do that and what struck me
more importantly was when they made the comment we don't want to get beat up by the public hell you're taking money from the public right and so they've got to protect their stakeholders our job our stakeholders is our constituents right correct so we
talking about a 17 increase a 17% increase at the end of the day times are tough folks got to make a decision whether they want to pay for medication food pay my rent oh by the way I better turn my electric because the rest of that don't mean anything like I can't
keep it going right and so they struggle to do one or the other and so um and I said to Lloyd Levenson who's representing Atlantic City Electric um a little disappointed but I'm not concerned about the stakeholders as much as we are concerned about our cons they
not they're not getting these calls and to make matters worse talk about oh they can go on our website the hell you go on the website if you don't understand what the hell they talking what does it mean to read what's on their website come talk to the public i want to look at my accusers face to face if if if you're
going to charge me you're going to rob me without a gun damn let me talk to you face to face i probably can't do nothing about it but um I think it's a little disingenuine that they would not send a representative or somebody to meet i guess they figured the room was going to be packed they found out it was on the
agenda for hell i used to say people in the room employees so what the hell so they missed an opportunity and no disrespect to the employment my point was you missed the opportunity to make your presentation um so you're hiding behind a text or email etc but you need
to be talking to John Ke the public so they did say and correct me if I'm wrong oh we met with community group and I asked where I'm trying to figure where did you meet who did you talk to um maybe somebody pass it but at the end of the day 17% 8% whatever the percentage are
going to be it's still too much in this day and time everybody's trying to make ends meet i don't care who you are um it's it's tough and so we got to send the message where does it go from here i don't know the rates are going to still go into effect but
they need to hear from us that we're not happy and we're representing our constituent and this message is coming from us constituents in terms of where do these rates keep coming from we keep getting hit if it's if it's if it's electric now it's going to be gas later
right so it it doesn't stop after gas is going to be sewage if it ain't sewage it's going to be water and so it just keeps on and on and on and on and so um glad that you know put the resolution on the agenda where we go from here whether it go to BPU nobody's going to change
their mind but I think we know we made our um request known and again Atlantic City Electric should be ashamed of themselves they would not send at least one representative here talk to the governing body so I don't know if y'all offended but I
I definitely am commissioner Cor Commissioner Corsy or anything else i'm done commissioner Parker that's all I had i share his offense any other commissioner comments commissioner Bertino just add to what was and echo what the guys been all you all are
saying i think we talked about this before when we had the discussion about generation of electric and the state's plans and trying to pigeon hole people into a particular way of generating electricity and not looking at all options when you when you pigeon hole yourself as a state to say the
direction's going this way you provide funding using tax dollars to do it to supplement a you know an operation like we talk about wind that would never generate enough income on its own to support itself without subsidies uh it
was a stupid plan that was going to fail from the beginning it's just simply was going to cost us more money this is something that you know we see in 17% plus 8 you're going to be seeing a lot more uh because without generation of energy in new sources and there's
nothing on the horizon these costs are going to continue to escalate because they're going to have to keep purchasing from other suppliers that are on the open market it was like we've said in the past I've told people and we've all told our constituents the same uh
rebates programs everything you do to subsidize energy generation or even use solar whatever you're putting out there to encourage people incentives that they put in place comes from somewhere it comes from the public trough eventually
it gets put on your bill as a user using the service lang City Electric is going to be stuck doing it going to BPU every year i'm just letting everybody know this isn't going to stop you're going to see continual increases for a while until the market catches up or
generation of energyy's changed to where they're allowing other alternatives to be used i think it's scary i use these sayings all the time in school and I realize how old I'm getting put the the obviously the carpet before the horse they're pushing the new infrastructure we're shutting down the current infrastructure with nothing to replace it so I mean
it's common sense um you know it's it's Gary it's a horror movie you said about Excuse me when you use policy and try to beat the market using policy that doesn't it isn't going to hold true five years from now sounds good today where are you going to be at in four or five
years after your plan is implemented and you have no strategy to to deviate do something different it'll never h it never it always fails so unfortunately that's where we're at nobody's going to want to hear it when we get the bill at home none of us will but that's what
we're stuck with i'm hoping you don't have rolling blackouts so hopefully we don't get down that bad as far as generation of energy through the grid we'll see hopefully that's not the case i think uh Atlantic City Electric I have enough confidence in their transmission lines and their planning uh to be able
to to satisfy it as long as the energy is available from the generation side thank you Commissioner are there any other commissioner comments again I I just can't stress enough that we we did invite um AC electric representatives to be here today to speak to the not just the full board but anybody from the
public who wanted to you know express their frustration and they uh declined our our invitation to attend but I think it's important anyway that we do that our constituents know that we're you know we hear them you know when they when they come to all of us I'm sure and ask complain and com you know ask how do
I pay my bills as Commissioner Corsy said what what do I do what can we do i know the state is looking at this as well um but I definitely want to let the public know that we hear them and we we're doing what we can to try to support them so are there any comments from the public at this time
mr chair before you call sir I think it'd be right thing to do i want to commend Tara and her staff who reached out set up the meetings tried to get them to come did an outstanding job unfortunately they again they declined thanks yeah definitely thank you and
there were you know interactions back and forth and uh here we are any comments from the public we're good we're we're good with that all right please call the role ratino yes burns yes corsy yes gat karna yes parker yes grizzly yes rafio yes yes all right that
concludes the written part of the agenda we have received copies of written communication and petitions are there any commissioner comments mr chair Commissioner Parker um Atlantic Cape Community College i'll say that they're having
their 58th annual commencement ceremony Thursday May 22nd uh at 10:30 in the morning so that's going to be on May Thursday May 22nd 10:30 in the
morning right also while I have the microphone I guess I'll say this one um April 15 2025 we received the following correspondence it's a resolution adopted
by the Mammoth County Board of County Commissioners opposing Assembly Bill 48:16 which would allow certain individuals on beaches for free also we have our uh Atlantic County Firefighters
Association who'll be holding their Harold J whitey Schwarz Valor Awards and Service Recognition Ceremony that's going to be April 16th tomorrow
at 7:30 p.m english Creek Avenue at Carver Township at the Tony Canali Training Center one other thing I'll say before I get off this microphone uh this month is National County Government Month april
is National County Government Month so to all of us and all of you out there that are in the county government happy April National County Government Month hey that's all I have to say thank you Commissioner
Parker any other commissioner comments all right any reports of special committees of the board commissioner Bertino yeah thank you Mr chairman just one uh this last p this past week uh the solid waste advisory committee was able to sit down with the
ACA representatives from the ACA uh we were discussing uh their uh at their presentation some of the progress they've made with with the construction projects that they've been ongoing working on the last few months uh we also had an opportunity to uh touch base
a little bit on what they're looking to do as we move forward Atlantic County moves forward with the updating the solid waste management plan i know at the last commissioner meeting we had a resolution to hire a firm to complete that study um we talked to the board
reached out and talked to the uh Hua about some of their thoughts of where they need to be going uh the meeting was very fruitful and we look forward to hearing more from them in the future there was a solid waste advisory committee a swack meeting where they were going to complete that same presentation later that night but uh
because of lack of participation from the members they didn't have a quorum so they're going to have to res ACA will have to reschedule that which I'm sure they'll do shortly that concludes my report all right thank you Commissioner Bertino any other reports of special committees chairman yes yes I do so on
Saturday April 26th at 11:00 a.m United States Marine Corps veteran Marco Polo Smigglani will be there will be a dedication of the the Marco Polo Smigglani Purple Heart Way a tribute to
his service and sacrifice um the veterans advisory board is will all be there and very involved and hopefully everybody can make it out there and the second thing is the April 30th just a reminder to everybody that
it is our youth services department is doing the pinw wheels for protection program when you walked in today you saw the wonderful beautiful little pin wheels that have been planted out there they're at many of our county buildings Meadow View um several of our library
county library buildings and um as Curtis Still said our director in the department said it is to celebrate our children and to hope that every child has a carefree childhood and support the families and caregivers that's it thank
you thank you Commissioner Burns any other one more uh NJ back introduction to exporting the NJBK South Jersey export webinar series will be Thursday May 15
2025 starting at noon from noon to 1:00 register via Eventbrite to receive the Zoom link all right thank you is there any unfinished business um I have one thing and it's not necessarily unfinished business anymore
but uh it's not new either but I want to commend uh our county executive our administration and our legal team on the pilot that was uh great news and you know you stood strong and put a lot of work into that so I just want to commend
everybody excellent thank you Commissioner Kern mr chairman yes Commissioner Wizley i'd certainly like to tag on with the Commissioner Kern's comments um my hat is off to the administration i certainly appreciate
the a gesture by Commissioner Corsy as well opening up a dialogue dialogue is always important this um pilot settlement is is a home run for us unfortunately it took a long
time and the lesson here is if you're right you stick to your guns no matter what and this board stuck to its guns on this we did not flinch there were voices wanting us to throw the towel
in we spent over a million dollars but no doubt the state in their infinite wisdom probably spent twice as much and hired a an outside liberal firm to uh oppose us you know it's silly when one branch of government is suing another
branch of government that can't be worked out in negotiations it's just insanity so after all that money is spent we're looking at 15 plus plus down the road and of course that's real money for us
that's 15 million that was three cents on the tax rate i can remember years ago uh Governor Christie at a press conference i think I was standing about six feet from him at the time and he looked me in the eye and
the other commissioners that were there and guaranteed us we were going to get that particular rate guaranteed it's in there John you don't have to worry about it you're going to get it well lo and behold somehow it got altered along the
way it's a press conference I'll never forget at the time but uh we we hung in there we did the right thing and uh you know Mr ferguson was a great
um player in this whole thing and the Ricko Law Firm it all worked out and the lesson as I said before is when you're right know you're right you stick to your guns no matter what and we did that
commissioner N Governor Christie said a lot of things that didn't didn't come out here i think he said he was wasn't going to turn his back on Atlantic City and then a couple years later I think that very thing happened but um no I mean I you know when the county executive texted me that that the uh the deal was in place I mean that was an amazing thing i could tell he was
extremely happy and um he thanked all the commissioners for for seeing it through commissioner Corsy especially was uh singled out for his his role in uh bringing the sides together you know when the state went to various levels of appeal um it's just absolutely ridiculous but um Commissioner again
thank thank you for your effort to to make that happen of course thanks to County Executive Levenson and uh you know Jerry Alaso and the entire administration and as Commissioner Grizzly said we spent some money but ultimately for the at the end of the day the taxpayer isn't going to be made whole again so based on the deal that was in place originally um so that was
great news that the county executive shared with everybody um any other unfinished business sure sure we as well interesting part Jerry will will test
we went in discuss shared service agreements regarding homeless in city of course Denny was not going to let us get by no so the conversation went from good afternoon i'm Commissioner Torres blah
blah blah and you know then he says well you know now he starts he starts out real slow you guys got You want to know how we gonna get our $14 million and and he's taking his time not one conversation did we talk about
chair service with homelessness it never two and a half hours then he went on and on and on it was the right thing to do i'm looking at like I think she got late and u we're in there back and forth and so the interesting part about
it was um and I want to say this interesting part about it there was some who thought I went there as chief of staff with the commissioner and that was far from true but one as a commissioner for
the commissioners as member of the committee right so it came a little sticky and and and I told them my dislike of what they did uh for the second meeting putting that aside side the goal was to get across the finish line how do
we get across the finish line is to get to $14 million so Jackie how do we go back down talk to the front office let's let's talk shop and so uh I honestly believe at the beginning of the meeting Denny didn't think it was going to happen right then he's heard so much stuff from Trenton back and forth this
that the other and nobody seemed that could beat moving the ball and um but the commissioner came down and she said "Give me a chance to put it back." and talk to the front office and I still think the county execs had to still spend it but I don't think you expect it
to come back as quick as it did right so in negotiations you go before u but I got to tell you Dy's a hell of a negotiator started at 14 but he was over here when he got finished and we caught we got caught somewhere in the middle u but I think
overall the the and Jerry and the whole entire team the legal team etc did a good job making the one for the county of Atlantic she got it from the door thing but again she has to answer somebody up but to get that done it was a big milestone for the residents of Atlantic County period
right um it's not that you got to blow and get all people look for headline don't need a damn headline i can make headline just by threatening parking right not many people would read that no so what happens is I think it's
a big big win for the taxpayers for now and I think going forward in 2026 they'll see the addition part of the uh and Jerry I think we need to be clear i think in that money negotiation with the $15 million the legal bills was paid for
uh they wind up paying the legal bills but some kind of way Denny slid that in there too um he left no stones unturned um but that's what a leader does right and um sometimes you got to stand alone you do what you got to do and you made it very clear the board of commissioners
stood toe to toe didn't throw in the cop cuz folks get scared and weary and and they walk away um then he did tell me he said "Hell where were you two years ago we could have been here this." But better late than never that sounds like one
it's good for the county in terms of and the taxpayers ought to be happy because it says that your elected officials and your leadership in the county are doing their job right they're not asleep at the switch uh it may not happen as quick as you want it but it happens uh eventually and so there's some other
things that we're going to be doing um with the county and with the state of New Jersey mr chairman if I can just get off of that sure sure sure uh Commissioner G was not here but I think most of you have seen either read uh when we did the commissioner of DCA set
it up for me we got the department of the commissioner of DOT to meet with us in West Atlantic City talk about all those fatalities on Route 40 and 322 we're trying to make some movements there uh however went over to Cologne and Route 30 uh it's completed i don't
know if y'all rode through there it's been restriped has been relet uh they have turning lanes down um she beat me to the punch i was trying to get 322 done first but but she's here i didn't know you jumped on you can you can go ahead and
take it from there but I wanted to commend her for the work she did because she never ever ever gave up matter of fact she showed up to meet with the commissioner and she was waving her papers on how many times she's been trying to reach DOT to make some moves happen congratulations Commissioner um
well well over I just wanted to throw that out no no thank you Commissioner Course commissioner Gat do you have any uh comment on that yeah apologies for for coming late as you as you know I'm having some car issues today um but yeah uh no thanks Commissioner for for
helping us get the attention there um something that uh Chairman Dace and I have actually been waving those papers around on for some time now at that intersection i'm not calling it done though um because you can see that there's still a little bit of work to go
out there and the uh construction fencing is still up and I did send a follow-up email uh this week to ask when the punch list items will be closed out um but they did hear us uh when we did meet that day um asking for the extra
police attention out there because of the lane shift and uh I did drive through the intersection several times this past week after the lights were turned and and there was a a trooper stationed out there uh so um I I do appreciate the state's attention to that
and uh and all the work that it took uh from members of this board um some some help from our um our senator and assembly person's offices uh our contacts in Atlantic City Electric who helped us overcome a couple battles uh
it's been a long seven years of trying to get improvements to that intersection so we're we're close to the finish line um and I think we should go like bang a bottle against the new lights or something and like really uh bring in
this this this intersection change because it's been a long time coming but again thanks commissioner um for for all your help on that and the pilot um appreciate all that that partnership there thank you Commissioner Gat um yeah
Commissioner Cory thank you for sharing the the story your insight on on the pilot negotiations as well weren't involved directly was you know we heard the county executive praise you and then everyone in county but for you to share with us what occurred at the table I think was kind of enlightening for us to hear so thank you i'm sure you
kept it thanks for the summary thanks for the summary of that um but yeah and and I know that um you know several people are going to be happy about the Route 30 um Colon Avenue intersection being done as well um is
there any other unfinished business i think we're moving on to any new business hearing none public comment anyone attending in person that would like to speak now at public comment please come to the podium speak into the microphone state your name of the town you reside if you're attending virtually
would like to make a public comment please raise your hand i will call your name and a request to unmute will be sent please state your name of the town you reside you will be provided up to three minutes to speak is there anybody from the public line in person all right i
entertain a motion to close public comment second second all in favor i all right any opposed all right any comments for the good of the order i will entertain a motion to adjurnn
seconded all those in favor i all right meetings adjourned
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