Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music]
[Music] Good afternoon. The meeting of the Lansancy County Board of Commissioners is called to order in compliance with the open public meetings act of the state of New Jersey. Adequate notice of this meeting of 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 on the bulletin boards in the county office building in Atlantic City, Stillwater Building in Northfield and the county clerk's office in Maze Landing. Is there an opening prayer?
Yes. Dear God, as we come before you today, may our actions be guided by fairness, integrity, and compassion. We ask for your blessing upon this meeting so that it may be productive and harmonious. In
your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Right. Please face the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand indivisible
and justice for all. Roll call, please. Chairman, Commissioner Ruff is unable to attend today and Commissioner Gatau is attending virtually. Routino here. Burns here. Days present. Gat burn
here. Parker present. Grizzly here. Days here. Commissioners have had an opportunity to review the minutes from September 16th, 2025. I will entertain a motion to adopt the summer September 16th minutes as presented. Moved. Second.
Then seconded. Please call the role. Ratino. Yes. Burns. Yes. Daz. Yes. Gat. Kern. Yes. Parker. Yes. RZley. Yes. Yes. The board of commissioners will continue to utilize a consent agenda format for sections of the agenda that
the commissioners do not feel need additional discussion from the board and are not contested. This consent agenda format allows our meetings to run more efficiently and productively so that we can spend additional time during the meeting discussing other important issues that are not as routine. If any commissioner wishes for additional
discussion on any resolution or would like a resolution to be pulled from the consent format to be individually addressed for any reason, please advise and we will do so. For the public, prior to the roll call on any resolution or group of resolutions, you will continue to have an opportunity to comment if you wish to do so.
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 in 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 your name and a request to unmute will be sent. Please state your name in the town you reside. You'll be provided up to three minutes to speak. Right. And at this time we have um a couple presentations on today's agenda. Up first the library catalog update.
Library. Matt Tabella, director of Atlantic County Library System. Hi, good afternoon all of you. My I'm Matt Tibella. the director of the Atlantic County Library System. This fall, the Atlantic County Library System is excited to announce that we will be
moving to a new library catalog provided by Bywater Solution called COA Aspen. This new catalog will be launched on October 20th to the public. Um, in preparation for this launch, all
Atlantic County libraries will be closed to the public on Saturday, October 18th, and this will be uh for final preparation for launching our new catalog on Monday, October 20th. So, we're going to be have to close our
branches on Saturday the 18th. Um, a big motivation to move to new library uh catalog was that starting in 2026, this new catalog will save the library's annual budget over $82,000
a year. Okay. And I'm now going to introduce our assistant director, Aubrey Hires. She's going to go over some of the new features in this library catalog that the public are going to be able to utilize. Aubrey. post.
So, the library catalog will um allow everyone on October 20th to download a new app. Uh it's going to be a lot prettier. It's going to be easier to use. I think our public is really going to enjoy it. Uh families will have the
option of parents going on and attaching their accounts with the with the children's accounts. Um, so you can keep track of where all the books in the household are when you have 30 items held uh across the family. And so
there's a lot of little things that will be great bonuses in addition to the financial savings. Um, as of October 1st, holds uh for any new items have been put on hold. Uh, so people won't be
able to put holds on items that will be coming up between now and the release of the new catalog, but a little minor inconvenience. If any of your neighbors happen to mention that, uh, we'll be able to get going with that again on
October 20th. And hopefully everyone enjoys the new catalog system. If you get any feedback about it at the end of the month, feel free to reach out to us. We'd be happy to smooth out any issues people might have. Very good. Thank you. Are there any
commissioner questions, comments? Does everybody have to, you know, you use your same card? Do they need new cards for the new app? You won't need a new library card. No, but you will need to download a new app if you're going to use it on your phone. But no, you won't need a new card. We're
going to pop all that data right over into the new system. And the apps, the Koa Aspen, is it under that app? if you will. You will find it under Atlantic County Library System uh starting October 20th and we'll definitely get out all those promotional materials before that. We
just wanted to give you a heads up. Thank you. So, we're getting a better app, more efficient app and it's saving us money. Is that what I'm hearing? Is that in a nutshell what I've heard? That is absolutely correct. That is outstanding. Absolutely. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. Thank you. Right. Next on today's agenda, we have a 911 centralized dispatch update by Atlantic County Fire and EMS. No, we have to watch for the camera. All
right. Well, good afternoon everyone. Uh, I think I know everybody. My name's Howard Birch Told. Uh, of course I told Mr. Del Russo for 42 years. I was in this building uh representing the court system for Atlantic and Kate May counties, but I retired as chief court
executive. Three years retired. Yay. Uh, so that was a passion of mine. But uh, but actually I'm going to even say a greater passion of mine that's been serving in the fire service of Atlantic County for 47 years. And I know I don't look that old, but yes, 47 years in
various leadership capacities. Uh Danny Adams is going to co-present uh with us. A lot of you know Danny Adams. Uh also uh we all wear multiple helmets in the fire service. Uh but Danny uh of course is very active in the leadership uh of of Atlantic County Fire Service, but
he's the chief of the Margate City Fire Department, but also uh certainly has EMS in the city of Margate, which is important to this. And he also serves in a leadership capacity with Longport uh as a volunteer with Longport Fire Company. We were going to we could have easily filled this room and then some
because we're pretty passionate on this topic as you know. Uh but it really is important. I know we're going to just take a few minutes even though most of you have been around this block plenty of times and we respect that. We really do. Uh but you know that I'm really passionate about this. Uh I we just had did bring a couple of key
representatives just show you how much uh the fire service even though daytime meetings. Yay. But we still uh uh happy to say that president of the Atlanta County Firefighters Association is Chuck Mintosh. He's here. Fire coordinator Chip Stockton. Uh which of many of you
know the fire coordinator position is also a volunteer position that works with the division of we report to the division of fire safety. I'm also one of the deputy fire coordinators as is Danny. Uh and uh I'm surprised Chip is here because we'll bring it up in a little bit. But you know, uh the fire
service was incredibly busy. Unfortunately, Frog Frog Rock Restaurant in Hamilton was just about completely destroyed 2:30 this morning. uh we'll talk about the challenges that that presented unfortunate for but kind of pertinent that uh we can bring up all
the communication issues that that presented but fortunately there was no life loss uh but Chip was very busy uh with my health concerns I wasn't able to be there. This is Butch Kinsley. He's chief of the Carver City Fire Department but he's also a president of Atlanta County Fire Chiefs Association. Uh John,
you all know John Garry. uh we asked and John has been a huge assistance with us. You know, he's the uh radio uh coordinator, administrator, and I know I believe an official title now is 911 coordinator too for the county. Uh which by the way, to county government,
incredible resource. We just want to tell you he's an incredible resource to us. Uh Vince Jones, as you know, retired, but Vince has been at all of our meetings. We appreciate he's he's on board with this working now in his retirement. Oscar Dutch. Um, nobody knows Oscar Dutch. Uh, but Oscar's here.
Oscar is obviously I guess if I look around, Oscar and I combined probably have a hundred years of the fire service, but Oscar and I have been worked together. Uh, I've actually been chair of the executive committee. Handed off to me from some guy named Tony Canali. That's how long I've been chair
of the executive committee in Atlantic County for the fire service. So, but Oscar and I have been partners forever. This is just a few of our people. Um, believe me, we turn people away. Chuck Ule, who is the assistant chief of the Oceanville Fire Company, but he also uh is chief of EMS at Galloway Township,
and he has many state positions in the EMS community. He couldn't be here tonight uh today because he's on a statewide drill, but I can assure you EMS is fully in on this uh with the fire service. Also, I apologize for taking that time, but I think I wanted you to know the importance and each of these
folks represents about 60 people behind them. Uh that's how passionate we are on this topic. Uh we just wanted to thank all of you, Atlantic County. Uh uh this is my fourth time in my 47 years discussing central dispatch. Uh this is
the first time that I've been able to really kind of go full speed ahead since I don't have any conflicts of interest u representing other forms of government. So I it felt good to be able to wear a fire shirt here today. Uh but this is the fourth goaround. U many of you will remember it was a big goaround to 10
years ago. The last major study was 2015. We thought we had it done uh for a whole host of reasons. I'm always one I don't like to look backwards. I always told people that work for me in government, we don't look backwards, we look forward. You know, we can't no more blame. Let's just move forward and get things done. Uh that's
the way we like to operate. We really want to thank uh of course the freeholders and now the commissioners for all your support over the years, but particularly the current board. Uh you've been very supportive of our desire uh working with Tim Kryer. Uh Tim's been fantastic in his role with consolidation. I forget his official
title. He'll remind me. Uh, whatever it is, Tim. But Tim's actually been we we started this up again four years ago. It's going to be four years ago. Uh, we we approached county government kind of a partnership to say, uh, to the county executive, can we approach can we look at central dispatch again? By the way,
with a little exception, we're the only county in the state of New Jersey that does not have central dispatch. I'll repeat that. We're the only county in New Jersey that does not have central dispatch. most of the other states, all of Pennsylvania, all of Delaware because of something we're going to talk about,
which is NextGen 911. We need to get this done now and the communities need to support us where they're going to we're going to really be behind the times and it's about life about life now, not just property. It's about life. But it's really important. We want to thank Director Fedorco. He's been at the
table not only in his current capacity, but a wealth of knowledge with his state police. Uh I don't need to tell you how long the state police have had central dispatch. He reminds us all the time how long they've had central dispatch. But again, we want to thank Mr. Del Rosso for his continued support and certainly to the county executive. We did meet
with Mr. uh Levenson probably late spring. We gave him a very similar presentation to this based on the feasibility study that you authorized. ADCOM, which is the national leader in public safety communication. You were fortunate to award the contract to
ADCOM. You all received that report. Uh very extensive feasibility. We hate to even use the word feasibility because we know central dispatch is feasible. Uh it needs to happen. Uh but yeah, very detailed report. We're not going to get into that. You've had it. Uh we hope that we can get into more detail as we
maybe get out to the communities and speak to the public because we know we believe we have your support. Uh but when we met with the county executive, we further just discussed maybe we needed to get a little bit more drive into what some of the costs are, particularly because of NextGen 911. I
hope you've had a chance to look at that report, that adcom. You again authorized, I believe, an additional $10,000 to pay for that that additional study. You'll have a copy of that report. Uh Danny, more so than me because I'm losing my voice. Um we'll uh we're just going to hit a couple of high
points, I promise. Uh we could take hours because many of us have spent long time on the on this in our careers. Uh but again, that study just showed the important thing which we'll bring up again. NextG 911 is the new technologies that most the states major parts of the
country uh are going into. That's the technology that we need to go to. It's not an option. It's it's federal law. It's state law. The state government is actually going to pay for portions of this to the different dispatch centers. Unfortunately, I mean this ever so
respectfully, the dispatch centers in Atlantic County, the dispatchers, I mean this, they do an incredible job. An incredible job. People sometimes think that we're being that we're taking shots at now. We're not taking shots at dispatch centers. We don't know how they
do their jobs, but right now we have 13 different points of contact at Atlanta County. We call them P uh PAPs, public safety answering points, public safety answering points. So, if you hear the uh the acronym PAPs, that's what that
means. Right now, there are 13 different PAPs in Atlanta County. We'll bring it up again. I said I was going to be short. It's not going to work. Uh it's the minute that remember most of us don't even have landlines anymore. I don't know about you, I still have a landline. I'm 66 years old. But uh
everybody's using cell phones now. Everything is cell phones. Right now you place a cell phone call, it goes to a cell phone tower. That cell phone tower is now trying to figure out where should that 911 call go. Okay, where is it going to go? You may be in the town of
Hamilton. It may hit a cell phone tower in Hamilton. It may hit a cell phone tower in Mullica Township. It may hit a cell phone tower at the state police barracks in Buuna. It doesn't know where. So two, three, four times people are answering a call to get resources
motivated. We have examples and we only bring we're not going to go through too many we have of them for future meetings. We have examples where it's taken 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15 minutes to get get an ambulance to somebody's house. It's not just about fire. It's
about, you know, right now, four to six minutes is the time you have if somebody's having a heart attack. Four to six minutes. And we have example after example. You know, come down 206 in Hamilton and say that you're you don't even know where you are. Say Hamilton, where are you? Hamilton
Township. Are you in the township of Hamilton? Three, four, five times calls are being transferred under the new technologies. This has to be centralized. It has to be centralized. It has to be centralized. Again, we
truly want to thank all of you. I want to emphasize um that we and again I many of us have been so thankful to the county. I was on the original committee that created the K the canal training center. All right. We've gone through so
many good things. The training in Atlantic County for our fire EMS career and volunteer. By the way, we're not just here as volunteer. We work so beautifully with the career departments in Atlanta County. Now, I didn't see that 40 years ago. All right. Now, half
of half of the U career firefighters along the shore are also volunteer fire firefighters. We work so well together. This includes ultimately the career firefighters too. There isn't a fire in Atlantic City that I can assure you most of our companies aren't in there. Immediately you got a working fire in
Atlantic City. Absin's going, Bentner's going. I mean, but a lot of all all of our companies are going in. So, it's not just volunteer. Okay. Communication has been wonderful thanks to you. I think we've really worked well together and that's because of the training. The quality of training in Atlanta and I
chair the training advisory board too for the uh fire service. Quality of training in Atlantic County is second to none. I mean that. Our instructors are trained nationally. He's one of them. All right. We are so thankful. We're thankful for John to Vince Jones for the
800 megahertz system 10 years ago. I was one of the first chiefs when I was chiefing one of the Galloway companies. I was one of the first chiefs that used the 800 megahertz system. You've heard that before. Did we have little problems with it? Yeah. At county, you worked with us. You worked with us and now everybody's using
the 800 system. So, we've really really come such a long way. The foundation is there. We can't continue to be the last with the with the the tech center out there, which by the way, they have their own communication center this morning at the fire in Hamilton. Calls had to be
made to get resources from the fire departments on the air base. They come out and help us. They were in Hamilton this morning. Three phone calls later, phone calls. If Chip didn't have a cell phone, our fire coordinator, if the cell phones go down, he's making
most of the calls because we just got to get around all this. He's got to make cell phone calls to get our resources moving. And again, volunteers, we're very blessed to have beautiful thanks to you. You've assisted us in funding our firefighter one training. You pay for the firefighter Atlantic County
residents. You pay for the fire one firefighter one training. Not all counties do that. We're getting volunteers. Unfortunately, because of work schedules, you get a major fire. We need four, five, six, seven, eight, nine fire companies moving at the same time.
And there in line talks about why yes, we have a great Hamilton Township dispatch center. We have a great Barbara Township dispatch center. We have a great Galloway. We have all the Sher communities, but unfortunately, it's it's incredibly fragmented. It's incredibly fragmented. It's it's
it's broken. It's got to be fixed. People are going to We've been fortunate that big hurricane hasn't hit here. It's not just about fire. I can't believe how many times I was as a court administrator waiting for that big one to hit. Thank God. I mean, we've seen it. But we
get a major weather incident here. Forget it, folks. Forget it. As public safety, we cannot operate with this continued uh broken dispatch system. I'm going to just let Danny run through some of our slides because he knows, you know, I'd go on until 7 o'clock tonight.
Thank you. And just to echo some of the things that Howard said, it this this is important to all of us. We all took part in these committees going back four years ago. Many meetings, many hours, many missed meals, many missed, you know, family events just to be a part of
this. And think about the time that the effort that these volunteers specifically put into their communities for nothing. Well, I shouldn't say nothing because it's the pride in the service. It's the pride in doing the job. It's to provide in helping your community that makes us want to do this
each and every day. Hey, I could be retired now already in Margate Fire Department, but I love going to work each and every day and I love being a part of the community and love being able to help people. Um, to get on with this, we'll we'll slide to the next slide. Um the goals of the study when we
look at this overall was to improve emergency response first and foremost. Enhance service delivery for fire and EMS, protect lives and property, streamline operations, uh protect property. I I said that in the other one. And protect the lives of
both career and volunteer firefighters. We say that, but we also have to include our EMS partners in this. And we're here for them as well to asssure that we provide the best services possible. When we talk about the current system, Howard touched on this. There's 13
independent PAPs and dispatch centers. Space constraints, operational limitations, 91 call 911 call confusion, delayed responses because of that. You know, we look at staffing. I love our dispatchers to death in the city of Margate, but sometimes they're not
staffed fully and adequately like they should be. And you think about the influx of people we've had in our communities over the past few years, especially during the height of the summer season, it far exceeds the capabilities of what they're able to do. So, they're great in what they can do
and what they can get out, but we need more help. We need more efficiency. We need a centralized center. Uh also the problem is in a high stress environment it's hard to keep these dispatchers employed due to the environment that causes high stress on
them and the turnover is quite frequent. Uh I think our our senior dispatcher in Margate granted we had ones that lasted for over 40 years. I think our senior dispatcher in Margate has six years experience. That's where that this has gone over time as far as the toner
turnover and trying to keep people involved. the technology, different technology in each pap creates interoperability. You know, it's 2025. It's time for everything to be streamlined and be part of everybody being part of the same. You know, there's no reason to have 10
different systems operating in a in a system where we're in one county. Uh inconsistent dispatch standards, fragmented communication policies creates inefficiencies and delays in dispatching staffing and equipment. So these are just some of the real life
experiences and I'm just going to touch on a couple of them. You know, a fire incident in Lumport back in October 26, 2024. We had multiple mutual aid entities involved and each time we had to call for a different one, the communication center had to call them by
phone to activate them to get them to respond. You're talking about a delay in response. When I requested as the incident commander three municipalities to respond simultaneously, that took three phone calls from that dispatch call taker to call those communities
independently to asssure that they were getting the information to respond to that call. The delay in response creates a delay in the fire, which creates a bigger fire and a bigger problem. The last one I'm going to touch on here on this page is the EMS incident in Mullica
Township. This one was was someone who was involved with our committee. it was close to them, the person. The 911 call that was made was dropped two times before the third time the call went through and they were able to get the information. So, the delay in that response due to that call ineffective or
inefficiency of that 911 call could have been the difference between life and death. I just just want and again I I mentioned it before, but it's really important since this happened less than how many hours ago. Um Chip, well, Butch was there at the fire this morning at Frog Rock. uh Chip and he has copies for all
of you of of the amount of resources that needed to be coordinated this morning. Now granted probably weren't going to save that building. I mean the investigation still active but it was a lot a very big explosion that building unfortunately that restaurant rock was basically fully involved when the first
resources got on scene from the town of Hamilton. But when they needed to start, you know, you still at our point, first thing is command there. Got to make sure there's there's no lives, right? And then you start looking to exposures even before you start trying to put a fire out. So the exposures, 45 golf carts, by
the way, destroyed. They were parked up close to the building. The entire building was gone. Huge ball of fire. But they needed to get on the scene. Woods fire was happening. They needed to get tankered. There was one hydrant, by the way. One hydrant is out close to the place. They were they had to use
tankers. You start calling resources. Chip, I know you're going to hand out the report and I I know we have to keep going. We in addition to just Atlantic County resources, which probably seven or eight dispatch centers, right? Seven dispatch centers just in Atlantic
County to get resources moved that and also MedCom Med. Now with Atlantic Care, when you start getting EMS, then we got to communicate with MedCom. The base had to be coordinated. So, but in addition to the resources, remember a lot of the western end of the county, not going to
say unfortunately because Gloucester County has central dispatch, I think you know this, but a lot of our western end the butas, they're getting dispatched by Gloucester County right now. It's a shame that they're paying Glouester County to get dispatched, you know, and then we had to we have to communicate
them with Gloucester County, how to communicate with Camley County, how to communicate with Burlington County. Keep going. Which by the way, all those counties I just mentioned are central dispatch. Just think about. So just this morning, unfortunate for fraud, but again for
this conversation, Chip has an incredible report of how many resources, but he was on and I was listening. Again, I'm not allowed to respond right now, but uh I was listening to the amount of the amount of effort. Just think if that would have happened and there was there were that could have
that those tanks could have exploded with that restaurant fully people in there. I don't even want to think about how many people have lost their lives. Okay. So just this morning we have the perfect incident albeit that caused so much damage. Sorry.
No, that's okay. So, you know, Howard spoke about Vince Jones and Chuck Ule and their experience, especially on the EMS side, and Vince brought a wealth of knowledge to us and and was very helpful in this whole thing. Well, we asked them for some of the EMS challenges to assist us
with this. And when you look at this, the Atlanta County EMS agency answers tens of thousands of calls for service each year. Many agencies are required to talk to multiple dispatch entities depending on the town they're responding to. This creates a situation where EMTs safety comes into account due to the
constant radio switch. I just was involved with a meeting for the Atlantic City Marathon which is coming up next weekend and talking with the Med Pro Cycle whoever's running the event for EMS for them. If they have to call any of the entities, they're calling five
different dispatch centers just for this one thing for one event. You got Atlantic City, Vetner, Margate, Longport, and MedCom. So you're talking about five different entities for a potential medical emergency during an event. Now granted, we have channels and we operate together. But this is just
some of the things we look at. On December 24th, 2025, the Galloway Township Ambulance Squad was dispatched to a 13c car motor vehicle accident. It took more than 30 minutes for mutual aid ambulance to arrive and assist Galloway EMS. While this seems like an EMS issue,
and to a degree it is, our communication supervisors were forced to call multiple dispatch agencies only to be able to get one out of county EMS agency to assist. Most of the 30 minutes were spent on the phone. A centralized dispatch center
would be able to reroute EMS agencies appropriately based on the severity of the call. And the current system has no way of doing this. Think about that, too. You have a county system. each vehicle is going to be on a GPS coordinates. If they're coming back from a call, you could potentially send that
unit that's closest to that area for that response if we're all operating in one centralized dispatch center. Um, another thing is municipal dispatch centers that receive the initial 911 call must question the caller to the type of emergency, then enter the
information into the respective CAT. This takes time, but understand for an EMS call, they do not directly dispatch. they must now transfer that call. They took all the information. Now they're transferring that call to another entity and they have to take that information
all over again. This is a delay in potential service for the people. And we're all here for the same reason. We want to provide the best service to the people regardless of what that is. And remember, when Mrs. Jones calls or Mr. Smith calls for an ambulance, they don't care who's coming. They just want to
know that someone's coming in a timely manner that can make a difference. And think about this, you know, when we talk about, you know, CPR training that four to six minutes. If this call takes longer than four to six minutes and that person is without oxygen or oxygenation
to their brain for four to six minutes, their chances of survival have decreased dramatically. And for us, it's all about life safety. It's all about providing the best service possible. Centralized emergency dispatchers a solution. You know, we talked about this
as plan A and plan B, and I'll let Howard echo a little bit on this as well. Plan A, a centralized emergency dispatch universal call center for all police, fire, and EMS services. Plan B would be a centralized countywide dispatch center that would become the primary PAP for emergency calls related
to fire, EMS, and law enforcement. This center would directly handle all emergency 911 calls with dedicated call takers. Dedicated county dispatchers will dispatch fire and EMS with seamless integration for transferring law enforcement calls to secondary paps. So,
do we understand what we're talking about when we say the plan A and plan B as far as the difference? Plan A is just everything together. Plan B, which is where we initially were taking our study and information to, was to have the county dispatch center handle the 911
call and then dispatch fire and EMS or transfer that to police. So, that's where we stand today. And I don't know if you want to echo or add anything to that. And and I know and and folks that have been a part of this meeting are going to say, "What's the difference?" Well, ideally, we want everybody.
We do. But we do know and some of you I'm looking at Commissioner Grizzly and a few of the others that have been around the block with us many times on law enforcement and look at my career that I had utmost respect for law enforcement. But right now law enforcement generally controls the
dispatch centers in the communities. They really still want to keep again respectfully that little bit of separation. They want to hold on they want to hold on to that. But some of the reasons for that are long gone. Dispatchers don't live in the communities anymore. I can assure you
with current technology. I don't even know where the streets are in Galloway anymore. It's growing. I live in Galloway. Okay. If it wasn't for GPS and all the technology, but the point is law enforcement and by the way and and director Pedora will tell you this. We truly believe that the law enforcement
community is shifting if you will, but we just can't wait any longer with with NextG coming this way. So that's why we as a working with AdCom, incredible people. We just said one, let's at least try to get a central call center coming and not if all 23 municipalities don't
come on board right away. And they and they won't and they won't. We know that. And by the way, we visited a lot of us visited a number of the other counties. You're welcome to visit the other counties. Uh Camden County, I can assure you can city of Camden come didn't come in right away. Uh we visited Mercer
County. I can assure you Trenton didn't come in right away. Things happen in time, but you got to build it. I know the cliche. Build it. they will come. But the point is, uh, we just said we, as law enforcement hopefully comes on board, but let's get a central call center to get as many of those 911 calls
coming in so you don't have to go through what I said at the very beginning, it it triangulating to find out where it is. One call, train call taker, how to give CPR if you have to. Okay. Train call takers. They would then dispatch, as Danny said, as much of fire
and EMS as possible. And then even if they have to transfer a call out to a municipality, say it's in Margate that maintains their own dispatch center for law enforcement, at least it's only one phone call, that call taker has already got the information and through technology, they're going to be able
through computers, and John will be is the expert on that. Through a computer transmission, they'll have all the information. No law enforcement is going to be concerned about delay in that. Truly, it's it's going to be far far far better than what we have right now. That's the difference between A and B.
Okay. So, it's still we're still proposing central call taking in both, but if law enforcement isn't ready to come full full speed, most of the fire and EMS that's the difference. So, plan B solution benefits optimize
911 call handling enhances response capabilities while supporting existing PAPs. Creates specialized fire and EMS trained dispatchers. Streamlines communication for mutual aid and large-scale incidents. Provides redundancy layer for primary PAPS to
ensure service continuity. Improves situational awareness for better decision making, faster response times through unified dispatch and operational efficiency through enhanced training. So when we look at some solutions uh results and challenges when we look at
results we have a safer environment for firefighters and EMS communities and the general public. We have seamless data sharing through CAD to CAD interoperability. We ensure law enforcement agencies receive immediate and accurate information, enhancing enhancing situational awareness, establishes a
framework to accommodate law enforcement's future participation and cost efficiencies through shared service infrastructure and resource optimization. And again, I'm going to let John talk about that in a second when we talk about nextgen 911. Uh challenges, finding sufficient space in
an existing facility, uh c capital investment for a new facility. We talked about that with the last project and that was part of the biggest downfall was how much that new facility was going to cost. Um acquiring buyin from elected officials and we need to establish clear
operational coordination with primary PATs benefits to municipalities. Eliminate the redundancy for each to purchase costly nextgen technology. Create a specialized fire EMS dispatch center better equipped to handle dispatching to ensure proper staffing
and equipment are provided to handle all types of incidents in a timely manner. Ensuring fire and EMS calls are handled in an expeditious manner. Um we want to make sure that we're providing a safe environment for our firefighters and first responders. Uh separate fire and
EMS dispatching allows local PAPs to concentrate and handle law enforcement incidents. this were the case moving forward and law enforcement stayed separate, SEAP centers would be able to handle their calls, but the fire and EMSI will be handled by the county
dispatch. John, I want to let you talk a little bit about the nextG side because uh you're definitely more of an expert than I am when it comes to this. Again, we know we're taking some time, but this is important. Just since we last met, Hans's been attending state meet
a little bit about what nextgen 911. Correct. Uh good afternoon. Um basically, uh I guess I'll start outside the slide with where the state is and what the state plans. Um at this point
the state has Atlantic County slated for 2026 to 2027 to move to nextG where um basically it's here and we have to up all the facilities will have to have their uh CAD RMS which
is records management um and the rest of their systems and then internal IT equipment upgraded to handle what is being called closing net. That's the term for the network that's being put in place by uh the state. Now what the
state's going to pay for is for example Atlanta County our 13 PAPs currently if they just don't do we don't do anything they'll come in the state will pay for everything up to the demark of the building. Demar basically is where all
the lines come in for communication and I u basically it's the backbone of that facility. Okay. What's happening is there's the Verizon network that's always run 911. A company that one did
at the state is called Lumen. Lumen Technologies will now be taking that network called the next generation 911 network and say we have a municipality that's not prepared to to move to next
generation 911. The state will also provide a what they call legacy gateway. okay to stay on the old system for a limited amount of time until the systems are in place to handle the communication
with the nextg system or ezet. With that being said, um there does it includes a lot of equipment that hap that is uh run these dispatch centers from the call taking apps, CAD, records
management system. You have uh GIS which is geospatial systems. We have a department in our county that we maintain um a county base mapping. We've received a grant from uh the state to
begin work and it's already started. It's been awarded and uh we have a company that is working what they call centerline data. That is to get away from you're on a cell phone and you're between towers and it triangulates where you are. Whereas this system will
basically geollocate you to your exact location. Okay. So, that's the big win here as far as what this system is bringing to um public safety. Um there's login recorders at each of these uh
municipalities that have to be updated or replaced. uh there is IT equipment which without being able to put personal eyes on internal equipment in these PAPs there is estimates in this study that give you
an idea what these costs could be for the municipalities not saying that it's etched in stone there but it's you know there's no way for anybody to make a guesstimation of what it's going to cost unless you're in that building looking
at this equipment. So, um, pole routing, um, we've discussed basically, um, it's pretty much a large project. But getting back to what what's being put in place by the state, what's the state paying
for for these paps? They when I said that they're going to pay for everything up to the demark, they're also going to come in and do electrical work in these PAPs. um and then put a rack of equipment in from uh from the state to run Ezet
depending on the uh PAP's place in in their where they're at with their upgrades. Then that would determine if they're going to have a connection to the legacy gateway or just move directly to Ezet. Um I know it's getting kind of technical and I'm sorry
for that. Um but uh these are some of the things that really don't get talked about. out there just say put them in place and let's go. Uh this all has to be planned very carefully. Um and at this point it is on the uh
municipalities to make this move each 13 m 13 call centers. Um I think that yeah you can go to the next slide because this just kind of gives an overview of the rundown of how the whole thing would work when he when he spoke about different things location
accuracy improved data safer uh communities. Yeah. You know that pretty much sums up in a slide everything that you're get not will be getting the state will be getting with the Ezet being put in place for next generation 911.
And and John to be clear so there's 13 PAPs. So there's 13 individual cost factors versus one county cost factor for one center. So you have 13 PAPs have to pay for the cost or we look at one potential county dispatch center, one
unified cost. And uh since taking the uh you know the position of 911 coordinator, I found out through meetings that each of these municipalities will have to have their vendors on site during a cutover, which
was going to require them to have their CAD vendor, an RMS vendor, their IT department, uh obviously their radio uh console people, um and the rest of it throughout the building that involves
this uh dispatch center uh to be present during this cut over and uh basically we're putting this in trying to put this in play with uh you know even though we're a year out in my opinion now's the time to say to the municipalities which
I have been uh we have to start lining up these vendors that you're using because this is not in place yet so u if it if it does become a a project a viable project. Um, then we would be looking at
this as well. But right now, like Danny said, it's it's on the 13 PAPs to to do these upgrades. I I want to No, no, no. I'm sorry. Yeah, just into the summary. Yeah. Go to the next slide. Again, the critical piece here is even
though the state's paying for something, as as you'll see in that cost analysis, you have the full report. Uh, Adcom has done an analysis. They've gone out and visited. They still believe it's going to cost the municipalities and we say municipalities when we say the 13 PAPs that includes the state police barracks
is a PAP. They get a lot of the calls in the western end of the county. Uh Gloucester County of which is going to go we're talking about the different it's not just the municipalities but they are estimating 1.5 million to two million per site just for each each piece to come up on board. And then
again, if you just uh extrapolate that uh I mean just think about what that's going to be uh what it will cost over over the whole county. Whereas as 21 if not 22 by the way I know you've been following the news date May County fully central dispatch including law
enforcement. Uh Chris Loosener who some of you know he's the former mayor of uh and police chief of Middle Township. He is now the OBM the office of emergency management coordinator for Kate County. I know uh Chief Loosener very well. He's willing to talk to anybody. But think
about it. Kate May County is central dispatch now across the board. We're not uh but again uh the feasibility study says about 12 million to 15 million for Atlantic County to do it up front once once we figure out it doesn't need to be a new building. As you know, we've
offered some suggestions on some existing structures, but that's that's down the road. So, I there's so much more that uh that we can go. We really want you to understand and I know it's it's going to be nextgen 911. We know we've taken a lot of your time. I
generally feel that we have I don't want to speak to but I really feel that we've had your support. I know we've had your support. Um we just went for next steps. We are very appreciative of the county executive asking us to come and give this presentation to you. We apologize for taking so much of your time. Uh but
it it's uh it's hot. It's a hot topic now. And some of us have been doing this for near 50 years. This is the last time you're going to get my passion in this. Uh I know I don't want to speak for everybody else, but I really want to see this get done. Know a lot of you personally. We just want your support.
We need your guidance. I don't know uh to the chair. I don't know what the next step as far as the board uh goes, but uh we're just asking we are going to go ad uh Mr. Chryser certainly has worked with us. Hadcom is willing to come out do
community meetings. We're probably going to have to come up with some regional meetings with some of the local officials. We'd like to have the public involved. We really think the public needs to understand this, but the counties, we're we're really I'm ready to go on the radio. We're ready to go to the news. We're ready to get this out
there. Uh I for one, as a resident of Atlantic County, I don't want to see us number 23 anymore. Okay. Uh so we're really just uh looking for your thoughts, your assistance. We know the regions that you represent. Commissioner Patino has been coming to some of our I'm just looking at um
give me a project and a cost. Yeah. And and preaching to the choir. That's it. Just got to get to those steps. But we really just have to convince the local officials and the public do anyway the way to go. We're going to do it anyway. It's just the right thing to do for the public. So, uh with that, uh again, we truly
apologize for taking a lot of your time, but we put in days, weeks into this and thank you so much for your time and consideration. And you know, we speak from our heart. This is not we're not just making up information. We're actually speaking from our heart and our experience. And that goes a long way,
you know, as everybody knows. And until you have an incident where you're directly affected, you don't really understand the the full realm and the full responsibility of what it takes from that initial 911 call to get the service there to transport into a
medical facility and and and so on and so on. So, thank you so much for your time and consideration and we look forward to working with you coming forward to make this come to fruition. And again, thank you to all the county officials. We mean that very sincerely. We really appreciate it. Mr. Daso and I have known each other since while I was
young. He's still young. Okay. Thank you, J. I'm not calling because of the comment. Sorry. Um, the gentlemen, I want to thank you and I thank everyone else who who served on the committee who put put this all together for us. I know there are probably countless people that you didn't even mention that contributed uh
their their time. Um and again, you know, don't apologize for taking the time. I mean, we rely on on on everyone here for for our safety, our family safety, our properties uh well well-being. Um so again, it's it's the passion and u without us being on the front line, you know, we wouldn't understand where that passion comes
from. So I do appreciate all of that. Thank you. Thank you. Um are there any commissioner comments? Thank you. A couple things. Uh number one, a curiosity. Um you mentioned that the police are warm starting to warm up
to this concept. U can you expound upon that? Well, when I say warm up and I may call upon this guy who really dresses so well uh with his law enforcement background because he goes to the chiefs of police meetings and I used to uh when
I was a court official. Um I I believe they understand the technology as you've seen police chiefs are changing. We don't I always I I never want to come off the side of saying um disrespectful, but I really do think the police departments at least in historically
tended to work I hate the word silo, but they kind of worked in silo. They don't work mutually aid like we do. They don't have to work with the communities as much as we do for resources until there's a major incident. So, I do believe that they historically used to like having local control of their local
area. Um we've heard Mr. Christ. I remember when he was mayor the last time I remember him saying, "Hey, I want the dispatchers to live in the city of Vetner." They don't live in the city of Vetner. They don't even know the streets in Vetner, respectfully. It's all technology now. So, I think I think in many ways because we're having um a
little I don't want to say forward thinking. Law enforcement's always been forward thinking, but I do believe that it's shifting a little bit, Commissioner, because um most of the leadership of the police departments have changed and they understand. And by the way, we have a lot of police officers that are volunteer
firefighters. So I think that has helped significantly. I have police officers from Galloway Township in my little fire company in South Carlo. So um so I think that's helped too. You never used to see people crossing over the fence like that, but I think we just all understand. I could probably go into a
lot more depth about uh ownership and desire to fight if you want. The the one other factor to consider is we all know that taxes are going up in all the municipalities across Atlanta County. If there's a way to control that
and streamline that with an effort like this, it could be appeasing to the left elected officials and local governments where maybe there is a cost savings for them and maybe it's something that they're going to have to pay for anyway, but maybe we pay for it together and and this is something they can look at to
potentially save for their communities and law enforcement. I tr I think they understand that. Well, I would also say that uh I fully agree with what Commissioner Certino said. It's it's it's time. We have to make our mind up as a county to do this
and move forward. We've been talking about it for decades. It's it's past times. And now with the 911 coordination and hopefully we can get some relief down the road in Trenton so we can get the 911 monies that we are
due in this county and in this state. All the counties are in the same situation. In your report, you list the thick report of 44 pages or whatever it was that I read through that um we're one of the worst states, one of five
worst states in the country that about receiving 911 funds. So, uh hopefully we'll get some change there and Trenton to to help us out, but we have to make our mind up that we're going to do this and move forward. and the the police. Um
that's another another subject, but we need to talk about uh your your option B now and move forward with that, find a location and get this project moving. Hey commissioner, just one more thing and uh you mentioned law enforcement and
I have spoken and I do know that the county prosecutor who uh certainly u have a lot of pride working with the county prosecutor uh he is also when we used the one acronym I don't think we said was the CAD system that's computerated dispatch and we now have different even law
enforcement has different uh different technologies the county prosecutor who has already spoken and I'm sure he will be of assistance to us as will the county sheriff uh They want a unified computer. You think about how much one uniform dispatch uh computerized
dispatch will assist law enforcement too. So I wanted to add that in is why I think law enforcement which uh the director and I have certainly talked about in that regard. So the thoughts are going to keep spinning. Uh I'll just I'll just add on that note on
what you said uh Commissioner Bertino just for everyone's uh knowledge you know I serve on the Injac legislative committee and INJAC one of the recommendations to the state from INJ and I'll read it right from uh what
they've sent to the state bent the state from diverting 911 fees to fund general operating expenses and make monies available for county 911 centers to regional regionalize upgrade or maintain
a precise accurate and reliable communication network. That's right. From NJ's recommendations to the state this year. Absolutely. Commissioner Parker, I sponsored a resolution passed um calling on the state to start give the money back to counties. All of us are paying
that 911 search charge on our phone bills and we're not receiving that money the tax that we're being taxed. Absolutely. But you're right. We're into the choir. We're all on board. You have experience directing that as
well. Are there any other commissioner comments at this time? I think thank you for the work that you've done. This is amazing. Um I love how you explained the geoloccate. That's so important. We've all heard those
stories about how a call goes in one street and it could have been you just through the phone to another street or another town. It could be minutes or seconds. That's
huge for public safety. Thank you guys. I know this is a lot of work about it. Um I think it's wonderful. I think it's important for you guys going out to the municipalities to tell them that you have the commissioners behind you
if we all do without speaking for anybody else. Thank you very much. I appreciate you. Thank you. Appreciate it. We're on to resolutions. And if if you gentlemen want to want to head out, I mean, by all means, we won't
be offended at all. Thanks for coming. Thank you, Sure. Can you talk for Thank you. Make sure we all get a copy of that. I'm sure you're a little tired right now. Thank you for all your work.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Little more like the crowd we're used to seeing now. They hold up. Resolution number 533 for an application and acceptance from the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety for
the Sexual Assault Response Team Forensic Nurse Examiner Program. Funded amount $195,22. County inkind match $48,81. Moved and seconded. Any commissioner comments? Any comments from the public? Let's call
the roll. Bertino, yes. Burns, yes. Stays, abstain. Gatarn, yes. Parker, yes. Grizzly, yes. Days, yes. Resolution number 534. Amending resolution number 161 adopt on
April 4th, 2023. A grant from the office of the New Jersey Attorney General for the 2023 24 OPT for help and hope grant program to extend the term date only. No additional cost. Second. Moved and seconded. Any commissioner comments?
Any comments from the public? Please call the role. Bertino, yes. Burns, yes. Daz, absent. Gat, yes. Parker, yes. Yes. Grizzly. Yes. D. Yes. Resolution 535. Federal aid cost reimbursement agreement
with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for fiscical year 25 federal aid funding for construction costs associated with the work on Summers Point Maze Landing Road, County Route 559 in Echor Township and Pittney Road, County Route 634 in Galloway Township. Amount not to exceed
3,997,39361. Move. Second. Moved and seconded. Any commissioner comments? Any comments from the public? Spell the role. Bertino, yes. Burns, days, yes. Gate Kern, yes. Parker, yes. Grizzly, yes.
Days, yes. On to professional services contracts. If any commissioners would like to discuss or remove any professional service contracts from the consent agenda, please indicate so now. There any comments from the public?
Right. We'll entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolutions 536 through 537. Moved. Second. We've been seconded. Please call the role. Martino, yes. Burns, yes. Daz, yes. Gatau. Kern, yes. Parker, yes. Grizzley, yes.
Yes. Any commissioners would like to discuss remove any bid contracts from the consent agenda, please indicate so now. Hearing none. Any comments from the public? All right, I'll entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolutions 538
through 542. Moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Please call the RO. Yes. Burns, yes. Daz, yes. Gat, yes. Parker, yes. Grizzly, yes. D, yes. Right. Any change orders? Um, if
any commissioners would like to discuss or remove any change orders from the consent agenda, please indicate so now. Hearing none. Any comments from the public? I'll entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolutions 543 through 546.
Second. We have been seconded. Please call the role. Bertino, yes. Burns, yes. Daz, yes. Gat burn, yes. Parker, yes. Grizzley, yes. D, yes. All right. If any commissioners would
like to discuss remove any miscellaneous items from the consent agenda, please indicate so now. Actually, I would like to ask that uh resolution 548 be pulled just for further discussions. I know this was revised earlier. So, entertain a motion at this point. Excuse
me. Under Are there any comments from the public? I'm sorry. On any miscellaneous items at this time that entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolution 547 and 549 through 552. Move. Second. Moved and seconded. Please call the role.
Yes. Burns. Yes. Days. Yes. Gat F. Yes. Parker. Yes. Grizzly. Yes. Daz. Yes. This time, um, Terry, could you please read resolution 548, shared services agreement with Mercer County for the emergency housing of
Mercer County Juveniles at the Atlantic County Juvenile Detention Center, Harbor Fields. Revenue generating. Second. Second. Um, are there any commissioner comments? 548. Chair, I just asked it to be pulled
because I know it was revised and discussed in a in a committee meeting yesterday. Can you please explain the the revisions and and what's what's different from what we saw originally? Well, the I I wasn't there. I think there was
a concern about that we wanted to only use the facility for emergency purposes. How was it? So, let me explain a little different than from what you heard from our county council and assisting county council. So, Mercer
County does not have their own facility, but they do use other facilities in the state. They have contracts with at least two or three other detention uh youth detention facilities. What happens to them is they they would call those contracted areas as we did. We have
contracts with all other six counties that have facilities. There are times where they can't accept a kid for whatever the reason. It could be that they're filled, could be that the kid doesn't meet the requirements for that facility. And so therefore, you know, we
we would we were getting put in a position where we were holding kids and you you've heard some of those stories. who are holding kids in in locations for longer than six hours by by the police which which is not allowed. So what happens to Mercer
County is they they wind up in the same situation. You make the call, can't get the kid placed. In our particular case, our our numbers have gone down, you know, pretty significantly. We're down to like 10 11 kids. We have 20 beds. So they would call I they would call the
Juvenile Justice Commission. They call me and it's always I can tell you right now it's always 9 10 11 o'clock at night. Can can Mercer County get some help? So we do we do several things. One, do we have the beds? Obviously I'm
I'm notified every day how many beds we have. Two, have you investigated the kid and the crimes that they committed? Do they fit into our particular facility? You know, do they have any gang relations? You know, are they subs abusers? are, you know, the kind of kids
that, you know, get in serious trouble when when, you know, uh, in their past history. If if they go through all that and they feel comfortable, the youth service commission gets back to me and says, "The kid's fine from our perspective, we can handle the kid at our facility." And
so then we we wind up taking the kid. The third issue that we always handle is is you got to move the kid as quickly as you can. So they had the contracts with other facilities. So you know you're work you will work with and person I normally deal with is is the they have a
state rep for programs. He does nothing but run all the programs from JJC and then we have a superintendent from the JJC. So I usually deal with the two of them. So the object there is they would work with the facilities where Mercer has their contracts move them as quickly
as possible. And I explained to Commissioner Wizley what would happen. So Jerry Delzo gets a phone call in in Ocean County and in Ocean County is one of their contractors. They have no beds available on, you know, Saturday night
at 10:00, but they know they go to court on on Monday. Same thing we do. We have a a detention diversion personnel that goes and sits in in every uh court case and they know that they're going to ask for this kid to be moved. So they know
upfront that that kid is going to be moved on either Wednesday or Thursday of the following week. And so therefore they know that they can call that individual and find out when the kid's going to get moved. So they move them to us. We then
work with our superintendent, works with their superintendent to move the kid as soon as the kid is released in Ocean County, you know, to wherever that kid is going to, either detention diversion program or the kid gets, you know, sentenced to the juvenile justice commission. So, so that's basically what
what happens. Okay. I mean, I just knew it wasn't that long ago that we were overflowing and, you know, the prosecutor was involved and and NJ was was commenting about Atlanta County and um, you know, to the point where, you know, was at National Night Out on the saying, well, prosecutor people are saying that
juveniles being released because there's no room in Atlanta County for them. Just wanted to make sure that once we agree to this that we're not, you know, locked in to the point where again we're overcrowded and either people are being released or we're struggling to place them in some other county. that and we do that. That's part of the
all part of the conversation. Do you have do you have the beds available? I mean I mean now is there is there still are we still involved in legislation with we still have kids out and I explained to Commissioner Rzley that some of these kids are out because of
they could not be in our facility for a variety of reasons. Those reasons I really can't discuss publicly because they're they're serious issues. They can't be in our facility. So that's why they're out of our facility. But every kid who can be in our facility has been brought back to the facility. Gotcha.
Except females. Right. We we we've uh eliminated females because we learned during this one um circumstance that we had probably last year in the beginning of this year is
that we have a number of gangs in the local area. These kids have to be I guess they isolated and so they we use the female area to isolate these kids. So they're not they're not they're not in the same area where where let's
either it's a gang or there was a murder committed and you know the family but one kid with the kids who was the murderer in the same facility they just isolate the kids. So that's why we don't have female. Okay. I mean I know there was a lawsuit. I know the legal going over this. I just
don't want the public perception to be, you know, that we're we're trying to make money at the expense of potentially having an overcrowded situation again and we're trying to have our kids sent to other counties. I just that's my concern. Jerry, where do we send our females? Where do we send our
Ocean County taking? Yeah, Commissioner Rizley. Thank you. Yeah. Uh, initially I was very opposed to the initial resolution, the one with the revised language. I can certainly support. Um,
we had, as you recall, we had the prosecutor in here, the county prosecutor, and he gave quite a report quite quite a dire outlook in regards to uh juvenile crime. And we all heard that report.
It is my personal opinion, is mine, that we need an additional facility. I think it's time that we do it. I think uh public safety is the number one item, most important item. That's why we're
talking about centralized dispatch. That's why we're talking about this as well. um unless people suddenly turn to God and change their ways, we're going to continue to have situations like this.
And um I'm I'm very concerned about uh uh our legal system being able to put these kids who have committed. And by the way, they've committed heinous crimes because these are not crimes
somebody stole food from the Waw Wa. These are heinous crimes. And that's why I believe that we do need an additional facility. Uh the other thing that that bothers me is some counties
charge different rates. Some are 700 and all kinds of crazy numbers. We've charged I think a fair number in 400. I would consider that a fair number in comparison to the other counties. But still in all it's um the problem is not
going to go away. Other commissioner comments. Jerry, I think you I had some, you know, original what the original resolution I had some concerns as well. The only question I had you answered was were all the Atlantic County
um did did we get all of our kids back that could be housed, you know, before we started bringing kids from another county, did we bring those uh I guess, you know, kids that could be housed in Atlantic County closer
to home where their families could be able to see them reasonably um without having to travel up to North Jersey and just to see K. Anybody that can be in the facility is there other than other than the two females.
Thank you. Any additional commissioner comments? Is is there any public comment this time? All right. Sarah, please call the role. Yes. Burns. Yes. Stays. Yes. Gat. Kern. Yes. Parker,
yes. Grizzly, yes. No. Resolution 553. Insert into the 2025 budget from the state of Pennsylvania, Office of the Attorney General under the caption of highintensity drug trafficking areas program 2023
$1,2151. Move. Second. Moved and second. Are there any commissioner comments? Any comments from the public? All right. Please call the RO. Yes. Burns. Yes, Daz. Hanging Gat.
Yes, Parker. Yes, RZley. Yes, Daz. Yes. I'll entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolutions 554 through 558, chapter 159's. Second. Moved and seconded. Any commissioner
comments? None. Any comments from the public? Please call the role. Martino, yes. Burns, yes. Daz, yes. Ghetto, yes. Fern, yes. Parker, yes. Grizzly, yes. Base, yes. Entertain a motion to combine and
adopt resolutions 559 through 562. Appointments. Move. Second. We have been second. Are there any commissioner comments? Any comments from the public? Please call the role. Bertino, yes. Burns, yes. S
Kern, yes. Yes. Parker. Yes. Grizzly. Yes. Yes. Resolution 563, roadway solicitation, authorizing consent for a roadway solicitation event by the Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company number one at the intersection of English Creek Avenue
County Route 575 and West Jersey Avenue in the Township of A Carver on Saturday, November 15, 2025 from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. Second. Moved and seconded. Any Commissioner Thomas comments? Comments from the public. Spell the role.
Ratino, yes. Burns, yes. Daz, yes. Gat, yes. Kerna, yes. Parker, yes. Grizzly, yes. Yes. Resolution number 564. Resolution urging legislation in the state of New Jersey strengthening safety
requirements for ebikes and scooter operators. Sponsor Amy Elgato. Seconded. Seconded by Commissioner Karn. Are there any commissioner comments? Hey, Mr. Chair. Um, apologies for being late. Got it pulled into work obligation
last minute. Um, but glad I could be here. Um, the public safety committee met on the uh on this resolution. Um, we took input from some of the information that has been put out there from our
prosecutor's office and we also took a look at legislation coming out from our state legislators here uh in the district and um you'll see that all reflected in the resolution as well as some um Atlantic County and local uh
stats around this issue. I think we've talked about the issue enough importance of um not only getting more safety requirements for ebikes and scooters, but just getting the message out there uh about being vigilant um in
either operating or operating around one. And so we also added a specific component there um at Commissioner Rizley's suggestion that um our municip municipal governments as well as our local police departments use the
information to put out uh public service announcements related to this topic if they haven't already and we know a number has. And so we're we're hoping to um just kind of amplify the voice on this and also um you know serves as a source of some information for our
municipalities. I appreciate your support. It it is recommended by the public safety. Thank you commissioner. Any other commissioner comments? I just want to make one comment to see if uh Mr. Fedoro had any input because he was part of that meeting and had some
information from some committees or you know agencies that you're on. Yeah, I had talked to the uh head state police uh prior to our meeting with the public safety committee and he the colonel is working with the Senate
President on legislation. Hey Mike, can you go to the mic? Oh, sorry. Thank you. Sorry. Um, the the head of the state police, the colonel of the state police is meeting with has met with the Senate
President, Senate Senator Majori um to work on this this this law. This has to be legislation obviously. Um, and interestingly enough, the state police and even even the local police accident
reports, there's no an indication uh for electric bikes. So, it has to be something that's included in there when they put these up, but it's it's it's hopefully it's going to get done this year because this is a this is a problem. We just we just we've had a
couple of kids get killed here and uh and one seriously hurt. So, And they don't pay attention to the to the traffic laws. They go through red lights. You see it all the time. The kids aren't wearing helmets. And did you say other have other um
areas done any resolutions like this or are we the first to do so? I think we're the first. I haven't seen anything from any of the other counties yet. So this is this is good. I mean if we get this out, this will be fantastic. Yeah. We appreciate your support as well.
Thank you. Um any additional commissioner comments this time? I know this is I attended the marriage association meeting um a little over a week ago and this was a topic of conversation at the merits association and honestly without even any of my students knowing that we were talking about this in school today as well um
because some students knew some children who got hurt in Atlanta County and the co-workers were were talking about that as well. Um so it's um you know unfortunate that has come to this but you know you said there's there's no training for them. there there I think one incident the helmet was actually on the back pack of the of the kid that was
hurt. Um so yeah, thank you everyone that that worked on this resolution. So and are there any comments from the public? Hey, please call the role. Bertino, yes. Burns, yes. Daz, yes. Gate, yes.
Karn, yes. Parker, yes. Rley, yes. D, yes. I'll entertain a motion to combine and adopt resolutions 565 through 566. Second move been seconded. Any commissioner comments?
Any comments from the public? Please call the role. Martino, yes. Burns, yes. Stays, yes. Gat, yes. Kerna, yes. Parker, yes. Grizzley, yes. Days, yes. Moving on to the next agenda. Item
written communications. We've all received copies of written communications and petitions. Are there any commissioner comments on anything that you've received? Hearing none. Are there any reports of special committees of the board? Commissioner Bertino. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Um, at the last ACUA meeting, there was a discussion on a proposed judicial consent order that was brought by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to settle claims against 3M company or PFAS
contamination at specific sites in New Jersey. Uh, apparently a few sites had brought the lead had uh went to the state and asked them to intercede on their behalf to try to clean up this material. The proposed settlement would require 3M to pay up to
$450 million over 25 years. The proposed settlement as drafted releases 3M from any future liability for PFAS related claims and prioritizes compensation to address the drinking water issues in
schools, daycare centers, and residences only and leaves out New Jersey local government groups like the ACUA um solid waste or waste water. division out of that legis out of that settlement if the ACA was to because if this passes
through these this material has to be taken out either either out of our wastewater site or even um out of our soils. It's it this material is actually in everything. Uh the ACUA at the at the wastewater site estimated that the cost
is around uh $6 million to treat its landfill leech just to pull this material out at the landfill. Lead of course is the stuff that uh you get at the bottom of the landfill as the as the material rots down. Uh currently if this leg if this judicial consent order
passes the cost would fall on the ACA users. That's all of us here in Atlanta County. Uh the ACA passed a resolution opposing the JCO and asking the NJD to revise the proposed settlement to ensure that we all retain the right to peru to
pursue future claims for any PFAS related damages. This could be expensive. The PS the PFAS materials are found in soil. They're in indoor and outdoor air. They're in your foods.
They're used in cosmetics, pesticides, non-stick cookware, food packaging, carpeting in your house. It's in everything. It's in everything because it's like a fire retardant is the best way of saying it. Uh they're widely uh used because um they are highly resistant to water, oil,
grease, and heat. Um so that resolution they're doing I'm going to suggest that we prepare a resolution as well uh from the county side and asking the de NJ as well to modify uh this draft proposed JCO that
they have out there uh to at least allow them to look at it before they approve this thing. ACUA has already did a resolution at their last meeting um and I suggested we do one as well. I guess I can work with the guys at the board. so deep fit. I think we should work with
Ken or solicitor and have one prepared for the next meeting. Sure. Question. How serious is this? Very chemical or whatever it is. The material is probably I imagine it's a contaminant because
somebody brought charges to the NJP North Jersey and that's why they took the action with 3M. The trouble is that when you take action specific to a specific group or area or for just daycare centers and schools in their water, uh you're leaving out everybody
else. And if uh 3M if that proposed settlement goes through, no one everybody else's cost to uh to mitigate and get rid of this material which you're going to have to get rid of falls on everybody who the users are. They're going to be I don't have to tell you the numbers that they're throwing around
staggering. They're staggering. U so obviously it's a concern. Another issue, you know, in talking with Joe Pan alone a little bit about the material is after you sort it out, you because you can filter it. There's different materials you can do to do it. Where do you dispose of it at?
Where you going to put it once they abstract it? Where you going, you can't put it back in the land? Can't put a land. Where are we going to put it? You know, so um it's a it's an involved issue and I, as I said, uh I wanted to bring it to the board's attention. Not only that, if I may, uh, Mr. Parker,
98, 99% of all Americans have this plastic in our bloodstream. That's something that we have no idea what the ramifications of that is. I guess we'll all we'll all find out as we continue to live, I guess, you know, but
there's it's a big deal. It's not enough money. And if and if it's I mean, think about cleaning up any site, right? We could be cleaning this up for 10, 15, 20, 30 years. And if we accept this money now, who's paying for that? Who's paying for the mitigation? Who's going
to clean it up? Where's the money coming from? And it's going to fall into the rateayers, which is going to fall back to the taxpayers. So, that's just it's it's it just can't happen. Can't happen that way. You know, this company made a lot of money, you know, with the
non-stick pans and everything else that they've done. A lot of money. and for them to get off the hook without having to clean it up and then to say that the American people are walking around with this in our bloodstream and we're going to fund and have to pay for figuring
out, you know, what we can do because they they haven't figured out how to take it out of the bloodstream yet. That hasn't happened. They can't they can't be abstracted from out of our blood, right? So, what are we going to do? I don't know. Most impossible situations. the most
impossible of situations initially of course is that try to intercede and ask the D not settle the claims specific to the cases that's been present you're going to have to leave it openended or you're going to have to it needs a more further discussion
at the state level and one other thing while we're touching on that the solid waste advisory council swack met we had a meeting the other night the ACUA engineering ing ACU engineering firm SCS engineers presented
their draft uh solid waste management plan update. This is a next 10-year plan. As you guys know, we operate under a solid waste management plan here in Atlantic County where all the trash everything is outlined and guidelines that we have to hit to achieve state
levels on disposal and what we doing with our recycling and everything else is uh been in the plan. The new plan is um is that they're presenting at the moment and it's in draft form um is trying to meet the state's new goal of
50% reduction in food waste disposed of in your municipal trash by 2030 which is five years away. So that means any of the stuff that people would throw into their trash that's food related uh they want it taken out at least 50% of a reduction in the next five years. the
state's mandate that so to go to the landfill that trash has to go someplace else. Um, so there that's that's a state issue that they want us to meet. That's going to be discussed and I think we're going to call a solid waste advisory committee meeting is to start to discuss
some of the ramifications and how we intend on trying to meet their guidelines before the plan is presented to the board uh for us to approve of it. Uh because it's going to impact us and the uh users here in Atlantic County for the next 10 years. So um also the the
state is asking that in the solid waste stream 60% of the total waste some of that stuff gets taken out and gets beneficial reuse. I don't know what that meant but I think they're looking for these are all state laws that they put in through the state uh that they're asking anybody that's a landfill
operator, anybody that's that disposes of trash to meet the new guidelines. This next 10-year plan is going to have to have some of that into it. uh as far as Atlanta County handling how it disposes of trash. So, I think we're going to be talking about the how that
how their what their thoughts are on it and uh get back to the board and let you guys know, but I'm definitely will reach out with this committee. We'll call for a solid waste advisory committee meeting uh to discuss it with. So, I mean, I imagine that would have a huge impact potentially on the the
restaurant industry. I mean, I know a lot of them would look at pig farms and other uses, but that's it's in everything. It's in everything. It'll be talk about the the food waste. Food waste. A lot of people, like we discussed that night, you know, if you're in a rural, I live on a farm, you
know, I don't throw that material in the trash. So, it's really easy for me. But tell somebody that's living in an apartment complex, what do I do with all the trash I got? They don't they don't have digesttors. they don't have uh there's different things you'll see in the market today that companies are coming out but everything they come out
to do their stuff of course is ex is a cost involved and there's also where do I put the material after it's done breaks everything down to fluids it's got to be disposed of prop so that's why this is one of those things everybody um at the state level they got wonderful thoughts and great ideas implementation
and I don't know how they expect everybody to be to be able to come around and do that um you know I I think Atlantic County Health Department's going to get involved in this as well as as this moves forward in the plan, but we'll be discussing some things to keep your eyes open as well.
Sounds great. Another state mandate without pay. Are there any other reports of special committees of the board? Before we move on from that, Mr. Chair, I just want the board to know that uh September 26th uh M County Board of County Commission
adopted a resolution opposing just what we're speaking about. So it's it's already begun the NJ. They already presented their their issue on it. Of course, they're
not no one would be in. Okay. is there any unfinished business? Any new business? We move on to 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 in the town in which you reside. If you're attending virtually, 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 in the town in which you reside. You provided up to three minutes to speak. Any
public comment? All right. This point a motion to close public comment. Second. All in favor? I Any comments for the good of the order? I just want to have one comment. I just
want to thank Jerry Daso. Thank you so much. And uh director, thank you Jerry for setting up various meetings for me to go and visit various facilities. Uh I've uh been to four so far ACUA canal center
as well as to Kai training center. I've been very very impressed, very very well run and I want to thank you and I'm looking forward to bigger invest chair commission to the order. I'm going to um
by 2032 more than half of all jobs will be reshaped by artificial intelligence. Commissioner Rizley and I were we attended uh a meeting with our
executive and some of our department heads on AI. We've already begun the process of using AI in some of our departments, right? And so I just want the county to keep this on
the top of our heads and we're going to have to at some point come up with some guidelines to guide what's already happening here in our county. It's already here. AI is not the future. I keep hearing AI is the future.
That's not true. AI is the present. It's already here. And so we're going to have to really uh take some time to consider how we're going to strategically make sure that Atlantic County is at the front of it and not being reactive but
being proactive in terms of AI. I know you and and county administration, a lot of department heads have already put a lot of effort into that making that happen. There's a lot going on behind the scenes. I just wanted to say um while the cameras are rolling for the public's sake and also uh on November 12th,
Jerry, I believe it is, there's a mandatory meeting um training about the ethics of AI and so we're going to use it. Those are all the kind of things that we're going to need to talk. I know county council has been very helpful. U Ken Warren has been very helpful. If
before we do anything, and I know I'm preaching to the choir to the commission, but I want the the public to hear this as well. before we do anything as commissioners, we can come up with grand ideas or, you know, we can have these thoughts about what we want to do, but we have to make sure we check with
legal before anything happens, you know, and so, you know, legal knows, I want them, you know, whatever we're doing, I think we're all in agreement that we want to kick the tires as much as possible, uh, and make sure that we have it right. Whatever we do, we want to make sure we get it right here in Atlantic County. So, there's no rush to
really put anything out. But with that said, we have to be mindful that we're already in the process of piloting some of this within some of our departments as we speak. So there's going to have to be some guideline that comes from the
the legislative branch, which is us, that that that protects us from anything that may happen in the future. Just something I wanted to put for the good of you. Sounds good. That mean is going to be led by AI chair Garasa. Is that While
here at the meeting, listen, you laugh, but Grizzly was there. I think Jerry was the leader in using it for the county, the system in the county. He was he he it shows the use of each person and what they're using it for,
which is pretty amazing. And so Jerry was kind of leading the way in terms of that. They thought they were pretty funny at the meeting. So if Jerry can use AI, there's no excuse for the for the rest of us to be able to get in AI. Is that right, Jerry? I mean, I can only imagine. I mean,
Jerry's doing 20 million things uh every hour. So, but it's so it's so there's so much to it, though. And I won't go too deep into it, but there's so much to it. And and there are different AI systems. There there's there's all kind of things where AI can hallucinate, you know, so you
don't know if you're getting accurate information. There's all kind of nuances that are out there that if we are going to be using it, we're going to have to make sure that, you know, guidelines together. We're also looking um on that note injac also had some language in
some of the recommendations that came that went from the legislative body committee from NJC to the state to come up with guidelines for each county and each municipality to be able to you know responsibly take this task for something that's
going on as well. Thank you commissioner. Any other comments for the good of the order? Nope. Sorry, Commissioner G. Sorry. So, Mr. Chair, I didn't Andrew, I didn't hear um what you and and were at,
but did we have like a special committee of board of commissioners to be like technology committee to focus on this or do we were breaking up a little commissioner Ghetto, but I think I understand what
you're asking. We don't exactly have one now. uh the the the chair and and I I think I think the conversation just as this this morning we were talking about where we would send a resolution to look at this and uh we I think we landed on
code in initially county code. I mean if we're going to have to to make changes or even adopt a brand new ordinances to to make this happen I think that'd be a good start. But I mean I again I'm not opposed to any other after future meetings if any other committee wants to be established to look out in more
detail as far as what it may need from a technology standpoint. Well, part of part once once we get to that point though, uh I think a resolution is going to be coming pretty soon. Um maybe at our next meeting, Commissioner Ghetto, and part of the resolution, part of that
resolution is to the recommendation is for us to create more uh committees that because we don't exactly have a committee subcommittee that deals with just this. So, I think we may have to consider um one of the recommendations
that's inside of the resolution to create a new committee that's going to be focused just on um some of the uh you know procedural and ethical issues and and you know of AI and how we're going to use it and when we can use it and when we can't use it, what we can ask it
for, what we can't ask it for, you know, all those things are are going to be very very important as we move forward. So, um, but we need a resolution to do that or can the chairman just subcommittee? Well, I I mean I think if we're talking
about a county code, I mean that's why initially he talked about the county code committee looking at well and commissioner Parker mentioned a resolution um because there you know that's such a nuanced detailed issue. I mean like you said legal involved there's many different people involved before we have an actual ordinance to come. I think the point of the
resolution was to kind of just again alert the public and and kind of align things as need be as things come up. And we know it's going to be a here's what we know. We know it's going to be a work in progress, right? We know no matter what happens, no matter what we draft, no matter what state
guidelines come up because AI is so new, we know that we're going to it's going to be an ongoing this is something that's going to be ongoing, you know, and it's going to be a living document and we're going to be learning as we're going because that's what we're doing with AI, right? It's brand new. So
well okay we can take it offline but I mean this isn't corporations have guidelines in place you know we there's there's companies that can help guide us through this very easily. They do it
every day. So like I I'm happy to be part of a conversation if you want. Um but I I think it's worth a special AI like task force chairman. um rather than kind of handling things as a one-off,
looking at it more strategically. No, I I agree and I think that's what Commissioner Parker mentioned that, you know, down the road. I I mean, and it's not going to like you said, it's going to be a one-off. It's going to be as things progress, you know, what ordinances need to change and as the state continues to discuss it, how can we piggy back and make sure that what
the county is doing is in line with what the state is allowing counties to do and how to use it. So, I I I definitely foresee that happening down the road. I think the point of the and again Commissioner I may be wrong Commissioner Barker the point of the resolution was to kind of I guess announce what the county's intentions are without having
concrete ordinances in place. That's right. That's right. And so it was brought up to maybe skip the resolution at one point and we thought about that and talked about that, but we we kind of backtracked on that a little bit and said, "Listen, maybe we should start with the resolution and then build to an
ordinance, you know, and and and again, you're right, uh, Commissioner Ghetto, that's a conversation. These conversations should not be, you know, oneoffs or anything like that. And it needs to be uh some sort of committee or task force. And I think the resolution can kind of help make that happen, I
guess. Um I'm but we do need to move forward. You know I that I that that I do feel I feel strongly about that that we do we don't have the kind of time that I think we imagine we do have. I think this is something that we're going to have to move forward. we should move, you know, forward with at least starting
the process just to protect the county, you know, and I'm not even I'm I'm not even at a point now where I'm talking about how to strategically use it to to you know uh uh you know, kind of streamline services or you I'm not even
talking on that end. I'm just talking about uh on the on the on the end of making sure that we're protected, right? Because if it's being used and there's not a lot of guidelines around it, then you know that just leaves the door open for the county to be liable in so many
different places. And that's just so we we do need to have something coming from legislation. And and that's us. And so we do need to figure out what that's going to be, whether it's a resolution that starts a committee, a task force as being mentioned. And then that task
force now goes in and really digs deep and dives deep into you know what we're going to be doing. uh part of and I I'll say this the training that's going to be on November 12th the retired judge Judge Hedge
uh that's going to be you know talking to us about the ethical side and he's you know drafted a lot of amazing research. I've dug into his research over the last few weeks and, you know, tried to look at what we have, if it
lines up with what uh his research is suggesting we need to have. So, we do have some professionals that are looking at this. Like I said, our attorneys are also looking at it. The county council is looking at it. Um, so we do have some professionals looking at this. It's not just something that's coming from this
this commissioner's board and our professionals are looking at it as well. So, we do have a team, but I think we need to figure out how we're going to formalize that team as uh Commissioner Gat saying it to some sort of committee or task force or something so that that they will be charged with this work and
it's not just kind of happening. So, okay, that's part of what I do every day. So, if you want me to help, I'm happy to help. Absolutely. Sure. By all means. All right. Anything else for the good of the order?
Motion to adjurnn. Move. Second. Second. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Meetings adjourned.
[Music] [Music]