[Music] [Applause] [Music] heat heat
[Music] [Music] at the meeting of the Atlanta County Board of Commissioners is called to
In compliance with the open public meetings act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting of the Atlantic County Board of Commissioners was provided in the following manner published in the press of Atlantic City and mailed to the Hamilton Gazette and has been posted on the bulletin boards in the county office building in Atlantic City the Stillwater building in
Northfield and the county clerk's office in Mlanding please face the flag for pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all just uh prior to the the prayer today Commissioner Ridgley wanted to say a few words thank you before we have our prayer I'd like just a moment of silence for a gentleman who was Atlantic
County's first consumer affairs director his name is Harold Frank Fe he went by Frank Fe he was a treasurer for the city of Lynwood and uh he was also a councilman in Lynwood for many many years and uh he
just passed away recently in our our Meadow View nursing home so just keep that in our thoughts thank you our heavenly father we ask your blessing on this meeting and all those assembled here may our actions be filled with kindness and forbearance and may may we
be ever mindful of our obligations to each other and to thee amen amen amen roll call please commissioner Bertino is unable to attend today commissioner Corsy is attending virtually earns here corsy
present here karna here parker present grizzly here ruff here d here commissioners have had an opportunity to review the minutes from March 4th 2025 i will entertain a motion to adopt the March 4th minutes as presented
second moved in a second please call the role hearns yes corsy yes yes karn yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffw yes daz yes anyone attending in person who would
like to speak regarding an agenda item or a public comment please come to the podium speak into the microphone and state your name in the town where you reside you will be provided up to three minutes to speak if you are attending virtually and like to speak please raise your hand during the agenda item or a public comment at the end i will call
upon your name and a request to unmute will be set sent please state your name and the town you reside you'll be provided up to three minutes to speak resolution 186 please resolution in remembrance of John L carman
second right um are we going to read it terry would like to read that before we do any other comments atlantic County Board of Commissioners resolution in re remembrance of John El Carman whereas a longtime resident of Echarbor Township
John El Karman married the love of his life Joanne and together shared 47 years of marriage blessed by two children and two grandchildren and whereas John L carman spent his early years as an auto mechanic before transitioning to the Carpenters Union in 1978 where he served
as vice president and was employed by Lariazi Concrete Company and Network Construction Company and whereas John L carmen had a love for riding his motorcycle and was proud to serve as treasurer with the American Legion riders post 352 where he worked along
alongside fellow patriots and was always willing to help those in need and whereas with a true passion for public service john El Karman became an Egg Harbor Township Committeeman de served as deputy mayor was a member of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority and
the Egg Harbor Township Planning Board and whereas taking office in January 2015 John El Karman served one term in the Atlanta County Board of Chosen Freeholders representing District 3 and whereas during his tenure as freeholder
John L carmen chaired the homeless public health and environment and roads and bridges committees served as member of the green tree golf course human services parks pinelands review solid waste oversight and veterans affairs committees and represented the freeholder board on many county advisory
boards and commissions and whereas the Carmen family Ecarbor Township and Atlantic County have experienced a great loss with the passing of John El harmon who will be remembered by his family and friends as a selfless man who was always will was always helping others now
therefore be it resolved on this 25th day of March 2025 by the Atlanta County Board of County Commissioners that this board does hereby convey its deepest sympathy on the passing of John El Karman and joins with others in remembrance of a dedicated public servant
thank you Tara are there any commissioner comments at this time mr chairman Commissioner I'd like to speak about my good friend John Carman i served with him on this board i served with him on the township committee everything that was written in
that resolution is just a small reflection of his life and uh his commitment to the city of Egg Harbor Township and to this county i can remember uh him operating a front end
end loader and we were dealing with the u nature reserve when that was in its inception i was down there with my son planting saplings and he was running a front end loader and we were all working together and um that park was uh very
important to John very important to all of us um you know John was the type of guy he would give you his shirt off his back and um he was always kidding around constantly kidding around i could tell
you many stories but this is not the time for stories u was a great guy in every sense of the word he like I say he just uh loves serving and uh I think the the lesson of
the hour is this john and I talked many times about getting together and shooting pool in his home he has a beautiful pool table in his home well we never got around to it we always thought there was plenty of time in our lives
and we never got around shooting pool so that is uh the lesson the year as well and um we're he's going to be very much missed and uh I certainly uh God bless his uh his
family and friends commission thank you any other commissioner comments mr chairman back mr corsy let me take this opportunity first of all to say to the Carmen family we we
certainly appreciate uh the service that he has rendered uh to this county and to his community i got the opportunity to serve with John on the board of freeholders for his one term and the year that they decided to switch chairs they set him next to me uh to keep me
quiet but that didn't work out uh but John and I had some good time together and as as uh Commissioner Rzley said loved the joke and uh always wanted to do the right thing to try to to help people one thing about you never had to question or question where he stood he
let you know from the door and uh you don't find too many people serving in public office that will tell you what they mean and mean what they say uh but John was that kind of person um and so uh this community has certainly lost a a deed uh um a good friend a good leader
that will be able to uh you know go back and think about all the good stuff he's done in this community and certainly for his family so we thank you family for sharing John with us with this community uh may his soul rest in peace but John will live even beyond the grave in the
hearts of men and women and may his soul find rest at the end of the day commissioner Corsy thank you as well any other Commissioner comments mr chairman Commissioner Parker let's see where do I go here i've known the Carmen family for
a very long time i see my friend back there smiling at me uh we won't we definitely will not go into stories about uh the times when we grew up you know we'll leave those for another day around a campfire but I I'll say that Sherry
and I have have went to school together all through the years and in Earbor Township and also graduated the same class of 1996 and so I've known the Karma family like I said probably the majority of my life and
um when I became an adult and somehow got volunttoled to get involved in elective politics and I do mean voluntto um John was definitely one of the people that was sitting around that table
and it seems as though my fate led me into every position that he vacated so when John was leaving somehow I was feeling it and that even stands true with here on the commissioner board as representing the third district i'm sitting now in the seat that he was
serving in when he was a commissioner so we all know John had that beautiful beautiful personality and a sense of humor and I would always joke with John and say "Listen it's your fault that I'm into this mess so here's what you're going to do every year that I run I need
to have a fundraiser and you're gonna host it at your house and he did we had a fundraiser uh his wife I can't see where she's at i saw her in the hall there you go and they were gracious enough to to to host fundraisers for me every time that I ran for the seat and
uh I was actually in conversation with John on holding another fundraiser at your house i don't know if he opened that up to you so surprise we were going to do another one and uh I would always say to John wherever we went I said "Whatever you do
don't tell any jokes you're not funny no one thinks you're funny." And so he would respond with another joke and I'm like "Oh man this guy I don't know what to do with him." But if you knew John you knew that's who he was and I I'll say this also I
learned being someone who grew up in Egg Harbor Township you know hanging out uh before it was so developed where we uh pretty much as kids we played in the woods in Carver Township because there was really nothing else to do out there uh you played sports and you played in
the woods that was it uh John I thought I knew everything about Harvard Township until I started to talk to John and he would pull those maps out and he would tell me things about EHT and I'm like "How do you know this stuff?" You know what I mean like he would just tell me things um about the town that I had no
idea and and introduced me to places in Egg Harbor Township that I would have never ever ever in my wildest dreams stumbled upon and this is coming from someone who was spent 10 years on his owning board and I would have never known these places existed if it wasn't
for John Carmen so that's the kind of person that he was and you know I know you're listening John thank you for all that you've done for me thank you for all that you've done for your community and most of all thank you for what you have done and impact that you made on your family
thank you Commissioner any other commissioner comments at this time i will do um entertain any public comments then we'll call the role and then there's our presentation u we'd like to make to the Carmen family there any public comments hearing none please call the
role yes yes yes kern yes parker yes yes ru yes yes parker will you assist me absolutely We have the Carbon family come forward
you want to come and purchase don't be shy we don't know how you're going to get out okay you're good on behalf of Atlantic County grateful Atlantic County government the 275,000
people that live here the 23 towns that make up Atlantic County we've lost a real gentleman and a real public person that served this county extremely Well and presenting this Mr
parker on behalf of Atlantic County is a Harvard family and we will always remember the Parkland family as [Applause] well
everybody picture time [Music] do you want to say anything actually this this would have meant the world certainly my husband John i appreciate everyone here he put in a lot of time as I know um not just in
meetings through the years but um there's so much more than just the meetings um people put in many hours of their own time dedication to help others and my husband was one of those people
um he really really uh had a really great sense of humor i miss everything i miss his smile just left so if I can Are you Are you still talking no no finish talking no I'm done okay i just I just wanted to add that I
know you know there a few years ago um there was a lot that uh you know that my my dad had gone through um and I'm only bringing that up because most people don't know the story of my parents were actually teenagers when my mom got pregnant with me and so my dad actually
gave up a full scholarship to an automotive design school and decided to go to work right away and he stayed home and for the next 47 years he was my mom's husband before anything else and then the politics and and helping people definitely was right in line with that
but to say that someone you know got together when they were teenagers and then they were able to have that relationship and carry that through for the next almost five decades is something to be said and then while serving the community so thank you so much for recognizing
[Applause] now we're all hopping on a bike and taking a ride right you guys that's right that's what John would really want on a day like this put a ride together
thank you so much thank you thank you okay great be safe thank you guys you got Thank you i'm going to love you all right
thank you again thank you all right at this time I'd like to recognize um women's history month thanks Atlanta County uh advisory commissioner on women and uh June Burns and Commissioner Lever i'm honored to be the commissioner lead
on advisory commission this is a passionate group of women um today we're honoring four Atlanta County amazing women who exemplify the theme of this year's national theme which is moving
forward together women educating and inspiring generations to come so at this time I'd like to call up our chairperson Stephanie Davies she's hugging somebody right now and if our vice chair is here Ruby is
here and anybody else that's from the commission please you know come forward i can't see my ear this is definitely a team effort carla is our community that holds it all together
good afternoon my name is Stephanie Davies as chair of the Atlantic County Commission on Women it is my privilege to stand before you during Women's History Month a time to honor the remarkable contributions of women who have shaped our communities and continue to inspire future generations this year
we have the distinct honor of recognizing four phenomenal women whose dedication and leadership have left a lasting impact first person would be Bonnie Todd Marino a relentless advocate for educational excellence whose
unwavering commitment has enriched the lives of countless students and educators miss Manny G jackson whose century of faith service and education is a testament to the power of dedication and lifelong learning miss
Jenna Cook a champion of justice and community advocate whose work strengthens the fabric of fairness and equity in our county miss Ulene Judy Great whose legacy of service support and empowerment has uplifted individuals
and strengthened our community these women exemplify the very best of Atlantic County and their stories remind us all of the power of perseverance service and leadership as we celebrate them tonight let us be inspired by their
dedication and continue working together to build a stronger and more vibrant community for all because as women and women history is a foundation of our future each generation building on the strength resilience and courage of those
who came before them so thank you for this time and again congratulations to the 49 that was nominated thank you will the honores please come up front all right [Applause]
commissioner are there any other board members in attendance as well that maybe you'd like to come up board members i don't take it a certificate from the Atlanta County Board of Commissioners for you and then Linda
do you want your county executive picture too [Applause] and then Judy again thank you so much thank you for
all that you do as well for all the women of all ages in Atlantic County the Atlantic County Commissioners and County Executives Daniel thank you congratulations [Applause]
you're getting real now call my name can we come over here with the commissioners [Music] commissioner we also have a similar moment Claire Swift and Senator Palestine in attendance so they would you like to come up with as well i was
taking pictures you're good yeah you know you [Music] guys know all right one more sorry thank you
[Applause] we got a I got a video on that the last thing I'd like to say is this this board it's just a very passionate board that um we're lucky that we cover all areas
of Atlantic County and we work really hard when the idea came up to honor women we didn't have a number of how many and four women were nominated and there was no way to pick one two or three so everybody voted unanimously
that these four women were all fabulous and that they all should be honored so thank you [Applause] Mr chair while we're talking about
commission we have an appointment appointment of Romel to the Atlantic County Advisory Commission on Women for a term to expire on February 28th 2028 move second segment are there any commission or comments i think it's an excellent
choice i'm going to have to agree that an excellent choice so thank you for joining the board joining this lovely women and and coming up here and straightening this county out
say what you want to do any other commissioner comments all right any public comment anybody have a public just visiting no you are i'm ask a senator and what about and my buddy
over there Joe B for the last 40 years of my life in this family and even Amy i said you were an excellent choice i was the first one she was first she was first in your own
right i did i'm ask to make a comment they want to make a comment you were made no you got to make a comment who you know how you know you've been nominated i don't know what to say i'm really impressed briefly um on behalf of uh Senator Vince Palestina
Assemblyman uh Don Guardian Assemblyman Don Guardian Assemblywoman Claire Swift we're so proud of you Vern what you've done for the community over the last couple years i also want to congratulate the women that were just honored here for Women's History Month which is March of 2025 so we're so proud of you Vern i
know it's been a long time but um you're doing a great job and we have confidence that you're going to continue to do great things for Atlantic County best county in the state of New Jersey thank you [Applause]
do I need to say something i appreciate I appreciate the Thank you for truly retiring from a lot of things over the years uh I've been every day I get a text and come somewhere or every my email is something's going on vern
can you come sure i'm going to go anything that has to do with the county advisory board as far as women county women center I've been a part of for many years and it comes to the seniors children's education and just helping
people in the sense of we always make this place a benefit so that's what thank you thank you Tara please call the role Burns yes corsy Yes karna yes parker absolutely grizzly
yes ruff yes yes very congratulations and thank you thank you five Atlanta County budget final reading second move second are there any commissioner comments at this time i'd just like to say Mr chairman that
uh administration kept us up to date the budget process throughout the whole process very satisfied with the way things have worked out it's uh troubling when you're you're facing these huge insurance increases and other increases
to try to maintain the tax rate many of us have served on local governing bodies and we know how tough it is for the boards of education and the cities to hold the line it's very difficult we
here in the county have been pretty successful in holding the line and uh we're we're down about a penny or so on the rate and uh we have our administrator with us tonight and uh I'm sure he's got a chart and some
information for us jerry I think probably went through this with me today so you want to go to go through some of those oh this is your quiz no not really look at the budget for for up roughly
eight and a half million dollars so just do this because I I go out to you know number of groups commissioner of course he has two or three groups in any city that he has me go to so basically if you look quickly the eight the eight half million dollars is you have $4.6 million
public safety and medave so it's prosecutor the sheriff the jail and view are are your are your key components in salary and wage and other expenses and you'll see we have three statutory accounts that we
have with the statutory one big you'll see is 3.6 million so you'll see there's 8.2 million in those those two uh two areas where statutory one obviously is health benefits you know is up again even though the county has gotten
approval to have an open enrollment we're going to hopefully have a number of people go through and sign up for it's you remember it's the 2035 plan with a a health resource
account where the county would be paying for all of the co-pays the big the big issue here is the fact that you don't know how many people are going to register so we put enough money in to cover ourselves for uh depending on how many people register
so that that's you you'll see that number right there and then you know the other big number you'll see is that every year county has what we call it's a psychiatric account that we pay for individuals that are indigent that have psychiatric help in the county you'll
see that that number is up we pay roughly $4.5 million a year this year it's up about threequarters of a million dollars that's that's basically I mean in in in and I know when we go through the committee there's a lot more accounts that you see but in order to in
order to get to these these few accounts that means we're cutting somebody else in order to pay for these these major accounts yes well we we've held the line here in the county and we've always appropriated just half
of our surplus into the following year which I think is a uh basically a keystone of our our success here in Atlantic County we don't rate surplus like other towns and counties do we just appropriate exactly half and that
philosophy has worked out very well for us over the years and 5.1 million just as an information point equals a cent on the rate county budget we've had moderate growth in our ratables
which certainly helps us as well thank you Jerry thank you commissioners any other commissioner comments at this time mr jerry just for the public's sake Jerry could you kind of explain because I did get this
question how the tax rate is going down but we're bringing in more revenue or more um uh we're increasing the money that we're collecting and how that works i think it has something to do with the the the value of the properties going up
or something so the formula is you know you take your amount to be raised by taxation by the equalized value so that equalized value goes up which is the denominator and you know your
numerator stays pretty steady it goes up it goes up a little bit and you hear equalized value goes up it's been up you know John said it's moderate but it's been moderate over the course of the last three years so it's it's it's up pretty substantially
obviously we we we talk about that in in the budget subcommittee that number that number is up to roughly 51.2 billion so that's you know that that number is up we we hold the line pretty
much on the amount we raised by taxation i mean it goes up but but it doesn't go up as much as the denominator and that's where you where you get that big tax you know decrease we're down about to over two two and a half cents this year we're down to like 36
cents that's that's a whole another one i mean that's really one that I think you know would want to have the tax administrator come in and really go through all the functions there's that's one function there are other functions that they have to look at in order to to
to derive what the taxes are in in the county as as that ratio you know you know that ratio goes down we talked about this as that goes down value of the housing goes up as it goes down substantially then value of the housing
goes up substantially so I I I would tell you that right right now there I believe there's only one one municipality I think is even close to 90% everybody's under 90% right now and there's at least a couple couple
of uh towns with ratios you know in the uh 5060s one one to 50 mark dates at roughly 50 so that means any any house there million dollar house is probably valued probably $2 million that he go and that's why we're that's why the
shared services committee is is looking at the county based assessment option to try to help the towns because it's such an expensive endeavor to uh do a reassessment and or a revaluation whatever it is to Yeah thank all of
you that have the ad tax administrator come in maybe help me explain the equalized value that's how each town is going to determine this the county budget's impact on their their citizenship so go out and you make presentations i brought that with me i mean it's not not
for today's conversation but when you when you go out there and you start telling homeowners the books were still you can't read i mean they flock to you i mean it really is it's amazing if people really do not understand that that's right it's really
hard though to be fair i mean I've been in this for 20 years and I still think it's very hard to explain that's right i'm not explain the burden is the burden okay the burden is that and depending upon
how you spread it out is your ratables if the county is growing with residential and commercial ratables hopefully more commercial than residential um you're going to get a larger tax base that's what it comes down to
and and the ironic thing is when you look at your DAX we'll say I mean today you'll see I mean I I'm telling you that legitimately if you go to the you go to the they have a table that they print out every single
year at the the tax office you go to the back page it will tell you that the county tax rate the general purpose tax will be they take it out more digits but it'll be.3661 so we're telling you we're down
2.3 cents 36 cents they'll she will sign that document that says we're 36 cents not one not one municipality will be at 36 cents those those at for example those at at that 50% they're going to be paying like
72 73 cents and that's why you you hear Denny all the time say he gets a phone call saying Denny you said it's 36 cents why am I why am I paying 72 cents gets back into the whole concept of who's doing reassessing revaluations
in the towns who's not how and how what do you what what is the tax assessor allowing a house to be sold for you know if if the general cost of housing is 200,000 and the sell houses were half a million dollars you know you know that
ratio is significant thank you Jerry any other commissioner comments is there any public comment at this time all right Jar please call the role karns yes
corsy Gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzley yes ruffio yes yes resolution 121 atlanta County Public Health Agency annual budget notice 2025 final reading so move second move seconded any
commissioner comments at this time any public comments all right please call the role burns yes corsy gau yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffw yes daz yes resolution 122
Atlanta County Library annual budget notice 2025 final reading move second it's been seconded any commissioner comments any public comment all right please call the role burns yes corsy gat yes kerna yes parker yes grizzly yes
rafu yes d yes commission Commissioner Kern wants to know that you can leave at any moment at this point wait till we were done the budget that's what I was gonna go for all right that's fine um where are we assemblywoman Swift
Assemblywoman that that didn't include you resolution 124 resolution to exceed the county budget appropriation limits and to establish a 2025 CAP Bank NJSA4A 4-45.14 final reading move second we
have been seconded any commissioner comments any public comment please call the role burns yes corsy gat yes karn yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes d yes resolution 148
annual open space trust fund tax 2025 first reading second are there any commissioner comments at this time right and since this is the first reading there's no public comment um please call the role burns yes corsy
yes karna yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes d yes resolution 149 please grant application and acceptance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the fiscal year 2025 county Environmental Health
Act grant funded amount $241,324 county incind match $163,779 second any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right please call the role burns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes
rafia yes d yes resolution 150 grant application and acceptance from the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services for the Training and Technical Assistance Grant Program amount not to exceed $5,000 second moved and seconded any commissioner comments
anyone from the public can you please call the role burns yes gate yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes daz yes resolution 151 grant application and acceptance from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety for the Atlantic Cape May counties community
traffic safety programs amount not to exceed $275,000 second then seconded any commissioner comments anyone from the public please call the role burns yes gate yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes
rafio yes d yes resolution 152 grant application and acceptance from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety for the Atlantic Cape May counties impaired driving programs amount not to exceed $236,000 move second move and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from
the public please call the RO burns yes gat yes karn yes parker yes grizzley yes ruff yes resolution 153 grant application and acceptance from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety for the Atlantic Cape May Countyy's distracted
driving programs amount not to exceed $115,000 second any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right let's call the RO burns yes gatau yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes yes
resolution 154 grant application and acceptance from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety for the Atlantic Cape May county's non-motorized bicycle pedestrian programs amount not to exceed $139,600 move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments anyone from the
public all right please call the role burns yes gate yes karn yes parker yes grizzly yes rafio yes d yes resolution 155 grant application and acceptance from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety for the Atlantic Cape May
counties occupant protection programs amount not to exceed $119,900 move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments anyone from the public all right please call the role burns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzley yes
rafio yes resolution 156 amending resolution number 335 adopt on July 2nd 2024 a grant from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development for the Work First New Jersey funding net increase $500,000
move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments anyone for the public all right please call the role burns yes gat yes karn yes parker yes grizzly yes rafio yes d yes resolution
157 renewal competitive contract with Jewish Family Services for the provision of discharge planning and re-entry services to inmates of the Atlantic County Justice Facility amount not to exceed $1,33,808 move second moved and seconded any
commissioner comments comments from the public please call the role burns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes raf yes yes resolution 158 bid contract with South State Incorporated for roadway
improvements to Union Road County Route 671 in Buuna Vista Township amount not to exceed $1,78,532.73 so moved second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right please call the RO burns yes
gat yes kern yes barker yes grizzley yes ruff yes daz yes resolution 159 contract with Triricare at Inspira Limited Liability Company for medical transport for Meadow View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center amount not to
exceed $60,000 second any commissioner comments anyone from the public call the RO burns yes gate yes kern yes parker yes grizzley yes ruff yes d yes resolution 160 change
order number two a contract with Electric Tech Incorporated for phase 3 light fixture replacement project at the Atlanta County Justice Facility to extend the term date only no additional cost move second move and seconded any commissioner
comments any comments from the public all right call the role burns yes gat yes karn yes parker yes grizzley yes rafio yes d yes resolution 161 change order number one a contract with Elf Ferazzi Concrete Company for the
resurfacing of Brigantine Avenue section 2B through 2C County Route 638 in the city of Brigantine net increase $77,752.35 move second any commissioner comments anyone from the public please call the RO burns yes gat yes karna yes
parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes yes resolution 162 change order number three a contract with South State Incorporated for the 2022 drainage improvement project net increase $8,19510 second move and seconded commissioner
comments any public comments all right please call the role burns yes ghetto yes karn yes parker yes grizzly yes rafio yes d yes resolution 163 lease agreement with the city of Pleasantville for library facilities amount not to
exceed $65,000 second you have then seconded any commissioner comments comments from the public all right please call the RO burns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ralph yes
yes resolution 164 resolution authorizing the city of Lynwood and the Hamilton Board of Education to enter into the Atlantic County Commodity Resale system agreement move second second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from
the public please call the role ferns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes resolution 165 interlocal agreement with the Atlanta County Improvement Authority for the administration of the 2024 community
development block grant and the 2024 home investment partnership program amount not to exceed 1,833,235.90 second any commissioner comments public comments all right please call the role burns yes gat yes
kern yes parker yes grizzley yes rafu yes yes resolution 166 discharge agreement with Offshore Developers Incorporated and Chauffeur Enterprises pertaining to the Delila Road Transportation Development District
second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the role burns yes gate yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes resolution 167 amending
resolution number 492 adopt on September 17 2024 an emergency agreement with Zraar Limited liability company doing business as reimbursement reimagined for the provision of MDS support for Meview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to extend the term date net increase
$21,000 second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right please call the role burns yes yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes
resolution 168 resolution authorizing the county to make purchases through the state of New Jerseys cooperative purchasing program amount not to exceed $18,162,000 second moved and seconded any commissioner comments anyone from the public
please call the role burns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes yes resolution 169 amending resolution number 131 adopted on March 26 2024 authorizing the county to make purchases through the state of New Jerseys
cooperative purchasing program net increase $1,530,67826 move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public i have please call the role burns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes
rafio yes please yes resolution 170 shared services agreements with the cities of Abssean Atlantic City Brigantine Egg Harbor and the townships of Egg Harbor and Hamilton regarding the use of portable traffic lights on an as needed basis second moved and seconded
any commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the RO hearns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes yes resolution 171 intergovernmental
agreement with Ruckers University School of Dental Medicine for the provision of dental services for Atlantic County residents at the JH Cronin Dental Center and the University Dental Center amount not to exceed $50,000 second move and seconded any commissioner comments on this resolution
any comments from the public all right please call the RO burns yes gat yes kern yes parker Grizzly yes rafio yes yes resolution 172 amending resolution number 114 adopt on February 18 2025 an
alternate method contract with Charles Wallace and Associates to provide project management services under the Work First New Jersey temporary assistance for needy families innovations in Initiative Program to amend the term of the agreement amount not to exceed $50,000 move second moved
and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right please call the role ferns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes d yes resolution 173 interlocal agreement with the South Jersey Transportation Authority for the
continuation of community shuttle services along the Route 5440 corridor between Richland and Hamilton amount not to exceed $141,8759 move moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right call the role burns
yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff D yes resolution 174 resolution approving the Atlanta County Youth Services Commission's updated bylaws moved second moved and seconded any commissioner comments comments from the
public please call the role burns yes ghetto yes karn yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes baze yes resolution 175 amending resolution number 438 adopted on August 15 2023 an agreement with the Atlantic County Utilities Authority for
routine maintenance and emergency response and repair services of various pumping stations net increase $9,472 move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments anyone from the public please call the RO burns yes gat
yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes days yes resolution 176 amending resolution number 142 adopt on March 4th 2025 an account service agreement with EB employee solutions limited liability company for HRA
administration through the use of the difference card and other medical benefit consultant services to specify account locations no additional costs move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments anyone from the public all
right please call the role erns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes d yes resolution 177 amending resolution number 143 adopt on March 4th 2025 authorizing the county executive to offer a plan option which includes a
self-funded HRA to be administered through the use of the difference card and other medical benefit consultant services to specify account locations no additional cost move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right
please call the RO burns yes gate yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes yes resolution 178 amending resolution number 62 adopt on February 4th 2025 a professional services agreement to add an attorney to the list
of municipal public defenders in the Central Municipal Court of Atlantic County amount not to exceed $81,120 move second moved and seconded any commissioner comments just want to say glad to see Frank getting added to that list he uh he served Hamilton Towns for
many years very well and uh he's he's a great public defender so glad to see him going great any other county commissioner comments anyone from the public all right please call the role berns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff
yes all right moving on to chapter 159 to entertain a motion to combine combine and adopt resolutions 179 through 182 moved second moved and seconded i just do all those in favor i
All right moving on resolution 183 no 184 we did four three 184 reappoint of Mona C thally to the Atlanta County Advisory Commission on Women for a term to expire on February 28 2028 moved second we have been seconded are there any commissioner
comments anyone from the public is Miss Tally online or No all right Mr chair i'll say thank you to Miss uh Tally for volunteering for one of our advisory
commissions or boards or it's always nice to have people that are willing to volunteer all right sounds good thank you definitely needed more public input the better sometimes resolution 185
oh jeez sorry you got to vote on 18 we didn't do that yet just trying to get through there sorry got ahead of me all right roll call please 184 Burns back shadow yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ruff
yes you threw me off when you went back to Commissioner Collins resolution 185 authorizing consent for a roadway solicitation event by Abssein Blue Devils at the intersection of New Jersey Avenue County Route 601 and Mill Road County Route 651 in the city of Abssein
on Saturday May 17 2025 from 8:00 a.m to 3 p.m and Sunday May 1825 from 8:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public all right please call the role erns yes gat yes kern yes
parker yes grizzly yes ruff yes all right and 186 was brought to the top before the next couple um commission resolutions this is a new a new process jerry is there Can you explain why we're being asked to do a resolution support
of these i wasn't involved in Okay i wasn't involved i'm not sure no I mean so the request came from from Mr rotella but I I know that there's some discussion on uh some of these in a roads and bridges meeting too going
through federal funding and this is apparently it's a new process that guess the federal government's requiring more um I guess local support um I think he's going to congressman right congressman Van
Drew has his always said he wants a resolution yeah okay okay it had justly a different process of where it was coming from it went to uh the tourism and economic development committee as well so all the members there right so with these
resolutions I guess the goal is to have a a committee look at them first before they make it onto the agenda so moving on to resolution 187 resolution supporting community project funding application for the Abseen Lighthouse Restoration Sponsor Moren Kern
second moved and seconded any commissioner comments no just saying I don't have anybody okay um any comments from the public all right please call the role hearns yes gat yes kern yes parker yes grizzly yes ralph
yes d yes and resolution 188 resolution supporting community project funding application for the reconstruction of the Vetner boardwalk sponsor Moren Kern second seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public right please call the role burns yes
gate yes karn yes parker yes grizzly yes ruffio yes d yes resolution 189 resolution supporting community project funding application for the improvements to the Atlantic City Boardwalk uh sponsor Morin K
second any commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the role burns yes gate yes kern yes parker yes grizzley yes rio yes yes resolution 190 resolution supporting community project funding application for Bay
Avenue streetscape improvements in the city of Summers Point sponsor Amy Elgato second moved and seconded any commissioner comments any comments from the public i please call the role hearns yes gat yes kern
yes parker yes grizzly yes rafio yes d yes and resolution 191 resolution supporting community project funding application for lighthouse circle circulation improvements in the city of Brigantine sponsor Amy Elgato move second moved and seconded any
commissioner comments any comments from the public please call the role burns yes gat yes karn yes parker yes grizzley yes ruff yes d yes all right that concludes the written part of the agenda we've all received copies of written
communications and petitions are there any commissioner comments on any of those at this time um Mr chair just just on those um all those applications uh resolutions we just did um I just wonder as part of our process since our state reps are sitting here um you know I
think we forward them a copy automatically but um you know if maybe we get letters of support from that state level over to Haden too um you know I don't know how much of a help but certainly a great way for us to continue to work together right yeah this is a new procedure so I guess you're looking for as much local community support as
we can get so be great and then Jerry don't forget I want us to also apply for this next year for the Lake Lenipe White House as a backup to our LEAP application uh for potential funding there um so if
we can put that on I think we talked about that in some subcommittee yeah yeah okay all right any other commissioner comments on written communications and petitions any reports of special committees of the board mr chair special committee of the
board um I guess we just deemed ourselves a special committee uh Commissioner Corsy and I and I'm not sure if he's still on but uh we were um honored to get to meet with the uh DOT commissioner the New Jersey uh DOT
commissioner uh last week we met at two locations the first one was at uh on Route 322 um between Atlantic City Pleasantville Acar Township we met at that Holiday in there um we had officers
from each of those municipalities uh attend with us some county staff um and kind of bringing to light the traffic concerns there um in addition to separate conversation of like flooding concerns that we've had there um but
traffic concerns and specifically pedestrian safety uh concerns and um as luck would have it while we were there um some things that we wanted to bring to light happened like a a you know bus coming people getting off the bus and
attempting to traverse that highway um so uh he got a kind of firsthand view of that um which was good so I think we had a productive conversation there uh in terms of some options the officers were very well prepared and had some really great um solutions to offer to the
commissioner um the commissioner brought um a couple of other uh state uh employees from his office who were taking copious notes um which was great and then after that we headed over to my favorite intersection in the county uh
Cologne Avenue and White Horse Pike uh and stood in front of Bulldogs and showed him the um orange construction netting that has been up for I think two or three years now um took him through the seven-year process that we're now on
to get the safety improvements to that intersection um reminded him that it was deemed um the I think it was the seventh deadliest intersection in the state of New Jersey um or most dangerous I should say and
then um I think it was 88th on pedestrian uh safety um and had the actual project manager out there as well um had some commitments that the project would finally be done by the end of
April 2025 um everybody I think if you know you drive past it you see those lights are just sitting there with bags on them ready to be swung the bags have had to be replaced several times because they've been hanging there so long um and uh you know we've we've reached out
for help uh through our senator's office um for the help the hold up at uh Atlantic City Electric during that project to to keep things moving along so you know it's been all hands on deck and uh I think again Galloway police was also there um very well prepared um and
I think he got the message loud and clear i think he was actually getting a little frustrated with me um but got the message and he did make a commitment three times because I said don't say it if if it's not going to happen three times he said the end of April so
fingers crossed all right we'll see what happens but uh uh Commissioner Corsy did tell him or warn him I guess that uh if there's no activity happening in the month of April that I will be on the phone so I wish I could have made it but I knew Yeah and it was in good hands
with with Commissioner Corsy so yeah it's tough during the day but uh it was important and uh uh I think it was a very productive conversation so Oh sounds good and I'll keep my fingers toes crossed thank you any other um Mr
chair yes sir uh the Black Heritage Trail deadline has been extended submit a letter of intent to the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail for uh the May 2025 nomination cycle submit a letter of
intent to NJ Blackheritage Trail at sos.nj.gov by March 31st it says but they've extended it so that the time has been extended to get that in i know there were a few sites that we were considering in our culture and heritage
uh advisory board or committee whatever it's called uh we were thinking about getting some more sites in and there was some conversations even uh at the key city betterment history wall unveiling there was a professor at Stockton that gave us so much information that none of
us knew and uh so he's going to be working with us to try to identify those um historically significant areas in our county sounds good is that information online somewhere or I can send I'll send it to you all right i'll send it to Tara
and Terry to send it to everyone are there any other reports of special committees or divorce right any unfinished business mr chairman Commissioner Corsy I'm sorry my phone's at the office went
out so I had to run and get on to another line i missed most of the meeting i'm sorry about that but I wanted to just talk I don't know if Commissioner Amy Gat talked about our meeting with DOT uh regarding I just Yep i just gave a extensive update kamsh
I appreciate I'm sorry I couldn't get Yeah no worries i'm I'm sure you did look like Amy's is going to be done quicker than everybody else's but that's seven years in the work it should be um Mr chairman if I may uh through you I noted most of us if not all of us uh
received a letter from the county executive that talked about the rates of the Atlantic City Electric Company and again somebody might have brought I'm sorry getting back on um that we probably need to to address uh not that we need to follow the lead of everybody
else but I noticed in his letter it talked about Kick Bay County and Senator Tester and um I believe Congressman Van Drew uh talked about uh the Atlantic City electric rates um maybe is something we need to really take a look at i did reach out strike at uh I was
reached out by a attorney who represents the Atlantic City Electric Company and wanted to know what was the commissioner's feelings on it and I made it very clear I don't know because I have not talked to the commissioners about what they thought about it i know that all of us are feeling the pain of
the increases whether it's the electric company the gas company is no different than the gas pump and the supermarket and people have to choose between paying those high bills medicine rent etc etc so the list goes on and so I'm asking the chairman uh if it's possible that we
can uh have a meeting put together with the representative of Atlantic City Electric to come out and explain uh their side of the story uh because the residents don't know what's going on and we're not going to my personal opinion is we're not going to put them in front of um a firing squad uh so to speak and
have them come to a commissioner's meeting and get beat up i think the appropriate thing to do is come before committee make their case we go back and decide we're going to present a resolution uh as well as the congressman has done um moving forward uh I made it
very clear I couldn't make no promises uh but I would make that pitch uh to the commissioners as well as to the chairman and uh we'd like to see uh that meeting happen sooner rather than later and if we're going to move forward with a resolution uh which I would probably be
be inclined to support uh and sponsor but I think we should let them come in and make their pitch uh before a committee if that's okay with the chairman and members of the comm uh commission yeah Commissioner Cy I mean I'm fine with that i'm just you know of course one member but I you know we did pass the one resolution supporting
Venu's cause on the BPU to withhold any other additional increases and I believe Commissioner Parker you reached out to me today about the uh county executive's email absolutely you know and and the the equity plan I guess it's being called i think we definitely need more information about that to base uh what
someone is paying on um on their income as opposed to their usage just I don't think that sounds good to anyone in this room right now so I I'm not sure what's going on with that plan but I think someone needs to come in and explain it and uh if as it sits
you know I agree with Horsey um I I stand ready to support a resolution against anything that even sounds like that so that's just where I stand okay if we can get that to a committee and set that up um ASAP i know we have a another meeting next week uh
commissioner meeting so won't be before that but um we'll get that looked into as soon as possible definitely thank you Commissioner chairman if I if I may Mr chairman if we can squeeze in before the next meeting that would be great the other thing is is I want to be very
clear when folks call and tell me they're representing and and just as my personal opinion they call and they representing a company and they talk about stakeholders i'll be perfectly honest with each one of you i really don't give a rat's ass about the stakeholders because they can't relate to the people who's struggling to pay
the bill to make sure the lights are not all all cut off the gas is not cut off and again have to pick between paying for medicine or food because they they don't feel the crunch and yes BPU and all the rest of them get the opportunity to um pass vote yes or no for increases
but these increases are becoming too much like gas prices that one year hit us what 12 cent or whatever that big number was out of the blue um so we talk about you know running for office and then we gonna lower the the food prices that never happened we we got to say
what we mean and mean what we say and again I believe after talking to uh Ly Levenson who's representing and I got this permission from him uh Loy Levenson who represents the Atlantic City elected uh representatives that would be willing to come in and speak to the commissioner so I'm asking you if we can find
sometime next week to make that happen it'd be greatly appreciated like I said I I'll try to send it to I guess the budget administration committee would be an option um after the meeting I'll sit down and we'll discuss that and like I said get it together ASAP um but the next commissioner meeting is one week from
today so I know I appreciate that thank you so much and thank the commissioners and I hope they would join in at least get the information definitely thank you i no doubt I mean I think the mayor's association's talked about bringing this issue up as well at
their next meeting so um any other unfinished business yes Commissioner yeah on on this topic you know on the surface what Mr parker was talking about and it sounds like socialism i don't know what what kind of a program they're
going to present but um you know it's u these rate hikes are brutal and you know they need to be spread out over many many many years i mean we can't fix our nation's energy policy here in in five
minutes in this room but um we need a lot more information on this topic and uh I'm looking forward to getting that information on another topic under unfinished business i just want to
comment about the sheriff and the our prosecutor and anybody else who represented the the county at that Senate committee hearing i understand it was three hours and apparently we've made some inroads and we've got some
people to sit up and take notice to our situation here in Atlantic County which is uh very very serious as we know so I think the press article was great by the way and then delineated the whole the issue did a very good job with
that and hopefully there'll be some meaningful changes with the juvenile justice commission yeah thank you uh commissioner oh there's there's been one change they've changed their name yeah I know that so that's the important part I guess yeah I was I was at a meeting last night with
Sheriff O'Donn pretty pretty forceful aggressive and and adamant that we need changes and meet them uh fast yes so um since new business is kind of blended with unfinished business is there any other new business hearing none anyone attending in person
that would like to speak now at public comment please come to the podium speak into the microphone and state your name and the town you reside if you're attending virtually and would like to make a public comment please raise your hand i will call upon your name request to unmute and a request to unmute will be sent please state your name and the town you reside you'll be provided up to
three minutes to speak anyone from the public senator Palina yes Mr chairman thank you very much vince Palina Eggbert Township so I follow the rules may uh I may need more than three minutes though i have to speak very
slowly with some of this stuff because there's a certain person who apparently doesn't understand or doesn't can't fathom what I say sometimes i just want to say on Atlantic Electric real quickly um interesting to hear people complain about
this we have the Democrats in this country and in this state have stopped traditional energy production in the state they have shuttered traditional power plants we don't produce power anymore couple that with spending
billions of dollars between cash and tax breaks for this offshore wind debacle and it's no wonder that rates are going to go up we are now buying power from Pennsylvania which is
produced through coal fired plants it has been a sham continues to be a sham and unfortunately our residents are having to deal with paying for it and in the short term you know I've met with the president of Atlantic Lecture i've met with the president of Exalon short
term uh our residents are going to face the consequences of what are really disastrous policies as it relates to domestic energy production u so that's just an aside the equity thing you know we had in New Jersey for whatever reason
now we always try to follow California california did something like this and so it got into a report that the BPU considered adopted but there is a statement in there that says it is not happening in the short term we all know that is ridiculous um we're going to get
a new governor come 2026 and hopefully a lot of things are going to change as it relates to energy in the state of New Jersey couple questions Mr chairman if I could okay through you okay we talked uh we talked the three weeks ago about the one
engineering contract and I want to make clear because again you know it'll be spewed on talk radio all this stuff i did not bid this contract i don't do this work i would never bid anything related to what we are talking about here i am curious uh because we at least
I maybe you were lied to or misled on the resolution about the location of the company where are they from well there were a lot of questions regarding this at the the roads and bridges meeting uh I mean Jerry we went back and forth on this um ultimately
what I mean what was the final answer we talked about the I don't think anybody lied right the original the original said they were from town Pennsylvania period end the conversation that's their home base they have locations in New in New Jersey they have at least four or
five one of them was in Glass Barrow county Council actually called Hutstown office just to make sure why there was nobody there though it was listed and they they explained they they had people there they they actually
physically moved because the lease wasn't renewed and they moved everybody to death so that was explained to your roads and bridges committee right and county council was at that meeting but it's like and it's like as we say ask
the state senator ask any state that either assemblyman or senator purchasing laws in New Jersey require you when you bid regardless of what you think I think the world thinks state senator thinks the the law says the lowest responsible
bidder that's what you got to take and there are there are five exceptions to taking the bid county council will go through with them if you want to so Pottstown New Jersey and by the way we we've gone through this you can be in California you can be any as long as you
can provide the service and you bid and you're the lowest responsible bidder we've got to take it that's that's what the state says so you know I don't know what to tell you just like they've shuttered electric plants they told us that's all we got to do we got to take those bids out i don't know what it is
thanks Jerry thank you Mr chairman jerry Daso is a wonderful man and so I I don't want to be critical of anybody but that is not the case you this process went through a qualification process this company from apparently Pottstown
Pennsylvania was the top rated company that is the only company that we got a price from i confirmed with the second lowest bidder that no price was obtained from this or the second qualified person so we never received bids on this we did a qualification process we received bids
now those bids as I mentioned last time and I was asking about the total construction contract were 16% of the construction it's obscene in the industry there's way more than county pack the county taxpayers should be paying for the work it's about a
million dollar contract think about it 16% when you have a million dollars you're gonna pay $160,000 for somebody to stand there and watch it it is not right we are not spending county tax dollars
appropriately responsibly and apparently it's going to a company in Pottstown Pennsylvania when the second ranked company has an office in Pleasantville i will just also note because I do talk to the contractors and the engineers the
contractor believes that the project is going to take about 30 days now I asked John MTO who was one of the engineers in the engineering department the day after the last meeting I emailed him with a series of questions about this maybe we wouldn't be talking about it now but I got no
response so I was you know March 5th March 6th whatever the dates were john MTO responded in one hour and said received the county engineer is going to prepare a response uh to this day I haven't gotten a response so when I
asked the contractor because the county is not responding how long is it going to take they said about 30 days total construction time now it's going to be you know an estimate right now but 30 days on $160,000 contract about $5,000 a
day $600 an hour ridiculous it is absolutely ridiculous and you know whatever we need to do I think we need to get it cleaned up and I will also note finally on this
topic because lied misled the resolution said Glassboro the company's not in Glboro i asked about proximity location because why would we not look at Atlantic County companies and Atlantic County people it's what I've been saying
since 2021 we're going to focus on So I didn't get a response to that either i asked the Department of Transportation about this proximity issue and they said "No when you do your rankings and you do your charts you can't assign 10 points for having Atlantic County office in the
ranking system." But you absolutely if there are four reviewers reviewing this they absolutely can take a look at location and they can factor in location into the decision-making process and so again I will say to Atlanta County Atlantic County commissioners Atlantic
County administration this county needs to focus on Atlantic County businesses and Atlantic County people this notion that we are just going to accept being the second poorest county in the state has got to end and this is one of the re one
of the ways that we can end it next thing I just want to mention real quickly hopefully now that we're beyond it and anybody wants to interrupt or ask questions or disagree please feel free the sad saga in Atlantic County's
history of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority i just want to first note that November 12th I came here marvin Embry the chair of the board Matt Denafo the president of the ACA were both here in attendance
and I told you at a very spirited meeting with Matt Denafo we let each other know how we felt about the situation and that we were going to work together to try to get the situation resolved now after
that meeting all Matt Denafo the president of the ACUA and Marvin Embry the chair of the board had to do was go back to their employees and say "We met with the county commissioners we met with the senator and we're all working together to try to get this done."
Instead we got a two or three month ridiculously uh long saga about nothing that saga basically culminated with the county executive on the radio and I have had members of law enforcement tell me
they had to pull over their car saying that he called the president of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority this is the county executive now calling the president of the ACUA and telling him to give out contracts in order to try to
get this situation put behind us that is borderline illegal certainly unethical it is an independent authority with an independent board and in no scenario whatsoever should the county executive be trying to tell the president of the
ACA how to give out contracts i asked you and of course as you know now I asked Matt Dafo about the conversation he said it never happened county executive never caught him do that did that someone is lying and I want to know what the situation is with that and I
asked you to do the investigation and get me the answers as to what happened with that entire saga because that was inappropriate and should never be talked about like that so I'd appreciate if you would consider that and getting the
answers that I have asked for finally the most important thing and this is the one that is really critical everything else I've kind of just let go just keep doing the job this one is too important for us not to work together and try to
collaborate on and it relates to Atlantic City and you have all been here and you have all watched what has happened in Atlantic City had a monopoly for a lot of years unfortunately when the monopoly ended uh you know 2006 2007
we have had some challenging times last year one of the worst with crime with losing the outdoor events with losing the air show uh everybody who drives through Atlantic City recognizes it is one of the most challenging times in our
history and we know we have New York Gaming on the horizon we know when we went through the highest foreclosure rate in the country in this county what the impact of having those properties closed was and we are facing it again
and so I have been working extremely hard and I want to thank Joe Berg who has been at your meetings probably the chief of staff and the senator probably at more commissioner meetings than anyone in history because this is so important i want to thank Joe because he lives it with me all the time we have
worked extremely hard to try to build collaboration coordination with everyone that has any type of role in Atlantic City i have met with the governor as recently as last Friday when he hosted a round table with a bunch of the entities
that have an interest in Atlantic City uh and that have a role to try to turn this around very good meeting you saw this start to happen last week when it was announced that the CRDA had committed $3 million for the police force to cover
Pacific Avenue and the boardwalk in the tourism area that is one of the components of what we have been talking about try to increase public safety increase cleanliness get the place lit up just as an aside I know lighting was
a big thing uh last time when I said I wouldn't the county maybe take a lead when you're working with Atlantic Electric try to get the lights turned on in Atlantic City you don't have to worry about that because the governor last week also met with Atlantic Electric and they're working on that so we can take the lights hopefully off the county's
table so we don't have to worry about him going out after I said the county should take a leadership role him going out and saying that I wanted to bring in teen taxpayers to turn the lights on not the case um but that being aside safety cleanliness well lit it started now
other things we talked about Renaissance Plaza crimeridden druginfested one of the worst areas of Atlantic City we are uh we are in pretty good shape to have an agreement to purchase that turn it into a supermarket with space for
Atlantic Care the homelessness and the social services in the city of Atlantic City we are talking to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission talk about collaborating with Atlantic Care to bring it all under the Atlantic Care umbrella as they are the ultimate provider when people have
mental health or drug issues or alcohol issues and so that also is in process governor came down here he has agreed with everything that we're trying to get done he has 10 months and we really want to move the ball forward drexal School
of Medicine Stockton School of Nursing Stockton School of Social Work with the buildout of the Atlantic City campus all underway and in a point where this year in these 10 months we would like to see them done and so there are a lot of things where Atlantic City people have
always been retreating to their own silo doing their own things whether it's social services or whatever else we didn't always get the collaboration the coordination the communication we need that has to end and as it relates to
Atlantic County the financial aspects of the pilot the investment alternative taxes and the state takeover are incredibly critical to the future of Atlantic City pilot is the one that has generated the most attention because of what's
going on um I do want to note as I said last time I believe the county needs to take a better leadership role the county of Atlantic through the pilot the payment in LA taxes just the nine casino properties it's $18
million from non-casino taxpayers county of Atlantic gets $14 million it is a total of $32 million that Atlantic City is giving to Atlantic County we have witnessed these 25 years of issues and
challenges and decline in Atlantic City and I will tell you that the county needs to take more of a role in getting out of the silo building a partnership and collaborating with all of us that want to see Atlantic City flourish and
succeed i know Commissioner Gatau you told me there were four pages of things that county does for Atlantic City again three weeks seen nothing i know a lot of the things you do for Atlantic City i know Meals on Wheels was mentioned i know you know the welfare office and
everything going on over there uh is a huge thing that the county does i get it but there is funding for a lot of those things through the casino revenue fund separate from the $32 million I'm talking about and so what we're talking about now at the end of this I know way
over three minutes but again incredibly important i want to see us really collaborate with the county with the sheriff's office the network of law enforcement that we can produce with state police with county sheriffs with ACPD with casino security we can make
this city clean safe well lit we must do it and on this one I'm not going to stop i'm not going to back down this is too important in these next 10 months to the people of this county to the people of this city so I thank you all for everything you do i really appreciate it
i thank you for listening to me um because this is a critical period in our history rest in peace John Carmen and all thank you very much thank you Senator you went slightly over your three minutes but um no I listen I I would love to to engage a lot of a lot of the a lot of a lot of the issues that
you discussed um you know obviously the pilot I mean I think there ongoing negotiation with the state you know the county executives had those those meetings with Commissioner Suarez and others um and I'm sure you're going to continue to to work for what's best i love your passion for you know I I I know Jim Allen the chairman of Hard Rock
the other day was concerned about New York casinos and the impact that will have on on not just casinos but all of it you know as a teacher I saw what happened when the casinos were were suffering and you know teachers were were rifted and students were moving out of the area so that's that's definitely a serious concern that I look forward to
continuing to work with you on and to hear your your updates and your progress on on what's happening in Trenton on that and uh some of the other answers i mean I know we can get you the the other information that you've requested um but again thank you for All right thank you very much Mr chairman mr chair maybe not
to put it on you John but um maybe the budget subcommittee could could take the senator through the shared service list we have with Atlantic City um we have that list the document yeah yeah we have it but I'm saying like let's
walk through and help understand and then have a springboard well let me say this to add to the conversation I guess um it is frustrating to watch the situation
city i had a business there and I moved it out in 91 okay so yes I understand how bad things are but Atlantic City's made a number of
errors a number they built that art park on Pacific Avenue that was money down a drain the city got quite a bit of money and the mayor council I guess the mayor
decided to take that money and turn it into a scholarship program that could have been used to buy dilapidated properties one by one get them back on the tax rolls you you drive by different
buildings on Pacific Avenue like the Knights of Columbus building that's been there longer than I can remember and I don't think it's been ever used it's been boarded up for 40 years or more why wasn't the city taking money they
received from the federal government when so much of it was flowing to buy some of these dilapidated properties uh the Knights of Columbus building if it's if it's still owned by the Knights of Columbus it's not paying taxes as a fraternal organization that could have
been turned back on the tax roles so it's it's been frustrating to to see this and um I get it i get what the senator is saying in regards to the Atlantic City it needs it needs a lot needs a lot a lot of these dilapidated
buildings that are havens for problems just need they need to go and I get it so but Atlantic City has made a number of errors in my opinion my opinion over the decades so whatever we can do to
provide some something leadership or new programs or whatever lang say I think would be something we can look at i'm open thank you discuss those as Commissioner Gav said in committees and and move forward from there um is there
any other public comment Mr chairman commissioner Corsy yes yes the senator still there yes he is okay let let me my question is going to be through you to the senator couple things you talked about the contracts and you
talked about the contracts leaving Atlantic County so let the record reflect all of us as commissioners have always wondered why the contracts were had not been going to Atlantic County businesses some of them do come in entirely too high it's nothing new under
the sun that you're raising in terms of business uh in Atlantic County if the bids come in too high Senator you know you can't get it you go to the lowest responsible bidder this is nothing new you know we can sit there and tip cap and tip for tap if we want to but I
believe that most if not all of my colleagues have always raised this issue regarding um businesses going business going outside of Atlantic County so that's nothing new um whether they're in Parkstown Pennsylvania or they're in
Ytown New York uh if they become the lowest possible bid we'd love to see the Atlantic County businesses get this work but unfortunately they bids come in too high or they don't fill out the right paperwork or they don't meet the requirements etc etc so that's nothing
new uh we've been fighting this for years i've been there 11 years it's always been on my agenda and the other thing is most folks would tell you on the board especially when it came to change orders i was the number one guy ch voting no on change orders because what happened was the lowest responsible
bidder would get the contract and wind up being the highest bidder after other people bidded on it and people used to always ask why did I always vote against uh change order because sometimes it looks to me that the lowest responsib bidder would then come in higher than
whoever was the next bidder or the other bidder in front of that person so it's always been an ongoing um thing for me and for again I think I can speak for most of my colleagues uh regarding outside of Atlantic County folks getting
uh work it's frustrating as hell um charity does start at home and uh if unfortunately they don't meet the the requirements you got to move on to the next day um and we do our job we do what law says you can and cannot do uh the second thing you talked about the
engineering firm um that you talked about who is the firm in Pleasantville you said build bidded on it thanks Mr corsy that that first one we ranked just so you're clear there were I believe seven biders those biders were
ranked one through seven the top ranked firm was the one from Pottstown Pennsylvania and that was the only one that we got a price from so just so you're clear there was no there was no bidding there was no low bid there was no negotiation as far as I know it was
one bid at the top ranked firm so um the CME CME Central Municipal Engineers whatever they are is the company that has an office in uh Pleasantville which I think you're familiar with i believe they do work in Atlantic City as well right that was that was do work in
Atlantic City they do do work in Atlantic City but I think they closed the office in Pleasantville i could be wrong but I think they closed in Pleasantville okay maybe they did it's listed on their letter head i I would also just note I mean it's a good company guys yeah so this I but I don't want this to turn into it was another
debate back and forth because this is not the forum it's not a debate no no no Mr with all due respect with all due resp after after that meeting I just want to just leave with you i just add a
county company is his the family lives in Atlanta County but your business is involvement i just want you to know that they live so they take the money it goes to violence so if you ask me today to give you a list of you know who gets the
most money they do except the family lives in Atlanta County so again they may live in Pottstown Pennsylvania but they they probably had houses in Guard Point i'm just just telling you so the while the money may go there the money winds up back in Atlanta County just
just well but but but the point remains the point that has been a point for as long as I've been up here too which is there is no that I'm aware of no mechanism to to put a firm with a Atlanta county address local even South
Jersey address New Jersey address first I'm not aware and I know you said something but if our council and our professionals are telling us it's against the law there's I I don't know what we're supposed to do you're not I don't want I don't want to debate through through the chair but you're not supposed to do anything except respond
to me so then I can track down what the answer is i mean that would be I mean we at the last meeting Senator we said like let's talk about how do we change these purchasing laws in the state of New Jersey like for you Mr chair it's what I did Commissioner i went to the New
Jersey Department of Transportation the question was I'm gonna stop you right there because No no I had the floor no I had the floor the chairman stopped me everybody's I'm going to finish my conversation you asked question well I do it nicely i'm going to finish
my damn questions now chairman with all due respect you let the senator ramble for 15 minutes i asked two questions is it that long and I didn't get to my third or fourth and I'm going to get to the fifth or sixth at this point
so I want to go back to what I said i'm not disputing i asked the question who was the firm in Pleasantville he gave me a name i want to say correct i know Remington and Vernon they were the firm that moved out that's why I asked him about CNN i'm not sure if they moved out of Pleasantville that's why I corrected
that part i want to be very clear about that and so that that's that one i want to move on to the next one and then the senator can answer uh whichever way he likes to answer it but the other thing is I want to take very exception as a commissioner who represents Atlantic
City that every time whether it's the senator or members of the commission or the public all you do is take shots out of Atlantic City atlantic City is the economic development that runs the damn state of New Jersey everybody reaps the rewards of Atlantic City every scene of us whether it's Atlantic County Cam
whatever they reap the benefits of Atlantic City and all you do is keep knocking knocking and knocking and we are best better best city absolutely not we got our problem like every damnbody else senator I remember meeting with you a year and a half ago is not you and your chief of staff myself and Steve
Persky told you to come up with three or four different things that you could help Atlantic City with you have yet to come up with one other than to continue to criticize criticize and say stop talking about sitting down and trying to work together come up with one or two of the damn things we talked about we
haven't done that yet the door is still open you got good ideas let's all sit at the table stop pointing the finger like Atlantic City is the worst thing on the face of the earth atlantic City yeah we have our problem we have our problem the other thing you talked about Senator with all due respect sheriff's
department the state police no union is going to let another uh agency come in and run their town do we have problems in Lang City absolutely we continue to hire police officers folks retire whether it's police or fire we continue to try to keep the manpower where it
needs to be could we use more yeah but you got to look at the budget when you keep talking about hire more cop hire more this it's a it's a burden on the taxpayers atlantic City for the last five years Senator you would have to agree whether you like it or not the taxes in Atlantic City has continued to
go down under the smaller administration not only that Senator with all due respect you have seen improvements in Atlantic City is it faster than we wanted absolutely not have you done a whole lot to help us absolutely not criticize criticize criticize like I
said the door is still open if you want to sit down and stop talking on the radio and on social media or coming to commission's meeting let's sit at the table and let's agree to disagree as men and women to see how we can move things forward to Atlantic City everybody wants
to criticize Atlantic City hell have the damn problem come from offshore to Atlantic City a Carbet Township Lynwood Summers Point Northville Pleasantville but you don't talk about that because you don't have that damn problem in your neighborhood because everybody's in Atlantic City that's why the social
services are in Atlantic City and yes Atlantic City has done shared service with Atlantic County whether it's meals on wheel whether it's senior services there's a number of things health department we have contracted with the county of Atlantic to do shared services which we believe is the right thing to
do let's stop pointing the finger and sit down and let's come up with solutions other than keep trying to blame every damn body cuz all you've been doing is blaming blaming blaming you tell me as long as I've known you what the hell have you done for Atlantic
City except lip service commissioner Corsy all listen I'm not done i'm not done i don't want the respect for the senator i got a lot of respect for the senator i
just get pissed off when all I keep hearing is criticize criticize criticize what are we going to do to sit down and do something about it i'm here commissioner you ready senator you got first you Mr chair hold
on first of all through you Mr chair I met with ACPD and I have talked about the collaboration with state police and with the sheriff's office it is not a takeover and they said absolutely if you are going to supplement law enforcement in the city of Atlantic City without question and secondly I just mentioned
you and the mayor was there at the premeating commissioner on Friday when the governor he first did a round table with the casino executives then he did a round table with another a bunch of other people who have an interest in AC hold on and it was talking about the
initiatives that we brought to him and I mentioned them here renaissance Plaza the homelessness initiative the $3 million that CRDA just allocated for the extra police on the on the boardwalk at Pacific Avenue the lighting that I mentioned he went and talked to Atlantic
Electric about these are all the things cleanliness safety well lit that we have been talking about and yes there are things that we are doing for the city of Atlantic City that are going to benefit from the city of Atlantic City and today was actually the one day I think I didn't criticize Atlantic City but
hopefully we're not gonna go there so excuse me Senator Commissioner Corsy once again yes sir chairman yeah so I mean Senator Palian asked for some information i mean you mentioned some some good things as far as the pilot discussions the proposed uh I guess the
county's lawsuit um the negotiations that the county executive has had if you guys want to have a meeting about Atlantic City issues and solely Atlantic City issues and we all said that Atlantic City affects the county can you please set that up and and not do back and forth here at a commissioner meeting commissioner Corsy I totally respect
Yeah no I totally respect where you're coming from you're being disingenuine you're being disingenuous no I respect where you're coming from i asked No no the senator asked the question I asked I rebuttled the question to ask him a question just because the senator makes a statement you think it's okay but when somebody else asks it you think we
should do something totally different i totally disagree with you he made He's at a public meeting he made a statement i asked him a question do I agree with everything he said absolutely not i think he made some good points i'm not gonna say he didn't but you got to give me the same damn respect did you give your senator i don't need to sit there
and foot around with him because you want to do that i'm not doing that i asked him a question he made I will reach out to Commissioner Corsy and I will talk about this offline you know yeah that's that was my point you want to have a conversation go back and forth that's fine mr cory you asked
questions i I thought he answered them i didn't realize you had as you said six more when you initially start i really got I really got 15 more but I'm kind of short but but point we're here to do county business the pilot does include that some of the other things you're talking about may or may not right what
I was getting ready to say in my my seventh point and I got cut off was yes there had been some meetings uh with the county administrators and which I was able to set up with the commission of DCA to talk about the pilot we hoping that there's some resolution in the real real near future as soon as maybe
yesterday or tomorrow but hope is coming forward and I think it's good news for the county but let me tell you that wasn't easy because as you all know we couldn't even get a meeting with the state or anybody else i was able to facilitate that only to get told after I did that that they had some concerns
they didn't know if I was coming as a chief of staff or the committee member of the commissioner of um the budget committee i went as the budget committee member to try to get this issue resolved and Senator Palina hit the nail on the head we need to move past this point and
I'm hoping that that resolution comes sooner rather than later which I believe it is um I think there's been some good negotiation on both sides of the aisle we just need to get across the finish line and uh you know Jerry D roster and a number of people were in the meeting so I think it was a real good meeting uh
with the county exec in the in the state um but moving forward where do we go after this right it's the senator that has talked about whether it's the pilot was the continue of the takeover etc and it's all going to come down who's the next governor that's what's going to really happen who's the next governor
will the pilot or will the takeover continue in Atlantic City and those are serious issues Atlantic City has moved forward uh in these last couple years um again I don't want to be a broken record well we've made some progress can we do more should we do more absolutely but
again a conversation with the senator i'm looking forward to it we going to agree to disagree but we don't have to be disagreeable and that sounds great i think we're all looking forward to that sounds good Commissioner um Commissioner what's your comments for the good of the order as well i'm I'm I'm half joking Commissioner um
Senator again thank you i just want if anything was accomplished today was hopefully that we facilitated that meeting with with you and the city and well there's a lot being accomplished i just this one last point to through you Mr chair i went to the DOT the day after the last commissioner meeting and I said
there are concerns in Atlantic County about not being able to use proximity as a factor in how they are making these decisions trying to focus on Atlantic County people they said that that proximity cannot be utilized and I'm happy to talk to Art or Lynn or whoever try to get it resolved we all need to
get on the same page because the DOT wrote back to me what I told you was you can't give them 10 points in the chart for being in Atlanta County but you can if you're a reviewer you absolutely can consider where the location of the office is as a factor in your decision-
making on how you rank the companies that's what the DOT is saying so and I think that's great i think we would all love to see a change in that so get on the same page with county administration but if that is a if that can be done then that's what we should be doing sure
thank you thank you is there any other public comment okay anything actually can I entertain a motion to close public comment at this time so move all those in favor i Are there any comments for
the good of the order you better quit while you're here ch i thought I gave you the opportunity i thought you said that you uh it was considered thank you i I reserve the balance of my time all right is there entertain a
motion to adjurnn so move second all in favor all right sojourn [Music] heat heat [Music]
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