##VIDEO ID:7WZkSfLtTkU## e e e e e like to call this meeting in order adequate notice of this meeting was provided in accordance with chapter 231 Public Law 1975 we'd like to have silent meditation please while you're doing this remember the people in California and Los Angeles area those individuals that lost their homes and some people had lost their lives think about them tonight please we will have a flag salute by commissioner Robert Tina stand I pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all cler commissioner Alo here commissioner Al here commissioner Romero here commissioner Lo commissioner tayor Pres deputy director marshan here director Saro here do I have a motion and second to open public comment so move second all in favor I anybody wishing for the public to come and voice their opinion also you can talk about the resolutions we're doing both at the same time so there's no confusion we had this before where a person would get up and it look like we were correct them no no you can't talk about that because it wasn't about the resolution so this is now open comment for anything including the resolutions good evening everyone my name is Craig Dingle I am a resident of violin New Jersey and I'm here to support and be recognized as a staff member of C County Human Services capital Cent which I am a certified peer recovery coach uh I hear there's a resolution which is going to take place today and I welcome the resolution as stated but I am here to really express my gratitude toward Miss NS Miss NS is one who first gave me my opportunity I am a person with little experience and she while I was going to college I really needed an opportunity and she excuse me she gave me the opportunity to do my internship there at firststep Clinic when it was on Pearl Street and while I was working uh for McDonald's because it was it was hard for me to get a job at that time and she offered an opportunity to speak on the South Jersey re-entry Coalition and that's when I began to speak and share my story and Miss n was is a person who would speak for those who don't have a voice and I watch her while as a employee under her leadership how she when we go to uh candle light visuals overdose awareness the community really support her her vision she's U Hands-On person people love her respect what she do and so whatever decision that the board the committee has commission has made I respect it I accept it but Mr NS is a person if she's believe that you are a person that will do the right thing she supports you and so I just thank the committee for hearing me and U just please consider her her work in the community thank you thank you hi hi everybody my name is Elizabeth Thomas I'm with the Cumberland County Department of Health I'm a representative on numerous councils of the Department of Human Services I thank you for this opportunity to present public comment on resolution 2025-the human services department head position prior to your resolution vote tonight rather I'd like to take a moment to recognize the accomplishments of Melissa Niles current department head Director of Human Services Melissa is and will remain a champion of our community her lived experience compels her to listen to the needs of the residents of Cumberland County and advocate for system change to better meet those needs Melissa is accessible and approachable she is present at most Cumberland County events Melissa is very vocal about her priority to bring prevention programs education and needed resources to our residents Melissa is a strong leader with dedicated employees together they work relentlessly to tackle challenges faced by your constituents collaborating with other departments and the community to develop Andor maintain Positive Solutions that address mental health substance use homelessness and Recovery such as RO Mobile peer recovery popup candl light visual the out of Darkness Suicide Prevention walk disaster response crisis counseling and capital Recovery Center to name a few Melissa's record has demonstrated her commitment and contributions to our community and I appreciate your continuous support of her thank you good day everyone um my name is Michael Williams I'm one of the drug and alcohol counselors and peer recovery coaches at Capital Recovery Center um as um everyone was mentioning Miss n again it's nothing against Miss Miss loose or the decision that y'all make I also want to put on record of when I came here I was literally coming off 22 years of struggling with crack cocaine and heroin um when I came into first step to have the job I didn't have a GED they made me take my GED over m now has allowed me to be able to go from taking my GED to become certified to become the National Certified peer recovery support specialist and to learn what I learned from her um out of all the things that I see that's transpiring in the um changes that we have um one of the things that I always wondered was why she didn't have the opportunity to raise somebody up in the position that y'all are giving other individuals and one of the things that I like or I love is the power she have in her training and her leadership might be unorthodox it does not fit everybody's strategy so it appears that she might not be a good leader she just has a different style than ours and a lot of times when we see that we think she's not good at something when actually she is one of the things that made my day um was my granddaughter my granddaughter she's only 13 years old and she says one day I want to work for your boss and I said why you want to work for my boss she says because you come home every day and you always smiling and seem like you have fun with your boss and I want a boss like that and just hearing my granddaughter say that and obering from the outside of seeing how she always seeing me not stressed out not having a lot of pressure I tell her all the time I just follow what my leader does if she's having fun and she's dancing I'm having fun and I'm dancing and no matter how the situation might appear or it might be going at our particular agency I know that no matter how it goes we're on to always rise to the top so um I just want to let y'all know um how great of her leadership she is and I believe that we should have or she should have had at least the opportunity to raise up all the people that she had around her for these last 10 years and different positions because the only reason I literally told her this about three days ago last week the only reason that I'm still at the county is because she's and that's my own testimony de hul up at dfield um resolution 55 20 25 55 I just have a question I'd like to have someone and I it's out of complete ignorance but I'd like to know something um the new Department of Human Services can we hear something about her what's her background what her experience what's her education if you don't mind and one other thing I have one of the things I'm always brieing over is the the legal fees that we receive the only question I have there is when we make our budgets out during the year do we have a budget for that that's all thanks hello everybody my name is uh excuse me I'm getting over a cold my name is Justin isario I have the honor of working for C County for past seven years in human services as a certified drug and alcohol counselor once again I'm just speaking on behalf of Melissa Niles it's not against any decision or any person I just wanted to say that she gave me an opportunity to do a career that I'm proud of and something I feel very honored to do especially for the community and um I'll keep it very short and spe and just say that she's a game changer in the community and she needs to be recognized for that good evening welcome got some new faces here some old faces came back or some faces came back I'm Nancy Ridgeway from a Upper Deerfield and Fairfield townships we're only having one public comment at a meeting now we condensed it because instead of having a problem where a person comes up and starts talking about an item that had nothing to do with resolutions we corrected them then it seems like it was getting embarrassing so what we did was we combined the two public comments we made one big public comment so this way you're able to speak on whether it's new business old business or the resolutions so this way there's nobody that's going to be embarrassed and be corrected and say sit down so that means that you conduct your meeting and at the end of your meeting meting if something happened during the course of your meeting there's no public comment that we can address anything now we always have another meeting oh thanks a lot on resolution 202- 55 uh Miss vquez was the uh Deputy Administrator are we eliminating that position by placing her in the Human Services we'll answer all the questions at the end like we always do if you're doing away with the deputy administrator's position are you going to be doing that by resolution okay and since I only get one chance here six years has done a lot of damage I wonder what the next 994 is going to do thank you would anybody else wish to come forward okay my name is Sharon I'm from New Jersey I'm not a public speaker but um um I've been working with the county kland county for this is actually my 25th year um I've been working with Miss n this is for resolution 2025 55 um she's been a great leader um I just want to say she's um taking our agency a long way she has taught me a lot um a lot of things I haven't known um her light is a true example of what she's doing now in our AG um she cares for the people she cares for our community so I just want you all to know that and I appreciate you listening thank you anyone else wish to step forward motion to close second all in favor I um councelor the the budget on well that's the Bel in the beginning of the year like so every year we try to look at um cases that are pending claims that are made and appropriately fund not only the insurance commission but the uh line in the county budget as well and that some matters are handled by the insurance commission more and more but of course in my years here we had some matters that evolved before the commission uh was devised and therefore there's still some matters that here as well as other matters that Jud within the commission's jurisdiction but yes that's part of the budget we're going to be talking about which might be where we want to introduce the new CFO I was I was going to get there me your thunder s before we go any further I'd like to introduce our new CFO Christopher Hart we we this his first day was was yesterday right yesterday was his first day um this is definitely called baptism by fire um we are having uh our former CFO Jeff Ridgeway and they you have been communicating uh to try we're doing this to try to make a smooth transition because of the different changes that we're making in in County government um I'm very excited uh I've talked to Mr Hart uh for we had a what good hour hour and a half conversation the other day and um I think he's going to have he's going to be a great fit for Cumberland County I really do and uh he's got a lot of expertise that we're going to be looking for uh in the future and we we're discussing that especially with the park system that he has a lot of knowledge about so we're excited that you're here thank you so much and uh we're looking for great things from you um I'll address one of the uh the questions by this Ridgeway if we I can't see um we are contemplating on uh removing the deputy director and when we do it we will do it by resolution so we've been discussing that there's a lot of changes that we're making this year and uh this is just one of them but uh we we have a lot of changes that we're going to be making and I'm sure there going to be other days where we're going to have a lot a lot of people here uh but we're trying to do this to streamline government uh we're trying to save money we're looking at uh million dollar lawsuits that we have to take care of um and the more money that we save the less tax increasing that that you'll have uh we have a lot of ideas that we're going to be running through uh so this is only the beginning and um we're work we're doing the best we can when you're looking at anywhere from four to5 million of lawsuits that have to be covered the over the next three years uh R CFO has this work cut out for I thought maybe I'd put in for that position um hold off maybe next year okay sorry ordinance 2025 D1 do I have a motion in second that the ordinance 20251 be read on first reading by title only see a motion a motion second all in favor Nance re appropriating $1,500,000 proceeds of obligations not needed for their original purpose in order to provide for the improvements the county property to the Department of Public Works in and by the county of Cumberland New Jersey do I have a motion and second need a motion motion second director I have a question for vote is that what wasn't there money put aside for this uh for this purpose or for this is we're repurchasing money but didn't we have the uh Co money that we set aside just for these improvements of $1.5 million we looking at the John do we have any yeah prate to speak on that um except to say um I believe you wound up in a situation at the end of last year where you had to use money U to do something besides the fairgrounds right um and you're coming back to the fair grounds because it was a bid anomaly and I believe this relates to that that's my understand that's exact that's exactly what it is basically money had to be encumbered so it had to be encumbered to the to the general budget by and then it has to be reappropriated back out for unused funds so we can still manage the process of the fair grams that that were committed to committed to complete it didn't we put it put that money aside for it that we committed last year to for this it was it was appropriated but the the bid the bid became so you used the Recovery Act money yes to fund another project that would have gone to the fairgrounds and this is repurposing the That was supposed to deal with the other issues to the fair grounds project so that you can put out the opportunity again for a fair and open opportunity to try to get the rest of the fairgrounds project accomplished okay thank you commissioner Alo yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner loads yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director Maron yes director SAR yes notice is here by given ordinance 20251 was introduced and approved by the board of County commissioners of the county of Cumberland on first reading on January 14th 2025 it will further be considered for final passage after a public hearing thereon at a meeting of the board of County Commissioners to be held at the cumland County Administration Building 164 West Broad Street in BR New Jersey on Tuesday January 28th 2025 at 6m prevailing time at which time in pleas comments and objections to ordinance 20251 may be presented by members of the public resolution 2025 45 resolution authorizing appropriation Reserve transfer 2012-01 do I have a motion and second I'll make the motion second commissioner alino yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner L yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director marshan yes director Soro yes resolution 22546 resolution amending 2024-25 entitled resolution authorizing and acceptance of child advocacy development grants Treatment Services programs technology and Capital Improvements for the cly County prosecutor's office do I have a motion and second Mo second commissioner Alo yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner L yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director Maran yes director Soro yes resolution 202- 47 resolution authorizing submission and acceptance of New Jersey County Prosecutors insurance fraud reimbursement program for the Cumberland County prosecutors office do I have a motion in second so move second commissioner atino yes commissioner Auburn yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner loads yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director marshan yes director Saro yes resolution 2025 45 resolution awarding Professional Services contract for providing Bond Council services for the county of Cumberland RFP number 2449 do I have a motion and second so second commissioner Tino yes commissioner auy yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner loads yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director Maran yes director Saro yes resolution 22549 resolution authorizing and directing re advertising for requests for proposals for providing Council services for the Cumberland County Construction board of appeals R Fe number 2461 do I have a motion and second second commission yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner Lo yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director marshan yes director SAR yes resolution 20255 resolution awarding fa and op professional service contract for providing legal services for criminal defense for County hland RP 2462 and authorizing re advertising for request for additional proposals do I have a motion in second so move second commissioner alino yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner loads yes commissioner Taylor yes deput dor Maran yes director Soro yes resolution 202- 51 resolution awarding be and open Professional Services contracts for providing labor Council and employment law services for the county of Cumberland RFP number 2463 and authorizing re-advertising for requests for additional proposals do I have a motion in second second commissioner ala yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner LS commissioner Taylor deputy director Maran yes director SAR yes resolution 2- 52 resolution aing parent Open professional service contracts for providing litigation services for the county of Cumberland RFP number 2464 and authorizing re advertising for request for additional proposals do I have a motion and second so Mo second commissioner altino yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner LS yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director Maran yes director SAR yes resolution 2025 53 resolution from professional service contract for providing Council services for the Cumberland County planning board RFP number 24-65 do I have a motion at second second commissioner alino yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner loads yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director marshan yes director SAR yes resolution 202- 54 resolution awarding fear and Open professional service contracts for providing Legal Services as defense Council for the cumberly county Workers Compensation Program RP number 2466 and authorizing read advertising for requests for additional proposals do I have a motion in second so moov second commissioner alino yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner LS yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director Maran yes director Soro yes resolution 202- 55 resolution appointing lose bqu is department head of a Cumberland County Department of Human Services with an internal plle of Director of Human Services do I have a motion second motion second commissioner Alo no commissioner Al no commissioner Romero no with an explanation though I have a question you know I spend a lot of time working for the last three years with Melissa and also with uh L and I feel I find it aate aate to move somebody into a supervisor's position or whatever position without when you still have the other one active and I see not none of these resolutions where satisfies Melissa na sleeping tonight you know and and I find that very very unprofessional that we don't take care of this today in one way or the other the both of great people the department needs them both of them they're going to be a great team working together and if they both will be on there I would vote Yes because that guarantees them per sleep tonight and it's not in my conscience just to let it go it's not fair to the public it's not fair to Melissa and it's not fair to lose it's not a complete deal here so you know I would like to get an answer on that from the ba and the director why why are we not taking care of this on the same date so I could make the prop judge the proper judgment on what I want to vote on so this body does not vote on positions that are not department heads and while there work going on about describing the position it would be unusual to have this body vote on a position that's not a CFO an attorney Department that being said I'll caution the whole board uh given the nature of the resolution nobody was race this evening so we're not going to discuss the performance we can talk about positions and that's what you're doing that's what I understand what you're doing exactly I don't want to hear anything about what they did in the past is not this is not I I said to me they're two great people you know that's the way I feel well Melissa still has a job absolutely we not discussing that we assume but I don't know what's going to happen with Melissa tomorrow so I want I want to I wanted to see if both of them could be put in the same resolution so we know where they're going middle of the vot I'm sorry I just the Integrity of what you're doing okay understand we have to vote on the resolution if you want to put so you have enough well you're going to end up with two head departments on the same jobs no l will be the new department head that's what this resolution is done she's put we're putting lose as a department head of Human Services okay then I I abstain from voting because we not raing Melissa Neils in in in her Department Clark continue commissioner l no commissioner Taylor yes commissioner Marshall yes or deputy director Maran I'm sorry director SAR yes 32 and it exstension pass resolution 2025 56 resolution authorizing third amendment to lease between County of Cumberland and Cumberland Mall realy Holdings LLC do I have a motion and second you need a motion motion second a second second commissioner Alo yes commissioner Au no but I just before I want make a statement on is that we it's been P said in the past that we we one of the reasons why we and the save money we had a building that we uh became part of on the corner of Del shman Avenue which has space for may have space or I believe it has plent of space for the clerk's office I I don't understand that especially we're looking save money that we don't explore the possibility of moving to clerk's office on the corner one of the bus it is the busiest Street in in the the uh uh the county Dusty and Sherman Avenue and putting moving the clerk's office instead of resigning uh for considerable sum I'm sure um back in the mall and don't the far as the hours that building is owned by us we can keep it open as long as we want um so I I don't get it so I'm going to vote no I I wish there was an answer to that um I don't I don't understand we we're getting out of a contract a year from now or this end of this year um why we're entering another contract I know with a considerable amount of money so i' seen that commissioner Romero yes Comm loads um my vote is yes but I just want to clarify for the public that the county clerk's office does generate an income with Services um and this fee is the county clerk's choice and it's coming out of the county clerk's budget correct I have confirmed that that's correct okay and I believe I don't know if I'm am I able to go on record and say I think they're generating over $200,000 with passport fees um and such so that's coming out of that budget to cover being placed in the malls not coming out of the General that's commissioner Taylor um I would just like to say commissioner luds um I totally agree with what she just said the con and also the convenience of the Cumberland Mall I vote Yes because I I just feel that and I do understand what commissioner Alber is saying but I do think the Cumberland Mall is a better location for the residents of Cumberland County deputy director Maran I believe commissioner lods and commissioner Taylor rais some good points my vote is yes director Saro yes uh let's explain a couple things first of all uh commissioner alre we had discussed what you were talking about in Clos sessions um right now there's going to be meetings discussing what that building is going to be used for but it was also determined in those meetings that we were going to go with this uh this deal with the the clerk going back to the mall my answer is yes resolution 2025 d57 resolution authorizing payment of bills do I have a motion in second second commissioner altino yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes commissioner LS yes commissioner Taylor director Maran yes director s yes I believe we have re to go into the executive session no not we're consent agenda oh that's right I'm sorry this is for our next meeting ID 15600 resolution awarding a contract for providing programs for support to support permanent housing for the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless funded by the Cumberland County homeless trust fund RFP number 24 59 ID 15628 resolution awarding contract for providing on-site catering services for the county of Cumberland and Cumberland County cooperative contract purchasing system identifier number 181 CC ccps bid number 2469 ID 15730 resolution amending resolution 202 24- 683 awarding fair and Open professional service contract for providing as needed architectural and Engineering Services for the county of kland RFQ number 24-39 15731 resolution amending 2024 684 awarding fair and Open professional service contracts providing as needed General environmental consulting services for the county of kand RFQ number 24-40 15732 resolution memorializing and ratifying First Step Clinic the schedule 15739 resolution authorizing purchase from New Jersey state contract vendor for purchase of 22 iPads 10th Generation with first net first net capability related software and 15 months of service coverage for the Cumberland County prosecutor's office 15742 resolution authorizing the award of a non-fair and urban contract for providing for providing software support and maintenance services for the records information management system 15743 resolution authorizing purchase from sourcewell National contract vendor of one Bluebird micro bird bus Factory upfitted for correction for the cumland county department of corrections 15744 resolution declaring a 2009 for Fusion bid number 3 F hp71 X9 R1 32358 mileage 12972 miles asset number 8209 as Surplus and unneeded property and authorizing sale through online or public auction 15745 resolution authorized in the cumland county Department of Human Service and division of employment and training to provide youth service programs funded by the Juvenile Justice Commission 15746 resolution approving change order number one to contract for providing support services and transportation for children adults and families funded by the Cumberland County Department of Human serviceshuman Services advisory Council RFP number 22-22 15747 resolution approving change order number one to contract for providing Supportive Services and transportation for children adults Andes by the Cumberland County Department of Human serviceshuman Services advisory Council RFP number 22-22 resubmission 15750 resolution authorizing the award of a non-fair and open contract for annual gold login for Cumberland County for the county libraries database catalog 15756 resolution authorizing purchases from State contract vendors 15758 resolution authorizing the board of a non-fair and open contract for Library materials and books for the County Library 15761 resolution authorizing shared service agreement between Cumberland County and upperfield Township regarding Rehabilitation and maintenance of Silver Lake Dam 15763 resolution authorizing application for federal fisal year 2024 FTA section 5310 Capital assistance grant funding for the Office on Aging and disabled 15767 resolution authorizing amendments amendments to the bylaws of the youth services advisory Council 15768 resolution authorizing amendments to the bylaws of the Cumberland County inter agency coordinating Council 15771 resolution authorizing a Grant application and execution of a grant agreement with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for the fiscal year 2025 lfif Road program CR 665 project 15773 resolution authorizing assignment of the litigation matter of rsem RB and Es versus Cumberland County all superior court of New Jersey cumland county law division docket number c ml 680-4 15774 resolution authorizing interde Department agree interde departmental agreement between the Cumberland County Department of Human Services and the Cumberland County Department of Corrections juvenile division for youth service programs 15777 resolution authorizing and approving additional temporary budget Appropriations in the amount of 27,000 $900 then we have resolutions that are on placeholders 15520 resolution awarding contract for fiscal year 2024 Federal roadr bid number 24-4 41 pending 15526 resolution authorizing reward and a non-parent open contract for go0 S County Fusion software renewal 15570 PL holder resolution awarding a contct contract 15624 resolution awarding contract 15657 resolution awarding contract for lease operation maintenance and administration of M mile broad infrastructure Network for Cumberland and Salem counties bid number 24-72 15733 resolution awarding fair and Open professional service contract for providing architectural engineering services for the Cumberland County Library commission 15759 resolution authorizing the award of a non-fair open contract for Library materials 15762 resolution authorizing local Recreation Improvement Grant application resolution 15772 resolution authorizing a six-month extension of small cities cdbg 2021 grant program you have need to go into executive session okay we'll be going to we'll need a first read resolution 2025 58 resolution providing for a meeting not open to the public in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey senator Byron and be open public meeting Act njsa 10 4-12 matters relating to litigation negotiations and attorney client privilege matters relating to the employment relationship do I have a motion in second second commissioner Alo yes commissioner Al yes commissioner Romero yes yes commissioner Lo yes commissioner Taylor yes deputy director Maran yes director s yes to my knowledge there is not intended to be that's correct okay thank you I'm sorry this has been a QBC television production in association with our partners and sponsors QBC broadcasts on Comcast cable channel 22 and live streams its programming on Facebook and YouTube All Rights Reserved by Quinn media and QBC programming that serves the South Jersey Market e