##VIDEO ID:vDUeK2pAcpo## call this meeting in order this is a commissioner meeting of January 8th 2025 at 6 p.m. at the CES County administrative Center commissioner meeting room on one string Street Newton New Jersey a roll call please director Carney here commissioner DG here commissioner Hayden here commissioner Henderson here deputy director space here all right number three is a moment of silence and I salute to the flag uh today's moment of silence will be for President jimy Carter I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all number four four public statement pursuant of open open public meetings act chap 231 pl1 1975 adquate notice as defined by section 3D of chapter 231 pl1 1975 has been made by regular mail and email and such notice being submitted on January 7th 2025 from the administrative center of the county of Sussex located at one Spring Street newon New Jersey to the following New Jersey heral Star Ledger and Strauss news is also posted on the bulletin board maintaining admin administrative Center for Public Announcement and has been has been submitted to the assessed county clerk in compliance with said act at this time please mute all electronic devices Commissioners please put your phones in your pockets they are operable number five is the approval of agenda we have one amendment to tonight's agenda we will be having an executive session tonight to discuss the College Board of Trustees and discussions regarding the purchase of The Provident Bank motion to approve the agenda as amended so moved commissioner space commissioner degre seconds any discussion all in favor say I I I oppose abstain carries six is proclamations certificates and presentations we have one presentation by C County Community College and I believe Dr Connelly you're going to present y I will be presenting with my team Perfect come on up you could sit down and just okay I guess just State you don't have to say anything else besides that now um You Folks have this presentation in front of you is that correct there's no way to get this up right not too late for that try I mean you are you planning on going through one at a time here or kind of summarizing what's here how about I ask that question of you folks I am you know we're here at your pleasure to try to be helpful and useful and so so we are happy to sort of go through that so there's the formality of it I tried to give you a presentation that's mostly comprehensible on its own merits um but it may need you know elaboration so so I'm um I know that I can deliver this and you know Mr Tappen told me less than 30 minutes and that we can easily we can we can easily achieve that um but I also want to make sure that I'm doing what you folks are sort of looking for from from us as well to get as much information reasonably that we have that we know that we have into your hands and I think uh speaking for the board uh you know we hear grumbles of possibly having um some dormitories put in yes not sure where usually like for me and I'll speak for myself on this typically typical one my son asked me for money I said what do you need it for says don't worry about it he doesn't get any money so I'll say that the same thing to you that's this is what I how I see it I'm curious as where money is coming from where's it going to how are we building this and so on and so forth and I got a ton more questions but that's the gist of it for me but I know everybody here on this board is leaning towards how is this going to happen why isn't it happening who's it going to benefit okay and this was I mean commissioner Henderson's new here so he actually might have some more questions but at least I could speak for commissioner schik that was here he was kind of thinking the same thing okay so if you can kind of go from much much of that is is contained in here uh in our sort of preparation for this we were able to sort of um attend to many or most of those some of those were less prepared to talk about let me sort of introduce uh the folks that I've brought brought with me uh Dr Corey Homer is the vice president of institutional Effectiveness and Student Success uh Chris Wolverton is from hqw uh and he has been working on designs and so forth for residence hall that we hope to have but we don't know if we will do uh Terry papen is a newcomer here at sus County Community College she is the new Chief Financial Officer she's the Vice President of Finance and administrative services and so we welcome her she's been here now two weeks and three days and so you ask her whether it's been a trip or not so um but H happy to be here here happy to talk about this uh the college is of a joy to be a part of and so I think that you folks know that it's a it's a joy for the county to have as well so um what I will do is take us Loosely through through these um Pages um what I would say first off is what is what is the need for the resident house well um first of all it is very very important to say that our budget 62% of our budget comes from tuition and fees and that that fact drives so many of the decisions that we make it's not something that we can run from or hide from when enrollment goes down it really hits our bottom line it hits what we can do with the budget and so so that's just a reality that we face um primarily serve this County uh and the high school graduates that come to us um they are the [Music] overwhelming force that drives our enrollment we do an extremely good job with our capture rate capture rate means that how many students do we get from the graduating classes of all the high schools in Sussex County and thanks to Will Austin North Warren okay so nor you know will said look you take North Warren that's fine um and so that reality and and what we do with that is is an important thing we do extremely well we do better than most uh but the problem is is that our demographic of this um population and this age group is is going down which means that if we're tightly tied to the enrollment and the graduation rates of the high schools our enrollment is also going down that's that that's just a reality so we need to be very attentive to that it is something that is very much on our minds and so what do we do about that well yes recruiting more students is important trying to do a good job recruiting students that's why we develop new programs New Opportunities commissioner Carney look like we have 14 golf prospects okay 14 golf prospects for a new golf team these are these are the kinds of new initiatives that are very important for us to do to keep that Happ draw students in we know about that piece what you may know a little less about us is how important retention is when you get a student in whether you keep them or not whether they leave out after one semester leing after two semesters what you want to achieve is have them graduate with an Associate Degree whereby if they choose they can go and get a four-year degree and their general education is met if they do so it's the way it works in New Jersey Community College associate degree equates to satisfying all the general educational requir so they can come in and they're an automatic Junior right they don't have to worry about uh the general educations uh that makes a big difference that doesn't happen if they leave us after year and that's more common than we' like not because they don't love us but because they want a college experience about the whole thing I want to go to college right and so coming to the Community College they love us they love the experience but it's not what they're really sort of looking for and craving for so residence Halls this offers in multiple Dimensions which I won't go into now because I want toand them in 30 minutes the elements the Essential Elements of what a experience is we know also from surveys that Dr Homer has performed and conducted uh that the students want this they want this uh college experience it's very very important to us so all of these things Drive renion which assists and makes a difference for a bottom line um college life and in the the value that residence Halls bring to Student Success which is the is which is the next page the eff of oncampus housing uh University connect University of Connecticut conducted a study they looked at this the their Office of Management and budget and GPA are better uh retention is better graduation rate is better it's just that simple it's about engagement if you off campus you're not engaged as much you don't get the outof class experience the way that you do when you're on campus all that stuff that happens outside of the classroom where it's very very important that professors teach the students but the real action is when students teach each other that's that's where it's at and when we cultivate that it's very very powerful uh as an experience and students perform better is this weird is this unusual colleges community colleges Falls it is not it is strange in the state of New Jersey we would be the first and I think that actually psychologically that is very important suex County standing above others it's important to do it's important for uh uh this college to be able to convey that and it's also a psychological impact that draws students to us because there going be students from other other counties going to want to be here because we have the residen that's that that's an important thing that's important because again it helps our budget our viability depends upon the strength of our budget and the business model that we have um this on on this next page which is projected right now talks about Market capture can you tell a little bit about what you do you mean by market capture yeah so as Dr Conelly mentioned earlier the demographics in the county there's a slide in there they continue to drop until there's some fluctuations but right around until first grade kindergarten right now so hopefully we can keep the elementary school students in the county long that where they come and graduate eventually in about 10 years when our when our demographics are the right size again but during that time of contracture the college needs to make up the differential of those students coming to the college that would be coming to the college with other students from other areas so for instance we have an Optics technology program with our Labs 10 of4 in the nation so we should have the ability to recruit out of New York and Midwest and Pennsylvania there's no reason they shouldn't be coming here learning Optics technology and going right to work in the industry right away right now that's not possible um two different reasons right rent prices for some of St 18-year-old student trying to get an education right now not going to happen um and then just the availability of it so having the residence Halls allows us to C to cast a wider net to capture more students in for those unique programming we have a lot of St student this morning drove up from Seaside Heights New Jersey two hours a student veteran actually using his GI benefits because of the welding program because we offer a a um costeffective welding program compared to a u linoln tech for that student good luck paying 4 or $50,000 a year so those are the types of opportunities we're talking about there so so um Optics technology is just is one of those examples I one of my favorites is electrical line worker electrical line worker again it's sort of a regional draw and you know um this this is something that we've wrestled with a great deal in Maine Maine's got a terrible demographic problem people are people are leaving and you know coming to cold places like susex County you know but the the uh the reality of the demographic shift of things we sort of need to keep track of is that in Sussex County we we value both the rurality of this but we also want economic Vitality we all complain about taxes and we're not going to be able to tackle that one unless we do better the economic development side of this and you need people to do it you need a Workforce to do it Alex cable is desperate to have a Workforce that he can rely on trained and so forth that's why the Optics Technology Program is so important if folks come into the county from the outside and they get trained in here they end up at Thor Labs or at Sussex rural they stay here they have kids here they make a home here and then they participate in that entire process and so that's an important piece of of what we believe is important Economic Development um on the next page it talks about um where we are with respect to our budget and so forth and why this is so vitally important so I just kind Community College is vulnerable we're vulnerable in part because of our size we're also vulnerable to all of the forces that are happening in higher education right now and we're vulnerable for enrollment because it's side to budget and we need to be thinking about what that uh what that looks like the number one conversation happening right now in the Northeast higher education sector is mergers and closures colleges are closing I remember when I started and I wanted to U talk with the County Commissioners in 2016 and 17 about this particular phenomenon because archists was shrinking uh pretty substantially at that time and talk about the the threat that it means and so forth and so I was looking for examples where this would happen and I found them they know more difficult to find it is not difficult to find these anymore um we've had um around 28 uh mergers or closures that have occurred right now support by inside higher education um just this year and that's more than last year and it's more than the year before uh this is a phenomenon it's real it's accelerating we cannot pretend that it's not going to happen us further pages in I won't I won't flip you to those but examples of course you folks presumably have heard of what's happened at New Jersey City University uh these these these folks are continue to be so close to closure uh that Senator cryan is considering what we want to do with that Institution whether needs literally needs to merge with Hudson County Community College what do we do to save this institution um just up the road Sunni Sullivan Sunni Sullivan has got really serious problems uh same demographic that we Face same Financial stresses their budget is about $16 million around $21 million approximately the same size uh they're in trouble they're in trouble and uh you need every bit of edge that you can uh when I did a site visit for Sunni Clinton they they have to move to platsburg they're losing the campus they're not they're saying it's not a merger it's a merger make no mistake and make no mistake as well when you have a merger like this it's a take over right so what happens when you lose that a community loses its Community College why did it happen it happened in part in good measure because they mismanaged residence Halls that they had and they and and they and they didn't take care of them they they failed to once that happened they were tanking right and and and why did that happen uh mismanagement of various kinds I don't exactly know but I do know the result of not having residence halls in a rural community like that and that Community loves their campus they fought hard to keep it and they ended up having to have that happen so these are realities so the good news is that we are ahead of the game we run a balanced budget we have been running a balanced budget for quite some time we have the be we now have the ability to be able to work with the reserves that we have um there is statutory um requirements now as as a result of the New Jersey City University challenge um if we were to flip to not sure I have the right you I'm I'll wait on let's go to due diligence if we may um so what have we done so if if we're if we believe that residents Halls are a great asset in strengthening the campus life improving retention is a an attractive program in and of itself to draw students towards us uh what do we need to do to make sure that we were doing this right we have had um three different um feasibility studies conducted on this NW Financial has done one pfic has has done their analysis of this situation um as has um brailford um brailford and W and all of those indicate aity can testify to this this is about the shortage of Housing and that that's a real problem when we want to bring students for Unique programs in the outside it's a tough Market out there for them right it's impossible okay it's okay it's impossible it's not tough it's impossible so so we we we have to be able to overcome that particular issue um and rails for dun Ley has said okay yep that that observation is real it's accurate it's too expensive it's all those things being able to provide students with access to housing it is Affordable at a price point it helps them uh is is critical and frankly it helps it helps parents too well prove to us that it work you need a proof of concept and so we've done a proof of concept we've been doing Centenary for three or four years three years okay three years um we have the um brochure the marketing brochure included in that um I know commissioner carne you mentioned something about this some time ago uh when we met that you're pleased that we've got this partnership with Centenary Centenary is a terrific University this is mutually beneficial it's a symbiotic relationship I will tell you that right now the way that it looks there is adequate demand where we be filling the residence Halls on campus and we would still be having the partnership with stiner because the demand is that much sounds odd doesn't sound believable we've been living it for three years now we know that it's real so um this is a benefit to Centenary and Warren County our partners um and to Sussex County and Sussex County parents Sussex County students and frankly to um the business model of the college which allows us to sort of stay in business the challenges I don't have to tell you this cuz you because um R ta and is living with this okay the expenses of running the show the expenses of running the operation big three health insurance okay it's always it's just comes in and it never stops contract uh negotiations and the need to meet our requirements of the contracts where those folks who do the work around here okay and then third software license for licensing is just it's just a killer and it's an it's an onslaught that never stops we need to be able to stay ahead of that stuff and so our business model needs to be able to make sense um we have a profit loss thank you um chrisa for getting us that um this profit loss model in front of you is actually it's the third I didn't give you all three but again pfic did this business model um I think I write it down uh West View West View and Dy uh did and then we work this up on our own merits on the basis of our experience and the research that you did with other institutions right so uh uh bro broom Community College Northampton Community College as well as R so all of those contri so what how much is it going to cost what's it going to look like what do we need to do what do we need to be aware of um among those things is ADA compliance we need to be thinking about ADA compliance and all that I just want you folks to know the due diligence that that we've done on this particular project is extensive and you folks will then therefore given all that we've done you'll be a little bit surprised so and you're telling us you haven't decided yet yes you haven't decided yet we don't know how we are going to proceed forward with this and that's just the reality however uh you will see that um this was discussed at the September 12th 2023 Retreat of the Board of Trustees is a very serious matter we had all the executive present there Dr Homer was there Mr Daddy was there at the present time to talk through all of this and how it could be done when we initially started this journey the model we were exploring was that we would have an external entity create this set it up build it run it and they'd be borrowing the money West View and dystra same thing we we're very close to saying this looks like this can work and they did the same thing and said well the college you guys are going to have to back stop it we'll do it but you going have to back back stop financially oh my God that sounds like the devil of all projects that we encounter solar project right no we told them on on flat out Dead on Arrival we told them in advance and they still V that okay we're not going in that direction so we believe that the best option here is for us to run it ourselves um and uh to build it ourselves that's where we are at the present time I don't think that's going to change I feel like that's probably a decision made if we can afford it um the Board of Trustees two weeks later uh September 26 2023 the board committed to let's see if there is not less expensive way of getting this done and the less expensive way was worked through uh with hgw uh we had some preliminary drawings done on that that but we need an estimate we need a real estimate and so uh price uh price prescrip foot is one way uh but we really don't know what we're looking at what we're going to do depending upon the cost and that's very much up to the up to the Board of Trustees Board of Trustees will say dollar for dollar gain for stability gain for what we need to do to move and Advance the institution and frankly the institution's continued viability yes or no and we just don't know so so we really can't give that to you um but but um I think at this point Chris Chris could you talk a little bit about your preliminary design and maybe update for where uniforms sure um the first question what that I heard from the from the board was where is it going uh so there's a building on campus Building E it's actually almost shaped like the building a little opposite uh up on the hill so down the main campus here building a building BC uh building r with the Optics building is building L up on the hill is building e um a bit more secluded uh the building is three stories give or take it has a lower level with a bunch of unexcavated space uh a main level then a partial upper level as well um it's Unique we we chose that building it was unque um for a couple reasons one it's constituted at the Ala campus uh two it's adjacent to a lot of parking at the Ala campus three the existing classrooms within the space are longer in shape not quite set up for the 23 24 25 student capacity that we're used to on campus you Pi about 10 students in there um so we looked at this build how could we and also there's a fitness center there as well so we're looking at many these type spaces and it's shaped like an e so you add a courtyard so those few items were said this a good building that has good bones has me some mechanical systems like the boiler system uh and has some Ames already and location is great how we fit out this space so the first step that when the college approached me was okay can we want a proof of concept so can you develop a schematic plan that's what you see here on these these three slides so we you know from our experience we've done uh campus projects at at Blair Academy we've also done other campus projects at war no dorms there but we have done dorms at Blair Academy and so we have a you know a building block set up on how we want to lay this out so you know in collaboration with the college you know we talked about one bedroom suites two bedom Su three bedom Suites what other spaces do we need to have like kitchenet amenities uh laundry spaces bathroom spaces and then of course Ras to for supervision so the the first floor this is the lowest level uh we're showing uh 19 uh twoed studios in there so so 34 38 units uh or 38 beds um bathroom rooms kitchenet space and some storage space on the next level uh we're showing so in in green you're seeing three bed studios in blue you're seeing two bed Studios and then there's a couple uh ra spaces as well um and then on the third level there's some additional two bed Suite so in total we have 112 beds that we can fit within this building in the existing footprint so we said okay proof a concept that just like you had on your screen you had 115 beds on that one slide we could get approximate the amount of beds into this area Okay so the next step is you know what we're in the process of doing is now developing the a concept uh or design development estimate and to do that we are working on developing the mechanical systems for it uh defining the uh all the finishes for the spaces uh the costs of replacing Windows do the everything that's involved so we're in the process of getting those drawings to a point where now we can one either go out to my estimator or two go out to a local contractor say hey give us now a design development estimate so that we could use that to fulfill our Pro fora now that's about 3 to 4 weeks away at this point so we we're anticipating about four weeks 3 four to have the documents to a point where we could provide the estimate on that I just got a quick question Dr gy I don't know if you said it Chris I'm sorry if you did um what is this building being used for right now building um it it is the gymnasium which you know it's a project in of itself it's it's a YMCA and you know gymnasium and we really could do better with that the fitness center is there um I don't graphic design is no longer there right okay so um we don't have so we go previous slide thank you I see on one of the on the second floor concept I see a basketball court I'm assuming that that's that's the gym that's right so so this will be um our athletic center with with the gymnasium um and it will also be the res none of the gymnasium stuff is going to be renovated at all it's just going to stay as it is well what's where where the dormitories are what exactly are those classrooms being used what right and so what are those classrooms now right right so um Cory can help me out a little bit but on the on the first floor right now that is there are no classes in there at all right now and the reason is that they're Dreadful they've absolutely been Dreadful and when Co hit we said okay and and and the ventilation is essentially non-existent so when we were in Co um I was particularly concerned as a biologist about the attention to the the spread of Co and a exchang per hour ventilation in general nightmare we we could not have class we just could not do that so with basically building these shut down we determined where we were with respect to the campus and we were able to make it work it wasn't fun we were able to make it work um and then when it came time to sort of repopulate after Co um we did some um I think did criminal justice read uh criminal justice go back and move to a then okay mov to a but when did it 22 22 okay so no um basically those classes the programs that criminal justice was located there um the business program was located there with the business center the um graphic design was located there and education early childhood education is located there um and so and so that was it now during that time also we did get exercise science but the classes were held there as no okay so exercise science in in the when we made the shift exercise science so we' have we would eliminate the charge backs for CCM we then had that space located there and we did renovate uh the exercise science lab that was that that was a that was a big renovation it was very very important for us to do um but in 2022 was too small 100 exercise science students yeah 80 to 100 exercise science students the program is way too big for that space we knew that it was going to be successful we had no idea that it was going to be that successful so we had to move that and that is occupying one portion of the maker space uh is now the exercise science laboratory and classroom so um right now there's nothing going on there one thing that is going one piece that we did just move there to buy us time is the students in the adult transition Center so we're renovating the old chapel up the hill that Chris could speak about a little bit um but we were renting this space all campus and downtown Newton for our students with intellectual disabilities so that they could attend college and so we are renting a space with the space freeing up an e we actually move them to the space temporarily while the chapel finishes up the hill where they can move to their permanent home so that's they're taking up quite quite a few classrooms now with their things and then the other piece are Athletics Athletics are taking up One Wing as well too right now but we have plans to will'll be able to disperse them throughout campus and other places the Athletics was a good idea we we we need integrate Athletics with the college in general and E being up on the top of the hill you wouldn't think that it matters it turns out that it matters that geography matters and they they feel separated and so forth so um there's going to be benefit from that as well well I have a ton of questions but I'm going to not ask all the questions I'm just going to stick with the hard ones um I always told you that I like that you brought s to Sussex I think that's very important I think it works especially wrestling in our in our area is huge um my concern or one of my concerns is you put dormitories in you bring people from different counties and the guy who was a leing a state champion wrestler that maybe you know didn't get good grades besides hey I'm going to stay for two years pick my grades up I'm going to go to a big 10 school cuz I can do it physically you bring somebody in from another County you knock come off that's a problem cuz to me and I think everybody will agree got has to come first yeah number one priority has got to be Sussex it's called Sussex County Community College and I think I think we can all agree on that yes so having these dormitories I'm just a realist I I I get some of your points I understand that you need to bring people in and get Revenue I get all that I just I don't see like my son goes there right now my son just left there he's going to ASU I like it right backyard save some money take your General Studies if my son thinks that he was going to stay at sec to get a college uh you know that was not going to happen that's not going to happen I don't see that happening what I do see happening is other counties coming here and knocking off our kids whether from sports or or whatnot and that's that's what I'm a little nervous about um you know I can go on and on and on but that that to me it's it's kind of defeating the purpose of having these uh Sports programs and I think our Sports programs are good I think that was a great idea that you brought in I'll give you kudos for that I just think now we're going to go going the opposite way you know what I'm saying could you sort of respond to that a little bit Yeah so we were going the opposite way Chris to your point when we had our soccer team we were called in 2017 the international soccer team where a student from buron or Newton couldn't get on our team and that was a problem so we squashed that when it came to soccer rosters where Sussex always comes first um and just to point out too the dorms essentially aren't necessarily CH Cory hold on good sorry about that no you're good so and just to note too is that the dorms aren't necessarily super recruiting super athletes right the dorms are a first come first serve so the sary piece while it did start as an athletic driven piece to house football basketball all this all these Sports so these coaches were recruiting all over the place while you know our local students have r on the football roster that sits around you know 1 1225 you know so they're always on their students but the dorms at centinary aren't just housing out of state or out of County students they're housing our County students as well too right now we have a number of homeless students couch surfing students we have a few student veterans we have students from you know FR in Morris Town that's just bad family situations so you know I I totally agree with you and Sussex always has to come first we've made it a point in our athletic department we that is the case so we're constantly monitoring that as well with our coaches because it is easy for our coaches to see you know I'm going to win the NJCAA National Title every year because of this quarterback at a new no that's not the case you know so we squash that um we try to where no sport Reigns above another and our local students are always given an opportunity and so and sometimes that causes distress for some of our coaches when I say this is a character development program this is not about women winning the Championships if you do this great you bring distinction to the college but Athletics is about it's about persistence it's about character development it's about teamwork it's about all of that stuff and we care about s County students more than the Championships and all the rest of that other kind of thing and that's how it happens that's how it happens we're we're we're more on top than we than we used to be you know and you know piece piece of it is about management and you know management philosophy uh changes and it's changed I'm not sure when we made that particular shift 19 1920 so I'll just keep my winning as everything to myself you're the Board of Trustees in since September 12th to 23 you've got some changes and you got some changes probably coming again shortly here they are on board with this too or you have not told them any of this stuff where where are they at where do they sit um well all of the all of the current board members this is this is where they are and and and they did said you know we've got past members and new members um everyone is really excited about it and open to the possibility if we can afford to do it yeah I and I could agree with that because if you can't afford it it'll keep be sustainable that's no good yes I guess I I'm just going to hit you with one more question because it's kind of a maybe something that I've been working on for like four years now we have a jail up on the top of the hill that seems like a good dormatory to me has a lot of the attributes of a dormatory um I personally would like you guys to entertain that Chris more so um it's a good bone building the guts are not so good hence why we are not looking to do anything with it at this time and we're looking to sell it um going back to your point if you build it they will come so if you built a dormatory and you're going to use this building e to house that well when you need more classrooms you're going to need another building when we need more classrooms well if you do if if you do yes yes so so my point is maybe my idea is not so bad just throwing it out there right so so the other thing that comes with that is a sewer system in water agreed so big deal it it is a big deal so absolutely I would appreciate if you could entertain that um explain to me again sort of your thinking if this this does work out that's still something you want us to be thinking about or doesn't work out my thought this is what I'm thinking and and obviously little biased I'm not can tell you I'm not because it's our building that we do not want anymore so read through the lines um it's it is a good building though it is a good building um it's you got ample parking you're close to Newton so if you want to talk about a dormatory experience a college experience I think it'd be a lot better here than walking around your your campus up there at night time which now you're going to have to get security at least you have security here with Newton uh Sheriff's during the day Newton you know at night time and whatnot um you could walk the town you go to wherever you need to go to me that would be a better experience again my you you make a good sales pitch I've been thinking about it for a while um so I'm just asking you know for you guys to entertain that idea and then again you open up your classrooms if you have that many residents and they come here and all of a sudden you're bringing it in and bringing that Revenue in and saving the taxpayer money cuz that's what we all want that's what we're here for M you got classrooms okay a good deal I will give you a very very good deal in fact that's one one of the most beautiful buildings that hqw designed back in 1970s listen that's a good start how old were you's got a new kitchen you got kitchens you got dormitories already set up nice you should if you want all kiding aside we can set you up with that tour okay and I'm not we'll take you now to to be to be Earnest about all of that line of thinking this whole process really started in some kind of earnest way with what we going to do with Maguire and our partnership with the town of Newton and putting apartment buildings and residence holes there and that's come and gone and come and gone and come and gone and oh good Heavens it's been really quite a journey and I'm done can't do that I would just ask that you folks be ready to deal I I think we are ready to deal we've been working on this project for as long as I've been here which is almost four years now so I I I think you know again you entertaining it I think all right well we will we will give that due consideration we've got um a couple of members of the Board of Trustees here I believe and they've heard that and witnessed it so um yeah it's great so that's I'm going to stop there and give somebody else anybody else the Commissioners opportunity to so I got a couple questions one one M originally was the same as is about pushing our students out but in your sales pitch for this the effect of on campus housing you bringing up retention rate and graduation rate and percentages of those percentages you have listed what amount of those students are from the county and what would be from out of County you mean for in that in that table of data that that that's that's research that was conducted so basically in in any community college or university statistically that is how doesn't matter if they're from Sussex County or anything else it's it's it's a we don't have a breakdown though how it would affect the county r no other than that they we can expect the same sort of retention so for uh for anyone who goes to the resident H and there's lots of reasons for that U commissioner and and it has a lot to do with the totality of services that are there available to them particularly in students support call student Support Services they'll be able to Avail themselves of those Services more so than the come and go and come and go I'm I'm on campus I'm off campus this their home is the campus they then take advantage of those Services goes for students in County out of County it doesn't matter on that point too I would just I just add the transportation makes a lot of easier for students when I'm scheduling students and working with students well with any student in county or not let's just call it that you know coming from Vernon for instance is a 45 minute trip if you're going to juggle a five class load every semester for two years you're going to finish but five classes on campus coming from Vernon and most of our students work more than 30 hours a week it's impossible I'm sorry you know so the student has to take two online classes at least and online learning is not my favorite I know it's not a number of students favorite but the fact of the matter is life is pushing them to do that if they were able to take advantage of a dormatory opportunity where you walk down the hill to class there's no excuse anymore so there's no and there's no way to do electrical line worker online there's no way to do welding online Optics technology and these are these are important programs for us that drive drive the economy and will help you know we we need young cus County students taking on these trades we got to have it again it's County College and I want to make sure the sus County residents people that are going to go there to get the full benefit of all this that's why I'd like a breakdown would be a better option for us to see how this actually impacts okay commission we can we can talk more about spe specifically what you're looking for cuz I think if we can get that data because we haven't thought about it in those terms uh it would be used it's useful for everybody I agree are you good good commissioner you good y s I have a few questions um one of them is the dining hall like I know as a parent I had two daughters that both got their bachelor's degree start to finish at of state and one of the important things was the dining hall like it needed to be like state-of-the-art um I haven't been in your dining hall in years but is it up to date like what they would expect if they went to live in a dorm it's part it's part of the project part of the cost it has to be okay cuz I heard like it was under construction and like just left so um under construction because there was a there was a pipe that burst um in in the floor was a faulty valve or something and so we ended up with a a problem there that floor has been replaced now we walked on it today it looks sharp it's great Insurance paid for it okay um and and that's that that's useful but we now have a state-ofthe-art floor that changes everything when you walk in that's HED to but that's not the renovation that's going to be required um the cost of the residence holes has to include what we're going to do with the cafeteria so the total thing has to include that that's a part of the bill of of getting this project done what about the business model the profit and loss model in the profit and loss model that you folks have in front of you basically the uh the cafeteria the the meal plan is set aside it's a pass through whatever that meal plan is going to cost is what we have to charge and that will be and that will be that um so in terms of the business plan we not it's not going to be hey let's take a look at this say how you going to feed these students that's already considered and the way that we consider it is as a pass through so but but you're right I mean student satisfaction the food that served is going to be an element of student satisfaction especially if they're getting it in their like package deal like if you were doing that the other colleges that's right that's right and and it's Seminary has been a good partner but we don't have control over certain things we can be more responsible to our students we got control over it and this is one of those things and we really need to be able to control the experience that they have because this is very much about retention and they ate the food this is not going to be our retention uh deals and then another question like just looking at these plans you know it would be like similar to like if you were looking online and I instantly gravitate as a woman to the bathrooms and they unisex and showers too those are 10% drawings and there's conversations we have to have about that and and Chris I don't know where we are respect to that but um th those are details to give you some confidence we're thinking about that okay what are we going to do um and it is it's already been a topic of conversation multiple times with individual members of the board but we don't cost per square foot to do a project like this we don't even know what we're looking at and so and and the project may be doomed because no can't do it it's too expensive to do yeah cuz I just know sex was just meant as a quick symbol for bathrooms in the design development drawings it's individual male female bathrooms with stall with toilet stalls shower stalls sinks so and old fashion dorms versus like what the young ones are expecting now with individual bathrooms Direction yeah it's there's a lot to talk about there you know it's what what we in Sussex County want to do and and what students expect and have you looked into um I know you have the students housed at Centenary right now but have you spoken with sary on how many Warren County residents actually live in stiner no no so that's something I would like to know to see because that'll give me an idea of how many Sussex County residents because Warren County you have to have a car just like Sussex County yes so I'm imagining that Warren County probably doesn't have a lot of their residents living in S I would say that um sener is a different experience altogether and Sen has its own challenges and so I think that not not that it's not a comp it's not that we shouldn't look into I think we I think that's warranted commissioner Hayden's question okay there's there's something to think about from a different perspective but SAR is a definitely a different experience yeah we definitely will but you know the price tag coming in at 25 to 30,000 a year plus the 10,000 a year R in board you know a lot of our local students you know are looking at the community colleges more you know luckily you know than paying that price tag right away not and where is the nearest County College out of state that has storms Northampton Community College right across the river that we've toured and spoken to their team um we toured that building expecting to see these you know fantastic you know dormitories uh no that's not the case um Northampton is the only Community College in Pennsylvania they have a DM right about 300 they do um they're at 80% occupancy right now a lot of them are local residents that they've picked up um due to from them due to they don't have the programs that will drive students from out of the area you know I'm not going to psych I'm going to be a psychologist I'm going to go to Northampton Community College and pay for board if I can do that locally so you they don't have those programs that are unique essentially like we do so we're more better position better position for that cor could you talk a little bit about the phenomenon which um I I I sense and hear which you know not to rebut the reality of what commissioner conney just said but that uh parents in Sussex count they're not going to send their their kids to the couple but kids want it a lot of County kids who want they want to be able to have a college experience and Independence and come home on the weekend you know and do laundry and all the rest of that that is a real thing that students want and could you just talk a little bit about that I'll just note it's it's really an eye opener working at an Open Access Community College I'd gone to I've been my my background is all private four year where I went to um and so being at an Open Access Community College like I said we're dealing with everything every day students that haven't had a you know lived under a single roof you know week after week after week and they're couch surfing and they living with their buddies with holes in the walls it's bad some of these situations um so they're forced there but you also get the students like so the springtime is my favorite time for some school districts because the students that go away to fouryear colleges in California and Idaho and they posted on social media and hey I'm going here I'm so excited guess where they are right now is they went away they had a bad experience they moved out of state they weren't ready most of our students aren't so this could actually provide a good middle ground for those students where you go away you come back you don't have to they because they're pretty defeated after that right you go away you come back and I'm living with mom and dad again so this could be a good middle ground for those students coming in in the spring semester after they don't and so it's a good mix of parents students and um students and parents that do ask for dormatory information from stiner University every year so the price point is a big one for sary which we're hoping to drive the price point lower we have on campus housing that we can control because the price point sitting about $10,000 a year plus a meal plan which is pretty substantial right um so that be more than College tuition what's that would that be more than College tuition absolutely for our absolutely so that's almost double so that's one of the things though too and you know Dr C may have mentioned it so sorry but the if you go to a Centenary University you're 25,000 to 30,000 Plus rooman board here you're a modest $6,800 a year plus the r and board cost whatever that is which is half maybe you know 33% of what you would pay for a normal College you know public forye private 4ye so just because of where our tuition and fees are does make it more affordable for a number of Seasons anything else W director I have a few things but I'll just keep them I don't want to be the negative Nelly um commissioner Henderson I guess you're going to make me the negative Nelly I just like to say uh and maybe going along with commissioner Hayden a how many percent of the kids coming to the college now are currently from Sussex County uh 86% right now 86% and then I guess I'm going to go along with commissioner Carney on that I said I to put two students through your college with their associates degree and living 10 minutes from the college I don't care what they wanted if I was putting to the bill they were coming back home to go to bed and they maintain their own job the entire time why they went to school which was a huge help and both kids went through the criminal justice program there in Building E I'm very familiar with Building E been it several times myself few years ago that building was full and now I hear you say it's completely empty with no students makes me wonder okay who we going to put in a dorm if we can't even fill the classrooms so the classrooms the classrooms aren't full so there was an extension built on the back of a at this time period to 13,000 foot extension with larger classrooms off of the back of the Pack building and so a number of classes were relocated from E down to that a and due to the density you're going from 10 students per section up to 30 potentially in some I teach a class of 55 or 60 in my lectures for psychology which is pretty typical for community colleges when you have a lecture based class so our classes our classes are all maintaining it's not like we don't have room for these we're also looking um um with and Chris could mention this soon but the PSTA basement um to the PSTA to move our fire science theory classes as well as our criminal justice due to the location of the Sheriff's Office and the law enforcement and being on the psaa campus probably might make good sense so we're exploring all those options if it comes to a point where we don't have room and I guess my one final question coming from law enforcement myself is security obviously is huge I'm not saying all kids are party animals and I don't want anybody think that but I mean the first time at home they might very well be the first time out at home have you thought about where you go in the expense of law enforcement I me hug something it's in the profit loss thing it's it's sitting right there we I mean we have going to have to have somebody absolutely all the time okay thank you and I'll just note to uh commissioner Henderson is that the 86% of Sussex County residents probably another 7% are only from Pike County Pennsylvania due to the county being essentially an educational desert so we have about 210 students from Pike County Pennsylvania so sometimes folks when they hear that they're not from Sussex County their minds go to all over the world no they're T they're typically right across the river or warw New York West Town right on that Orange County border as well too so all right well we appreciate you all coming in thank you so much for the invite the two things I like I asked one is entertain the idea for the jail I think um yeah he will I think it would be a good investment myself uh and then just keep us a breast of what's going on cuz okay we'd like to know we don't want to hear rumors like coming from the horse's mouth as you say would be better than anything else cuz the things we hear well you know always anytime you folks want to meet directly you know Co coffee tea crumpets whatever it might be I'm happy to do it happy to talk straight and well I think the closer that Chris gets to having a better plan yeah a conceptual plan whether it be a month two months whatever we can just meet up with Christina call Christina uh with you know Cory or or John and say come back in maybe a shorter presentation uh and that's on us that we took so long you don't have to worry about that um and then and then go from there that's all that's all we ask all right so again appreciate much thank you all right moving on public hearing there is none number eight is public session from the floor this public session is for those wishing to make a comment of 3 minutes or less regarding an agenda item please line up with the microphone and state your name municipality and agenda topics for the record motion to open the floor for public comment commissioner Hayden have a second second commissioner V group any discussion all in favor say I I Iain carries anyone all right motion to close the floor for public comment commissioner space second uh any discussion all in favor Iain carries all right number nine commissioner comments and we're going to start with our newest commissioner and even remember the microphone uh first of all I'd like to say thank you it's an honor to sit here uh next to you guys as fellow colleagues I look forward to the next three years I can tell you since January 1st uh anybody that knows me don't know grass does not grow underneath my feet I'm a guy that hits the ground and takes off not walking at a dead run uh since being sworn in on January 1st at noon time I've met with employees services to get all the necessary paperwork completed I did a tour of the fire academy with commissioner space I have to say I was very impressed with the operation there and John Dixon and his staff I've attended several reorganization meetings in Franklin Hardon Hamburg ogdenburg and Lafayette along with commissioner degr in the last couple of days we have met with employees of the Sussex and Vernon DPW our second visit was to the Andover garage where we spoke to Andover and Stillwater employees and Friday we have a meeting set up with the frankfur garage and later in the day the Lafayette garage uh looking to do a tour of the uh hakan garage on the 14th of January I sat in as a visitor bystander for the planning board yesterday I spent from 9 p 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. here for commissioner orientation I was assured there was going to be a half hour break I can assure you there wasn't even a bathroom break it was very informative met a lot of department heads here and I can say very very informative if there was one common thread of any supervisor that walked in here and spoke to me I think they'd like to see all of us come up and meet with them I don't think anybody walked out of here who said please come up to our department and see actually what we do so I will join any of you that would like to go and meet them see what their job does and I think an employee does a lot more for an employer they feel that they're they're recognized you acknowledge the fact that there are the employees here and you appreciate them and that's all I have thank you commissioner Hayden I have no comments at this time right commissioner de yeah uh starting off the new year as mentioned Comm uh commissioner Henderson and I committed to touring the county garages and meeting with our dedicated County workers has been a very insightful and rewarding experience visiting the wage and Handover garages and meeting the hardworking Crews from wed Vernon and over in Stillwater uh later this week as mentioned we'll continue the visit to the Frankford garage and lafette garage uh concluding our tour uh at the H Pac on garage next week uh January's reorganization season for municipalities and I was pleased to attend OPAC Onre organization meeting on Monday to welcome their new councilman uh congratulations Steve kusich and Joe Falcone uh additionally last night I had the privilege of attending Sparta's reorganization meeting uh where the newest members of their Council Mark Scott and Marg Murphy were sworn in a special congratulations to Sparta councilwoman Margie Murphy for being named deputy mayor of Sparta which is very exciting uh looking forward to seeing the new council members of both with pacan and Sparta as well as the rest of municipalities uh in their work throughout 2025 and Beyond um that's all thank you God bless thank you deputy director space well I've been a little out of touch this last week but I did get to attend monu Township's reorganization where James Leon was sworn in and Barbara Holstein and uh mayor George ziton was the mayor again and then I attended wage townships where Justin dzinski was sworn in and Ron basani became the mayor and my son uh was sworn in as a fourth generation wage Township fire chief so that was pretty exciting and along with commissioner Henderson we did have the excellent tour of the Sussex County Community College Public Safety Training Academy with director John Dixon and uh the facility is um it's it's very cool it was pretty upto-date it provides up-to-date training right here in Sussex County so we don't have to send our First Responders out of Sussex to be trained um I look forward to seeing more initiatives with local law enforcement and the fire training right here in Sussex and my husband and son both had the privilege of being trained through that Academy and on our agenda tonight we have um we're going out for rebid on we have a resolution for rebid on our website design um our current provider could possibly facilitate the changes we need and uh that would be wonderful if we could do that and the others the other bids were all over our budget so that's on the agenda tonight so that's exciting and uh Division of Community and youth services opioid settlement funds allocated to Sussex County Municipal Alliance committees there's a resolution on the agenda this evening authorizing the Division of Community and youth services to allocate $935 from the opioid settlement funds for the established Municipal Alliance committees in Sussex County to create prevention programs that address opioid use disorder and any o co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions Municipal alliances are community-based volunteer committees and municipalities to address each community's unique Substance Abuse Prevention needs and problems for all ages the alliances are established by Municipal ordinance and engage residents local government and law enforcement officials schools nonprofit organizations the faith community parents Youth and other allies in efforts to prevent alcoholism and drug drug abuse in their community in Sussex County there are 11 Municipal alliances representing 22 of the 24 towns in the county in New Jersey there are nearly 400 alliances to learn more about the Sussex County Municipal alliances please contact Lisa Lombardo Sussex County coordinator at 97357 n200 extension 1370 or email Municipal Alliance at Sussex nj. us division of Senior Services move and groove the division of senior services will be holding a moveing Groove exercise class at Liberty towers located at 32 Liberty Street in Newton the six week class offers seniors the ability to participate in simple exercises with music the class will be held once a week on Tuesdays from January 14th to February 18th 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. classes are free but registration is required please call Senior Services at 97357 n555 to register or obtain additional information division of Senior Services game shop social the division of senior services will host a game shop social on Thursday January 16th 2025 from 2: to 3:00 p.m. in the community room at the Newton Town Center located at 225 Spring Street in Newton seniors will enjoy some cor camaraderie while playing a wide variety of games this event is free but registration is required please call Senior Services at 973 579 0555 to register or obtain additional information a senior services caregiver support group meeting will be held virtually by Zoom from 2: to 3:00 p.m. on Thursday January 16th 2025 this group helps to reduce the negative effects of stress and increases the physical and psychological Wellness of the caregiver it also provides information about programs and services available to to the caregiver information on how to access access these services and provides referrals as necessary please call the division of senior services at 973 579 0555 extension 1288 to obtain additional information or to register to attend these meetings please note that this group previously met on the first Friday of each month but the meetings have now moved to the third Thursday of each month and that's all I have thank you deputy director uh department of engineering PL planning um they've accomplished a number of significant achievements during the 2024 year the department expanded the use of asset management system which is now used by most of the department staff to manage work tasks and a variety of amenities the system is actively used for assets such as storm water inlets craw strands storm water outfalls traffic signs traffic payment markings guy rail systems winter County root maintenance program preserve Farm inspections and service requests moving into 25 the front will be expanding the use of the system to manage inspections and work orders traditional operational tasks additionally efforts will be focused toward the initial development of Permitting module to standardize and streamline various application processes managed within the department the operation arm of the department which includes a division of Public Works office of bridge and traffic safety Transportation operations and division of planning has been very busy and Ming the host of other tasks these division manage these divisions manag the assessence County Highway agency storm water permit administered a number of applications for open space positions Solid Waste plan amendments Wastewater management plan amendments planning board applications Farmland preservation applications and oversaw the Administration Management of 217 road openings access and occum occupancy perits these divisions also manage a number of annual Transportation programs such as the payment Management program the payment marking program the sign re reflectivity program the tree maintenance program and the guy rail repair program it's a lot of programs the division of planning continued to focus efforts on the management and oversight development of 25 Trail Grant programs and update of suss County comprehensive Farmland pres preservation plan and development of suss County local roadway safety plan Department staff is managing in excess of $50 million of capital Road and Bridge projects Capital work includes seven projects which are completed construction and entering the project closeout phase 16 projects anticipated to enter the construction phase over the upcoming coming year and 17 major Road and Bridge projects currently in the scoping RightWay and design phases looking forward 20 to 20125 includes a number of major goals and objectives such as the completion of updated comprehensive Farmland preservation plan completion of the local roadway safety plan the second solicitation of susus County Trails grant program development of susus County open space stewardship grant program construction of the $8 million 23 and 1 12 M susus County resurfacer program replacement of suss County bridge x48 on mudtown road and wage replacement of suss County bridge x43 on Union Road Unionville Road in wage repair and return to service county county bridge d18 on fenro Ro and Frankfurt replacement of suus County Bridge X20 on Barry Road in wage work on Bridges d18 and X20 will be completed using the in-house construction crew expanding use of the in-house construction crew capabilities remain is a goal and a priority for susex County and we look forward to the future something we've been working on for a long time uh on another note I have not been to as many uh reor meetings as you all have I was away with my son bring him the college but I was able to attend frankfurt's reorg meeting to see mayor Silverthorne take his third year uh and get sworn in as mayor again along with uh Ed risden who's been on that committee longer than I I was there so that's all I have for now uh number 10 it's approval consent there is none approval of minutes there are none number 12 ordinance there is none appointments and or resignation all right I need a motion to adopt resolutions a through k commissioner Hayden second sorry commissioner Henderson there you go any discussion sorry V call please director Carney yes commissioner deg gr yes missioner Hayden yes missioner Henderson yes deputy director space yes all 15 Awards of contract change orders bids there is none Financial is the bills list um you skip the item 14 resolutions resolutions how did I skip it oh no it's not here I don't have 14 oh well yeah noage staple but that's why you had a h a through K all right 14 I'm sorry extra resolution you're good this is K all right so motion to adopt resolutions a through K so moved second commissioner space commissioner de seconds any discussion all right roll call please uh director Carney yes commissioner de gr yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson yes yeah yeah yes uh deputy director space yes Christine you want to go back and fix that for um 13 13 13 was the motion to adopt resolution a through H H instead of a through K can we just amend that three should we have another roll call on that there was there's nothing after H so no it's not like you came up short you went too long yeah I just skipped right over to 14 my apologies yeah for the record motion to uh number 13 was to adopt a through H yeah all right 16 um uh payment of bills list this uh bills list is from December 25th 2024 motion to pay bills list a move second commissioner Hayden commissioner degre seconds any discussion V call please director Carney yes commissioner deg grp yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson obain deputy director space yes uh payment of bills list B from December 25th 2024 motion to pay bills Liz B so move commissioner the gr commissioner Hayden second any discussion roll call director Carney yes commissioner degr yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson abstain direct uh deputy director space abstain uh payment of bills list C this is from December 25th 2024 motion to pay bills list C so moved second commissioner space commissioner uh Hayden second discussion roll call please director Carney yes commissioner de grp yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson obain deputy director space yes all right and the last payment of bills list D from January 8th 2025 motion to pay bills Liz D some commissioner Henderson second commissioner space seconds any discussion V director Corney yes commissioner de group yes commissioner Hayden yes commissioner Henderson yes deputy director space yes all right number 18 administrative report real quick uh thank you everyone uh guys everyone covered a lot of programs tonight so I don't have a whole lot to add to that we've been very busy just one last thing I want to take talk about is the budget that provides all these Services we're meeting on the 14th Ela Tony and I to start scrubbing so that that we're constantly looking at that and uh contract negotiations will start back up next week as well so those two things are in the backdrops of everything you guys talked about tonight uh to support those efforts so thank you that's about all I got perfect 19 County Council report and over Subacute is sort of coming to a head hope to have a report for you next meeting after all these years um and uh the bank survey is came back with some some uh comments which we'll review an executive s very good uh 20 unfinished business does anybody have any unfinished all right 21 is new business um if you guys are good with it we we have the pins for our service awards that we've been talking about or I've been talking about for I guess a year now whatever whatever it's been if you guys are good with it I would like to put something together for the 17th January 17th at 3 p.m. here it's right before the Martin Luther King Day which everybody has off um have them come in if they can't make it we'll have the department heads hand their pins and then we're just waiting on our placards when they're going to they're not open up till February trophy does not open back up until February so once they do then we'll be able to get the placards finalized engraved in month but at least we can give them their pins for their service here acknowledge them their hard work and without them we would not have the county we have so it that's good good Perfect all right 22 public session from the floor this public session is for those wishing to make General comments of 3 minutes or less on non-agenda topics please line up at the microphone and state your name in municipality for the record motion to open the floor for public comment so commissioner Hayden commissioner gr seconds any discussion all in favor say I I I oppose abstain carries anyone no all right seeing n motion to close the floor for public comment return of regular business commissioner space I have a second commissioner hden uh any discussion all in favor I oain carries all right reminders 23 please check the County's website at www.celtics.com of the board of County Commissioners as an exception to the open public meetings act pursuant to njsa 10 col 412b and whereas it appears necessary for the board of County Commissioners to discuss such matters in executive session now therefore be it resolved that the board of County commissioners of the county of Sussex in accordance with the provisions of njsa 10 4-12 B and njsa 10413 that the board at this time enter into an executive session from which the public shall be excluded and be it further resolved that the general nature of the subjects to be discussed relate to the following items authorized by njsa 10 col 4-12 v as designated below item number five numers relating to the purchase lease of acquisition of real property or the investment of public funds 15 Trinity Street Newton New Jersey or uh and number eight matters relating to the employment relationship Sussex County Community College Board of Trustees they had further resolved that that the deliberations conducted in close session may be disclosed to the public upon the determination of the Sussex County Board of County Commissioners or provided by law that the public interest will no longer be served by such confidentiality and be it further resolved that upon completion of the business for which the board has entered into the executive session the board shall reconvene and resume its meeting open to the public and be it further resolved that the board does not accept expect to take formal action after returning from executive session except to adjourn the regular meeting correct y motion oh I'm sorry it's okay motion to go into executive session so mov commissioner Henderson commissioner uh Hayden seconds any discussion uh roll call favor all in favor oain carries thank you all for coming uh can I get a motion to adjourn from executive session return to regular business so mov commissioner space commissioner Hing seconds any discussion all in favor play I oppos abstain carries number 25 is adjournment motion to adjourn the meeting so move commissioner Hayden commissioner de seconds any discussion all in favor say I I oppose obain carries 8 is over 801 one