##VIDEO ID:cyB_art1J4U## [Music] [Music] okay at this time I will call this meeting to order Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker present commissioner bodc here commissioner delis Fort commissioner granados here commissioner Kowalski here commissioner Mirabella president commissioner Williams here Vice chairwoman Leon here chairwoman pal mudad here at the record reflect you have eight Commissioners present for this evening's regular meeting Clerk of the board please lead us in the prayer and salute to the flag humbly we ask God The Giver of peace and lover of Charity to give the entire family of Nations true agreement with his will and to Grant the light of his Spirit on all who work for justice and peace I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands Nation indice Clerk of the board please read the statement of compliance with the open public meetings act the chair wishes to announce that pursuant to the requirements of New Jersey statutes annotated t 10 chapter 4 for Section 10 of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting with the board of County commissioners of the county of Union has been given by mailing the annual meeting schedule for the year 20124 along with periodic changes necessitated by circumstance to the newspapers circulating within the county of Union who are designated to receive such notice and by posting the annual meeting schedule for the year 2024 in the administration building and further by filing the annual meeting schedule for the year 2024 with the office of the county clerk may I have a motion to approve the communications so moved Madam chair second a motion was made by commissioner Mirabella and was seconded by commissioner Baker Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker I commissioner bodc hi commissioner Del uh granados I with the exception November 1 sorry except for the November November 1st special meeting we're on Communications oh sorry yes Communications yeah Commission Kowalski yes commissioner Mirabella I commissioner Williams I Vice chairman Leon I chairman palmary mudad I uh chair let the record reflect you have eight votes in the affirmative on all of the communications uh may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the October agenda setting meetings and regular meetings and the November special meeting so move second a motion was made by commissioner Kowski and was seconded by commissioner Marabella Clerk of the board please call the RW commissioner Baker um I will have to estain from the October 9th uh regular and agenda meeting as well as the November 1st special meeting and you approve October 23rd correct oh yes understood commissioner bodc yes yes commissioner granados I all acception November 1st special meeting commissioner Kowalski yes commissioner Mir Bella I to all commissioner Williams I to all Vice chair Leon I to all and chairman p mudad i to all let the record reflect you have seven votes in the affirmative with one exstension for the October 9th agenda and regular meeting minutes have um sorry eight votes in the affirmative for the October 23rd agenda and regular meeting minutes and you have seven votes I'm sorry six votes in affirmative with two extensions for the November 1st special meeting thank you the meeting is now open to the public for the purpose of commenting on resolutions being offered for adoption Andor on any governmental issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern kindly state your name and town of residence for for the record and if speaking on a resolution on the agenda please note the resolution number to which you are referring and adhere to the five minute time limit hi can you hear me okay Diana Gonzalez Clark New Jersey today I want to start with a moment of recognition and gratitude um oh sorry my notes got jumbled okay I would say that in the past six or seven months that we've been coming here I got an appreciation of the programs that the county runs that I wasn't aware of before like today's art work with the seniors that was neat I saw the young kids that performed you know at the theater um so I think you guys do a great job specifically you know as it pertains to Clark since we started coming here we raised um concerns about Esposito Park I want to thank Vicki Durban Drake she had the uh Crush stone walkway addressed it was repaired and also I brought to her attention some garbage that got cleaned up and when it came to the reservoir we had a whole list of requests right and you've been very cooperative and responsive there's that one last issue which is the Wendell boat ramp I understand that the njta is holding Union County fully and entirely responsible for the Parkway bridge in Clark not just the underneath passage but the entire structure above and below the county is willing to eliminate the second boat launch but you're not because of the nj's position you know as we digested this as residents we feel that if an accident occurs Clark the county the njta are all subject to get sued um and it's really not even clear if having the two boat ramps is acceptable to the njta seems like you guys are at an impass right now the residents of the Wendell Community don't want to have pass through traffic and some of the largest old growth tree canopy is actually in that section of the reservoir it would be destroyed for the parking lot and the boat launch I could enumerate all the risks but you guys have heard it from us before so I'll spare you um we do feel like having the boat ramp at boat lakes is actually going to make the county more liable because it's going to invite voters to zigzag under the bridge um so we don't really feel like it reduces your liability our position and our ask at this time is if the liability is too big for the county to take on we feel like it's too big for the Union County taxpayers to take on and there should be no boating permitted at this moment we feel like we need to allow more time for the njta and the accountability to work out uh liability sharing negotiations I understand you need to get plans approved through the D and so for that reason you might need to keep it in you know until you work through that but we are pleading that you not move forward with the actual removal of the trees and the installation of the boat ramp until more time is given to this effort residents are petitioning the njta we're writing letters and we're going to their meetings our mayor has also written a letter petitioning them um to enter into negotiations with the county it took many many months to get Nick Nick kari's attention on the matter I was fortunate that he gave me some time back in I guess October time frame of course I reached out to him again haven't haven't heard back from his office as of yet and maybe this is an unusual request but you know he um is probably one of the more influential senators in the state you know he can serve as acting Governor when when the governor is out um it may not be part of your usual protocol to reach out to the senator but um given that he's heard from all of his constituents I'm wondering if we could uh um escalated to that level to really kind of get these two State organizations to to really talk to each other to come to the table so in conclusion we think voting is not a good idea at this time until liability can be addressed best case the njta and the county come up with some kind of a use agreement maybe we end up somewhere like voting concentrated in the center Lake um only with duckboats and some buoys I don't know where it's going to but we feel like this needs more time uh and the last thing I'll mention that a resident brought up you may have heard it in several meetings it could have been in the town meetings of the planning meetings many years ago um a resident um I believe it was a father and a child passed away at the reservoir so residents thought it might be a nice gesture if we get to the point of installing thank you good evening Madam chairwoman and Commissioners I am Amry howorth from middlex County I am a former RN of Cornerstone Behavioral Health Hospital which you terminated I remain the union president of local 5112 until my duties are rectified and complete I've come before you many times and continue to plead for resolution you heard me speak out uh for the the four professionals who joined our Union asking for their 1% extra pay uh so that they would have as the same uh as the nurses on our contract but you denied that you heard me beg for the preservation of negotiations for our jobs what we were being lied to constantly for eight months this past year from January until the time that we got our layoff no notices but still denied you heard me tell you what it was like when we worked for you during covid begged for monies uh and begged for the monies from the federal government that was given out to the health care workers uh confronted with the pain and the horrors of working during that time but still denied um but I think that was around the same time that raises bonuses and stiens were given out you heard me tell you about the leftover covid-19 funds reported in The Ledger but still you heard me say how we worked for you and just wanted to be acknowledged during that time period but still we're denied you heard me say how Burlington and Camden counties were filing for legislature to provide bonuses for certain essential healthcare workers during the vested during the vested period of covid and asked you what about Union County but still denied instead we heard at that time that the county was being investigated for the extra bonuses and stiens over $400,000 to top officials as we at Cornerstone got our layoff notices you heard me tell you how we complained about being wrongfully paid per our contracted for our holiday pay over and over again I said it at the labor management meeting throughout this year and previous presidents said that before and it wasn't until we were laid off that $660,000 had to be paid out to us nurses per that contract I am asking you to look at the 80 employees who yum deemed are no longer essential workers for Union County but they were essential workers during the time of Crisis to be given something something to acknowledge that they mattered that we mattered 80 time $5,000 is $400,000 but you gave that to three people out of those 80 it was only 18 nurses 37 institutional AIDS three social workers and one Recreation therapists 56 employees times $55,000 is 280,000 times $4,000 is $224,000 times $33,000 that I said that the other counties were giving to the people whose base pay was less than $100,000 is only $168,000 significantly under half of the $400,000 that those three top officials got all I'm saying is what are we worth we're no longer part of you what are we worth what were we worth during that time that's all I'm saying don't we deserve acknowledgement for the job that we did thank you for your time Gregory Johnson Rosel Park how you guys doing commissioner chair um the reason why I'm here today is I'm advocating for uh veteran organizations um I'm a Navy veteran myself I'm also a pass commander of post 60 and since my Endeavor and since my journey uh going to a lot of these meetings I've been listening to the veterans uh concerns about being unable to obtain Grant monies so there's a lot of money out there for different veteran organizations however they aren't uh many veteran organizations fa a challenge in accessing these grant opportunities due to the complexities of the uh application process and the costs associated with it and even trying to get a professional grant writer so um I came up with a proposal and I I sent it just recently to the veterans Advisory Board and I just wanted to uh plant that seed to you guys uh to hopefully maybe you guys can uh consider it uh next year's budget or something along that lines that will help veterans uh obtain these um revenues so this way that a lot of these organizations can do things like uh and continue to be uh uh uh important with in community engagement like we have uh the Boy Scouts of America is a part of us uh we we do a lot of uh functions for the community and so it it makes it difficult when you're trying to obtain let's just say a $5,000 Grant and you have to spend $4,000 to get $1,000 so I I I thought about an initiative I sent it to The Advisory board I would like them to sit and work out the uh the little OS syncrasy that may need to be tweaked of course um it comes along with uh it comes along with safeguards so that you know people aren't mismanaging or uh or trying to obtain these uh funds or whatever so I'm I'm just here today just uh uh wanted to plant that seed and to you guys to consider that in next year's budget and hopefully uh we will discuss it at the next uh veterans Advisory board meeting and I I look forward to uh everyone's uh input so thank you for your time uh thank you for the opportunity thank you uh commissioner arel for allowing me to sit on the uh board and um I'm looking forward to doing such a great initiative like this hopefully this will help our veteran organizations get the monies that they need uh rather than it always be denied so thank you hello um chairwoman um Commissioners ladies and gentlemen my name is Susanna saell of Clark New Jersey um thank you for letting me speak up here uh and thank you for helping uh our continuously helping our Union County residents to improve um everybody's lives um for its residents and especially in your effort to help improve the reservoirs the our Reservoir as you all know has been suffering from lack of care for quite a few years and swamps green slimes has been showing up constantly and we really appreciate your effort of trying to improve it um and as uh constituents um we really appreciate you got elected government officials like you guys to make Common Sense decisions and to do it with transparency um we were recently uh fortunate enough to attend a planning board meeting in Clark where CME presented some of the projects with the planning board um we are surprised to hear some of the things that has changed from the original scope that we weren't aware of um not that we supposedly know about it but that was a good way for us to know about it and I have some questions and I'm not sure how to get the answers at this point but I thought I at least throw the questions out and hopefully get some response um one is we were you know the the primary goal of this project was to clean up the reservoir on with dredging and irration but we were very surprised to hear that the East Lake was not to be dredged or arated anymore at this point and we our understanding from that meeting was that it was due to budget constraints even though the original um I guess the funding that was supposedly assigned to this whole project was $43 million is what we heard um but there still budget constraints to do the east lck at this point which I can understand you know everything goes up um so as we all know so maybe there is has to be some limitations of what we can do with the original funding however we just really surprised that if the primary goal of dredging and Iration for a whole leg it's not done because of budget constraints I'm not sure why we are going forward with building all these extra things if the original goal of cleaning up the reses cannot be achieved so that was one of my questions um some of the other questions are I think it has been brought up before um CME also told us during this planning board meeting that um the boats are going to be allow The Kayaks and R boats canoes only and I think you've been told by people who actually do those kind of boings that boat ramps are not needed for those kind of boats um so I'm not sure why we are still in a project building B ramps and there two of them at this point you know one at the main Bo Ram at by by St Annas church and the other one in window place also this is supposed to be a three-month operations boat rentals or memorial date of September a labor day when we also heard that during that planning board meeting that there's a twostory 8600 square foot building to be built for a three-month operation two stories 8600 squ foot building just seems to be excessive but we don't know everything so I would like to understand why especially when there's budget constraints that cannot even do the basic goal of Ding and narrations um the second point I really wanted to make and Diana has already mentioned a little bit of it is on the liability side uh as she mentioned the New Jersey Turnpike liabilities um that's imposed right now is unbearable by Union County uh and I know you guys have been trying to work out the situation to be fair to everybody but if it's not worked out the idea of a signage to trying to stop people from zigzagging especially with two boat Rams just doesn't seems to be a common sense idea uh that's going to be able to withstand any litigations so you know that's one of the first liabilities I can see that voting at all seems to be not reasonable given those kind of liability the second one that I wanted to bring it up and I'm not even sure all the Commissioners or chairwoman yourself are aware of at the Eastern end of East Lake um there's a waterfall uh at the meeting CME thank you my name is my name is Henry seevi and I'm married to Susanna selli and I'm from Clark just want to finish up what Susanna got cut off by saying you're the engineer at the Clark planning board meeting you know we were asked about the danger of that waterfall at the end on the East that's significant waterfall and I asked if someone goes too close to it is there anything in the plan that could stop them from going over and getting hurt or dying or drowning what have you he said something about some boys that would be put there but he said they would not prevent a boat from going over to Waterfall they would discourage it but not prevent it so apparently there's no way to guarantee that a a you know a young family or person with a couple of kids in the thing you know when when the breeze is blowing briskly it's kind of hard hard to keep that Robo because I've had some experience myself under control and it it blows you toward the waterfall so I can see you trying to paddle back away from the waterfall and the wind stopping you from and there's no way to stop the boat and there's no way to stop the boat so you're going to go you're going to go over the waterfall sound like a really big deal and your engineer did not have an answer for that and he admitted that that was something well yeah no it won't stop it but you know we have signs we have these boys but it's a concern and along with the liability issue frankly this is a no one's really thought about this much but unlike a lot of other parks where you have boating what have you very few if any have waterfuls at the end of it you shouldn't be allowed on East Lake because there's a waterfall there and maybe you shouldn't be allowed there at all with boats you should restrict them to the other side the West Lake if you will for boating where you don't have that kind of a potential danger so I just wanted to bring that make that clear that this is an issue that never came up before at the planning board meeting your engineer admitted he admitted and if there is a liability suit on this someday those minutes of that admission will come out so that that that's something I would be very concerned about so I think you either got to fix that issue from an engineer your practical standpoint or like we're saying don't do the don't don't allow boating for a while until all these liability issues have been hammered out you know to everyone's satisfaction okay with that I thank you for the time good evening um Ellen Mulligan from Clark New Jersey I want to thank you for giving us an opportunity to comment and provide feedback REM regarding the Clark Reservoir I attended the Clark planning board meeting on 118 and I had several questions looking at the original plans versus the revised plans um my questions were not addressed or answered um some of my questions are uh we noticed some of the walking trails were changed to gravel and is that ADA Compliant uh the improvements were not shown to scale and it's very deceiving if you look at it um for instance the boat house 8600 square feet shows up as like a little minute little little square um we I would like to look at plans for the boat house it seems very excessive uh for 8600 Square fet um you have the second floor with a gas fireplace a covered patio offices and a big great room are you having employees there uh do you need more parking are you going to open that up for a catering hall um the same thing with the parking lots it doesn't mention how many parking spots will be in either the um by the St Agnes property or by the window they Place boat ramp um uh they talked about um the boat house will house an emergency vehicle what kind of emergency vehicle is that and is that in the budget there's also a 30 foot buffer along the St Agnes property and a 50ft buffer at ji Drive how come one is 30 and one is 50 do you have a count of trees to be removed and what sizes are the trees um the press release dated 8:26 states there there will be duck boats in addition to kayaks and canoes what do you consider a duckboat do you consider it a touristy boat or hunting duck boat um there's two uh connection paths off of Madison Hill Road one appears to be ASA and one is aggregate why are you having two different um uh foot paths um different materials uh the pedestrian bridge along the parkway how wide will it be and will it handle motorized vehicles um in case of emergencies and I'm asking you to please reconsider the window Place boat ramp um we don't feel it's necessary and there's a great liability thank you very much for your time I'm sorry um we have to move on to the next thank you hello Nancy twas is Clark New Jersey and I'm here to talk about the Clark Reservoir Park Park project that is going to cost $43 million and I think about 30 million of that is co money that came I guess from the state via Federal so I just want to emphasize that we're spending covid money on a park that really nobody wants in Clark I don't know I don't see anybody here getting up and saying they want it I'm still waiting to hear so um first I'd like to show my support for the wday Place residents who are going to have their lives changed forever but not for the better this change is not being forced on them by foreign enemies no is being forced on them by a group of elected officials who appear to not care that they are ruining Lives why because there is an obsession with boating on the Clark Reservoir second I would like to speak to the overall plan with boating on the Clark Reservoir when you walk on the paths around the reservoir now there are no boating signs posted all over the place how does a reservoir go from no boating to Lake a pacon it is a County's obsession with boating on the Clark Reservoir third I would like to speak to the liability the county is placing on the pocketbooks of all the citizens in the county many citizens have brought this up at local and County meetings and has fallen on deaf ears now the state is addressing the liability through the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and all of a sudden it is too big of an expense for the county to Bear whether the state or the county has to pay for damages caused by boating on the reservoir it is still a cost to Citizens that is totally unnecessary the dream of having 365,000 residents of Union County voting alongside one of the most congested sections of the Garden State Parkway is looking like a nightmare I can picture it now drivers going 65 miles an hour and being distracted by kayaks canoes rowboats paddleboats emergency rescue missions drownings who knows what and why because the county is obsessed with boating on the Clark Reservoir I suggest boat ramps boat docks the two story 8600 foot boat house with a party room go by the way of the ill-conceived train and Carousel and clock tower then the need for two massive parking lots where trailers can turn around gets eliminated and maybe the money grabbing storm water retention Basin gets eliminated and we get to some low maintenance nature trails and a fishing pier let's be reminded that in a democracy elected officials are there to implement what the people want and the people don't want all that tree destruction and development why is is it that we the people are feeling like we have no control of our destiny please it's time to start listening to the people thank you good evening jilia cins Clark New Jersey I have a few issues one of them will be brought up about the Clark Reservoir but I have two other issues I was very disturbed when I read that the beyond the bin day at Union College on November the second the they were going to be collecting things for the animals and they were going to be going to St Hubert's which is in Madison which is not in Union County they don't Ser as Union County they've eliminated any of their animal control for any c any municipality within our County they bring in pets and animals by plane and they fly them in and they get adopted while our animals die in our Union County service Animal Control Union County Police use nor Humane as their Animal Control how come they didn't give to animal control in your own City also of Elizabeth that is overrun with animals there is also an animal I'm sorry there is also the animal control in Elizabeth planfield Union um Woodbridge they all handle the towns in Union County um animal I'm sorry um Associated Humane also supplies Animal Control to Clark Lyon raway Ros and Winfield along with our Union County Police how come you had to go to St Hubert's in Madison that doesn't help any animal in our County let's take care of the Union County animals first and foremost and save their lives thank you okay back in 201 18 you passed a resolution um by chairman Sergio gradus concurring with the Essex County resolution supporting municipalities and permitting trap neuter and return commonly known as TNR since that time only four towns in Union County have adopted TNR and we're still on the Hedge about raway um out of 21 towns that we have only four of them have TNR hopefully in the two in 220 I'm sorry in 2025 you'll find money to supplement some of the people and the individuals myself also that pay for TNR for animals in our towns that are dying there are animal controlled people that go out and tell people let the animals die don't feed them don't take care of them let them die in our towns sorry I get emotional when it comes to the animals and Mr Marabella knows me from the bear hunts the deer hunts the G geesing gassing of the geese in our count did many years ago so I'm very emotional about this and I feel that our county has let our animals down okay regarding Clark got my shirt on I am very upset that there's going to be no dredging we have photographs of some of the areas of Clark that have been I can't even imagine living next to something like this and smelling this and having uh the Aquatic Life be killed because they can't breathe if you go be I've brought this up many times if you go down Old ritton Road and you go by the former Hungarian Club it is like plaster over the water it is green it is not moving the and it also is at the end of the um headers a lot of that water that comes in the headwaters area comes from other towns we don't want to become North Carolina or Tennessee and get flooded out thank you good evening ladies and gentlemen the Cher board and vs golden nuggets Bruce Patterson 325 Garwood New Jersey sorry for the address reso 853 through 866 is modifying the budget pouring in nearly $14 million I'm not questioning the content of the resos why is this money now coming into the budget so late in the year were we expending this upfront in the hopes that we would receive the $14 million later reso 865 is expending 3.5 million toward a Green Lane Park improvements nothing came up on the Google Maps for Green Lane Park although we see Union has a 40 acre Kennedy reservation off Conant Avenue nearby uh is this the same park reso 869 is approving issuance of solid waste bonds called AR's Linden project that one odd that the county would ignore tagging the cost of this Bond at $30 million back in June 2019 Freeholder meeting then ucia director Sullivan stated that the project would not be funded by the county hence no impact on taxpayers but it looks like the county is now on the hook for a total of $95 million in bonding and I'll talk more about this at the end reso 870 is allowing the ucia to undertake issuance of lease purchase obligations for Capital Equipment of various towns as the public is unfamiliar with this process the public would like clarification of how this interfaces with the towns and exactly what equipment is planned to be bought reso 875 has upped Kingston cry's legal contract to $170,000 for General Council Services why is there more money being spent for the Public's interest what more General Council services are occurring reso 878 is applying for a $2 million Grant from New Jersey DCA for unspecific operating expenses just a month ago DCA gave the county $2 million towards some vague unnamed program I express concern with the county hiring free being in effect that the county could be in financial difficulty the county manager pointed out that I previously claimed the county was sitting on $150 million in cash contradictory evidence is starting to arise for sure that behind the scenes this County could be a financial disaster in making that is hidden from the public here's another resolution for $2 million for a project with again no specifics mentioned someone needs to explain what this project is since basically all I ever hear is flippant and nonprofessional answers from the county manager during these meetings General comments you should be aware that in April South Jersey Industries had broken ground for a $400 million biofuels plant at tremley point in lyen just blocks away from our County's much smaller struggling biofuels plant not yet built this is like Walmart versus the mom and pop project South Jersey Industries plant will convert 1,500 tons of food ways to generate 3.8 billion BTUs a day of renewable natural gas all based on their fully proven process already used at other locations and to be operational at end of 2025 our struggling County biosolids project was planned to do only 400 tons of food waste and one billion BTUs a day one quarter of South Jersey processing but sadly these numbers were based on an unproven commercialized process which you should have been aware of from the start our fail project has been on gr since 2019 with no results it appears ucia director and finance chair who is being paid $300,000 a year has put the county taxpayers in a precarious position to possibly accept a default on $95 million in County bonding this we cross our Collective fingers it doesn't happen in the Public's interest we are imploring you to table this resolution to stop throwing good money after bad you must first call upon ucia director Taylor to explain in writing why this project is taking more than 5 years to complete and based on an unproven process is now costing $95 million with the taxpayers on the hook cash flow calculations previously now uh done before previously now cannot pay it back will you please do your job table this resolution and get explanations from BBY tayor thank you okay seeing no one else I will formally close this portion of the meeting um I'd like to ask County Manager Omen to please uh comment on resolutions 865 869 870 and 878 thank you chair I could blow through a lot of these resolutions I'll try not to be flippant as Mr Patterson claimed excuse me thank you um for the um the the the resolutions under Finance uh we accept the awards when we get notification from the state and you cannot spend the money until you get notification I figured Mr Patterson would know that uh for the Aries project which he's asked about several times the county has no role in issuing the debt or paying the debt this is a privately financed project uh Green Lane we County does own a park there piece of land it'll be a walking trail um lease purchase Pro um resolution that is a commonly used um method across the state where you pull resources so instead of one town buying a police car one town buying another police car you buy them in bulk it saves all the towns and the taxpayers money um for the the other item he was talking about the the the the waste that is again not a county project it is a private project the private company is responsible for running the project managing the project paying the debt I'm sure sure that's in your notes somewhere um yeah and that's about it answered all these questions thank you chair thank you uh c um County Council Bruce Bergen can you please comment on resolution 875 thank you chair um this arises out of the County's ongoing litigation concerning the uh improperly constructed Ashbrook uh clubhouse um this this offer firm has been representing us to this point in that litigation and this is to pay their bills so we can continue to uh move forward and try to collect our money back from the contractors and others who did their jobs improperly thank you chair thank you um okay and as for uh our concerns regarding the Clark Reservoir we do have a public Hearing in Clark at the end of uh this month so we can um address those questions questions then um at this time I would like to ask for a motion to adopt resolutions 2024 d86 836 through 2024 d89 second a motion was made by commissioner granados and was seconded by Comm commissioner bodak Clerk of the board please call the role commissioner Baker hi commissioner bodc hi Commission granados hi commissioner Kowalski yes commissioner Mirabella hi commissioner Williams hi Vice chairwoman Leon i chairwoman p Mar mudad I the record reflect you have eight votes in the affirmative on all the resolutions thank you um at this time I would like to call upon my colleagues for their reports and comments and I will start with commissioner bodak the Union County Board of Commissioners announces the newest art forall abilities session on Tuesday November 26th the arts for all abilities program helps children and adults with disabilities enjoy art it gives them chances to express themselves learn new skills and connect with their communities the November 26 session family canvas night will be held at warle Park Center at One Park Drive in Rosel classes are free but pre-registration is a requirement pre-register at ucnj.org that concludes my report Madam chair thank you commissioner Mirabella thank you madam chair the Union County Board of uh County Commissioners invites all dinosaur obsessed ages four and up to Trailside Nature and Science Center on November 16th to discover the fascinating word of these majestic creatures children will learn how to dig for fossils feed a baby Raptor that's I'm looking forward to that part and take part in other exciting activities centered around dinosaurs tickets are $20 for Union County residents and $25 for outof County participants tickets are available for one of two sessions 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 to 12:30 sorry or 1:30 to 2:30 to purchase tickets Please visit ucnj.org and uh before I conclude my comments uh Madam chair I'd like to say a word and just thank the the residents and and the uh voting public of of Union County for overwhelmingly supporting my reelection and the reelection of chairwoman pal Mar mudad and commissioner Baker uh they obviously have have weighed both candidates and decided we were doing it a fine job for the residents of Union County and I appreciate that support I want to thank everyone who put their name on the ballot and ran for office it's certainly not easy to do uh and people want to um put their name up and be evaluated for what they can or or can't do for the county and I'm just appreciative for the support I've received and on behalf of my colleagues I can say that I'm very very thankful for that support over many many elections and many years uh I want to um congratulate also our new Senator Senator elect Kim our Congress people that were reelected uh both on the Republican side and the Democratic side and that represent Union County and do a great job in Congress for us uh and and all the local candidates who ran and won and and thank those who ran and and did not win um but uh I I I'm just sitting here just very thankful for you know the outpouring and overwhelming support that we received and I couldn't be more more grateful and thank you madam chair for that appreciate it thank you and by the way Adeline keeps asking me if the dinosaurs are real there are they real are they going to be real so that should be a fun event uh commissioner Kowalski thank you madam chair and uh congrat add my congratulations to you and commissioner Mir Bell and commissioner Baker and um to all who U participated in the election um also also uh this past week we um observed Veterans Day and U most of us um attended some sort of ceremony and uh just want to uh add my um thanks to all of the veterans and uh to all of our people currently actively serving in the military um and that is my uh that's all I have to say for this time I'll Bank the rest thank you chairwoman okay thank you commissioner Baker I'll I'll just be brief and um say that uh uh commissioner Mirabella uh expressed the same kinds of thoughts that I had regarding the the election I do want to congratulate uh my colleagues uh on on winning another term as Commissioners and um I think that's I think that's about all I have to say right now thank you very much okay commissioner Williams thank you chairwoman uh yes I also offer congratulations to my colleagues uh on their success in this past election um also the the commissioner board is hosting inclusive Zumba classes for children and adults on Thursdays in November in this month at the Cranford Community Center located at 220 Walnut Avenue um Union County residents ages 5 through 4 14 are scheduled for 5:30 to 6:15 and residents 15 and older have class from 630 to 7:15 um teens and adults ages 15 and older are also invited to participate in our inclusive Ceramics painting at the Gregorio Center 330 Helen Street in Lyon on Tuesday November 19th uh from 7 to 8:00 p.m. registration for both events is required just go to ucnj.org uh to uh register that's all I have um I wish everybody um you know a happy week happy holiday uh as we seriously move into the next season thank you chairwoman commissioner granados thank you chair just want to also congratulate colleagues on the commissioner board for uh for they win that truly show the residents are in support of the work you guys are doing throughout our County and also I want to invite uni County residents with disabilities and special needs along with their loved ones to our annual skating with Santa event on Saturday December 14th from 2: p.m. to 400 p.m. at Warren ankle Sports Center in Rosell this free event is hosted by our office for persons with disabilities and special needs includes ice skating crafts photo booth for Refreshments holiday gifts for children 12 and under courtesy of the moving New Jersey forward Foundation registration is required visit www.n n.org opds n-reg to sign up we look forward to celebrating the season together and I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving thank you chair thank you County Council Bergen thank you chair nothing tonight County Manager rman nothing Vice chairwoman Leon thank you chairwoman um the Union County Board of County Commissioners is welcoming all Union County residents to take Park part in the last crap metal recycling clean drop off for the 2024 season on Saturday November 16th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. rain or shine residents from any Union County municipality can bring scrap metal to either of these two sites Cranford at 151 Kenworth Boulevard or rollway at rway River Park Service yard materials should be placed in in trunk cargo area or truck bed and be accessible to staff to remove from vehicle pump recycling continues throughout the month of November for a list of punking recycling locations or a list of accepted scrap medals please visit ucnj.org recycle I want to congratulate my colleagues on winning this election and wishing everybody a Happy Blessed Thanksgiving thank you this is all for me thank you uh the Union County Board of County Commissioners is excited to launch the official explore Union County app available for free as part of my 2024 growing together in Union County initiatives this app offers a comprehensive guide to our County Parks Recreation listings staff directories helpful links and featured events it's your all access pass pass to discovering everything uni county has to offer right in your backyard but this app isn't just about showcasing our Great Outdoors it also strengthens Communications between residents and the county with the feedback feature you can report issues directly to us by uploading photos and sharing your location for a seamless and efficient response please visit ucnj.org uh exlore or search explore uni County on the App Store and Google play today we're very proud to uh bring our community closer one experience at a time and I'm very excited to officially announce the uh the app that will now be available um we earlier this month uh we celebrated the we did our Great Pumpkin sale at Echo Lake which is always a really wonderful family event um we have so many people that come back year after year um and watch their pumpkins sail off uh in the echol lake Pond and it's just a really fun uh family event so I want to thank our Parks team for putting that together every year um we also celebrate cated dwali on uh Sunday at the Hamilton stage in raway this was our fourth year celebrating um and the program gets better and better every year the first year we were reminded uh we actually did it on Zoom so that was crazy time to think about but we we each had gotten our our candles and we did a presentation through Zoom um and then year after year we have grown uh the program but we had some really wonderful Talent from uh Union County was all student performances um from various groups throughout Union County they were all Union County students and they were really really special um so I want to thank those that participated in that program um for participating um and I also want to just make mention that tonight we passed a resolution recognizing The Bravery and sacrifice of our veterans who have served our served and continued to serve our nation with dedication Union County is grateful for your commitment and courage um I know we celebrated Veterans Day on Monday but here in uni County we celebrate our veterans every day and we're so grateful for the sacrifices that they made and their families made uh for all of us so um with that I also want to congratulate um all of our Union County um individuals who ran for office whether they won or lost um it is not an easy task uh to put your name on a ballot so I just want to congratulate those that went for it this year and I want to thank um the residents who supported myself and my colleagues commissioner Maybel and commissioner Baker um it's a joy to run and serve with both of you so with that I will ask for a motion to close no move all in favor I I okay good night [Music] [Music]