Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

We think or we are [clears throat] all right. All right. I think we're ready. Is everybody ready? All right. Um, I'd like to call to order the January 20 uh January 20. It's been a long morning. What's today's date? January 20.

I can't say it. This is this is not good for the whole meeting. You get my point. Um, so we'll call call to order the meeting. Uh, note the presence of my my two colleagues. Um, and I'd like uh Ricky Treat to lead us in the push, not to put you on the spot. Is there a flag in here? There we go. Uh, 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. Great. Thank you.

All right. U, just a quick uh legal update before we begin. On January 13, 2026, the board of commissioners held an executive session for the purpose of consulting with our county solicitor regarding a potential lawsuit concerning a contract dispute and potential affirmative litigation uh initiated initiated on behalf of the county. So, just wanted uh to say that publicly. Uh this past Monday, uh we all know it was Martin Luther King Day. I hope you all took the opportunity to give back to your communities. and my family and I visited Christ Lutheran Church in Orland for their kids due service event. So you'll see my little guy Max there. We made cards for kids in the hospital and he helped roll up socks with snacks uh inside for the unhoused. Uh and I was very grateful to hear that he is learning about MLK in school, although he got the story mixed up. Um uh he said that MLK separated black and white people. So we're we're we're working on we're working on that for next next year. Um but note he's only five years years old. Um and then a little later we stopped by Salem Baptist Church in Abington. Uh Alpha Kappa Alpha Sarity hosted their annual day of service there. Uh I had the opportunity to speak with so many uh community members who were gathered to reflect on Dr. King's legacy by helping our friends and neighbors. So we compiled food donation bags for families, feminine hygiene bags for women in need. Um so I hope everyone uh did their part and had a day of service on Monday. Uh last week, Commissioner Dello and I uh recently we kicked off uh the celebrations for America 250 right here in Monco. The state's America 250P PA committee is

organizing kickoff events in all 67 counties. MONCO hosted our event last Friday at Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge Park. And this is just the first of many events happening this year. Our very own America 250 commission led by former commissioner Ken Lawrence has been working uh hard to coordinate A250 celebrations all throughout Monco and we want to invite anyone who has ever has a planned event for this year uh to let us know. Uh you can visit montgomery countypa.govamea250 and submit your planned events. Uh last week I also had the pleasure uh of attending the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg uh for the first time. Uh has anybody been to the farm show by show of hands? Okay. All right. So this is always an amazing show. So I hear and I found out last week when I went. But the cool thing is that this year's centerpiece uh was a butter sculpture created by two artists from Ka Haken, Jim Victor and Marie Pelton. It's called a toast of our nation's 250th anniversary inspired by founders grown by farmers. So that's that's Max and my bonus daughter Miley uh in front of the the bon the the butter butter sculpture. I think this picture sum sums up uh the show quite well. I think my favorite part of the show was uh sitting in I don't know for those that have been to the show there's a area with about 80 baby goats. Has anybody done that? So it's a goat petting like exhibit and so we got to uh pet some baby goats while while we were there.

What happens to all that butter?

I don't Yeah, that's Yeah, that's a good good question. That's a good question. We'll we'll have to ask. We'll have to ask. All right. So, next week we'll be celebrating another major milestone. The share food program will be opening a new food storage warehouse in Lansdale. Many of you know that as a board we have been very focused and proactive about supporting food insecurity in Monco. Uh we've seen a dramatic increase in demand uh for the county's food pantry network over the last few years. Unfortunately, the share food program alone has seen an increase in demand for their services by 120% since 2022. This new warehouse facility in Lansdale will be an essential part of making sure our friends and neighbors can put food on their table. The county invested $4 million in this project via our pandemic recovery funds in 2022, and I'm looking forward to finally seeing this project become a reality next week. Uh so congratulations to the entire Share Food team um for getting to this milestone and for those that want to celebrate with us, you can join us on January 29th. Um so I want to uh take a moment to recognize the work of another outstanding member of our Montgomery County community in the food security space. I'd like to ask Marsha, where is Marsha [laughter]

to stand up? [applause] [laughter] I've never been surprised.

Well, I'm glad we could pull it off today. So, I'm going to ask you to keep standing while I go through this. Um, but Marsha is the executive director of the Family Promise Monco, one of the county's strongest partners in preventing hunger. For over 12 years as executive director, Marsha has ensured the dignity of healthy food for counties throughout Montgomery count for for countless Monco families. She takes a direct hands-on approach to make this happen. Her impact is felt far and wide. Under her leadership, Family Promise Monco has been a leader among family promise organizations around the country. On top of the support of those experiencing food insecurity, the organization has also expanded its commit commitment to housing and reducing homelessness. So much work at our county level, whether it's with transitional housing or food insecurity, would simply not be possible without you, Marca. And we are lucky to have you. I'm told that your favorite saying is this work is about helping those who have too much on their minds and not enough food on their dinner plates. It's really that simple. So, I want to commend Marca for her leadership, compassion, and dedication to public service. I'm so glad uh they got you here today. [laughter] And I want to uh give a special thanks to our former county controller, Karen Sanchez, who helped get Marsha here today. and played a role in making uh this happen. So before I invite uh Representative Sanchez up, I'm gonna allow my colleagues to share share any thoughts.

Oh, I'll just say Marcia, I mean, you're done an extraordinary job in the community and many people who who don't know about Family Promise. I think you know it started with the premise that uh we have faith communities, congregations and churches that are very active on Sunday but for the rest of the week what what are we doing to serve and family promise has housed families helped people uh get back on their feet out of homelessness uh fed those who are hungry and and had you know community support um in order to do that in a really successful area right here in Montgomery County. It's actually the organization I got my start with when I came back home after law school and it continues to inspire uh people in our community. So, thank you, Marcia, for leading and really uh inspiring so much of the other work that we're seeing happen around the county, too.

I I just want to thank you as well. I I think Commissioner Wer summed a lot of it up and and you've heard us talk a lot over the last two years as far as we've been dedicated to many different things throughout McGomery County, but one one of our top priors, one of our number one items on the list was, you know, food pantries and and homelessness and all those things associated with that mental health and all that. uh and we've been working extremely hard over those two years and it's people like you that help us make these programs and make everything that we're trying to do be successful as well. So want to thank you for everything that you're doing and the people around you. Obviously you can see how much you're beloved and loved with the with your you know the people that came here today uh as well. So again thank you for everything uh and keep up the amazing work.

Great. Um so before REPRESENTATIVE [applause] SCOTT, come on up. Yeah, that's fine. If you could if you could go right to the the podium so we can see you on camera and Okay. And then Yeah. So we can see you on uh because I know you want to present. Yep. There you go. Oh, perfect. Behind the podium.

Yeah. Well, thank you commissioners for for honoring this moment and and this great person, Marcia Eichelberger. and Marsha, I had a front row seat to see you over the years, the the few years I've been involved with Family Promise prior to that interfaith uh housing alliance and you've grown the organization from uh and I'll just touch on the food security realm in the from a closet at one of our partner churches to a gigantic fullscale operation ational with Amazon style food blockers now uh full choice fresh food uh all the perfect foods that people need to be healthy and have a balanced diet food pantry on the Salem Baptist campus and you've done it all along with growing the housing insecurity and the transitional family planning that that works that truly works gets people back up on their feet and you've done it all with love and dedication that is unparalleled. So on behalf of a grateful commonwealth, Representative Greg Scott and I have a commendation from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives signed by the entire Montgomery County delegation who you serve in in uh family promise and we thank you for your undying and tireless work in this community. We love you.

[applause] [applause] I was bamboozled. Thank you. And I just want to say one thing while we we get I know some people want to take pictures, but but but this is the antithesis of who Marca is. She doesn't do it for the photo ops,

right? and and as a as a as a kid growing up in the streets of Narsttown to a single family mom who often had to st stand in food pantry lines. um to be able to receive help and maintain your dignity in your time of need is incredibly important. And this is a heart posture that Marsha has, which is why her authenticity in this moment today that we live in in such uncertain times. We need to figure out how do we double, how do we triple, how do we quadruple her heart posture and and continue to uplift her work and to make sure we spotlight that. Thank you, Commissioner Winder, for your leadership for allowing this moment. Uh because we truly appreciate you as a gym, not only in Montgomery County, but we got to model you throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

So, we love you. We appreciate you. And this is just one token, a small token of our collective appreciation of who you are, and we thank God for you. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] [applause] We're gonna have you We're gonna have you come Peter and take They really did. I was coming for Karen to be [laughter]

and you want to come come on up. Karen, come on up. All right. Where are we looking? There's [laughter] I'm looking straight down.

All right. One right here, please. All right. One, two, three. Thank you. Thank you. And we have one more. [applause] Thank you. We have one more for you. One more surprise. [laughter] No, go. You can go. Yeah, you can go. Yeah.

One more. All right. One more. We have one more. Okay. All right. Go ahead.

Uh, sorry about that. Uh I'm Liam Parker from Congresswoman Dean's office and she uh is sorry that she wasn't able to be here today uh to present this but she also would like to uh give you a citation for all your work which we all appreciate. Um just to read uh whereas the United States House of Representatives is proud to honor those individuals who contribute to the betterment of our nation through their legacy of exceptional community service and dedication. And whereas executive director of family promise of mco, Marshall Aishberger has worked tirelessly to provide critical resources and community care to Montgomery County families experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. Under her leadership, Family Promise has worked to ensure families have nutritionist food, household supplies, and personal care items through the family uh family promise food pantry program. And whereas Marsha's dedication to serving her community is further exemplified by the numerous transitional housing programs she leads for low-income families experiencing homelessness. Marsha's relentless advocacy reflects the selflessness and dedication with which she serves her community and her vision has set a standard for excellence that guides other family promise chapters and nonprofits. Therefore, it is my honor and privilege to recognize and pay tribute to Marsha Echelberger for an incredible career and continued service as executive director of family promise maka and extend the best wishes for her continued success. And I direct this copy of this citation sponsored by the honorable Matteline Dean on January 22nd, 2026 to be delivered to Marshall.

[applause] [applause] Great. Great. Thank Thank you again for everybody that's here to support Marsha and I know Family Promise will continue to do great work in in MAC. Yeah. Go. You want to say a few words? Go ahead. [laughter]

My My assistant told me to let you have a few words. Sorry about that. to be able to get this award and really incredibly shocked [laughter] that it had to be another woman that could surprise me. My husband maybe has tried a couple times like birthday parties, but so thank you. I mean, the work we do is important. We appreciate all the support that we get from our community, the county, um, and it's it's a privilege to do the work that you do. So, thank you.

Great. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. [applause] All right. Uh, a couple more things uh for me and then I'll turn it over uh to my colleagues. Um, I wanted to take a moment to recognize one more exceptional member of the MONCO family. Uh, you may have seen that the Roman Catholic High School uh football team recently won its first ever PA state championship. Now, Roman Catholic may be in Philly. Uh, but the head coach, the team's head coach, Rick Pit, is a longtime MONCO resident. Rick took over as Roman Catholic's head coach in 2019, and he quickly uh built the team into a contender. This is the second year in a row that Roman Catholic has made its way to the state championship game, and this is the first year they won. And with great pride, I would I'm happy to say that MCO's own Rick Pri was named the Pennsylvania Coach of the Year in the 5A club. So, let's give Rick [applause] [applause] um our team here knows that that Rick's greatest award is his wife, Gabby.

[laughter]

over who is an integral part of our Montgomery County communications team. Over the past year and a half, Gabby, Rick, and the entire Creek family have demonstrated incredible strength and resilience in the face of the unimaginable loss of their daughter, Ariana. I know you miss her every day, and we also know that she's incredibly proud of you. So Rick, I want to invite you up here today uh first for your perseverance and leadersh all the leadership that you have demonstrated as a coach, as a father, as a husband, as a veteran, as a and as a member of this great community. You are so deserving of this rec recognition. So I'm going to invite Rick and Gab up for a photo. [applause]

[applause]

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Right here, please. All right. One, two, three. Then hold it. Then look at me. One, two, three. Perfect. Thank you.

Thank you. [applause] All right, one more thing and I promise I'm finished. Uh, all right. So, um, the week of January 25th to the 31st is medicalico legal death investigation professionals week. And so I just wanted to take a moment uh to honor the professionals working in our coroner's office. Um these are our coroners, medical examiners, investigators, forensic pathologists. Uh these professionals perform work that is often unseen but is essential to public health and safety, uncovering the truth behind deaths and providing answers to grieving families. So we're going to present this to the coroner's office. The corner is not here, but just wanted to Oh my

sitting in the hiding from me. You're usually right here. Come on up to uh my team here. Yeah. Oh, great. I didn't even Sorry about that. Um this is a great team. Do you want to say say a few words about about this week and the importance of the

just quickly? I won't take up um much time, but I really really truly appreciate this recognition because like you said um you don't see the work that we're doing. Um, most of the people don't see the work that we're doing. We are called last responders. We pick up where the sirens end. Um, and so I love this recognition for my team because they haven't really been recognized. And um, and I'm I'm working on a few things so that other people understand what we do um, and that we're doing very essential and vital work for our community and um, and further and beyond. So um, thank you so much um, for this recognition. Um, next week is um medical legal um death investigator professional week um which is just um a week that's uh um recognized by the organization um of medical death investigators. So, we're trying to make this a state recognition um because first responders have that um but this is a start. So, thank you.

Great. Well, thank you um thank you to you and thank you to the team. We've spent a a lot of time at the coroner's office and I recognize um you know coming out of COVID uh you all were not really recognized for the lift that you and the burden that you carried in in in the work especially during COVID and even postcoid. I recognize that um deaths have increased year on year and so the workload has increased significantly. So, this is just a small um token of appreciation and thanks. And I'm sorry, maybe I need glasses, but I did not see you sitting back there. It's all good. But glad you're you're here. So, if you want to come up for uh a picture and

We appreciate that. Yeah, you're welcome. Appcate. Get in the middle.

All right. Right here. One. two. Three. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] All right, I'll turn it over to my colleague, Commissioner Makija.

I only have a few awards to give, so they're just the way to go, winners. I'll be I'll be quick. Um, first, let me just say earlier this month, uh, we hosted our first ever municipal elected officials orientation forum. You can see the selfie up here. We had 200 people uh in the room at the community college. It was a really fantastic uh event and it's really the result of the last election, right? We had the highest turnout ever, 50%, a lot of new people in office. They're excited, they're inspired, they want to find the best ways they can make an impact on their community. And [clears throat] we at the county were able to share a number of resources. Our department head spoke about housing and homelessness, public safety and emergency response, economic development and different grant and funding opportunities and uh you could just feel it that people were getting a lot of great ideas for how to improve uh their localities. Uh township supervisors, burough council members, schoolboard members. Uh these are people who understand their communities the best [clears throat] and uh we're proud to work alongside all of them and I think it's really great uh that we did this as a start. There could be more topics and conversations uh including on specific issues related to zoning or housing. Uh I know our sustainability chief sustainability officer Baby's working on a forum on data centers and uh how municipalities can think about zoning around those issues. So, it was just a really great event. Um, I don't know if my colleagues want to say anything about it.

No, I thought it was a really great event. Uh, thank you for for the idea. Um, just uh to host a convening um and giving uh elected officials the opportunity to learn about how they can partner with the county, what resources they can avail theelves to. You know, I thought it was a really a really great day and we've heard nothing but positive feedback. So, um I'm glad we could come together to to do it. Yeah, I echo that. I mean, it was a good day. You know, as Commissioner Winer and I mentioned in the past, we started, you know, as elected local elected officials either as supervisors or school board and

um wish something like that would have occurred when we came on. You know what I mean? When you get into this local uh lots of times when you get elected into position, it's almost like getting hit with drinking out water hose. But locally when you become a township supervisor or schoolboard member um it is treating at a fire hose because you get sworn in early part of either December, January and the action starts immediately. So it was great that we provided that kind of service uh to township supervisors that let them know all the different things and access. Thank you. uh let them know all the different uh act that what the county has to provide and and be there as support as well. So it was a it was a really good uh event uh for Saturday.

Absolutely. Saturday early morning early morning Saturday. Um so I'll also just follow up on the share food warehouse. As Commissioner Winder mentioned, we're very excited about this. This is one of the biggest investments from our ARPA funds. I think it was close to 7 million. Three out of three out of CARES Act.

Four out of ARPA. So 7 million in total. And what this warehouse is going to do is provide massive increase in the capacity to store food uh that we then distribute to food pantries across the region. So it's not even just Monco. And any of you may know we have 70 food pantries and nonprofits in Montgomery County, including Family Promise, uh that you heard about today, uh that make sure that uh no one is going hungry in our community or at least making uh every best effort to ensure that. And if you all know when the SNAP benefits cut off uh in last uh just basically during the government shutdown in the fall uh all three of us as a board supported providing half a million dollars in emergency funding that went straight to local food pantries in the form of uh direct food aid uh and we saw an increase in a number of philanthropic efforts to support this. So this warehouse is going to make it more possible for uh whether it's companies, organizations, individuals who want to contribute, donate food. It's for us to be able to have the capacity to hold that and distribute it. So very excited about that. Uh yesterday we sat down, all three of us sat down with a number of labor leaders from uh across the region and Montgomery County and we introduced our new labor liaison, Ross Despensza. Uh this is a really important role because we're at a moment where there's a changing uh economy and the kinds of jobs that uh we thought were safe and secure are no longer. And uh the kinds of of jobs that we want to guide our uh residents to, [clears throat] our kids to uh you know are um there there are great number of

vacancies and demand for certain things including skilled trade. So uh many of you know that uh with AI shaping work in real time uh there are hundreds of thousands of vacancies actually in skilled trades, plumbers, electricians, uh HVAC technicians, steam fitters and uh they're they're in need in this community but around the country. So, we talked to the trades in part about how we build the pre-apprenticeship programs that we've seen in Bucks County Community College, uh how we could do that in Montgomery County, uh how we can protect workers across the board using tools in the county, whether it's through the DA's office as other [snorts] uh DAs have done in enforcing worker protections and across the board just showing our support uh for organized labor, which is, you know, really a pillar that has built the middle class. So, that was a really great meeting. I don't know if there's any slide for that, but um uh I'll just follow up on MLK Day as well. Uh we had uh we had activities happening across the county uh in every municipality. Really thankful for everyone who showed up and committed [snorts] uh during the day of service. I've been to Salem before. They do an excellent job, as Commissioner Winder uh noted, engaging the community and showing people ways to give back. Uh I also attended the barristers association of Philadelphia for the annual breakfast. Uh and there was many uh inspiring conversations about how we maintain our commitment to civil rights at a time when uh it feels like they're being eroded. Um finally uh I want to acknowledge some of the staff members who are doing an extraordinary job uh in Monco day in day out. Some of them are here today uh start with Sha Lee. These are our way to

go winners where we highlight uh people uh here in Monco uh that are uh being noticed by their peers. Uh so Sean is a supportive, charismatic, dedicated employee who's passionate about his work. Uh he's helped shepherd one of our biggest priorities which is our transitional housing program from ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar architectural plans to reality. He's a coordinator of public property management and assets and infrastructure. Uh Sean, do you want to stand up? Stand up. Thank you, Sean. [applause] Keep standing up. I'm going to tell everyone who's here to stand up. Next is Jordan. Correct.

Yes. [applause] Um I received many emails from Jordan, but I had never pronounced her name out loud until now in public. But she deserves it because she's incredibly hardworking. Everybody knows Jordan goes consistently above and beyond. She works in our commissioner's office, the executive operations. She helps teams coordinate uh across departments, gets everybody the briefings for many of the occasions and events and meetings that we have and is able to work through all those moving parts uh in a way that makes everybody feel uh like they're getting what they need out of a very chaotic process at times. So, please stand up, Jordan. Thank you for all of your work. [applause] And then finally, who's here? Sean T. Smith, a custodian in public property. Uh Shawn has been an exemplary employee since 2015. We're at the 10-year mark. Uh past that now. She's been a role model in dedication and care to our facilities. And behind the scenes, your work has not been unnoticed, but there's many people uh supported you, nominated for this. Thank you, Sean. And any Thank you all for being here [applause] in the room. No one else is in the room. I can mention the others. I'll just mention some of the others who are not here because they continue to do their hard work. Uh but Troy Bridges, a custodial services manager, public property. Troy went above and beyond. He helped an employee whose paychecks were lost by the USPS. He personally helped them open an account and direct deposit and receive their pay on time. uh Rosemary Griffin who's an intake case worker uh in office of children and youth in our HHS department. She's someone who has great work ethic and positivity and has taken on uh a number of responsibilities to support uh the department. Uh then there's Monica House who's a grants administrator with our Southeast PA regional task force in in public

safety. Monica's dedication, attention to detail, and proactive approach have really contributed to the success of the task force at a critical time. She takes ownership and shows responsibility in everything she does. Uh Rosalie Moody, who's a custodian in public property, has worked for the county since 2000, and for the past 25 years, she's gone above and beyond uh showing her dedication to making sure that we have a healthy and safe environment. Uh finally, Marissa Sarapati uh Sepharati uh who's in juvenile probation. She has an ability to remain calm under pressure, maintaining professionalism, which has made her an incredible asset to the department. Marissa approaches every challenge with a problem solving mindset and goes an extra mile to ensure everyone feels supported. Please round of applause for all of our waiters [applause] who are watching online and please uh come on up everyone who's here and we'll

Thank you. All [clears throat]

right. One right here, please. One, two, three. Thank you.

Wait, hold on. One, two, three. Perfect. [applause] Oh, sorry. Okay, that's it for me. Well, I think my uh colleagues covered a lot this morning of uh different things going on throughout McGomery County and all the recognition, which all welld deserved. So, I'm just going to do a brief real quick. Um, I I did want to point out that this month is school board uh appreciation month. Uh, Commissioner Winer, myself, as I said earlier, we we were on school boards uh at the same time at one point, different school boards, but at the same actually where I met Commissioner W for the first time. Um, and you know, school board being a school board member, um, it is probably one of the hardest, I believe, elected positions that you could have. Um, because it's a very thankless job. Um, school districts have thousands of students with, you know, thousands of parents and, um, no matter what you do, you're always making somebody unhappy. Um it's and you know and most of the time all you hear is criticisms. Um so it's great that uh January is schoolboard appreciation month. We have 22 school districts in McGomery County uh which we have that means we have 198 school board directors uh throughout McGomery County. Um, and they work very hard uh for all our our students, our young generation day in and day out. And it's it's there's no pay. There's no

stipens or anything like that. It is is truly 100% uh really volunteering job. Um, and it's really is tough. it is thankless. But we always want to make sure that we uh share our appreciation to all our school directors out there. Um because like I said, it is extremely hard. But we do appreciate everything that they do. Um, and I know that uh looking back on my 12 years as a school board director, um, I was be I was proud to be able to uh list out a lot of the accomplishments, but I'll tell you, there was days that especially living through co, there was days that you're just, you know, banging your head against the wall like, "Oh my, I I don't I can't believe I'm doing this." But, uh, I want to do a big shout out to all our school board directors across McGomery County. And I think I'm just going to end there because I'm stuffy and everything today. Stay over [snorts] the state.

I'm over here. Don't worry. It's not cond. It's just a All right. Thank Thank you. I got I caught something from Lee, I think. Thank you. All right. So, we'll try to move the agenda along. I know um that was a little long in terms of our commissioner comments. So, uh is Phoebe here. Hi, Phoebe. How are you? Come on up and talk to us about Meals on Wheels. Thank you. Good morning, commissioners, distinguished guests, fellow community members. I am Phoebe Canianic. I'm here on behalf of Family Services of McGomery County and I'm here to talk about our senior programs and the need for volunteers. Before I start, um, thank you for mentioning the school board of month. I'm a school board member in Pottstown.

Oh, so I was like, oh boy. Um, all right. So, um, Meals on Wheels and Project Hearth are our two senior programs. Um, you can go to the next slide. Meals on Wheels provides nutritious meal uh nutritious meals to homebound seniors, regular wellness checks. And we're more than just a meal. That's the motto, right? We check on them. We make sure they have human connections. Sometimes our volunteers are the only people they see every day. Um we help reduce lon loneliness. We secure uh we ensure their safety and our volunteers report back to us. So if they see something, sometimes they find people on the ground, sometimes they find people in unsafe housing, so they report back to us. Um, you can go to the next slide. Project Hearth is a sister program for meals of wheels. So our volunteers would come back to us and say, um, someone never can they can't pick up their prescriptions, they need a ride to their doctors. So um, Project Hearth does those things. They do friendly visiting. They do phone reassurance, just calling. We have volunteers that call other volunteers um to check in on them and they really love that program. Um they also provide limited transportation. So like I said, grocery stores, medical appointments. They help the seniors stay connected, independent, and engaged. And for this program, we really need drivers. Uh same thing for meals on wheels, but for this one um the the key part is the grocery store and doctor's appointments piece. Um they just need drivers for that. And you, as you know, McGomery County is has a transportation difficulty. So that's where we're trying to help that group. Um go to the next slide. So every March we do March for meals and um that's where we invite distinguished

people in the community to come and volunteer with us and deliver meals. Um last March we had the honor of Commissioner McKe coming and delivering meals with us. He was paired with our longest serving volunteer. Her name is Jean Spots. She's volunteered for 54 years with Meals Meals. Don't worry, we don't expect that from all of our volunteers. Um but we'll take it of course. Um and and that shows the powerful impact of just one volunteer. Um we will invite you guys again this year. So look forward to that. And I think we can go to the next slide and I think that's it. Yeah. Under five minutes. [laughter]

Thank you for that. Thank you for your service to the school board and uh uh service uh to family services. Um and thanks for all the work that you're doing to support our seniors. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Thank you for having me. you have any questions or

I'll just add one thing which Jean was amazing to spend a day with right um I asked her how she got started and she said a friend had roped her in and said hey you want to help me on Saturday with you know meals on wheels and she said then I've been doing it for the next 54 years so be wary of when your friends ask you to help [laughter] out service projects but what I think what was really special too is a lot of the people that you're serving you're the you're the point of contact that they see right the whole week and it's really special to be able to even spend time and talk um to all of the residents you're serving because you know they appreciate that. So, thanks for everything you do. You're welcome. Thank you.

Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me.

Next up, Jesse King's going to do give us a justice center update. Morning, commissioners. Uh, thank you for giving me the opportunity today. It's been a little while since we did one of these justice center updates. Um, a lot's gone on and I the goal of today is to talk a little bit about where we are and where we're going on phase two of the project as well as give a glimpse into the scope and the timeline uh for phase three which uh is as you know the renovation of the historic courthouse. and then finally talk a little bit about financial performance not only on phase two but um the overall project um from inception to the completion. So next slide please. Our topics for today uh again we're going to talk about construction status for phase two um we can go

did I did want to talk a bit about the green roof. Um we have a good slide, a picture of the rendering plus what's happened at this point. I think it's noteworthy that um this is one of the first uh I believe it's the first green roof in Montgomery County facility. So um there's a number of reasons for that. One, it's environmentally impactful. um it provides an added level of installation. We built the green roof to the specification that leads us to a um gold lead certification. So that was important for the entire project. Um and of note, all the roofs in the new building have the capacity uh to be green roof. So if we make that decision or this board finds that important down the road um you know and it's within budget, we can make that move to make the entire building a green roof. So that's something to look forward to. Do you do you want to just take 30 seconds and explain what a green roof is?

A green roof is essentially what it sounds like. It is a organic uh roof. It's it's dirt. And we cho we chose um robust um plantings that can survive a harsh environment because of the heat and other factors that are on a roof. It's also utilizes um runoff water. So, it's pretty much fully sustainable on its own. There's minimal maintenance. It provides an insulation R value as well that's beyond what a regular roof would be. So, it's really a win in all respects to move towards a green roof. And that's why leadeds asked for it in their certification for gold certification. And how long does it la last? Does it I mean just in perpet like you know

I'm sure there's maintenance associated with it with turning over the soil. I'm not a green expert on that but um we did choose uh the plantings to be minimal maintenance. So that was important to us. So, we weren't stressing our internal public property team to take care of that. Got it.

Um, also wanted to just touch base on the two entrances. Um, they're coming along. Um, it is important for us um to have appropriate access to the building for our employees, but also the public. Um, the main entrance on Main Street is directly across the street from our county owned Main Street garage. My anticipation would be that many of the employees that are working in that building will move from the main street garage directly into uh the building. So they can just cross Main Street right into the building. Our other employees that park on Cherry Street that either work in this building um or just parking on Sterry Street that work in the New Justice Center can utilize the Swede Street entrance which is directly up from um Penn Street. Um was going to can skip these things talking about lighting remaining work. Um we're looking to finalize controls and systems within the building. We're looking to finalize training for our major departments that are in there. We're working currently with the sheriff's department to get them ready. Um because their operation is probably the most impactful on I'll give it a second here.

[snorts] All right, we can next slide. Next slide. It's off again. Okay, there we go.

Uh, cafe is coming along. Um, we are close to contract. We've selected a vendor for the cafe, but we're close to contracting with that vendor. Uh, this is a really exciting thing for the employees of Montgomery County. I mean, it gives them a welcoming, bright, um, large space that is going to have, honestly, I was part of the testing process, some great food that's going to be available for our employees to get away from their office, not necessarily leave the complex and meet and enjoy a meal at the cafe. Next slide, please. We can skip this. Next slide. Next slide. Next slide. Um, I I wanted to note the lighting. Um, a lot of time went into picking the lighting that it is one sustainable, they're all LEDs, high efficiency. Um, just walking through the building, it's it's kind of a a high point looking at all the different P things that they picked and it it really adds to the the feel of the building and you know the function. So, next slide. Remaining work finished the green roof installation, Terzo wall panels in some of the areas, security controls. Uh we have commissioning and training as well as installation of FFN. Obviously that lags because you don't want to bring the furniture in before the building's done because

you just make sure to not use um acronyms. What does FF and what does that uh furniture fixtures and yeah just for Oh no understood. Yep. And O and M uh that is operations and maintenance. Commissioner Dell could do this this presentation. So just for for those that don't understood I'll note it for future presentations. Next slide.

Uh, our updated timeline. Again, this is anticipated. The reason I use that word is because we um it's a moving target. I mean, there are, as everyone in this room knows, there is a massive snow snowstorm on the horizon that could cut a couple days out of our schedule if if the town gets shut down because of the snowstorm. Uh there's supply chain issues. But this, based on our scheduling work that we have done is our best guess as to when the building will be finished and then operational. As you can see there, substantial completion means when it is movein ready, which would be third quarter of 2026, that's when a lot of the work on this end work uh begins where we start to transition our departments from their existing buildings into the new facility and then the building becoming operationally operational at the fourth quarter early for fourth quarter of 2026. Next slide. Financial performance for phase two. Um, now when I'm talking about this, this is just the awarded eight prime contracts for the construction of the building across the street. They were approximately 233 million. We've had approved change orders before this board for 5.8 million. There are a number of pending small change orders at this point. It's not the level of $100,000. We do not anticipate any impactful change orders between now and the end of the project. Those represent approximately 2.5% of the original contract value uh which is well within a reasonable standard. Next slide please. Transitioning to phase three. Um in an earlier presentation we talked about the guiding principles that we developed with the architectural team and the stakeholders of this project. Those principles being timeless, flexible, open, modern, contextual, and sustainable. I'm not going to go through all of them, but I'd like to hit on two of those that I find really important for the [clears throat] phase 3 project. timeless. It's a historic building. Um we are the main goal with the res uh renovation of the historic courthouse is to keep it at a historic courthouse to maintain the beauty, the charm, the

importance of the historic elements of that facility. We want to keep it timeless. We also want it to be sustainable. Um again um we have noted prior that the new facility being the new construction of the uh justice center south plus the renovation of the historic courthouse is anticipated to use 50% of the energy that is used currently at the historic courthouse. So that again [clears throat] is a tremendous win in terms of energy consumption for this project. Uh just getting into what is actually happening. Again I I I mentioned the MEP systems. um they're not improved necessarily. They will be run from the new building into the historic courthouse. So, they were spec to be able to um run the HVAC systems from one building into the historic courthouse. Preservations of the historic courtrooms, restoration of uh reconditioning of the mill work and the plaster, renovation of the copper roof, which I'll touch on a bit later, um replacement of windows and restoration of the existing facade, improved safety and security, and restoration of the historic murals. Next slide. What does that mean? It means we're going to renovate and moderate modernize the entire building. Um, we are also securing and consolidating judicial chambers. This is an important one. As it stands today, we have judicial chambers in two buildings on, I want to say, five different floors. That is not efficient. That is not necessarily it's safe, but it's not necessarily the best use of our resources to keep people safe. Um the new uh layout will have all of the chambers consolidated with secure hallways um to keep our judges and their staff secure and safe. Uh reorganization of departmental space to maximize operational efficiency. That basically means we're giving people the right amount of room for the operation that they're doing. You know, there are some departments that may have had too much. There's some that had too little. We did a program to make sure that the right amount of space is being

utilized for each of those departments in the new facility and that they are in the right place to maximize their operation. So if they're a public facing um department, we want to make sure that it's easy and accessible for the public to reach those um those departments to get the services that they need. Next slide, please. Very quickly, annex by floor. As you know, the historic courthouse is split into two sections. The annex was built a little later. It's on from this vantage point the far side of the historic courthouse. Uh the bottom floor will be court reporters and the office of the sheriff women's advocacy advocacy proonetary and court administration just above that followed by court care jury commissioning and registered wills. Um the existing historic courtrooms BNC will remain the same on level five and then we have judicial chambers consolidated on levels five six. Next slide. The court historic courthouse is only three floors. We have uh magisterial district court administration on the bottom floor with public defender. It is noteworthy that the public defender is not in the new complex. They will be relocated to this building. But we found it important that they have a workspace in that building so that our judges can call them back to a courtroom where they can um do the work that they need to do in close proximity while they are in trial or in a court proceeding. Um and then existing court historic courtrooms AD and F will be on level four. Next slide. Current project schedule. This is the entire project. Um again as mentioned before we'd like to go operational with the new building in the fourth quarter of this year 2026. Um the historic renovation cannot begin until after that happens because we need to you know move everybody around and empty out the historic courthouse before that renovation begins. We would anticipate that the fourth quarter [clears throat] of 26 or the first quarter of 2027 and then project

completion the big ribbon cutting will happen in the fourth quarter of 2028. Next slide. Comprehensive project projections and estimates. Um I use the word comprehensive here and it's important because when we talk about the estimates for the entire project, it is not only about the new construction that you see across the street. It includes all of the following. Those estimates that were developed back in 2018 included phase one demolition, phase two, construction of the new building, phase three, re rehabilitation of the historic courthouse, and then soft costs which are or owner's costs which are associated with all phases of the project. Those are include but are certainly not limited to professional services, land use, permitting, FF furniture, um fixtures, equipment, um legal costs. I mean, anything that falls outside of the bucket of actual construction costs is encompassed in those soft costs and they are built into the estimates that we are going to provide you. Next slide, please. We do have some cost pressure points. Um there have and I've listed this in three different classes. There have been modifications to project scope. When I say modifications, these are owner initiated modifications. Um the big driver on these are two things. The first was um years ago, I want to say it was 2021 or 2022, we made the decision to change the design to move uh the office of domestic relations outside of the building and move the district attorney's office into the building. um that required a new design. It required different construction costs. It impacted it created a cost a cost pressure in so many words. Um what needs to be noted is that modification not impacting this budget is that it saves the county money because we do not need

to find a home for the district attorney's office either in this building or another building around this campus. So that moved enabled us to take that project off the books of finding a new home for the district attorney's office. Another modification that is noteworthy for um the cost pressures here was the addition of replacing the roof in phase three of uh the historic courthouse. We were we did know that the roof needed some work when the original estimate was made. It deteriorated at a faster rate than we anticipated and because the project timeline was altered, we were in a situation where it makes more financial sense and efficiency um to do that project in time with um the rest of phase 2. So, it just financially it's a no-brainer that you would add that to the scope of the project at this at this point. associated soft cost with each of those with modification oh excuse me with escalation of construction cost from 2018 to 2026. This is a big driver of cost pressures. Um of course at the initiation of the um estimate back in 2018 or 2020 we anticipated escalation. uh we our financial our construction management company use a um standard industry standard rates based on what they've seen before and what they anticipated at approximately 3% a year in escalation to come up with what the project total project cost would be. Um I don't think I need to go into all the reasons that those numbers changed. I mean there were changes in market there was um the epidemic that we dealt through in 2021 alone. Um, we saw escalation at approximately uh I want to say it was approximately 19% in 2021. So I mean you're right there is

a a lion share of an unanticipated increase in escalation that is driving those costs. And then associated soft costs, everything that I talked about before, professional services, um, legal fees, what have you, architectural fees, those are directly impacted when you change modification of the scope or escalation and other costs associated with the project. Uh, next slide. This brings us to the current financial outlook I've put in there as reflected in the 2026 approved capital plan. Um the remainder of the job each year is um our team does diligent work to determine this is dating back to the initiation of the project. Each year if there were all if there are changes to the project budget based on those cost pressures that I talked about our project team enters them into the capital project and then it is approved. So these numbers um are reflected in the capital plan moving forward. Um, but again, the comprehensive estimate, including all of the things from the beginning of the project to completion, now sits at 48 just over $480 million. Um, that is with a 100% contingency spend. Um, that would be I don't want to say worst case scenario, but that's if you use up all your contingency. if if uh things unfold where we don't need to use the contingency, we will be down near the 25% uh $472 million number. Um happy to take any questions. I thank you for your time. I tried to be brief, but there was a lot here. So,

I mean, it's a big project and I think the public deserves to know uh where we're at. What I would say is we are going to do this on a on a quarterly basis at minimum. Um, so, um, because there should be consistency in how we talk about the project publicly. Um, and what I would say is we'll probably never do a project this size, I guess, maybe in our our lifetime, and we weren't here when the project came uh to fruition. But I want to, you know, I want to I know it's been difficult, right, Dave? I want to thank thank you um

uh and Jesse and the whole whole team. I know it has uh had a number of challenges. I know we'll have a beautiful uh county campus as a result of it. Not that you know the only thing I would just say publicly is you know we have a real opportunity as we think about uh the pro other capital projects that we have coming on online to really just do a a deep dive. Yes, there were things that were out of our control, right? Like inflation, cost of of goods and all that good stuff, cost of services, but there are also things that were in our control. So let's take just time to have a moment of reflection just as we enter into some of these other projects and think about you know how how would we have done things differently um what would that look like and how could we apply that that either to phase three or to the other projects that we will have coming online soon. So um

yeah so that's that's my comment. Um couple couple things. one uh what what is what do we think where are we landing on contingency spend right now? I mean do we have a projection?

Well, that projection that was supplied on the last slide is that was developed in two months ago. So that is telling us that we have a remaining contingency of approximately $3 million for phase two, 5 million for phase three and whatever the remainder is uh 2.5 million for this budget. So we it's unknown. I mean that's the starting point is we have allocated those funds just in case and they are available to us at this point. Well, yeah, I understand that. But what are we projecting the spend is going to be on the contingency funds as of now? Do do we think we're going to be at 25% spend? Do we think we're going to be at 75% spend?

I I think by nature of the unknown, we don't we haven't even been or advertised the project at this point. So, we don't know. Phase three. Phase three. total I mean that I mean because you you show numbers total numbers at $480 million and then you broke down at 75% you know contingency spend 50% contingency spend you know what I mean so that's a total project contingency spend what you're showing there so I'm just as we come we know so phase one's done we're we kind of have an idea where we're at in phase two so I'm just wondering you know you know if you don't you want to go not going to look at it. That's fine. I'm just

You can It's My understanding is that there's $3 million left in contingency for phase two. If the question is, do we know how much of that 3 million we anticipate to spend between now and the end of the project and quarter 4? I would say that is unknown at this point. I would anticipate not much of it, but that that is one of the three factors that are influencing that last slide when you say 25%. So you could you could use up that whole 3 million on phase two, not touch the contingency on phase three, right? And fall somewhere in between, right? So, okay,

when the dust settles, we get a little further down the road and I would say after we receive the bids for phase three, we will be able to do this again and have a much more clear picture of where we're going to land financially. Yeah, I think as we uh as we are coming finishing phase two and we're going into phase three, we could start to talk a little bit more around that contingency spend and what we what we're predicting and what we see happening since you already have phase one and two is kind of you know through so we could kind of track and monitor that way. I'm I'm glad that you put up the total spend on all three phases together. So, um, my goal, part of my goal today was to let's get I want to get the actual numbers out, right?

Because, you know, we hear a lot of different, you know, numbers as far as what people think is being spent. Um, and, you know, and as as us as three new commissioners coming in, we inherited this project. Um, so and I never go back to previous boards and say what they should have done or shouldn't have done, but we are trying to do everything we can to working with, you know, the team to do what, you know, to get this project done, um, you know, and and try to stay as close to the projected budget as possible, you know, moving forward. So, um, it's a tough position for us to be in because we can't just stop it.

You know, we can't just come here one day and vote and say, you know what, we're done. We're not going to, you know, continue to borrow the the way the way the countyy's been borrowing money each year as the project is moving forward. We can't just stop. You know, absolutely appreciate that sentiment. And I can tell you that every opportunity that we have, and it's mainly with the owner's budget because we have more control over that. It's not one contract, right? We are making we have made gains and done things that have saved us money. So our our FFN contract came in well below what was in that budget which

and it wasn't simply because it came in low, it came in high, but that this team did the work and it was with Lee's assistance. The whole team got together and we beat up that contract to bring it down by over half a million dollars, you know, just to and and that's just one example. So I I absolutely insensitive to that comment and I want you to know that our team is doing the best we can to every time we make a decision like this we is this an opportunity for us to bring that that line down.

Yeah. And we appreciate that. Uh because I I know that I I hear a lot, you know, out, you know, in the community about the justice center and you know, you know, and I'm like, you have to understand that we are where we are and now our our mission is to get it done. Get it done, you know, is as quickly as possible and, you know, as close to budget as possible.

Can't go back and undo or redo or whatever. So I I you know so I don't so I and I appreciate I I I had the opportunity I just was in this week to tour again to get you know an updated tour of the facility. Um and you know the progress is getting there. So really excited to see over the next couple months especially as we go into the summer you know um you know see see how things go. Um, yeah, I know we we have this big blizzard coming Sunday and Monday, so hopefully that doesn't uh slow us down too much after. That's the other part of my job I'm dealing with right now. Right. That's true.

Now, so we're not putting grass on that green roof, so we don't have to go up and mow it. No, there's there's very little maintenance for It is a grass, but it is doesn't grow like regular grass grows. Oh, I got to get some of that in my yard. Yeah, seriously. [laughter]

You don't have to mow it. I I mean there's a lot of things I'd like to say right now, but because of uh the project itself and what we may be involved in in the future, I I I don't want to make com more comment. And I'm I'm saying that for for the public's perspective to understand that, you know, this is a very critical time and and we have to be careful in what we as commissioners say publicly um you know, related to this project. Um, so I just want to uh again point out that the three of us are working very hard to do everything possible to work with the team to to get this thing done, you know, and is it and as be as efficient as possible moving forward.

Appreciate it. Thank you, sir. I still think we should move the 911 memorial back here. Just throwing it out there. I'll I'll save my comments for just our individual conversation, but if you don't mind sending me this deck, that would be helpful. Absolutely. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Thank you all. Uh next up, Scott France, AR Street Prison.

Good morning, commissioners. And uh thanks for having us. Uh in a moment, Patty Guten Plan, our deputy director, will will join me up here. Um and we we will be brief, but this is a good segue, though. We're going to jump across the street uh across Ary Street to the uh famous uh prison uh on uh at uh Ary and Decal and the county's surface parking lot which forms the tract of the area we're talking about. Um there we're here today for several purposes. Uh we do have an action item with the resolution that we'll take care of later and explain uh in a moment. Uh that's toward a brownfield cleanup grant through the EPA. So, we are have the prospects of gaining $4 million of federal money to do cleanup work, which obviously on a prison from built in 1851, I believe, uh, asbestos, lead, all that stuff. Um, is really crucial and helpful to have that uh, accessible. And so, we're seeking a resolution to support that effort. Uh, but we're also going to take a moment because we haven't had the chance to talk about this project and where it stands right now, uh, to give an update and we'll be very brief in that. Um but as you know the RFBI request for expression of interest process uh was initiated last year and is still underway. Uh it's taking uh quite a time but with a project of this complexity uh and all the issues associated with it um it it's kind of necessitates uh that diligence and time frame uh included. Um I just want to finally reiterate in the in the update summary that this is we're not no uh construction is imminent on this project. We're still through the decision-making process, still talking to the final applicant teams and determining uh where we go, but we're going to give you a a basic overview of where that stands uh today. And I finally want to uh acknowledge uh Patty's work on this since the RFI began. She's really led this project uh and all of its various facets, but also in conjunction with our great team at assets and infrastructure uh and the county administration team. So, I'll hand it over to Patty.

Thanks, morning. As Scott mentioned, um we just want to give you that brief update. And I know we're thinking about time, so I'm going to jump right into um the reason what we're talking about this brownfield. Uh so, um uh no surprise, the prison's a brownfield. It's supposedly because of asbestous and lead paint. Um and we are going for that, um fiscal year 2020 2026 US Environmental Protection Agency. a EPA brownfield cleanup grant in the amount of $4 million. Um, and number three, it meets those are some of the needs for this. It's a very complicated project of process. Um, but um, we already have a phase one environmental audit assessment done. We're working on the phase two. Um, and we're using Montrose Environmental as a consultant on that. They're also preparing that application to the EPA for us. Um, we have partners in the RDA. They're helping to spend, they're spending some of their evolving loan money to um help with the testing we needed to do at the prison for the phase 2 environmental assessment. And we also have PA, um Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Um they've given us a support letter as part of this. Um there's a public hearing that was advertised on January 8th. Um that is this evening at 5:00 here in one Montgomery Plaza in suite 202, the Montgomery room where we often meet. um that is just for presenting the options for cleanup. It's not to talk again about what uses the public like might like to see there. Not that that's not important, but we've had those conversations. But this is this is a requirement of this application. We have to show that we provided to the public what our comment what our cleanup options were. That was also posted on Engage Bonco and we have gotten some comments. Um so that but we have to have a public hearing a public meeting and that's that that's um this evening and then um that commitment for resolution. So again the resolution that's going to be before you in a little bit is um not

exact it doesn't have to be done but it's really really helpful. We're going for a $4 million grant. It's going to be very competitive and we really and it helps them know that there's a commitment at the county level to do something at this property. So the key takeaways is that it's a $4 million grant with no match. This is the last year that's happening. It's a really critical year to try to get that grant. The county owns the property. So we will be in we will have we will keep ownership of it um throughout the cleanup process and perhaps parts of the beyond. Um the grant funds also can cover other expenses. So as we go forward over the next four years doing that cleanup and other things, it can help with any further studies we need to do. It can help with our management cost of the grant. um we can actually get equipment if we want a security out there and want to add that or a drone to take pictures. So um and all of that went into the um draft budget that actually you can see on engage and when it comes down to the cleanup just has to be done. Um we can't even if we were to do nothing there at some point you have to clean up the next slide. This again these are the nine or the eight goals we had when we started the RFI project. So I'm moving on to that part of the update. I'm not going to go through those but they really mean the same. Next slide please. We did send out an RFI um probably about a year ago. Um we got submissions. We had interviews just about a month and a half ago, two months ago at this point. Um and the applicant teams that are are being considered. We've had those interviews and um we want to go forward with some extra information. They submitted concepts, but ultimately the total development what's happening there still has to be determined. Um the targeted uses that we're looking there is residential with an inclusion inclusionary element, retail on the ground floor, a public amenity space that'd be an outdoor plaza area, structured parking, of course, prison preservation, and then the county elements. And that has been a changed over the past few months, but we're talking with assets and infrastructure and their team on what exactly they would like to see in that 40,000 square

feet there. And then um the other things we're talking about with these development teams is that ownership structure and financing. The ownership structure is something we've been talking with solicitor's office about and um and the financing um commerce department has been very helpful in giving us input on that. Next slide. So our next step is that um resolution later this at this meeting. The public meeting tonight again is just to discuss the cleanup options for for the prison property. Um and then we'll be submitting that application. It's due next week, next Wednesday. We intend to do it the day before so that there aren't any computer issues with that. And then we'll be issuing the final R RFBI supplement um to the development team and I can take any questions.

Any comments or questions? No. Yeah. Thanks for the update. Great. Uh next up is our uh first public comment um section. Uh public comment is on today's pending votes. Limit to three minutes. Anyone sign up for public comment? Yes. David Morgan.

Good morning, commissioners. David Morgan from Amler. I'm glad about the justice center. All the voting about that coming up for cost is on a quarterly basis for updates. That's a really good step. Transparency for taxpayers. I hear think of all the taxpayers. And um if the conventional 415 million figure which is in the newspapers in the past they have articles is now exceeded up to 480 472 to 480 million then somehow 57 million to 65 million has to be uh found so that we have hopefully no tax increases. And so I did make an error. I have to apologize. Guys, I made an error when I said in the fall that uh uh Bucks County had 0% tax increase. It's Chester County had 0% tax increase. Bucks County was eight. Their goal was to be zero. So hopefully our goal was to be 0% tax increases.

Mr. Morgan, is this matter on the coming before the board today, there's general public comment regarding

uh well um exhibit A um one phase three justice center. I just talked about justice center. Yes, Germaine. And then uh we had exhibit B. Uh number four is the lease in Norristown for court space. And I was wondering with all that court space available in all these facilities that we have to starting going on board first quarter fourth quarter rather that mean we can have avoid spending a lot on leases and then we have uh financial advisor cost number six like B uh what does it cost? So it's a blank check maybe we have to find out what cost would be. Then we have uh 11 and 12 and 13 lots of cost for voter services and u that's when we have uh you could use of our fax money for that. Then we have uh I see on the horizontal pages I numbered them because there's no numbers on them. I have page four 2 million to Microsoft enterprise and we have it just automatically approved that or is there something that could be done to reduce that cost? We have page nine and 11 though positives teen mothers getting help. Um it's the uh down the column a bit second and fifth place in those pages you'll find a team mothers getting help and that's really great to have that um encouraged on the numbers 26 uh is there an error says Delaware County the very last item and the whole agenda uh write up has Delaware County so I think you maybe you're tying in with Delaware County so that um I'm glad that we had a bipartisan effort for the tax increase discussions And yet I noticed that we didn't have a bipartisan effort in the appointments in January 5th meeting. So Mr. Dello did ask last year to be chairman and it was declined. So I'd like to see that be reinvestigated. And you have the power of three commissioners to decide when we can have a refreshing change. Not that anyone here is not speaking well. We're not interested in the county. Um but I'm

seeing a switch back to what we had before the first year. So we've had second year changed and the third year we have uh back to the first year with no representation from Mr. Bella as chair. Thank you for your comment. Next up, Joe Rooney. I just want to I just want to make one quick comment. He you Mr. Morgan went through a bunch of stuff. I just want to hit two items real quick. the the the the [snorts] Delaware County thing is part of a task force. So that's that's a normal

that's it's because there's multiple counties that are part of part of that regional task force and the money comes from the federal government and all that. So that's why we have to approve those things at our meetings as well. Um and B made a lot of good points but I will hit the the Microsoft thing. I was actually going to say something when we got to that part of the agenda so I'll say it now. actually our team working through Microsoft agreements uh with resellers uh and make sure I have this correct but I think we saved already like $600,000 in renegotiation so that number would have been higher than what we're what we're approving today. Uh so thank you for pointing that out. But we we did make a a significant reduction in those spendings. So thank you.

Okay. Sorry, Joe Ro. Good morning.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Joe Rooney. I live in Abington. Uh first, haven't been here, so uh happy new year. I hope every wonderful Christmas and best of luck with the reorganization. I hope it goes well for our county. Um first, I'd like to start off uh you made some recognitions since the election. I've been doing a lot of traveling, but I just wanted to recognize Leanne Sierra. She's in voter services. And just real quickly, she is pleasant, prompt, and professional. And uh I've dealt with her on the phone, via email, and also in person. And uh I've had nothing but great results from Hey, Mr. Rooney, just really really quickly. Is that on today's pending pending votes? I think that's nice that you're saying that about her and we'll we'll definitely But that's not that that should be for the later public comment period.

Okay.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Um, we've heard a lot about the fraud in government programs in the news and everywhere. And uh, I'm just trying to address that in our own county and make sure we're addressing it. When I see the cost of of the uh, project you just had, 480 million and according to that man, it's up from 415 million. There's a there's a lot of boring down we can do on that. So, a couple little things. So, the green roof, never heard of it before, although I know they put sod on log cabins and stuff like that. Um, what are we going to do about ants and rodents that are going to live in it? How what are we going to do? And and there's my wife is a gardener at our church and there's no green area that doesn't require a lot of work. And finally, what's the warranty on a green roof? I mean, somebody's building it. I don't know, is that going to last 40 years? And who's going to be repairing it? Um,

so go ahead.

Uh, just quick on that going through the programs right here. So, first uh in item number three, contract award to the district attorney, it's uh $30,870 to cell phone software licenses for straw gun purchase investigations. That's pretty an esoteric thing. It would be great to understand what that is. That's cell phone licensing and I only have a certain amount of time. So, number B, item seven, contract award for health and human services, 300 grand for a youth leadership program out of LSE, Delaware. It goes on and it says, "Build skills through education, training, and development." Isn't that what our schools are doing already? And how about in McGomery County? We already have DARE programs and PAL programs, and they're always hurting for for funding. Rather than paying somebody in Lewis, Delaware for something that doesn't seem very understandable, we could support our DARE and PAL programs. And I don't I don't understand. I know what Juul is. I know the Juul grant. How much is this for our county? and is it awarded to us an inome fund right now? Uh item C and number nine uh the contract amendment planning commission $35,53 for the southern trail alignment extension in Fort Washington for a thousand linear feet of a trail. This is part of a 970,000 nearly a million dollar project and it's coming out of our pockets. So, um, we're building the gravel trail and we're increasing it by 40 grand almost. Just this sticks out at me and I have

Okay, finish your comment. Go ahead. Can I go with two more things? Wrap up your last last comment. Okay. Um, the contract award sheriff's vehicle Coke 33 Ford of Eastn PA for 150 grand. Isn't there somebody in Montgomery County that can sell us those vehicles so we can keep the money in our own county? And uh that's all. Thanks, Mr. Rooney. Anyone else? Okay. All right. Next up, I'd like to invite uh well, nope. I got to approve the minutes. I'd like to make a motion to approve the January 8th, 2026 minutes of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners meeting. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Dilla. Any board comment? All in favor? I.

Motion carries. Next up, um authorization of planning assistant contracts. Do we? Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you again. Uh I will be as brief as possible. These are renewals of five renewals for community planning assistance contracts which support uh planning as a consultant for these municipalities. And then we have one new community I'll I'll save till the end. So the five that are being renewed, they all uh initiate January 1st of this year and continue through December 31st of 2028, which is the normal time frame. Uh Abington Township is the first in their work. work. I do want to highlight the work we're doing for them which includes uh continued updates to the zoning ordinance and reinitiating their comprehensive planning process. Uh the Abington contract is $111,891, the municipal share being 55,945.50. Our second contract is for Southford Township where we'll be advising the township's planning commission and uh continuing an audit of the township zoning ordinance. Uh that contract is for $86,70 and the municipal share of $43,35. Again, this is over three years. The third community is Collegeville Burough. Uh this includes completing the burough parks plan and conceptual master plans and assisting with various ordinance updates. Uh that contract is for $94,677 with municipal share of $47,338.50. And our fourth community is Hatboro. Uh in HPO we're invol we're completing and adopting a full zoning rewrite and conducting a walk audit of the core commercial area. Uh that contract is for uh $13,284 with the municipal share of $51,642. The final renewal is North Wales Burrow. We've had a a great run of success on projects there. Uh we will be continuing to implement their comprehensive plan which was adopted a couple years ago and focused on burrow parks, pedestrian and vehicular circulation and main street revitalization. Uh that contract is for

$13,284 with municipal share of $51,642. And then finally the highlight I think um we have a new community coming into the program Plymouth Township. There's so much happening in Plymouth right now. We're really excited to be partnering with them and working on the issues that they're facing with them. Um, a few of those just to mention start with uh preparing land use studies for transition areas including the mall and redevelopment there, the office park just above the mall off Germantown Pike and the industrial district which has uh uh some significant issues uh with data centers that have been in the news lately. So, we'll be working on those issues with them as well. Uh we'll also be updating their comprehensive plan, providing ordinance writing support and attending the planning commission meetings. Uh that contract runs for $120,498 with municipal share of $60,249. And open for any questions.

Great. Any questions? Um I'll make a motion to approve uh authorization as described by Mr. France. Is there a second? Second by Commissioner Makia. Any board comment? All in favor? The only other comment I want to make is I I I think we need to go back and and look at this cost share between the county and the townships. I we can't continue to absorb their fees, 50% of their fees. Um and when I when I looked at the Plymouth Township, it said the municipal cost is $120,000, but the count the um so never mind. I'm good with that. But I just think we need to go back and revisit the the cost share that the county is absorbing. Yeah, we're happy to engage on that and talk to the

Yeah, and um I've directed Lee to work with Scott to look at that call sharing model. So, all right. Thank you. Um moving to a vote. All in favor? I I motion carries. Thanks for that. Appreciate it. Uh commitment of funds for the farmland preservation program. An come on up. Good morning. Um afternoon. I know.

I'm double check. [laughter] Um, so this is something that I do each year. Um, the county puts funds toward the final and preservation work that we do. Uh, and this commitment of funds then leverages additional funds from the state that allow us to to go forth and preserve properties. Um, we just recently celebrated the preservation of the 200th farm that we've preserved under the county's farmland preservation program. And we we make a difference to people. We help them preserve not just their their land, but their their family's legacy and promises that have been made to to parents and offspring to to continue these properties into the future. Uh this year the county is committing uh 1,92,438 of funds. Uh this typically um leverages close to three million in in state funds. Um, so, uh, I ask for you to to certify these funds.

Great. Um, I'd like to make a motion to approve authorization as described by Miss Levit Gruber Burgerer. Sorry. No, that was close enough. Close enough. Sorry, I should know that. Three three years in. Uh, is there a second? Sec. Second by Commissioner MKA. Any board comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Thanks. Thank you. Appreciate it. Um, next up, authorization of a subgrantee agreements between the redevelopment authority and Montgomery County for three statewide local share count grants.

Thank you. Uh, so today we're requesting authorization to execute three subgrantee agreements between Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority, known as the RDA. In 2022, the RDA submitted three statewide local share account grant applications for three separate MCPC projects on behalf of Montgomery County. Uh the slide shows where those are and what those are. Uh the RDA submitted these applications due a due to a tight timeline at the time between learning the grant opportunity and the application deadline which did not allow the opportunity for the board of commissioners to execute the official resolution uh form that was required for the application. So therefore the board RDA board of directors authorized the RDA to submit the applications on the county's behalf which they often do also for municipal and nonprofit partners in various circumstances. Uh the projects uh they're up there, the amounts are up there, so I won't read through those. Um but they're they are great projects. Um following the grant awards, the RDA entered into separate contracts with the Commonwealth Financing Authority for each of the three grants. And to establish the terms for processing the grant funds, the RDA drafted three separate subgrantee agreements between the RDA and the county, one for each project. Under these agreements, the RDA will submit payment requests to the Commonwealth Financing Authority as project costs are incurred by the county during construction. And once the RDA receives the requested grant funds, it will reimburse the county directly. It is noted that the county shall incur an RDA fee of 1% of each grant for a total of $25,000 based on the 2.5 million total grant amount, which is uh typical of their uh requirements and goes towards administration fees. That money does come out of the grant award itself. So, it's not extra expense uh from the county. These subgrantee agreements were reviewed and approved by the solicitor's office and we have them before you now.

Great. I'd like to make a motion to approve the authorization as described by Mr. France. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Dell. Any board comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, authorization to submit a brownfields cleanup grant application. You already described it. Can I just move it to to a vote? Great. Absolutely. Um I'd like to make a motion to approve author authorization as described by Miss Mr. and Mrs. It says Mr. plan. Miz, Mrs. Um, is there a second? Second by Commissioner Della. Any board comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I.

Motion carries. Uh, next up, approval of the county seal.

Good morning. Good morning.

Uh, I am here before you today to propose a resolution to revise the county seal. The county seal was originally created in 1902 depicting agricultural and manufacturing as the predominant trade and commerce among other design elements that you can see on the screen. On August 31st, 1934, the county adopted a uh garnet and gray as the official county colors and the seal was updated in 1985 to incorporate the Dutch lily, the uh county flower, and then again in 1999 to recognize the contributions of both me men and women uh towards the achievement of the county. Before the board today is a request to adopt the revised version of the seal, which update the artwork by stren strengthening the line work, simplifying the extraneous details while retaining all of the original elements of the uh the revised seal pre preserves the history and legacy of Montgomery County while modernizing its design for clarity, accessibility, and contemporary use. The seal will be accompanied by a new county brand logo for marketing purposes with the primary color palette of Pvalt, Maragold, and Frost. Um, and will be used in in accordance with the county brand guidelines. So, the seal will be used for official county business, including proclamations, letters of commendation, flags, um, uh, letterhead, business cards, and other items.

Great. I'd like to make a motion to approve authorization as described by Miss Alt. Not used to calling you Miss Alt. Great. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Dello. Um just a comment, you know, thank you to to you and your team uh for really just thinking about um our c county brand, redesigning this seal. I think it um will go along with a number of things that we're doing to uh improve kind of the design and delivery of how we communicate with residents. So I know it's been a labor of love um and getting us to uh to this point. So So thank you. I'll just any board comment.

Just say a quick question. the colors that are in the original the current seal are going to transfer. I mean, you're going to use those same colors. So, no, the colors of the seal, it'll be a one color seal. So, we're going to um no longer use the colors in the like the the filled in colors. Uh we'll have it available in black, white, and uh like a cobalt dark blue. [laughter] Don't be too excited. Huh? So you don't I like the seal, but I think I didn't know about change all year. I didn't change it. No. So I I like Well, first of all, great job. I know this is a monumental thing. First update since what? 1902 or 1930?

1902 is when it was originally created. The last update was in 1999. So it's been 26 years. Okay. I like that you preserved the original features. wondering if we should change the steam engine to accept a silver liner to find higher, [laughter] but uh we can make that amendment if you'd like. But all right, I I'll vote on this. It's fine. As long as you design it. [laughter] Yes. Okay. Um All right. We'll move on to a vote. All in favor? I I Yes. I It'll be great. Can I get a version with color? Sure.

All right. Uh thank you. Uh, next up, uh, commissioners or reappointments to the Montgomery County Planning Commission. I'd like to make a motion to approve the board appointments as described in resolution G-6. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Dello. Uh, any board comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Next up, commissioner's appointment to the Montgomery County Transportation Authority. I'd like to make a motion to approve the board appointments as described in resolution G-7. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Dello. Any board comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I I.

Motion carries. Uh, commissioner's appointments and reappoints to the drug and alcohol planning council. I'd like to make a motion to approve the board appointments as described in resolution G-8. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner McKisa. Any board comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Next up, personnel. Morning, commissioners. Well, yeah, good morning. Still morning. Um, [cough] you the final copy of the commission department's personnel list. It is a three-page document dated January 21st, 2026 with a time stamp of 8:45 a.m. All positions have been reviewed and accounted for for your consideration.

Great. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to approve the January 20 22nd Why can't I say J? I'm having a rough rough time. uh personnel presentation as given by Mr. uh Anthony Brew, chief human resource officer. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Dello. Any public comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Thank you. Thanks. Next up, advertisement of bids and RFPs Montgomery County- Exhibit A. I'd like to make a motion to approve the advertisement of bids and RFPs for Montgomery County on attached exhibit A. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Dell. Any board comment? Uh, moving to a vote. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Uh,

can we uh before you jump into B exhibit B, can I separate uh B1? Sure. Um is uh I'd like to make a motion to separate item 11 for awards of contract in exhibit B of the agenda and to approve all other items on exhibit B other than item 11. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Dell. Any board comment. Moving to a vote. All in favor? I I

Motion carries. Uh, is there a motion to approve item 11 of exhibit B? I I can make that motion. I'll make a motion to approve item 11 of exhibit B. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner McKesha. Any board comment? Hearing none. Moving to a vote. I'll do a roll call vote. Uh, Commissioner McKea, I. Uh, Commissioner Dell, no. Uh, Commissioner Winder. I motion carries. Thank you.

You're welcome. Um, next up, I'd like to awards of contract Southeast PA Regional Task Force uh- Exhibit C. I'd like to make a motion to approve the contracts, awards, amendments, and renewals for Southeast PA regional task force on attached exhibit C. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Dello. Any board comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I I I good. Motion carries. Next up, uh, general public comment limit to three minutes. Must be Germaine County business. David Morgan. [cough and clears throat]

David Morgan of Amler. I noted that listening to the videos, audio of the videos January [clears throat] 5th and 8th, the quality of the sound was not so u strong and needed to look into enhancing that quality of transmission. And uh I noticed in the minute sorry 1 hour and 59 minutes of December 18th meeting uh when it was announced for that January 5th meeting it was called a time of reorgan. It was a reorg meeting. Commissioner McKe announced that reorg and with TBD for the time. So if it could be really an invitation for the public to be there for the reorganization meeting clearly stated and would say the time would help because I would have liked to accommodated. So, I think that the bipartisan nature of uh the goals that the commissioner seems to have could be maybe readressed as I mentioned earlier that it'd be really clear the public could have uh word for the aspect of inclusion, bipartisan inclusion. Now uh also uh it's very important two other things is the mention by commissioner Bell about human trafficking month and that is extremely serious on my heart and I hope that measures can be taken because there's been a lot of people moving through America and there's a lot of investigation which could be done over this very serious child issue to speak to the children then Um, I noticed something fascinating too. We had to Thank you commissioners for having the movie on uh American delivery because I happened to my wife found this in the Inquirer Sunday July 21st 2024 uh from pen medicine an interesting article for the department of health and it's about the cuffs. It's a it's called a text can be a lifeline for new mothers and they

found it's really good especially the first 10 days after birth that mothers have a cuff and they can uh notice if their blood levels and pressures and etc circulatory concerns are relayed to doctors and they can get an early addressing of these symptoms. So I I thank um uh Commissioner Winder and Commissioner Aija who was there and I'm sure Commissioner Fabella was very interested in this because he helped with the brochures and the back table for parent infant resource guides. This is really important. It does say there's some progress after about 10 years they found this to be really helpful and it says that also in uh Philadelphia hospitals including Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia hospital. So they've had uh a lot of participation with uh patients about 10,000 patients 18,000. So anyone going in for a delivery for American deliveries to be really healthy to really consider what hospitals offer especially if you have a circulatory concern. So I think the commissioners can uh work uh with the department of health and have that notice go out. It'll be really great step.

Thank you Mr. Morgan. Joe Rooney. Hello again. Uh Joe Rooney still in Orangeley in Abington Township. Couple of quick things then. Uh I guess this is the right time to commend Leanne Sierra again. So uh in voter services and her staff, they are that's her. Yeah, very [applause] nice to every experience that I've had and everybody else that I've seen. So I really appreciate the work that she and her staff have done. Thank you for that.

So it's a little late after November. The second one uh just about to court the Alaska Highway was built in eight months. That was 1500 miles through the wilderness over canyons and bridges and tunnels and everything else. And we're looking at the court finished maybe third quarter of 2028. So there there's some there's something that could be done and I believe what we have is we have the excellence the enemy of the good. It could be good enough and then fix it later. That's what they said when we built the the uh railroad across the country. That's what Leilen Stanford said. Build it now and we'll fix it later. So, um, and you're going to be problems with, uh, rodents and insects in your green roof. Sorry to say that. And I doubt if it's green. Um, the next one is in our country right now, there's just unbelievable um, attacks on our law enforcement. And uh it's mostly coming in our Democratc controlled areas. But I would just like to know in our county that our elected officials are supporting our law enforcement who go out every day to keep our communities, our state, and our country safe. They have often a thankless job, a 100 times more thankless than a school director and a thousand times more dangerous. And if we have elected officials that are bad mouthing our law enforcement on split-second decisions and everybody wants a call when when they need them. And uh I would love to hear the three of you give a heartfelt and strong support to our law enforcement officers. And finally um one thing you forgot in June or June, excuse me, in January is it's the one-year anniversary of President Trump's inauguration. So it's just been an unbelievable year. Um the border shut down to illegal crossers. There are 2 million fewer illegal countries to county business.

There is peace in Mr. Mr. Rooney. One moment please. Public comment is for matters. That other man when he was doing something this is affects all of us. Mr. It's about drugs. It's about safety. And if you can talk about these matters in relation to local issues. These are matter the public comment is for things that may come before the board and maybe Germaine to county business.

Drug enforcement and lives saved from uh drug overdoses is certainly important and affects all of us. Every life that's saved affects all of us. Donald Trump is the most pro-life president ever because of the drug stuff that he has done, because of the wars he has ended, because of the support he's given to babies in the womb and mothers. And I have a whole another list. I'm sure you're interested in it later. You should not be interrupting people when there's only three minutes and the meeting's already gone on for two hours. Everybody sits here and waits pat. I've asked him to monitor public comment. Right. I appreciate you coming and giving public comment. We're just trying to for everybody like Yeah.

just make sure it's germaine to county business. That's all we're asking. That's all we're asking. So, he's doing what I've asked him to do, right? To support everybody. So, so we're all professional, but I've noticed an interruption of that gentleman when he wanted to talk. You interrupted me on the first one and I was following the rules and now I have the solicitor doing the same thing. It's intimate. I'm not going to debate with I'm not trying to intimidate. I'm not debating. I got 21 seconds. Okay. I'll give you 21 seconds back. I'm simply saying to you it's my job to ensure that there's order in this in this boardroom and I just was simply telling you agree completely. So So that's my job and I have a solicitor that is doing that as well. So go ahead and finish your comment. Can you give him 30 seconds? 21 seconds. Okay. Go ahead.

Um that I've noticed a level of intimidation, okay, towards commenters and it doesn't affect me, but it does affect a lot of people. They don't they don't want to get up and they don't want to get into an argument. Allow people to talk. You have a threeminute limit and then sit down. That's professional. Thank you. Next public comment, Carina Taylor.

So to your point, um, gentlemen, I want to Can you just tell them your location?

Carina Taylor, um, Narstown. Um, to your point, I want to publicly apologize to you for blurting out when you were speaking when I said for you to educate yourself about green roofing. So, I blurted out and um I um I I'm human. So, I I wrote on the sheet again to talk about civility. Um, I just want to say that in listening to the first portion of this meeting, civility in this county belongs to you three and how you project yourselves in the seat um is so vitally important. And I really want to reiterate that because um body language, not being attentive to speakers whether you like them or not is is is a negative uh projection. Um, I'm trying to gather myself because I really um this is about the sixth or seventh time that I've done this and it it it just disturbs me because what I wanted to say is that I was so exceptionally proud of what you're doing here in the county and um how other people and other counties and other municipalities need to learn that. So, in conjunction with that, I wanted to announce that on Saturday, I am leading a statewide effort um with local leaders across the state and uh rural caucus leaders about the state of our communities. And I was just so it's being led by black mayors across the state to have small have conversations. And I don't know if you know or maybe you do, but you have one black mayor in um Montgomery County. And I really hope that we can talk about how this county with the mayor can talk about the things that you're doing because I think that um it becomes an example. I have traveled across the state as I've said numerous times and everybody looks at

Montgomery County as like uh the premier county local law enforcement a uh pro uh low law enforcement offices outside the state or outside our county look at ours as like the highest paid law enforcement people. people want to come here. So, I'm just sitting here just thinking again um what can we glean from your governance? What can we glean from your leadership? And the least we can do is be attentive to annoying speakers. Maybe I'm an annoying speaker, but um sharing that um respect publicly is important even if it's for two hours twice a month and it respecting each other, you know. Um, I've seen over time that there hasn't been positive body language and attentiveness when some of you speak and others don't listen. I'm not talking about you, Tom. So, I'm just saying that at the end of the day, it's so vitally important for you guys to keep leading the way in leadership and government governance. I want to forge you um this information about this statewide initiative and I want other

[clears throat] uh Montgomery County residents to join. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next up on Zoom, we have Christine. Christine, can you hear us? I can. Can you hear me? Yes. Go ahead.

Okay, thank you. Um, my name is Christy Jamowski. I live in Royersford, PA. And I wanted to comment because I'm concerned about the number of data center proposals in our county that seem to be popping up all over so fast that community members don't always know about them. Uh, personally where I live, there have been three proposals for data centers within about three miles of my house um, in my neighborhood. Two are in Chester County, so that is not under the Montgomery County purview. Um, but if all three did go through, that would equal 4.7 million square feet of data center building space along the the river. So 4.7 million. It's just incredibly large. Um, so you may have seen on Tuesday that our township, uh, Limmerick Board of Supervisors met and voted to send an opposition letter to the state gamelands commission to stop the land swap of Gamelands 234. Um, which would result in half of the land being given to a private LLC, which would make it zoned industrial, which would almost certainly be proposed to be a hypers scale data center. Um the board is sending a letter of opposition after a huge turnout from the community unanimously opposing losing their public state game lands and the idea of a data center coming in. Um if that swap does pass though, that would total four data center proposals within three or so miles of my neighborhood and community. I don't want to be surrounded and living next to four data centers. Um and I I don't think that other people would want that either. Uh communities all over the state are saying they do not want these data centers where they live. They are linked with significant public health outcomes including cancer and chronic disease from water, air, ground, and noise pollution. So, I guess my question for the um commissioners is, do you have plans to work with neighboring counties and support municipalities to navigate this so the proposals aren't in the middle of residential areas and also so concentrated so close to each other? And um also just if there can be something where impact studies are done to see the impact of the data centers because once

that land is gone, it's gone. Once the water and ground is polluted, it's it's done. You can't undo that. Um and also to assess how this will impact community members electric bills, their water availability, and overall quality of life. Thank you. Thank you. Is it Christine or Christie? Christine.

Okay. Just want to make sure I had that right. Um, listen, this has come up several times throughout uh Montgomery County. Um, I know that our planning commission has been looking looking into it to help advise advise us in terms of how we can uh support municipalities and and residents one from an educational standpoint, but two um what should should we be doing relative to data centers? So, I want to just thank you for coming and and raising raising that. Um, and uh, you know, we may maybe look into some doing something here in the in in the future. So, thank you for for your comment. You have a comment.

Would you would you and Mark Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I just wanted to ask if that would be like promoted if community wanted to attend that meeting or give input. So, our chief sustainability officer is working on a form. Is that a public form or for municipal officials? You know, Okay, we're we're working on first at least educating municipal officials so that they understand and they can learn from each other, right? Because

these these are popping up everywhere. People don't know how to negotiate uh the best zoning policy for their communities. So, giving them the background so that they understand the impact and and ultimately it is up to the local officials in terms of whether a data center is going to uh be in a particular place or not. Uh but what what we can do as a county is is help convene and educate so local officials are informed and the public is informed.

So more to more to come. Thank you for your comment. Okay. Uh uh like to announce Oh uh any closing commissioner [clears throat] comments?

I I just want to make one comment. Uh, one of the public comments earlier talked about law enforcement and I I think I I won't speak for everyone, but I'll speak for myself because I've said it numerous times that I'm I'm a big uh supporter of all law enforcement. My father was a police officer. I stand with the police and I will always stand with police. So, um I think that um there's always a bad apple in the pile and that's probably 1% of 99% of the police out there. And the 99% that are out there every day protecting us and being there for us uh should never be taken down because of one one or two bad apples. Um, we have a tremendous, uh, police force here in McGomery County, uh, for all the different municipalities. Uh, they go to work day in and day out. And I always say the happiest sound for a family is when they when the the sound of a Velcro being opened up. And that is meaning when the police officer goes home and he's taking off his bulletproof vest. So, um, I I I will I appreciate and stand with them all the time. Thank you.

Any I'll just say I think it goes without question that this entire board supports law enforcement and that is shown through many many different mechanisms including and most importantly of how we fund our public safety apparatus and I think there were some um questions brought up about different tools related to uh straw purchase investigations. That's I mean that's one of the ways that we support law enforcement doing their job because they're keeping our whole community safe uh by making sure that illegal guns uh don't end up in the hands of people who are willing to do harm or who are prohibited purchasers. So uh there are many ways uh that we continue to reaffirm our support for law enforcement. first and foremost through u a very significant commitment uh in our budget every year uh that has only grown.

Um I guess since we're all commenting on on that, I would also look I grew up in a law enforcement family. I think you can support our law local law enforcement officials and I think this board as Commissioner McKesia has indicated has shown um by closed door meetings with um our police chiefs by making investments uh in our budget which is a reflection of our values. I think you can um be for public safety and support our officers in uniform but you can also care about your fellow neighbor. um the two are not mutually exclusive. And so I think that's the balance that um we should collectively strike, right? Like I don't want anyone that puts on um a uniform or wears a badge to be harmed in the line of duty. Uh but I want to also ensure that our friends and neighbors feel safe when they encounter a law enforcement official. So, we'll continue to do we'll continue to do the work um to support um those that are uh keeping us safe uh and our family safe in Monaco, but also supporting our friends uh and neighbors. So, with that, um sorry, go ahead.

Just different topic. We did vote to uh uh implement a contract for we books, which Frank, you're not going to speak in this meeting, right? Or are you? No. Um I'm not going to call on him, but we did pilots of these last year and the year before. Uh across the board, Democrat, Republican, independent. Uh all of the poll workers who work with these uh are just like they can't wait to see them implemented across the county. And what they're going to do is they're going to make it easier for you to walk into your polling place uh quickly be identified as a registered voter in that precinct. This is like essentially an iPad. Uh and it's a lockdown device. It's secure. Uh there are many counties that use this, have implemented this. Uh and it helps register you so you get the right ballot uh and you cast your vote and we can keep track of who voted. And there's a number of things we can talk about in a future election board meeting as well. But uh this is really a significant investment in our election operation uh across the board. It increases security and increases access. Uh Pennsylvania, the legislature has said that they may implement a voter ID requirement. That's a whole other debate, but that's what uh the the state house uh said last year. If that happens, these devices will make it easy to quickly scan an ID uh and get people through the line. So, uh, it's a way to make sure that, uh, if there are burdens being imposed on voters, which in general, you know, I would like to see less of when people have the fundamental right, uh, but if the state legislature is going to do that, we in Montgomery County are going to make it as easy as possible for people to adapt uh, and ensure that they can exercise their right. So, that's uh, you know, a

really great thing that we're able to pass today that look forward to implementing by the primary election. uh will be the first time we do that.

Great. Uh upcoming meeting dates uh noting a change Tuesday, February 3rd at 10:00 a.m. in this boardroom. Um I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the January 22nd, 2026. I got it right that time. Meeting with the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Is there a second? Second by Commissioner Dello. Uh any board comment? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Motion carries. quick salary board meeting. Okay, first up is uh retirement of Juliana. Patty, come on up.

Thank you. It's good to see you again this afternoon. Um so, um yeah, I'm here for a very different reason. Um so, um I'm here to speak about Juliana. um she's been at the planning commission. It says 40 years. It might be closer to 41 when we talked about it. Um and um when I first came when I came to the county in 2017, I had the um honor of working with some very very talented people and that included some very very talented designers. My background is design as well. Um and so um and Juliana is one of those designers. Um uh we've uh recently had to go through all the documents for ADA compliance or start looking at them and we have thousands [laughter] as I can attest to and my feeling is that if um you were to pick up one of those over the from built produced in the last 40 years you have more than a 5050% chance that Juliana had a hand in it. Um and quite honestly we're known um I work I do a lot of my colleagues across the state as planners of Montgomery County. We have the um we are very proud of the idea that they really like the documents we produce. They come to us as a like, oh, you did that document. I want to do something similar. And it's not only the content, but it's really the design as well. Nobody's going to pick up something that doesn't look good. They're going to pick it up because they're they're attracted to it. And Juliana had a big hand in that. Um so um um but I've known her for 40 years as well because um when I started I was here once before and in 1984 I think when she started um I was a graphic designer as well. So we got to work together. I was actually in a wedding of hers. Um so we've known each other for a very long time and so um it was just seemed like I was the right person to talk about her. And these are the few things I want to say because I know not trying to rush but I know it's already the afternoon. Um but so Juliana is very creative. um when you want to be if you're a graphic designer she comes with new ideas she's always new open to new techniques is willing to collaborate with people on that she's also very dedicated though I can always go to her

and say can you drop that and do this and often it was because a commissioner reached out and said hey we need this today and um and we can do that and we do that and she was always willing to do that and step up um and she's very dedicated to McGomery County um as is evident by her 40 years of service she's precise though and when I started heard it when I came back in 2017. She was the one to point out, no, this is how we have to do it. This is why we do it. We have a standard. Um, just as Megan was talking about the standards for the the branding, those are things that we were keepers of as well. And she was one of those people. But she's also very kind. So, she's a mentor. She not only teaches others like maybe even another new graphic designer, but even our new planners that's come on exactly kind of the rules of how they go about doing a plan for their one of the communities they might be working in. And then lastly, she's funny and has a wicked sense of humor. So, um, that will be missed around the office for sure. Um, but I know for her next steps that she's going to have more time to spend with her cat, um, and to do more singing. And of course, I'm sure there'll be some graphic design as well. So, Juliana, thank you for your years of service.

Yeah. Thank you, [applause] Juliana. I would like to invite you up for to get a picture with us. Um, thank you. 40 years um working at the county. You don't see that uh anymore from job to job and really grateful for your dedication uh to to working in the county all these years. So all the best on your retirement and uh have fun doing you know cat what's your cat's name? Jasper. Jasper. Okay. I would love to be home with with my pup. So en enjoy enjoy enjoy that. Anyone else? No comments.

Thank you for all your service. Okay, come on up. [clears throat]

Congratulations. [snorts] Thank you. In the middle, you want to come in? Thank you for

here. One, two, three. Thank you.

Oh, there you go. That's exciting. work all these years. Oh, no, no, no. She's just not travel. That's great. Didn't work all these years to make all this money to use it. So, yes. Enjoy. I'm going away. All right. Uh, any public comment for salary board? Yes. David Morgan.

David Morgan Vanbour. I've noticed and mentioned in the past the new positions papers on the table over there and for those on Zoom they probably don't have any idea what's going on with these videos. So we have a coronor bereavement coordinator painter. Um there's a salary for that. There's a district attorney YAP case manager. There's a redevelopment authority program administrator. Uh these are new so that means but they have to be budgeted. So I would like to just have everyone be aware of the spending on these positions. Um and maybe they can be explained sometime or maybe on the website. Uh there's no names. It's just positions.

Yeah. So, so the public really is informed about the spending in this area and it's accumulative because I missed the first meeting of the month and I couldn't pick up a sheet. That'd be great just to have that information to the public and I won't speak any time more except we mentioned time and we have 507 there. So, if we could have that clock readjusted that'd be great. We keep looking at time. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Mr. Morgan. Um, the bereavement coordinator is actually grant grant funded. Um, and I think uh the youth aid panel is that that grant funded as well. So, um, we could maybe find a way to indicate when we get grant funding for positions. Thanks. Next up, salary board list.

Good afternoon, members of the salary board. You should have in front of you the final copy of the salary board list. There's a four-page document dated January 21st, 2026 with a time stamp of 8:45 a.m. All positions [clears throat] have been reviewed and accounted for for your consideration. Thank you. Uh, I'd like to make a motion to approve the January 20 Why can I say it for me? 22nd. 22nd. 26 salary board presentation as given by Mr. uh Anthony Brew, our chief human resource officer. Is there a second? Second. Second by first deputy landau. Welcome. Sorry I didn't welcome you when you came. Uh any comments?

Hearing none. All in favor? Uh, any opposed? Great. Motion carries. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the January 20. January 22nd. I'm going to practice this rather than reviewing my comments. I'm going to practice reading the date. Meeting for the Montgomery County Salary Board. Is there a second? Second. [laughter] Seconded by Commissioner Devel. Any board comment? All in favor? I. I. Motion carries. Thank you. Gonna do retirement board right away.

Okay, we can take a break. Let's take a take a break. Okay. All right. Thank you. Meeting adjourned. Couldn't say the 22nd. Said it. I said it now, but I couldn't say it the whole friendly.