Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Bye. Thank you. Thank you.

🎵 🎵

Thank you.

Hi, Mr. Morgan.

You're fine.

OKAY, GOOD MORNING. SORRY, WE'RE A COUPLE MINUTES BEHIND. I'D LIKE TO CALL TO ORDER OF THE MAY 21, 2026 MEETING OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS. NOTE THE PRESENCE OF ALL THREE COMMISSIONERS. I'M GOING TO ASK LEON SMITH TO LEAD US IN THE PLEDGE, OKAY? I'M SURE YOU DO THAT A LOT. YEAH. Thank you all for being here. Good morning. Before we begin today, I wanted to take a brief moment to acknowledge the passing of my father last week. My dad dedicated decades of his life to public service through his work with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. He believed deeply in hard work, service, and showing up for others every single day. His example shaped so much of who I am, both personally and professionally, and I will always be proud of the life he lived and the legacy he leaves behind. Over the last several years, I also experienced what so many families across this country understand all too well. being part of the sandwich generation, balancing the responsibilities of caring for aging parents while also raising a family of my own. While it was not always easy, caring for both of my parents was truly the honor of a lifetime. I would do it all over again without hesitation. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to the many caregivers, nurses, and health care professionals who cared for him and supported our family over the years. Their compassion, patience, and kindness meant more than words could ever express. Caregiving is often quiet work, but it is some of the most important work there is, and our family will always be grateful. I want to say a special thank you to all my colleagues in the room, staff, friends, and members of the community who have offered prayers, support, and grace during this time of difficulty. So I wanted to just take a moment to honor my father. So that's us. So, yeah, if we want to do that, I would, yeah, thank you. We'll take a moment of silence with my father. Okay, thank you. Now on a more positive note, at our last meeting we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week. And today we have the 2026 National Teacher of the Year with us. Let's give a round of applause for Leon Smith. Leon and I had a chance to meet in my office for a few minutes. Leon is an Upper Dublin resident. He has been teaching American history and African American studies at Haverford High School for 25 years. So while Haverford is in Delco, YOU'RE A MONCO RESIDENT. WE'RE CLAIMING YOU. SO I JUST WANT TO CONGRATULATE YOU. I THINK WE WERE TALKING ABOUT, MY GRANDMOTHER WAS PA STATE TEACHER OF THE YEAR IN 1972. AND WE WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW THERE'S NOT THAT MANY BLACK MALE EDUCATORS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. THERE'S CERTAINLY A SHORTAGE. AND YOU WINNING THIS AWARD, BUT JUST EVEN BEING IN THE CLASSROOM MEANS SO MUCH TO SO MANY. kids. So this is a great honor. I know you've been out and about. You were talking about, told me you had like a two-hour receiving line at an event. But what an honor. Our teachers don't get enough praise, gratitude, and support. So we just wanted to honor you and celebrate you today. So we're going to bring you on up to take a picture. All right.

All right, right here.

Ready? One, two, three. Thank you. Leon, do you have to go back to work? Okay. I told him he could be excused. It's almost the end of the school year. Thank you for being here. Next up, we have another person here today that I'd like to spotlight. And fortunately for us, he's not a guest. Is he here? Is he here? Okay, well, I didn't tell you. Okay, our new CFO, is he here? Okay, nobody told me that. Okay, we are happy to announce that Brian Wilkinson has joined the county as our chief financial officer. So, Mr. Morgan. been asking we didn't just do it for you but um we do have a new cfo so we are uh excited uh we don't take these appointments lightly or any personnel decision for that matter we took the time to really evaluate a strong pool of candidates grateful to our talent acquisition team led by uh tony tony brew uh to find uh the right uh candidate we are thrilled to welcome brian to the team He brings more than 20 years of financial leadership experience to the county, having worked at Penn, Haverford College, Smith College in Massachusetts, and Colby College in Maine. Brian wanted to get into public service, so he recently completed a master's in public administration from Penn. And now we're looking forward to Brian's support as we begin our 2027 planning. Next up, I'd like to take a moment to recognize Memorial Day, which is coming up on Monday. I can't believe it. The weather is not going to be good for this Memorial Day, but let's remember what Memorial Day truly is all about. whether you are traveling spending time with family or attending a local parade i just want everyone to take a moment to appreciate all of those who have lost their lives in service to our country i say this every memorial day but many of you know we lost one of our family members my sister-in-law sarah mitchell she was killed during a u.s navy training exercise in the red sea in 2018 and she was just 23 years old Um, so we'll be spending some time with our family to honor her, her life and legacy. I'm sure many Montgomery County families will be cherishing their memories of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, just like our family will. So once again, thank you to all of our local veterans, veteran families, those that are active duty and those that have given the ultimate sacrifice for your service. And finally, I can't believe it's almost June. My little guy is turning six on on june 9th and he can't stop talking about june coming so we're almost we're almost there but on tuesday june 2nd at 10 a.m we will be hosting our annual pride month flag raising since day one of this administration we have been focusing on building an inclusive community here in montgomery county And that doesn't just happen by accident. It takes a consistent effort to make sure all of our residents feel like they have a seat at the table. I want to thank our Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as the volunteer members of our LGBTQIA plus commission for their hard work in setting up a great event. So please plan on joining us on June 2nd right here at the courthouse. I'll turn it over to my colleague.

Yesterday, two days ago, was primary election day in Pennsylvania. Microphone was off. Thank you. Yesterday was, sorry, Tuesday. Because you can all hear the mistake I made. But Tuesday was primary election day in Pennsylvania. And here in Monaco, we had about 85,000 voters show up to the polls. I want to thank the 2,907 poll workers, student poll workers and constables who made the day possible, and it was, in fact, one of the hottest election days that I can remember, which is perhaps one of the reasons the turnout was not quite as high as we hoped, but there weren't any kind of hot races at the top of the ticket in this primary, but I'm very glad that 85,000 people showed up. AND THERE WERE ABOUT 61,000 PEOPLE WHO ALSO VOTED, OF COURSE, BY MAIL-IN BALLOT, WHICH IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO FROM, YOU KNOW, AIR CONDITIONING OR WHATEVER ENVIRONMENT THAT YOU PREFER. SO GRATEFUL TO EVERYONE WHO TURNED OUT, AND WE WILL HAVE THE TABULATION START ON FRIDAY, AND HOPEFULLY THE CERTIFICATION WILL HAPPEN BY THE SECOND WEEK OF JUNE, WHICH IS TYPICALLY THE TIMELINE Another exciting thing related to our elections is that. We have an update on the I voted sticker contest which. IS SOMETHING THAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING TOWARDS FOR QUITE SOME TIME. AND IF YOU DID GO TO THE POLLS ON TUESDAY, YOU EITHER GOT THE TRADITIONAL OVAL I VOTED STICKER OR ONE OF 45 SPECIAL DESIGNS FROM STUDENTS IN THE FRESH ARTIST PROGRAM, WHICH IS RUN BY A NONPROFIT THAT WORKS WITH K THROUGH 12 STUDENTS IN NORRISTOWN AND POSTTOWN SCHOOL DISTRICTS. THE STUDENTS PRODUCED UNIQUE STICKERS FOR THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL, AND WE'VE BEEN USING THOSE EVER SINCE. BUT WE PARTNERED TO CREATE A CONTEST FOR THE NEXT ROUND OF I VOTED STICKERS, AND WE'LL BE CHOOSING WINNERS. THE UPDATE IS THAT WE RECEIVED 300 SUBMISSIONS. SO THERE'S LOTS OF GREAT OPTIONS FROM ARTISTS AGE 4 TO 75. SO WE GOT A WIDE ARRAY. IT WASN'T JUST STUDENTS. although perhaps I'd like to talk to the 75-year-old. I'm sure they're continually learning. But in the coming weeks, the public will actually get a chance to vote on the favorites from the short list that we trim, and we remove some of them perhaps if they're not appropriate for public consumption. But after that, you'll get to vote on the finalists. So check out on Facebook, and the winners will appear on stickers at polling places in the Commonwealth, in the county in November. So we are hosting soon on May 29th, Friday, May 29th at 11.30 a.m., a Jewish Heritage Month event here in the county in person, Montgomery Plaza, I should plug, thanks to Rabbi Glenn Edmund of Congregation Ora Ami in Lafayette Hill. They'll be leading a program to discuss concepts like uh tikvah or pope or tikkun olan meaning to repair the world uh if you're available there's a zoom option check out the information online uh it's also api heritage month so last night we had a film screening at the bryn mawr film institute was uh glad to be joined by senator uh nikhil savall philadelphia philadelphia councilwoman nina ahmed to the first Asian Americans and South Asians elected in Pennsylvania. The conversation was moderated by Lauren Cristela, which is, she's the presidency of the Committee of 70, which works towards civic engagement across the region. It was great to see a film that recognizes the rising engagement of South Asians in the civic process and we were also joined by Representative Mary Jo Daly, who founded Emerge, which is an organization that helps women run for office that's done phenomenal work in Pennsylvania, as well as Marjorie Margolis, who was the first woman elected to Congress in the Commonwealth. And it was a really great conversation, thanks to the team, thanks to Erin, JoJo, Jordan, everyone who put this together, the EA team. it was you know a nice opportunity to recognize a community that sometimes appears invisible or has traditionally been but is engaging civically especially here in montgomery county you might have seen our facebook we've been highlighting a lot of leaders at the local level stepping up finally i would just say we At the county, we've got a number of finance issues we're concerned about in the coming year, including the cost of electricity, which we as a county will have to face in terms of increasing costs. But we've done tremendous work, thanks to our current CSO, Debbie, and our former CFO, Dean, by being a part of the Sustainable Energy Partnership for the region, which is a way that we purchase electricity in bulk. So in 2026 alone, we now know we've saved over $300,000 through this program versus the normal supply rates that we would have entered into. And together, the four counties have saved $1.5 million. So this is a part of the story of the kinds of work we're doing to both help the environment and save costs for the county, where we can buy clean energy and do so at a reduced rate. So that's something that we're looking at today and going into the next budget. With that, I'll turn it over to my colleague, Mr. .

Okay, thank you. Good morning. And I think Tuesday was the hottest election day as long as I can remember. It was crazy hot. But we got through it. I'LL TOUCH ON JUST A FEW THINGS HERE. LAST WEEK, WE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY AS COMMISSIONERS TO SPEAK AT MCC COMMUNITY COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT. SO I WANT TO START OFF BY CONGRATULATING ALL OF THE GRADUATES FROM MCC COMMUNITY COLLEGE. IT WAS A SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK AT THE COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES AS WE ALWAYS ENJOYED AS COMMISSIONERS. IT WAS EXCITING TO SEE THESE STUDENTS BEGIN THE NEXT CHAPTERS OF THEIR LIVES. What we really can't state enough is how great the partnership we have with the community college as county commissioners and the whole county at large. One of the things that I like to mention during my speech, and that you've heard it here at the meetings as well, that for every dollar that Montgomery County invests into the community college, we receive or receive, it's anticipated, about $9 back into Montgomery County from an economic standpoint. I think that's really important to point out that as we invest into the future of this generation that is going and utilizing the community college, there is a payback that comes back into Montgomery County. So it was exciting to see so many different age groups that are graduating. There was one person, I think she was in her 70s. There was a father-son that graduated. There was kids that just got out of high school and went to the community college to start their careers or start their careers. college journey, and there was even one individual that was still in high school. I think it was one or two individuals that were still in high school that received their associate degree while still being a senior at their home high school. So there's so many opportunities at Montgomery County Community College, as I mentioned, we're excited to be able to partner with them and support them, and we just want to see that school continue to flourish over the upcoming years. Last week, I spoke on behalf of the board at the annual Montgomery County Police Memorial Service at the courthouse. It's a way to honor police officers who have given their lives to protect Montgomery County throughout the entire history of the county. It's important that we consistently come together to show our appreciation for those officers and their families. It keeps their spirit alive. It shows that their sacrifices were not for nothing, and it kept the and they keep the county safe. So we're always grateful to be there and participate and support them. And throughout, during the ceremony, towards the end of it, they read all 33 officers' names that lost their life in the line of duty over years. So, and it's... it's great that we participate in that but it's unfortunate that these type of events are held because we don't want to see any officer lose their life in the line of duty next up we we're starting i believe it's our annual gift card drive by our health and human services i want everyone to know that that they could donate gift cards from grocery stores that will run from May 25th to July 10th to support. This drive supports individuals and their families served by Health and Human Services Department. I want to thank and show our appreciation to HHS for leading this drive every year. This is an important time for the drive. Nearly 20% of the children in Montgomery County receive free breakfast and lunch during the school year. So when the summer begins and school meals are no longer available, many families face high risk of hunger. So this is a great way for the community to come together and support those in need. So there's more details on the flyer on the screen here. And you can also go to the county website at Montgomery County, pa.gov forward slash HHSD. I'm sorry, HHS donations for more information. Real quick, you've heard us also talk over the last several months or so. This is America 250 this year. We had Valley Forge Tourism here talking about all the amazing events that are going to be held in Montgomery County throughout the year. One of those events was just last week was the PGA Championship at Aronamink. Um, the tournament was, although it was technically in Delco, um, we, uh, heard from our friends from Valley Forge Tourism a couple of weeks ago. I'm sorry. We heard from our friends that, um, there was people that come from all around Montgomery County, uh, as well as all the collar counties in Philadelphia that attended that event. I mean, talking about hundreds of thousands of people, uh, that are there, uh, my wife and I, um, We volunteered all week. We were greeters at the main gate a couple of days and then we were at the media gate. So it was a lot of fun. And for those golfers that are in the room or watching, as you know, it came down to towards the end, it was, you know, didn't know quite who was going to win it. THAT'S WHAT ALWAYS MAKES THESE TOURNAMENTS EXCITING. SO IT WAS FUN TO BE THERE. THE WEATHER WAS CRAZY. IT STARTED OUT IN THE BEGINNING OF THE WEEK. I THINK IT ALMOST SNOWED TO THE END OF THE WEEK WHERE IT WAS A HEAT WAVE. BUT ANYWAY, IT WAS JUST A LOT OF FUN. AND THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE THAT WERE IN THE AREA AND NOT ONLY GOING TO THE EVENT, BUT GOING TO ALL OF OUR SMALL BUSINESSES AND ALL THAT. SO IT WAS A GREAT EVENT. SO FINALLY, It's my opportunity this month to congratulate our Way to Go winners. As you know, each month we go through a list of very special individuals here at Montgomery County that have worked extremely hard for all of us in Montgomery County. And as commissioners, we like to recognize them. So this month, first up, We have Kerry Hall, one of our public defenders. Kerry here? Oh, there you are. Kerry's co-workers say he goes the extra mile to ensure the rights of every defendant are honored in our court system. He is often one of the last lawyers to leave the office and is firmly dedicated to representing his clients with dignity and professionalism. So congratulations. Next up. Next up, we have Robert Seyfried from our Office of Public Health. Is Robert here? There's Robert. Robert, or Bob as his coworkers like to call him, is a wonderful team player and is always willing to help out at the public health clinics. He goes above and beyond to make sure his clients feel comfortable and safe. So thank you, Bob, for all your service. Next up, we have Lauren Rodson, a clerk in our district courts. I don't think Lauren is here this evening, or this evening, this morning. So Lauren's coworkers say she is one of the most pleasant clerks around. She was always willing to lend a hand, and she works to find solutions to complicated situations, all with a smile. So congratulations, Lauren. And next up, we have Brittany Hutt, also in our court care. She does court care, has onsite childcare center. According to her colleagues, Ms. Brittany, as she's known, is a quality educator who brings positive patience, knowledge, and dedication to Monco families every day. She ignites the gift of learning with all the kids who pass through the court care. And court care really is tremendous service we offer to our families and our court system. So congratulations, Brittany. And then we have, next up, Lisa Morgan. Is it Morgan? from our Office of Children and Youth. Lisa has been a dedicated caseworker and supervisor with OCY for 22 years. Lisa's colleagues say she is an incredible asset to Montgomery County and the families she serves. She is always professional, courteous, and fully dedicated. And in the office, Lisa's excellent role model for staff, dependable, supportive, compassionate, and motivating. So thank you, Lisa, for your dedication in the county for more than two decades. So big congratulations and thank you to all our this month's Way to Go winners. So the ones that were able to make the meeting this morning, why don't you come on up and we'll take a quick picture.

How you want to do it? We're in the middle?

All right, here we go. Let's go.

Right here, folks. Ready? One, two, three.

All right, before we move on to our first and only presentation, I just wanted to take a moment of personal privilege. First, we've got several new faces in the room, and I'm looking at all the interns. So I'm actually going to ask you all to stand up, introduce yourself, tell us who you're working for, and what school you go to. And what do you want to be when you grow up? All right, so...

Hi, guys. I'm Ashley . I work with . I just graduated from Penn State two weeks ago, studying criminology. And I'm from . My name is Aaliyah Stewart.

I go to LaSalle University. I'm a major in political science and international relations, and I have the privilege of interning with Commissioner Lawyer this year, and I'm also from LaSalle.

Hello, my name is Hunter Stone. I go to Amherst College up in Massachusetts. I'm double majoring in philosophy, law, jurisprudence, and social thought, and I'm hoping to be an assistant district attorney.

I'm Kevin Williams, like the whiskey. I'm part of the communication department with Megan, and I just graduated from Temple two weeks ago.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tarun Iyengar. I'm a rising junior. I attend Princeton University. I'm with Commissioner McKeisha for the summer and Rohan. And I'm originally from Montgomery Township. And I'm really looking forward to working here this summer. I've had a great experience so far this year.

BACK, WHICH IS GOOD. WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED. AND WE'LL HAVE MORE INTERNS. ONE OF THE THINGS I THINK THIS COLLECTIVE BOARD HAS CONCENTRATED ON IS MAKING SURE THAT WE GIVE, YOU KNOW, THE GENERATION THAT'S COMING UP BEHIND US AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE IN PUBLIC SERVICE. SO I THINK WE'LL HAVE 13 INTERNS ALL TOGETHER JUST FLOATING AROUND THE WORK THAT WE DO AS COMMISSIONERS, BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY WE HAVE MORE BROADLY. We're just committed to giving interns an opportunity. So we're excited to have some extra hands to help us with all of the work. So thank you for that. And then last but not least, I see somebody glowing right there. I saw you were in the corner. So we have a colleague, Judy. I'm going to make you stand for a second, who joined our external affairs team to really just help us build our work externally, engaging the community in meaningful ways. And Judy came to us. you know, a couple months ago, it probably feels like forever ago for you, and said that she, you know, was interested in running to be a state rep. And for me, I always want to encourage you know, any individuals that I have the great responsibility to lead to pursue their dreams. And she's been working part time, but she won her primary on Tuesday. And I just wanted to honor that. You know this is not about, you know, political affiliations. It's about, you know, really supporting our colleagues when they set out to pursue different things. So we are so so proud of you. We are excited for for this this this journey that you'll be on and. If and when you become a state state breath will will miss you in Montgomery County, but really grateful for the time that we've had you. So let's give a

not quite official you know until yeah so all right back to back to any other yeah um so when judy first applied for this job uh the number one thing we heard about was a newsletter that she writes for the people uh in haverford township where she's the president of council and Obviously, Delaco's a neighboring county, but Judy's work ethic is legendary. Your commitment to community is something that is a model for everyone, and we've been lucky to have you working on behalf of Montgomery County, but the residents of Haverford and Drexel Hill and the district are gonna be so lucky to have you as their state representative, so congratulations.

Yeah, I think that's important to clarify. She's Delco? She's not Delco. We haven't certified any of them, so I don't want any controversy. Okay.

Will she come back and sing if she wins? Have you heard of her? Well, she led us last year with the Eagles song. Oh, that's right. It was the Eagles song, right?

Mm-hmm. The Eagles chant.

The Eagles chant. She did such a wonderful job. You know, but congratulations and hope to see what happens come November.

Yeah. Okay. All right. So we have a Department of Public Safety emergency medical services recognition. Dave, thank you for being here.

Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for having us and giving us a few moments to bring to light that we're here to celebrate Emergency Medical Services Week and honor those EMS professionals. I'm lucky to have with me today representatives from the Montgomery County Ambulance Association and the Montgomery County EMS Advisory Council. And I would like to introduce Ken Davidson, who is a paramedic and assistant chief at Second Alarmers Rescue Squad, to say a few words.

Good morning, commissioners. My name is Ken Davidson. I'm the assistant chief of Second Alarmers Rescue Squad. Currently, I have the privilege of serving as the president of the Montgomery County Ambulance Association and the vice president of the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania. It's hard to believe it's been a year since my remarks to you last EMS week. In that time, the men and women of the 17 EMS agencies who provide primary 911 service in Montgomery County have responded to over 93,000 calls for service, rendering care to tens of thousands of Montgomery County residents, workers, and visitors. Last year, I thanked you for your support, also urging you to help address the growing EMS crisis we are facing at the local, regional, state, and national level, a crisis driven by two issues above all others, staffing and funding. There are many reasons staffing is a challenge. The work is physically and emotionally demanding. Providers face growing violence on the job, a lack of sleep, and consistent stress. They also sacrifice time with their families, face exposure to emerging illnesses, and often see limited long-term career pathways. That being said, if you ask any EMS leader what their two biggest challenges are, they will almost always respond, staffing and funding. Of course, just like the old saying about love and marriage, when it comes to staffing and funding, you can't have one without the other. When I began preparing my remarks for today, I contemplated simply getting up here and telling you that in the years since my appeal for help, nothing has changed. but that wouldn't be true. From where we stand, things have gotten worse. I will only speak formally for my agency, but I assure you that our neighboring departments are facing the same issues. There are more and more times that we are forced to downgrade from advanced life support to basic life support coverage, or worse, decrease the number of units we can staff on a particular shift. The number of times we must both rely on and provide mutual aid is at an all-time high, and the result is clear. Response times are gradually but steadily increasing across Montgomery County. This is no longer just an operational challenge for EMS agencies. It is a public safety issue affecting the care our residents, workforce members, and visitors receive when they call 911. In most parts of the county, backup responses are planned eight deep. However, in the past, dispatch rarely had to go beyond the second or third backup. There have been multiple instances over the past year where the system was out of resources and juggling of units had to occur because even the eighth unit was not available. Just yesterday, I listened to my department's unit from Glenside being dispatched along with a truck from Plymouth to cover a call in Ambler Borough because they were the two closest available units. That creates a delay not only for the patient waiting in Ambler, but also for the next emergency in Glenside or Plymouth while those units are tied up. These situations are unfortunately no longer rare. They are occurring almost every day across our county. From a legal standpoint, each of the 62 municipalities that make up Montgomery County is responsible for ensuring the provision of EMS within its borders. But the real consequence is not legal or administrative. It's felt by the Montgomery County residents, visitors and workforce you represent, who are the ones left waiting longer when the system is stretched beyond its limits. So this year, I urge you again for help. We need your partnership in working with the elected officials and leadership of all 62 municipalities to establish proper support and sustainable funding for EMS as an essential public safety service. We also need your help engaging state officials to advance legislation such as House Bill 1152 and the companion bill soon to be introduced by Senator Robinson, I learned he introduced it last night, that would require insurance carriers to reimburse EMS agencies directly for care provided to patients based on a statewide fee schedule while protecting patients from receiving balance bills. Our EMS providers continue to answer the call every single day. Today, we're asking our leaders to answer ours. I hope that when I stand before you again next EMS week, I can thank you not only for recognizing the work of our providers, but also for helping turn concern into action and action into meaningful change for Montgomery County. Our communities deserve nothing less. Thank you.

Thank you. So before, I think based on your remarks, the proclamation we're going to present is just PERFORMATIVE, CANDIDLY. SO I THINK WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE US DO IS MAYBE HAVE A SIT DOWN TO TALK ABOUT THOSE ISSUES, IF WE CAN FACILITATE THAT. AND LOOK, WE ONLY HAVE SO MUCH MONEY IN OUR COUNTY BUDGET. WE ARE STRUGGLING TO FUND THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO FUND. BUT YOU'RE RIGHT, WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER ACROSS, YOU KNOW, MULTIPLE ELECTED OFFICIALS TO SEE what we can do. So I'd be happy to facilitate a conversation with my colleagues and if you could come to the table with some examples of how county government can can support what you may be seeing in other other counties where they might be supporting. Because I'll tell you, you heard me talk about my father, um, My parents were bed bound for almost five years. It was the EMS workers that were in and out of our house on a regular basis. Just taking my parents to either the doctor or the hospital. So please know that for me, the work you all do is personal. And the only way for us to know is you give us

concrete examples and in ways in which we can support so can't make any promises what i can promise is we'll sit down and we'll talk about it so let's hold us accountable to that so please you know thank you and i know that you and i have talked in the past and it is frustrating you know i'm going to call for what it is but you know in pennsylvania we're in a unique situation because We have the state who defines the laws, and then we have the townships that that provide the emergency services. And who sits in the middle of that is the county, right? And we know that the county, we engaged in a full EMS study. I know that that started when we first got elected and came in in 24. I know that phase one was completed and there was a lot of information that was gathered and working with a lot of different EMS departments providers, I guess you would call, throughout Montgomery County. I'll be honest with you, I'm quite frustrated as well because I feel that this is one of those instances as a county we fell down on it because phase two of that study was supposed to, I don't even know where it's at. AND WHAT'S GOING ON WITH IT. SO I AGREE WITH COMMISSIONER WEINER THAT WE NEED TO, WE NEED TO, AS APPLY COMMISSIONERS, WE NEED TO GET MORE ACTIVELY INVOLVED AND PUSH THIS BECAUSE THERE WERE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT WERE IN THAT STUDY, AND I DON'T KNOW IF SOME OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS WOULD BE IMMEDIATE BY THE LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES OR THE LOCAL PROVIDERS, BUT ALSO BECAUSE OF WHERE WE SIT IN THIS STRUCTURE, I have to agree as well. I'm not sure what funding we as a county would be able to provide. And it becomes complicated because we could create a countywide authority, but that brings a whole other slew of problems with it. So I would look forward to us. And I'm going to challenge our administration leadership that we pick up this ball and start moving forward. Dave, I don't know if you have any updates on where, if you, did he leave or is he hiding? There he is. I don't know where we're at with phase two of that.

Yeah, phase two is written up and ready to be moved forward and look at some of those recommendations that were in the original study.

OK, I didn't. Yeah, so I didn't know it was completed so so we need to. We need to thank you for coming and raising this up, but. You know, as Commissioner Weiner said, I also want to point out that we were here today because we want to commend and show our appreciation to all of the EMS out there in the county and for all the hard work and everything they do day in and day out. And we truly do understand. what you're going through and the challenges that each group faces throughout Montgomery County. And I hope that bill that you just mentioned in Harrisburg goes through because in the past, I had businesses that dealt directly with insurance companies, and they get very creative with the way they submit their checks for reimbursement. And it used to frustrate me when the checks would go directly to the individuals instead of the provider, because then you had to chase down the individual. Because they just saw it as a check and said, oh, look, free money. And then you have to chase them down to actually get that check that was geared towards paying for the services that were provided. So I hope that bill, what was the bill?

So the House bill is 1152, and that's currently sitting in committee, and we're urging Chairman Solomon to move it forward. And Senator Robinson introduced, I believe it's 1342, don't hold me to that, yesterday in the Senate, which is a companion bill. We have tremendous bipartisan support on the House bill. There's over 62 co-sponsors, party agnostic. We're hoping to see the same support in the Senate and then we're hoping it'll get the governor and he'll sign off on it. We think that's not the only solution. It's not the only thing that's going to fix the system, but it's a piece. And again, we recognize, and it's difficult, and we understand that funding is maybe one of the things that is not tenable from the county or the responsibility, but we need your assistance in getting the funding from those who are responsible. And I think that a lot of the local municipalities look up to you as a board and look up to the advice of the elected officials in the county, and I think we need to pull together 16 of our 62, maybe it's 18 now, of our 62 municipalities HAVE A DEDICATED EMS TAX, LESS THAN A THIRD. AND IF WE COULD GET THE OTHERS ON BOARD, IF WE COULD GET THE STATE TO PASS THE LEGISLATION, AS YOU MENTIONED, YOU'RE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE. I'VE HAD LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TELL ME THIS IS A STATE PROBLEM. And a couple years later, when they were elected state representative, I met with them. They told me I had to go back and talk to the municipality. So we understand that the county is in the middle. We appreciate your willingness to work with us. We want to work with you. Our agencies want to be part of the solution. There's a great amount of pride that the 17 agencies make up Montgomery County EMS. And we want to, as the association, as the individual agencies, want to work with the commissioners, the administration, DPS. We have a great relationship with DPS. They're as supportive as they can be, but there's only so much that they can do as well.

And when I said, I don't want to make it look like I'm passing the buck either, but it's the reality of it. I mean, we kind of are in the middle because... there's things that we, as a county, we're allowed to regulate or process the procedures in place, and then there's other things that we don't have that ability for oversight. So we are kind of like, and that's why the county engaged in this EMS study to try to figure out what we can do And then our goal is, what I believe at one point was that with this study, then we'd be able to take that and then go both to the state and to the local municipalities and work towards better solutions. So again, thank you for everything. We appreciate it. Thank you.

We're still going to invite you up for the...

Okay.

All right. Come on.

All right.

Ready? One, two, three. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi. Next up, public comment. This section of public comment is limited to today's pending votes, and the limit is three minutes. First up, David Morgan.

I'm David Morgan from Ambler. I was wondering if I may, since you're deliberating on delivering about budget in terms of EMS, I might make a comment. Because I know of someone who is a paramedic, and they did their community college work at Monaco, Montgomery County Community College. THAT'S VERY AFFORDABLE. AND THEN THEY WENT TO THE EMERGENCY RESPONDERS PROGRAM, EMS PROGRAM, AND WITHIN A HALF YEAR DEVELOPED THAT CERTIFICATE. SO STUDENT DEBT IS VERY LOW. THAT PERSON IS YOUNG. THAT'S YOUR POOL, A GOOD POOL FOR TALENT IN THIS FIELD. AND THEN ANOTHER YEAR, THE CERTIFICATION FOR PARAMEDICS. SO IT WORKS GREAT. AND THAT PERSON THEN COULD CONSIDER ALSO ASSISTING WITH NURSING AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE. YOU'VE GOT A MEDICAL TIE IN THERE. SO I ENCOURAGE LOOKING INTO THAT A LOT. NOW, I USUALLY BRING UP THESE TAXPAYER CONCERNS WITH THE SPENDING GOING ON, SO WE AVOID HIGH SPENDING. AND I NOTICED IN RESOLUTION H-2, AUTHORIZATIONS FOR PURCHASE AND FINANCING OF 400 TO 408 CHERRY STREET, WHICH IS NORTH NOW, I BELIEVE. SO, I WALKED BY THIS MORNING, 18 WEST AIRY STREET, WHICH IS CLOSE TO CHERRY STREET, AND I NOTICED THAT IT'S VACANT, AND THE COUNTY BOUGHT IT ABOUT SEVEN YEARS AGO. And there's a certificate of elevator inspection concern there that hasn't been resolved. So if we have a large building, about three stories and probably about 50 offices worth, why that is not used before we start buying more, as a county, this property. And there's probably other places too, which could become active. So we're not spending too high because our taxpayers have faced 56 or so percent tax increase over the last six years to keep our finances in control, knowing that we also have the Justice Center, maybe an extra 50 million needed there to handle that. So to come up with money to buy the Cherry Street, why it's there, it doesn't say. So that's of concern to me why so long we've had 18 West Derry Street just vacant. And it's right around the corner. It's right next to this building. Maybe you can give us some insight. I know Mr. Sotisiak is not here. Perhaps he might help us, but that would really be of interest to me. We have also not recently had a Justice Center update. We haven't had the old courthouse report of how that's going with renovations that I've heard. We have this building, which has several improvements, and we have costs also for a lot of new positions that may stretch our budget even more. So as taxpayers, knowing that we have until November to try to bring down costs with a new CFO. I'm so glad for hearing that today. The new CFO can then tell us where we are standing in terms of meeting our obligations because we have obligations in various ways, personnel and all the building programs. So that's why I really am concerned why we would do this purchase with 18 months to every night.

Thank you, Mr. Morgan. Sure. Next up, Joe Rooney.

Two quick issues. Joe Rooney, I live in Abington. Good morning. Sorry I got in here late. I forgot about the meeting today. If I could, just real quickly, give a kudos to voter services along with Memorial Day, whatever. My son's an active duty guy down in Jacksonville. He had some problem I just found out after the election board meeting getting his military absentee ballot. So I walked downstairs, talked to a young man. He basically took my son's name, phone number, called him up that day or the next day. and I don't know if it's specific issue worked at all out and my son was able to get his vote. I wish I had his name. I didn't, but I just wanted to, uh, Frank Dean's here. I don't know, but thank you for that because a specific issue with one guy and it worked out really great and I appreciate that. Um, item 11 and exhibit B, um, talks about flags. So, um, I don't understand. First off, it's, it's, uh, we just had Memorial day or have Memorial day weekend coming up and, um, If you take a look at what's just happened in the last month or the next 30 days, we have Memorial Day, Mother's Day, we have Father's Day, 250th birthday of America, And we just had Victory in Europe Day, which is May 8th. As a kid, it was a lot bigger than it is now. It's still an immense issue. There's all these things that we could celebrate. With the 250th birthday of America, we should, if we're gonna fly a flag, it should be something that unites everybody. We could have a Mother's Day, Father's Day, Nuclear Family Day, which is basically the bedrock of the greatest country in the world. We could have a flag that's flying to celebrate our 250th birthday. I don't believe, and I understand there's a two to one D versus R, in the thing and you can jam through anything that you want. We should not be flying divisive political flags for a month. And then we honor mothers maybe for a day, fathers maybe for a day. We completely ignore all these other things. So I would encourage that maybe just this year you put your politics aside. You can have the Sacred Heart of Jesus. That's dedicated in June also. There's all kinds of things. You should not ignore most everybody. And then put your political partisan agenda first and foremost and have it on public property. People can fly whatever flag they want wherever they want, but you're supposed to represent everybody. And there's a whole lot of things that I, there's no desk, there's no definition of how you decide what you're going to do, but it always seems to be leftist political agendas get jammed down everybody's throat. Um, so I would discourage that in Dave's. I have 30 seconds. Abington school district jammed down a $285 million tax increase for us, which is going to end up being basically $600 a year for 30 years for everybody. They're going to tear down $100 million by their valuation, functional middle school, and then build another school next to it. If we need public spaces in Abington Township, we need them in the county or whatever, there's $100 million functioning building right there

we're going to tear down throw in the trash so possibly you could look at that for another opportunity thank you next up approval of the minutes i'd like to make a motion to approve the may 7th 2026 minutes of the montgomery county board of commissioners meeting is there a second second by commissioner mckeesha any board comment hearing none all in favor AYE. MOTION CARRIES. NEXT UP, ITEM G, ORDINANCE, COUNTY BRIDGE VEHICLE WAIT POSTING ORDINANCE. JESSE KING.

morning commissioners before you today is montgomery county ordinance establishing maximum weight limits for vehicles crossing select montgomery county bridges section 4902 of the pa vehicle code gives the county the authority to restrict the weight and size of vehicles on county owned highways and bridges the list of bridges provided by pendot after they had conducted inspections and assessments the list includes four uh limitate limitations on four bridges It should be noted that this list has removed three bridges from the last ordinance due to the good work of the roads and bridges team bringing other bridges online. And the only noteworthy change to the posting is bridge 56, which has been reduced from 20 tons to 15 ton limit. The ordinance gives the county the authority to limit the structures, but also to display signage and exact fines and penalties for violations. THE DEPARTMENT OF ASSETS AND INFRASTRUCTURE HAS REVIEWED THE DOCUMENT AS WELL AS OUR CONTRACTED ENGINEERS AND PRESENTED FOR SIGNATURE.

OKAY. I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE ORDINANCE AS DESCRIBED BY JESSE KING. IS THERE A SECOND?

SECOND.

SECOND. ANY BOARD COMMENT? HEARING NONE, ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. MOTION CARRIES. THANK YOU. THANKS, JESSE. All right, we're going to table resolution number one in Section H. So I'm going to move to number two, authorization for purchase. Well, Jesse, come on back up. Authorization for purchase and financing of 400-408 Cherry Street. And if you could just some of Mr. Morgan's. Absolutely. I know you're going to provide some context. Thank you.

Good morning again. Before you today is Resolution 2A, authorizing county officials to execute the purchase of the building located at 408 Cherry Street in Norristown, Pennsylvania for the sum of $4.275 million. Also before you is Resolution 2B, which provides for reimbursement for county expenditures. for the purchase of the property and associated costs out of the proceeds of the general obligation fund, essentially providing financing for the purchase. I would like to do a brief presentation on the motivation for the purchase as well as a brief financial analysis on the thinking behind the negotiated price. So what are we talking about building details? What is 408 Cherry 408 Cherry is the building directly behind one Montgomery Plaza. We actually share the same lot. At one point the building was connected to one Montgomery Plaza. It is at Main and Cherry St about 8500 square feet and it is currently under lease with the county from 2016 to 2029. Next slide, please. How is the building currently operated? Since 2016, the building has been the home of supervision services, specifically the adult probation unit. At that time, when they took over the building in 2016, the county commenced to complete over all of the building to bring it up to the program that they would need. This included meeting rooms, different security measures, secured offices, and testing facilities, as well as holding cells. So the county did make quite a bit of an investment in 2016 under the lease to provide for the proper program for the adult probation department. It has been a success at that location. As you can see, there are 100 to 115 employees that work there on a regular basis, daily, I'm told. And in 2025, they had almost 30,000 offender visits to that site. So it is a highly utilized site for the county. Next slide, please. Why this building? And this goes a little bit to Mr. Morgan's questions. It's location, location, location. There's four things I wanted to point out here. First, proximity to the courthouse. There is a very strong and essential nexus between court operations and APO operations. This has been confirmed with my conversations with the President Judge Carluccio. Reason being, People come to this downtown campus, they have to deal with one operation in the court and then immediately deal with another operation with APO. It would be a shame for them to have to get into their car, go to another location on another day. So the nexus between the two works for a perfect operation between the two, and that is only possible if that operation is located in downtown Norristown. Parking is another essential factor when making this decision. Again, with a large number of employees that work out of that site, over 100 employees, as well as the number of visits to that site, parking is critical. We have the benefit of the Cherry Street Garage just across the parking lot from this building, which has worked flawlessly for the visitation to that building over the last, I want to say, 10 years. Accessibility. Again, with a large portion of those 30,000 visits coming from offenders who live in the Norristown area or surrounding areas, we have, it is walkable from Norristown, this location, as well as near to public transit. I know it is a priority of this board to make the services and the programs that we provide for the citizens of county accessible to everyone. This location provides that. And then finally, flexibility. With changing work schedules, with work-from-home models, I can't say what's going to happen in the future, but this is a location that we will always need in the county. Whether we shift APO into One Montgomery, we make other changes depending on programming, expansion of different departments, this building will be critical in all of those moves, and it will always be utilized for Montgomery County services. Next slide, please. So we didn't go into this blind. Of course, we did our due diligence to get an assessment of the building. We contracted with an outside engineering firm to do a complete building assessment. This is far beyond your standard seller's disclosure when purchasing a home. They looked at just about every facet of the building. Those include mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, the roofing systems, the building enclosure, and site work, among other things. We were informed that the building does need some work. We've developed the list and those things were factored into the negotiation when a price was set for the purchase of the building. It also should be noticed noted at this point that should we stay in the lease, the county would be responsible either way, whether we buy the building or whether we maintain the lease for a large majority of these necessary repairs to the building. Next slide, please. Briefly, speaking on the financial analysis, as mentioned, the purchase price of $4.275 million. That will be paid for with debt service over 20 years. That totals approximately $6.3 million. That number was informed by four appraisals. Um, so this wasn't a shot in the dark. We were informed by two appraisals by the ownership group as well as two that we got ourselves and came to that number of 4.275 million dollars. Um, I want to contrast that, and we weighed that against the possibility of continuing the lease for the next 20 years. That would approximately represent $17 million in county operational budget expenditures. And then along with that goes the risk of an unknown rental market, whether we'd even have the ability to stay in the building or whether you know, rates would rise and that number could go far beyond $17 million. We also receive zero equity interest in the building in paying the lease for the 20 years. You know, we are building equity as we purchase the building and pay the building off. With that, I would ask that this board approve those resolutions associated with the financing and the purchase of 408 Cherry.

Yeah, thank you for that presentation. I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution number 2A and B as described by Jesse King. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner DiBello. Any board comment?

Yeah, I just want to, you know, thanks for the presentation. And I think it's important to just point out that from an economic standpoint, you know, it's better for us from account for the county to actually purchase this building how long we've been in utilizing that building do you know 2016. pardon me since 2016. so yeah it could be considered long overdue i mean right i mean so we would have unfortunately if we would have purchased it you know back then in 2016 10 years later you know we would have been absolutely definitely lower purchase price, you know, and we would have been through, you know, a large portion of the debt service on it, you know, and all that money that we put towards the lease. I'm a big advocate, as you and I've talked, about really doing a financial analysis on buildings, looking at lease purchase, you know, options, or purchasing out, because in the long run, when you lease these buildings, that are buildings that we're going to use for 10, 15, 20 plus years. Economically, it doesn't make any sense for us to continue leasing because we saved the county millions of dollars. In this instance, you could show that over that same 20-year period, You know, there's a large difference between what if we continue to lease versus if we continue to purchase.

Absolutely. And I can assure you that my team is looking at all other lease facilities. And whenever the opportunity to purchase from that facility comes up, we investigate it and analyze the cost savings as well as look for alternatives to other lease facilities across the county in our satellite offices.

OKAY. ANY OTHER COMMENTS? ALL RIGHT. MOVING TO A VOTE. ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. MOTION CARRIES. THANKS, JESSE. NEXT UP, AUTHORIZATION OF PLANNING ASSISTANCE CONTRACTS FOR LOWER MARION AND UPPER DOUBLIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS. SCOTT FRANZ.

GOOD MORNING, COMMISSIONERS. Today I had two short-term community planning assistance contracts. These are actually for school districts, the Lower Marion School District and Upper Dublin School District. These are studies that look at demographic trends, housing construction, housing sales activity, birth patterns. I'll look at the next 10 years to help our districts determine what their facility needs are and what's happening at the ground level. Very popular products, and we're happy to engage with these. Lower Merion is actually the ninth study we've done for them since this program started back in 2014. And Upper Dublin is the second study coming since 2017. THE DETAILS ARE THAT BOTH STUDIES WILL BE CONDUCTED THIS FALL, ESSENTIALLY BETWEEN SEPTEMBER AND DECEMBER OF 2026. FOR THE UPPER DUBLIN SCHOOL DISTRICT STUDY, THE TOTAL COST OF THE DISTRICT WILL BE $10,557. AND FOR LOWER MARIAN SCHOOL DISTRICT, THE TOTAL COST TO THEM WILL BE $9,520. AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO DOING THIS WORK WITH YOUR APPROVAL OF THIS CONTRACT.

OKAY, THANK YOU. I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE RESOLUTION NUMBER ONE. NOPE, NOT NUMBER ONE. NUMBER THREE, AS DESCRIBED BY SCOTT FRANCE. IS THERE A SECOND? SECOND. SECOND BY COMMISSIONER DEBELLO. ANY BOARD COMMENT? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Thanks. Thank you. Next up, approval of applications for funding through the MONCA 2040 grant program.

Yes, and this puts a smile on my face. One of my favorite days of the year is this program. We're now in our 11th year of the MONCA 2040 implementation grant program. After a long cycle, as each year is, of looking at all the applications and projects that our communities bring to us and then getting to recommend those for your consideration. The real crux of this program and the beauty of it is that it matches local interest in capital and infrastructure needs to the county comprehensive plan. So these are projects that address the goals of the county plan while meeting the needs and desires of local communities. And a lot of times it's quality of life improvements throughout the county. Next slide, please. Just a few details before I go through the awards that we're here to recommend today. We've awarded 157 grants since 2016 when the program initiated. You can see how that interest and awards have only risen since then. We have a big committee that goes through the applications each year as is needed. That committee is represented by MCPC board members, planning staff, interdepartmental staff, including from commerce, sustainability, housing, and solicitors, and we based it on a number of criteria. I won't go into those details today, but they're all online. One of the new criteria we introduced this year, however, was for a housing connection, and given all of the issues with housing attainability and housing supply, we wanted to look at these projects, and at least while they don't necessarily provide new units or go into private development projects, We want to look at where that's happening, where there's new zoning, where there's new activity, and how quality of life improvements or projects can help improve what's happening on the ground there. So that was looked at as well. And lastly, we have 54 municipalities that have received funding through this program since 2016. As you'll see through the recommendations today, that number could increase to 57 municipalities, which is another really great thing to see. We almost have had our footprint in this program in all the municipalities in the county. All right. So without further ado, next slide, please. So we'll begin. This is an alphabetical order, too, by the way. But in Abington, we have a project for the Briar Bush Nature Center. This will replace invasive plants with desirable native trees and plants to restore the forest and over 11 acres of green space. It's a beloved educational environmental space in a densely populated neighborhood. Next slide. In Bridgeport, This project would renovate an existing municipal parking lot that will also serve as a venue for future community events and as an access point for the proposed Bridgeport Spur Trail. It will also include two electric vehicle charging stations, new lighting and security cameras, waste receptacles, bicycle parking, along with 35 trees planted in a green buffer around the lot. Next slide. In Cheltenham, we can install permanent bollards, benches, planters, and decorative banners at Wesley Plaza, a great hybrid space that is often closed off for public events as well as utilized for vehicles otherwise. And we'll create a safer and more welcoming streetscape in this space. Next slide. In Franconia, this is the first of our three new municipalities that have not received a grant before in this program. They have proposed here for two rectangular rapid flashing beacon systems along with ADA compliant ramps on Camp Road at Branchwood Park and on West Broad Street at the Lions Gate Community. These installations will improve pedestrian safety at the existing park driveways and trail network while enhancing connectivity. Next slide. In Land Sale, the final phase of rehabilitating their 1902 stone freight house into a welcome center that celebrates the borough's industrial history and also serves as a community center and events venue. In addition to some ADA improvements and further interior renovations, funding will also cover improvements to a public courtyard with outdoor amenities that can be utilized by the community even when the freight house is closed. Next slide. In Lower Marion Township, One more slide. We have an extensive project on cricket tariffs. There's actually a couple million dollars involved in this project. And a point maybe I should have made up front. The county investment in these projects are sometimes the bulk of it, sometimes they're a piece of it. It can be gap funding, it can leverage new funding. When we see additional funding come in and see great work done, it's a win-win for both sides. And in this case, that's definitely taking place. This is a very popular area in downtown Ardmore and well used, but it lacks a lot of pedestrian and bike facilities that would make it safer to get through and also be feed into what is the vision for a new public space anchor at Schofield Plaza within downtown Ardmore. Next slide. In Narberth Borough, which is nestled within Lower Marion Township, they have a new pedestrian bridge proposed on the north side of Elmwood Avenue to better connect pedestrians and cyclists into the newly created Elm Grove Park and the existing sidewalk network along Wynwood Road. It would also include stormwater improvements and management features to provide rate control and water quality improvements for water runoff at this location. Next slide. Going over to the western side, over to Pottstown, the continuation of a 2024 grant. This will rehabilitate or replace sidewalks at 12 locations in the 0 and 100 blocks of High Street where trees have damaged sidewalks over the years. This will provide newer technology that prevents that from happening so quickly and will provide more durability and resilience in what is a very high pedestrian traffic area in the heart of downtown Pottstown. Next slide. The second of our new municipalities, Rockledge, has a wonderful idea here for a new ADA-accessible community building on the grounds of Jarrett Playground, with restrooms, community meeting rooms, storage room, kitchenette, and outdoor pavilion, even a movie screen and a stage outside for summer events. The borough currently has no dedicated community building, and they plan for this building to host many community events as well as their children's summer camp. Next slide. In Schwanksville, we're going to improve accessibility and program space at the Perky Omen Valley Library. The library will install automatic door openers and protective entry overhangs at the front and rear entrances to the library and improve pedestrian and vehicular circulation along with a new outdoor program space. Next slide. Springfield. They want to install solar panels on the roofs of three municipal buildings. They use this project to get closer to its goal of transitioning its buildings and vehicles to 100% clean energy by 2050, as well as to stabilize operating costs and improve resiliency. Next slide. Talamanson construct approximately 1500 linear foot trail with ADA accessibility and multi-use. It will connect residential neighborhoods along Grist Mill Drive to the active recreation portion of Grist Mill Park where other new improvements are being made to its facilities. Next slide. Upper Dublin, this is another one with multiple funding sources and multiple millions put into it, an extension of ongoing efforts to extend the Cross County Trail, which will form part of the primary county trail network and the regional circuit trail, along Virginia Drive and Georgetown Road, This project will connect to adjacent sections in the greater Port Washington district, ultimately resulting in approximately 3.2 miles of the cross-county trail through Upper Dublin Township to the Port Washington SEPTA regional train station, connecting both new residences that are being built in the office park as well as the existing employment base, which is much needed. Next slide. In Upper Frederick, this is the third of our three new municipalities. They'll add a basketball court and two pickleball courts at Friendship Park. Solar-powered light fixtures also included to allow for evening play at the courts and a walking trail to be renovated to connect to those courts. And next slide. In West Conshohocken, we'll install exercise stations along a newly completed lighted walking path throughout the McKenzie Park as part of a master plan for this, the borough's largest park. And finally, in West Pottsgrove, will construct a new sidewalk on the east side of Grosstown Road connecting to the Schuylkill River Trail, also including new painted sharrows for cyclists on Grosstown Road between High Street and the Schuylkill River Trail crossing. So this is another year of the program. A wide diversity of projects from bike and ped improvements to environmental resiliency to downtown destinations and connectivity. We're really excited that this group of projects all came together and we're here to recommend them today. The only bad news on a day like this is that, of course, with the larger interest in the program, there are projects that we cannot fund, and we do make a great effort to get back to those communities, let them know the reason, and if there's opportunity to reconsider or to look in the future to improve the project or make it more competitive or focus their efforts and further energies into different directions. But I will say there's a couple of them that also have other funding sources, and so we do our best to direct them to where we think there's a possibility they can still accomplish their goals through other avenues. And finally, I just want to acknowledge the staff leading this project, clearly not me, and Levitt Gruberger and her section with Chloe Moore and David Greenberg really put a lot of effort into this. We're working hard right now so they're not here to hear that, but I'm sure they'll hear it on the line.

Ann snuck in. She's hiding.

Yes.

Well, thank you to you, Ann, and the team. I know this is a really great, great program, and we enjoyed it. GETTING OUT TO MUNICIPALITIES TO CELEBRATE THE AWARDING OF THE GRANT AND SEEING THE PROJECTS COME TO LIFE. SO THANK YOU FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP. IT'S AN IMPORTANT PROGRAM. ANY OTHER COMMENTS BEFORE?

You need to show a little more enthusiasm when you're going over this. I'll try. I'll try.

Yeah, especially if it's your favorite day of the year. One of your favorite days of the year. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, these are great projects. I'm really excited about them. And it's nice to see how they cover the full geography of the county all the way from West Potts Grove to Rockledge. So it's great.

AWESOME. I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE RESOLUTION NUMBER FOUR AS DESCRIBED BY SCOTT FRANCE. IS THERE A SECOND? SECOND. SECOND BY COMMISSIONER DEVELOP. ANY FURTHER COMMENTS? HEARING NONE, ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. MOTION CARRIES. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

NEXT UP, PERSONNEL LIST. TONY BRUE.

GOOD MORNING, COMMISSIONERS. YOU HAVE MY RESPONDENT VIEW THE FINAL COPY. To find a copy of the commission department's personnel list, it is three-page documented May 20th, 2026, with a time stamp of 1148 a.m. All positions have been reviewed and are presented for your consideration.

Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to approve the May 21st, 2026 personnel presentation as given by Mr. Anthony Brew. Is there a second?

Second.

Second by Commissioner DiBello. Any board comment? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, 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 MCKESHIA. ANY BOARD COMMENT? HEARING NONE, ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. MOTION CARRIES. NEXT UP, I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONTRACTS, AWARDS, AMENDMENTS, AND RENEWALS FOR MONTGOMERY COUNTY ON ATTACHED EXHIBIT B. IS THERE A SECOND?

SECOND.

SECOND BY COMMISSIONER MCKESHIA. ANY BOARD COMMENT? HEARING NONE, ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. MOTION CARRIES. NEXT UP, 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 DEBELLO. ANY BOARD COMMENT? HEARING NONE, ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. MOTION CARRIES. NEXT UP, GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT. DAVID MORGAN.

I'm Morgan of Ambler, and you know I'm enthusiastic about the new CFO. Don't put me down for that one. I'm enthusiastic that instead of spending almost a million dollars a year in lease, that it is going to be only $4 million. So anyway, that's an improvement. I hope all the leases, as Mr. King said, can be examined so we're not spending a million a year in some things. So that's great, too. THEN I HAVE ACTION ITEMS TO CONSIDER. I KNEW THAT THE PLANNING COMMISSION DOES HAVE A DATA CENTER ORDINANCE, AND SO I'M ENCOURAGING THAT THAT GET OUT TO ALL THE MINISTERIALITY COMMISSIONERS. YOU CAN SEE THAT THAT'S DISTRIBUTED WITH MR. FRANCIS HERE, THAT THEY HANDLE THIS AS A VERY TIMELY ITEM AND A LOT OF INTERACTION WITH THE COMMUNITIES. SO FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL PURPOSES, THERE'S AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSON IN THE PLANNING COMMISSION, It's Mr. Devel, but you are going to coordinate the data center presentation with him or whoever that's going to go. People are very curious about how to conserve our water, especially from my point of view. I'm glad to answer the prayer. We're getting water lately, and the atmosphere coming down because we are lagging in water over the years. So that's an area to look into. And then we have... I want to thank, of course, the presentation of our people who have passed in Memorial Day service. And so I'm appreciative of that and giving their lives. It's really quite appropriate. And then I think of the most vulnerable unborn children who they won't be able to serve because they don't have any life. It's almost like a homeless issue. They're home in being unborn first with mom, but then THEY ARE, UNFORTUNATELY, BY A LOT OF CASES, STARVATION OF THE PILL. FIRST PILL, SECOND PILL IS EVICTION FROM MOMS. SO THE LOSS OF THESE LIVES IS ON MY HEART. SO SEE IF MAYBE THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT CAN ENCOURAGE LIFE-GIVING THINGS LIKE THE PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER IS ADVERTISED IN OUR PARENT RESOURCE INFANT RESOURCE GUIDE THAT HAS A HOST OF THINGS THAT ARE VERY MUCH FOR LIFE. AND RECENTLY, We have moms.gov, M-O-M-S, moms.gov, came out around Mother's Day, which is federal government resources. Like, you can look up a pregnancy resource center in your area. You can find about federally qualified health centers. That's the starting part. And then it has a lot of mom care, like our Monco Mamas program would have, nutrition, guidance. other conditions of health. So I encourage the commissioners who have health department really have us be aware of that so that all these aspects can help us have future citizens. And it's just a great cause. So thanks very much for having this guide. And I know it's going to get updated soon too. Thank you.

THANK YOU. NEXT UP, PRESTON LUTWEILER. REALLY QUICKLY, ON THE DATA CENTER PIECE, SCOTT, I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP AND YOUR TEAM'S LEADERSHIP ON JUST HELPING PROVIDE GUIDANCE. WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO ALL OF THE MUNICIPALITIES. WE'VE DONE SEVERAL PROGRAMS JUST TO, YOU KNOW, HELP PRESENT THE FACTS, BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF MISINFORMATION THAT IS OUT THERE. AND SO, SCOTT, I KNOW THAT YOU'RE LEADING the charge and leveraging experts. Do you want to just, I mean, high level?

Yeah, we put it out there. It definitely has gotten to all the municipalities. They have the choice of implementing their own ordinance, which we recommend as a conditional use. And it's a very tough issue. It's completely unique. There's lots of things back and forth and lots of things happening in this atmosphere. But bottom line is we want our municipalities to be best prepared, whether they're I've been completely worried about having it near them or they want to look at opportunities. I think there's room for both, but they need to know, understand and put in the proper measures to address their concerns. So we're trying to help with that as much as we can.

Thank you. Thank you for that.

All right.

Sorry about that.

Preston Lutwiler to Woodmont Court, Shanksville, Limerick Township. Couple of comments. It was interesting to hear that there is that there has been for awhile a phase one study of EMS services throughout the county and to hear that there's actually a phase two report that's ready to. BE RELEASED AND I JUST ENCOURAGE THE COMMISSIONERS TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL THE MUNICIPALITIES THAT ARE DEALING WITH EMS ISSUES KNOW ABOUT THOSE REPORTS KNOW THAT THEY'RE AVAILABLE AND MAYBE CONVENE SOME MECHANISM MAYBE A PSATS OR SOMETHING TO LET EVERYBODY KNOW WHAT THE COUNTY IS DOING AND MAYBE THAT CAN BE A FRAMEWORK FOR DECISION MAKING ON A LOCAL LEVEL I was very interested to see that Mr. Morgan started out speaking against the Cherry Hill, Cherry Street project, and then as it was explained, now he's in support of it. So I just want to say kudos to meetings like this and providing information which can explain rationally what the county is doing with our taxpayer money. And on the issue of the pride flag, I would hope that there comes a day when the kind of intolerance that necessitates or encourages the flying of a pride flag in this county is no longer needed. And then Mr Rooney's comments, you know, maybe could be considered. But the fact that he was here commenting against it to me shows the need for flying that flag for the month of June. So thank you. And lastly, on behalf of Linda Weaver and myself, I want to express our condolences to you, Jamila, on the loss of your dad. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Just a real quick question. The phase one study that the county did was communicate to all the all the townships and municipalities. So thank you for the call.

Well, I'm sure it was communicated. I just learned that the phase two study is, you know, ready. And with everything going on financially, I think it's important that only 16 municipalities have a tax and EMS tax. Will everybody know? what the general framework for EMS through the county should be.

Yeah, so one of the things that we started doing, it was an idea that Commissioner McKeisha had, was just engaging municipal electeds to help orient them to, you know, what the county does and where there are opportunities to partner. It was a really great event that we hosted in January and a continuation of that, because look, I was, you know, Tom and I were both on school boards and on municipal boards and YOU KNOW, THOSE ARE NOT FULL-TIME POSITIONS. A LOT OF PEOPLE COME IN. I KNOW I DID. I CAME INTO A SCHOOL BOARD ROLE NOT FULLY KNOWING THE SCOPE OF MY RESPONSIBILITY. SO WE ARE GOING TO BE DOING A SERIES OF WEBINARS FOR MUNICIPAL ELECTEDS ON VARIOUS TOPICS. SO EMS COULD CERTAINLY BE ONE OF THEM TO JUST HELP THEM, YOU KNOW, UNDERSTAND, YOU KNOW, THINGS LIKE CONTRACTING. WE DID ONE ON DATA CENTERS. SO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE USE SOME OF OUR EXPERTISE TO HELP OUR MUNICIPAL LEADERS AND SCHOOL BOARDS KIND OF UNDERSTAND HOW THE COUNTY CAN HELP IN CERTAIN AREAS. SO YOU JUST GAVE ME AN IDEA TO POTENTIALLY DO THAT WITH THAT WEBINAR SERIES WE'RE DOING. SO THANK YOU. JOE RUNY.

THANKS FOR THE SHOUT-OUT.

HI, JOE RUNY. I'd like to talk on a couple of things that I've noticed in the last couple of meetings here that they give me pause for concern. What I think in our first comment section, we're restricted to business that occurs in the county on the agenda items right here. And I think it was the last meeting. I'm pretty sure it was the last meeting. At the very beginning of the meeting, we had two commissioners came up and decided to give long talks on a Supreme Court ruling. It has nothing to do with Montgomery County. It has nothing to do with anything that was on the agenda. And anybody that prepares before the meeting to get in is caught off guard by what is basically just personal opinion on an issue that the commissioners admit they hadn't even read the Supreme Court ruling, and then they misrepresented it. So, um, I just think that's wrong and I understand you sitting there, but you should keep your personal political comments to a meeting where we're going to have that open discussion with people. The second one was at the last, um, um, election board meeting. I was there along with the Republican county chairwoman, Liz Ferry. And I would like to say Liz Ferry is, um, probably the most professional, polite, well-informed person. that we're going to run into in this county. She comes prepared, she speaks well and she speaks politely and professional. There was only one comment section and then she was part of an ethics complaint and every citizen has an opportunity to file an ethics complaint and we're allowed to do it even if you're wrong and you're allowed to do it and be treated professionally. At the end of her presentation, There were comments from the board that misrepresented what she said and what the ethics complaint was about. And she did voice a rebuttal from the seat because there's no other opportunity to do it. I was stunned to see that Liz Ferry was first abruptly shut down and secondly removed from this building. That was unprofessional and it was uncalled for. And this is what bothers me the most. You can't intimidate me. Okay, so I'll get up. You can call me anything, name you want, whatever. But there's a lot of people who would like to get up and talk. And when they see somebody like Liz Ferry removed from the building, you're shutting down their opportunity to speak. Because they're like, I'm not going to subject myself like that. So I'm going to call for you in the future. If you have personal political commentaries like this gentleman talked about here, keep them out of our professional meetings. Keep them off of our professional buildings. You can call a meeting and say, hey, we want to talk about a Supreme Court ruling. We want to talk about abusing public buildings for partisan political objectives. And then let people talk back with you and maybe have a little bit of a give and take. But when you sit up there from the seat and say, bang, bang, bang, I'm going to call you a name. Your time's up, Mr. Rooney. 30 seconds. No. No. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. We have one more on Zoom, Michelle Engarto. Michelle, can you hear us? Michelle, can you hear us? You're going to have to unmute.

Hello?

We can hear you.

Thank you so much. This is Michelle from Lower Southwood 3. On March 23rd, I submitted a right to know request with the Montgomery County Solicitor's Office, reference number OR2026262. And it included such basic information like a list of all employees who work for the county government, their job descriptions, supervisor names, commissioner's actual 2025 spending details, and the like. On March 26, the solicitor's office confirmed my request was received. Joshua Wertheimer signed the note indicating that a legal review of my request is needed and another 30 days would be necessary to respond. This did surprise me because usually in the corporate world, I can get this information in a day. But on April 27, after the supposed legal review, I did send a note to the solicitor inquiring about the request. The Open Records Department said, quote, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to serve you with your open records request and you will receive a response to your request on or before April 29th, 2026. While that didn't turn out to be true, on April 29th and several days after, there were no records nor any responses posted on the site or sent to me directly. Fortunately, I read the PA right to know law because after the county blew past their deadline, I had to assume the request was deemed denied Because it states that if the agency provides no response at all by the end of 30 days, the request is legally deemed denied. So no courtesy was extended by the county of even letting me know they had denied my request. They just let the process time out. I filed an appeal through the Office of Open Records and an appeals officer has been assigned and the process is cumbersome and time consuming for the citizen and probably for the county and may not be resolved until July 27th. Four months of waiting for basic budget and spending information. I'm not asking for state secrets. I'm asking for public records of the budgets and actual spending. This is a very basic request and it's been open since March 23rd with no clear date for resolution. And I am not the only citizen requesting this kind of information who is being slow rolled. This treatment of taxpayers is exactly why people don't trust our government. Responses are dragged out seemingly with no intention of responding or maybe hoping the question will just go away. You never provided a response on the date you set for yourself. You didn't inform me that I had a short time to appeal. I had to find that out on my own. and you know that the appeal has now been applied for. So why can't you just upload the data to the portal and we can get this one done without any additional non-value added work. And just because you can drag this out and make it difficult doesn't mean you have to. How inefficient is the county if it wasn't a deliberate decision to make this difficult? I'd appreciate the detailed legal review on this request, as was mentioned in the 30-day initial delay, with justification for the denial, and I'm hoping that we can resolve this without a drawn-out appeals process well before July 27th. Thank you so much.

Thank you for your comment.

Missing Gardner, this is Benfield Solicitor. If you could give your contact information to our communications team, I will have one of the right-to-know officers or one of the right-to-know attorneys reach out to you, and I appreciate the comment.

I didn't catch all the things that she was asking for, but some of the stuff was readily available.

I would think so.

Yeah, I don't have the specifics of the crest in front of me, but we will look at that and address it. Okay.

Okay, anyone else? All right. Any closing commissioner comments?

No, I think I was having your January thing. I'm tongue-tied today. You're tongue-tied today?

Yeah. I HAVE ONE COMMENT. I THINK, NOT I KNOW, I KNOW THAT THIS BOARD, MR. ROONEY, I KNOW YOU BROUGHT UP THE ELECTION BOARD MEETING THE OTHER DAY, AND, YOU KNOW, I WANT TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE, INCLUDING THOSE ON THIS DAIS, BEHAVES IN A WAY THAT IS RESPECTFUL, and open to hearing different perspectives, regardless if we agree or disagree. Our politics are terrible right now. People are constantly fighting about their particular political views, or opinions, and I can only speak for myself personally. I come to this role every single day to try and do the right thing by the residents of Montgomery County. I certainly am affiliated with a political party. I am a proud Democrat, but that doesn't mean that I don't work in collaboration with my Republican colleague in collaboration as a bipartisan board to do the right thing every day that I come to work. So for me, this is not a political leftist agenda. It's about making life better for people. And I take pride in treating everybody with dignity and respect. regardless of who you love, regardless of what you look like, regardless of how you pray, because that's how my parents taught me to be. And I would implore everyone, regardless of your political affiliations and views, if you're going to come to this boardroom and share your point of view and opinion, I just would ask that you do it in a respectful and dignified way because there are people that are sitting in this room, especially this beautiful, diverse group of interns that we have that are coming up behind us. They deserve to see adults behaving in a way that is something that they can learn from. And so, and that's, you know, appreciate your comments, Mr. Rooney, but that's, you know, that's, that's for everyone. I think, uh, WE NEED TO TAKE, I WAS AT A BRIDGE NAMING YESTERDAY. THAT WAS MY FIRST PUBLIC EVENT SINCE MY FATHER PASSED AWAY TO HONOR MS. E. PEARL SMITH, WHO SERVED THE NARRA SOUND AREA SCHOOL BOARD FOR SEVERAL YEARS. AND I ACTUALLY GREW UP WE GREW UP IN THE SAME CHURCH, AND I REMEMBER, LIKE, STANDING UP THERE, LIKE, THINKING ABOUT, LIKE, WHAT WAS I GOING TO SAY ABOUT MS. PEARL, RIGHT? SHE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE I CALLED WHEN I THOUGHT ABOUT RUNNING FOR SCHOOL BOARD. WHAT I DECIDED TO SAY IS I WISH MORE PEOPLE COULD BE LIKE MS. PEARL SMITH, RIGHT? OUR POLITICS HAVE GOTTEN TO A PLACE WHERE WE JUST DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO TREAT EACH OTHER AND BE RESPECTFUL. AND SO I JUST, AGAIN, want to implore everyone. We can have our political differences. We can agree to disagree, but let's do it in a respectful way. So I want to thank everyone for coming to my TED Talk. And I'll announce the next board meeting, which is June 11th at 10 a.m. in this boardroom. So I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the May 21st, 2026 meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Is there a second? Second by Commissioner DiBello. Any board comment? HEARING NONE, ALL IN FAVOR?

AYE.

MOTION CARRIES. NEXT UP, OUR SALARY BOARD. COME ON UP, CONTROL OUR HEART. IS THERE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT? NO PUBLIC COMMENT? ALL RIGHT. LET'S REVIEW THE SALARY BOARD LIST.

All right, good morning, members of the salary board. You should have in front of you the final copy of the salary board list. Excuse me, it's a four-page document dated May 20, 2026. It's timestamped at 11.48 AM. All positions have been reviewed and are presented for the salary board's consideration.

OK. I'd like to make a motion to approve the May 21, 2026 salary board presentation as given by Mr. Anthony Brew. Is there a second?

SECOND.

SECOND BY CONTROLLER HART. WE'RE ALL WAITING FOR CONTROLLER AN OPPORTUNITY TO SECOND. ANY BOARD COMMENT?

JUST A QUICK COMMENT. ALL OF THOSE, ANTHONY, COULD YOU EXPLAIN IN 30 SECONDS OR LESS? ACTUALLY, 25 SECONDS OR LESS. WE HAVE A WHOLE SLOW OF PUBLIC SAFETY SPECIALISTS THAT ARE ON THERE. THEY'RE NOT NEW POSITIONS, BUT THEY'RE ACTUALLY REMOVING IT FROM CONTRACTED TO PER DIEM OR SOMETHING. DO YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN THAT REAL QUICK? Not really. Stephanie?

Sure. They are positions that had formerly been contract employees, so we are shifting them to become premium employees. There's no budget impact or anything the same. It allows us greater flexibility to have them as premium employees. Thank you.

Good job.

THANK YOU. WE'RE GOING TO MOVE TO A VOTE. ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. MOTION CARRIES. I'D LIKE TO, DIANA, I SAW YOU, WE'RE GOING TO INVITE YOU UP TO DO A QUICK PRESENTATION.

THANK YOU, COMMISSIONERS. I HADN'T REALIZED THE MEETING STARTED. I'M SORRY WE WERE OUT THERE. Hello, I'm Diana Dilley. I'm the first deputy for the Montgomery County Recorder of Deeds office. I want to thank the commissioners again for presenting accommodation today to our retired staff member, Josephine McGregor, who we know as Joey. Jean Sorg, our Recorder of Deeds, would have loved to have been here today to speak about Joey, but she's at one of our outreach events today in Oaks. Joey retired earlier this month after serving almost 28 years in the Recorder of Deeds office. Our office still records all documents regarding real estate for Montgomery County, but Joey's tenure at the Recorder of Deeds really shows the progression of our office over the years. AN OFFICE THAT AT ONE TIME NOT ONLY SUPPORTED DIRECTLY THE CONSTITUENTS BUT MANY, MANY TITLE RESEARCHERS WHO WERE IN OUR OFFICE. JOEY AND OTHER STAFF DID EVERYTHING FROM PULLING MICROFILM, PHOTOCOPYING INDEX BOOKS, tracking down archival records for searchers, hand stamping book and page numbers on documents, writing satisfaction notes in margins on mortgages, dealing with hundreds of post office mailboxes stacked ten high all across the Recorder of Deeds office. back in the day all the way now where offices modernize electronic recording verification processes the new role in a modernization of notarization laws and dramatically improved document requirements so she's seen a lot in all of her time with the county we cannot say enough about joey's engaging personality her dedication to helping Montgomery County constituents obtain copies of their documents, search the recorder of deeds public records and verify recordings for our public access system. She always has a smile greeting customers and somehow she always ended up hearing the most outrageous stories and getting the most off the wall questions from constituents coming into our office. Joey's fun flair is already missed. And we know she's now enjoying her sweet retirement with her family, including her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. I want to thank Joey for all her years of service to Montgomery County in our office. Thank you again.

Can I can I call you Joe? Can I call you Joey? No. Well, thank you for being here. We wanted to just honor you in just a small way. 27 years in public service, 28. My note says 27, but 28 years, let's just say 30 years, 33 decades. uh should really be commended so uh wishing you all the best in your retirement hopefully you'll have some time uh to do all of the things you love and be around the people you love but but thank you for your dedication to montgomery county we were grateful to have you do you want to stand up and say say a couple okay okay all right well please come up and uh so we can present you with accommodation you can bring your family up as well and diana

Thank you so much. Thank you very much. I'm so nervous.

No, don't be nervous. Don't be nervous. It's nice to see you.

It's my daughter-in-law. It's my daughter-in-law. All right. One, two, three. Thank you.

I think that's it. So I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the 521 salary board meeting. Is there a second?

Second.

Second by Comptroller Hart. Any board comment? Hearing none, motion carries. Meeting adjourned. Thanks, everyone.