Author: Web Site Administrator

Union County, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 27^th annual Women of Excellence awards. The awards celebrate women who have made a powerful impact on life in Union County.

“Today it is more important than ever to raise awareness about the influence of women in every sphere of the Union County community, from business and legal affairs to public service, education and much more,” said Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados. “If you know a woman who leads and inspires, I encourage you to submit her name for consideration.”

Women can be nominated for their achievements in the fields of Arts and Humanities, Business and Entrepreneurial, Community Service, Education, Government, Law, Law Enforcement, Medicine and Health Care and Child, Youth and Women’s Advocacy.

Individuals, businesses, non-profits and government agencies can submit nominations for an award. Nominations are open to all women 21 years or older who live, volunteer or work in Union County.

The awardees will be honored at the annual Women of Excellence gala awards dinner, to be held on March 29, 2019 at the Gran Centurions in Clark.

Each awardee will receive an engraved Women of Excellence plaque and a Freeholder Resolution in their honor recognizing their impact on the Union County community.

The Women of Excellence awards are sponsored by the Freeholder Board and the Union County Commission on the Status of Women, with the Union County Office on Women. 

For the first time this year, Women of Excellence nominations may be submitted online. To submit a Women of Excellence nomination online, visit ucnj.org/women-awards.

Nominations will also continue to be accepted by mail. Mail-in nominations should be sent to the Union County Administration Building, Attn: DHS-Office of Outreach and Advocacy, 2^nd Floor, 10 Elizabethtown Plaza, Elizabeth, NJ 07207.

All nominations must be submitted by December 3, 2018.

For any questions about the nomination process or to get more information about the Women of Excellence awards program, contact Elizabeth Sebring, Union County Department of Human Services, at 908-527-4890 or esebring@ucbj.org.

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For all Union County programs and services visit ucnj.org, call the Public Info Line, 877-424-1234, email info@ucnj.org or use the online Contact Form.

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Have photos? Text them to 908-967-4739 or email them to websupport@ucnj.org.

Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman Bette Jane Kowalski and Freeholders Alexander Mirabella, Rebecca Williams, Angela R. Garretson and Bruce H. Bergen welcomed Matthew Goerke, the developer of the “Memory Switch Program,” to the Union County Means Business Lunch and Learn event at the Hamilton Stage in Rahway. Mr. Goerke hosted a workshop that instructs people in the new advances in memory technology as well as helps them gain insight into how these methods are in direct alignment with helping people achieve both business and personal goals. For more information about the “Memory Switch Program” visit http://www.memoryswitch.com. For more information about Union County Means Business visit https://ucnj.org/union-county-means-business. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Union County Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados and Freeholder Angel G. Estrada joined Union County College President Dr. Margaret McMenamin, New Jersey’s Secretary of Higher Education Dr. Zakiya Smith Ellis, State Senator Nicholas Scutari, Chairman of the Union County College Board of Trustees Victor Richel, Union County Manager Ed Oatman, alumni and students at the Union County College 85th Anniversary Celebration at the Cranford campus. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Union County history trading cards are available at Four Centuries In A Weekend sites

Union County, NJ — Langston Hughes lived in Westfield? Alexander Hamilton studied in Elizabeth? The cellphone has its origins in Murray Hill?

With Union County’s Four Centuries In A Weekend to return Oct. 20 & 21, historic sites across the county will all have history cards celebrating people, places and innovations that have connections to Union County, a county with a rich history, dating back to when the Lenape lived and hunted throughout the region long  before the arrival of the first Europeans.  

On Four Centuries, children of all ages—and adults– are invited to hunt down and collect Union County’s new History Trading Cards.

“Union County has an incredibly rich history—a history most residents are not aware of,” said Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados. “Union County has been home to celebrated authors, artists, actors, inventors—the list goes on.”

“When we rolled out the first four cards at the Deserted Village as a trial in the fall of 2016, we knew we had a hit,” Granados said. “The kids went searching all over the Village to collect the cards.”

The County’s Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs added another 25 cards this year  to the series, bringing the collection up to nearly 50 cards, with every historic site having a card unique to the community.

While the Founding Fathers are well represented, from David Brearley — a signer of the US Constitution on behalf of New Jersey — who can be found at the Nitschke House in Kenilworth, to Abraham Clark, in Roselle and Clark, there are cards involving lesser known, but important figures in Union County’s 400-year history.

“We live in a County that is so long in history — and I’m not talking just about the Revolution –I’m talking about a County whose residents played vital roles in every century since New Jersey was first settled in the 1600s,” said Freeholder Bruce Bergen.

“When babies are born and they want to check to see if they’re okay,” Bergen said, “they administer the Apgar test. Dr. Virginia Apgar, who invented that test, lived in Westfield.”

Visitors to Westfield will not only be able to collect the Apgar card at the Reeve House, but also added to the collection this year are cards for Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, and just this month, Charles Addams. To see the cards now available, and where to find them, go to: ucnj.org/tradingcards.

Among other new cards this year are Lionel Trains, which had a major production plant in Hillside, Telstar, the first communications satellite developed at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, and John Shippen Jr., who changed the face of golf and worked for years at Shady Rest Country Club in Scotch Plains.

The history card program is part of a larger initiative launched by the Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs to raise awareness of local history. The Office was recognized earlier this year by the National Association of Counties (NACo) with an achievement award honoring innovative, effective county government programs that strengthen services for residents. A group of projects was recognized that included the history trading cards, signage marking the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage area, and sponsorship of the National Parks passport program.

For more information on the trading cards, Four Centuries In A Weekend and all Cultural & Heritage Affairs programs and activities call 908-558-2550 or email culturalinfo@ucnj.org.

Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman Bette Jane Kowalski and Freeholder Angel G. Estrada present a resolution to guitarist Carlos Alomar recognizing him as the keynote speaker during the Union County Hispanic Heritage Month “Excellence in All We Do” event at Union County College in Elizabeth. He is best known for his work with David Bowe from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s and has performed with a number of other famous musicians including, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Paul McCartney, Simple Minds, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Arcadia, The Pretenders and Argentine rock band Soda Stereo. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Under the terms of the “Open Public Meetings Act P.L. 1975, C. 231, and pursuant to requirements of N.J.S.A 10: 4-10 of the Open Public Meetings Act, please be advised that circumstances necessitate amending the 2018 Meeting Schedule of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

The Board has a need to cancel the Agenda Setting Session of October 4, 2018. The Agenda Setting Session will be rescheduled for October 11, 2018, commencing at 7:00 P.M.  The Regular Meeting previously scheduled for October 11, 2018 at 7:00 P.M. will now commence as soon as possible following the Agenda Setting Session. As a result of this amendment, an Agenda Setting Session and a Regular Meeting will be held on the same night. In addition to these changes, please note said meetings will not be held at the County Administration Building in Elizabeth, but rather will be held in the City of Plainfield’s Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Avenue, Plainfield, New Jersey. Holding this meeting in a different location is part of a “mobile meeting” effort to bring county meetings to other locations within the County outside of the County Seat of Elizabeth.

The Board also has a need to amend the location of the October 25, 2018 Agenda Setting Session and Regular Meetings scheduled to commence at 7:00 P.M., as both meetings will not be held at the County Administration Building in Elizabeth, but rather will be held in the City of Summit’s City Hall Council Meeting Room, 512 Springfield Avenue, Summit, New Jersey. Holding this meeting in a different location is part of a “mobile meeting” effort to bring county meetings to other locations within the County outside of the County Seat of Elizabeth.

The Board also has a need to add a Regular Meeting to the 2018 Meeting Schedule; adding a Regular Meeting on November 8, 2018. Said Regular Meeting will commence as soon as possible following the currently scheduled Agenda Setting Session at 7:00 P.M. As a result of this amendment, an Agenda Setting Session and a Regular Meeting will be held on the same night. In addition to these changes, please note said meetings will not be held at the County Administration Building in Elizabeth, but rather will be held in the Town of Westfield’s Town Hall Council Meeting Room, 425 East Broad Street, Westfield, New Jersey. Holding this meeting in a different location is part of a “mobile meeting” effort to bring county meetings to other locations within the County outside of the County Seat of Elizabeth.

The Board also has a need to add an Agenda Setting Session to the 2018 Meeting Schedule; adding an Agenda Setting Session on November 29, 2018. Said Agenda Setting Session will commence at 7:00 P.M.  The Regular Meeting previously scheduled on November 29, 2018 at 7:00 P.M. will commence as soon as possible following the newly scheduled Agenda Setting Session at 7:00 P.M. As a result of this amendment, an Agenda Setting Session and a Regular Meeting will be held on the same night. These meetings will be held as scheduled in the Freeholder Meeting Room at the County Administration Building in Elizabeth.

Persons requiring a sign language interpreter should contact the Office of the Clerk of the Board at 908-527-4140.

James E. Pellettiere, RMC, QPA
Clerk of the Board