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Freeholder Angel Estrada spoke words of encouragement at an anti-bullying seminar held by Le Crème, a modeling and acting school run by Patricia Pinto who led the seminar.

Every holiday season for 18 years, Union County Sheriff’s Officers have set up their “Tree of Hope” in the courthouse seeking donations of toys and clothing for needy children throughout the county. Each year the response has been overwhelming.

The “Tree of Hope” was first planted in 1997 when officers encountered children in the courts who were going to experience a less than happy holiday season. The children the officers encountered were homeless or living in shelters, were victims of domestic violence or medically fragile.  Their parents or guardians did not have the financial ability to provide holiday gifts.

Every year since the “Tree of Hope” committee have erected a tree in the Union County Courthouse featuring paper ornaments. Volunteers make the ornaments and write a particular gift on each one.

Monetary donations to help provide additional gifts are also being sought.

Contributions of money (tax-deductible), toys and clothing can be sent to: Union County Sheriff’s Officers Tree of Hope, Union County Courthouse, 2 Broad Street, Elizabeth, N.J., 07207. For more information, call the “Tree of Hope” hotline at 908-629-2158.

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to announce the 2016 Union County Advancing Community Theatre (UCACT) grant program.

The UCACT program aims to engage the creative life of Union County by supporting enriching community theatre experiences that promote economic and social well-being.

“Community theatre is a collaborative art with important economic, cultural, and social benefits,” said Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh. “Through the UCACT program, the Freeholder Board is proud to provide opportunities that draw people together to participate in collaborative art experiences that enrich and engage the greater Union County community.”

The UCACT grant program continues on the footsteps of last year’s success, which included a diverse body of work including two original plays, a student production, a new community theatre organization, among others featuring the high-quality artistic talent of many Union County residents.

“Union County is home to a thriving, diverse theatre community that provides countless opportunities for enrichment and career development,” said Freeholder Vice Chairman Bruce H. Bergen. “The Freeholder Board is very proud to support the arts and the efforts of our local theatre organizations to help them bring the live theatre experience to new audiences.”

The mission of the UCACT grant program is to support and encourage the performing arts in Union County.  The UCACT program began in 2015 as part of Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh’s “Building a Community of the Arts” initiatives.

The UCACT program seeks to assist the artistic community in Union County by providing support that will promote high quality theatre productions, encourage new programming, set a high bar for artistic challenges, and help make live theater more accessible to all.

UCACT grants provide funding to cover the hard costs associated with putting up a production at the Union County Performing Arts Center, as well as marketing and publicity assistance for each production. Through creative partnerships and a holistic approach, the program aims to provide a strategic platform to support the development of Union County’s rich theatre talent by leveraging existing resources and broadening the definition of economic development and public recreation to include support for community theatre.

Grant applications can be downloaded online at ucnj.org/ucact. Applications are being accepted now on a rolling basis. Union County-based non-profit community theatre organizations are strongly encouraged to apply early as grants will be reviewed, announced and awarded on an ongoing basis based on funding availability. Qualifying performances must be presented between January and June 2016.

For additional information or to receive a grant application by mail, please contact Victoria Durbin Drake, Chief of Staff, Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, at 908-558-2278.

Marking the beginning of Chanukah, Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman Bruce H. Bergen, Freeholders Christopher Hudak and Sergio Granados, Union County Manager Alfred Faella, Deputy County Manager William Reyes and other county officials gathered with Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky and representatives from Bris Avrohom of Hillside to light the menorah in Phil Rizzuto Park in Elizabeth.

(Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Filmgoers packed the seats at Hamilton Stage in Rahway on Sunday evening for the Union County premier of the legendary documentary, “Rat Slayer of Hillside NJ,” which captures the real life case of man vs. rat that made headlines around the globe back in 1994. The screening, sponsored by the Freeholder Board, was attended by a costumed rat character and other local luminaries including director and writer Andrew Ruotolo, co-producer Andrew Lessner, and co-director of photography Sean Devaney, who all grew up together in Westfield.

Not in attendance were co-producer Michael Angelo Covino and co-director of photography Zach Kuperstein. Freeholder Chairman Mohamed Sellu Jalloh and Vice Chairman Bruce Bergen were in attendance for the premiere along with Rahway Mayor Samson Steinman.

Learn more about the documentary at https://www.facebook.com/ratslayerofhillsidenj/

New Jersey native Ronald L. Charles served as Associate Director of the Essex County Department of Corrections and as Facility Administrator at Delaney Hall

Ronald L. Charles, a New Jersey native who has extensive experience in managing both public and private correctional facilities in the state, has been hired as the new Director of the Union County Department of Corrections, County officials announced.

Charles is a former Associate Director of the Essex County Department of Corrections, the state’s largest County correctional facility, and has also served in senior level executive positions at Delaney Hall, a private facility.

Charles was hired following a nationwide search conducted by the County following the retirement of former director Brian Riordan, who left in July after seven successful years. During the interim period, Assistant Director George Blaskiewicz had served as acting director.

The County received well over 50 resumes during the job search, and narrowed the list to nearly a dozen finalists before selecting Charles.

“Ronald Charles has an outstanding record of public and private-level experience in corrections,” said County Manager Alfred J. Faella. “He has managed the administrative and fiscal operations of two major correctional facilities, and had his boots on the ground as a corrections officer for many years as well. We look forward to working with him.”

Charles is earning a salary of  $115,000 a year, and started his new job yesterday, following his hiring by the County Manager. He is responsible for the supervision of a total staff of approximately 295 corrections officers and supervisors, 34 civilian employees, and a census count of approximately 720 prisoners, with another 40 under contract at Delaney Hall in Essex County.

Charles will work to continue many of the reforms begun under way at the facility. During the past eight years, the County has focused on reducing its daily census count (number of inmates) at the jail by nearly 30 percent, resulting in operational efficiencies.

The County implemented the findings from the Luminosity study, which has succeeded in reducing operational costs and expenses at the adult facility (Union County Jail) by $1 million.

This report continues to reap benefits by bringing together stakeholders in an effort to reduce unnecessary detention while maintaining public safety and the integrity of the courts process.

Charles said he looks forward to starting his job, and thanked the Freeholder Board and the County Manager for the opportunity to lead the Department of Corrections.

“There is still much to accomplish and there are many challenges before us, but I look forward to working with the County team in providing a safe, secure, productive and efficient facility,” Charles said. 

During a 29-year career in corrections, Charles, who started as an Essex County Corrections Officer,  rose through the ranks meritoriously  to Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain,  Associate Warden  and climbed to the position of Associate Director of the Department in 2006, where until his retirement in 2011, he was responsible  the supervision of more than 700 employees with a operating budget of over $100 Million dollars.  Among his other duties, he authored RFP’s (Requests for Proposal) and contracts, and wrote a financial review process for the budget with department heads and administrative officials.

In 2011, he began work for Delaney Hall Detention Center, a private run facility that contracts with governmental agencies such as Union County and Essex County for its detainees. Over the next four years, he served as a Facility Administrator and then a Facility Training Administrator whose responsibilities included managing the budget, supervising staff, establishing operational plans, and developing lesson plans and learning objectives for professional and leadership  development. 

Charles is a Certified Public Manager (CPM) and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice.  He is  a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government  Leadership Program and  is a certified instructor with the New Jersey  Department of  Law and Public Safety Police Training Commission and is a certified auditor with the American Correctional Association. 

Standing outside the Mignone family’s home in Clark, Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman Bruce H. Bergen (right) thanked Michael Mignone for the donation of a 30-foot tall blue spruce from his front lawn that will be this year’s Christmas tree in the rotunda at the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth. The public is invited to view the tree on weekdays during the holiday season.  (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman Bruce H. Bergen and Freeholders Bette Jane Kowalski, Angel G. Estrada and Alexander Mirabella accept a plaque from Roselle Public Library Director Jeanne Marie Ryan, Clark Public Library Director Dawn Jenkin and Elizabeth Public Library Director Mary Faith Chmiel representing the Libraries of Union County Consortium thanking the Freeholder Board for its continued support of libraries throughout Union County. The presentation took place in the Elizabeth Public Library.

(Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to announce a call for visual artists to participate in the County’s second public art project this year, Art Outside the Box – Beautiful Bench Project.

“Entries for the beautiful bench public art project will support Union County’s ongoing efforts to broaden cultural development through the promotion, coordination, and integration of public art into our communities,” said Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh. “The Freeholder Board is proud to provide opportunities that celebrate creativity, enhance community identity, and encourage cultural tourism.”

The new Beautiful Bench Project is an expansion of the County’s Art Outside the Box program created to help integrate the arts into non-traditional venues and expand, broaden, and diversify public exposure to the arts.  Union County visual artists are invited to submit artwork renderings for the County’s Art Outside the Box – Beautiful Bench Project online at ucnj.org/beautiful-bench-project. The deadline for entry is December 18, 2015. There is no fee required to participate.

Three designs will be selected to be attached to benches in front of the following Union Township locations:

• Van Gogh’s Ear Café on Stuyvesant Avenue
• Union County National Bank on Morris Avenue
• Killer Vegan on Stuyvesant Avenue

This call for entries is open to all artists who paint residing in or working in Union County. Local artists are invited to submit renderings of up to three proposed designs for the painted bench.  For artist submission(s) that are chosen, the County will provide fiberboard on which the artist will paint the selected design. The top three selected submissions will be awarded an honorarium. The deadline to submit your artwork is Friday, December 18th.

Offered as part of Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh’s Building a Community of the Arts initiative, the Beautiful Bench Project is an expansion of the County’s Art Outside the Box public art program that has awarded12 individual artists the opportunity to have their artwork cover 13 different traffic control boxes in Elizabeth, Linden, Plainfield, and Rahway.

For further details about how to participate, and to learn more about the project, including entry form, bench locations, reference samples, and artist agreement are available online at ucnj.org/beautiful-bench-project or call the Union County Department of Cultural Heritage at (908) 558-2550.

Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman Bruce H. Bergen and Freeholders Bette Jane Kowalski and Sergio Granados joined Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage, Assemblyman Jamel Holley, Community Development Group CEO and President Armando D’Errico, Elizabeth Council President Patricia Perkins-Auguste, Councilmen William Gallman, Carlos Torres, Kevin Kiniery and Manny Grova, Union County Manager Alfred Faella and other officials in cutting the ribbon opening the Spring Street Project in Elizabeth.

The Spring Street Project is part of a $3.2 million mixed use development featuring the city’s first African-American Cultural and Learning Center located in the city’s Keighry Head neighborhood.

The 39,498 square foot site will include a community theatre/multipurpose facility and 20 affordable rental housing units encompassing 10 multi-generational residences and 10 active adult residences.

The Spring Street Project the NJ Community Development Group is and County of Union to catalyze advancements in socialized housing for the millennium in the city of Elizabeth, New Jersey’s fourth largest city.

Working in partnership with the city of Elizabeth and the NJ Community Development Group, Union County contributed $850,000 in Neighborhood Stabilization funds, and an additional $250,000 in Home Investment Partnership Program funds.