Category: Public Info

Union County, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to announce that works of art by 14 Union County senior artists are included in the 52^nd annual New Jersey Senior Citizens Art Exhibit, now on display in the main building at Meadow Lakes Senior Living, 300 Meadow Lakes, in East Windsor. Five of the Union County artists also received state-level awards for their work.

The exhibit features 302 works of art created by New Jersey artists over the age of 60 and is on display through Thursday, October 25.

The show is open to members of the public, Mondays through Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Groups of six or more are asked to contact Meadow Lakes in advance by calling 609-448-4100.

“This statewide exhibit is a wonderful way for seniors to reach out and connect with artists and communities throughout the New Jersey,” said Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados. “We are very proud of our five state-level award winners and all of the Union County artists who participated.”

The Meadow Lakes exhibit includes artwork by both professional and non-professional artists from across New Jersey. All of the artists qualified for the show by winning first place awards at their respective county-level shows. The Union County Senior Citizens Art Exhibit was held at Liberty Hall Center in Union Township earlier this year.

The state-level awardees were selected by a panel of professionals. The five winning Union County artists are:

• Barbara Uhr of Westfield, for “Wave II” (3rd Place for pastel work by a professional).
• Priscilla Young of Cranford for “Haunted Piano” (3rd Place for oil painting by a non-professional).
• Angelito David of Linden for “Resting Banca” (Honorable Mention for watercolor by a professional).
• Lorenzo Ferreiro of Fanwood for “San Francesco Cloister, Sorrento, Italy” by (Honorable Mention for watercolor by a non-professional).
• Karen Kelly of Scotch Plains for “Cumberland River Pedestrian Bridge” by Karen Kelly (Honorable Mention for a work on paper by a non-professional).

The annual Union County Senior Citizens Art Exhibit is coordinated through the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs in the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation. It is supported with funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

 Registration for the next Union County Senior Citizens Art Exhibit will begin in 2019.

For information about all Cultural and Heritage Affairs programs visit ucnj.org/parks, call 908-558-2550 or email culturalinfo@ucnj.org.

The New Jersey Senior Art Show is a project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Mercer County Division of Culture and Heritage. It is generously hosted by Meadow Lakes, East Windsor, a Springpoint Senior Living Community.

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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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Union County, NJ – A big group of volunteers from the organization MIRA USA helped to restore the treescape at Union County’s Mattano Park in Elizabeth last month, by planting 14 new black pine, white pine and red oak trees. The new trees replace older trees that have reached their prime.

“This is a significant project that helps to conserve our natural environment and helps to benefit the whole community with a healthy treescape, too,” said Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados. “On behalf of the Freeholder Board, I would like to thank our MIRA USA volunteers and Liliana Cifuentes, who coordinated the effort, for a job well done.”

Trees are replaced regularly in County parks as they age out. The new trees were installed around the perimeter of the park.

The volunteers removed the wire baskets and burlap from the root balls of the trees and rolled them into holes that were dug by staff from the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation. The volunteer group also removed litter and recyclables from the park. 

The volunteer project was coordinated through Union County’s Adopt-a-Park program. Any individual or group may participate in Adopt-a-Park, including corporate groups.

For more information about Adopt-a-Park and its sister program, Adopt-a-Trail, visit online at ucnj.org/parks-recreation or call 908-789-3683.

For quick links to all Union County environmental programs and activities visit ucnj.org/green-connection.

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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Union County, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is proud to announce the offering of a new grant program aimed at promoting STEM-based education for county students. The STEM Scholars Grant, which was developed by Freeholder Christopher Hudak, is part of Chairman Sergio Granados’ “Moving Union County Forward-Plant A Seed” initiative.

“The Board of Chosen Freeholders is proud to offer county schools the opportunity to apply for STEM Scholars Grant for the first time,” said Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados. “This program aims to foster understanding, deepen students’ knowledge, and provide educational opportunities to expand awareness of STEM programming at all levels.”

Funding for the STEM Scholars Grant is intended to assist in developing in-class and extra-curricular programs that improve student learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Only applications submitted by educators within Union County schools at the Pre-K through 12^th grade levels will be considered. The STEM Scholarship Grant requires no match.

“We encourage participation from all school districts in the county,” said Freeholder Christopher Hudak. “The STEM Scholars Grant was created to promote more grassroots approaches to learning in our county schools.”

The inspiration for the grant program comes from the Freeholder Hudak’s mother, Susan L. Hudak. Ms. Hudak was a dedicated member of the educational community of Union County. For 19 years she was a member of the Linden Board of Education. She also volunteered regularly and was president of several PTA associations.

Ms. Hudak’s dedicated work involved the establishment of a Monthly Friday Family Science Night. This program ran for 25 years at School No. 6 in Linden and exposed students and their families to STEM topics through a series of visiting guest speakers in STEM-related fields and hands-on experiments.

The Freeholder Board requests that grant applications focus on STEM education in the following areas of concentration:

1. Project Based Learning: Creative, STEM-integrated, educational programming;

2. Afterschool STEM: Projects and programming that focus on extra-curricular learning, including science fairs, STEM clubs, monthly labs and workshop;

3. Out-of-School STEM: Creative STEM experiences out of the classroom, to better prepare students for STEM work in the classroom, and in the workforce.

Application deadline is October 15, 2018. For more information or to obtain an application, please contact Victoria Durbin Drake, Open Space Trust Fund Administrator, via email at vdurbin@ucnj.org or call 908-558-2277.

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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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Union County, NJ – As the fall cleanup season begins, the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is offering several free recycling events throughout October. These events are open to all Union County residents.

“The fall months are a good time to clear unwanted items from basements, attics, yards and garages, and our free events in October offer residents a convenient way to recycle any scrap metal they come across at home,” said Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados. “Residents can also securely shred their personal papers, and dispose of household chemicals and other potentially harmful materials in an environmentally responsible manner, at our October events.” 

Union County’s scrap metal recycling program is held on the first Thursday and third Saturday of each month. The next upcoming dates are Thursday, October 4 and Saturday, October 20.

Residents can use either of two drop-off locations for scrap metal: the Emergency Services Building at 151 Kenilworth Boulevard in Cranford and Rahway River Park off St. Georges Avenue in Rahway. Both locations are open for scrap metal drop-off from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on October 4 and October 20.

Metal appliances, bicycles, air conditioners, and metal lawn furniture are among the many kinds of scrap metal items that are accepted.

Union County will also host two mobile document-shredding events in October. The first will be held on Saturday, October 6 at the Union County Vocational-Technical Schools campus, located at 1776 Raritan Road in Scotch Plains.

A second event paper shredding event will be offered on Thursday, October 18 at Galloping Hill Golf Course, located at 3 Golf Drive in Kenilworth.

Both events will run from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 1:00 p.m., rain or shine. The events will end early if the shredding trucks reach capacity.

Residents can bring up to four bags of confidential documents for shredding weighing less than 10 pounds each.

The final Household Hazardous Waste recycling program of 2018 will take place on Saturday, October 27 at Nokia, located at 600 Mountain Avenue in New Providence. The event will run from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Accepted items at the Household Hazardous Waste event include old pesticides and herbicides, pool chemicals, gasoline, oil-based paints, propane tanks, deck stain, automobile tires and more.

As part of Union County’s recycling programs, these events support the goals of Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados’s Moving Union County Forward “Plant a Seed” initiative for building countywide participation in recycling, and engaging the public in conservation and environmental education.

The Freeholder Board is also encouraging residents to sign up for “Recycle Coach,” a free app that makes it easier to stay up to date about countywide recycling information and municipal recycling schedules. More information can be found at ucnj.org/recycling/recycle-coach-app.

For more details on all Union County recycling events and programs, visit ucnj.org/recycling or call the Union County Recycling Hotline at 908-654-9889.

For quick links to all Union County environmental programs and activities, visit The Green Connection at ucnj.org/green-connection.

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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.

Connect with Union County on social media.

Five year agreement ensures continued care of Union County Juvenile detainees with Essex County;  Union County Detention Center to close on February 28^th, 2019

UNION COUNTY, NJ—In a cost-savings measure that will save millions, while ensuring the continued care of its youth offenders, the County of Union today announced it has finalized a five-year agreement with Essex County to provide juvenile detention services. The agreement has an option for renewal.

County officials decided to seek a shared services agreement as the number of County juvenile detainees at the facility have continued to show a long-term dramatic decline. The average daily population of County juveniles has declined from a high of more than 43 residents in January, 2012 to an average of just about ten this past year—a decline of more than 77 percent.

“While it is no longer feasible to continue to maintain a facility due to the declining numbers, we sought a solution that is aimed at preserving the rights, safety and dignity of incarcerated youth while minimizing the impact on any affected employees,” said Union County Manager Edward T. Oatman. “We believe this is the best possible course, and one that will realize  substantial savings for the County.”

The Union County Juvenile Detention Facility in Linden will close effective Feb. 28th, 2019, and Union County detainees will be transferred to the Essex County Juvenile Detention facility in Newark.

“We have been carefully reviewing the possibility of the juvenile detention center closure for months, and this decision has not been made lightly,” said Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados. “This is a financially responsible agreement that provides benefits to our County’s taxpayers, realizes efficiencies and provides proper facilities for our juveniles with comparable services. This closure will bring a 24.6 million dollar savings to the County of Union within the first three years alone.”

Chairman Granados added the County had considered other facilities during the process: “The Essex County facility is nationally accredited, offers an all-day school, recreation programs including a swimming pool, and we will provide transportation for the youth and their families.”

In all, 82 County employees are impacted by the measure including: 56 juvenile detention officers, 12 senior juvenile detention officers, seven supervisors, and seven civilian employees. 

The civilian employees may be eligible to be rehired by Union County. Additionally, Essex County has agreed to interview qualified Union County Juvenile Center employees in good standing, including Juvenile Detention Officers and Supervisors for any openings that may occur in their facility. To the extent possible, the Essex County Juvenile Detention facility will hire these employees to fill any vacancies they have available.

Additional resources will be provided to remaining laid-off workers. The County’s Workforce Development Board will be made available and separated workers can take advantage of job training, resume assistance, and other employment programs.  Finally, the County of Union will contact other counties throughout New Jersey to attempt to place separated workers.

Overall, officials attribute the decline in detainees at the Union County facility in large part to the effectiveness of the state’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative. This is a comprehensive approach that provides mechanisms to detain fewer youth and relies on proven, family-focused interventions, education, mental health treatment and opportunities for positive youth development.

In order to provide convenience to affected families of the detainees, the County of Union is planning to offer transportation to the Essex County facility. It should be noted that the Essex County facility is in close proximity, only an additional five (5.8) miles from the Union County Courthouse.

While no immediate determination has been made for the re-use of the Union County Detention Center once it is closed, the County will explore the most effective and efficient repurposing of the facility, added County Manager Oatman.