Category: Public Info

Union County – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is proud to announce its first Union County Advancing Community Theater (UCACT) grant program award recipient, Mystic Vision Players of Linden. The grant has been awarded for their March, 2015 production of DREAMGIRLS.

“We are proud to see UCACT off to such a great start, and happy to give such talented people the opportunity to bring their craft to the Mainstage,” said Freeholder Chairman Mohamed Jalloh.

Mystic Vision Players, created in 1992,  is the resident theatre company of the Linden Cultural & Heritage Committee and has consistently received critical & audience acclaim and nominations as “Outstanding” in areas of Choreography, Acting, Music, and Overall Productions by the NJ Association of Community Theaters.

DREAMGIRLS, a groundbreaking musical, loosely based on the career of The Supremes, is set to run at the UCPAC’s Mainstage, March 6,7,13 and 14^th at 8:00 p.m. and March 8^th and 15^th at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 with discounted rates for students and seniors, and are available via UCPAC.org.  

Through UCACT, the Board of Chosen Freeholders plans on sponsoring and promoting five or more Union County theatre events at the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC). The program, which grants funding to cover the hard costs associated with putting up at production at the Arts Center, builds on the recent success of RENT- a pilot of this program that was initiated in November through a partnership with the UCPAC that sold over 2000 tickets.

2015 grant applications are still being accepted and can be downloaded at ucnj.org/ucact.  For additional information, please contact Victoria Durbin Drake, Chief of Staff, Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, at 908-558-2278.

Airserv Coordinates Hirings Through Union County’S Workforce Innovation Business Center As Part Of Chairman Jalloh’S 2015 Initiatives

UNION COUNTY—For AirServ, it started last fall with a phone call inquiry to the Union County Workforce Innovation Business Center: how can we collaborate with Union County to hire residents for full-time jobs at Liberty International Airport in Newark?

Fortunately, the call resulted in the hiring of 66 residents for new jobs last year, and just a few weeks ago it continued with another commitment from the airport services company to hire 150 more County residents for jobs in cargo, cleaning, ground transportation, passenger services, ramp handling and security sectors at the airport.

The Workforce Innovation Business Center, a program of the Union County Freeholder Board through the Union County Workforce Investment Board and Union County College, held a successful job fair to screen applicants this past Thursday and Friday at  Union County College in Elizabeth.

“We’re excited to partner with AirServ in helping place Union County residents in jobs at the airport and we thank them for their consideration,” said Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh, who as part of his “Investing in Union County” initiatives for 2015 announced an expansion of the County’s Workforce Investment operations to facilitate increased employment opportunities and training for its residents.“Overall, the economy is picking up steam, and the Freeholder Board’s focus on workforce investment is timed to maximize this expansion into jobs for County residents.”

The Innovation Business Center not only coordinated the job fair and screening for the latest round of jobs, but will also provide subsequent training to the new hires through Union County College’s Employability Skills Curriculum, a 40-day program.

Designed with demands of today’s business environment in mind, the terms “Employability skills” refer to a cluster of personal qualities, habits and attitudes that constitute a good employee at all levels of the workforce, and include skills such as work ethics, time management, attention to detail, written and oral communication skills, teamwork, decision-making and problem solving.

This state-of-art Employability Skills Curriculum is a critical component of Chairman Jalloh’s announcement. The curriculum has been developed to ensure successful entry and retention within a very competitive economy.

Freeholder Sergio Granados, a resident of Elizabeth who also serves as a liaison to the Workforce Investment Board, thanked AirServ for their partnership and hailed the creation of new jobs.

“One of our highest priorities is providing jobs for residents and this is an outstanding example of how the public sector can work with the private sector in not only coordinating job placements but also providing the proper training,” Granados said. “We certainly urge businesses looking to hire residents to coordinate their efforts through the Workforce Investment Board.”

Businesses looking to hire should contact Antonio Rivera, Director of the Union County Workforce Investment Board, at 908-527-4195 or email arivera@ucnj.org. and/or visit the website:  https://ucnj.org/wib

AirServ, whose 8,000-plus employees support the world’s leading airlines and freight companies at airports throughout the United States and United Kingdom, announced the hirings as part of a plan creating 500 new positions.

“We had a very positive experience and outcome with coordinating our first round of hirings through the County, and we are pleased to continue this partnership,” said Martin C. Blake, Jr., Senior Vice President for AirServ. “The Union County Workforce Innovation Business Center acted quickly, efficiently and effectively in fulfilling our requirements.”

Once the latest round of Union County employees are hired, AirServ will realize another benefit through the Innovation Business Center’s On-The-Job (OJT) program, which allows for employers to have the wages of the new hires subsidized up to 50% during the first six months on the job. Under the OJT program, this can go on for up to 26 weeks to help defray the costs of their employment training. The goal is simple – to allow workers to earn while they learn. The OJT initiative is funded by the Freeholder Board through the Workforce Investment Board. 

ELIZABETH, NJ – Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi is urging local businesses to team-up with her in an effort to help veterans of the United States Armed Forces. The County Clerk’s Office is compiling a booklet that will list all of the local stores, agencies and businesses that offer special discounts on products, food, entertainment and services for military veterans.

“I urge local businesses and service providers to send information to me about discounts they offer to veterans,” Rajoppi said. “I will add their information to the growing list that my office makes available to veterans groups and individuals seeking an Honorable Discharge ID card.”

Businesses may provide their information to the Union County Clerk by accessing the Veterans Discount Form online at https://ucnj.org/county-clerk/veterans-discount-form/

“My office was one of the first in the state more than ten years ago to issue free honorable discharge identification cards for veterans as proof of service in the U.S. Armed Forces,” Ms. Rajoppi said. “The ID card program assists veterans in receiving educational benefits, death benefits, licenses, local property tax rebates and retail discounts intended just for them.”

“Veterans living in Union County can receive a free identification card by bringing their original discharge papers to the County Clerk’s Office in either Westfield or Elizabeth,” Rajoppi added. “This ID card service is just one way to say thank you and make veterans’ lives a little easier.”

The Veterans ID Card Act was signed into law in 2012. The card is available to veterans whose original Certificate of Honorable Discharge and/or DD-214 form are recorded at the Union County Clerk’s office. If a veteran’s discharge papers have never been recorded, the original documents must be presented at either one the Union County Clerk’s offices.

The County Clerk’s Office in Westfield, located in the Colleen Fraser Building at 300 North Avenue East, is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Clerk’s Office in Elizabeth, in the Union County Courthouse, 2 Broad Street, Room 114, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. If additional information is needed, please call 908-659-7403.

MOUNTAINSIDE, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to announce a lecture for adults, 18 years and older, on the bee colony crisis at Trailside Nature and Science Center in Mountainside on Tuesday, March, 3 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Bee colony collapse disorder has had a deleterious impact on many agricultural crops worldwide. In our own country the decline of the bee population has significantly increased the cost to farmers. Tim Schuler, New jersey State Apiarist, will lecture on three causes of trauma to the European honey bee. Enhanced by a power point presentation, the lecture will define the ecological problems we face, the impact on the bee-keepers industry and how professional bee keepers and hobbyists have responded to this crisis. The program is free, but donations are welcomed. Pre-registration is recommended, but walk-ins are welcome.

“This is a great opportunity to learn about this much-publicized crisis and how New Jersey is responding to the problem,” said Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh.

Trailside Nature and Science Center is located at 452 New Providence Road in Mountainside and is a service of the Union County Board of chosen Freeholders. For more information about his lecture or other activities at Trailside, please call 908-789-3670 or visit us on our website at www.ucnj.org/trailside.

Union County, NJ – The winter snows are still piling up, but community and school gardeners are already planning ahead for the spring. You can join them at the “Get Your Youth and Community Garden Growing” workshop on Saturday, February 28, at the Trailside Nature and Science Center, 452 New Providence Road in Mountainside.

To register online visit tinyurl.com/schoolgardenconference. For a brochure and registration form by mail, call 908-654-9854. The registration deadline is February 20.

Experienced and beginning gardeners are welcome. A fee of $25.00 for the daylong workshop includes lunch and all materials. Topics cover all the basics of a successful produce garden, how to grow strawberries, and more.

More details and a registration form are available at the Union County website, ucnj.org.

Get Your Youth and Community Garden Growing is presented by experts from the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Union County, a program of the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station supported in part by the Freeholder Board. For more information visit ucnj.org/rce.

(Photo credit: USDA, Kimberly Lewers)

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Please join the County of Union online at ucnj.org, on Facebook at ucnj.org/facebook, and on Twitter at twitter.com/countyofunionnj.

Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension educational programs are offered to all without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, military service, veteran status, and any other category protected by law. Rutgers Cooperative Extension encourages individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you need special accommodations, have questions about physical access, or require alternate means for program information, please contact your local Extension Office. Contact the State Extension Director’s Office if you have concerns related to discrimination, 848-932-3584.

(From left) Union County Manager Alfred Faella, Union County Freeholder Vernell Wright, Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski, Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh, Assemblyman Jerry Green, Assemblywoman Annette Quijano and Union County Sheriff Joseph Cryan present the Chester Holmes Humanitarian Award to President Carlisle, Jr. (4^th right) of Hillside. Carlisle, a former Hillside Councilman and a retired Union County Department of Community Renewal Bureau Chief, received the honor during the Third Annual Union County Black History Month Celebration on February 13 at the Hamilton Stage at UCPAC in Rahway. The Freeholder Board created the award in honor of the late former Freeholder Chester Holmes.  (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Union County, NJ – Another cold snap has hit the Union County area along with high winds, sending temperatures plummeting throughout the holiday weekend. The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders reminds residents that help is available for those without a warm place to stay, through the Code Blue program. 

 Code Blue is designed to coordinate municipal and County resources, to help homeless persons find a place at a shelter or warming center.

 Residents who observe anyone outdoors who is asleep or in need of assistance should contact their local police department, which will arrange for transportation to a shelter. 

 In addition, the following warming locations have been provided to the County by municipal officials or have been publicized through local media. Availability and hours may change, and public buildings will be closed on Monday, February 16, so always call ahead before coming to a warming center:

Elizabeth

Fanwood

Linden

Roselle Park

Scotch Plains

To report downed power lines or outages, contact your utility company. PSE&G customers call 1-800-436-7734. JCP&L customers call 1-800-545-7738 or use the automated reporting line at 1-888-544-4877.  

For questions about your gas service, call Elizabethtown Gas at 800-492-4009.  

Please tell your friends and neighbors about First Alert (to sign up visit ucfirstalert.org), and stay informed by visiting the Union County website at ucnj.org. Also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Please join the County of Union online at ucnj.org, on Facebook at ucnj.org/facebook, and on Twitter at twitter.com/countyofunionnj.

The Union County Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh is pleased to announce that Union County’s own Performing Arts Center has been nominated in the sixth annual JerseyArts.com People’s Choice Awards! 

The Union County Performing Arts Center is among 71 arts organizations nominated for the yearly awards program run by Discover Jersey Arts to honor the work of New Jersey’s vital, vibrant and diverse arts organizations.

“The nomination of the Union County Performing Arts Center is a clear sign that the Freeholder Board’s commitment to building a strong arts community in Union County is paying off,” said Chairman Jalloh. “We are very proud of the work that arts organizations and patrons throughout our county are doing to establish Union County as a destination for culture. I urge Union County residents to show their continued support and vote now for the Union County PAC as Your Favorite Large Performing Arts Center.”

Cast your vote today and show your support for the arts in all of Union County.

The Union County arts organizations nominated for this year’s JerseyArts.com People’s Choice Awards are:

UCPAC: Union County Performing Arts Center (Rahway) – Large Performing Arts Center
Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts Center (Rahway) – Small Performing Arts Center
Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre (Summit) – Theatre to See a Play
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey (Summit) – Arts Gallery
Arts Guild New Jersey (Rahway) – Art Gallery
New Jersey Festival Orchestra (Westfield) – Symphony/Orchestra

Don’t see your favorite Union County arts organizations on the list? Write them in to cast your vote and support the arts in Union County.

Vote now at http://jerseyarts.com/peopleschoice/. Voting ends Thursday, February 19.

“The nomination of so many Union County arts organizations exemplifies the capacity for impact the arts have throughout our community,” said Chairman Jalloh who this year’s initiatives will focus on making investments in the future of Union County that will help boost the economy and the quality of life for the residents. Through the Chairman’s “Building a Community of The Arts” initiatives the Chairman and the Freeholder Board seek to leverage the creative capacity of Union County to strengthen our community.

For more information about Freeholder Chairman Jalloh’s 2015 “Build a Community of The Arts” initiatives visit ucnj.org.

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Please join the County of Union online at www.ucnj.org, on Facebook at www.ucnj.org/facebook, and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/countyofunionnj.

Union County, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to announce that the County Police Firearms ID Unit has been honored by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for its work in solving gun crimes. The Firearms ID Unit received the Award of Excellence in recognition of its 200^th match or “hit” on IBIS, the national system for tracking firearms used in crimes.

“Since it was established in 2003, our Firearms ID Unit has proved its worth time and again,” said Union County Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh. “This well-deserved award is a testimony to the hard work and professional dedication of our Firearms Examination experts.”

The primary task of the Firearms ID Unit, also known as the Ballistics Unit, is to determine if a bullet, cartridge casing, or other ammunition component was fired from a specific gun.

The lynchpin of that process is IBIS, the Integrated Ballistic Identification System. IBIS is a national database of firearm evidence from crime scenes and crime guns using high definition 3D images that show the unique microscopic markings left on ammunition components when fired.

In contrast to combing through hundreds of local cases by hand, IBIS enables firearms examiners to gather evidence quickly. The 3D images are assigned a score using a mathematical algorithm to generate a list of correlating cases with scores that indicate “high confidence candidates,” from anywhere in the U.S. Examiners then compare images to determine if there is a match, or “hit.”

Depending on the level of urgency and the type of analysis needed, the Firearms ID Unit can turn around a request for an examination within a matter of hours.

“Before 2003, there would be a delay of days, weeks, or even months while investigators waited for the results from an out-of-county lab,” said Union County Public Safety Director Andrew Moran, “Now with our fully equipped lab and trained personnel, we can provide timely information to our local investigators, and to jurisdictions throughout New Jersey and the nation.”

Jalloh noted that the Firearms ID Unit is a shared service provided by Union County to local agencies in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), which runs IBIS nationally and funds the Union County equipment. 

The IBIS System in the Firearms ID Unit also serves as a portal to IBIS for jurisdictions throughout New Jersey and Connecticut, and Union County examiners provide forensic firearm examination services to all Union County law enforcement agencies and the Port Authority Police.

Presenting the award in Westfield today, ATF Special Agent in Charge George P. Belsky, Jr. thanked the Firearms ID Unit for its contributions to the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, and thanked the Freeholder Board for its support.

“In addition to providing leads to investigators to help in solving gun crimes, NIBIN is a valuable tool for crime prevention,” said Agent Belsky. “It can provide intelligence that enables law enforcement to focus its resources to help prevent the next shooting.”

Firearms Examiners undergo a four-year training program to be qualified as experts in the field and recognized by courts of law.  Expertise in high-tech examinations including microscopic comparisons, operability studies on weapons, serial number restoration and the use of IBIS equipment are the core of the training program.

The Firearms ID Unit fields hundreds of requests for examinations each year, and one case in particular demonstrates the difference made by IBIS.

In February 2010, the Firearms ID Unit received a non-urgent examination request for a weapon recovered in Union Township. An operability study was performed on the weapon, and the test fired cartridge casings were later input to IBIS.

The subsequent correlation list put the Firearms ID Unit on high alert:  The “high confidence candidates” pointed to evidence recovered from the scene of a notorious, unsolved road rage incident in another part of the state back in January 2010, in which a police officer was critically injured in a hail of bullets.

Firearms Examiners performed a microscopic comparison that ultimately confirmed the linkage within hours of the IBIS results, breathing new life into a case that had stalled out.

“Finding the needle in the haystack is an apt description for what our Firearms Examiners do with a combination of advanced technology, skill, and determination,” said Jalloh.

For more information about the Firearms ID Unit, visit ucnj.org.

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Please join the County of Union online at ucnj.org, on Facebook at ucnj.org/facebook, and on Twitter at twitter.com/countyofunionnj.

Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman Bruce Bergen (L) and Freeholder Vernell Wright (R) present a resolution to Penelope and Gerard Garcia of Summit congratulating them on being named the 2015 “Sweethearts of the Year” by Sage Eldercare for their volunteerism at the Summit nonprofit. SAGE is a private, not-for-profit organization concerned with the health, happiness and general welfare of older citizens and their families. For more information on SAGE Eldercare, call 1-908-273-5550 or visit sageeldercare.org.  (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)