Somerset County Government: The 2022 Somerset County Board Of County Commissioners Reorganize And Set Priorities For 2022

Press release from the Somerset County Government:

01/07/2022 6:23 PM

SOMERVILLE – The governing body of Somerset County held its reorganization meeting in Raritan Valley Community College’s theater today as the Somerset County Board of County Commissioners selected its new leadership and set priorities for the coming year. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy swore in reelected Commissioners Shanel Y. Robinson and Sara Sooy.

Shanel Y. Robinson was again chosen as Director, and Melonie Marano was selected as Deputy Director at the live-streamed meeting. The recording can be viewed at https://SoCoNJ.gov/Live.

“The oaths we take today to serve the public, to be servant leaders to all of our constituents, have never been more important,” said Director Robinson. “2021 was difficult for so many of our friends, family, and neighbors in Somerset County, but thanks to the hard work undertaken over the past two years we not only reached this New Year but put ourselves in a position to grow in 2022 and beyond.” 

Robinson noted that the Board of Commissioners’ highest priority in 2022 will be to make important decisions about equitably and effectively allocating the $64 million received from the American Rescue Plan. The Commissioners held roundtable meetings with Somerset County’s mayors, non-profits, hospitality executives, business owners, and other stakeholders to determine priorities to not only recover from COVID, but for Somerset County to emerge even stronger.  

From these meetings came the following priorities for the coming year:

• Leverage ARP funding to continue to be a leader in public health by providing vaccination, testing, and coordination with municipal and private sector partners.
• Review public transportation in the County to better serve the needs of every community and to connect communities such as Franklin, Bound Brook, and North Plainfield with Raritan Valley Community College.
• Work with local non-profits on cooperative programs to ensure those hardest hit by COVID are not left behind as the county recovers from the pandemic.
• Help our business community find and retain the best employees possible, including working with VoTech and RVCC to ensure residents have the skills to gain high-salary employment in the “new normal”.
• Create a tourism and hospitality industry in Somerset County, shifting the focus from hosting business meetings to encouraging entertainment tourism by taking advantage of county cultural and historical sites, award-winning golf courses and parks, diverse hospitality venues, unparalleled restaurants, and more.

At the 2021 Reorganization Meeting, the Commissioners committed to working with its private sector and municipal partners to ensure every resident who wanted a COVID vaccination was able to get one and to exceed the state’s goal of 70 percent vaccination. Thanks to the cooperative efforts of everyone involved, Somerset County has the highest vaccination rate in the state at higher than seventy-seven percent. The County continues to hold multiple vaccination and testing clinics each week to provide initial vaccinations and boosters to eligible residents from five to 105.

Another 2021 commitment from the Commissioners was to facilitate shared services between municipalities with the online Shared Services Marketplace tool. The tool went live in February 2021 and has been highly successful, drawing praise from the State of New Jersey’s “Shared Services Czars” and bringing in a grant to hire a Shared Services Coordinator.

“The Marketplace has been highly successful in partnering municipalities with each other and the County to share resources and equipment and save taxpayer dollars,” said Deputy Director Marano. “Just this week we brought on a new Shared Services Coordinator, funded by a state grant, and I’m really looking forward to expanding the Marketplace’s reach and use this year to create real savings for local and County government in 2022.”

The swearing in ceremony and reorganization meeting can be viewed on the County website, at https://SoCoNJ.gov/Live.

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This press release was produced by the Somerset County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.