MORRIS COUNTY — Parsippany Area Chamber of Commerce “Women In Business” committee recently conducted a diaper drive.

The diapers were donated to Jersey Cares.

Women in Business Chairperson Jennifer Peel said “The COVID-19 virus has created a huge deficit between the supply and demand of many critical products. Due to lack of essential resources, such as diapers, many families are left unable to provide for their children.”

Jersey Cares has established the Diaper Drive Program to provide diapers to families who do not have access to them.

Jersey Cares, a nonprofit organization, established in 1993, recruits and engages volunteers in rewarding, effective efforts that address community-identified needs. We partner with local nonprofits to identify needs and implement volunteer projects to meet these needs. For more information on Jersey Cares, click here.

Parsippany Area Chamber of Commerce is a service organization for businesses, merchants, residents and volunteers that provides education, information and networking opportunities to the Parsippany area. The Parsippany Area Chamber of Commerce serves Parsippany, Boonton, Boonton Township, Mountain Lakes, Mount Tabor, Lake Hiawatha, Mountain Lakes, Hanover, East Hanover and Florham Park.

For more information call (973) 402-6400 or click here.

MORRIS COUNTY — The Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris is offering three options for emotional support, guidance, information, referrals, and COVID-19 resources for anyone who has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Services are free, confidential, and virtual.  The program serves anyone from a school-age child to an adult, or senior citizen. Anyone impacted by COVID-19 can participate. Examples of people who may benefit from the program include:

• Parents who are homeschooling their children
• Children who are adjusting to homeschooling or hybrid learning
• Teens or college students who are not attending school or on campus learning regularly
• Senior citizens who are cut off from families due to health concerns
• Essential workers who are constantly at risk due to exposure
• Anyone who has lost their job, a loved one, or the opportunity to celebrate an achievement or milestone

The Holiday Discussion Group, on Zoom, Mondays from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Zoom Link: Click here
Meeting ID: 990 9308 3986
Password: 384926

Connection is Just a Click Away Discussion Group, on Zoom, every Wednesday from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Zoom Link: Click here
Meeting ID: 992 4335 6990
Password: 537656

Individual Crisis Counseling Program for people feeling anxious about COVID-19; free, confidential and virtual. Just call between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.: (973) 509-9777, ext 171, or email [email protected].

Free emotional support helpline during COVID-19 for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.  Sign language users can communicate with ACCESS of St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson. Call (973) 870-0677  VP, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.

En Espanol: Durante la pandemia de COVID-19, su salud mental es vital. Solicite apoyo emocional gratuito de personal capacitado; 7 dias por semana de 8:00 a.m. a 8 p.m. 866-202-Help (4357).

Programs are funded by Funded by FEMA/SAMHSA. Providing services to vulnerable populations is a MHAEM specialty.

MORRIS COUNTY — The Morris County Freeholders and leaders of the Head Start Community Program of Morris County were joined by state Sen. Anthony Bucco, Assemblywoman Aura Dunn and other local officials at the dedication of a new, expanded Parsippany Township home for Head Start’s early education and childcare services for needy families.

The new classrooms were officially launched with a ribbon cutting outside 1 Medical Drive in Morris County Central Park, which also houses the Morris County Department of Human Services and other programs. The new location will enable Head Start to double its capacity to assist children in need.

“By renovating this county space, Head Start will double their capacity to serve 90 children, including some with special needs. This is a success story made possible by the cooperative efforts of Morris County, the federal government, the State of New Jersey and the Township of Parsippany. It also is another chapter in how we all manage to come together to help the children of Head Start,” said Freeholder Director Deborah Smith.

The freeholders began the move last year with a $1.2 million bond ordinance to rehabilitate the county-owned space under a loan and leasing agreement with the federally funded Head Start program. Head Start began a slow, but steady transition into the new facility earlier this fall from space that had been provided by the county under a nominal leasing arrangement since 2005 at Morris County’s Morris View building nearby in Morris Township.

“This is truly a unique collaborative effort where the resources of County Government, the Morris School District and Head Start have combined to bring educational and family support services to those who most need them,” said Head Start President Bob Grant. “We thank the Freeholders for their concern for the economically disadvantaged and we want to single out John Bonanni, County Administrator, for his wise guidance.”

Preschool and childcare for low-income families is now available at the Head Start Community Early Childhood Center at 1 Medical Drive, and there are currently openings for income-eligible children. The facility will continue to focus on Morristown-area families and free, full-day services are being offered through a federal Head Start grant and a state preschool education collaboration with the Morris School District.

“Today’s event marks the expansion of Morris County’s effective Head Start Program,” said state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco. “The valuable space and new classrooms are already helping build an educational foundation for more children from low-income families. With the help of this program, students will develop curiosity and a passion for learning that will help make them better prepared and more proficient when they enter the school system. These impressionable youngsters will develop academic skills that will benefit them for decades to come.”

With the opening of the new classrooms, wraparound childcare and summer programming is also planned to support working parents. Head Start also will continue its main operations at its Dover facility.

“I am proud to be part of this latest effort to help Head Start Morris County – a program that helps some of our most needy children to overcome major challenges in life so they are ready to go to school with the rest of the children in our community,” said Freeholder Tayfun Selen, a board liaison to Human Services operations in Morris County.

The mission of Head Start Community Program of Morris County, founded in 1965, is to partner with families to provide comprehensive support for child development and school readiness, from prenatal through kindergarten ages, for the community’s most vulnerable children.

The organization serves 333 families, providing free programs for expectant mothers, infants, toddlers and preschoolers at sites throughout Morris County. Head Start services are responsive to each child and family’s ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage.

“Head Start is very grateful for our longstanding partnership with Morris County, which enables us to provide life-changing services for the area’s most vulnerable children and families,” said Head Start of Morris County Executive Director Susan O’Donnell.  “This project leverages county, state and federal resources that work together to break the cycle of poverty for the neediest families in our community.”

The new location is situated in an area dubbed Morris County’s “Nonprofit Mall” because it has become a central location for many services and nonprofit organizations designed to help disadvantaged families. The ribbon-cutting ceremony opened with several of the Head Start children, who are already attending classes on site, singing songs and presenting thank-you cards and art work to Freeholders Smith and Selen.

Offering remarks at the event were Parsippany Mayor Michael Soriano, Morris County Human Services Director Kasey Errico and Kelly Harte, Assistant Superintendent Morris School District.

Kellie Doucette, District Director for U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), was also at the ceremony to present Head Start leaders with a federal Congressional Certificate in honor of the new facility.

“I have had the privilege of visiting the Head Start Community Program of Morris County to see firsthand the dedication of their staff in the classroom and the impact of their programs on the children and families they serve,” said Congresswoman Sherrill in a statement she released today. “And to see this long-standing program continue to expand its reach through this innovative partnership with Morris County and additional federal grant funding is a great reminder of how our community comes together to care for each other.”

Also in attendance were Morris County Engineer Chris Vitz, Morris County Assistant Administrator Deena Leary, Pre-K Principal Deanne Guastello of the Morris School District and Former Freeholder John Murphy, who was instrumental in developing the Nonprofit Mall.

Head Start’s early childhood programs have achieved 4-star quality ratings through Grow NJ Kids, the state quality rating system for early care and education programs. Financing approved by the Board of Freeholders for the construction work is a loan to Head Start, which would reimburse the county for the project.

Information about services is available by calling Head Start at (973) 989-1430, or through the organization’s website by clicking here.

MORRIS COUNTY — “The Morris County Clerk’s Office understands the balance it must achieve between maintaining essential functions, including its role in supporting the economic stability of the region, and designing a plan compliant with guidelines to slow the spread of the Coronavirus (“COVID 19’).” said Clerk Ann Grossi, Esq.

As the need arises, updates will continue to be posted by clicking here.

The Morris County Clerk’s Office continues to be closed to the public as follows:

REGISTRY DEPARTMENT: It is recommended that stakeholders who are impacted forward all documents to be filed and recorded either by mail or utilizing the Clerk’s automated e-filing system. To participate in e-filing, please contact one of our e-filing (electronic) vendors below:

Simplifile at 1-801-223-1052 or click here.
CSC @ 1-435-374-0139/0150/0141 or click here.
ERX @ 1-214-887-7461 or email [email protected].

All documents will be processed upon receipt as required by law. For further information, please call the Recording Department at (973) 285-6130.

DROP-OFF BOX: A drop-off box is now available in the lobby of the Records and Administration Building, 10 Court Street, 1st Floor, Morristown.

PASSPORT DEPARTMENT: Passport Department services are open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. by appointment only. At this time, they are not taking photos in the office and will be closed on Tuesday evenings. For further information or an appointment, please call the Passport Department at (973) 285-6161.

RECORDS/VAULT DEPARTMENT: The Records/Vault Department are open and is working in two shifts each day, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 3:30P p.m. by appointment only. Business users and the public may access all documents on line back to 1969 by clicking here. Anyone needing an appointment, a certified copy, or requiring assistance may do so by either email or calling the Vault. If you need assistance, please call (973) 285-6747.

ELECTION DEPARTMENT: If you need assistance, please call the Election Department at (973) 285-6066 or email us at [email protected]. To find out the Election results click here.

NOTARY DEPARTMENT: The Notary Department services are open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. by appointment only. New notary applications are available on line by clicking here. For additional details, appointments, or updates, please call (973) 285-6122.

WEDDING SERVICES: Wedding ceremonies performed by the County Clerk remain suspended until further notice. For additional information, please call (973) 285-6120.

ADULT ID CARDS, VETERAN ID CARDS AND GOLD STAR ID CARDS: Issuing of all ID cards are suspended until further notice.

OUTREACH, ON THE ROAD AND SPECIAL EVENT PROGRAMS:
All programs are suspended until further notice.

MORRIS COUNTY — Morris County Clerk Ann F. Grossi, Esq. advises that “Newly elected officials, including those selected to fill a vacancy in an elective public office for the remainder of a term, are now required to file personal data on a newly established database, no later than 21 days after the individual has been certified as elected to an elective office in this State.” C.19:3-4.1

According to the Statute, officers who issue the Statement of Determination of Elected Office are responsible for transmitting the form prepared by the Secretary of State to the individual elected officials. Clerk Grossi explained that “As the County Clerk, my office is responsible for issuing certificates to all elected officials from the County level down through the municipal level. I am happy to say that the form has been transmitted to newly elected Morris County and Municipal Officials, and responses are already being received.”

The database is established in the Division of Elections in the Department of State and contains “the contact information for every elected official in this State, including gender identity or expression and race of the elected official.” However, the Statute carves out an exception for individuals elected to a position in a special district, on a board of education, or on a board of fire commissioners.

The Division shall use the information collected to establish separate databases of information on elected individuals, with at least one database sorted by gender identity or expression, and at least one sorted by race. The data will be located on the Division’s website by clicking here.

The statute may be viewed by clicking here.

The form may be viewed by clicking here.

Click here to view the Morris County Clerk’s Office Website

MORRIS COUNTY — Morris Arts is pleased to offer two scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors who have exhibited artistic excellence in dance, drama, music, or visual arts and plan to pursue post-secondary studies at an accredited institution or acknowledged arts school or fine arts program. The Elaine Ehlers Arts Scholarship, in the amount of $5,000, and The Eugenie Coladarci Arts Scholarship, in the amount of $1,500, were created to recognize artistic excellence, encourage the artists of the future, and to celebrate the value of the arts to the human experience.

Morris County high school seniors graduating in June 2020 who are currently attending public, private, or parochial school in New Jersey are eligible. Applicants must: (a) be Morris County residents, (b) plan to pursue post-secondary studies at an accredited institution or acknowledged arts school or fine arts program, and (c) have demonstrated artistic excellence in any one of four (4) arts disciplines: dance, drama, music, or visual arts.

The Elaine Ehlers Arts Scholarship was established in 2002 in memory of Elaine Ehlers (1953-2001), a health-care administrator by profession, who had a voracious appetite for all things artistic and musical.  She derived intellectual and emotional sustenance from the arts and supported programs at many museums and musical institutions.  By establishing this scholarship, an enduring legacy has been created to reward those who possess artistic talent and who plan to further their arts education. Former Ehlers winners include pianist Daniel Shleyenkov; pianist and flutist Joshua Min; harpist, Ashley Jackson; singer/composer/lyricist/pianist, arranger/community musical organizer Deborah Neigher; jazz guitarist Alex Wintz; singer/composer Tom Barth;  visual artist Marissa Rich;  pianist Yuqing (Damon) Meng; ballroom/Latin dancer Daniel Knapp; ballet-modern dancer/ choreographer Madelyn Eltringham; trumpeter Joseph Soriano; actor Rachel Moss, percussionist Neal McNulty,  percussionist Reed Puleo, composer Zachary Catron, oboist Ethan Whang, pianist John Nguyen, dancer Leah Suskind and, most recently, violinist Ryan Nguyen.

The Eugenie Coladarci Arts Scholarship was first awarded in 1999 in memory of Eugenie R. Coladarci, who was Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations at Chase Manhattan Bank and an active member of Morris Arts for eleven years. She was completing her first term as Board Chair when she passed away in 1997.  As a statewide champion of the arts, Gene encouraged the development of young artists and believed in the value of the arts to the quality of life.  The idea of a scholarship to assist talented young people wishing to continue their study in the arts was very important to her. Past winners include violinist Rebecca Racusin; visual artist Robert Douglas Fritz III; dancer Lauren Muraski; actor Ethan Saks; operatic soprano Chelsea Friedlander; visual artist Emily Trenk; visual artist Kaitlyn DeBiasse;  dancer Edward Teddy” Tedholm; soprano Alessandra Altieri; visual artist Catalina Ouyang; industrial designer Miriam Buchwald, industrial designer Daniel Hounsell, soprano Katherine Merwin, ballet dancer Tori Hey, visual artist Tyler Harker, soprano Lila K. Dunn, actress Nicole Giordano, soprano Sophia Grace Donelan and, most recently, visual artist Emma Schaberg.

Application information has been sent to all Morris County high school guidance offices and arts administrators for distribution. Applications are available through high school guidance offices as well as online at the Morris Arts website by clicking here. For more information, please email [email protected].

Applications must be emailed to [email protected] – with the subject line marked “Scholarship” – no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 22.  Applicants will be judged by a committee consisting of panelists representing each artistic discipline. All panelists are professionals with a high level of expertise in university arts education and/or professional experience in the arts. Selection will be based on artistic excellence as demonstrated by the quality of the work samples and on the basis of application materials submitted to the panel. Winners will be notified by the end of February 2021.

Morris Arts, located in Morristown is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1973 dedicated to building community through the arts. Using the arts to inspire, connect and engage, Morris Arts serves as a resource for Morris County with a special focus on arts programming in the community and in schools, creative placemaking, arts advocacy, and support of the Morris Area community of artists and arts organizations.

MORRIS COUNTY — Recent news reports have spotlighted the destructiveness of Governor Phil Murphy’s emergency COVID-19 executive orders, with many blaming Murphy’s mandates for the closure of one-third of all of New Jersey’s small businesses.

According to data from the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, 28 percent closed by October, following the series of Murphy’s forced shutdowns since March. The Hill weighed in with higher numbers, calculating a 31 percent closure up to November 9, per estimates from TrackTheRecovery.org.

Some businesses have floundered under Murphy’s partial reopening plans, the Governor having recently cracked down again on restaurant and bars, mandating 10:00 p.m. indoor closures and authorizing counties and municipalities to double down with further restrictions. The Governor even limited the number of people allowed in residents’ own homes, to a maximum of 10.

Rescue New Jersey, a not-for-profit and non-partisan group formed to assist New Jersey residents and businesses, has facilitated a lawsuit advocating not only for the plaintiff, but all businesses harmed by Murphy’s violations of the Disaster Control Act.

As part of his edicts, Murphy was mandated – but failed – to establish compensation boards in each county, where businesses and individuals could petition for “reasonable compensation,” in return for the governor’s control over their property in his back-to-back states of emergency. The case against the governor, filed in the Superior Court in September, which originally sought a declaratory judgment compelling him to establish these boards, is currently in the Appellate Division.

The Governor, however, has asked the Appellate Division to deny counsels’ request to expedite the case, to obtain financial relief for the plaintiff’s owner, who already had to close her business in October, because of Murphy’s draconian restrictions.

“This ongoing and escalating tragedy underscores the urgency of the lawsuit we’ve brought on behalf of JWC Fitness, LLC and its owner, Darlene Pallay, to obtain the reasonable compensation due by law to businesses injured by the Governor’s decrees,” said Robert W. Ferguson, Esq.

Ferguson, of the of the law firm of Stern, Kilcullen and Rufolo, LLC of Florham Park and Catherine M. Brown, Esq., of Denville, filed the suit for Pallay, a Sussex County business owner who operated CKO Kickboxing Franklin, under her LLC.

“Our claims are straightforward: the emergency powers exercised by the Governor to order business shutdowns and other restrictions require the state to compensate those individuals and businesses whose property has been impaired by those orders,” Ferguson continued. “But despite the state’s clear and unambiguous obligation to compensate affected property owners, the Governor’s lawyers, sadly but not unexpectedly, have opposed requests to expedite our case so that those who have complied with the Governor’s orders may obtain some redress for the disproportionate costs they’ve borne on behalf of the public.”

“I am proud of the role that Rescue New Jersey has taken in advocating for those who have been left behind, such as Mrs. Pallay, in the Governor’s haphazard response effort to COVID,” said Donald Dinsmore, Esq., Rescue New Jersey’s chairman.

Court briefs have described Pallay as “a law-abiding, taxpaying citizen of this State,” who helped to support her family over the last decade with her business,” including her three young children. Pallay received Congressional recognition for “COVID-related activities that benefitted her community,” according to court documents.

“The defendant [Murphy] called upon all of us to comply with his executive orders for the good of the greater, general welfare,” the Appellate brief stated. “Plaintiff’s owner Mrs. Pallay did as she was ordered. But defendant asked her to give much more to the general welfare than most, her livelihood from a business she has built up over 10 years, and ultimately, the business itself.”

The brief further outlined Pallay’s debts to her commercial landlord and other creditors, which accrued as a result of her inability to operate under the restrictions.

For more information about Rescue New Jersey and this case click here.