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.

MORRIS COUNTY — Republicans Deborah Smith, John Krickus and Stephen Shaw announced their plans to seek re-election as Morris County Commissioners in 2021 and rolled out an impressive list of GOP endorsers supporting their ticket.

Smith, Krickus and Shaw pointed to their decisive and proactive response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the county and their commitment to investing in county roads and bridges, while keeping county property taxes flat.

“We are honored to have earned the endorsement of Republican leaders at the state and county level, and in nearly every single town in Morris County,” said Smith, of Denville.  “This year, in spite of challenges at every turn, voters rewarded Morris County Republicans for our commitment to honest government that focuses on what matters most to our residents.  We are proud to have played a key role in creating and strengthening the Morris County Republican brand, and we look forward to keeping Morris the number one county in the state.”

“Republican leadership of county government has helped to make Morris County an affordable, safe place to live, work, raise a family, and retire,” said Krickus, of Long Valley. “We are proof that common sense conservative polices work and can attract not only Republican voters, but Democrats and independent voters, as well. This year we plan to work closely with our candidates from the municipal level on up to Governor to win in November.”

“When Morris County Republicans are united and focused on the issues that our residents care about most, we are successful. Simply put, good policy makes good politics.,” said Shaw, of Mountain Lakes. “Together with Deb and John, I plan to continue advancing our pro-taxpayer agenda that has held the line on taxes and reduced debt, while prioritizing county spending on improving the quality of life for all residents and most importantly protecting public health.”

Current List of Endorsements

Sheriff James Gannon
County Clerk Ann Grossi
Freeholder Doug Cabana
Freeholder Tayfun Selen
NJ Republican Chair Doug Steinhardt
Morris County State Committeewoman Christina Ramirez
Morris County State Committeeman Larry Casha
MCRC Chair Laura Ali
Young Republican Chair Justin Musella
Gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli
Former MCRC Chair John Sette
Morris Victory PAC Chair Rob Zwigard
Boonton Town – Alderman Joe Bock and Alderman (former Mayor) Cy Wekilsky
Boonton Township – Mayor Councilman Tom Danadio
Butler- Councilmen Robert Fox and Doug Travers
Chatham Township – Committeewoman Karen Swartz
Chester Borough – Mayor Janet Hoven
Chester Township – Mayor Marcia Asdal, Councilmen Mike Inganamort and Tim Drag
Denville – Mayor Tom Andes
Florham Park – Mayor Mark Taylor
Hanover Township – Committeeman (former Mayor) Ron Francioli
Harding – Mayor Chris Yates
Jefferson – Mayor Eric Wilsusen
Kinnelon – Councilmembers Randall Charles, Glenn Sisco, Robert Roy, Vincent Russo, William Yago, James Lorkowski
Long Hill – Mayor Brendan Rae, Committeeman Guy Piserchia
Madison – Former Councilman Pat Rowe
Mendham Borough – Mayor Christine Serrano-Glassner
Mendham Township – Mayor Sarah Neibart
Mine Hill – Mayor Sam Morris
Montville – Mayor Frank Cooney
Morris Plains – Former Freeholder/Mayor Frank Druetzler, Councilmembers Sal Cortese, Cathie Kelly
Morris Township – Committeeman Peter Mancuso
Morristown – Former Councilwoman Allison Deeb
Mount Arlington – Mayor Mike Stanzilis
Mount Olive – Mayor Rob Greenbaum, Councilman Alex Roman
Mountain Lakes – Former Mayor/Current Councilman Dan Happer, Councilwoman Audrey Lane

MORRIS COUNTY — Governor Phil Murphy announced new limits on outdoor gatherings to 25 people from 150 people among other restrictions. This comes as the Covid-19 transmission rate has dropped over the last three days and hospitalizations have fluctuated recently. Deaths are have remained low.

“The legislature has resolved itself to being a governmental accessory in New Jersey,” said Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-Morris). “Our governor is ruling by executive order, vetoing legislation that would help people, making unilateral decisions without providing the data or science he references, and our Senate and Assembly have chosen to be useless.”

On three separate occasions since May, Senate and Assembly Democrats have rejected efforts by Republicans to require the legislature to approve executive orders within 14 days after the governor issues them, allowing for a quick executive response to the emergency with legislative oversight. The bill is A4147.

Another bill to make data on Murphy’s decisions available (A4813/S2751), passed the Senate unanimously but has not been considered in the Assembly, in spite of bipartisan support.

“All efforts for transparency and accountability are lost on the governor’s office and Assembly leadership,” said DiMaso (R-Monmouth). “Political games are taking preference over the good government and the interest of the people. It is always in the best interest of the people to know what is going on and having their closest representative advocate for their interests.”

The governor’s executive order authority comes from the Disaster Control Act of 1942 and the Emergency Health Powers Act of 2005. Republicans contend that the legislature provided those powers and should reprise its role as a check on the executive.

“Having checks and balances in government is incredibly important. That is the reason to fight for American democracy,” said Bergen. “One person should not have the ultimate power, even if you agree with the policies that a person enacts. That is something progressive liberals and conservatives can agree to lock arms and defend.

“Unfortunately, the establishment Democrats that run New Jersey are missing the point.”

Though there are multiple days open for legislative activity, it is not expected Democrats will consider legislation pertaining to the pandemic, such as business relief and reviewing the governor’s unilateral decisions.

“There is no good-government reason to oppose legislative input on executive orders,” said DiMaso. “Even if the legislature had the power to review and extend executive orders, Democrats would approve Governor Murphy’s decisions. They are just comfortable abdicating the responsibility they swore to uphold after being elected.”

MORRIS COUNTY — Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal issued additional guidance to prosecutors concerning the prosecution of low-level marijuana cases, supplementing his August 29, 2018, and November 4, 2020 guidance.

Attorney General Grewal directed all New Jersey municipal, county, and state prosecutors to adjourn, until at least January 25, 2021, any juvenile or adult case solely involving the following marijuana possession-related offenses:

• • possession of marijuana or hashish in violation of N.J.S. 2C:35-10(a)(3);
  • possession of marijuana or hashish in violation of N.J.S. 2C:35-10(a)(4);
  • being under the influence of marijuana or hashish in violation of N.J.S. 2C:35-10(c);
  • failure to make lawful disposition of marijuana or hashish in violation of N.J.S. 2C:35-10(d);
  • use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia under N.J.S. 2C:36-2 involving only marijuana or hashish;
  • possession of a controlled dangerous substance while operating a motor vehicle in violation of N.J.S. 39:4-49.1 involving only marijuana or hashish; and
  • any disorderly person offense or petty disorderly persons offense subject to conditional discharge pursuant to N.J.S. 2C:36A-1 involving only marijuana or hashish.
  • For cases involving the above-enumerated charges as well as other offenses, the Attorney General directed prosecutors to use their discretion to either postpone the case in its entirety or seek dismissal, without prejudice, of the marijuana possession-related charge(s) and proceed with the prosecution of the remaining charges. Notably, today’s guidance does not affect the prosecution of cases charging the distribution of marijuana or possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

“Fairness demands that we suspend prosecution of marijuana possession-related cases while we await direction from the Legislature on the parameters for the decriminalization of marijuana and legalization of regulated adult-use cannabis,” said Attorney General Grewal. “It simply does not make sense or serve justice to proceed with prosecutions on charges that may be foreclosed soon through legislative action.”

Previously, on November 4, the Attorney General issued guidance to law enforcement emphasizing that they have broad discretion in handling low-level marijuana offenses, and encouraging them to exercise that discretion in light of anticipated legislative action that may decriminalize marijuana.

Attorney General Grewal reiterated that more comprehensive guidance, including direction on handling previously adjudicated matters, will follow when the Legislature provides details of the framework for marijuana decriminalization and the legalization of adult-use cannabis.

Guidance for Marijuana Possession Cases Pending in Municipal and Superior Courts: click here.

Guidance Regarding Municipal Prosecutors’ Discretion in Prosecuting Marijuana and Other Criminal Offenses, August 29, 2018: click here.

Interim Guidance on the Constitutional Amendment Legalizing Cannabis, November 4, 2020: click here.