Middlesex County Honors Fire and Police Response; Staff Updates Housing, Code Blue and Local Projects

The Middlesex County Board of Commissioners opened the meeting with acknowledgments for first responders and a ceremonial recognition of police officers and firefighters who entered a burning second-floor structure on Oct. 4 and evacuated residents.

The chair named members of the response team and praised their actions. A representative of the Woodbridge Police Department thanked the board and families and called the officers’ efforts “heroic.”

Staff then briefed the board on program updates. The county’s food-security strategic plan is moving from planning to implementation and evaluation; staff said the plan will be shared with the public in coming weeks. Commissioners discussed Code Blue funding and staff confirmed county funding would support Code Blue operations in three jurisdictions (New Brunswick, Perth Amboy and a third town referenced as Oakbridge). Staff provided details on affordable-housing assistance: acquisition projects (one in North Brunswick and three in Woodbridge) and rehabilitation work across 11 properties representing about 17 housing units in multiple towns. Staff said the county will commit about $1,000,000 to support a passive-energy housing project that will reserve 10 vouchers for tenants exiting homelessness; the developer is still finalizing project financing.

Commissioner Charlie Kenny asked colleagues for support on a pedestrian-bridge contract (referred to as 25-15-10) to create safer walking and biking access between Seawarn Marina and Alvin P. Williams Park in Woodbridge Township. No formal vote on that specific contract was recorded during this meeting.

The meeting proceeded to roll call for the consent agenda, which the director moved to adopt with one exclusion (resolution 25-1464). The consent agenda was approved by roll call vote with the stated exclusion.