Solicitor flags litigation and ongoing effort to move county records to Saint Barnabas; officials debate storage security

At the solicitor's report, Speaker 5 said the county is handling a litigation matter that will be discussed in executive session and described ongoing coordination to transfer county boxes to Saint Barnabas for storage. "We're working currently with department heads to try to get ... boxes off to Saint Barnabas," Speaker 5 said.

Officials discussed what constitutes a secure storage area for records. Several speakers noted the building's secure areas require separate fobs and have camera coverage, but raised concerns about whether the off-site storage is more or less secure than current county locations. Speaker 5 asked departments to continue to work with staff to complete the move. "We just ask everyone, work with us, work with Dan's crew to see this thing through," the solicitor said.

Meeting participants also raised preservation risks: sprinkler heads and fire-suppression systems could cause more water damage than fire in some scenarios, and maintenance access (electrical panels, building systems) requires that secured rooms not be completely locked off from essential staff. Speakers emphasized the need to define the county's security requirements before finalizing storage arrangements.

No formal vote or binding decision on the transfer was recorded in public session; the solicitor also noted a separate litigation matter that the board planned to address in executive session.