Hudson County received an increase of $600,000 in its effort to help deal with AIDS as part of the Ryan White grant program last month, and at a Feb. 22 meeting, the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders voted to distribute the grants to a variety of health care organizations throughout the county.
“The freeholders have taken the necessary steps to distribute these monies quickly to ensure the services the county currently supports are not interrupted,” said Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski in a press release issued after the vote. “Hudson County has a high number of AIDS cases and every cent we get from the federal government helps provide services to our residents living with this horrible disease. The fact that this fiscal year’s allocation has increased from last year’s is a signal that we’re getting things right here in Hudson and that our AIDS programs are in fact meeting the goals of the HRSA (Health and Human Services Administration) and we are truly making a difference.”
The awarding of this money did not come without some extensive discussion by Freeholders as their Feb. 20 caucus meeting. The freeholders were asked to consider two resolutions that would allocated $6.17 million from the federal government.
Carol Ann Wilson, director of the county’s Department of Human Resources, said the county received two grants, the formula grant and the supplemental grant.
The $3.15 million formula grant would be distributed to various social agencies, including Christ Hospital Home Health, Cura, Faith Services, the Hyacinth AIDS foundation, Jersey City Medical Centers Adult Care, Medical and Social Services for the Homeless, St Mary’s Hospital Adult Primary Care, Visiting Homemaker Services of Hudson County, and the Hudson County Improvement Authority Planning Council Support and Strategic Consulting Group.
The supplemental grant would funds special services such as education, women’s services, bilingual case management., and some of the recipients include AIDS Resource Foundation for Children, Catholic Community Services, Faith Services, God’s Love We Deliver, Hudson Health Center, Jersey City Connections/Hudson Pride, Jersey City Family Health Center, Jersey City Medical Center, Kaleidoscope Health Care, and others.
Nearly all agencies in both groups maintained the same level of funding from last year. Five saw increases. One group was decreased.
Hudson County has several non-profit organizations and hospitals that work with AIDS patients. According to Wilson’s office, Hudson County has 3,552 people living with AIDS or HIV, putting the county in the top five nationally. In 1995, Hudson County led the nation with the highest AIDS rate of all metropolitan areas, although it has since dropped to second. Between 1996 and 1997, the number of new AIDS cases in Hudson Count increased by 202.
Other matters
A motion to refund $401,000 to North Bergen for a state Department of Environmental Protection study done in the early 1990s failed to get a second during a freeholder caucus.
Freeholders were presented with the resolution at the last minute, and Freeholder Bill O’Dea said he had not enough time to look over the proposal.
County Administrator Abe Antun said that the Hudson County and the North Bergen utility authorities conducted the $1.5 million study in the early 1990s with the promise that the state would later repay each the cost.
The Hudson County Utilities Authority has since been dissolved and the county paid for that part of its debt.
In a matter held over from a meeting earlier in February, Freeholder Thomas F. Liggio said the freeholders’ purchasing committee met to discuss the contract for the installation of chillers into air-conditioning systems for the jail and youth house. Last month, county officials asked to rescind a contract that would have installed three units, claiming the contractor had thought the agreement called for only two units. Liggio said after reviewing the bid specifications, the committee found no number of units was included.
While other companies bid on the correct amount, Liggio said, the contractor winning the bid was not familiar with the buildings or the system.
“This was the first time they bid on anything in the county,” he said.
The contractor – claiming it would lose money – asked the county to get out of the contract. The county has sought to rebid the project.
O’Dea, claimed the contractor now had an unfair advantage of knowing its bid was far below everyone else’s. He asked that, if the contract is rebid, this contractor could be excluded from bidding.
Freeholder Sal Vega, however, suggested that the county not rebid the project, but gives it to the next lowest bidder from the first bidding process.