MORRIS COUNTY — The state Department of Environmental Protection is awarding $1.2 million in annual Clean Communities grants to Morris County and its 39 municipalities to help finance litter cleanups to beautify New Jersey’s communities and roadsides.

Statewide, the DEP is providing a total of $20.2 million, with $17.9 million for eligible municipalities and more than $2.2 million to the state’s 21 counties. “These grants help fund cleanups that will further enhance our communities, natural resources and roadways,” said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. “By taking care of the environment around us, we encourage others to do the same in their own communities and build pride across the state.”

“We appreciate the state funds, which will benefit the county and our towns, which can put the money to good use to help finance volunteer cleanups, equipment purchases, enforcement activities, and education,’’ said Morris County Freeholder Director Doug Cabana.

Activities funded by Clean Communities grants include cleanups of stormwater systems that can disperse trash into streams, rivers and bays; volunteer cleanups of public properties; adoption and enforcement of local anti-littering ordinances; beach cleanups; public information and education programs; and purchases of litter collection equipment such as receptacles, recycling bins, anti-litter signs and graffiti removal supplies.
As required by law, the nonprofit New Jersey Clean Communities Council oversees the reporting requirements for the program. Grants are funded by a legislated user-fee on manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors that produce litter-generating products.
Disbursements to municipalities are based on the number of housing units and miles of municipally owned roadways within each municipality.

“We are hopeful that municipalities and counties will use Clean Communities funding wisely to pay for volunteer and paid cleanups, badly needed equipment purchases, enforcement activities, and education,” said Sandy Huber, Executive Director of New Jersey Clean Communities Council.

“Simple programs such as litter control do a lot for improving New Jersey’s communities, in terms of public health and quality of life,” added Mark Pedersen, Assistant Commissioner for Site Remediation and Waste Management.

Morris County government will receive a grant of $99,208. Morris County municipalities receiving the largest grants are: Parsippany, $108,397; Mount Olive, $63,967; Randolph, $57,598; Jefferson, $54648; Rockaway Township, $54,090; Roxbury, $52, 167; Washington Township, $51,718; and Morris Township, $51,709.

Morris County youths set example in keeping our communities clean

For a complete statewide list of municipal and county grant awards, including all 39 Morris County towns click here.

The funding for Morris County government, which comes through the Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority, is used primarily for litter cleanups of county roads, litter abatement education, recycling of illegally dumped tires and for enforcement of litter violations.

For more information on Morris County’s Clean Communities Program click here.
Litter comes from a variety of sources, such as pedestrians, motorists, overflowing household garbage, construction sites and uncovered trucks. Litter is often blown by the wind until it is trapped somewhere, such as along a fence, or in a ditch or gully.
People tend to litter when an area is already littered, and when they lack a sense of ownership or pride in their community. In addition to being unsightly, litter is unhealthy and may create a negative public image.

A note from Heather Darling:

I would like to thank the people who came out and selected line 12 in the polls yesterday. The confidence of the citizens of Morris County is not something that I will take lightly and I will do all that I can to win the general election in November and go forward to uphold my campaign promises to return Morris County to prosperity.

I would like to thank my competitors for making the race challenging and I appreciate the fact that David Scapicchio did issue a statement congratulating me on winning the Republican primary.

I’m very excited for Kim Guadagno and her victory in the primary as well as Jay Webber and BettyLou DeCroce who fought hard races.  I look forward to working with all of them, as well as the other candidates who won without challenges, from now until the general election in November.  I think this was a very exciting race from the town level to the gubernatorial level and everyone fought hard whether they ultimately prevailed or not and every candidate in this election deserves respect for the hard work they put in.

What was the best part of this experience?

It was a great experience all the way around but the part I enjoyed most was getting out and meeting the citizens of our County and hearing their different viewpoints and issues. There are people who can’t afford to pay their taxes and mortgages, there are people whose families are suffering with addiction of a family member and a host of other issues and then there are others who are doing so well they don’t notice the issues that are noticed by others. This is a very diverse County that we live in and every day was a different experience in that regard whether going to events or door to door.

I would like to thanks some good friends who really put in a tremendous amount of effort on my part including hosting meet and greets for me, helping to set up my fundraisers, giving advice, and overseeing many functions normally undertaken by a campaign manager.

Wasn’t King Penna your campaign manager? 

After Mr. Penna demonstrated overall unprofessional behavior as well as failed to perform 10 of 14 of his contracted services, I had a serious discussion with him and demanded change and results.  Upon this conversation, Mr. Penna became upset and left my office. I assumed it was just to cool down and compose his thoughts. I arrive the next morning to the office to find all of my campaign documents and materials gone and an email for his resignation with less than two weeks to primary.  Of course, since he failed to perform his services and failed to finish the campaign, he voided this agreement and is only entitled to the partial payment he received.

 At first I was very flustered and trying to find direction, but then I became relieved as a very large source of stress was now gone. After all, he argued frequently with members of my team, was late on tasks and to events, kept volunteers waiting for materials, sent my fundraiser invitations out only two days before the event and I felt the need to have to follow up on everything as his organizational skills were lacking. It took me about a day and a half to come up with a plan to finish the campaign strong and it obviously worked. 

In the meantime, he went to work for another freeholder candidate and proceeded to slander me at events and on Facebook.  Very disappointed. 

Is it true that Mr. Penna was evicted from the Tavern last evening at your request?

 A friend that came out to support me last night called me just minutes before I arrived at the tavern from the clerk’s office saying that she had just run into King at the entrance and he was swearing at her and actually used the F word. She was upset and left at that point. Naturally, that made me very uncomfortable for fear of repeat.  The host of the event noticed I was rather uncomfortable and inquired as to the reason therefore.  When I advise them what had happened minutes earlier with my friend they acted accordingly.

Heather Darling