The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners held its regular public meeting on January 22, 2026, at 10:00 AM in the boardroom. The meeting included recognitions, updates on major capital projects, approval of contracts and grants, and public comment on a range of county business items.
I'd like to call to order the January 20 uh January 20. It's been a long moment. What's sitting state? January 20. I can't say it. This is this is not good for the whole meeting. You get my point. So we'll call call it order the meeting. And I'd like uh Ricky Crete to lead us in the put, not to put you on the spot. Okay, there we go. Pledge allegiance to the United States of America. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Great. Thank you. All right. Just a quick uh legal update before we begin. On January 13th of 2026, the Board of Commissioners held an executive session for the purpose of consulting with our county solicitor regarding a potential lawsuit concerning a contract dispute and potential affirmative litigation uh initiated initiated on behalf of the county. So just wanted uh to say that publicly. Uh this past Monday, uh, we all know it was Martin Luther King Day. I hope you all took the opportunity to give back to your communities. Uh my family and I visited Christ Lutheran Church in Orlean for their kids do service events. You'll see my little guy Max there. We made cards for kids in the hospital, and he helped wall up socks with snacks uh inside for the unhoused. Uh and I was very grateful to hear that he is learning about MLK in school, although he got the story mixed up. Um he said that MLK separated black and white people. So we're we're we're working on we're working on that for next next year. Um but no, he's only five years years old. Um and then a little later we stopped by Salem Baptist Church in Abington. Uh uh Alpha Kappa Alpha Serratari hosted their annual day of service there. Uh I had the opportunity to speak with so many uh community members who were gathered to reflect on Dr. King's legacy by helping our friends and neighbors. So we compiled food donation bags for families, feminine hygiene bags for women in need. Um so I hope everyone uh did their part and had a day of service on Monday. Uh last week, Commissioner De Bello and I uh recently we kicked off uh the celebrations for America 250 right here in Monco. The state's America 250 PA committee is organizing kickoff events in all 67 counties. Monka hosted our event last Friday at Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge Park, and this is just the first of many events happening this year. Our very own America 250 Commission led by former Commissioner Ken Lawrence has been working uh hard to coordinate A250 celebrations all throughout Mongo. And we want to invite anyone who has ever has a planned event for this year uh to let us know. Uh you can visit Montgomery County PA.gov forward slash America 250 and submit your planned events. Uh last week I also had the pleasure uh of attending the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg uh for the first time. Uh has anybody been to the farm show by show of hands? Okay. All right. So this is always an amazing show, SOI here, and I found out last week when I went. But the cool thing is that this year's centerpiece uh was a butter sculpture created by two artists from Conchahaken, Jim Victor and Marie Pelton. It's called a toast of our nation's 250th anniversary, inspired by founders grown by farmers. So that's that's Max and my bonus daughter Miley uh in front of the the bone uh the the butter butter sculpture. I think this picture sums up uh the show quite well. I think my favorite part of the show was uh sitting in, I don't know for those that have been to the show. There's a area with about 80 baby goats.