Families Fight Eagle Rock Ban as Essex Moves to Self-Insure Health

Parents of a small nature school filled the Oct. 7, 2026, public comment period at the Essex County Board of County Commissioners. They wanted to know why the county barred the program from Eagle Rock Reservation 19 minutes after a single complaint, and commissioners admitted they could not point to rules explaining the decision. Earlier, the board took first steps toward self-insuring employee health care and introduced 3% annual raises for top officials, including themselves.

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• Outdoor Play Connection families demand answers after a county cease-and-desist barred the program from Eagle Rock. Commissioners pledged to inquire.
• County moves to self-insure employee health benefits. Ordinance No. 2 was introduced 6-0, and outside counsel was hired 6-0-1 to negotiate provider contracts.
• 3% raises in 2027 and 2028 for commissioners, the county executive and the clerk were introduced 6-0.
• $3.17M smart restroom project for Eagle Rock was approved 7-0, alongside a $220,000 NJDOT-funded roundabout overrun.
• Opioid response package passes 7-0, including $1.33M in state funds and more settlement dollars, with no county match.

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19 Minutes to Lose a Forest Classroom

1 big thing: Five parents and supporters of Outdoor Play Connection (OPC), a Bloomfield-based nature education program, asked commissioners to restore the group's access to Eagle Rock Reservation. Commissioners took no action.

Where things stand: OPC operated at Eagle Rock for about four years, with Parks Department permission granted in March 2023. Founder Claudine Mossberg laid out the timeline:

• A Conservancy complaint was emailed Aug. 4 at 1:40 p.m.
• Parks revoked access 19 minutes later.
• The Essex County Legal Department sent a cease-and-desist on Aug. 5.

Mossberg said that after nine weeks of follow-up she still has no explanation. The county has offered only South Mountain, which she said creates a hardship for families in northern Essex.

"A decision was made about my program without anyone asking any questions of what I actually do," said Mossberg, founder of Outdoor Play Connection. "I am asking for a legal basis for this decision." She also requested a meeting with commissioners and Dan Salvante.

Why it matters: Parents described developmental gains, trail stewardship and trash cleanup. They also stressed that the program welcomes neurodivergent children.

• "Claudine Mossberg has created the only truly inclusive program we found in this area," said Erin Asani, a Montclair parent whose son has social and motor delays.
• Emma Shankland, a Bloomfield parent and OPC guide, read her 12-year-old daughter's letter: "Please reconsider allowing OPC to hold its programming at Eagle Rock Reservation. It is my local forest."

The equity angle: Norm Suteria of Bloomfield noted the area is a DEP-defined overburdened community lacking green space. He asked the board to "develop fair, consistent, equitable, and explicit rules, guidelines, expectations around participation and use of the forest," rules that would also cover yoga classes and playgroups. Winifred Victor Hines, a declared commissioner-at-large candidate, also backed OPC. No one spoke for the Conservancy or explained the Parks Department's position.

The rules gap: Commissioners distanced themselves from the decision and pointed to the county's split between the legislative board and the executive branch.

• "We didn't make those decisions… we don't run the day-to-day, if you will," said Board President Carlos M. Pomares.
• Board Vice President A'Dorian Murray-Thomas explained, "So we're the legislative branch of the county government." She said she hoped for a resolution within park expectations.
• Commissioner Leonard M. Luciano said he had researched the case. "I just don't know procedurally… how we can say you're allowed to operate in one park but not the other, unless we actually have some kind of set of rules and guidelines and procedures," he said. He also noted that "Of course, we have to have rules, right? Organizations have to have insurance."
• Commissioner-at-Large Wayne L. Richardson called the exclusion "kind of a shame" and asked, "Is there a board of appeals for them?" An administration official replied, "I have to investigate that, Commissioner, and get back to you," and pointed to Director Salvante and Deputy Director Hartwick.
• Commissioner-at-Large Brendan W. Gill said, "We want to see programming like this."

What's next: The inquiry now sits with the administration. OPC remains barred from Eagle Rock in the meantime.

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County Bets on Self-Insured Health Care

Where things stand: County Counsel Jerome St. John presented Ordinance No. 2, the third amendment to the county's insurance fund ordinance. The county already self-insures automobiles and certain construction vehicles. "Now we're amending it a 3rd time to be self-insured for a proposed health insurance and health benefit funding, which will be presented to you at a later date," St. John said.

The basics: In a self-insured plan, the county pays employee claims directly instead of buying coverage from an insurer. That means it absorbs cost risk in exchange for potential savings.

The deal: Resolution 22 retains the firm Casey, Shehanian, and John Tomasi to help County Counsel negotiate contracts with providers for the new plan. Those negotiations will largely determine what the plan costs. Board counsel Ms. Shabazz called the outside counsel retentions "pretty typical." Resolution 48 supplements the qualified outside counsel list through year-end. Resolution 49 retains the firm Hewitt for a wrongful death case.

Why it matters: Vice President Murray-Thomas cited healthcare cost spikes nationally and in New Jersey. She praised the plan as working "to make sure that the taxpayer isn't more heavily burdened from pharmaceutical companies and all these other issues of greed that are affecting everyday people."

Raises on the same night: Ordinance No. 1 sets 3% raises in 2027 and 3% in 2028 for commissioners, the county executive, the clerk and constitutional officers. "It's just to make it consistent with what we have negotiated with our collective bargaining agreements," said Mr. Jackson of the county administration. When President Pomares asked whether the county has agreements with all unions, Jackson answered, "Yes, yes." No commissioner debated the measure, which raises their own pay.

Decisions and stakeholder impacts:
- Ordinances 1 and 2: For: 6, Against: 0, Absent: 3 (Cooper, Richardson, Sermons).
- Resolution 22: For: 6, Against: 0, Abstain: 1 (Gill, who stated no reason), Absent: 2.
- Resolutions 48-49: 7-0.

Thousands of county employees and taxpayers have a stake in how the provider contracts are negotiated.

What's next: Both ordinances return for second reading and a public hearing at a later meeting. The terms of the health program have not yet been presented.

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Opioid Dollars Flow, County Pays No Match

Where things stand: The board approved 7-0 a package of addiction programs that relies largely on state and settlement funds.

• Reach for Recovery: street outreach run through Integrity House.
• Municipal Alliance: prevention contracts with 19 of 22 municipalities.
• Chapter 51: a reallocation of the state grant that pays community providers to treat uninsured residents with substance or opioid use disorders.

Robin Shorter of Integrity House said the outreach team includes "an LPN, a certified peer recovery specialist, as well as a clinician." The team works four to five days a week in 13 or 14 municipalities, including Irvington, East Orange, Montclair and Nutley.

Deal math:
- The Prosecutor's Office joins 2026 Operation Helping Hand with $116,666.66. The program arranges treatment in lieu of incarceration for opioid-dependent people facing arrest.
- Budget insertions add $1,334,596 from the NJ Department of Human Services.
- Another $196,397.87 comes from National Opioid Settlement funds. "To date, we've received about $3.4 million for that program, and there is no county match," Mr. Jackson said.
- A Department of Corrections MAT program insertion was also included.

The gap: Vice President Murray-Thomas asked whether any funds train or employ young people as peer-to-peer educators. "Specifically, we do not hire or have a program that's peer-to-peer within the county," said Director Eileen Fishman of the Division of Community Health Services. She noted that peer work happens only through Municipal Alliance.

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Smart Restrooms Coming to Eagle Rock

Where things stand: The board awarded Taskol LLC up to $3,172,000, the lowest of seven bids. The contract covers rehabilitating the Highland Pavilion bathrooms and replacing an aging outdoor facility at Eagle Rock with a self-cleaning smart restroom. That is the same reservation at the center of the OPC dispute.

Track record: The units match those installed at Tulip Springs. "They've been very popular and we have received no complaints," said David Antonio of the Department of Public Works. Contractor Damian Taskoloski said his firm uses Essex County union companies.

Expansion talk: Commissioner Robert Mercado asked about Branch Brook, Weequahic and Westside parks. Antonio said the units "do not need piping, water infrastructure like a traditional bathroom building does." He added that the county will install them wherever the solution makes sense.

Roundabout overrun: J.A. Alexander's contract for the Livingston roundabout at Walnut Street, West Hobart Gap and Passaic avenues rises from $1,147,967 to $1,367,957, about 19%. The increase covers winter construction limits and poor soil. "The NJDOT will be funding the cost of this change order," Antonio said. Commissioner-at-Large Patricia Sebold praised the project's progress.

Decision: Resolutions 16-18 passed 7-0. They also include a $159,600 extension of Signal Electric Corporation's security systems contract.

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Weequahic and Complete Streets Get Airtime

Weequahic Park: Mr. Freeman asked for budget funding for lake preservation. He cited a fishing club of about 78 members and recurring algae blooms. Hines, executive director of the Weequahic Park Association, accused Parks of "lack of transparency and little to zero community input." She asked about the structural condition and capital plans for the Dividend Hill Pavilion. Vice President Murray-Thomas said reconstruction "would be a multimillion-dollar reconstruction just to actually redo the structure itself." She floated a community task force for the site.

Complete Streets: Suteria cited a teenager struck at Grove and Bloomfield and documented broken crossing push buttons. He also asked that county Planning Board materials be posted online. Commissioner-at-Large Gill, who sponsored the original 2012 policy, said a revision is underway. "A big part of the update within that policy will be around the issues of enforcement," Gill said. He cited Hudson County's Vision Zero task force as a model and said he may not see the update finished before his term ends.

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• Construction Board of Appeals: Leonard J. Mendola Jr., Watson Lopez and John Nicholas Medina were confirmed 7-0.
• Youth programs: About $2.09M in state funds for court-involved youth passed 6-0, with Mercado voting "present, not voting." Dropout-prevention work programs with Essex County College and Essex County Vocational School passed 7-0.
• Senior heating oil: National Fuel Oil renewed (not to exceed $75,407) for 250 free gallons per eligible senior. About 25 seniors were served last year.
• Parks contracts: Approved 7-0, including $344,600 for South Mountain snow removal and a $62,500 zoo HVAC change order. The deer program has donated 2,600 pounds of venison to the food bank.
• Early voting: $718,134.63 and $277,305.33 in state reimbursements were added to the 2026 budget.

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Looking ahead: Ordinances 1 and 2 return for second reading and a public hearing. The terms of the self-insured health plan are still to come. The administration owes commissioners answers on OPC's Eagle Rock access and on an appeal route. An Italian Heritage Month celebration is set for 6 p.m. the following Wednesday in chambers.