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Home My WebLink About2020-06-04 Commissioner Minutes WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2020 The Franklin County Commissioners met Wednesday, June 4, 2020, with the following members present: David S. Keller, John T. Flannery and Robert G. Ziobrowski. Chairman Keller presided and after calling the meeting to order, a Moment of Silence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, proceeded with the business of the day. The Commissioners meeting was held remotely and everyone participated by phone or video conferencing including commissioners, staff, public and press. The meeting w A roll call vote was taken and individuals participating in the meeting remotely identified themselves. Chairman Keller asked to include an update on the election from Jean Byers, Deputy Chief Clerk as the first item under new business. On a motion by John T. Flannery; seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved to adopt the amended agenda. Chairman Keller turned the floor over to Julia Lehman, Communications Coordinator, to provide a summary of any public comment forms that were received including names, municipality or town, and their comments. Ms. Lehman noted one comment was received from Serena Wilkinson from Hamilton Township who asked what current initiatives is our county making to address and prevent the criminalization of African Americans. There was no public comment. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved all bills presented and ordered paid. The minutes of the May 27, 2020 meeting were reviewed. These will be decided upon in the afternoon approval session. Jean Byers, Deputy Chief Clerk, provided an update on the election process. Ms. Byers stated that we had another successful election and that is due to a whole lot of people coming together. It takes polling places allowing use of their facilities, which all 73 polling places did for us, trained poll workers showing up and of course the voters. She continued that we had a 25% turnout at the polls on election day which was much higher than anticipated. This is higher than the statewide average. Franklin County voters showed up at the polls to vote and had a comfort level to do so. We had very few issues at polls. One machine had minor problems first thing in the morning but it was switched out and this was the only machine that we had to switch out all day. She continued that the machines worked very well. Twenty five percent voted in person and yesterday morning they started to count mail-in and absentee ballots that we received and had a 15% turnout based on the mail-in and absentee numbers so if you add those two together we had more than 40% of our voters voting. The Presidential primary race had already been determined so this was a very good turnout. Normally it is 22-24% so with having the election later, in June, she thinks having 40% vote must be a record. She continued that they were very pleased with voter participation even given the fact that we are in the middle of all kinds of new things that we before. Chairman Keller asked when the results might be posted. Jean responded that on election night they posted the election night results but today they finished the absentee and mail-ins so they will get posted this morning. Next Tuesday they will add in provisional ballots that need to be counted and military ballots that arrive within the time frame that they are allowed to get their ballots back so they will get added next Continued on page 2 Tuesday. Commissioner Ziobrowski commented that in all his years on the election board he has been impressed with the job by Jean Byers and Jennie Aines at Voter Registration and this year they really upped their game, if that is even possible. They did an extraordinary job getting everything done and kept everything running smoothly. He work this year and Jean recruited new members and when he went around delivering ballots on Monday everyone was confident in the personal protection we offered and comfortable in the environment they were in. He gives credit to Jean Byers and Jennie Aines and everyone else to make it successful. Commissioner Flannery thanked Jean Byers for everything she did and the control she has on the process. He said it worked out very well and he wanted to thank Jean and everyone involved. They did a great job. Chairman Keller said he received a lot of good feedback and the only negative he received was that the masks the Commonwealth provided were uncomfortable so he He wanted to tip his hat to all county staff, Jean, Jennie, Carla and all the volunteers who helped out, including the volunteers for the mail-in process. The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. John Hart, Project Manager, explained the change order from Lobar was for the electrical contract at the Courthouse project that has two items in it. He explained the first part of the change order is to upsize the elevator circuit, breakers, disconnects and hooking up to the general and transfer switch. This is a normal process for elevators and it was art is for additional floor $9,070.99. This was unknown until we had furniture laid out and this will include efficiencies. This was not known at the time of the bid until we did the floor plans for furniture in place. The items will be approved in the afternoon approval session. Carrie Gray, County Administrator provided an update on Franklin County COVID Resiliency. Ms. Gray reviewed the following information which is attached and made a part of these minutes. She provided the timeline of events since March 17, 2020 when the PA Governor issued the disaster declaration and as of June 2, 2020the County had 781 confirmed cases and 36 deaths; Franklin County personnel impact was that 149 employees were furloughed in April; COVID-19 Expenses known to date total $680,000 with the greatestCOVID-19 cost at the Franklin County Jail. Here there are no positive cases to date for staff or inmates committed to the jail. Ms. Gray explained the impact at DES/911 and how there was a decrease in calls but they are starting to increase; for Human Services the Senior Centers remained closed in Area Agency on Aging; Children & Youth had a decrease in referrals but they expect it to increase once children resume normal activities; Drug & Alcohol had a reduction in withdrawals and residential services and the District Attorney reported there were 13 fatal overdoses so far in 2020 which is trending to be higher compared to 2019; Mental Health had a decrease in referrals; Veterans Affairs and I&R had a decrease in calls but they started to increase in May; there was a delay in activity for grant projects in Planning. Ms. Gray provided more information on the community response that included grants being provided by United Way and Well-Span. Healthy Franklin County moved their quarterly advisory board meetings to weekly COVID-19 calls and developed a Recovery Taskforce. She explained that the faith community provided a volunteer network to help with home delivered meals and prescriptions. She continued that there is also housing assistance provided to families with mental health issues by the Franklin County Human Services Block Grant along with Franklin County I&R/WellSpan plan to address homeless persons and COVID-19. She briefly explained the Franklin County DCED Block Grant where the County will receive $14M to be distributed by July 2020 and needs spent by December 2020. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked if there have been any challenges with senior centers being closed. Ms. Gray responded that some of the seniors did not want the senior centers to close. Staff thought that more folks would want home delivered meals because they are not receiving the center meals anymore but that Continued on page 3 been direct communication from seniors themselves. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked if the reduction in Children & Youth is due to kids not being in schools and Ms. Gray responded that yes, with schools, daycare centers and sports teams closed, children are not around community providers they normally come into contact with. John Thierwechter, Assistant County Administrator, explained that we have been very succe particularly for the Jail with society locked down, they are getting less services and less time out which raises the tension level at the jail but staff has done a great job of handling and responding to that as far as minimal sick leave or not requesting vacations. Services made modifications so they could handle things should we have a pandemic as far as splitting their shifts to accommodate and providing the same level of services but minimized the impact of any COVID related activity. IT stepped up and did a great job helping with telecommunicating and had very minimal questions or concerns about offices being staffed and being able to provide services. He also wanted to point out that Property Management has done a great job as well, providing CDC level cleaning and going above in some regards and making modifications to offices in keeping everyone safe. Stacie Horvath, Human Services Administrator, wanted to clarify that the Drug & Alcohol numbers reflect only those paid for specifically with the Single County Authority funds and does not include those paid for by private or commercial insurances. She shared a concern of staff from Human Services departments that since the designation of red to yellow we have a lot of community people that were confused what all these red, yellow, green phases mean. They are very confused and not sure if they can go meetings they are seeking. The numbers in all departments have dramatically increased the past couple of weeks from 10-15%. Children & Youth are now seeing the influx of calls coming in with more protective or abuse calls. Same with Aging, a lot of seniors are seeking assistance for themselves. Carrie wanted to wrap up that at the perfect storm of ending the state year and beginning the next state fiscal year in July with recovering from the lull because of COVID As administrators they are preparing for a rebound effect as Stacie was indicating with the need for human services coupled with potential shortages, or at least not knowing, funding. So the short term budget and waiting for the longer term makes it challenging from a planning perspective and understanding how the needs and the increased volume will impact county share. Carrie stated that we are worried that we will have more services and less money. Commissioner Flannery thanked Stacie for her dissertation. He expects that moving forward some of the domestic issues will increase as the pandemic winds down from yellow to green and what public assistance will be offered and what we can do. There are things that are going to conspire here and in the future that we need to be concerned about. We need to look behind the scenes and see what will happen in the future. He appreciates the work we are doing but his message is we really need to be prepared. This could be the calm before the storm. Chairman Keller said that is a good point, as the county saw in 2008/2009 a lot of the human services issues that arise out of economic downturn or in this case economic downturn and health crisis have a lag affect so we are likely to see the byproduct of all this 3, 6, or 9 months from now so On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved to enter an executive session at 10:55 a.m. this date for the purpose to review real estate matters. No action will be required after the executive session. The Board reconvened into regular session at 11:24 a.m. The Board recessed and will reconvene at 1:00 p.m. for final approval of the items that were reviewed. The Board reconvened at 1:00 p.m. Continued on page 4 There was no public comment. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the minutes of the May 27, 2020 meeting. The Board reviewed Children & Youth matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the report to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Bureau of Budget and Program Support, Office of Children, Youth & Families showing revenue and expenditures of Act 148 funding for January 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020. The total amount of the report is $3,505,138.00 for 2019/2020 fiscal year. The Board reviewed Commissioners matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute change order #002 from Lobar, Inc. for revisions to elevator circuit breakers and disconnects, and generator and automatic transfer switch wire size and circuit breakers for an additional amount of $19,979.07. This change order also includes adding floor outlets and conduit rough- conference rooms for an additional amount of $9,070.99. The total for this change order will total $29,050.06. The Board reviewed additional Commissioners matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the motion to issue the Notice to Proceed to TRC Engineers for construction Inspection services for Bridge 121. The Board reviewed Grants/CJAB matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the grant request to Bureau of Justice Administration Bulletproof Vest Partnership to request $78,460.00 for p Department for the grant period of April 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021. This grant would provide 50% of the cost of the equipment. The Board reviewed Human Services Administration matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the grant agreement between the County of Franklin and Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to administer the State Food Purchase Program (SFPP) for the period of July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2025. South Central Community Action Program is the lead agency for distribution of this program. The SFPP provides funds to County governments, regional food banks or emergency food providers for the purchase, transportation, storage and distribution of food to those needy individuals who qualify. The Board reviewed Jail matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the quote from Witmoyer Ford, Inc. for the purchase of a handicap vehicle needed for specialized transports. This vehicle will include a ramp or lift for a wheelchair. This quote is at the purchase price of $40,000.00 and will be paid by the Vital Strategies Grant. Bids were received and this was the lowest qualified quote received. The Board reviewed Tax Assessment matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the Independent Contractor Agreements between the County of Franklin and Kerry Watson, Gary Pentz and Douglas Boozer to provide independent contractor services each as the Franklin County Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes at a flat fee of $80.00 per day for the first four hours of daily work and for hours exceeding four hours of work the contractors will be paid an hourly rate of $19.25 per hour. Continued on page 5 The Board virtually met with Tiffany Bloyer, Human Resources Director and Controller Harold Wissinger for Salary Board matters. Also in attendance was Katie McGrath, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer. The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 p.m. with a motion by John T. Flannery; seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski. Carrie E. Gray County Administrator/Chief Clerk FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ____________________________________ David S. Keller, Chairman ____________________________________ John T. Flannery ___________________________________ Robert G. Ziobrowski Franklin County Government June 4, 2020 COVIDResponse-19 Impact & •March 6, 2020: PA Governor Issues Disaster Declaration •781 confirmed cases •36 deaths COVID-19 & Franklin County, PA •••March 17, 2020: Commissioners Issue Disaster DeclarationAs of June 2, 2020 (PA Department of Health)March 18, 2020: Judicial Emergency Declaration ••149 employees furloughed from ITS departmentremote work and court video Transition to tele$378,800 of General Fund-work beginning 4/16/2020daysconferencing ••••••Court hearings75 on 5/29/2020High of 126 (mid April)54 on 3/20/2020Increase in public traffic to buildingsIncrease in consumer contacts •Increase in support tickets 39 pf 47 •••••Reduction of $745,600 overall; Daily CPU usage 11VPN connections provide full38 57 staff returning by 6/8/2020laptop computers deployed for -17% of utilization-support Franklin County Personnel Impact •Total ~ $680,000 •$264,400 –supplies, equipment and materials •130 orders COVID-19 Expenses Known to Date •••Personnel (overtime) ~ $415,000Jail is the department with the largest COVIDPurchases –Direct Response-19 related increases •No positive cases to date (staff or inmates committed) COVID-19 Impact: Franklin County Jail ••••••Work Release & Weekender programs suspendedSocial distancing & masksState transfers require testingVideo court hearingsNew booking proceduresSocial visiting & non-essential programs suspended •Quarantine unit established -20%10%5%0%-5%-10%-15% •Call decrease started 3/22/2020 Call % Compared to 2019 MarchMayApril --14%15%6% •Longon hold-term planning suspended rd •Dept of Emergency Services Call increase started 5/18/2020 911 Call Center COVID-19 Impact: DES/911 ••••Trainings canceled/suspended3Meetings/Inspections Meetings/Inspections canceledround of radio programming •Fewer hazmat calls -70%0%-10%-20%-30%-40%-50%-60% MarchMayApril Aging:Children & Youthsuspended faceout-of-home placements:-to-face visits for 10Reports of NeedOptionsAprilMarch5030---13%60%51%403022295819 COVID-19 Impact: Human Services ••Senior Centers remain closed Court reduced hearings and 0%60%50%40%30%20%10% MarchApril D&AM&Hstilllimit exposure commitment (302) process to WithdrawlsResidential50%17%33%50% COVID-19 Impact: Human Services •Decrease in referrals 13 fatal overdoses in 2020 ••••(as of 5/26) CoAll day programs remain closedAlmost 50% opted for teleModified involuntary -responder program available -health 080604020 MarchAdminMayApril 10114763975559 VAI&R: COVID-19 Impact: Human Services •April calls decreased, up in May 020202019MayAprilMarch302010 1310152557 (CDBG) (TQLEG) •New Plans Received 2019 vs Delayed activity for grant projects2020 ••••Community Development Block Grant Gas tax Transportation maintenanceTourism & Quality of Life Enhancement COVID-19 Impact: Planning/Tax ••Delay in Unknown funding impactPennDOTmaintenance •United Way grants ••••Advisory Board (Quarterly) to Weekly COVIDPrescriptionsHomeRecovery Taskforce (would be great fit with our recovery efforts)-delivered meals-19 calls COVID-19 Impact: Community Response ••WellHealthy Franklin County -Span “Stop the Spread” grants •Volunteer network •Franklin County Human Services Block Grant ($30K) (distributed by July 2020, spent by December 2020•••Economic development organizationsCultural and Museum PreservationSmall businesses ••••••Housing assistance for families with mental health issuesBroadband Internet DeploymentCharitable nonprofitsBehavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder TreatmentGrant programs to supportCosts for direct COVID County & municipalities response ••Franklin County I&R/Franklin County DCED Block Grant ($14M), contingent on final guidelines, funds WellSpanplan to address homeless persons & COVID-19 COVID-19 Impact: Franklin Co Response Office of the Commissioners For More Information Chambersburg, PA 17201 340 N. Second Street(717) 261-3812 www.franklincountypa.gov