HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-11-12 Commissioner Minutes TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013
The Franklin County Commissioners met Tuesday, November 12, 2013, with the
following members present: David S. Keller, Robert L. Thomas 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.
Chairman Keller asked to include Chairman's time to respond to some questions
from previous meetings. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L.
Thomas; unanimously approved to adopt the amended agenda.
Chairman Keller responded to Mr. Piper's questions from last week's meetings.
Mr. Piper asked about the property taxes that were exonerated in South Hampton
Township. The address is 7650 Molly Pitcher Hwy, Shippensburg and the owner is
William Swarthout. Mr. Lightfoot and Mr. Jones recently asked what the Commissioners
did with their cost of living adjustments (COLA). In recent years the Board has
responded individually. As far as himself, he did not give the COLA back to the county
this past year but the two previous years he wrote a check to Drug & Alcohol for what his
increase was. He will discuss this coming year's COLA in January. Commissioner
Thomas said he contributes to charities and his annual contributions far exceed any pay
increases he has received. Commissioner Ziobrowski said he took the pay adjustment
and how he spent it is his business. Chairman Keller responded to Mr. Piper's question
asking about a study being done of court related offices. The name of the firm is Justice
Management Institute (JMI). They are conducting a business process review of
departments involved with processing criminal cases and identifying the way information
is shared across the departments. The cost for this study is all inclusive and there are
no additional costs. Mr. Piper asked if the Affordable Care Act has anything to do with
increase in healthcare costs experienced by the county. Chairman Keller responded the
increase is partially associated with the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Piper asked for number
of employees the county has employed each of the last five years. In 2009 there were
938 employees, in 2010 there were 952, in 2011 there were 957, in 2012 there were 956
and in 2013 to date there are 880.
Kim Wertz provided public comment and asked if the number of employees that
went down to 800 is due to downsizing, retirement or planning on putting more people in
positions that are being replaced?
Jay Lightfoot provided public comment that he didn't appreciate how Mr.
Ziobrowski responded about giving COLA to charity. He said the board said they were
going to give it to Charity. Commissioner Ziobrowski said Mr. Lightfoot's statement is
not accurate and that he did not make that statement. Mr. Lightfoot would like to know
why the board doesn't go through each item and discuss so everyone in attendance can
ask questions on what the board is discussing. Chairman Keller responded that the
Board has heard and responded to that comment/question before and the board will not
address it again.
The minutes of November 7, 2013 meeting was reviewed. These will be
approved Thursday, November 14, 2013.
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The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Commissioner
Thomas asked for more detail on item #2, proposal from Community Resource Services
to conduct a jail population study. John Hart, County Administrator said there were two
proposals and the team that consisted of Dan Hoover, Chief Adult Probation Officer,
Warden Dan Keen, himself and Carrie Gray, Assistant County Administrator interviewed
the two firms. He said Mr. Miller comes with a wealth of knowledge all across the United
States. Carrie Gray, Assistant County Administrator explained the scope of work was
reviewed by Prison Board as well as the proposal that the Board has before them for
review and approval this week. In addition to the selection team, they received
comments from prison board members. They also met with the second proposer but he
had limited experience in corrections. Mr. Miller stood out and has conducted studies in
other counties and he hit nail on the head with driving forces of jail populations in those
counties. His proposal was the lesser cost between the two proposals. We had an
intern this summer that did data collection so that saved some costs. Chairman Keller
wanted to clarify item #6, the joinder agreement with Fulton County. This is a renewal of
an agreement with Franklin and Fulton counties to oversee MH/ID/EI and Drug &Alcohol
in both counties. Commissioner Thomas said this program is beneficial to Fulton
because it's difficult to run these programs in a small county.
The following item was approved today and the remainder items will be approved
Thursday, November 14, 2013.
The Board reviewed Human Resources matters. On a motion by Robert G.
Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved for the Chairman of
the Board to execute the renewal agreement between Franklin County and Capital Blue
Cross to provide Medical, Rx and Vision Coverage for Employees, Retirees and Cobra
participants for the year of 2014.
Tiffany Bloyer, Human Resources Director provided a presentation on Online
Recruitment/Online Open Enrollment/Human Resources Information Services (HRIS)
Updates and Going Green in Human Resources. Ms. Bloyer explained the upgrades
and initiatives in Employee Self Service (ESS). Previously benefit staff would meet
individually with employees and staff would transfer benefit election forms into the
electronic system manually which created double the work for staff due to auditing each
entry. With the new system employees will be making their 2014 benefit selections in
the ESS system. Employees will only need to meet with vendors to select supplemental
benefits only or if they are changing or removing a supplemental benefit. This new
process will eliminate hours of work and will link rates and election amounts to the
payroll system. Ms. Bloyer explained other 2014 ESS initiatives which include:
implementing online recruitment so candidates interested in employment with the County
can apply online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which will reduce paper and staff time.
Future HRIS initiatives include the following: Training modules, disciplinary action,
position control and certifications. Ms. Bloyer said the goal is to eliminate as much
paper as possible.
Brenda Covert, Purchasing Director provided a presentation on e-Procurement.
Ms. Covert explained procurement is the process of progressive steps used to purchase
goods or services. E-Procurement is the electronic acquisition of such goods and
services. MUNIS, our computerized financial system makes it easy to manage the entire
life-cycle of a purchase from requisition to check, thru its e-Procurement package. Ms.
Covert explained the e-Procurement is a three-phase package that consists of: Vendor
Self-Service (VSS) to give vendors access to quick, confidential and accurate business
transactions in real time; e-Procurement punch out to have access to vendor hosted
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websites utilizing the purchasing and requisition applications; and bid management that
can help automate mass procurement or volume buying processes of the county by
creating bid catalogs. Ms. Covert explained that the county already owns bid
management portion so this would only require 2 day group trainings. The county would
need to purchase Vendor Self-Service and Punch-Out for a total cost of$15,000 with
annual costs of$1,800.00. Chairman Keller said he can see how automating this
process and making information more available to vendors and staff could be a benefit
to the county on a number of levels. Commissioner Thomas said this is advancement
and should help with costs to get better price and to insure process is smooth and
simple to get paid. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked if there is any way municipalities
can integrate and take advantage of this system. Chairman Keller responded that this
should be referred to staff to fully explore before inviting municipalities to participate.
Chairman Keller said the internal benefits are there and will provide significant service
improvements to constituents and vendors. The Board was supportive to move forward.
Ms. Covert said a contract will be forwarded at a later date for board approval.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:27 a.m. with a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
seconded by Robert L. Thomas.
FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS