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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-11-18 Commissioner Minutes TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014 The Franklin County Commissioners met Tuesday, November 18, 2014, with the following members present: David S. Keller, Robert L. Thomas and Robert G. Ziobrowski. Vice Chairman Thomas announced that Chairman Keller is running a few minutes late. Commissioner Thomas presided and after calling the meeting to order, a Moment of Silence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, proceeded with the business of the day. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved to adopt the agenda. Allen Piper provided public comment and wanted to pass on his condolences to the Cressler family who lost Frank Cressler this week. Mr. Piper also mentioned the Chambersburg Borough meeting last night where Mr. Stonehill mentioned grants for bike and hiking trails in the Borough. Mr. Piper can't fathom the idea of spending money on bike & hiking trails in the borough. He said there is nothing wrong with using sidewalks. He has a problem with this especially with the trouble the state and federal governments are having with their budgets. Chairman Keller entered the meeting room at 9:38 AM. The minutes of the November 13, 2014 meetings were reviewed. These will be approved Thursday, November 20, 2014. The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Commissioner Thomas asked for more information on board action item #3, Grant for Veterans Affairs. Carrie Gray responded that this grant is through the Veterans Trust Fund and will be used for the Veterans Director town hall meetings, therapeutic dogs for soldier's physical and emotional traumas and peer mentoring programs. Ms. Gray said Mr. Slep will work with local humane societies and use veterans to train the animals who will benefit from therapy the dogs will provide. With the peer mentoring program, veterans will be trained to provide peer support to help veterans reintegrate back into the community. Mr. Slep has identified these programs as his top priority needs. The items will be approved Thursday, November 20, 2014. Phil Tarquino, Planning Director, and Sam Thrush, Planner, were present to conduct a public hearing for the 2014 Community Development Block Grant (C.D.B.G.). Mr. Tarquino said a meeting was held two weeks ago where staff informed the Board of applications received for this round of funding. Franklin County has received $310,384 for 2014 with 18% or$55,869 being permitted to use for administration which would leave $254,515 for allocations. Mr. Thrush said the Planning Office is recommending to fund Washington Township's Calimer Drive sewer extension project in the amount of $138,987. This will complete their project. Staff is recommending the remaining amount of$115,528 to go towards the Letterkenny Township sewer project on Skyline Drive. There were questions being asked about this project up to yesterday and they have been answered. Mr. Thrush said these funds will get them started on their project. They will look for additional funding and if they can't find other funds, they may come back to the county to apply for competitive funding. Mr. Tarquino said the residents of this area are low to moderate income households which is a requirement to receive this funding. Letterkenny Township held a meeting where the residents attended and showed their support for the project. Mr. Tarquino said Hamilton Township applied for this funding as well but they are now moving through the competitive process and it looks favorable for them to receive those funds so their application for entitlement funding is not being recommended. The Indian Lake project had not completed an income survey, and the sidewalk project in Antrim Township was not as pressing a need as the sewer projects and therefore were not recommended for funding at this time. Continued on page 2 Chairman Keller opened the floor for public comment. Allen Piper asked where Letterkenny will get the rest of the money for this project. Mr. Taruino responded that the burden is on the township or municipal authority to find the extra funding. He said it's up to there and they may ask the County to help find additional funding but they are to research other funding as well. Jaynes Wyrick asked if this would get approved, what happens if they don't get the additional funding needed? Is it conditional on the municipality receiving other funding? Mr. Taruino said it could if they can't come up with other money. He said every municipality is to have Act 537 plans in place and the Department of Environmental Protection instructs municipalities on how to move forward with their plans. Allen Piper said he was required to connect to public sewer in the past and felt it was unnecessary. He is following the Hamilton Township sewer project that could cost homeowners a lot of money. He wants the Board to be careful that they include the homeowners involved. Mr. Piper asked Mr. Taruino how many people he surveyed that have to connect to the sewer line? Mr. Tarquino responded that he didn't talk to anyone. Letterkenny Township had a public meeting and the majority of the homeowners that showed up are in favor of this project. On a motion by Robert G. Ziorowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved Resolution 2014-19, 2014 Community Development Block Grant Application Adoption. On a motion by Robert G. Ziorowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved Resolution 2014-20 Fair Housing Resolution. These resolutions are required by PA Department of Community and Economic Development for the 2014 Community Development Block Grant application. The Board reviewed Property Management matters and conducted a bid opening for Building Demolition at 11 North Second Street, Chambersburg. This is the second time this project is being bid because the amounts with the first bid required prevailing wage. Mr. Hart said the low bid last time was $23,231.70 that was bid by DL George Sons. The following bidders submitted bids: SDL Construction, Inc. from Orwigsburg, PA bid $34,500.00; J.D. Wagoner Excavating from Chambersburg, PA bid $34,631.00; and DL George & Sons Construction Company from Waynesboro, PA bid $31,195.00. On a motion by Robert G. Ziorowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved to forward the bids received to the Director of Property Management, the County Solicitor and the Purchasing Agent for their review. The Board will award or reject the bids on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at 2:40 p.m. Chairman Keller commented that the county will incur a 22.6% increase due to prevailing wage requirements compared to the lowest bid from the previous bid opening. The Board reviewed Property Management matters and conducted a bid opening for Franklin Farm Lane Gas Service Line Installation at 161, 165, 191, 201 and 425 Franklin Farm Lane, Chambersburg. The following bidder submitted a bid: Shiloh Paving & Excavating, Inc. from York, PA bid $104,000 base bid and $99,300.00 alternate bid. Commissioner Thomas said there was another bidder but the bid was received today in the Controller's Office and Friday was the deadline. John Hart, Chief County Administrator, said late bids are not accepted but the commissioners have the discretion to accept a late bid. He recalled only one time where a late bid was accepted. Commissioner Thomas expressed regret at not being able to consider the late bid but acknowledged the bid deadline was clearly provided to prospective bidders. Chairman Keller advised complying with past practice and not considering the late bid. Mr. Hart explained the base bid is for the county's portion of the project and the alternate bid is for Mid Atlantic's (owner of Falling Spring Nursing & Rehab Center) portion of the Continued on page 3 project. Mr. Hart explained Mid Atlantic can choose to accept this bid or get another quote. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved to forward the bid received to the Director of Property Management, the County Solicitor and the Purchasing Agent for their review. The Board will award or reject the bids on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at 2:35 p.m. The Board held discussions on the 2015 budget. John Hart, County Administrator, explained the reason for today's discussion is to receive feedback from the Board. Fiscal Department and County Administration met with managers and elected officials to review their budgets. One item they are looking at is 911 funding for Department of Emergency Services and how funding has remained flat but there are increases in technology and software to keep current and ensuring interoperability with other counties. This will have a significant cost to the general fund. CCAP has this issue as a major priority to look at increasing this funding. Mr. Hart mentioned some of the efficiency initiatives currently in place and planned for next year as he stated at the presentation of the all requested budget on November 6th. Chairman Keller said he stood by his comments from the November 6th meeting. He added that he agreed with Commissioner Thomas about scrutinizing all new positions and reclassifications. These need to be justified and we need to minimize expansion of the budget. Chairman Keller also agreed with Commissioner Ziobrowski that the economy and unemployment in Franklin County is getting better but they need to remember that the recession was hard on a lot of people and they were out of work for a long time so need to hold the line on taxes at this time. He is supportive of the initiatives that were mentioned that improve efficiencies and customer service. Chairman Keller said he is willing to spend some from reserves to move forward with initiatives. He wants to continue to retain and attract employees so he wants to remain competitive with the compensation package. He is willing to entertain a budget to include some deficit spending. He is hoping the state will upgrade the funding formula for 911 which is having a great expense to the county's budget. The Board needs to continue to push this effort with CCAP, the Legislature and the Governor's office. Commissioner Thomas concurs with everything Chairman Keller stated. He said there are initiatives that are investments in the future that will cost money but will save more in the long run so we need to move forward with some of these. Chairman Keller said in some cases capital or personnel expansion is being driven legislatively such as in Children &Youth with new rules on child abuse that may add additional staffing. In other cases, justifications should be to improve customer service and effectiveness of what the county does. Commissioner Thomas said he is looking for justification and efficiencies. A number of recommendations have been brought to the board related to criminal justice and there is a need to seriously consider those recommendations. Commissioner Ziob rows ki said he agrees with everything Mr. Hart said. We are doing a lot of interesting things, e-filing will save paper and storage and will make map records easier to find. Archiving has made it easier for departments to work together. The UPI system has an income stream so it will pay for itself. All things are cost effective but what scares him in the long run is the state budget has a 1.8 billion dollar deficit. They have squeezed us in the past and continue to expand our obligations. It is insidious how the state pushes down costs to the counties while they sit in Harrisburg and say they are not raising taxes but they are through property tax hikes. He is glad we can hold the line right now but he is very concerned about next year. Continued on page 4 Commissioner Thomas said CCAP is meeting this weekend and committees are meeting on Sunday to establish their priorities for the new year. The number one priority is 911 funding so he would be surprised if it's not still a priority next year. If we don't get saving grace from legislation next year, this day and age of living off surplus is going to end soon. Probation funding has been a flat number but we have been forced to hire more people. The counties are being forced and putting all costs on the backs of tax payers through property taxes. Commissioner Ziobrowski mentioned this is not a democrat or republican issue, it started during the Rendell administration. The state shoves costs down to the school districts and counties. Chairman Keller added that it should be pointed out that our legislators have been supportive of a couple of our initiatives. He explained how the Jury Commissioner office has been eliminated and they were supportive of this and it is saving counties general fund dollars. Also, with Franklin County going to a fourth class county, we were going to be required to establish another elected office and combine the function of Clerk of Orphans Court and Register of Wills which would have cost our county over$130,000 annually out of general fund. Our legislators were able to pass legislation that leaves the decision up to counties and does not mandate us to establish this separate office. There is more work to be done but need to point out that our county legislators have been willing to help in a couple of instances and the Board will work with them on the 911 funding in the future also. Commissioner Thomas said the 911 user fees need to be more appropriate. He does appreciate our legislators that have worked with the Board. Chairman Keller asked what amount we are looking at in 2014 with 911 from the general fund. Mr. Hart responded it's at 2.5 million in 2014. Mr. Hart said we are faced with some major upgrades in 911 and staff is going to do their best to relook at their budget and bring costs down. He said Fiscal is scrutinizing all line item budgets and looking at historic costs. Mr. Hart said the message is clear to the managers that he and Carrie Gray, Assistant County Administrator, supervise. Mr. Hart said human services has state mandates we are faced with. There are some challenges we are faced with. There are more challenges in this budget than he has ever had. It will be a tight budget. He is going to say no to a lot of people in the next year. With J study and Jail study, there are some initiatives that will have costs. Looking at helping inmates get jobs back since 98% of them are coming back to our community and we need to make them tax paying citizens. Mr. Hart said staff will do our best and will come back with a budget next week. The meeting was adjourned at 11:13 a.m. with a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas. FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS