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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-01-24 Commissioner Minutes WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 The Franklin County Commissioners met Wednesday, January 24, 2024, with the following members present: Dean A. Horst, John T. Flannery and Robert G. Ziobrowski. Chairman Horst 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 meeting was live streamed. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved to adopt the agenda. Valerie Jordan provided public comment and stated that she gave each Commissioner a piece of public information from the Borough of Chambersburg. Ms. Jordan read a statement concerning the Borough of Chambersburg trying to force the County to do a reassessment that wi deficit and the fire department ran more than a $1 million deficit. And now Allen Coffman wants to force a county-wide reassessment on taxpayers. Kim Wertz from Chambersburg provided public comment and stated that she is in agreement with Ms. Jordan on a tax reassessment. She said it is antiquated and needs reevaluated but Chambersburg has been struggling with this for two years or longer. She said they need to figure it out hopefully without raising taxes an exorbitant amount on their own. But Chambersburg and the other municipalities are trying to force the County to do a reevaluation which is a little bit absurd. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved all bills presented and ordered paid. The minutes of the January 17, 2024 meeting were reviewed. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the minutes. The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Carrie Gray, County Administrator, introduced John Boozer, Project Manager, who was present to explain the three change orders for the Courthouse Annex project, board action numbers 3, 4, and 5. Mr. Boozer explained item #3 is a door relocation in a restroom. The problem was they were working to get ADA compliance and they were off by quarter of an inch so they had to redesign the room and they were able to do a lot of work and get a decrease in costs. He continued that Item #4 is in the basement where we had a room that was to be a micro market but with the demise of the micro market they tried to reconfigure that room and make it more of a break room and also to have some touchdown space that can have a cup of coffee and continue to work or have a less formal meeting space. We were fortunate that the electrical, mechanical and plumbing were net th zero to make these. Mr. Boozer continued that item #5 is reconfigured space on the 4 floor to add another fiscal office and in order to do that need to add a staff restroom for that suite. Commissioners Ziobrowski asked if they are within the financial framework of the original bond money and Mr. Boozer said at this point we are still there and his assumption is correct. Ms. Gray said that Susan Christophel, Deputy Chief Clerk and Jean Byers, Assistant Director of Elections, are here to address item #6, purchase of e-pollbooks. Commissioner in the community that there may be some security issues if they move to a more digital or electronic format with pollbooks. Ms. Christophel explained that the e-pollbooks are not connected to the internet at any time and that the information is downloaded from USB drives. They are a single use device so the only thing on them is going to be voter registration information. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked what the function of the e-books is. Susan Continued on page 2 responded that for the primary election we are going to introduce them to the poll workers and the judges so that they get used to the technology and use them as voter look ups. Right now every precinct gets a paper copy that has all the registered voters in their own precinct. Using e-pollbooks, judges will have access to every voter in the county. If a person is in the wrong place they can be told where to go, if they are registered at all, or if they voted by absentee ballot. Commissioner Ziobrowski said it will be a convenience to the voter, to the judges, poll supposed to be. Ms. Byers said the reason this is important is that some segments of our voting districts do not have access to good cell service. If a voter happens to go to the wrong precinct or in the wrong polling place and the Judge of Election does not have cell service there -contained and by voters at all. Our intent is to give it to the poll workers to look up those voters that are not in their hard copy pollbook. The information on the electronic pollbook is the same information in the hard copy pollbook that they already have. They are no more a security concern then the hardcopy pollbo this year given that you have more voters showing up to vote then a normal election and they are normally the ones that vote every four years during a presidential election and their address up to date. This gives more power to the Judge of Election to look them up to see what the voter status is. This seems like a good use of our grant money with it being a mandated. Susan responded not yet but we look for it to be mandated in the future. We are starting the process now so there is more comfort level with the poll workers. She said that e-pollbook and paper pollbook are the same thing except the e-pollbook has the entire county on it. Commissioner Flannery said with the primary coming up this spring will all precincts have an electronic pollbook? Susan responded that every judge will have one and it will be the same in the general election. Ms. Gray introduced Morgan Yiengst, Human Resources Coordinator, to provide more information on board action item #7, Workers Compensation (WC) insurance. Ms. Yiengst explained that we are self-insured with Workers Compensation meaning that we are the insurance carrier. We are required to carry excess WC coverage to maintain our self-insured status with the state. Through being self-insured the County has saved a lot of money through the years not having to pay insurance premiums, we are able to set that bar with an actuary and get the rates that we need to fund our accounts appropriately. Commissioner Ziobrowski stated insurance company other than the excess insurance, like having a catastrophic insurance on a health insurance policy. Morgan said this is very similar to having stop loss insurance for $600,000. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked how long ago we went self-insured. Morgan - rate based on experience. Morgan responded yes and that they work with the actuary to determine our mod-rate which may be around a 1 or a .9. Ms. Gray introduced Quentin Clapper, Senior Planner, to explain board action item #8, agreement for bridges. Mr. Clapper said we have a retainer agreement with HRG to handle all the engineering for our bridge projects. Through that agreement they have developed a capital improvement plan and these two bridges were on that and it started through engineering 2 years ago. Quentin continued that this past fall they put out bids for bridges 26 & 63 for total replacements and they were able to lump in a couple of guide rail projects to try to get some economy of scale to get some extra savings. Quentin provided where the bridges are located. The other bridges he mentioned are staying close to their original footprint. With these contracts we would be looking at all projects to be done this construction season. Continued on page 3 The Board reviewed Clerk of Courts matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the solicitor agreement between the County of Franklin andKulla, Barkdoll, and Stewart, P.C. Attorneys at Law,to provide legal services as requested by the Clerk of Courts at a cost of $5,926.33 for the period of January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. This is an increase of $255.20 or 4.5%. This will be paid using General Funds. The Board reviewed Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved Resolution #2024-01 authorizing the Drug and Alcohol Administrator to execute agreements with partnering agencies regarding Act 111 of 2022 on behalf of the County. The Board reviewed additional Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute Change Order #014 from Lobar, Inc. for the Franklin County Courthouse Annex Renovation Project general construction to relocate a door at room 238-2 for a decreased amount of $537.28. The Board reviewed additional Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute Change Order #016 from Lobar, Inc. for the Franklin County Courthouse Annex Renovation Project general construction to revise break-vending room for an increased amount of $12,602.78. This will be paid from bond funds. The Board reviewed additional Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute Change Order #004 from Stouffer Mechanical Contractor, LLC for the Franklin County Courthouse Annex Renovation Project Plumbing construction to add staff toilet room for an increased amount of $4,620.51. This will be paid from bond funds. The Board reviewed Elections matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the sales agreement between the County of Franklin and Election Systems & Software for purchase of 76 ExpressPoll Systems (e- pollbooks) and software at a cost of $117,161.00. These e-pollbooks will be used for voter lookup at the polls. This company is on the Costars contract pricing. This will be paid from the Election Integrity Grant. The Board reviewed Human Resources matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the proposal from Midwest Employers Casualty Company to provide excess workers' compensation insurance at a cost of $195,962.00 for the period of February 1, 2024 through January 31, 2026. This is paid through Excess workers' compensation insurance renewal is a mandatory requirement to maintain workers' compensation self-insurance status. The Board reviewed Planning Office matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the agreement and Notice to Proceed between the County of Franklin and Wen-Brooke Contracting, Inc. for construction of bridge 26 and bridge 63 replacement projects in the amount of $2,194,474.30. Wen-Brook was selected as the successful bidder for the projects by the Franklin County Commissioners on December 6th, 2023. The project will include the replacement of bridges 26 & 63 and guide rail replacements on several other bridges. This will be paid using Act 13, 44, 89 and Liquid Fuels funds. The Board reviewed Prothonotary matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the solicitor agreement between the County of Franklin and Elizabeth A. Clark, Esquire, to provide legal services as requested by the Prothonotary at a cost of $4,012.09 for the period of January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. This is an increase of $172.77 or 4.5%. This will be paid using General Funds. Continued on page 4 The Board reviewed Risk Management matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute Engagement Letter from Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP to provide legal services after any cyber claim. The contract will not incur costs unless an actual breach occurs. The Board reviewed Tax Services matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the annual 2023 Liability Report and approval of totals for the Exonerations & Additions to the 2023 County, 1st Interim, 2nd Interim, 2022 3rd Interim & 4th Interim duplicates. The Board reviewed Treasurer matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the solicitor agreement between the County of Franklin andClinton T. Barkdoll, Esquire to provide legal services as requested bythe Treasurer at a cost of $2,173.97 for the period of January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. This is an increase of $93.62 or 4.5%. This will be paid using General Funds. In accordance with PA Act notifications, martin and martin, inc. notified theCounty of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection NPDES permit being applied by Osseous Ridge Realty, LLC for a preliminary/final land development plan of a proposed 13,000 sf medical facility on property located in the Borough of Chambersburg. In accordance with PA Act notifications, Johnson Controls notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Title V Air Quality Program permit being applied for Johnson Controls (FRICK) facility located in the Borough of Waynesboro. In accordance with PA Act notifications, Letterkenny Army Depot notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Chapter 102 permits being applied for redevelopment of existing gravel storage lot to new maintenance andoperational storage buildings located in Letterkenny Township. In accordance with PA Act notifications, Letterkenny Army Depot notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Chapter 102 permits being applied to redevelop an existing parking lot for storage of mobile vehicles and other materials located in Greene and Letterkenny Townships. The meeting was adjourned at 10:41 a.m. with a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery. Carrie E. Gray County Administrator/Chief Clerk FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ____________________________________ Dean A. Horst, Chairman ____________________________________ John T. Flannery ___________________________________ Robert G. Ziobrowski