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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-11-01 Commissioner Minutes TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2016 The Franklin County Commissioners met Tuesday, November 1, 2016, 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. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved to adopt the agenda. There was no public comment The minutes of the October 25, 2016 and October 27, 2016 meetings were reviewed. These will be approved Thursday, November 3, 2016. The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Commissioner Thomas asked for more information on the Timekeeping system. Tiffany Bloyer, Human Resources Director, was present and explained that a year ago staff started looking at our current system, which is KRONOS that we use at the 911 and the Jail. For the remainder of employees, we use ESS through MUNIS which is not a timekeeping system. She explained that they decided to look at a true timekeeping system for all employees. She said currently there is a lot of paper involved so this new system would improve significantly the amount of paper and time that the payroll department and managers have involved. Ms. Bloyer said that the 24/7 operations will continue with timeclocks in their building but this new system will allow the Jail help with scheduling and keeping track of overtime. The remaining employees will keep track of time by using their computers in their office or phone if they are out in the field. John Hart, County Administrator, explained that the County is also looking at telework as another initiative so that caseworkers and probation officers that are out in the field can keep track of their time and they don't have to run to the office. Ms. Bloyer said that this new software will shake hands with MUNIS and dump the information into MUNIS which will improve the process. She said employees will see improvements also. She said the cost is reasonable and cheaper than the current KRONOS system. The items will be approved Thursday, November 3, 2016. Chairman Keller said that Mr. Hart reviewed the Magisterial District Judge (MDJ) proposals last week but Commissioner Ziobrowski was not present so they wanted to give him a chance to review the information. John Hart, County Administrator, provided his review and the history of the MDJ proposals for the Mercersburg area. He said that he received two proposals from Harold Brake and Mercersburg Fire Company and both were not comparing apples to apples so he asked for a meeting where he asked for second proposals with more details. He developed a matrix and selection criteria which considered location, design and layout, price, terms and site accessibility. He reviewed each proposal and scored them based on this criteria: County's desire to stay in the Mercersburg area, close to local law enforcement, needed square footage and design and total cost of the twenty year lease, he is recommending Mercersburg Fire Company's proposal. Commissioner Ziobrowski said he is satisfied with the information and is prepared to make a vote. Commissioner Thomas said that Harold Brake was here and he had several questions but he commended Mr. Hart for his due diligence and felt it was a fair process. Mr. Hart said once the board comes to a final decision, he will work with Newcomer and Associates on the design, he will have discussions with the fire company, the County will have a lead person from the maintenance department in charge during the remodeling process, and we will start the construction documents Continued on page 2 paperwork. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved to accept the recommendation of County Administration and move forward with working with the Mercersburg Fire Company to start the process and paperwork for the project. John Hart, County Administrator, welcomed Mark Morgan, Consultant, to the meeting to discuss operations and collocation. Mr. Hart explained that most efficiency experts come from the private sector but Mr. Morgan has an understanding of how government operations work so he thought it would be a benefit to have Mr. Morgan present to the Board on a high level and discuss collocation and efficiencies that the Board can consider when they have conversations and deliberations on facilities. Mr. Morgan gave his bio and prior employment and that he currently works for Susquehanna Consulting Solutions. He explained that Susquehanna Consulting Solutions felt there was a big void on expertise dealing with counties. He said they know what counties do, all departments from start to finish, and understand how they are organized. He explained that as far as collocation, they need to look at cost of occupancies on the facilities they have today including rents, older buildings and the human resource element. They look at vehicles, manpower, time and getting documents back and forth between structures. He said when there are five or six different buildings and you start moving documents between those different buildings, there are inefficiencies. He said collocation is efficient when you have departments that should be close together. He explained that older buildings have their issues also, there are a lot of expenses and maintenance issues with older buildings in addition to heating and cooling which are inefficient. Mr. Morgan said his firm focuses a lot on costs, in terms of what it costs counties today and get a reasonable measure of what it would cost in a new structure and if it will cost more or save money. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked for an example from one of the forty counties that have gone through this process. Mr. Morgan responded that Northampton County decided to collocate their Human Service departments and created a central intake process center where they determine which services a resident is qualified for and to get them eligible and enrolled in programs. He explained further that a lot of counties make the constituent go from building to building to do this. He said their program is a huge success and the constituents are very happy because they saw one face and not ten faces. Mr. Morgan explained further they have a new facility that saved in utility costs and they now don't have maintenance and janitorial in six different buildings. They don't have a vehicle fleet and through attrition were able to reduce staff and not have mail going back and forth between different buildings. He said the savings more than offset the cost of the new building. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked about the effects on employees and their productivity. Mr. Morgan said they didn't measure that but the employees were happier and there is no comparison or quantification of that. It's proven that the happier the employee is, the better productive they are. Commissioner Ziobrowski responded that if they are happier and doing a better job, than the people they are serving are happier so that would be difficult to measure. Commissioner Thomas said he appreciates Mr. Morgan being here and explaining what he can do for us. He asked since it's been fifteen years, has he had any follow-up on if his numbers were accurate. Mr. Morgan responded that his numbers were reasonably accurate but they only studied about three years out. They found out how happy their residents were so they stated they should have done this years ago. Chairman Keller asked if there are any similarities on the criminal justice side compared with how Northampton did with their central intake process. Mr. Morgan said that absolutely when you collocate criminal services, even though the court system has constituents that are not the best citizens, the more effective that can serve them instead of more dollars to provide the services. Commissioner Thomas asked how long the assessment would take and Mr. Morgan responded 90 to 120 days. He explained further that they will do the historical and what it costs today, then meet with engineers and look at all the buildings and operating costs and compare them. Commissioner Ziobrowski said they are receptive to the idea but it's important that he be unbiased to Continued on page 3 them building a shiny new building will cost a lot of money and they have to determine that will be where the rubber meets the road or stick with what we have if it is working well. It's exciting to have new and have everyone close together. Commissioner Thomas asked if they look hard at personnel. Mr. Morgan said that in Northampton they didn't want to use new construction to reduce staff so they identified who wouldn't need to be replaced when a person retired or left on their own. They looked at reengineering every process. They also looked at IT connections between buildings. Chairman Keller said with technology today, there is so much more they can do even though they are spread out, how do they address that? Mr. Morgan said that Federal and State government dictate a lot of what counties do in the court system and in human services for delivery of services. Many programs are paper intensive and they still like to see everything on paper. With grants there is still a lot of paper that flies around to fulfil requirements of the grant. Until this changes and flows down to the county, it's hard for counties to change. Chairman Keller said he's heard for years about collocating but never put paper to pencil to quantify it but citizens and staff will benefit with better services and programs. He is ok with Mr. Hart developing an agreement to help them to better understand efficiencies and provide better services to our citizens and better government in general. Commissioner Ziobrowski said six or seven years ago when they were considering whether to build a new courthouse, if they were a private organization they would have made a decision to build it but the county was under duress years ago. This is due diligence that we have never done before so it's better to deal with the facts. Mr. Hart asked Mr. Morgan to provide his bio to the Commissioners and provide a couple of examples of projects they have done. He will meet with Mark and develop a work plan and contract. The meeting was adjourned at 10:38 a.m. with a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas. FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS