HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-22 Commissioner Minutes
TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2018
The Franklin County Commissioners met Tuesday, May 22, 2018, 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 amend the agenda to move the Emergency Services
Week Proclamation after public comment. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved to adopt the amended agenda.
There was no public comment.
The Board reviewed information regarding National Emergency Medical Services
Week. Elizabeth Heller, Assistant EMS Chief at Fayetteville Fire Department, along with
representatives from local EMS services and fire companies, were present to receive the
proclamation. Ms. Heller thanked the Board for recognizing them and mentioned that
she is here on behalf of Mr. Bitner who could not be present today. Mr. Bitner asked her
to mention how far EMS has evolved and how they used to utilize local funeral homes to
eer staff than
volunteers. She explained that the volunteer census is very low and it continues to
decline. She said they are struggling to keep staff. Ms. Heller explained the exorbitant
costs to become certified as an EMT and Paramedic and the consuming time
commitment for training . Her EMS staff are 100% career and the community feels
services should be free because they are a volunteer fire department. She explained
that to run a basic life support call costs $1,000 but they only get reimbursed $150 from
Medicaid. Commissioner Thomas brought up the number of calls that are mental health
related, he believes the percentage is 5-10% of the calls they receive. Ms. Heller
responded that some of their calls for chest pains are actually panic attacks.
Commissioner Thomas wanted to point out that in the old days when EMT was new and
whole lot more complicated today because of dealing with a lot more mental health
issues in addition to the physical issues. Ms. Heller said that last year the fatalities for
career staff were heart attacks, cancer and other diseases and third was suicide.
Commissioner Thomas suggested that our Mental Health Department can help but the
ch
said even if they eliminate all mental health calls there is still a crisis since the typical
unger
workers or identify other solutions. Ms. Heller said that Fayetteville Fire Department
runs a program for young people and there is even an Emergency Services Club at the
Chambersburg High School that tries to recruit students. EMS attempted to have a
that cost. She said she does not have an answer. Commissioner Thomas said the
er
asked about the average wage for EMS workers and Ms. Heller responded its $11 for
Basic Life Services and $16.50 for Paramedics. She said most workers hold more than
one job. Everyone introduced themselves and provided their years of service. Bill Little
of the other issues and new challenges they face today with recruitment and retention.
that
these people put up with. He does have high hopes with the new State EMS Director
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that he met yesterday. He thinks he will be an EMS advocate and will go to bat for the
workers. The Board thanked everyone for attending the meeting today. On a motion by
Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved to sign
Franklin County Proclamation #2018-15 proclaiming the week of May 20-26, 2018 as
National Emergency Medical Services Week and that the attached proclamation be
made a part of these minutes.
The minutes of the May 17, 2018 meeting was reviewed. These will be decided
upon on Thursday, May 24, 2018.
The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Carrie Gray, County
Administrator, explained the amendments with Keystone Health and Pyramid that are for
the Jail to Community Treatment Program which provides vivitrol and therapy while the
participants are in Jail and when they get out. These amendments are to extend the
contracts by a week. The following items were approved today while the remaining
items will be approved Thursday, May 24, 2018.
The Board reviewed Grants matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved the contract amendment
between the County of Franklin and Keystone Health for the Jail To Community
Treatment Program to extend the contract that was executed on September 14, 2017 to
April 24, 2018. All other terms of the original agreement shall remain unchanged.
The Board reviewed additional Grants matters. On a motion by Robert G.
Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved the contract
amendment between the County of Franklin and Pyramid Healthcare, Inc. for the Jail To
Community Treatment Program to extend the contract that was executed on September
14, 2017 to April 24, 2018. All other terms of the original agreement shall remain
unchanged.
The Board reviewed Information Technology Services matters. On a motion by
Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas; unanimously approved the quote
from Dell for the annual refresh of County Computers in the amount of $61,322.38.
County policy replaces approximately one quarter of machines every year, this is the
largest of the four year replacement cycle and has been broken into two orders. This is
the first of the two orders.
Kurt Hoffeditz, Chief Information Officer, provided a presentation on Laserfiche.
He explained that he wanted to convey the return on investment of Laserfiche, a
document management and workflow solution that the County has used for a long time.
He explained that Laserfiche is a software platform that Franklin County uses to manage
records, image documents, and automate business processes. Mr. Hoffeditz explained
that the County has used Laserfiche since 2000 and at that time it organized document
storage and structure. In 2010 Laserfiche workflows were added and in 2015 Laserfiche
forms were added. We now have more complex workflows for business automation.
We currently have over 5,000,000 documents in Laserfiche, and that figure is growing.
Total hours saved to date annually is 11,590 and this is growing as well. This is a
conservative number as not all departments responded to the questionnaire. The
following are programs that use Laserfiche: Employee Benefits Open Enrollment with 75
staff hours saved annually; Human Service Training Days with 150+ staff hours saved
annually. Bekah Laws said that this process saves the coordinator lots of time. She
also described the process and explained that when the participant signs in and
completes an evaluation, they automatically receive a certificate at the end of the
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session; Retirement contribution changes with 16 staff hours saved; Employee Wellness
program with 1,000+ hours saved annually. Sarah Hamel, Wellness Coordinator,
explained how much time this saves her since employees now scan the barcode on the
back of their badge when they attend wellness events and they automatically get
credited for attending the event as well as an email confirmation. The employees no
longer have to submit anything when they get back to their desk. Registration for the
Wellness Program has increased significantly since this process has been streamlined
and has become easier to use. This has also reduced her emails significantly due to
employees entering information themselves; Aging Cost Share tracking with 30 hours
saved annually; Veterans Affairs contacts with 2,880 staff hours saved annually;
employee probation system with 240 staff hours saved annually; and event registration
system with 2,000 staff hours saved annually. Mr. Hoffeditz provided the projects that
are in progress which include: Quote forms; elections; travel request forms and the
Children & Youth project. He explained the following results of using Laserfiche:
Reshaping of our workforce: county staff now have more time to focus on the primary
tasks of their position instead of being tied up with repetitive manual processes; the
applications staff is evolving from only supporting outside vendor-developed applications
to developing and supporting our own applications and processes; less reliance on
solutions from outside vendors who are not intimately aware of our internal processes,
interdependencies and procedures; reduced paper footprint in the County and reduction
of space needed to store it. These county accomplishments are being noticed by
Laserfiche at National and Regional levels. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked if a lot of
other counties in PA use Laserfiche and how are we comparing with other counties. Ed
Yonker provided a few of the other counties and boroughs in our area that are using or
considering Laserfiche. It is widely used in local government locally and across the
Commonwealth, it is used in Harrisburg by the Commonwealth and in other states and
even internationally. Mr. Hoffeditz next explained where we are headed: County IT
resources are being prioritized and aligned to meet the increased demand for these
projects and to continue the momentum of increased efficiency; continued push for
widespread implementation of business automation and process efficiency in additional
areas and departments; and continue the reduction of paper in the County. Chairman
Keller said that he has been looking forward to this presentation for a long while. This
highlights investments we have made and we continue to make. He thinks ITS
department deserves tremendous amount of credit for these accomplishments and staff
countywide have embraced this program.
On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas;
unanimously approved to enter an executive session at 10:40 a.m. this date for the
purpose to review the Tax Assessment Appeal of Washington Jewish Community Camp
Corporation (WJCCC) v. Franklin Co. Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes
matters. Andrew Benchoff, Conflict Counsel, was present for the executive session. This
executive session is also to review real estate matters. No action was required after the
executive session. The Board reconvened into regular session at 12:11 p.m.
The Board recessed at 12:12 p.m.
The Board reconvened at 1:30 p.m. for the Retirement Board meeting.
Chairman Keller left the board meeting at 2:05 p.m.
Michael Shone, Marquette Associates President, met with the Board to provide a
report of the Franklin County Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) Fund.
Continued on page 4
The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m. with a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
seconded by Robert L. Thomas.
Carrie E. Gray
County Administrator/Chief Clerk
FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
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David S. Keller, Chairman
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Robert L. Thomas
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Robert G. Ziobrowski