HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-11-14 Commissioner MinutesTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2019
The Franklin County Commissioners met Thursday, November 14, 2019, 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 L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
unanimously approved to adopt the agenda.
There was no public comment.
On a motion by Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
unanimously approved all bills presented and ordered paid.
On a motion by Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
unanimously approved the minutes of the November 7, 2019 meeting.
Glenda Helman, Grants Director, informed the Board that board action item #8,
Grant Application to PA Department of Aging there could an adjustment in the amount of
the grant due to finding out from Property Management that the sewer connection will
not be completed in time. She is asking for a timeline and the amount could be reduced
by $10,000 but the Area Agency on Aging Director will apply for this funding in next
year's grant application. Carrie Gray, County Administrator, asked the Commissioners
to approve the action with the understanding that the amount could be reduced by
$10,000.
The Board reviewed Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by Robert L.
Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the Chairman of
the Board to execute Change Order # EC-001 from Lobar, Inc. for the Franklin County
Judicial Center — New & Historic Courthouse project to provide a natural gas generator
in lieu of the originally specified diesel generator for an additional cost of $74,260.85.
The Board reviewed additional Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by
Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the
Chairman of the Board to execute Change Order # GC-001 from Lobar, Inc. for the
Franklin County Judicial Center — New & Historic Courthouse project to remove existing
foundations for an additional cost of $10,248.48.
The Board reviewed additional Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by
Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the
Chairman of the Board to execute Change Order # GC-002 from Lobar, Inc. for the
Franklin County Judicial Center — New & Historic Courthouse project to include building
permit costs that exceeded the contract allowance for an additional cost of $16,003.62.
The Board reviewed additional Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by
Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the
Chairman of the Board to execute Change Order # GC-004 from Lobar, Inc. for the
Franklin County Judicial Center — New & Historic Courthouse project to delete the
security screening material and installation for a decreased amount of $108,736.00.
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The Board reviewed Domestic Relations matters. On a motion by Robert L.
Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the agreement
between the County of Franklin and Lindsay Gingrich Maclay to serve as the Support
Master for Domestic Relations Section to maintain and improve the effectiveness of the
Child Support Enforcement Program required by Federal regulations at the following
costs: $300.00 for non-complex hearings, $500.00 for the first four hours for complex
hearings and $100.00 for each subsequent hour, $75.00 for hearing scheduled with the
case cancelled/continued 48 hours prior to hearing, and $125.00 for hearing scheduled
where parties appeal and settle the case on record. This agreement is for the period of
November 18, 2019 through September 30, 2020.
The Board reviewed Grants Management/CJAB matters. On a motion by Robert
L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the service
agreement between the County of Franklin and Cross and Crown to provide design and
printing of an employer brochure, a community brochure and birthday cards for the Good
Wolf Treatment Court Program at a cost of $1,800.00 that will be paid for by the 2018
Drug Court Initiative Grant. The agreement is for the period of November 6, 2019
through December 31, 2019.
The Board reviewed additional Grants Management matters. On a motion by
Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the grant
application to PA Department of Aging to request a grant in the amount of $11,870.00 to
connect the Greencastle Senior Center building to local public sewer to prevent the
continual need for septic maintenance, plant 5 additional Kousa Dogwood shade trees,
and construct two wide raised bed gardens to encourage center attendee participation
and allow participants to take part in gardening with accessibility while further enhancing
the appearance of the landscaping at the Greencastle Center. The grant period will be
June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021.
The Board reviewed Grants Management/Aging matters. On a motion by Robert
L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the grant
application to PA Department of Aging to request a grant in the amount of $40,448.00 to
be used for Center Without Walls (CWOW) to offer 10-15 activities and programs per
year to engage the untapped young senior population. CWOW's overall purpose is to
educate and motivate seniors to explore the benefits and opportunities offered at their
local senior center. Funds are also being requested to add the Co -Pilot system to the 5
remaining senior activity centers and cover the cost of monitoring fees for these 5
centers for a 12-month period. Co -Pilot allows Seniors to log -in at the Center using the
computer touchscreen. It allows for more accurate record keeping and data collection
while decreasing the amount of staff time required for these functions. The grant period
will be May 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021.
The Board reviewed Human Services Administration matters. On a motion by
Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the
contract between the County of Franklin and Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania for the
purpose of operating a coordinated entry system access site for the PA-509 Eastern
Pennsylvania Continuum of Care at a cost of $5,629.45 for the period of July 1, 2019
through November 30, 2019. The costs are covered by the Eastern PA Continuum of
Care Project Grant.
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The Board reviewed additional Human Services Administration matters. On a
motion by Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved
the supplemental appropriation in the amount of $13,650.00 to record the shift in funding
for FY 2019-2020 within the Human Services Block Grant. This appropriation shifts a
portion of FY 2018-2019 carry-over funds to the Human Services Development Fund
(HSDF) for Human Service training days and Aging services and to Drug & Alcohol for
Recovery Housing/Support Services.
The Board reviewed Property Management matters. On a motion by Robert L.
Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the agreements
between the County of Franklin and Ehrlich Pest Control to provide preventative
maintenance pest control services at the Administration Annex, Adult Probation, Ag.
Extension Building 2, Building 3 unoccupied side, Building 3 occupied side, building 426,
storage Archives, Commissioners, Ag. Heritage, Greencastle Senior Activity Center.
These agreements are at a cost of $3,932.00 annually, effective January 1, 2020 and
can be terminated with a 30 days' notice. Ehrlich must notify the County 30 days in
advance of any increases.
In accordance with PA Act notifications, Warehaus notified the County of a
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection General NPDES Permit being
applied by WCN Properties, LP. for WCN Lot #2 located in Guilford Township.
In accordance with PA Act notifications, martin and martin, inc. notified the
County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection BWEW-GP-11
General Permit being applied by the Lurgan Township Board of Supervisors to replace
an existing reinforced concrete pipe culvert in Pine Run with an aluminum plate box
culvert on property located in Lurgan Township.
Chairman Keller explained that Bernice Crouse, Executive Director of the
Franklin County Library System, is here to provide additional background on the closing
of the Fort Loudon Library and address some of the questions from the citizens of Fort
Loudon last week. Ms. Crouse explained that she has two Library Board members with
her today. Bernice provided some background and history of the Fort Loudon Library
and the community that formed in the early 1970's. It has been in a couple of locations
during that time, back in 2000 there was a move towards closing it for the same reasons
at this time by her predecessor. She was hired to turn things around which she did in
Fulton County. She continued that despite best efforts, there are other issues. They did
reform the building where it's currently at and tried to get a grant but it never took off.
The center of Tuscarora School District is in Mercersburg. Every time they went to
Tuscarora School District to send people to Fort Loudon Library they were met with
resistance. Gail Sacho, Fort Loudon Librarian, worked very hard but she is very burnt
out. What they are finding is that more traditional very small libraries that are within 10
mile radius of another library, the patrons tend to gravitate to a library that has more to
offer. Ms. Crouse provided statistics from 2016 that the Fort Loudon Library had
approximately circulated a total of 5,023 items compared to 17,000 from St. Thomas
Library that is 7 miles away. Glen Sabetto mentioned that the Fort Loudon Library was
open 10 hours less than St. Thomas but Bernice explained in 2016 they were open close
to the same amount of hours. She continued that it's only been in recent years that the
hours changed and they went from fewer hours to more hours to get more people to
attend. They worked hard on programming and there was an upsurge in participants,
but many of the increased number of participants were from outside the Ft. Loudon area.
She loves Fort Loudon, she participates in Church and civic organizations and her
husband grew up there. There are good people on the Library Board and they felt they
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are making a sound decision. She wants to present that this did not just happen in a
year or two. It's been a decade and they have spent a decent amount of money,
including grant money to fix the facility. It's not that they haven't tried. They initially
recommended just closing the small branches on the West side of the county. But they
came back with suggestions on sprucing them up. She continued that they did all that
and during that time it was visible that they were doing something in the libraries. Ms.
Crouse said that the Fort Loudon Library circulation went from 5,000 in 2016 to 3,600
this year and has continued to decline this year to 3,500 up to this point. There was no
attempt to hide the study results, they were brought to the Library Board and accepted in
a public meeting and Gale was out there and she was aware and asking when it was
going to close for past 10 years. People were seeing that they were trying to fix some
things, but Ms. Crouse is not sure why it's unexpected. The Library Board established a
facilities workgroup as part of the strategic plan and included 8 people including 2
branch directors that included Fort Loudon and St. Thomas, leadership staff members,
and technical services staff members. She continued that they got together and made a
plan and took a week to declutter the libraries and bought some small items of furniture
and other items. Ms. Crouse said that sadly Gale said her summer attendance was
down this year on programs and has statistics on that as well. Chairman Keller said that
one of the concerns was there was never any formal communication or a letter that went
out to the Fort Loudon community or patrons of the Library after the study was done and
then the press release that was sent out last month, he feels it's a legitimate concern.
Ms. Crouse is not sure she can answer that but there was discussion about doing
something like that but it was not approved. She was at the library conducting the
survey last year that asked a lot of questions based on their library values. The patron's
response was that they loved the library and that the staff goes out of their way to make
it personable and they are wonderful people. Her only concern that if some mailing will
go out, normally they would get an upsurge and outcry initially but then it dies off and the
usage falls right back off to where it was before. She totally respects the people from
the community here today and she understands where they are coming from. She
continued that libraries like Fort Loudon were really important to the community but they
weren't mobile. Chairman Keller asked what the plan going forward is once the library is
closed and that the Commissioners want to make sure the library needs are being met in
the community. He asked what the future holds. Bernice said it's not a dead option but
it's a slow moving option. She has approached three property owners but they are not
ready to sell yet but that takes time. Both Fort Loudon and St. Thomas are kind of
hidden since the St. Thomas Library is inside the fire house and most residents don't
know that. She explained that there are meetings this Saturday morning and Tuesday
evening to meet with the community to see what their needs are. She met with the Fort
Loudon Community Center Board who owns the building they are in which is not truly
ADA accessible. The Community Center and the Library are willing to do a partnership
to allow the bookmobile on their site or another site that could be accessed once or twice
a week. There are 20 places throughout the county that is serviced by the bookmobile
now. There are deposit collections in the community that they could beef up and she
has made contact with churches, schools, childcare providers, Head Start and
Mercersburg area preschools and they are ready to accept these services. Ms. Crouse
said she would like the books to be in the hands of children but most of the books in the
children's section in Fort Loudon Library have never been opened. Another concern that
was raised was internet service and Wi-Fi in Fort Loudon. She said they will work
diligently to broadcast Wi-Fi in the area. She continued that most people that use Wi-Fi
are just sitting in the parking lot and that's ok but those people are not counted. Ms.
Sabetto asked when someone takes a book out of the library who gets credit for that.
Bernice responded that the lending library gets the credit. Ms. Sabetto said she has
400+ signatures on a petition that want the library to stay open. When making the
announcement this Saturday, they are not making any suggestions, they're saying its
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closing and nothing more to say about it. She asked that they at least give people a
chance to improve the situation. Just blindsiding the people is not right. A meeting at
7:00 PM is not good enough to get out the citizens. She has been putting the flyers out
to the community and no one knew it was closing. This is not democratic, it's not right
and it's not a good way to deal with the public. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked if the
reason for the library closing is financial. Ms. Crouse responded that's not the only
reason, it's lack of use, and there are problems with the cost of it. The cost for Fort
Loudon Library is not astronomical, but it's a poor facility and no one is using it.
Commissioner Ziobrowski asked what measure they used whether a library is functional
or not. Ms. Crouse said it's not fair to compare smaller libraries to larger libraries. The
independent study group used a matrix to compare the situation. They wanted it to be
independent from the library system and wanted an objective opinion not just their own.
Dr. Muller said the issue with the surveys is that sample surveys are excellent ways to
determine the needs of the community and with all due respect going to the library and
asking a few patrons that are users and presumably satisfied, such a survey does not
reach out to the community to see what prevents them from using the library and what
improvements are needed to attract people. If the results of that survey were reviewed
and then the results were disseminated to the citizenry then they wouldn't be here today.
He continued that the citizens would have been put on notice and would assume the
responsibility for saving their own resource. His perception is that these steps weren't
taken and now the decision came like a blast and catching people unaware. The petition
shows they want their library. He continued that they need a greater number of facts so
they can put their money where their mouth is and if patronage increases good, if not
then close it down. Nick Sabetto has lived in Fort Loudon for 41 years. He said there is
a bunch of people that use the library for various reasons. He doesn't think they will
save anything by closing it. Mary Kauffman said she appreciates Bernice talking about
the need for internet service; she can't stress this enough being from that community.
She said she was not counted as a patron because she comes in and doesn't get
counted. Maybe there needs to be a better way to count the patrons every time they are
doing something at the library. They need a better way of capturing usage of the library
that will help in counting people. Denise Bigham from the Library system said they do
count people that use the Wi-Fi and everyone is counted when they come in the door
and she can get those numbers for everyone. Gale Sacho keeps track of everyone that
walks in the door at Fort Loudon. Chairman Keller said the Library Board is meeting
Tuesday night in the lower level community room in Coyle Library and public comments
are welcome. He asked that any comments made today be taken back to the Library
Board. He continued that the Saturday activity will also be informative and he would
recommend that as well. He continued that the Commissioners don't dictate policy to
the library, but the Commissioners main concern is that adequate services are provided.
He said they put a lot of faith in the Library Board and ask them to make a decision that
is best for the library system. Chairman Keller thanked everyone for attending today.
On a motion by Robert L. Thomas, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski;
unanimously approved to enter an executive session at 10:16 a.m. this date for the
purpose to review personnel matters. No action will be required after the executive
session. The Board reconvened into regular session at 10:38 a.m.
The Board recessed at 10:39 a.m. to attend a public hearing on the 2019
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
The Board reconvened at 10:47 a.m.
Continued on page 6
Chairman Keller said that Steve Thomas, Planning Director, recommends the
Board approve the applications that were presented during the public hearing to provide
funds in the amount of $25,000 to Mercersburg Lions Park for pavilion and playground
upgrades and $264,874 to Quincy Township for their water extension project that Mr.
Thomas explained during the public hearing. On a motion by Robert L. Thomas,
seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the recommendations of the
Planning Department for the 2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
application.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:51 a.m. with a motion by Robert L. Thomas;
seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski.
Carrie E. Gray
County Administrator/Chief Clerk
FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
David S. Keller, Chairman
Robert L. Thomas
Robert G. Ziobrowski