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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-04-08 Commissioner Minutes WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2020 The Franklin County Commissioners met Wednesday, April 8, 2020, with the following members participating remotely: David S. Keller, John T. Flannery 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. The Commissioners meeting was held by remote and everyone participated by phone or video conferencing including commissioners, staff, public and press. The On a motion by John T. Flannery; seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved to adopt the agenda. There was no public comment. The minutes of the April 1, 2020 meeting was reviewed. These will be decided upon in the afternoon approval session. The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Commissioner Flannery asked for more information on action item #1, the pass-through grant for PA Link to Aging and Disability Resources and if the position is covered 100% by Link funds. Carrie Gray, County Administrator, responded that the funds are not covered 100% because the position also carries other duties. Traci Kline, Area Agency on Aging Director confirmed that the funding does cover the Information and Referral duties of the position. The items will be approved in the afternoon approval session. On a motion by John T. Flannery; seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved to enter an executive session at 11:14 a.m. this date for the purpose to review potential litigation and personnel matters. Chairman Keller announced that following the executive session action may occur during the afternoon session. The Board reconvened into regular session at 12:45 p.m. The Board recessed and will reconvene at 1:00 p.m. for final approval of the items that were reviewed and for presentations. The Board reconvened at 1:00 p.m. There was no public comment. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved all bills presented and ordered paid. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the minutes of the April 1, 2020 meeting. The Board reviewed Area Agency on Aging Office matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute the amendment to the contract for pass-through funding between the County of Franklin and Cumberland County to designate Cumberland County to coordinate services and activities for the Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources, PA Link for the period of July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. This amendment will increase the amount of reimbursement by $130.00 within the LINK Coordinator wages and expenses for a total amount of $19,476.00. Continued on page 2 The Board reviewed Area Agency on Aging Office matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute the application to the Department of Agriculture to Beverage licenses at a cost of $82.00 for each center. The license is required in order for the center to serve congregate and home delivered meals. The Board reviewed Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute change order #005 from Lobar, Inc. to delete STC, Change ACT for a credit of $72.41 and revise gas line for a credit of $252.00 at the Administration Building project. The Board reviewed Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute change order #14 from Lobar, Inc. to add still jamb posts at several 2 story curtain wall sections, revise concrete slab reinforcing from WWF to macro synthetic fiber and delete uppermost horizontal sun screen at curtainwalls EC3 and EC4 for a decreased amount of $2,415.82 at the New and Historic Courthouse project. The Board reviewed Commissioners Office matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the letter of agreement between the County of Franklin and Dennis E. Black for engineering services for the creation a Land Development Plan for the former ARC building on Franklin Farm Lane, at a cost not to exceed $10,000.00. The Department of Emergency Services matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute the agreement between the County of Franklin and Priority Dispatch to lock in a 3-year price for software license renewals at a cost of $77,868.00 for the period of September 12, 2020 through September 11, 2023. This software enables the DES quality assurance coordinator to check 911 calls, as required by PEMA, and determine that the dispatcher handled the call in a timely and correct manner, as per protocol standards. The South Central Task Force is requiring all ther than the basic maintenance. The costs will be paid from Act 12 Universal 911 surcharge. This action will replace the action taken on January 30, 2020. The Board reviewed Grants/CJAB services. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the grant request to PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency to request $150,000.00 from the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program to purchase radios to replace Motorola radios that are reaching their end of life in the Detectives. The grant period is from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. The Board reviewed Human Services Administration matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the updated contract listing for all contracts and addendums for Fiscal Year 2019/2020 for the Human Services Administration department. Contract listing is maintained for proper accounting of all contacts to include vendor name and address, type(s) of service provided and rate(s) charged for services. Continued on page 3 The Board reviewed ITS matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute the maintenance renewal from General Code for LaserFiche Software and licensing at a cost of $84,422.00 for the period of May 24, 2020 through May 23, 2021. LaserFiche is used to scan and archive documents as well as provide electronic forms and allow for public retrieval via the web to select scanned documents. General Code is the reseller and provides support on this application. The Board reviewed Risk Management matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the quote from AllCom Global Services for electronic access system hardware and installation (proximity access) for the Archives Phase I project at a cost of $29,115.00. The Board reviewed additional Risk Management matters. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the quote from AllCom Global Services for video surveillance for the Archives Phase I project at a cost of $22,181.20. This includes installation of 17 interior and exterior cameras. In accordance with PA Act notifications, C.S. Davidson, Inc. notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Permit being applied by method located on Cool Hollow Road in Montgomery Township. In accordance with PA Act notifications, martin and martin, Inc. notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection General NPDES Permit being applied by Cumberland Valley Regional Development Corporation for extension of United Drive with utilities across Furnace Run with the United Business Park located in Southampton Township. In accordance with PA Act notifications, SCS Engineers notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection General NPDES Permit being applied by Blue Ridge Landfill Company to renew the facilities existing Title V operating permit. The Board reviewed information regarding National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Jacob Crider, Director of Department of Emergency Services (DES) and DES employees participated remotely and thanked the responders. The Commissioners thanked them for all they do to help citizens of Franklin County and keep them safe. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved to sign Proclamation #2020 - 03 for the purpose of proclaiming the week of April 12-18, 2020 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week and that the attached proclamation be made a part of these minutes. The Board reviewed appointments to the Franklin County Industrial Development Authority Board. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved to appoint Chris Ardinger, Frank Traver, Georgina Cranston and John McPaul for the term of April 4, 2020 through April 3, 2023. Chairman Keller announced that the Commissioners have been contacted by a few individuals on whether the County will defer any filing deadlines for property tax payments and he is aware of a few counties that have already taken action on this. He is authorizing staff to prepare some options for consideration for the Board meeting next week since the end of April is the end of the discount period. He continued that staff has completed preliminary research on this but there is more work to be done. Continued on page 4 Commissioner Ziobrowski said he has seen some numbers of folks that pay during the discount period and that the impact on county finances to have a delay would not be severe but this could give some relief to folks that are greatly struggling right now. He is in support of putting together a package for their consideration next week. Commissioner Flannery announced that he agrees. Chairman Keller continued that this would provide some folks some relief and it may defer some the payments of taxes to later in the year but the County could ultimately receive the same amount of taxes by the end of the year. We are in a solid financial condition that we could manage that. He asked Ms. Gray to bring recommendations or options to the Board next week. Chairman Keller said that from the executive session today was to discuss litigation and personnel matters. There is no action with the litigation matter but staff has some recommended actions for the personnel matter. Carrie Gray, County Administrator, explained that the County has 633 employees on the roster which includes 377 that report to the various departments under the County; 140 that report to the Courts; and 116 that report to elected officials. She continued that from those numbers, and after consulting with President Judge Meyers and the other independent Elected Officials, they are recommending reducing by 84.5 (22%) full time positions that are county-supervised staff; 34 (24%) that are court-supervised county staff; and 40 (29%) that are independent elected official county staff. Ms. Gray continued that employees impacted will be eligible for unemployment and the recommendation is that days of the furlough. Their paid time off and sick leave reserve accrued through April 15, 2020 will be available to them when they return. Staff will work with departments to implement the plan, effective April 16, 2020. These are the recommendations to address the critical needs of the County and address the reduced workload caused by the t COVID-19 response. Chairman Keller said he believes this plan is a good one and employees to be back as soon as possible. He supports continuing to provide health care benefits for staff that are off work. This is the best balance that we can achieve and he commends Human Resources, County Administration, Elected Officials and the President Judge that have helped come up with this plan. Commissioner Flannery wanted to mention for the record that the County is willing to pay our portion of the health care benefits but the employees will still have to pay their portion of their insurance while they are furloughed which is sad but we have to be responsive to agrees the county may gain some benefits that these folks will be furloughed and will no longer be paying the salary portion but COVID-19 virus will end up costing the county especially with the state being under tremendous fiscal pressure due to lack of income from a lot of people. We have to do the best to protect our fiscal proprietary and our tax payers. From a health perspective its best to keep practicing social distancing and with out of 788 in PA has tested positive for COVID-19, if that percentage persisted in Franklin County we would have roughly 200 people testing positive but today we have 43. He thinks with our county being rural and our folks have tried really hard to practice social distancing but this also tells him that the worst is yet to come before it gets better. Anything we can do at the county level is valuable from not only fiscal perspective but health perspective he thinks this is a good plan. Chairman Keller also said that during executive session they also discussed another topic as well. Ms. Gray responded that she wanted to get direction on additional compensation for those classified as emergency responders. There may be the need to do this during salary board next week. The Board agreed to move forward and salary board action may need taken that would include the Controller and anyone else needed for the approval. Chairman Keller Continued on page 5 said that other jurisdictions are doing something similar so he is in favor of this. Ms. Gray also wanted to clarify that the Courts are requesting to pay admin pay leave for th those court employees that have not been able to work through April 15. The Board th agreed to support this request as long as that option is not available after April 15. On a motion by John T. Flannery, seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski; unanimously approved the memo that includes the recommendations for staff furloughs effective April 16, 2020. The meeting was adjourned at 1:47 p.m. with a motion by John T. Flannery; seconded by Robert G. Ziobrowski. Carrie E. Gray County Administrator/Chief Clerk FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ____________________________________ David S. Keller, Chairman ____________________________________ John T. Flannery ___________________________________ Robert G. Ziobrowski