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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-05-13 Commissioner Minutes WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020 The Franklin County Commissioners met Wednesday, May 13, 2020, with the following members present: 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 remotely and everyone participated by phone or video conferencing including commissioners, staff, public and press. The meeting was recorded and will be plac A roll call vote was taken and individuals participating in the meeting remotely identified themselves. Chairman Keller asked to amend the agenda to include a letter that has been Flannery over the weekend. He asked to add that to the agenda this morning following board actions. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved to adopt the amended agenda. There was no public comment. Chairman Keller turned the floor over to Julia Lehman, Communications Coordinator to provide a summary of the public comment forms including names, municipality or town, and their comments. Carrie Gray, County Administrator, provided the overall figures between emails, electronic, hard copy letters and calls for a total of 32 residents who sent in comments and that 69% are requesting the board follow the the Commissioners to work with the Governor to change to a county-by-county approach for reopening. Ms. Lehman provided a summary of the comments as per the attached -05- The minutes of the May 6, 2020 meeting were reviewed. These will be decided upon in the afternoon approval session. The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Commissioner John Flannery asked for more information on the change orders for the courthouse/ administration building projects. John Hart, Project Manager explained board action #1 is with Lobar, Inc., change order #16 to excavate a trench for a gas line at the Courthouse project and board action #3, along the same line, is with Stouffer Mechanical, change order #3 is to extend the gas service at the Courthouse project. He continued that board action #2, with Mann Plumbing and Heating, is to extend the downspout nozzles at the Administration Building project. Commissioner Ziobrowski asked for more clarification on the PrimeCare contract. He would like clarification on what happens on a capitation basis and also what happens considering additional costs PrimeCare has to absorb because of the COVID crisis. Carrie Gray, County Administrator, explained that the amendment is for comprehensive medical health services at the jail through PrimeCare and that the increase is guided by the CPI-U (consumer price index) for medical care services which for the 12 month rolling period they looked at was 5.5%. She continued that they worked in negotiations that it would be a maximum increase of 3%. She continued to Commissioner Ziobrowski that there are a couple of payment structured types including a per diem after a capitation as well as a catastrophic fund that comprises the total. Warden Bill Bechtold explained that the contract covers up to an average daily population of 430 inmates for normal medical Continued on page 2 expenses but it does not cover specialized care and he provided some examples. It also does not cover hospital care. Once inmates are admitted to the hospital Medicaid starts to cover their medical expenses. He continued that the inmates that cost a lot of money are ones that go to the hospital for treatment and come back and are never admitted into the hospital. He continued that $11,000 a month, or $132,000 a year, is built into the contract to cover those catastrophic costs. . He said they have spent a lot of money on COVID costs. He continued that we received a letter from the state that is now mandating COVID testing for every inmate that transfers to and from the states. They are also looking to implement incoming COVID testing on new commitments. Capacity of quarantined beds is getting tight so they are hoping that testing incoming inmates will help reduce the amount of time that inmates are in the quarantine unit. They estimate those costs to be about $15,375 per month and that is not covered by the contract. There are additional COVID expenses for testing and those inmates that go to the hospital for evaluation but are not admitted. They do not have a strong number on this yet because a lot of it is just projection. If we go back to our original pattern of testing 200 intakes a month, these costs will go up. The Warden continued that Prime Care has been able to utilize their spending power and get the COVID testing for $55 per test for us which is a really good price but it is still not covered by the contract. Commissioner Ziobrowski stated that they are doing a great job at the Jail but he wanted more clarification on the capitation and that right now we have 300 people in jail so we get a break on the overall $2 M costs because we are running roughly 70% of what we were. The Warden responded that we would only pay for those inmates that they serviced up to the 430 which is their cap and after that we would pay additional funds. Carrie Gray also responded that this addendum is year-by-year and we look at our previous jail population and the minimum cap is what we negotiate. The balance for us is when we go over that amount we pay a higher inmate per day rate after the capitation. The Warden stated that this is the first year that we have been under that 430 cap but he wanted to mention that PrimeCare has stepped up with drug treatment and helped get us grants to cover treatment and they are covering some stuff that is not in the contract. The items will be approved in the afternoon approval session. consideration. There have been a lot of inquiries and feedback from the community on County should go from red phase to yellow phase. He thought they should clarify what s adverse to Commissioner Flannery on the issues. Chairman Keller read the letter which is attached and made a part of these minutes. He said the letter voices his point of view on the subject and they share the state legislators and Commissioner Flanner that were his decisions, the appropriate way to address that is through communications, persuasions or legislation or action in the court. This letter captures that and he endorses it. Commissioner Flannery stated he believes there is some misunderstanding on what he reads to move from red status to yellow status. He does not propose reopening Franklin County. Moving from red to yellow keeps most checks and balances of what is in place right now. When he goes out in the community and sees all the large big box stores that are open and that includes Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Target, manufacturing and warehouses with hundreds of people under one roof at the same business owners including the small jewelry stores, shoe stores, salons and barbers, those that are willing to follow CDC guidelines that in his opinion puts us in a much safer environment then some of these large stores and manufacturers that are open. This does not jeopardize our community anymore then what it jeopardizes us right now. Commissioner Ziobrowski offered a World War II analogy. When Hitler altered his strategy of bombing British airfields and began bombing cities, the residents of those cities could not understand why Churchill was providing only token defenses. In fact Churchill was concentrating air defense on the airfields, gaining valuable time to repair Continued on page 3 red to yellow would open up some floodgates and the whole idea of going more quickly than the scientists and health community tells us is dangerous and he thinks it would be a pyrrhic victory, win the battle and lose the war. Dr. Fauci said yesterday we could see a second surge that could be worse than the first. Commissioner Ziobrowski continued office to move from red to yellow and we do have a chain of command that needs to be respected and that has been validated by the Courts. Chairman Keller asked Mr. read it but the last thing he would like to do is go back on his word. He also asked to emphasize the unfairness that does exist with the likes of Target, Walmart, Lowes and unfairness of those business establishments that are allowed to operate when small business owners are not even allowed to do curbside service. Commissioner Keller said he would like to take some time before the afternoon meeting to draft a second revised declaring the county move to the yellow phase. If those 2 issues that include reopening and red to yellow and more strongly voicing the desire for some equity for what Flannery said he would like to look at it but he wishes there was an orange phase. Commissioner Ziobrowski has no objection to trying to find some common ground. Yellow does not look all that different from red , he understands it's devastating to small businesses and to people that work there so he has no objection to finding some authority exists. He has no objection to trying to find some common ground with Mr. Flannery because he thinks his opinions are valid and well thought out. The Board recessed and will reconvene at 1:00 p.m. for final approval of the items that were reviewed. The Board reconvened at 1:00 p.m. There was no public comment. Ms. Lehman provided a summary of additional comments that were received -05-13 Public Chairman Keller said he did try to craft a revised letter after the discussion during the morning meeting, but he was unsuccessful, so he asked for a minor change to Boa -open Pennsylvania until such seconded by David S. Keller; approved the Open Letter that was read this morning. Commissioners Keller and Ziobrowski voted yes while Commissioner Flannery voted no. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved all bills presented and ordered paid. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the minutes of the April 1, 2020 meeting. Continued on page 4 The Board reviewed 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 the change order #016 from Lobar, Inc. to excavate a trench across Central Alley for new gas service at the New & Historic Courthouse project for an additional cost of $8,356.55. 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 the change order #003 from Mann Plumbing and Administration Building project for an additional cost of $8,365.10. 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 the change order #004 from Stouffer Mechanical Contractors to extend gas service at the Courthouse Annex for an additional cost of $2,212.55. The Board reviewed Grants/CJAB matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the Project Modification Request (PMR) to the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency for the Intermediate Punishment Grant that provides supervision, treatment and supplies for all level 3 and level 4 offenders. This PMR will move funding from inpatient services, recovery, and alcohol monitoring to increase outpatient services by $16,691.00, physician services by $2,000.00 and medications by $19,207.00. An additional $590.00 will be moved to cover Translation Services and $1,400.00 to cover drug test confirmations. Leveraged Medical Assistance dollars will also be used to help cover these costs. The Board reviewed additional Grants/CJAB matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the grant application to CCAP PCoRP Loss Prevention Grant to upgrade the existing fire alarm panel at the Franklin County Jail for a grant amount of $22,587.00 for the period of June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021. The panel is outdated, and as of 12/31/19, no longer supported by the manufacturer. Parts are no longer being made, although continue to be made available through the service company for the time being. The Board reviewed Jail matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the addendum #10 to the Comprehensive Health Services agreement dated May 30, 2002 between the County of Franklin and Prime Care Medical, Inc. to provide an increase of 3% for a monthly amount of $152,934.42 effective January 1, 2020. There is no annual increase for catastrophic liability. The total compensation for medical services and catastrophic liability will be $1,967,213.05 for 2020. In accordance with PA Act notifications, Dominion Energy Services, Inc. notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection General Renewal Permit being applied for the Chambersburg Compressor Station located in Borough of Chambersburg. Continued on page 5 The Board reviewed information regarding Motorcycle Safety Month. Chairman local motorcycle friends who are normally here in support of the proclamation. He encourages all motorcycle riders to be safe and encourages all motorists to be on the lookout for motorcycles on the road. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved to sign Franklin County Proclamation #2020-06 proclaiming the month of May as Motorcycle Safety Month and that the attached proclamation be made a part of these minutes. Commissioner Ziobrowski said this is a fine group of men and women and they work hard to promote motorcycle safety. He wanted to make sure to commend the ABATE folks for actions they do to promote motorcycle safety. The meeting was adjourned at 1:12 p.m. with a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery. Carrie E. Gray County Administrator/Chief Clerk FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ____________________________________ David S. Keller, Chairman ____________________________________ John T. Flannery ___________________________________ Robert G. Ziobrowski