DAUPHIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
WORKSHOP MEETING
March 16, 2005 10:00 A.M.

MEMBERS PRESENT

Jeff Haste, Chairman
Dominic D. DiFrancesco, II, Vice Chairman
George P. Hartwick, III, Secretary

STAFF PRESENT

Chad Saylor, Chief Clerk; Julia E. Nace, Assistant Chief Clerk; Marie Rebuck, Controller; Robert Dick, Treasurer; Bruce Foreman, Esq., Solicitor's Office; Steve Farina, Prothonotary; Gary Serhan, Deputy Controller; Garry Esworthy, Risk Manager; Dave Schreiber, Personnel; Faye Fisher, Director of Personnel; Kay Sinner, Personnel; Jennifer Storm, Victim Witness Director; Diane McNaughton, Press Secretary; Melanie McCaffrey, Solicitor's Office; Edgar Cohen, Director of Facilities Maintenance; Randy Baratucci, Director of Purchasing; Dan Robinson, Director of Community & Economic Development; August "Skip" Memmi, Community & Economic Development; Sandy Moore, Human Services Director; Duane Lentz, MH/MR; Anna Horst, MH/MR; Amanda DeSanto, MH/MR; Michelle Schaaf, A.A.A.; Sue Pierce, A.A.A.; Joshua Berra, Children & Youth; Kimberly Fitzpatrick, Children & Youth; Marge Ebersole, Children & Youth; Jena Wolgemuth, Commissioners' Office; Kacey Truax, Commissioners' Office; Lena Martinez, Commissioners' Office and Richie Martz, Commissioners' Office

GUESTS PRESENT

Peter Carlucci, Esq., and Jack Sherzer, Patriot-News

MINUTES

CALL TO ORDER

Mr. Haste, Chairman of the Board, called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.

MOMENT OF SILENCE

Everyone observed a moment of silence.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Haste: We have two sets of Meeting Minutes that we will take up at next week's meeting.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Mr. Haste: We are at the point in time for public participation. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to address the Board? (There was none.)

PERSONNEL

Ms. Sinner: In the Personnel Packet I have a list of vacancies. There is one item that I am requesting a vote on today for a full-time Linen Service Worker at Spring Creek. There are a couple of other positions to be voted on next week for Spring Creek, Facilities Maintenance, part-time Summer Clerk in the Prothonotary's Office, Administrative Assistant II in Purchasing and a full-time First Deputy in the Recorder of Deeds. I have several new hires for Spring Creek. Also, #8 in the New Hires, I would like a vote on today for the full-time Linen Service Worker. That is a reinstatement as a result of an arbitration award. I have several personnel changes and employee separations. I also have overtime reports and one overtime request for the Prison.

Mr. Haste: Any questions of Kay? (There were none.)

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick that the Board approve Item #1 under Requests to Post/Fill Vacancies and Item #8 under Hew Hires for a full-time Linen Service Worker at Spring Creek; motion carried.

PURCHASING

Mr. Baratucci: You should have all received a Packet yesterday. There are a few budget issues on here, but they all have been resolved this morning. Obviously too late to have them corrected on the Packet, but they will be corrected for next week. If you have any questions on the Items, I will try to answer them. Otherwise, you can look them over until next week.

Mr. Hartwick: Is there any way that we can match what's being claimed for the JPO Title IV-E costs with actually what they submitted from their request? Actually they made sort of a proposal of what they were going to claim under the IV-E reimbursement. Are you matching that up to what they said they would.?

Mr. Haste: Are you talking about in the Budget?

Mr. Baratucci: Is that one of the requests on here? Is that the one for Juvenile?

Mr. Hartwick: Yes.

Mr. Baratucci: Mike is not here, but I am guessing that the Budget amount would reflect the amount that is available for those funds. That is a special cost center. Page 12 identifies it as JPO Title IV-E cost center. In that particular line item for equipment there is $61,000. They are anticipating spending $31,000 this week. As far as any more details Mike would be the one to talk to, because I just have what he has put in the Budget here for this item. It looks like it is well within what is budgeted. They may have some more items that they are anticipating and I think Juvenile would probably be able to answer that question.

Mr. Hartwick: I'll ask them.

Since Sandy is here what is the frame prints from the Graphics Art Studio? It sounds like we are spending a lot of money for framing prints.

Mr. Baratucci: Actually at the bottom of the page there is an explanation. They are posters that are being hung in Children and Youth and other sites where the family group conferencing occurs.

Mr. Hartwick: I see it.

Mr. Baratucci: That is one of the budget issues that have been corrected.

TRAINING PACKET

Mr. Haste: We do have the Training Packet for review. I see there are no items that need to be dealt with this week.

DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS/GUESTS

1. Commissioners
   1. Presentation of Proclamation proclaiming the month of March "Social Work Month" Representatives: Duane Lentz, Anna Horst, Amanda DeSanto, Michelle Schaaf, Sue Pierce, Joshua Berra and Kimberly Fitzpatrick

Mr. Hartwick: It gives me great pleasure to honor individuals who have come here today in recognition of "Social Work Month". I know this Board of Commissioners has a great understanding and compassion for those individuals who are in need in the community, but even more special are the individual social workers who actually do that job every day. I guess you can all relate—for very little pay, usually very long hours and working your butts off and you've got a benevolent purpose to help other people. If you didn't have that in your heart obviously you wouldn't be a social worker. In Dauphin County we have been able to achieve some great things with obviously your help and the help of social workers within this County that we didn't think we would be able to achieve several years ago. Today, in honor of that, we have prepared a Proclamation that I would like to read on behalf of the Commissioners.

Office of County Commissioner
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Proclamation

We, the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners, join communities across the nation in honoring the social workers who have dedicated their lives to helping others, and we welcome this opportunity to applaud their passion for enhancing the welfare of individuals, families and the community;

Whereas, every day, social workers assist individuals, families and communities with finding available resources to guide them through the most complex issues and choices;

Whereas, more than one-half million social workers throughout the United States are dedicated to improving the society in which we live, one person at a time;

Whereas, social workers challenge the system to advocate social and political change, giving voice to those who thought they had none, regardless of race, creed or age;

Whereas, Dauphin County's social workers have increased adoptions in the county by 300 percent, implemented Family Group Conferencing-a first for the state, expanded efforts to address juvenile delinquency and developed intergenerational programs for children and seniors;

Whereas, these often-unsung heroes labor quietly helping people help themselves, whenever and wherever they need it most;

Therefore, we join the 251,300 residents of Dauphin County in commending and thanking all of Dauphin County's dedicated social workers; and in their honor, we do hereby formally proclaim March 2005 to be "Professional Social Work Month" in Dauphin County; and we urge all citizens to follow the inspirational lead of our social workers in reaching out to everyone with healing and compassion.

Mr. Hartwick: Could the social workers that are present please come up front to receive this Proclamation on behalf of the Board?

(The Commissioners and the audience gave a round of applause.)

Mr. Haste: I would just like to add to the Proclamation and the comments that Mr. Hartwick mentioned. Throughout life I've learned that most folks who are in social work actually do it because of the drive and passion and not really because of the paycheck. Quite frankly, I think you have to be commended for that. I know that a lot of the situations you are involved in become quite emotional, because it is tough at times to separate yourself from the emotions of the situation that is going on. I think you need to be commended and I think today, in addition to our employees, I think it should also be noted that there are a lot of volunteers who help us in this role and I think each of you have your own cadre of volunteers that help you in your process and if it were not for those volunteers, whether it be faith based or in some other important organization we quite frankly could not provide the services that we do. Even though you are the driving force of that, I think we also need to recognize those folks and thank them as well. Thank you.

Mr. DiFrancesco: The one thing that I learned very clearly since coming on this job and getting involved with so many human services issues on so many different levels is that the bottom line if you've never had contact with the system there is absolutely no way that you could appreciate the job that you all do. There is also no way to appreciate the service that you render to that family or that individual that is in need. I just want to say thank you all very much. I have admitted this many times in the past year there is no way that I could step into the shoes of so many of the people that work for Dauphin County, because they do such a magnificent job and they don't do it for the money. They do it because there hearts are in it and they care about the people that they are working with. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all very much for the service and all your colleagues that couldn't be here today.

1. Jennifer Storm, Victim Witness Director
   1. Renewal of a VOCA Grant Application

Ms. Storm: I am here to present our annual Continuation Grant, which is our VOCA Grant. It is the Victims of Crime Act Grant. It is a Federal Grant that is filtered through PCCD and there is a direct allocation that goes to Dauphin County. That allocation is split between our agency, the YWCA and the Children's Resource Center. That decision is made at a policy board level. This year we were slotted to take a 7% decrease and I am proud to say that I fought pretty hard for our agency and we did not see any type of decrease this year. We did sustain our funding. The amount that I am coming before you today is the exact same amount that we had last year. That amount is $180,624 with a match of $45,156. This is a match that comes from the County each year and it is in the form of our rent, space, printing and postage for our office in the Courthouse and Juvenile Probation. This Victims of Crime Grant funds nine of our employees; four of them 100%, three of them 65% and a portion of my salary and also a portion of the manager's salary. It is really a critical piece of funding that we get along with our State appropriation, which is the Rights of Services Act. It is one of the backbones of our Agency and I am kind of saying this strongly just because next year we are slotted to take a possible 70% decrease in these funds. I feel that I would be remiss if I didn't discuss that currently within the President's budget, he is looking to rescind the reserve. The VOCA money comes from penalties that are assessed on offenders and it goes to the Federal government. We have been able to build a rather healthy reserve, which helps supplement the appropriation that the President gives us each year. The appropriation for this year is going to stay the same, but he is calling to rescind the reserve, which would result in a 70% decrease next year. This would have devastating effects on victims and service agencies across the nation. In 2007, it is likely that VOCA will be zeroed out completely, which would be a huge crisis in victims' services across the country. What we are looking to do right now is there is a resolution that hopefully is going to go through the House this week asking the President to reconsider that request. We are asking any and all local officials to contact our senators to try to get them to sign onto that. There is also a letter that has come out of the Senate yesterday requesting that the President also reconsider that, because it will have devastating effects. We would lose half our staff, if not more, if that were to happen. That would be devastating considering the victims in Dauphin County are not declining. Our services are increasing. Last year alone, we had over 5,000 new victims walk through the door.

Mr. Haste: Does any of this go to your satellite office?

Ms. Storm: In northern Dauphin County, no. This grant funds our advocates in the Adult unit, it funds a portion of my salary and a portion of my manager of direct services salary.

Mr. Hartwick: Just on the lines of advocacy, is there any way that you could supply us with the names and necessary information so we can assist you? I know we have made great strides in helping victims in making sure that they are not victimized twice. This is something worth advocating for. If you could give us the information on who to push, we would be glad to follow up.

Ms. Storm: There are a couple form letters that I have right now that we have been sending out. I can give you some background and some history on VOCA so you can prepare a letter.

Mr. Haste: We should rework the form letter.

Ms. Storm: I can give you some examples so you have some history and some background on VOCA. I'll send that over to you this afternoon.

Mr. Haste: Do you need a signature today?

Ms. Storm: Just for our portion.

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board approve the VOCA Grant Application for Victim Witness; motion carried.

Mr. Saylor: Last year you undertook an effort to update your publications and materials. How is that progressing?

Ms. Storm: We are in the process of doing that. Our website should actually have a shell by next week. We have seen a lot of the publications that Bravo Group has worked on for us and they are coming up with some really great items. We are looking to have a formal launch of our new image, so to speak, in May. At that time we will have a press conference, which we will obviously invite the Commissioners to and we are probably going to follow that up with a celebration on the roof of Bravo. It is going really well. We have a couple public service announcements that we are going to be doing. Tom Corbett is going to do one for us. Mr. Marsico and I are going to do one as well. It is coming along really well.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Mr. Haste: We have Items A through D. It looks like everything needs a vote today. Item A we discussed last week. Item B we discussed at the Prison Board meeting. Item C and D have been ongoing items. Are there any questions or discussions on any of these items?

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick that the Board approve the following Items A through D; motion carried.

1. Adopt Ordinance No. 1-2005 authorizing the sale of the Veterans Memorial Building to the Industrial Development Authority. (***REQUEST VOTE 3/16/05)
   1. AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY OF DAUPHIN, PENNSYLVANIA DETERMINING TO INCUR DEBT IN THE AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $900,000; DETERMINING THAT SUCH DEBT SHALL BE INCURRED AS LEASE RENTAL DEBT TO BE EVIDENCED BY A GUARANTEED LEASE REVENUE NOTE, SERIES OF 2005, TO BE AUTHORIZED AND TO BE ISSUED BY DAUPHIN COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY; BRIEFLY DESCRIBING THE PROJECT FOR WHICH SAID DEBT IS TO BE INCURRED AND SPECIFYING THE REALISTIC USEFUL LIFE OF SAID PROJECT; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING PROPER OFFICERS OF THE COUNTY TO EXECUTE, ATTEST, SEAL AND DELIVER, AS APPROPRIATE, A GUARANTY AGREEMENT WITH RESPECT TO AFORESAID GUARANTEED LEASE REVENUE NOTE; APPROVING THE FORM OF SAID GUARANTY AGREEMENT; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CHAIRMAN OR VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AND THE CHIEF CLERK OF THE COUNTY TO PREPARE , VERIFY AND FILE, AS APPLICABLE, THE DEBT STATEMENT, THE BORROWING BASE CERTIFICATE TO BE APPENDED TO THE DEBT STATEMENT, AND OTHER APPROPRIATE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNIT DEBT ACT [53 Pa. C.S. ? 8001 ET SEQ.]; SPECIFYING THE MAXIMUM LEASE RENTALS TO BE PAID BY THE COUNTY PURSUANT TO SAID GUARANTY AGREEMENT; GUARANTEEING PAYMENT OF THE PRINCIPAL OF AND INTEREST ON AFORESAID GUARANTEED LEASE REVENUE NOTE AND MAKING CERTAIN COVENANTS WITH RESPECT THERETO; SPECIFYING THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF THE GUARANTY OBLIGATIONS OF THE COUNTY PURSUANT TO SUCH GUARANTY AGREEMENT; PLEDGING THE FULL FAITH, CREDIT AND TAXING POWER OF THE COUNTY WITH RESPECT TO THE GUARANTY AGREEMENT; AUTHORIZING PROPER OFFICERS OF THE COUNTY TO EXECUTE ALL REQUIRED, NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE CERTIFICATES AND DOCUMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH SAID LEASE RENTAL DEBT AND THE PROJECT; AUTHORIZING PROPER OFFICERS OF THE COUNTY TO TAKE ALL OTHER REQUIRED, NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE ACTION IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH PROJECT AND THE EXECUTION, DELIVERY OR ACCEPTANCE OF SAID GUARANTY AGREEMENT; PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS ORDINANCE; PROVIDING FOR THE SEVERABILITY OF PROVISIONS OF THIS ORDINANCE; AND PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL INCONSISTENT ORDINANCES OR RESOLUTIONS OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES OR RESOLUTIONS.
      1. (The entire Ordinance is on file in the Commissioners' Office.)
2. Approval to submit a Dauphin County Prison Education Program Grant Application for the Dauphin County Prison Adult Education & GED Preparation to the PA Dept. of Education for 2005/2006. (***REQUEST VOTE 3/16/05)
3. Approve a Northern Dauphin County Regional Revitalization Coordination Project Cooperation Agreement between Dauphin County and the Northern Dauphin Revitalization Project, Inc. (***REQUEST VOTE 3/16/05)
4. Adopt Resolution No. 11-2005 authorizing Dauphin County through the Office of Community & Economic Development Corporation to apply for $250,00 of the Community of Opportunities Grant and $500,000 of the Infrastructure Development Loan Program from the Commonwealth of PA on behalf of the Keystone Community Development Corporation, Inc. (***REQUEST VOTE 3/16/05)
   1. (The entire Resolution is on file in the Commissioners' Office.)

SOLICITOR'S REPORT - BRUCE FOREMAN, ESQ.

Mr. Foreman: There is nothing to add to the Solicitor's Report unless there are any questions.

Mr. Haste: You have been busy the last couple weeks and I appreciate it.

Mr. Foreman: We have been busy.

Mr. Hartwick: Item #6 is a great program. Because of the one of the cutbacks we made in Personnel, we have a difficulty covering the front desk on the 5th Floor with Human Services, Personnel and IT. Through a program called Experience Works there is actually going to be a senior citizen who is going to be paid for and be trained to do that front desk work at no cost to the County. That is one that Faye brought to our attention. It sounds like a really good program. Anytime we can get people to staff things at no cost to the County's General Fund, with no future obligation is always a good thing.

The other question I have is Item #13, I know we had that item pulled off the Agenda a few times. Are we ready to move forward? Is there no issue?

Mr. Haste: I will be discussing that with the folks from the two communities. That was a topic at one of my Committee Meetings at CCAP over the weekend on just where we are with JNET and CNET and it appears that the State is not where it needs to be. Cumberland County was one of the pilot communities and things are getting worked out, but they are not there yet. I spoke with Dan and some others and I don't have a problem earmarking the dollars. I think we should, but I don't know that we want the communities to go out and develop their own system and then have to come back and spend more money to get it in conjunction with CNET. That is where we are and I need to talk to them to make sure that they are on board with that before we proceed further.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Do we want to have a brief conversation just to give some guidance in terms of the district justice office in Susquehanna Township?

Mr. Haste: I don't know where we are on that.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Basically the analysis was done and there really is no advantage or disadvantage to us converting from a lease to purchase. The only question that I raise and the reason I'm raising it, is because the property owner did approach us to see if we wanted to purchase it because he is probably going to sell it to someone else. If we don't, it really doesn't have any significant meaning it is just that the landlord would be changing. I didn't know if it was the policy since from now on we are going to build our own or whether we want to buy this one.

Mr. Haste: What is the price?

Mr. Saylor: I have some of that information back in my office. I believe this was the first mistake I made, this was the direction from the last meeting and I had some numbers from Phil Intreri before he left and I was to share this with you three and I didn't do that. I can run back to my office and get it.

Mr. Foreman: I think several of the Commissioners had asked us to review this and when we looked at the monthly payments that we would have if we purchased the property and amortized the loan and compared that to the lease payments, they were very similar. Of course, we could affect the payments on the purchase by increasing the term of the amortization, but that would just have the debt last longer. The other factor that the Board might want to take into consideration is that if we are going to purchase we might want to do that quickly because interest rates appear to be going in the wrong direction.

Mr. Haste: I would assume if a new owner has it they could increase.

Mr. Foreman: We have a long term lease with an option to purchase at the end. The term couldn't change. As the Commissioner noted there is the inference that the property is going to be sold to a new owner, but that shouldn't change anything. They would still have the same obligations to us. We would hope that they would be as responsible of a landlord that we have now. The other possibility of course is if the owner really wants to sell they might want to give us some incentive to do that.

Mr. DiFrancesco: That was my feeling. If they really wanted us to buy the building they would give us an offer we couldn't refuse.

Mr. Foreman: Obviously they could make it worth our while.

Mr. Haste: Chad, could you see that I get whatever information you have?

Mr. Saylor: I will. Basically he did the math about what we are paying monthly and then what it would cost us to buy, but he used an estimate based on the value of the building as it was assessed and what he thought we could get it for.

Mr. Haste: Has Mr. Yohe looked at those numbers?

Mr. Saylor: I don't know that he has.

Mr. Hartwick: Just a quick question, the actual use of that is obviously for a public purpose, but because it is owned by a private entity do they pay property taxes on that?

Mr. Foreman: They do pay property taxes now.

Mr. DiFrancesco: This would probably be an IDA purchase.

Mr. Hartwick: And that would still probably be problematic, because you probably would be taking some property taxes away.

Mr. Haste: Not if we include a PILOT payment; which since I've sat here I have been insistent that it be done.

Mr. Foreman: On IDA, I think you have done an estimate on what the costs would be and I think they did include a PILOT.

Mr. Haste: In fact, that is probably factored into the lease now.

Mr. Hartwick: I know we all feel strongly about that.

CHIEF CLERK'S REPORT - CHAD SAYLOR

Mr. Saylor: Mr. Lenker from the Affordable Housing Board has an RFP on a number of different services that they would like to provide to citizens of Dauphin County with regard to affordable housing. That RFP has been approved by the Solicitor's Office. Unfortunately, Mr. Lenker could not make it here today, but he can come next week and he will make a presentation about the entire packet. We did discuss this last year when he came before the Board. I felt since time has passed, it would be good for him to come back.

Mr. Hartwick: Dan, can you make sure that I get that information?

Mr. Saylor: I did ask Terry Haines to contact your office to arrange a meeting to discuss that with you.

COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS

Mr. Hartwick: Go Steel-High Rollers!!

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Mr. Haste: We are again at that point in time for public participation. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to address the Board? (There was none.)

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Meeting adjourn.