DAUPHIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
COMMISSIONERS' WORKSHOP MEETING
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2006 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/Chief of Staff; Charles Vance, Esq., Assistant Solicitor; Marie Rebuck, Controller; Robert Dick, Treasurer; Mike Yohe, Budget & Finance Director; Randy Baratucci, Purchasing Director; Dave Schreiber, Personnel; Kay Sinner, Personnel; Sharon Way, Personnel; Faye Fisher, Personnel Director; Elke Moyer, Human Services; Kelly Wolf, Solid Waste Management and Recycling Manager; Leila McAdoo, Solicitor's Office; Diane McNaughton, Press Secretary; Lena Martinez, Commissioners' Office; Jena Wolgemuth, Commissioners' Office; Steve Suknaic, Juvenile Probation Director; Jeff Patton, Deputy Director Juvenile Probation; Carolyn Thompson, Court Administrator; Steve Chiavetta, Registration & Elections Director; Heidi Doyle, Domestic Relations; Shelia Britt, Domestic Relations; Bob Hawley, Deputy Court Administrator; and Julia E. Nace, Assistant Chief Clerk

GUESTS PRESENT

Michael Blaisse; Jack Sherzer, Patriot News; Glen Williard, Public Financial Management; Scott Shearer, Public Financial Management; Dan Malpezzi, Esq., McNees, Wallace & Nurick; Jonathan Pinkerton, Susquehanna Greenway Parternship; Lou Verdelli, Royal Bank of Canada; Eric Morrison, McNees, Wallace & Nurick

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 the July 19, 2006 Legislative Meeting Minutes and the July 26, 2006 Workshop Meeting Minutes to approve next week.

ELECTION BOARD

A complete set of Election Board Meeting Minutes are on file in the Chief Clerk's Office.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

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

DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS/GUESTS

1. Commissioners
   1. Recognition of Michael Blaisse - Outstanding Chemistry Award.

Mr. Haste: It is my pleasure to introduce one of the fine young men in Dauphin County. It gives us a pleasure every now and then to recognize and highlight someone who stood out in their own way in the community. Today it is our pleasure to do that. We have a proclamation for Michael Blaisse. Michael, please come forward and have a seat.

The proclamation reads as follows:

Office of County Commissioner
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Proclamation

We, the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners, take pride and pleasure in joining the countless friends, family members, fellow St. Catherine Laboure parishioners and the community at large in congratulating Michael Blaisse of Lower Paxton Township for winning a remarkable second-place medal in the 38thInternational Chemistry Olympiad;

Whereas, after more than 1,000 high school students across the nation took the initial exam, only 20 were selected to participate in a study camp, where they received additional training and testing, hoping to earn one of four coveted places on the team;

Whereas, the team, sponsored by the American Chemical Society— the world's largest scientific society—traveled to Korea to compete against teams from 66 other countries;

Whereas, this outstanding student, who was valedictorian for the Class of 2006 at Bishop McDevitt High School, plans to continue his education at MIT, with hopes to major in chemistry or bioengineering, and the potential to change the world;

Whereas, in addition to his academic pursuits, Michael enjoys playing the piano and taking part in musical productions, as well as participating in the Intel Science Talent Search and the National Science Olympiad, proving that he is a man of many talents;

Whereas, this Board of Commissioners is always delighted to recognize achievement and excellence in our young people, who are our best and brightest hope for the future;

Therefore, we join the 253,300 residents of Dauphin County in congratulating Michael Blaisse and his teammates for their Silver Medal in the International Chemistry Olympiad; we applaud his exemplary character, devotion to excellence and awe-inspiring academic ability; we wish him continued success at MIT and beyond; and in honor thereof, we do hereby proudly proclaim August 9, 2006 as "Michael Blaisse Day" in Dauphin County.

In witness thereof, we have hereunto set our hand and caused the seal of the Commissioners of Dauphin County to be affixed this 9th day of August, 2006.

(Applause)

Mr. Haste: Michael could you please tell the audience a little bit more about your project?

Michael: It was a competition. In March I took the first local exam. There were 10,000 students in the nation that took that exam. Then 1,000 qualified to take the national exam. Like you said 20 were selected for a study camp in Colorado. Then four were selected to go to Korea for the international competition. The competition there was only two days. There was a five hour theoretical test and a five hour lab practical. The rest was giving us a chance to experience the culture of Korea with sightseeing and things like that.

Mr. Haste: What was your lab test?

Michael: We had three labs. One of them we had to separate a mixture of two dyes and figure out the percentage of each dye in the mixture. Another one we had a mixture of two acids and we had to figure out the percentage of each acid in the mixture. Then the third one we had about seven unknown compounds and through a series of tests we had to match the unknown compounds to the different choices that we were given.

Mr. Haste: Very interesting.

Mr. Hartwick: I don't want to ask any questions for fear of looking stupid. At least I'm honest. I want to congratulate you because it gives me great pride as a Commissioner and a member of St. Catherine's with both of my daughters going to St. Catherine's and that we've provided that quality of education early enough to give you a great base to move forward at McDevitt. Being from Steelton, we talk about athletics and accomplishments and being on the football field. A lot of those individuals forget about the academic success that is going to allow you to have the skills and the capability to be able to succeed no matter where you go. They are not going to be able to take education requirements that you've learned and those experiences. They've allowed you to be a world traveler. I want to commend you and say that not only do we have some great and talented individuals but we have unbelievable students who can compete on an international stage. You have brought great pride to our church; a great pride to the community; and great pride to Dauphin County. We want to congratulate you.

Michael: Thank you.

Mr. DiFrancesco: To add to that, we are very proud of your accomplishments. It just goes to show if you're willing to commit and work hard, you can do amazing things. Life is a gift and for those who choose to live it in a very positive way they can have a great impact and great enjoyment personally. I congratulate you for your efforts and I thank God for you because again, I'm sitting up here and I don't even understand half of the stuff that you explained to us. Thank God for people like you who can cure diseases and invent things and make life better for the rest of us. A great job!

Mr. Hartwick: Just don't forget the area. Remember all the things you know and learn if you could give a little something back of what you were given we certainly would welcome you with open arms. As you move up and become a publisher of medical magazines in other places, remember to try to contribute something back to the area that has allowed you to have the opportunities.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Because you certainly can be a inspiration to other kids. A great job!

Mr. Haste: As Nick was talking, you probably don't realize in many ways you are a role model. It is good to see some of that science and chemistry education did sink in with some of the graduates from there. Congratulations!

Mr. Williard and Scott could you please come forward?

1. Glen Williard & Scott Shearer from Public Financial Management, Inc.; Dan Malpezzi, Esq., McNees, Wallace & Nurick, LLC
   1. Adopt Ordinance No. 3-2006 authorizing the two Constant Maturity Swaps for the County's 2006 Bonds and the 2004D Notes.

Mr. Williard: I got a C- in chemistry but I'll try to follow that.

Mr. Hartwick: Just as long as you are okay in finance.

Mr. Williard: You have two documents in front of you. One is a document that I will go through a couple of pages for you and try to give you an executive summary and then there is an Ordinance if you decide to proceed.

Several meetings ago you authorized the financing team many of whom are sitting behind me to proceed with what is called a Constant Maturity Swap. On page 2 is a highlight of what we are going to do. You have an existing Swap on the 2004D Bonds and we're going to convert that to a CMS Swap. So there is a Swap there and we're just going to change that a little bit. I'm going to show you what we're changing.

One thing that is important is and while you might take action today, this change will not occur until September 1, 2007. That is what we call forward starting. You take all the steps today but it won't actually happen until September of 2007.

Then on the 2006 Bonds, that is going to have an effective date of August 15, 2007. Those are the payment dates on those bonds and that is why they are a little bit different. One is $13,900,000 and one is $16,400,000. Those are the two transactions and we will price those this afternoon if authorized to proceed.

On page 3, that first trade that I talked about, the 2004D Bonds, the top half of the page that is sort of the do nothing and that's what you have right now. You pay BMA and you receive a percentage of LIBOR. We're going to change what is in the red circle to the red circle down below. In the green print down below, instead of receiving a percentage of one month LIBOR, you're going to receive a percentage of ten year LIBOR. So instead of receiving a short-term rate, you're going to receive a long-term rate. That's what the market and all of us believe will potentially provide you some pick-up or some benefit in those few years.

The next page is a historical chart of how this would have done had you done this over the past couple of years. In substance you're now receiving the blue line and we're going to switch that to where you will be receiving the green line. It doesn't provide a benefit in every single year but over time it looks like it certainly would provide some benefit by receiving that higher green line. That is what is going to happen on that first transaction.

Page 5, it is very similar for the other transaction.

That is kind of an executive summary of what we are going to do. All the documentation is in place. The ordinance is prepared and I'm sure Dan Malpezzi would be happy to comment on that if you have any questions. If you approve this, we're in position then that we could execute the trade this afternoon.

Mr. Haste: You're not executing the trade, you're just locking in?

Mr. Williard: We would lock in the trade this afternoon to start in 2007, yes.

Mr. Hartwick: With that change that you made with the scale rather than the one month LIBOR versus the ten year LIBOR, how does that change the final projections?

Mr. Williard: I think we showed you previously, we would expect that there are several hundred thousand dollars a year of additional benefit by making this change if we return to historical averages.

Mr. Hartwick: Do you have a final number on that?

Mr. Haste: You won't have a final number. It is projections on both of them.

Mr. Williard: Yes.

Mr. Haste: It's what Lou went over the other week.

Mr. Williard: We think the market conditions are right and a good time to do the trade.

Mr. Haste: Dan, do you have anything that you need to add?

Mr. Malpezzi: I'm Dan Malpezzi from McNees, Wallace and Nurick. I don't really have anything to add. I want to let you know that the Ordinance has been prepared and presented to you. It has been advertised as it is required under the Pennsylvania Local Government Unit Debt Act. Following the meeting today, we'll do the necessary notice of adoption publication and the filing with the Department of Community & Economic Development similar to the Ordinance that was adopted last year for the 2005 Swap transaction. If you have any questions on the Ordinance, I will be happy to answer them for you.

Mr. Haste: The investment document that we have to do, who is preparing that?

Mr. Malpezzi: The Interest Rate Management Plan was done by PFM and then there will be actually two Swap Confirmation Documents that will have to be executed after the pricing is done this afternoon. Those will have to be executed and then there is a Fairness Opinion that I believe Access Financial Market is providing to the County.

Mr. Haste: Okay, are there any questions?

Mr. Hartwick: Do you need a vote today?

Mr. Haste: You want a vote today, right?

Mr. Williard: Yes, they need to price this afternoon.

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board adopt Ordinance No. 3-2006; motion carried.
(A copy of the entire Ordinance is on file in the Commissioners' Office.)

Mr. Haste: Steve, please come forward.

1. Steve Suknaic, Juvenile Probation Director
   1. Presentation of the Title IV-E Funding/JPO Personnel.

Mr. Suknaic: I believe the Commissioners have the report that I prepared for today's meeting. There is some bad news but there is also some very good news.

I have several topics to discuss. I want to give the Commissioners an update on the Title IV-E funding.

We have some JPO personnel requests on the agenda so I thought all the timing for this today would be appropriate. I also in this memo want to talk about the accomplishments of our probation program which was expanded last year with the Board of Commissioners' approval and the use of the Title IV-E funds.

The way I laid this out in addition to the two attachments; I posted four questions that I thought would be important for the Commissioners. I'm going to address each question briefly.

The first question on the first page of the memo is: How much Title IV-E funding has the Juvenile Probation Department received on behalf of the County? You can see that in the year 2004 it was a little more than $1.2 million. In 2005, $1.6 million and so far this year it is $655,000. That is two checks and we will receive two more. The bad news is that the reimbursement rate for Juvenile Probation services is now excluding all of our prevention efforts to prevent kids from going into placement and is only including about 20% of what we used to receive. So the remaining checks two for this year and further years would be in the amount of approximately $70,000 each. The bottom line for this year is did we anticipate about $795,000 and for subsequent calendar years about $280,000 each. It certainly is a far cry from what we have received in the previous years.

On page 2, the second question that I thought would be important for the Commissioners to have an update on is: How much of this Title IV-E money has been spent by the Juvenile Probation Office? As you will recall, the Board and Court allowed us to expand our School Based Probation Program with six new positions last summer, two new supervisors and four probation officers. One supervisor and two p.o.'s in the suburbs and one supervisor and two p.o.'s in our city program. We also use some of the funding for vehicles, bullet resistant vests which needed to be replaced, some security supplies, and some notebook computers. You can see the amounts for each year. Nothing was spent in 2004, $330,000 in 2005, and thru the first six months of this year $191,000. The budget is $399,000 for this calendar year. The total is $521,000 which is 14.9 of what we brought in. Literally, $3 million has been turned over to the Board of Commissioners for use elsewhere.

Mr. Hartwick: That does not include personnel costs?

Mr. Suknaic: It does.

Mr. Hartwick: That includes those six positions?

Mr. Suknaic: Yes.

Mr. Hartwick: So we expect that to be minus the supplies that you bought in 2005. Do you know the yearly cost of those six probation officers?

Mr. Suknaic: It will be about $300,000 for four years. The third question that I pose relates to the positive impact. I remember Commissioners asking for statistical information last year and you wanted an update on that information this year. I've attached two charts.

I would like to look at chart B first. The first page has the outcome for the juveniles who are on school based probation supervision in our suburban schools. You can see that there are various categories in the left hand column; tardiness, in-school detention, suspensions, etc. What I would like to draw your attention to are the red circles that I made at the bottom of the page. Literally and figuratively the bottom line is, how many of the kids are successful on probation and how many of the kids recidivate? Our definition of recidivism is either a new arrest while they are on probation or chronic technical violations to point where they have to be brought back in front of the judge; one of those two categories. When I finished the chart and it was all typed, Carolyn made a suggestion that I should show the Commissioners how the recidivism for this past school year with the expanded school based probation services compared to the previous year. In other words the impact from the point of view from the offenders, what did the expansion of the school based probation have? So in my hand writing I included the recidivism information for the 04/05 school year. The fraction you see for example under Steelton in the second column means that we have 44 kids on the school based probation, six recidivated and that was at 13.6% recidivism rate. If you look at the figures just above that still within the red circle you can see that improved slightly to 13%. Recidivism rate dropped from 13.6 to 13. The second column is Middletown. The recidivism rate dropped slightly from 16% to 15%. Lower Dauphin did better from 8% down to 5%. Susquehanna Township better still from 13% to 8% a reduction of recidivism of 5%. Hershey from 16% to 11%, again a 5% reduction. The Dauphin County Technical School from 19% to 10%, a 9% reduction. Any improvement with this population of kids is a significant effort and a significant accomplishment. Central Dauphin a decrease in recidivism from 14.3% down to 4%, a 10.3% reduction of recidivism there. CD East from 7.1% to 5%. Now you'll notice in the last column I didn't circle anything. We did not have improvement in the middle schools in the Central Dauphin School District. We went from 4% to 6%. Now the probation officer there, Sonya Stokes has to cover several of those schools. So she doesn't have the advantage that the others do of being located all day in the same school. She has to move from one of the middle schools to the other. The reason we can't justify having her at one school is because there are five kids on probation at one school, four at another, etc. The rule of thumb that we use is approximately 15-20 kids on probation at a school to justify a probation officer. Unfortunately, we are higher than that now because of our vacancies but that is the general rule of thumb. I'm very proud of these statistics, the work of the probation officers, the supervisors, and our two assistants, Chad Libby and Jeff Patton in terms of organizing and maintaining the day-to-day supervision and detail of this. I think it is extraordinary. I would also like to point out I know from being at some of the Commissioners' meetings that you pay close attention to how much a department spends in overtime. I hope you have been looking at the Juvenile Probation Office. So far this year, we have spent $92.78 in overtime. That is a department with 84 employees for seven months. A lot of people working a lot of extra time and they are not being compensated for it. That works out to a $1.10 per employee.

If you flip the page on the same chart, you have the same numbers and the same format for the Harrisburg School District. There was not a lot of improvement at the John Harris Campus from 19.5% to 19%. No improvement at all, status quo at the Career Technology Academy. That is part of the William Penn Campus where they have their vo-tech services. At the Rowland Middle School, unfortunately our recidivism rate increased. One kid recidivating changed all that from 10% to 20%. A small number. We don't have any comparative data for Shimmell because with the expansion this was the first year that we had probation officers at Shimmell. They had a new program for their socially and emotionally disturbed children. The biggest impact in Harrisburg is in the last two columns. Outstanding impact at the William Penn ACTS Program, that is the alternative program run by Cornell. You can see that the recidivism rate dropped from 26.4% to 12%. At the Thomas Morris Chester School which is also run by Cornell, it is for the younger students in the lower grades, from 24.2% to 12%.

That is all well and good but I'm sure the Commissioners are interested in what financial impact did that have? If more kids were successful on probation..

Mr. Haste: Let's go back one. Why don't we have the data for the suspensions and retentions?

Mr. Suknaic: They had a new software system installed in the middle of the school year and during the migration of the data, they lost an enormous amount of data.

Mr. Haste: The P. O.'s don't keep track of that?

Mr. Suknaic: We're going to start doing that now. But we have relied on automated data systems because all the school districts have them.

Mr. Haste: I would think the P.O. if they are there and they have a..I don't know how you keep it. Are you guys using the tablets now? I would think for each kid they are going to know, I would hope, the status of that kid.

Mr. Suknaic: They do but the comparison to accomplish these percentages..if for example a juvenile is on probation the third and fourth marking period of this year...you're right we are keeping those statistics. At the end of the school year, we then compare that data for the third and fourth marking period of this to the third and fourth marking period of previous years. That is what was lost.

Mr. Hartwick: This data is being compared during what time? Is it the 04/05 school year versus half of this year 05/06 school year? This is apples to apples?

Mr. Suknaic: Two full school years. Some of the juveniles on probation for two terms, two marking periods, some on for three, and some on for the whole school year. Whatever it happens to be we compare like number marking periods for the current school year to the previous school year when the student is not on probation supervision.

Mr. Haste: How are these P.O.'s tracking the kids in the summer months?

Mr. Suknaic: Most of their work is done by visiting the homes and community service projects. We do an enormous amount of community service during the summer. For example with the Area Agency on Aging, we have a program we call it our Lawn Project. The Area Agency on Aging gives us a list of senior citizens who financially and physically can't take care of their lawns and their gardens. We have teams of juvenile probationers who have been court ordered to do community service supervised by probation offices. We have the lawn mowers and all the equipment and take the kids out and supervise them while they are doing that community service work. We also do some community service at school locations some painting, litter pickups, etc.

The other chart that I attached was prepared by Sandy Pintarch. This is the financial impact. Sandy has provided the actual costs for juvenile probation services, both community based and residential. Of course the residential is the biggest piece of this. For fiscal year 04/05, you can see that total was slightly in excess of $18 million. The reason she has a footnote is because she won't be able to give us the final FY05/06 data because some of the invoices are still being processed. But knowing her as long as I have and knowing her accuracy, I'm sure that this is extraordinarily close. She is estimating that our final figures for juvenile probation services paid for out of the Children & Youth Budget is going to come in a hair over $17 million which would be a 7.5% reduction. This is in spite of a 2% increase in the annual cost of most of those services. We normally expect to build in a 2 or 3% increase. We ended up spending about 7.5% less. The formula is simple. The lower the caseloads the better the service by the probation officers. The better the service by the probation officers the fewer kids need out of home services.

On the third page of my memo, I've laid out a couple of recommendations that if implemented by the Court and Commissioners will allow us to continue these successful impacts. On your agenda today in the personnel packet for a vote next week, my memo says we are requesting to fill six vacancies. It is now down to five. One of the individuals that we had lined up to recommend to you took a job with the U.S. Customs Service and just informed us of that last Friday. So we only have five individuals that we are recommending for hiring to start on September the 11th if approved next week at your meeting.

The second recommendation is that at the meeting of November 15 when the personnel window again opens that you allow us to fill the other vacancies that we have. That will be at least four and maybe more than that if we have any additional resignations between now and then. Those folks would not start until January 2007.

I'm also asking that we not abolish any of the J.P.O. positions. To accomplish that, I'm asking that the approximately $280,000 of Title IV-E money that we are still going to receive on an annual basis be used to subsidize these four positions. It won't quite do the trick so I'm asking for the approval each year about this time to shift about $60,000 from the JPO general fund salary line item over to this Title IV-E budget to fill that gap.

Last year at the end of the year, we had $189,933 in general fund in our salary line item that was unspent.

Mr. Hartwick: What was that number?

Mr. Suknaic: $189,933 that was in the salary line item unspent at the end of the calendar year. We are able to do that because of holding positions vacant until the hiring window opens. I know this is a little unorthodox. I was trying to think of a solution that would not require the Commissioners to utilize money from any other source but still allow us to keep the positions intact and to continue the successful impact that we just talked about.

The last comment that I made in the memo, I didn't ask for these six positions last year because money was available. I asked for these six positions because I wanted to improve our services. I was confident with Jeff and Chad Libby's leadership, the workers, the supervisors and the probation officers we could reduce recidivism rates. We've been able to do that.

One last comment, I know there has been some thought and discussion about the definition, the clarity and role of the juvenile probation officers in the schools. I want you to know that the role is very clear to the point where there is a Memorandum of Understanding. Commissioner when you spoke with Judge Lewis, Judge Lewis was not aware of that. We have a Memorandum of Understanding in writing with each of the school districts that I sign and the superintendent signs. It spells out our duties and our boundaries; it spells out their duties and boundaries; how information will be exchanged; confidentially, etc. The office that they give us, the file cabinet, the desk, the telephone, many of the schools districts give us one of their computers. Our job in the school is to help these kids be successful. Sometimes we have to enforce the rules. The Judge frequently will tell the child when he places them on probation that I expect you to be in school every day; I expect you to have a C average or a B average or whatever; I don't expect any suspensions; I don't expect disciplinary issues from you. The probation officer is going to check on that. Our school based probation program is far and away the best method of doing that. The older methods that we used by visiting, we would see the kids once or twice a week in school. We would get to know the teachers and faculty to some limited extent but not nearly the extent that we currently do. The team work among school officials and the probation officers in every school district has been fantastic. Thanks for giving me the time.

Mr. Hartwick: As long as you give a thorough and very, very well thought out presentation, some day I wonder if you shouldn't be an attorney. Could you give us an update because we sat here last year talking about the continuation of Title IV-E dollars and the promise, we've been stoned so many times with the idea that there will be continued funding sources and then the priorities change; I guess the two part question is, could you give us the future outlook from any of your trade association talks that you've had of the IV-E and certainly the $280,000 is going to be revenue source and for how long? I guess the second part of the question is, the administrative disallowances, could you give us direction behind them trying to cut those out?

Mr. Suknaic: The disallowances apparently result from a misunderstanding between our DPW and the firm that they hired, Maximus Consulting Firm. DPW and Maximus both had an understanding that our prevention services, just like the Children & Youth prevention services, would be IV-E eligible. So the invoices were submitted with that in mind. When the federal government came in to do its first audit about six months ago, that was the first question that they raised. After many, many meetings and new bulletins and new procedures for our time study, we're being told both by the federal and DPW that the counties can rely on continuing to receive the Tile IV-E money for delinquent kids while they are in placement but not for the efforts that they make to prevent the placements. Across the board in all 67 counties, that is reducing what the County receives by about 80%. So for us instead of about $1.5 million, we're are down to maybe $280,000 or $300,000 for a calendar year.

Mr. Haste: Who contracted with Maximus?

Mr. Suknaic: DPW paid them big money.

Mr. Hartwick: Am I correct, every state that used Maximus to do this particular Title IV-E allowance to define where counties can go?

Mr. Suknaic: I've heard that also.

Mr. Hartwick: So you feel confident that $280,000 is going to be a revenue source that we can rely on?

Mr. Suknaic: Yes. We've also been told that we will not have to refund any of the previous dollars. There was some rumor about that and that has been put to rest.

Mr. Hartwick: I guess the second question I have is, you indicated the $280,000 will be covered by Title IV-E. I have a question along those lines. First of all you said prevention services are not allowed now. Do you have any prevention services that you may be able to cut as a result of that allowance?

Mr. Suknaic: All of the prevention services that the County offers comes out of the Children & Youth budget. Our budget is an operations budget strictly. It doesn't pay for any services for delinquent youth. All of the community based services, shelter detention, and other residential services all comes out of Sandy Moore's Children & Youth budget.

Mr. Hartwick: I guess that would be the next question leading into the $1.3 million in projected savings. I wonder if Sandy could quantify how much of that is the general fund savings versus state and federal reimbursement dollars?

Mr. Suknaic: I'm sure Sandy Pintarch could do that.

Mr. Hartwick: Because you know the salary line item is going to come out of County general fund dollars. It would be nice to see the comparison between the amount saved in the budget versus our County general fund dollars to sort of make a good comparison. Five vacancies that you want to have filled on September 11, where are those individuals going to be assigned?

Mr. Suknaic: They are in the other parts of the organization. We have filled all of our vacancies in our school based probation. We have an emergency plan to get us through the summer. Some of our school based probation officers because school is not in session, they have been doing the supervision of their school based probationers and they have been doing some other things. They have been playing offense, defense and special teams for a few months.

Mr. Haste: We're really going to fill ten spots over the next couple of months, five now and five in November?

Mr. Suknaic: My memo says six and three but since that one candidate took the job with the US Customs Service, we only have five names to offer you. So it will be five now and four later. Also within the packet there are two promotions for two individuals to be promoted to assistant supervisors positions. Two of the people that left our organization were assistant supervisors.

Mr. Hartwick: I want to commend you on the job that you've been doing to reduce placement cost. Everything that I've heard, you guys have been very proactive in trying to reduce those placement costs. I just want to figure out if we can quantify the general fund savings of those reduction in placement costs. It just doesn't seem right philosophically for them to change the rules now because the whole idea was to try to avoid people being in placement and to offer more community and preventative services to be able to reduce costs for counties and then be provided a reimbursement for that. I just don't understand how they change the rules.

Mr. Haste: It's their budget.

Mr. DiFrancesco: The biggest trouble I have right now is the entire state is in the plan and if I understand it was exactly that to keep people out of placement and now that is what is being rejected.

Mr. Hartwick: This is my last question. What's happening in the Steelton-Highspire School District? I was given word that they're trying to now adopt a resolution or try to adopt a policy that doesn't allow for guns to be carried in school.

Mr. Suknaic: I spoke to the superintendent about that. Jeff, Chad and I are going to the Board meeting next Thursday. She assured me that although there are a couple of new board members who have a difference of opinion that the majority vote will be in favor of us to continue our program with our firearms. We are going to be there to answer questions.

Mr. Hartwick: I know we went through a whole debate with the Harrisburg School District and something went in front of Judge Clark. Is there a legal opinion and requirement that, that is the case in school districts or is it just in the Memorandum of Understanding with the school district?

Mr. Suknaic: The school district can't force us to put down our firearms. But what they can do is restrict our mobility within their school. They can say for example to a police officer or probation officer, you can come in and you can see Johnny but you can't be in the lunch room, you can't have an office, you can't be in the halls, etc. You can come in and visit. We'll give you an office for that hour or two and we'll bring Johnny, Steve, and Jeff, etc. We'll bring the kids to you. That in affect is what happened for almost two years in the Harrisburg School District. It is a far, far less effective way for the school district and for us to do our business but they really can't force a police officer or probation officer to come into their building without their firearm.

Mr. Hartwick: Thank you for being prepared and answering my questions.

Mr. Haste: Your item four under "your success and how to continue", I support them but I can't commit to those for a long term. I'm not going to sit here and say that if the state pulls more dollars from us next year that we're not going to be here arguing about those dollars.

Mr. Hartwick: I agree.

Mr. Haste: I would like to do this and more but I don't want you to come back here and say-last year you promised this. So I'm going to make it clear now, it has to be year by year. Philosophically, I agree and I would like to do this and more. I just want to make sure that you don't try to slip one in on me next year. My concern and it continues to be with the schools, the comments that I hear, it isn't what you guys are doing. I think what we're doing is a good thing. I just keep hearing it has caused the administrations and Sandy told me that she is going to try to have a meeting with the lower superintendents like we do with the northern ones. I hear from the kids, I still coach and see these kids, and I'm only talking about one school in particular and this school would beat me over the head because they think they're perfect, I argue with them all the time about this; but I talk to the kids and sure the clientele that you have I think is improving; but the word I get and sense that I'm getting, is the administration is slacking off on discipline and it is causing a feeding ground for bullies. Not the criminal but just the shear bullying has increased because the discipline by the administration, which isn't your responsibility, is going down. That is because some there feel they've got the police officers there now and they have you guys there, they're slacking. I hear it from the DJ and I hear it from the kids. Again, I think everything that you're doing is positive but I think that is the down side of what is going on and that if the schools don't start to deal with it, we're going to have a bigger problem.

Mr. Suknaic: Schools certainly have to do their part there is no doubt about that. The only kids that we get involved with are the kids who are currently on probation or the juvenile who gets arrested today because the first question asked sometimes by the police is, should this juvenile go out to the Schaffner Center or released to his parents?

Thank you.

Mr. Haste: Jonathan will you please come forward?

1. Jonathan Pinkerton from the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership
   1. Update and briefing on the Susquehanna Greenway.

Mr. Pinkerton: Thank you Commissioners for the opportunity to brief you on the Susquehanna Greenway. My name is Jonathan Pinkerton and I'm Deputy Director of the Lancaster-York Heritage Region. Lancaster-York Heritage Region is the regional lead organization for the Lower Susquehanna Greenway which includes Perry, Cumberland, Lancaster, York and Dauphin County.

This morning I would like to provide you with information on the Greenway Vision a Susquehanna Greenway Partnership organization structure and Greenway demonstration projects.

I've given each of you an informational handout packet that contains important information about the Greenway.

In 2001 all twenty-two counties throughout the Greenway Corridor signed resolutions in support of the Susquehanna Greenway. Among the support was June 28, 2001 proclamation signed by the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners. Today we would like to update you on significant changes occurring with the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership. As you know the Susquehanna River is an American treasure. From prerecorded history to modern day the Susquehanna story is about humans and nature and a story of a lot of interest. From Otsego Lake to the Chesapeake Bay this is a story of a unique place and the people who have shaped it. The Susquehanna Greenway will make natural, cultural historic and recreational resources along the 500 mile corridor of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. It will create a basin wide organization for resource management and community conservation. It factors lasting importance to the economies and quality of life of river communities. The Greenway is being developed over a three phase structure to build a broad base agreement on greenway values and vision, design concepts, action strategies, and organizational arrangements. In phase one, many processes were in planning for the Greenway. There was a planning team, partnership, and advisory committees. They were organized and met quarterly. A few public information pieces were published including press releases, a quarterly news letter, and a website. A mailing list of over 2,000 people and organizations were created to spread the word and inform the public about the Susquehanna Greenway. Your informational handout packets contain a brochure, a vision and values report that provide more details on this process.

Phase two of the Greenway planning process involved conceptual design for the Greenway which included collaboration with Penn State Architectural Regional Studio on a semester long study dedicated to inventory, analysis and design of the Susquehanna Greenway. This phase featured facilitative community design workshops in each of the six planning regions resulting in a summary report on the community design workshops, project matrix charts for 22 panel maps, public open houses for citizen review and comment on the draft concept designs in an unveiling of the final design concept.

The strategic action plan is now being developed in the final phase of the planning process. The strategic action plan will be the narrative document outlining an approach to a greenway advocacy, marketing, design, organizational management, implementation and management of the Greenway. Your informational handout packet contains the executive summary of the strategic action plan.

The Susquehanna Greenway can help counties achieve their goals both in terms of achieving state-wide greenway planning goals and help meet county planning goals for recreation, conservation and economic development. Now is an important time for the Greenway initiative as the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership transitions from a planning to an implementing body. The Greenway Plan calls for creation of a permanent Susquehanna Greenway entity to lead and oversee Greenway future implementation activities. Implementation will be lead by Susquehanna Greenway Partnership Organization as shown on the organizational chart which is also included in your handout.

The Susquehanna Greenway Partnership will be incorporated as a 501C-3 non-profit organization and will fulfill a unique need for the region. The success of the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership will be measured in a value added that grace the river corridor. Susquehanna Greenway Partnership will encourage regional thinking, coordination and cooperation. The Susquehanna Greenway Partnership is really wide focused and is ideally suited to build broad partnerships and diversify the funding sources for river related projects. By creatively packing projects the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership is seeking to leverage outside funding sources typically not accessed by our rural region. Susquehanna Greenway Partnership's staff will be available to provide technical assistance to diverse community organizations at various levels of project conceptualization, planning, design and implementation. As indicated on the organizational chart contained in your informational handout packet, the Greenway structure includes a Board of Directors, an Executive Director, and four regional committees. The Greenway Coordination Committee has a selection committee which has been charged with the selection of an Executive Director for the Greenway. That will be the first hire. The Executive Director position is expected to be filled in the coming weeks. The staff of the Partnership will work with the regional committees established by four regional lead organizations like ours that really are the grassroots organizations involved in project identification, prioritization, and advocacy. The regional lead organizations with Greenway staff support will provide advocacy for early implementation demonstration projects within the region. Early implementation demonstration projects are recommended in the Greenway Plan as the first chance for the Greenway to show by example what can be achieved on the ground. That is tangible projects that express the Greenway vision. Demonstration projects are geographically distributed through the river corridor and were selected based on diversity among the Greenway benefit areas which are community, economy, environment, education, recreation, and healthy living. The Executive Summary found in your informational handout packet provides an overall reference map as to the demonstration project locations. We also included copies of demonstration project presentation books. That is the green document. The Greenway project in the lower Susquehanna region is the Steelton Riverfront design project. It provides an economic development benefit to the Susquehanna Greenway. So far the project has included a community based design workshop, public participation, field trips, and a public meeting. The project is really intended to apply riverfront design concepts to Steelton downtown revitalization planning efforts to promote the use of the Bethlehem Steel Building for recreational facilities as well. The project partners with the Steelton Riverfront design project including the Pennsylvania Environmental Counsel, the Borough of Steelton, Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership. Regional lead organizations including Lancaster-York Heritage Region have a contract for professional services with the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership to perform certain tasks. One of those tasks is to assist the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership organization with the identification, selection, and appointment of a Susquehanna Greenway Partnership Board of Directors. We will submit a list of nominations from the lower Susquehanna region. Each of the four regions of the Greenway will have five directors appointed to the Board for a total of twenty Board members. We would like your recommendations and someone to serve on the Susquehanna Greenway Board of Directors. Directors should well represent the public and private needs and interest of the lower Susquehanna Greenway of Pennsylvania. Directors will be recognized as venerable, dedicated and effective leaders who commit to full participation of the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership endeavors including fundraising, political and leadership needs of the Partnership. Your informational handout packets include a document entitled Board of Directors Guiding Principles. Directors should be strong advocates for the idea of greenways and should represent diverse interests including those benefit areas that I mentioned; communities, economy, environment, recreation, education and health. The Board meetings will be held quarterly starting this Fall in Lewisburg.

As the regional lead organization Lancaster-York Heritage Region is also taking lead responsibility for re-organizing the Greenway Regional Committee in the lower Susquehanna Region. This includes organizing and facilitating quarterly meetings over the next year. Our first meeting scheduled for August 29th, 2006 will be held here in Dauphin County at Fort Hunter Park. The Regional Committee meetings are intended to organize and update each of the advisory committees to develop a regional project list into established regional goals and priority projects for implementation of the Greenway. We've already asked the Director of Dauphin County Parks & Recreation Department to join the regional committee. But we would like your suggestions on who else should participate on such a committee.

Finally we would like to introduce the idea of a basic $1,000 per county contribution to the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership in next year's budget. Each of the 22 counties is being asked to contribute for start-up costs for the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership. You should be receiving a letter in the near future as a follow-up to formalize the planning request today.

Thank you Commissioners for your time this morning. We hope this presentation gave you a little better understanding of the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership. We look forward to hearing from you regarding potential names to the Susquehanna Board of Directors and recommendations for serving on the Regional committee. We are also interested in County issues, priorities and partnerships related to the Susquehanna River.

Mr. Haste: So you are saying each one of these areas will nominate five people?

Mr. Pinkerton: That is correct Commissioner of the four regions of the Greenway there will be five directors appointed. Each of those regions will also have an ex-officio appointed. It will be an official twenty member board with a representative sent from each region as well. So there is the normal region, the west branch, there is the Susquehanna Valley and the lower region. Our region is Perry, Cumberland, Dauphin, York and Lancaster counties. We'll have five names that we submit for appointment to the Board.

Mr. Haste: Since there are five counties do you think there will be one from each county?

Mr. Pinkerton: That is part of the idea that there would be a representative sent representing the needs and interest of Dauphin County.

Mr. Haste: Did I understand, Ed Chubb is already one of those?

Mr. Pinkerton: Commissioner, I had asked Ed Chubb to serve on the regional committee. That regional committee is really charged with identifying projects that are of interest to Dauphin County and really helping us prioritize those and move then forward to various stages; such as funding assistance and we could help with that, etc. To clarify, Ed Chubb has been asked to serve on the Regional Committee level not the Board of Directors.

Mr. Haste: Who makes the appointment of the Board of Directors if you don't have a Board now?

Mr. Pinkerton: At present, the way it is set up is on the organizational chart that I referred to, there is what is known as the Susquehanna Greenway Coordinating Committee. This is sort of the interim Board, if you will Commissioner for making those appointments and is chaired by Jerry Walls of Lycoming County Planning Commission. It was previously a planning team and has transformed into a coordinating committee which is acting sort of an interim capacity for the Board of Directors. We hope to have this Board of Directors in place by November so that we can have this first inaugural kickoff.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Have you identified those people in this report anywhere? Are their names listed for the Coordinating Committee right now?

Mr. Pinkerton: I think their names are on the left-hand side of the letterhead. Additionally on the back of the Vision and Values Report is a listing of the Greenway Partnership Planning Team which in fact is the Coordinating Committee.

Mr. Hartwick: There are no names but a list of offices. So there is a representative from each one of those offices?

Mr. Pinkerton: Correct. I can provide the full list of the Coordinating Committee members if that would be helpful.

Mr. Haste: That would be helpful. How many names do you want from us?

Mr. Pinkerton: Given people's various commitments and involvement in other Boards and community activities, I think it would be best to have at least a couple names to presume that may be the first one wouldn't work out. Ideally, we would like to have at least one or more.

Mr. Hartwick: Have any of the other counties given you a financial commitment yet and what makes up the rest of your funding stream?

Mr. Pinkerton: At present the funding requests have only been made to Perry County Commissioners just this week. Late in July we asked Cumberland County as well. I have yet to do this presentation for York and Lancaster County Boards of Commissioners. So we do not have funding commitments as of yet for the lower region of the Susquehanna Greenway. The other funding sources are primarily through the Pennsylvania Conservation and Natural Resources as well as the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development. Those state agencies will provide the funding which in part will help to fund the operations namely the salary and benefits of the first Executive Director of the Greenway as well as other start up costs associated with that.

Mr. Hartwick: I understand that it is really great to start an organization that's focused on this but how do you plan on trying to get....are you planning on an advocacy role? How are you trying to get the resources for the priority projects that are listed because these are often times very expensive projects? What role do you envision this organization playing?

Mr. Pinkerton: My vision of that, Commissioners is that the Greenway will sort of champion these projects in that it connects them to a larger system of the Susquehanna Greenway. In other words it is not isolated to a particular county or municipality but rather part of this 500 mile corridor that I think has the potential to attract even national funding sources to it. For example, there is a gentleman from the National Park Services who serves on the Coordinating Committee. We're seeing what resources can be brought to bear on this project by linking them up throughout the corridor. We're hoping to attract more of those resources. So to answer the question, I think it is advocacy. I think it is technical support. I think it is helping with grant applications depending on what stage a particular project is at, we got to kind of play it by ear.

Mr. Hartwick: It is one thing to actually deliver dollars to what are some of these very long-term very challenging and very costly projects. Have you any commitments yet to any of your projects from your organization that you can point to some success?

Mr. Pinkerton: Part of the idea in terms of success was to identify the demonstration projects but we just sort of took on the regional lead organization responsibility effective April of this year. So it is kind of a new thing for us. We do hope to have some success here very soon. We're trying to get our arms around various pilot projects and get a grasp on assessing what they need and how best we can help them move forward. So I can't point to specifics in the lower region at this time but there are certainly opportunities.

Mr. Hartwick: So you want names and a commitment of $1,000?

Mr. Pinkerton: We would like to have that. If I may, it is part of a matching requirement. I mentioned the state agencies that ideally will help fund the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership. So obviously what they like to see is local commitment. We think that really by a symbolic contribution if you will of a $1,000 per county that we can demonstrate commitment at the local level for this project.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Thank you. Kelly, please come forward.

1. Kelly Wolf, Solid Waste Management & Recycling Manager
   1. Illegal Dumping and possible solutions.

Ms. Wolf: I would like to talk to you today about some concerns with illegal dumping going on in the County and some possible solutions that I've come up with. I will present a power point presentation of 30 slides.

The objective is to identify the littering problems and the illegal dumping problems within the County and make recommendations to the Board on how we can improve, protect and ultimately reduce the amount of over dumping and littering in the County. This photo is an example of what we have experienced from our drop-off sites.

To establish a team, which is what I would like to do of community business leaders, residents, volunteers, civic groups, etc. of folks we could use as resources to help implement what we need to do as far as conquering the illegal dumping. To give you a background, in August, 2004 the Board adopted an Ordinance that prohibits the disposal of household trash and non-recyclable items at the County's recycling depots and as well as any private or public property within the County. This was to ensure the health, safety and welfare of our residents and collection employees who have to pick up at the recycling depots. This was our first step in trying to conquer this but enforcing the ordinance is a whole other ballgame.

Our department is responsible for addressing the illegal dumping issues that occur at our recycling drop-off depots as well as the complaints that filtered through our department about illegal dumping. This is nothing new to our area or the County or the United States. Illegal dumping goes on everywhere. I did research on the internet and found other states, cities, counties, etc. who have formed task forces to conquer the issue. They have been very successful. I printed out press releases from these other counties to prove that it can be done.

The impacts of illegal dumping obviously are many but the direct threat of health and safety of the humans and animals, physical injury, littering pollutants of our soil and our ground water especially with the mosquitoes with folks leaving household trash out. It depreciates the quality of life for the people who have this in their back yard as well as in public places.

The causes as I mentioned before occur in every county and in every state of the United States. Generally it is caused by the cost or inconvenience of proper disposal, lack of proper disposal options, lack of education and the result of sometimes criminal activity or mischief.

PA Cleanways is a non-profit organization throughout Pennsylvania that conducted a study within our county independently along with DEP. They found 139 dump sites and estimated 478 tons of trash at these sites. Seventy-nine percent of the sites were determined to be active. Sixty-one percent of the sites were located in rural areas. Forty percent of the sites were located in municipalities that do not offer curbside recycling collection or trash collection of the forty municipalities in Dauphin County only fifteen have curbside trash collection programs that are by ordinance through the municipality. What they identified mostly were hard to dispose of items such as tires, car bumpers, other car parts, construction and demolition waste at a lot of the dump sites.

Mr. Haste: Appliances?

Ms. Wolf: Yes, appliances. We do offer a tire recycling program along with our E-Cycling Program but there is a cost to the resident and not everybody is willing to take that extra step.

This slide identifies all the nine sites that we have established for the drop-off recycling program. The last was Williamstown Borough. I'm happy to say that our driver told me today that a week ago he had encountered someone dropping off their household trash at the Williamstown Borough site. At the same time another lady drove up and she ended up going to the municipal building, since it is a small community they contacted the guy. He was an elderly man and did not have the money to dispose of his trash. So he told them that he was going to take it out and throw it in his backyard because he didn't have any other option for it. These are the things that we deal with and I'm really trying to find a solution for it.

The key issues at the drop-off sites are folks dropping off their household trash and unwanted items such as animal carcasses. We found ammunition, vehicle bumpers, car parts, appliances, sofas, etc. We do have a frequent overflow of material at the bins particularly the cardboard and the plastic. We have a suspicion that a lot of local businesses are utilizing the sites to avoid disposal costs which benefits us but at the same time our manpower can't handle it at this particular moment. We're getting there. Residents leaving the materials outside the bins cause other residents to call and complain that it is an unsightly nuisance. We've also tried to conquer that. This slide is just an example of household trash left outside of a bin. This slide is the ammunition that we found that was inside a cardboard bin. You can imagine if our driver would not have found it before it went through the compacter of the truck, it could have caused some problems for his safety and otherwise.

This slide is what our sites generally look like after a holiday particularly Christmas. It is a mess and if I had it in my neighborhood I wouldn't want it either.

Next is a slide showing the cardboard being set outside of the bin because the bin is full.

Mr. DiFrancesco: How do we pick up at Christmas? If you know this is a particular problem at certain times of the year, what is the normal pick up routine and how do you do it around the holidays when you know that it is heavy?

Mr. Haste: It would have changed since last year.

Ms. Wolf: Yes, we've changed it since last year. This incident occurred and I'm not trying to blame it on an employee but he was let go because of this incident. They know what their responsibility is. I offer overtime during this period. They know their mission is to get the sites cleaned up. That means the bins emptied if they had to work 12 hours that day. This particular person did not. That is when these pictures were taken.

Mr. Haste: We have that part-time position now which is to help out on weekends, etc. We found that after a weekend on Monday morning it was already trashed up because people are home on the weekend and clean out their closets and are working around the house on Friday and Saturday nights late and dump their trash. I would assume that part-time position could do holidays just like they do on weekends.

Ms. Wolf: Yes, we do have a part-time person that begins this Saturday. Our last part-time person left for military reasons. We have a new ambitious guy that is coming on and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get the sites cleaned up over the weekend.

We have signs at the sites. Our Williamstown site currently does not have signs and our Gratz site is down. We place the information there and it is regrettable that folks don't read it and abide by it. This slide is a close up example of the cardboard jam up.

This is currently what we are doing about it, we employe two full-time collectors. They run the sites from Monday through Friday. We have another full-time position that currently collects two times per week and he collects three times a week in-house. We have one full-time position as a site maintenance worker who goes around Monday through Friday and cleans up the overflow at the sites, as well as the weekend part-time position. We have ordered through a DEP grant a third collection vehicle that is due to arrive to us in October. Once we take delivery of that our other full-time position will go working full-time collecting Monday through Friday. The in-house duties will be given to one of our other employees. We'll try to have it covered the entire time.

The possible solutions are to find volunteers for cleanups which are hard. Physical deterrents placing fences and trees around that could be something else. We could do site sponsoring which I'm very interested in finding civic groups or volunteers in general to sponsor sites or even sponsor illegal dump sites. We would be able to give them recognition for it. We could have signs made up - if you have ever seen the PA Cleanway signs - that say so & so has adopted this area.

There is always community education which our office does. We have Billy the Bottle Nosed Dolphin who also targets children. He's not affective for adults. We have brochures, etc. Something else that is far fetched but it would be a great idea and my opinion is to create a county-wide disposal collection where every municipality would have that option of having trash collected at their curb as well as recycling. Statistics show that communities without curbside trash collection have more illegal dumping activity. Another possible solution is enforcing our exiting laws that we have in place, the PA Crimes Code Title XVIII Chapter 65 which is the Illegal Dumping and Littering Act as well as our Ordinance #6-2004 which we can fine folks for littering up to $1,000.

Funding, this is something new that I provided in the information packet that I have given you. I created a grant that would allocate some of the recycling revenue that we receive every year. I would like to allocate $10,000 a year to start and give grants to civic groups, municipalities, volunteer groups, church groups, schools, environmental organizations to assist us in cleaning up the illegal dump sites. The money could be used for the cleanup itself or if it is cleaned up something almost like the Seed and Weed Program. We could give them money to place fencing around it so we could deter illegal dumping or plant flowers after the initial cleanup. That is also what I'm proposing. A lot of times the municipalities will ask us if we have money eligible for this and we don't. You usually have to go through DEP or the Department of Community and Economic Development which I've also done some research on and there are grants through both agencies that we could apply for similar projects.

The last option would be to establish a Clean Ways Chapter. It would do the same thing that our task force would do except we would be a part of a statewide organization. There are currently fourteen established chapters in Pennsylvania with the closest one being Cumberland County. The benefits of being part of a large network of volunteers, being able to successfully draw local support, the membership program and volunteer recognition program which they would offer as well and an adoption program. That is what we would like to do also and a site monitoring program which is similar to the adoption program. Does anyone have any questions?

Mr. DiFrancesco: The $10,000 idea would that be new money or would that be money that is already in your budget and you would be shifting from other places?

Ms. Wolf: I would just be shifting it from other places. Granted we receive about $40,000+ a year from the sale of our recyclables. We typically use that for supplies that we need for our employees and promotional supplies. To allocate $10,000 a year and max the grant out to $15,200 for a grant award we would be able to give several out a year towards that project. It's not new money. The more material that we collect the more revenue we get and the market seems to be pretty strong right now.

Mr. Saylor: Commissioners, I would think it appropriate and helpful from my standpoint if you would vote to authorize the Task Force and grant program or if you want more time we can do that at a later time.

Ms. Wolf: I have a resolution but it is not on the agenda because I wasn't expecting approval today. I have a resolution that our solicitor has drafted and was approved by Bill Tully to create a Task Force to move forward to identify some solutions and bring together a network of people that we need. We have a lot of corporations around here that may be able to help us out by donating money for cleanups, etc. Its bringing together individuals that can make things happen for example haulers, landfills, or an incinerator.

Mr. Haste: Why don't we put both on next week's agenda for action and that allows everybody to look through the draft and go from there.

PERSONNEL

Ms. Sinner: The first items I have are the Salary Board requests. One is for Spring Creek eliminating a full-time laundry aide position and to create two part-time positions. The Conservation District is reclassifying in an attempt to create middle management as their senior management is nearing retirement age. They want to have some people trained to take over. They are eliminating a full-time resource planner position in the stormwater projects and creating a full-time water resource supervisor position. That is Bob Christoff's position. He's going to take on more of a supervisory role. They have a vacant watershed specialist position that they are eliminating and creating a resource planner position. Are there any questions on those transactions?

Mr. Hartwick: One goes from an hourly rate of $21.71 to $22.96. Are there additional duties that are going to be....

Ms. Sinner: Yes, they have a new job description.

Mr. Haste: These were voted on and forwarded onto us by the Conservation District Board.

Mr. Hartwick: Okay, and the other one goes down so it will probably be close to a wash.

Ms. Sinner: The rate used was what the watershed specialist was earning when he left. That was what was budgeted. A new hire the rate I have listed here is a Step 1 and probably where a new hire would start and possibly a little higher. They are looking to fill that with a new employee.

Mr. Hartwick: Okay, that's fine.

Ms. Sinner: That person will actually do a lot of the same duties that Bob used to do before taking on the supervisory role.

In the personnel packet there are several vacancies and we're requesting to fill them. There are also a few positions in Juvenile Probation that had not yet been approved to fill and people are moving into those positions. Some of those are just vacated as other people move out of them. We have a few new hires for Spring Creek. The District Attorney's Office is hiring two deputy district attorneys and a teamsters clerk III. The Prison is filling a few treatment specialist positions. Domestic Relations is filling some department clerk vacancies that have been vacant for a while.

Mr. Saylor: Kay, are those start dates correct?

Ms. Sinner: That one, yes and actually I would like to change that start date to November 6, 2006. The person is not available to come to work prior to that. That would be new hire #23. The hires for Juvenile Probation that Steve was talking about are in here. New hire #31 needs pulled. That is the one that he referenced that has taken the job with U.S. Customs Service. There are some personnel changes where Juvenile Probation Officers are moving to different positions as well as the move of Bob Christoff in the Conservation District into the newly created position. There are a couple of changes, transfers that I would like to request a vote for today because they're effective August 14th. Those are changes #37 & 41.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve changes #37 & 41?

It was move by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco to approve changes #37 & 41 in the personnel packet; motion carries.

PURCHASE ORDERS

Mr. Baratucci: You should have all received your packet yesterday. It is a relatively small one. There was only one budget adjustment that needs to be done. It is on page 2. We'll have that done by next week. If you have any questions, I'll attempt to answer them otherwise it will be forwarded to next week for your approval.

Mr. Haste: Are there any questions? (There were none.)

TRAINING PACKET

Mr. Haste: Do we need to deal with anything in the training packet?

Mr. Saylor: Yes, item #2 needs to be approved. It is mandated training for EMA.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve #2 in the training packet?

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick to approve #2 in the training packet for EMA; motion carries.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Mr. Haste: I see that we have three items that we need to take action on today.

Mr. Schreiber: Commissioners what you have in front of you are two agreements, a Memorandum of Understanding and Closing Agreement for the AFSCME and the OPEIU Union covering the employees at Spring Creek. These are the areas that are covered and negotiated with each of the unions and union representatives. The documents that you have in front of you have their signatures. They have already approved these. We are requesting your approval. A request is for today so we can continue the process with communicating to the employees.

1. Memorandum of Understanding and Closing Agreement between Dauphin County, Pennsylvania and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), District Council 90, Locals 717 and 2552 employees of the Spring Creek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (Spring Creek). (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 8/09/06)
2. Memorandum of Understanding and Closing Agreement between Dauphin County, Pennsylvania and the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) employees of the Spring Creek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (Spring Creek) (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 8/09/06)

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick to approve the Memorandums of Understanding and Closing Agreements with AFSCME District Council 90 and OPEIU for the Spring Creek employees; motion carries.

Mr. Haste: I want to say thank you to everybody involved to get this done.

Mr. Schreiber: Everybody involved worked very hard to accomplish this.

Mr. DiFrancesco: A great job.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve the Grant-in-Aid Continuing Program for Adult Probation?

1. Grant-in-Aid Continuing Program for the improvement of County Adult Probation Services for FY2006/2007 Application and Agreement. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 8/09/06)

Mr. Hartwick: I don't know much about this.

Mr. Haste: We got something on it last week. It was in the Solicitor's report.

Ms. Thompson: I think it might be a PCCD Grant-in-Aid to fund the probation officers. Every year they have us do an agreement and the Commissioners have to sign off and the President Judge also. The PJ already signed off. It is actually the Pennsylvania Probation and Parole. This is an annual request. It is a continuation and nothing new. I think you will also be getting one from the Juvenile Probation Office shortly.

Mr. Hartwick: No changes and no additional county requirements.

Ms. Thompson: No, this is just a standard agreement that they send year after year that we all sign off to get the funding for our probation officers.

Mr. Hartwick: I would like to abstain from the vote.

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste to approve the Grant-in Aid Continuing Program for improvement of County Adult Probation Services for FY2006/2007 Application and Agreement.

Mr. Haste & Mr. DiFrancesco: Aye

Mr. Hartwick: I'll abstain.

SOLICITOR'S REPORT

Mr. Vance: Nothing other than what you have already received in terms of the draft report. If you have any questions or concerns, I'll answer them.

CHIEF CLERK'S REPORT

Mr. Saylor: I have nothing else.

Mr. Hartwick: May I see #3 on the Solicitor's report?

COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS

Mr. DiFrancesco: I would like to take a moment and I understand if I'm correct that this is Jack's last meeting with us.

Mr. Sherzer: Yes, it is.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I want to take a moment to thank you for being here at pretty much every single meeting because the only way this system of government works is if the people know what is going on. It has not always been pleasant having you sit here with us and read about the meetings but the fact of the matter is that you've always been very persistent in being here and letting the public know what was going on in Dauphin County. That's what makes us successful in terms of doing the right thing and making sure the public is aware of what is going on. As you move on, I want to congratulate you to your new assignment and thank you for the time you spent with us.

Mr. Hartwick: I think the most important compliment is that you got it right. You've also kept it professional and allowed us to have conversations that you kept your word and I think you deserve everything you get.

Mr. Sherzer: I appreciate all the consideration that this Board has shown. As a journalist I appreciated your openness.

Mr. Haste: Of all the reporters that I've had to deal with over my many years of public service, my hat's off to you because you've been the best. I can say that now because it doesn't appear that I'm kissing up because you're leaving. If you were staying I wouldn't say that to you. You have done a very good job and as I said as far as I'm concerned you've done the best that I've seen in reporting County business over my many years. Whoever fills your shoes, I hope they can take a lesson from that.

Mr. Hartwick: Do you know who that is?

Mr. Sherzer: We'll probably find out later this week.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Mr. Haste: We are again at the 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. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick to adjourn the meeting; motion carried.