DAUPHIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Workshop Meeting
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 (10:00am)

MEMBERS PRESENT

Jeff Haste, Chairman
Dominic D. DiFrancesco, II, Vice Chairman

George P. Hartwick, III, Secretary—ABSENT

STAFF PRESENT

Chad Saylor, Chief Clerk; Bill Tully, Esq., Solicitor; Marie Rebuck, Controller; Bob Dick, Treasurer; Steve Shaver, Director of EMA; Faye Fisher, Director of Personnel; Kay Sinner, Personnel; Randy Baratucci, Purchasing Director; Sharon Chatman, Human Services; Dave Schreiber, Personnel; Skip Memmi, DCED; Diane McNaughton, Press Secretary; Bob Hawley, District Court Administrator; Leila McAdoo, Solicitor's Office; Deb Lisi, Controller's Office; Gertrude Farling, Controller's Office; Tom Guenther, IT Director; Lena Martinez Fure, Commissioners' Office; Brenda Hoffer, Commissioners' Office; Richie Martz, Assistant Chief Clerk and Jena Wolgemuth, Commissioners' Office.

GUESTS PRESENT

Fern Harmon, Fred Boylstein, Garry Lenton, Stephen Key and Alvin Taylor.

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 following minutes, May 9, 2007 Workshop, May 16, 2007 Legislative and May 16, 2007 Salary Board, to be taken up at the next meeting.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There was none.

DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS/GUESTS

Mr. Haste: Fern Harmon.

1. Fern Harmon, PEMA
   1. Presentation of Certificate to Stephen Shaver for successfully completing the requirements of Basic County Emergency Management Coordinator

Mr. Harmon: My name is Fern Harmon. I am the Central Area Director for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. I would like to thank the Commissioners for giving me the opportunity to come down and present Steve's Basic Certification form. I would just like to tell everyone here that we have three levels of certification in our program, basic certification, the next level up which Steve will be working on now is advanced and we also have a professional certification. By far and wide the basic certification program that we have requires the most work and effort and logging many managerial and organizational skills which Steve has demonstrated to us. Our program and law here in Pennsylvania says that Steve has to be certified within one year of certification. I am here to tell you that he has accomplished that a couple months ahead of time. The work that Steve puts into this represents a couple hundred hours worth of time and effort in classroom work and training, as well as work at the office and at home. It takes a lot of effort for a county coordinator to get certified in our program. Steve, please come up.

I would like to read this Pennsylvania State Emergency Basic Certification. "The Penns ylvania Emergency Management Agency hereby certifies Stephen J. Shaver to be the qualified, professionally certified Basic Emergency Management Coordinator for Dauphin County, based upon successful demonstration of knowledge and ability in the fields of planning, operations, training and administration." This was signed by our Director, Jim Joseph on the 21st day of March, 2007.

(Applause was given and pictures were taken.)

1. Faye Fisher, Director of Personnel
   1. Employee Handbook

Ms. Fisher: Good morning Commissioners. I am submitting to you the final copy of the revised employee handbook. This handbook includes feedback received from the Board of Commissioners, as well as feedback received from department directors as approved by the Board. The actual handbook includes various personnel policies and then attached as an appendix are the detailed policies such as family/medical leave, travel regulations, right to know, worker's compensation, etc. I have also attached behind the first packet a spreadsheet for your review that outlines the policies contained in the handbook and the appendix. The spreadsheet highlights those policies that have been slightly revised to include current practice and those that are new. It is the same spreadsheet that was distributed to you before. The handbook, as well as, the detailed policies have been reviewed by our county solicitors and our labor solicitor. Further, some of the detailed policies were written by one of our county solicitors.

I will ask the Board to approve this handbook at next week's Legislative session if all goes well. In the meantime, should the Board have any questions or need anything further, please let me know and I will be more than happy to provide the answers or additional information prior to next week's meeting.

Mr. Haste: Good job Faye. I know this has taken quite a long time.

Ms. Fisher: It has taken a long time and I have had a lot of help from our county solicitor's office, as well as the staff members and department directors.

Mr. Haste: I think it is a very good document that is flexible enough to handle all of the needs of the different departments in the county. You did a good job.

Ms. Fisher: Thank you.

Mr. DiFrancesco: As the new employee orientation takes place is this used as a base for that training?

Ms. Fisher: Yes.

Mr. DiFrancesco: So basically as you are covering all of the different components they are referring to in this manual?

Ms. Fisher: Right. Now we are referring to the current manual, not this one.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Right.

Ms. Fisher: But we are using the current handbook and one of our employees, Dave Schreiber, goes through and highlights some of the policies.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I always have the fear that we give them the Employee Handbook and they never reference it again. It is good to have it in people's hands as you are going over the orientation so that they understand what all is in there. Thank you.

Ms. Fisher: That is what we are doing. You are welcome.

Mr. Haste: Chad, please note to have this on next week for approval. Thank you.

SALARY BOARD

A complete set of Salary Board minutes are on file in the Chief Clerk's Office.

PERSONNEL

Ms. Sinner: The first items in the Personnel Packet are the Salary Board requests. Are there any questions on those?

Mr. Haste: I'll speak to Item #2 for the Prison. What we are doing there is like we have done before. Interim fills under the contract won't allow us to have part-timers as Correctional Officers. What we have worked is what we call interim fill. We anticipate vacancies that are going to be occurring between classes. I believe there are 8 vacancies now between vacant spots or people on military leave. The other 4 are going to be in anticipation of spots that will be coming up within the next few months in an attempt to keep overtime down to a minimum out there. The key is between you (Ms. Sinner) and Mark to make sure that as we fill it, the interim position goes away. With the class that we just had there were 13 that would qualify to be offered and 1 of the 13 has not accepted, so we are at 12. I don't have anything else then. Marie?

Ms. Rebuck: I have no questions.

Ms. Sinner: New hire #18 I do not yet have a name. The person accepted a position at the State that was offered. They do want to hire someone and have an interview this afternoon. I will have a name next week and if not I am going to pull it.

Mr. Haste: Okay.

Ms. Sinner: I thought I would have a name by today.

Mr. Haste: You are saying that they are anticipating hiring someone?

Ms. Sinner: Right, they are actively trying to fill that position.

Mr. Haste: Okay.

Ms. Sinner: I would like to request a vote, actually this is tied in with Salary Board Item #1 in Aging. It is a reclassification. The person actually began employment on Monday, but her position was created at the wrong level. It needs to be reclassified. I was hoping I could get a vote on the reclassification today and her change in position title, which is Personnel Change #19.

Mr. Haste: So we would actually have to take Salary Board action in order to do that?

Ms. Sinner: Yes. I had forgotten that.

Mr. Haste: Are you okay with that Marie?

Ms. Rebuck: Yes.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve Item #1 under Salary Board Requests? This would be the elimination of an Aging Care Manager I and the creation of an Aging Care Manager II.

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Ms. Rebuck to approve Salary Board Request Item #1, the elimination of an Aging Care Manager I and the creation of an Aging Care Manager II; motion carries.

Mr. Haste: We are now back to Personnel issues. Is there a motion to approve #19?

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste to approve Personnel Packet Item #19; motion carries.

Ms. Sinner: Also New Hire #17, I had planned to request a vote on that. I am not sure if you are ready to proceed with that.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve Item #17? This is for the filling of the spot in the Treasurer's Office. Is there a motion?

Mr. DiFrancesco: No.

Ms. Sinner: I'm sorry also with that goes the request to fill the position in #9.

Mr. Haste: Okay, there is not a motion on Personnel Item #17.

Ms. Sinner: Oh, there is not a motion on #17?

Mr. Haste: No.

Ms. Sinner: We could wait then I guess for #9.

Mr. Haste: Okay. Is there anything else?

Ms. Sinner: No that is it.

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

DIRECTOR OF PURCHASING

Mr. Baratucci: You should have all received your Purchase Order packet yesterday as usual. We have a couple budget issues that Mike and I will resolve. Do you have any questions on the packet? (There were none.) If not it will be passed on to next week for review and approval.

TRAINING PACKET

Mr. Saylor: Commissioners we have two items on the Training Packet that require your attention. They are both from the District Attorney's Office, Item #3 and Item #7.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve Items #3 and #7? For the record Ed did call me about Item #7. They forgot to send the paperwork in and Marie's staff was diligent and notified Ed that they did not get the approval. So Ed came over and asked for approval. Apparently that is not paid out of general funds and that was part of their confusion. They still needed approval so that's why that one is after the fact.

Mr. Saylor: Item #3 is a $30 charge.

Mr. Haste: Right. Is there a motion to approve Items #3 and #7?

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste that the Board approve Training Packet Items #3 and #7; motion carries.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Mr. Haste: We have Items A through E for discussion. I see Items D and E have a request for a vote. Item D is a grant application and Item E is the Turkey Hill issue. Is there a motion to approve Items D and E?

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste to approve Items D and E under the Items for Discussion; motion carries.

1. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Hazardous Material Response Fund (HMRF) Application and Grant Agreement. Grant in the amount of $234,619.96 from HMRF to be expended 7/1/07 to 6/30/08. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 5/23/07***)
2. Revised Agreement for Turkey Hill Minit Market #279, SWC Paxton Street & 29th Street, Swatara Township, Dauphin County. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 5/23/07***)

SOLICITOR'S REPORT

Mr. Tully: There are no amendments to the Solicitor's Report at this time. I would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have.

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

CHIEF CLERK'S REPORT

Mr. Saylor: Commissioners, we had a SARAA Airport Authority meeting this morning down in York. I wanted to mention briefly that the good news continues. Total activity enplanements and disembarkments are up 15% over this month last year. They give us a month-by-month tracking over a couple of years. Since 2005 that has been in a dip down toward 2001 levels. It has finally bottomed out and started on its way back up, which is good news obviously for the Airport Authority, which is having some tough financial challenges at this time. It is also good news for the entire region, because the airport is doing well. They have embarked on a media campaign to encourage folks to check out rates at the airport before going someplace else. Just really encouraging people to take a second look as there is more activity, and more planes, and fares are hopefully starting to come down. Good news at the airport.

That really is the only thing I have unless there are any questions of me.

COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS

Mr. Haste: Any comments by the Board? (There were none.) Just a reminder that we have Retirement Board that we will go into at 10:30 a.m.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There was none.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste to adjourn the meeting; meeting adjourned.

DAUPHIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Workshop Meeting
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 (10:00am)

MEMBERS PRESENT

Jeff Haste, Chairman
Dominic D. DiFrancesco, II, Vice Chairman

George P. Hartwick, III, Secretary—ABSENT

STAFF PRESENT

Chad Saylor, Chief Clerk; Bill Tully, Esq., Solicitor; Marie Rebuck, Controller; Bob Dick, Treasurer; Steve Shaver, Director of EMA; Faye Fisher, Director of Personnel; Kay Sinner, Personnel; Randy Baratucci, Purchasing Director; Sharon Chatman, Human Services; Dave Schreiber, Personnel; Skip Memmi, DCED; Diane McNaughton, Press Secretary; Bob Hawley, District Court Administrator; Leila McAdoo, Solicitor's Office; Deb Lisi, Controller's Office; Gertrude Farling, Controller's Office; Tom Guenther, IT Director; Lena Martinez Fure, Commissioners' Office; Brenda Hoffer, Commissioners' Office; Richie Martz, Assistant Chief Clerk and Jena Wolgemuth, Commissioners' Office.

GUESTS PRESENT

Fern Harmon, Fred Boylstein, Garry Lenton, Stephen Key and Alvin Taylor.

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 following minutes, May 9, 2007 Workshop, May 16, 2007 Legislative and May 16, 2007 Salary Board, to be taken up at the next meeting.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There was none.

DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS/GUESTS

Mr. Haste: Fern Harmon.

1. Fern Harmon, PEMA
   1. Presentation of Certificate to Stephen Shaver for successfully completing the requirements of Basic County Emergency Management Coordinator

Mr. Harmon: My name is Fern Harmon. I am the Central Area Director for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. I would like to thank the Commissioners for giving me the opportunity to come down and present Steve's Basic Certification form. I would just like to tell everyone here that we have three levels of certification in our program, basic certification, the next level up which Steve will be working on now is advanced and we also have a professional certification. By far and wide the basic certification program that we have requires the most work and effort and logging many managerial and organizational skills which Steve has demonstrated to us. Our program and law here in Pennsylvania says that Steve has to be certified within one year of certification. I am here to tell you that he has accomplished that a couple months ahead of time. The work that Steve puts into this represents a couple hundred hours worth of time and effort in classroom work and training, as well as work at the office and at home. It takes a lot of effort for a county coordinator to get certified in our program. Steve, please come up.

I would like to read this Pennsylvania State Emergency Basic Certification. "The Penns ylvania Emergency Management Agency hereby certifies Stephen J. Shaver to be the qualified, professionally certified Basic Emergency Management Coordinator for Dauphin County, based upon successful demonstration of knowledge and ability in the fields of planning, operations, training and administration." This was signed by our Director, Jim Joseph on the 21st day of March, 2007.

(Applause was given and pictures were taken.)

1. Faye Fisher, Director of Personnel
   1. Employee Handbook

Ms. Fisher: Good morning Commissioners. I am submitting to you the final copy of the revised employee handbook. This handbook includes feedback received from the Board of Commissioners, as well as feedback received from department directors as approved by the Board. The actual handbook includes various personnel policies and then attached as an appendix are the detailed policies such as family/medical leave, travel regulations, right to know, worker's compensation, etc. I have also attached behind the first packet a spreadsheet for your review that outlines the policies contained in the handbook and the appendix. The spreadsheet highlights those policies that have been slightly revised to include current practice and those that are new. It is the same spreadsheet that was distributed to you before. The handbook, as well as, the detailed policies have been reviewed by our county solicitors and our labor solicitor. Further, some of the detailed policies were written by one of our county solicitors.

I will ask the Board to approve this handbook at next week's Legislative session if all goes well. In the meantime, should the Board have any questions or need anything further, please let me know and I will be more than happy to provide the answers or additional information prior to next week's meeting.

Mr. Haste: Good job Faye. I know this has taken quite a long time.

Ms. Fisher: It has taken a long time and I have had a lot of help from our county solicitor's office, as well as the staff members and department directors.

Mr. Haste: I think it is a very good document that is flexible enough to handle all of the needs of the different departments in the county. You did a good job.

Ms. Fisher: Thank you.

Mr. DiFrancesco: As the new employee orientation takes place is this used as a base for that training?

Ms. Fisher: Yes.

Mr. DiFrancesco: So basically as you are covering all of the different components they are referring to in this manual?

Ms. Fisher: Right. Now we are referring to the current manual, not this one.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Right.

Ms. Fisher: But we are using the current handbook and one of our employees, Dave Schreiber, goes through and highlights some of the policies.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I always have the fear that we give them the Employee Handbook and they never reference it again. It is good to have it in people's hands as you are going over the orientation so that they understand what all is in there. Thank you.

Ms. Fisher: That is what we are doing. You are welcome.

Mr. Haste: Chad, please note to have this on next week for approval. Thank you.

SALARY BOARD

A complete set of Salary Board minutes are on file in the Chief Clerk's Office.

PERSONNEL

Ms. Sinner: The first items in the Personnel Packet are the Salary Board requests. Are there any questions on those?

Mr. Haste: I'll speak to Item #2 for the Prison. What we are doing there is like we have done before. Interim fills under the contract won't allow us to have part-timers as Correctional Officers. What we have worked is what we call interim fill. We anticipate vacancies that are going to be occurring between classes. I believe there are 8 vacancies now between vacant spots or people on military leave. The other 4 are going to be in anticipation of spots that will be coming up within the next few months in an attempt to keep overtime down to a minimum out there. The key is between you (Ms. Sinner) and Mark to make sure that as we fill it, the interim position goes away. With the class that we just had there were 13 that would qualify to be offered and 1 of the 13 has not accepted, so we are at 12. I don't have anything else then. Marie?

Ms. Rebuck: I have no questions.

Ms. Sinner: New hire #18 I do not yet have a name. The person accepted a position at the State that was offered. They do want to hire someone and have an interview this afternoon. I will have a name next week and if not I am going to pull it.

Mr. Haste: Okay.

Ms. Sinner: I thought I would have a name by today.

Mr. Haste: You are saying that they are anticipating hiring someone?

Ms. Sinner: Right, they are actively trying to fill that position.

Mr. Haste: Okay.

Ms. Sinner: I would like to request a vote, actually this is tied in with Salary Board Item #1 in Aging. It is a reclassification. The person actually began employment on Monday, but her position was created at the wrong level. It needs to be reclassified. I was hoping I could get a vote on the reclassification today and her change in position title, which is Personnel Change #19.

Mr. Haste: So we would actually have to take Salary Board action in order to do that?

Ms. Sinner: Yes. I had forgotten that.

Mr. Haste: Are you okay with that Marie?

Ms. Rebuck: Yes.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve Item #1 under Salary Board Requests? This would be the elimination of an Aging Care Manager I and the creation of an Aging Care Manager II.

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Ms. Rebuck to approve Salary Board Request Item #1, the elimination of an Aging Care Manager I and the creation of an Aging Care Manager II; motion carries.

Mr. Haste: We are now back to Personnel issues. Is there a motion to approve #19?

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste to approve Personnel Packet Item #19; motion carries.

Ms. Sinner: Also New Hire #17, I had planned to request a vote on that. I am not sure if you are ready to proceed with that.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve Item #17? This is for the filling of the spot in the Treasurer's Office. Is there a motion?

Mr. DiFrancesco: No.

Ms. Sinner: I'm sorry also with that goes the request to fill the position in #9.

Mr. Haste: Okay, there is not a motion on Personnel Item #17.

Ms. Sinner: Oh, there is not a motion on #17?

Mr. Haste: No.

Ms. Sinner: We could wait then I guess for #9.

Mr. Haste: Okay. Is there anything else?

Ms. Sinner: No that is it.

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

DIRECTOR OF PURCHASING

Mr. Baratucci: You should have all received your Purchase Order packet yesterday as usual. We have a couple budget issues that Mike and I will resolve. Do you have any questions on the packet? (There were none.) If not it will be passed on to next week for review and approval.

TRAINING PACKET

Mr. Saylor: Commissioners we have two items on the Training Packet that require your attention. They are both from the District Attorney's Office, Item #3 and Item #7.

Mr. Haste: Is there a motion to approve Items #3 and #7? For the record Ed did call me about Item #7. They forgot to send the paperwork in and Marie's staff was diligent and notified Ed that they did not get the approval. So Ed came over and asked for approval. Apparently that is not paid out of general funds and that was part of their confusion. They still needed approval so that's why that one is after the fact.

Mr. Saylor: Item #3 is a $30 charge.

Mr. Haste: Right. Is there a motion to approve Items #3 and #7?

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste that the Board approve Training Packet Items #3 and #7; motion carries.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Mr. Haste: We have Items A through E for discussion. I see Items D and E have a request for a vote. Item D is a grant application and Item E is the Turkey Hill issue. Is there a motion to approve Items D and E?

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste to approve Items D and E under the Items for Discussion; motion carries.

1. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Hazardous Material Response Fund (HMRF) Application and Grant Agreement. Grant in the amount of $234,619.96 from HMRF to be expended 7/1/07 to 6/30/08. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 5/23/07***)
2. Revised Agreement for Turkey Hill Minit Market #279, SWC Paxton Street & 29th Street, Swatara Township, Dauphin County. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 5/23/07***)

SOLICITOR'S REPORT

Mr. Tully: There are no amendments to the Solicitor's Report at this time. I would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have.

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

CHIEF CLERK'S REPORT

Mr. Saylor: Commissioners, we had a SARAA Airport Authority meeting this morning down in York. I wanted to mention briefly that the good news continues. Total activity enplanements and disembarkments are up 15% over this month last year. They give us a month-by-month tracking over a couple of years. Since 2005 that has been in a dip down toward 2001 levels. It has finally bottomed out and started on its way back up, which is good news obviously for the Airport Authority, which is having some tough financial challenges at this time. It is also good news for the entire region, because the airport is doing well. They have embarked on a media campaign to encourage folks to check out rates at the airport before going someplace else. Just really encouraging people to take a second look as there is more activity, and more planes, and fares are hopefully starting to come down. Good news at the airport.

That really is the only thing I have unless there are any questions of me.

COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS

Mr. Haste: Any comments by the Board? (There were none.) Just a reminder that we have Retirement Board that we will go into at 10:30 a.m.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There was none.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Haste to adjourn the meeting; meeting adjourned.