DAUPHIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
WORKSHOP MEETING
APRIL 23, 2008 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; Marie E. Rebuck, Controller; Janis Creason, Treasurer; William Tully, Esq., Solicitor; Jack Lotwick, Sheriff; Chuck Sheaffer, Sheriff's Office; Kim Robison, Director of Domestic Relations; Mike Pries, Director of Safety & Security; Amy Richards, Commissioners' Office; Kay Lengle, Personnel; Josiah Frederick, Commissioners' Office; Leila McAdoo, Solicitor's Office; Randy Baratucci, Director of Purchasing; Kelly Wolf, Manager of Solid Waste Department; Gary Serhan, Deputy Controller; Diane McNaughton, Commissioners' Office; Jena Wolgemuth, Commissioners' Office; Brenda Hoffer, Commissioners' Office; Dan Robinson, Director of Community & Economic Development; Jack Wright, Human Services Director's Office; Gertrude Farling, Controller's Office and Richie-Ann Martz, Assistant Chief Clerk

GUESTS PRESENT

Dr. Michael Hanes, David Black, C. Peter Carlucci, Jr., Garry Lenton, Katie Nolan, Mr. & Mrs. Nolan, Tina Nixon, Jason Rissler, WHP, WHTM, WGAL and Fox

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 will take up the April 9, 2008 Workshop Meeting Minutes at next week's meeting.

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 at this time? (There was none.)

DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS/GUESTS

1. Commissioners
   1. Proclamation - Katie Nolan, PIAA Swimming Champion, Hershey High

Mr. DiFrancesco: This morning the Board has the great and high honor of once again recognizing one of Dauphin County's finest. It is always a thrill, probably one of the highest thrills of the job, when we can sit back and see the many young people who come through this room, who have just excelled in so many different ways. We know that if you come into this room it is because of this great mark of achievement. It is not just the athletic achievement that you have been able to achieve. The bottom line is that we know there is a lot of training, discipline and leadership that goes behind that. It is always a great opportunity for us to sit back and highlight young people from our community who have achieved great success, because that success does reflect back on their school, community and in fact on this County.

(Mr. DiFrancesco read the following Proclamation.)

Office of County Commissioner
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Proclamation

We, the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners, are truly delighted to honor and congratulate the remarkably talented Hershey High School junior, Katie Nolan, on a record-breaking year in swimming that culminated in the 2008 PIAA Class AAA title in the 100-yard butterfly and freestyle;

Whereas, Katie fought her way with passion and determination to break the record in the butterfly, a long-standing dream, and shattered the 25-year old PIAA mark by finishing in 53.43 seconds; her hard-fought victory was the result of a regimen of intense training, which included swimming approximately 7,000 yards each day;

Whereas, leading the Trojans team to a triumphant second-place finish in the 200 free relay, Katie proved her mettle as both a superior athlete and spirited team leader; this gifted swimmer will be remembered not only for her decisive victories, but her strength of mind, and for bringing honor and recognition to her team, Hershey High School and this very grateful and proud county of Dauphin;

Whereas, with patience and drive, Katie raced to her third state 100-yard butterfly and freestyle championship this year, bringing her three-year gold medal total to eight, as well as being named the fourth fastest in the nation, according to Swimming World Magazine; yet despite these accolades, this exceptional young woman greeted victory with the essence of good sportsmanship, team unity and personal character, and she is truly a winner in every sense of the word;

Therefore, we join the 253,300 residents of Dauphin County in hailing the much-admired, three-time PIAA gold medalist in butterfly and freestyle swimming; we wish her continued success in her senior year and beyond; we thank her for providing fans with not only the thrill of competition and the glimmer of trophies, but, more importantly, with enhanced unity, school pride and enduring hope; and, in honor of her state championship and extraordinary accomplishments, both in and out of the pool, we do hereby proudly declare April 23, 2008 to be "Katie Nolan Day" in Dauphin County.

(Applause was given.)

Mr. DiFrancesco: Katie, if you could come up front. I'm going to put you on the spot. I don't want you to be nervous or anything. If you turn around and look at this room you will see a lot of people who probably don't swim 7,000 yards every day. I would love to get your input in terms of your regimen, what you go through, how much you swim every day and what it takes to accomplish everything that you have accomplished.

Ms. Nolan: It takes a lot of baby steps, because it takes a lot of time to get everything done. Determination is the biggest thing that you need to become an athlete with so much yardage to do every day.

Mr. DiFrancesco: You have an absolutely remarkable career so far and it's not over yet. You still have another year to go. We are pleased to have you here today. It is great for us to have the opportunity to highlight a student athlete who has just achieved so much and is someone that other people can look up to and hope to aspire to. So, we are very proud to have you here today.

Mr. Hartwick: First of all I think in Dauphin County this should be made the year of the champions. What a phenomenal year for athletics in this County, from Katie Nolan, a three time State champion, we have high hopes for you next year. I look forward to the Olympics. I think she has a big year planned for next year. She has a good coach. He keeps her focused on the goals and priorities and it sounds like he has done a pretty good job. One of the things that I continually see of great student athletes is the involvement of their parents. Both parents are here and they make sure they are at every swim meet, every practice and providing the support that is necessary for young student athletes to stay focused and to realize their goals and dreams. I want to commend the parents as well for being a part of this. From CD Wrestling, Girls' Basketball, Steel-High Football and Basketball to the individual Wrestling champions and Philip Davis who had a National championship this year. What an unbelievable year for sports and student athletes here in Dauphin County. One other point I would like to make before I even ask you a question about swimming because I can barely doggie paddle. It is truly unbelievable the amount of great accolades and it goes to even the tourism talk that we often have — how much to you think you have spent going around the State and country to swimming events and the importance of trying to build those facilities and opportunities right here in Dauphin County. The amount of student athletes that have come out of this county is unbelievable. I know you spent a whole lot of money outside of Dauphin County on her swimming career and it just goes to the point of good preparation and good facilities. We are producing great athletes. Not to put you on the spot, what caused you to want to become a swimmer from the very beginning? Was it going to the pool and realizing that you might be pretty good or your coach or parents? How did you decide on getting involved in this sport?

Ms. Nolan: My parents kind of threw me in on the team. I had lessons when I was little and my mom said that I hated to be in the cold water. I like it now.

Mr. Hartwick: They just threw you in, literally!

Ms. Nolan: Yeah.

Mr. Hartwick: Goals for next year, I assume you are doing a lot of length swimming, but you are swimming short distance. I guess the 100 meters is a pretty short race, is that correct?

Ms. Nolan: It is shorter than 200 Fly.

Mr. Hartwick: So, how long is 100 meters in a pool?

Ms. Nolan: It is two laps if the pool is 50 meters. You swim one length and then back.

Mr. Hartwick: Goals for next year?

Ms. Nolan: I haven't really thought about it, but to just keep on training at my hardest.

Mr. Hartwick: You certainly should be commended. We want to thank you for bringing great recognition to Dauphin County, your family and your community. We are very proud of you and are anxiously waiting to see the great things that you are going to do next year.

Mr. Haste: And I think your whole team. It sounds like Hershey has a great team. I talked with two of your swim mates and they speak very highly of you and the leadership that you instill in the other girls. I think, in addition to your goals that we'll see, that your team has some other goals in the next year, with you as their leader. I think you will do very well with that.

Ms. Nolan: Thank you.

(Pictures were taken and applause was given.)

1. Peter Carlucci, Jr., Esq.
   1. Dan Robinson, Director, Community & Economic Development

Veterans' Building - Construction Financing

Mr. Robinson: As I think you are aware the Industrial Development Authority owns the Veterans' Building, 112 Market Street, otherwise known as the Dominic D. DiFrancesco Building. We have owned that since 2005. We are here this morning to discuss and ask the Board of Commissioners to guarantee a short term 2-year construction loan not to exceed $1,000,000 for improvements to the Veterans' Building, specifically the HVAC work. All of you are aware that we had some water damage at the end of last year and that has all been repaired and it is actually in better shape. However, the HVAC system for the building is still in its older state and we are seeking to retrofit any of the existing HVAC and heat pumps. There are about 140 in the building and about 110 need some retrofit work.

Just a brief history on the building, in 2004 we had the building about 10% leased. When we purchased the parking through Market Square Plaza in 2005, the building is now about 95% leased. We have a small portion of Floor 6 that is available. You will recall Graystone Bank occupies 1, 3 and 5. They are looking at other options in the building. Tri-County Planning Commission is on 2, the Tourism Bureau and Susquehanna Group, as well as some attorneys are on 6 and 8 and our offices are now on Floor 7. The Building is largely leased that is the good news. The parking is largely leased or subleased at Market Square Plaza. I will turn it over to Pete Carlucci to discuss the details of the financing.

Mr. Carlucci: We issued some RFPs for the $1,000,000 short term 2-year loan at a fixed rate. We received responses from 12 banks. The most competitive proposal was received from Citizens Bank and they are offering a fixed rate of 4%, which is taxable. I think it is a very competitive rate. Next week I have given the clerk a Debt Ordinance to be brought before you for your consideration and action, which will be the guarantee of the $1,000,000 line of credit for 2years at a fixed rate of 4%. I cannot be with you next week unfortunately. I would like to try to respond to any questions you might have today so that you are in a position to take action next week.

Mr. Haste: Now that you have the rate do you have a financial flow chart that shows the revenues to pay this off?

Mr. Carlucci: I have a short term rate. I don't have a long term rate. So, any projections would have to be based on some assumed rate. The strategy of course is to refinance the short term loan after the work is completed and we are confident as to the amount of money that is actually required. This current short term loan is structured as a construction loan and will be drawn down only as needed in order to pay the costs and expenses. So, at the end of the project, we will know whether it is $700,000, etc. and that will obviously have an affect on the anticipated long term cost of the debt. I don't think we are in a position right now to offer you any projection. We can, but.

Mr. Haste: Long term, you have the ability to cover it in the next two years?

Mr. Carlucci: I think we have the ability to pay it off long term, not short term. That is why we will have to do the refinancing.

Mr. Haste: You have revenue scheduled so that the County's not going to be paying bills over the next two years?

Mr. Carlucci: Yes. Our long term strategy obviously is to have the building self-sufficient. We are not going to look to the County for any money.

Mr. DiFrancesco: You are confident that is enough money to do the job? I remember our conversation at an IDA Meeting where there was a list of projects that I think was turned down, but the original amount was more than $1,000,000.

Mr. Carlucci: Based on the estimates that we received thus far this should be more than sufficient to accomplish the two things that we are really going to do here. In the memo the elevators will continue to be an issue, which need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Mr. DiFrancesco: And that pushed it up a little too high.

Mr. Carlucci: Yes.

1. Michael Hanes, President/CEO of Whitaker Center
   1. Update on Whitaker Center

Dr. Hanes: Thank you very much for the opportunity to share with you some of the accomplishments of the last year at Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts. As you recall, I visited with you about a year ago when I was newly appointed as President and CEO for the Whitaker Center. I remember well our visit then and over the last few months as I've seen you at different occasions, particularly at Whitaker Center. We thank you for your attendance. A significant amount of time this last year has been spent on strategic planning at Whitaker Center; something that we have not done particularly well in the past, but has been a real focus of my administration. We've engaged the leadership of the Center, but we have also engaged the Board. I think it is critical that the Board of Directors be involved in helping to shape the future of Whitaker Center and most definitely be involved in selecting priorities for our attention and our resources in the years ahead.

Today, at our Board meeting we will approve the complete strategic plan, which includes all of the background work that goes into developing the strategic plan. Also, the details of the implementation plan that we will take forward to address three priorities. The first and we'll recognize this I'm sure as being important and that is building a stable financial future for Whitaker Center. It is absolutely critical that we work hard to make sure that the resources that we have are used well, but that we also plan well into the future for all of the expenses that will come in the days ahead.

The second priority is to expand what we are calling the customer base of Whitaker Center; reaching out beyond Harrisburg and Dauphin County to truly serve Central Pennsylvania. You may not know, but last year we had school children visiting Whitaker Center from over 40 counties across Pennsylvania. Yes, from as far away as Philadelphia and Western Pennsylvania. So, Whitaker Center truly is not just a Dauphin County resource or a Central Pennsylvania resource, but a resource for the State of Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth.

The third priority is improving and strengthening our resident company program. As you know Whitaker Center has seven resident companies; everything from an outstanding youth ballet program to opera to classical music and theater. We believe that it is critical that our resident company program continue to improve as days go on and that we actually find ways to bring more resources to those resident companies. You may not know that we actually provide about $500,000 a year in subsidy to those resident companies so they can exist and make their presentations in Whitaker Center. It is important to us and it is important to the community to have those kinds of cultural programs available to the citizens of Dauphin County.

We also have been focusing on just the daily operations. That is making sure that things run well. Last year one of the important challenges I faced with dealing with the difficult budget year, we actually reduced our expenses by 6% over the course of last year, through careful management. We also refocused some of our resources to address some of the really critical needs to make sure that the resources that we have are being used to produce the most effective programs that we can. We are now continuing to look carefully at our resources with the goal of developing a future financial plan for Whitaker Center. This is part of our effort to focus on the future and to know that we have a stable future in terms of the financial resources. We have also been expanding our resource development, working to reach out to the community and seek additional funds from those who have been helpful to us in the past, but also to reach out to new resources. Last year we raised over $3.1 million in our fundraising and development efforts. We have already secured a $100,000 grant from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, $100,000 of Federal money that we are very pleased to bring to Whitaker Center that will create an exhibit that only exists in 12 other centers around the nation today. We will be in the next wave of centers to receive this very special exhibit that will be part of our forces of nature gallery. It is truly an interesting exhibit that focuses on satellite imagery and how we can learn from satellite imagery what is happening to our Earth today.

I have also met with all 46 members of the Central Pennsylvania Caucus of the General Assembly. The reasons for my meetings were to help them understand the importance of Whitaker Center, the value of Whitaker Center, not only to the immediate area, but to Pennsylvania as a State resource. We are optimistic. They are beginning to hear that message and they recognize the educational and cultural value, but also the economic development value of Whitaker Center and what we contribute to the economy of this region.

Last year we approved a loan, a Master Plan for the redesign of the HARSCO Science Center. The HARSCO Science Center includes 20,000 square feet of space and over 220 exhibits. All of those exhibits are the same exhibits that we had when we opened our doors in 1999. Time has come for us to redo the entire Center. It is a major effort. It was a year and a half in planning. A year ago we approved that Master Plan and in the last twelve months we actually built and installed the first new gallery. The total Plan will take four years and over $4 million. A year ago we had none of those dollars available to us, but in the last year we raised over $500,000, designed and created a whole new gallery for children under the age of 6. If you haven't visited the Whitaker Center and the HARSCO Science Center, we encourage you to come back and visit Kid's Place, a child size Harrisburg with a market, a construction zone, a water element, an outdoor stage and an area designed specifically for those children who aren't even walking yet. We recognize that the future scientists are the children who are under the age of five and six today. We need to get them engaged and get them involved. I'm pleased to report that within the last six weeks we had over 500 toddlers, under the age of 3, visit the HARSCO Science Center.

Mr. Hartwick: I have a couple of those.

Dr. Hanes: It is just the beginning of a whole new HARSCO Science Center that will continue to unfold. The next new gallery is scheduled to open in January of 2009, another one about nine months after that. In about every six to nine months for the next three to four years, we will be announcing a new gallery opening at the HARSCO Science Center. We are very excited about this whole set of opportunities that came to us.

Let me emphasize again, a year ago all we had was a plan. Today, in fact the beginning of March we opened the first new gallery. That is the kind of commitment that exists in this community and the kind of professional staff that we have at Whitaker Center, who can really make things happen and make them happen fast. I'm very proud of what we have been able to do in that regard.

In terms of significant changes, one of the most important changes that we are seeing is the renewed interest on the part of school districts to visit Whitaker Center and the HARSCO Science Center. We will have more school visitors this year than last year. To give you some idea of what I'm talking about, roughly 26,000 school children will visit HARSCO Science Center between January 1 of this year and the end of May this year. We are still taking reservations. It is going to be even more than that. In April we had over 11,000 school children visit HARSCO Science Center. This week we'll have over 3,500. We are beginning to reach out and renew the interest in science, generate more activity and involvement from the schools. We are very pleased with that, because we recognize that what we have to offer oftentimes is not available in typical classrooms. We can do science education in our classrooms with our own educators that many school teachers may be uncomfortable teaching.

I have been very fortunate that I had the opportunity to contribute to a wonderful community resource that provides $20 to $25 million dollars in economic impact to the County each year. Through our very own programs and education, culture and entertainment each day Whitaker Center enriches the lives of thousands of visitors. In fact, about 400,000 visits in the course of just one year.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my work with you and I will be glad to respond to any questions.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I really just have a couple comments. First of all I want to thank you for choosing to come to Harrisburg and for accepting this responsibility. The Whitaker resource is a great story and I really think it is important to note and congratulate you for two things. One, you mentioned your Board and how your Board gets involved in the Center. I think one of the true foundations of success of the Whitaker Center is that you do have one of the most active, innovative Boards of any organization that I have seen. These people are willing to get involved and get their hands dirty. The Board is responsible for some fundraisers that raise a tremendous amount of money. There is really a solid group of community supporters that keep the Whitaker Center going. The energy that I see from those people is exceptional. You are to be commended for that. The Board is terrific and each person involved really puts their heart and soul into it and physically gets involved. It is not just a role. They are not just a name on a list. They get involved. That shows the success of the Center, the success of the staff and it goes a long way in giving me sort of a sense of satisfaction in knowing that Center is going to be healthy and viable going forward. You will continue to make it a dynamic place that it has been so far.

The second thing and probably more importantly is obviously you have to have that Board involved and the staff to make it happen. The one thing that I was concerned about from the time the first tax dollar was put into the Whitaker Center was that there would be people in the community that could not take advantage of it. That was my greatest concern, because if we are going to put tax dollars into facilities, we see it all the time and quite honestly I'm not a big fan of putting money into arenas and things of that nature, because there are a lot of people out there given the cost of a ticket now that will never experience the event. I want to commend you for the idea that you went out and found community partners that I believe still to this day, every major holiday when kids are off school, most of the major holidays, that facility is open because of the partnership. That has been critically important to me, the fact that the community can access the facility, that children from this area, regardless of their economic status, could get in there and take advantage of it. That has been incredibly important to me in the past and it will continue to be an incredibly important component going forward.

Dr. Hanes: We think that is critical to our existence. In January we had over 3,600 parents and children visit us on Martin Luther King Day. It was a great day with lots of excitement and energy. We look forward to continuing those with the help of our community partners, particularly as we begin to renew the Science Center and the parents and children find more things to explore.

Mr. DiFrancesco: You can say the name if you want to. I just didn't want to say it, because I wasn't sure if the partnership was still going.

Mr. Hartwick: A couple things. Give my regards to your better half; who we all have great respect for as well. There is always an argument and Nick made some very good points about why you would invest hotel tax revenues, of which our partnership is with the Whitaker Center, into a venture like that when with $20 to $25 million dollars of economic impact clearly defines the transitioning facility who is ready to take the next step and move forward. It's always great when the hoopla comes and the place first opens. How do you move that forward? The plans I've heard from you today are very competent, thorough and well thought out and the community partners you have involved, I think from this Board you can count on us as continued partners as you move forward. Certainly there are other facilities that we are concerned about the future may not have the same kind of strategic plan or commitment. You and your Board have thought through this in a way that is going to sustain the Whitaker Center for a number of years. I'm actually excited today to see the new exhibits. As a parent of kids who are young I look forward to spending some time over there. Sometimes I wonder if they are for the kids or the adults. It is certainly a great Center and a great asset. When you talk about quality of life, economic development and what actually attracts people to live in a region and that culture aspect and to be able to have something to be able to take families to and to enjoy for the entire community and to see ballet, the symphony all those things make individuals who are making the determination of where they want to live or where they want to spend money very clear that Harrisburg is the best, stable market, stable economy and with assets like the Whitaker Center. I think we will be able to sustain it for many years to come. Thanks to you on the strategic planning and I look forward to seeing the new exhibits and to continuing our partnership.

Dr. Hanes: Just so you know we've also been reaching out to the other recipients of County funding and trying to form marketing partnerships with them. We recognize that there are a lot of resources that if we join hands and share our marketing dollars we might be able to reach more people and bring more people to this region than if we simply try to do it all on our own.

Mr. Hartwick: You don't have the fractionalization of government to deal with in the partnerships. I commend you for thinking about leveraging those dollars in order to receive the maximum return and investment for those marketing dollars.

Dr. Hanes: Thank you.

Mr. Haste: Actually you sort of answered one of the questions I was going to ask. I'll ask a couple questions. I don't have toddlers. My toddlers are a little older and hopefully there are no toddlers joining my family anytime soon or one of my kids will be in trouble. For us older kids, having gone and seen the U2 concert, I don't want to go to a regular concert any more. You saw a lot more. You didn't have to deal with the crowd and you didn't have someone spilling beer on you. I think that is the way to go. Any concerts that you get like that I would be interested. That was a good experience.

Dr. Hanes: By the way you may want to put it on your calendar, Shine the Light will be at the Whitaker Center in September.

Mr. Hartwick: What is Shine the Light?

Dr. Hanes: Rolling Stones tour.

Mr. Haste: These young guys wouldn't understand that.

Mr. Hartwick: I'm from Steelton, I know Motown.

Mr. Haste: I'm on the Ned Smith Board and I know there have been some joint attractions and things, I would like to hear a little bit more on how things are going with them and Wildwood and other folks. The second is you talked about the schools. I just want to know what activities are going on with the scouts? There for awhile there was a scouting program where scouts could sleep out there and stay overnight and do some things. Could you just update me on that?

Dr. Hanes: We have actually spent, in particular, the last two months a good bit of time working with the scouts to make sure they know about us and that we know about them. Just this morning as we were going over some of the numbers and some of the events coming up we have a number of cub scout groups that are coming in to spend time with us in the Science Center or to see an IMAX movie. That is a group that we are beginning to reach out to and get engaged with what is going on at the Science Center. One of the things that we recognize is if they don't know what is going on it is difficult for them to decide to come. We have been trying to find ways to communicate directly with scout leaders, because they are the ones that have to make the plans to bring a group of scouts to visit with us. We now have good contact with them. We have met with them in some of their regional meetings so that we can present to them what we have going on now, as well as what we have planned for the next few months, particularly the summer months. I think that will be an interesting time for them to join us.

We have not worked in much detail with Ned Smith, but we are in the process of beginning to develop that partnership. As you probably know, because Chris Olewine-Milke is our Board Chair and she reminds me often of how we should be relating to some of the other resources in this area.

Mr. Haste: When I'm at the Ned Smith Board meetings I mention to the Executive Director there have you been working with. Wasn't the Audubon Society a shared venture last year?

Dr. Hanes: Yes, we hosted some Audubon events and that was very productive. In fact, one of the things I didn't mention is that we just in March held a joint event with the Nature Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation featuring Grand Canyon Adventure 3D, which is a new feature.

Mr. Haste: I've seen that as well.

Dr. Hanes: It's a great film. It is regarding two of the leading scientists that talk about water issues, not only in the Susquehanna Valley, but also worldwide. It was a very well attended event with over 160 people in attendance on a Wednesday evening. We had a great time and we envision doing similar events in the future. It is being called our global issues forum. We will probably feature topics related to nature, as well as population issues, just a variety of global issues that relate to science in particular. We look forward to working with some of the others in this area in that regard.

Mr. Haste: Do you have a play starting tomorrow?

Dr. Hanes: We have a ballet starting soon. Cinderella will be at the Sunoco Performance Theater. The opera is coming soon. We will have opera coming up in the middle of May.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I was disappointed. I didn't get to see Pat Benetar. I had something going on, but I would have died to have been at that concert.

Mr. Hartwick: Is there any way that you could email us with the updates on the events that are going on at the Whitaker Center?

Dr. Hanes: We do that.

Mr. Haste: I get that.

Dr. Hanes: It is just a matter of sending us your email and then we can send you regular announcements about what is going on.

Mr. Hartwick: Do you have a link on our County website? If we don't, we should.

Dr. Hanes: Come and see us!

1. David Black, President/CEO of CREDC
   1. Funding Presentation

Mr. DiFrancesco: I have to share this with the crowd. David Black being the visionary leader that he is of CREDC decides that he should have a board retreat and invite a lot of people in from the community to talk about different aspects of the organization. I had the pleasure of being on the group that had responsibility for the capital campaign in the upcoming years. In sitting around with the group of prominent business leaders from the community we started talking about the foundations of the capital campaign and the goals that we wanted to achieve for CREDC and the Chamber and so forth on how important it was and different things that we've not been able to do in the past. I just want to share before David starts that when the group of us finally came up with the goal figure, which was very aggressive over the last campaign and shared that with staff, again it was a mixed blessing. It was great to have so much enthusiasm behind the goal, but at the same time it was staff looking at us saying are you sure, because we really need you to step up to the plate. I think and I'm not going to steal any of your thunder and I'll let you talk, but I just wanted to share a little bit behind the scenes and that there are goals and objectives that we really wanted to meet and in order to meet those goals it was going to require a higher level of commitment.

Mr. Black: It is a pleasure to be with you. There is a campaign brochure that is at your desk and some factoids. (He made the following presentation.)

Do Stuff - We have the same sign hanging in our conference room. It kind of sums up what we do. We are all about doing stuff. Along the same line of things, economic development is all about partnerships. I really want to take the opportunity to commend the Dauphin County Commissioners and Dan Robinson and your team here. Over the last four plus years you have been a great partner and there is not one organization or entity that can take credit for economic development. It is clearly a team sport. It works best when we focus as a region on getting the job done.

Over the last several years, CREDC's economic impact on the region has been $231,700. CREDC has been directly involved in the creation and retention of over 10,500 jobs.

Mr. Hartwick: Is that million or thousand?

Mr. Black: It is $231,700,000. The way we calculate economic impact is kind of a standard in the economic development business. We add together the amount of money that we leverage from State and Federal governments, which was $69,000,000 plus and then the amount that was leveraged from banks, private equity that goes into the deals that we do and that was $162,700,000 and then the total impact is combined of those two figures and that gets us to $231,700,000. The total jobs, it is a total combination of both jobs retained and new jobs created in the region. I can't break this out for you on specifically Dauphin County. Keep in mind that we do serve Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry Counties. The thing really to remember is economic development is really about people. I just want to share a few of our projects. Hersha Hospitality, right down Front Street moved their headquarters from Fairview Township over into the City. I had the pleasure of actually representing Commissioner Hartwick that day in reading the Proclamation and I appreciate the opportunity to do that. I haven't done County Commissioner stuff in quite awhile. Expressly Yours Catering, this is another Dauphin County firm. It is a relatively new start-up business. Chef's Choice, they are next to Appalachian Brewery. If you are ever looking for big pots and pans, industrial strength things, they supply a lot to restaurants. It is a neat little business, rehabbed the building on Cameron Street and is doing very well. The John and Amanda Lapp farm in Lykens. We do a number of agricultural deals. PC Parts is in Paxtang Borough. They put together PCs. Another project is Schaedler Yesco, which was one of our larger projects that we got involved with last year in Dauphin County. Of course we were all involved in working with your Office of Economic Development and Crossgates and the entire Tec Port project, but we also supplied financing for Fiesta Mexico, which is run by the same folks as the El Rodeo restaurants. We funded several projects with them. It is about the people. The other thing that I wanted to mention to you and Nick asked me about this, the Murata Business Center, located in Carlisle, it's a small business incubator. We went through and we checked with the company, four of the ten companies that are operating down there are based in Dauphin County. The owner of Webpage FX's Bill Craig and his wife are here in Harrisburg. Express Dynamics, he lives in Dauphin Borough. Patrick is the co-owner of Autumn Wave and he is from Halifax and Dick Snyder lives here in Harrisburg. There are a number of people, about 52, that work for these companies. A number of them are Dauphin County residents. It does have a positive impact on Dauphin County. This is the only small business incubator that is fully staffed doing business in the region. Last year we did a series of "business boot camps". How to start up a business? We were in Middletown, Steelton and actually I had a meeting earlier in the week with the Upper Dauphin Chamber folks. I think before the year is out we will probably do one up in the northern part of the County as well and partnership with them.

The lending list is in the packet over the past four years of the projects that we have done. If you have any questions, I would be happy to go into further detail. They are scattered throughout the County and represent a wide variety of projects. The lending that we do is primarily small business lending. We do some larger deals. Projects that we have done are the Pipe Mill down in Steelton, Turbine Air Coil we continue to work with them, we helped them buy that building from the Commonwealth. CJ Snyder is the building that we are doing in partnership with Dan's Office, environmental remediation and demolition. We did the study with Lower Swatara and Penn State trying to look at alternatives to get the trucks off the Penn State Campus. We do a lot of work with HIA and their work on the terminal and other things. We did the PennDOT Server Farm.

I'm here today to talk about planning for the future and that is the brochure that you have before you. Our goal is $4 million. It is very aggressive. It is about $1.3 million higher than it was four years ago. There are a couple reasons for that. The main reason is something that I will get to last. In the middle part of the brochure there is a list of things that we hope to achieve with this money. I'll also just point out from an operational perspective about 1/6th of our total operation, that includes Chamber and CREDC side, is funded through this campaign that we undertake every four years. Our total budget is in the neighborhood of $3 million. We are trying to wean ourselves away from going out to the business community on a regular basis and the public sector. I will tell you that we are down to about 10% of public funding that we get from Dauphin, Perry, Carlisle Borough and depending on the time of year the City of Harrisburg. Our public funding is decreasing. The important thing is that we do get a lot of private sector folks that step up to the plate. Out of the last campaign, our public sector pledges were about 18%, a little bit less than that and when the City fell out this year it obviously dropped. The private sector has really stepped up and so far our experience in going back to revisit those folks has been very strong. As we know the economy, it is not an optimistic time right now in the economy, but folks have been willing to step up for us. We have a business diversity program that has been off to a good start. We just got a new director in place, Alma Johnson. If you haven't met her you should. She is very dynamic and she is doing a lot of work with Hector Ortiz. There is a good synergy going on there. We thank you for that. We market the region and the organization. We do some of this in partnership with Dan and some with the South Central Team PA organization, which are seven counties here in South Central Pennsylvania working together. Some of the more specific things that we do, we do some trade shows. We try to target those effectively. The one that has been most successful for us recently has been the bio show. Generally I have one staff that goes to the bio show. Occasionally we will do the real estate show. We sort of watch those to see who is showing up. For awhile we did have senior level decision-makers go to that. That has kind of dropped off. The value has dropped off. We haven't been doing as many of those. We do a direct mailing. Our target area has been northern Virginia and Maryland, the 270 Corridor. This is a great place and an easy expansion for them to expand their businesses. That is part of our target. We do target industry clusters, advanced manufacturing, technology solutions and biotechnology. We do not need to target logistics. They find us on their own. Obviously we know that, but we do some work with that. We work with other partners. In addition to the County, we have a great partnership with the Hershey Center for Applied Research. They obviously are putting money into marketing. We tag along with them, as well as the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Pennsylvania. The only thing we have done this past year is we had two receptions with the international trade reps from the Department of Community & Economic Development. They come in usually twice a year. We had them at key locations and coincidentally they have all been in Dauphin County. We did one activity at the Hilton and then the other one out at the Hershey Center. We had a chance to talk to them one-on-one and provide them with information to take back so they can talk to folks. We know that it is a good time for some direct foreign investment in the region and trying to tag on with other local companies that are doing business here. We also are coordinating with the Tourism Promotion Agency. There is a natural synergy that if we get people in for tourism there is probably some more things that we can do from an economic development perspective, because the quality of life really helps to sell companies. People are looking to keep their employees happy, because obviously employment and available workforce is becoming more and more of a challenge, not just here, but every place. To that end we still promote Harrisburg to try and attract the young folks from the colleges and universities here. That is every fall we get about 300 college folks downtown and they do networking with our companies. We know that in order to be competitive we have to have the workforce of the future. There is no use in attracting businesses if you don't have the workforce here. It is kind of a double edge sword that we are trying to work on. Just recently the primary that took place, the democratic primary, gave us some exposure. We had calls from the Washington Post, the New York Times and I don't know whether we made those papers or not, but just in talking with them a little bit, from a marketing perspective, who we are. We are not like James Carville described as Alabama in-between. We are in fact a very vibrant part of the State that is often overlooked and people don't really know about us. The other thing that we have in our seven or eight county region is the 1.7 million people and that is a good population base and a good workforce base. We try to tout that. We did make the Wall Street Journal's money watch online. They did a little interview talking with us. Anytime we get some earned media like that, you guys are in the public eye you know how to work that. Beyond that we have some match that we are looking beyond the marketing end of things. We did have to match some State programs we are involved in, the Enterprise Zone and the Keystone Innovation Zone. We do have some organizational issues in the Murata Center that we need to fund. We do hope to build an endowment this year, in order to take some of the pressure off of raising funds every four years. I didn't mean to take as much time as I did, but I hopefully covered a lot of ground. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. I appreciate the financial commitment of Dauphin County over the past four years and we are seeking a renewed commitment for the next four year period, 2009 through 2012.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I obviously was one of those voices that put the pressure of the $4 million campaign on the CREDC staff and the entire group. It is not just staff running the campaign. As you look through the brochure you can see a number of community leaders that have stepped up to take roles and really going out there and sharing the word and trying to reach out to different corporations and companies. CREDC is incredibly important to us. We see time and time again examples of where they have stepped in on projects that more than likely nobody else would step in on. Those environmental remediation projects, turning properties that have the potential to just be the dinosaur on the landscape actually turning them into productive land again, bringing jobs back and giving the opportunity for economic development. For me it is critically important too that they are in a position to better market this area. We have such a great product here. This is such a fabulous part of the country and it surprises me time and time again that many people don't know about us. It is a struggle that we as a Board have talked about in terms of the whole notion of us being a region as opposed to individual communities. CREDC is constantly striving to pull these regional players together. In the last campaign, our commitment, I believe, was $40,000 a year. I would really like us to step up and I have a number in mind that I would like us to step up to. That is my input.

Mr. Hartwick: Just a couple questions related to budgeting. These dollars will also be coming from hotel and tourism dollars. Is that where we have gotten this from in the past or from General Fund?

Mr. Robinson: Historically we have given $30,000 from the hotel tax and $10,000 from the General Fund for a total of $40,000. We had some earmarks on how that was spent in the past.

Mr. Hartwick: It was suggested that the additional amount that is requested comes from where?

Mr. Haste: First thing I would like to hear Nick's number and then I'll talk to Mike Yohe and come up with some suggestions on how we do that.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Personally I would really like us to step up to $60,000 a year. Between the challenges of the new goals and the new objectives of this aggressive campaign and secondly because there has been some drop off in other communities within the region for whatever reason have not been able to maintain their obligation or keep that alive and going.

Mr. Hartwick: Have not been able to or have chosen not to?

Mr. DiFrancesco: Some have chosen not to and some have not been able to. Again I think it is important for us to keep that regional outlook and regional approach and try to fill in where we are able. We all know what happens in this greater community whether it is Cumberland County, Perry County, Lancaster or York, wherever it might be, it helps our economy as well. We really truly are a region that relies on each other even though we don't acknowledge that as much as we probably should publicly. When summertime rolls around and every hotel in Dauphin County is at capacity, because there just aren't enough rooms, that is going to impact folks going over to Carlisle and different areas to fill beds in other counties. The same thing goes when the car show is in Carlisle, again those people aren't just coming and staying in Cumberland County, they are coming and staying in Dauphin County hotels. My position has always been and I think it has been the position of the Board too is that we really are regional players and we really think regionally and where we can step up and assist. I value CREDC very much for so many things that they do and their record of success is documented. That is one of the reasons why I think I would like to see us be aggressive in our leadership as well.

Mr. Hartwick: You don't have to make the sale to me, I certainly know the value of the organization and I respect the leadership. Projects, even when I was the Mayor of Steelton, tracks, companies, liabilities so in order to maintain manufacturing jobs right here is something that couldn't have happened without you as a partner. I do understand the value and the way of CREDC. I just want to figure out how we are going to get to the money and where it is going to come from. I'm not going to be sour grapes. You guys are recognized as one of the leaders as the Chamber, you understand the regional impact that you shared that with us, as well as are you planning to revisit the great wall that exists with the Susquehanna River in Cumberland County with this particular request again? Have they given any level of idea whether or not, a new board member would be receptive to the request?

Mr. Black: That is a fair question. We have had discussions on the board.

Mr. Hartwick: We are going to stay committed to you no matter what they do. But, if you can do anything to advocate this, this is a good opportunity to see whether it is a position change or whether or not they have come up with some additional resources to be a regional tourism and economic development partner again.

Mr. DiFrancesco: At our last executive board meeting I reached out and said that I would like to try to help reach across the river and see what we can do to improve relationships and open lines of communication.

Mr. Black: We do referrals back and forth. Their director of Economic Development, Omar, obviously worked here in Harrisburg for the Community First Fund. We had a relationship with him before. He refers deals to us. Some of the deals that we have done in Cumberland County have been as a result of his referral. Two weeks ago I had an opportunity to sit with the Chair of their EDC Board and we have a great relationship there.

Mr. Hartwick: The commitment from the business and private sector in Cumberland County still remains strong.

Mr. Black: Very strong.

Mr. Hartwick: They obviously understand the value of the organization. I want to commend you for your work. We are not going to beat this to death. We have to figure out where these dollars are going to come from and I think the key is that we are going to have to determine what level of support that we have. I know the value of the organization, but the numbers we will have to work out in the budget process. I'm not an advocate for dollars coming directly from the general fund personally. I prefer, if we do agree, to increase the allocation to do it in other ways that we can justify more money coming into the region from tourism dollars. That would be my thought.

Mr. Haste: What is the timeframe?

Mr. Black: We are looking for a commitment sometime this year; ideally if we could have it by mid year or something.

Mr. Haste: Commitment, when are you looking for.

Mr. Black: The first installment would be 2009.

Mr. Haste: For the 2009 Budget.

Mr. Black: Next year's budget.

Mr. Hartwick: This gives us sponsorships and a number of other things. We work out a plan of the amount of resources that would be contributed and what that would mean for Dauphin County as well prior to us agreeing to this? A plan of what all that means and how that looks for Dauphin County.

Mr. Black: We can do that. That is not a problem.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I know that obviously budget season won't be until later this year, but the outreach for the campaign is going on right now. One of the things that I would like to do is try to as aggressively as we can make a decision so we can get up front in the whole campaign and be able to go out and say hey look we've given you should too.

Mr. Hartwick: There is no doubt that you have been a very active vocal communicator and lobbyist on behalf of CREDC as our representative.

Mr. Haste: I'm all for the $60,000 and we will find out how we do it.

Mr. Black: I sincerely appreciate it and as always if there is anything that we can do to help you out you know where to find me.

1. Kelly Wolf, Manager, Solid Waste
   1. Presentation of Litter and Illegal Dumping Cleanup Grant to YWCA

Ms. Wolf: In an effort for the County to continue cleaning up illegal dumping and litter throughout the County, today I'm here with representatives of the YWCA, Tina Nixon, the Executive Director, and Jason Rissler, the Weed and Seed Coordinator. We are here today to present to them a grant for $2,000 to assist with the cleanup of two alleys in the South Allison Hill area this Friday, April 25th. For your reference, I presented photos of those alleys and the challenges that they are up against. The YWCA Weed & Seed Program has been able to promote community participation and get residents involved by taking responsibility for the neighborhoods and for that I would like to applaud them for their efforts. YWCA's partners for providing this cleanup consist of Dauphin County Solid Waste Department, Adult Probation, the City of Harrisburg, United Way Youth Day of Caring Volunteers, First Church of Brethren Ministries, Brethren in Housing, Dirty Dog Hauling and Community Action Commission. At this time we will be happy to answer any questions.

Mr. Hartwick: Just to know to keep Harrisburg beautiful and the County's participation within the City and also this isn't the first dump site that has been identified through the task force that has been put together. Having been at the press conference with the Mayor earlier this week to talk about that designation and one of the things as I was standing there talking with Secretary McGinty that she mentioned on several occasions that they have placed cameras at these illegal dump sites and obviously with the enforcement and getting that message out is extremely important. She said that they have been successful at capturing and getting people to serve time and serious fines as a result of that follow through. One of the things that I preached at that particular press conference was it is not just the role and responsibility of the County or the City and the collective organizations that are coming up just to clean this up. We need resident and community volunteers and leaders to be able to maintain these sites once they are cleaned. The bottom line is take pride in your neighborhood and when we come here we come with all of these resources and all of these organizations and people stand on the front porch and watch what is going on. In my experience before when we went to try to clean up, is there any way that we can notify residents in this general area that we are coming before we go there and also ask for neighborhood involvement, because I know the Allison Hill neighborhood and the Weed & Seed Program has great participation from some key residents. I would like to hear about how are we going to get the residents involved, not just to come and clean up a site and then two weeks later the site is the exact same way. What is your plan?

Mr. Rissler: First of all a special thank you for this check and gift. The questions that you raise are very valid. I'm a resident of South Allison Hill. My family and I live in South Allison Hill. One of the things that I see is a growing number of residents in our neighborhood who are committed to change or are committed to working together and are doing that. The unfortunate thing is we did a cleanup in December and in 2 ? hours with Dirty Dog and 25 residents we removed 10 tons of trash in one back alley. We have five homeowners in those blocks that joined us and spearheaded this effort. But within a block or two, there are five homeowners who care and there might be 10 or 20 residents that don't. So, now six months later people are bringing out their sofas. It is a continuing challenge that we have. I'll welcome any input or suggestions that you have. I want to say that we do have a number of residents who are committed. When we look to do cleanups within our neighborhood one of the criteria for me is to say where are neighbors who want to be involved in this project. That is the reason why we chose this, because some of the residents have been complaining about this for six months to me and we haven't had the resources to deal with it.

Mr. Hartwick: Take those complaints and turn them into citizens' action. The individuals who complain need to spearhead and lead this project. If in fact they don't tell them the complaints are over and I don't want to hear from you anymore. The bottom line is this is your opportunity to make a significant difference. There is a number of organizations that are committed to trying to do it, now in order to maintain it you should have a follow-up committee. That is some of the challenges with this is not just the clean-up part, but who is going to be responsible for this after everyone leaves and how is that going to be maintained. Is there money to pay for cameras since DEP has indicated that they are successful?

Mr. Rissler: We wrote a small grant to get some cameras, but we don't know if we will get that or not. Cameras are something that we have an interest in. This picture is Koons Alley, which is a City alley way that has been completely blocked for half a year. This parking lot is the Church of the Brethren Parking Lot and they are offering to put cameras in their building to help monitor this. At this point we don't have cameras. It is certainly something that we are looking to acquire.

Mr. Hartwick: Do you have a good communication with the City Codes Department? People who want to be involved.

Mr. Haste: There are over 40 sites that were found. One of the things that Kelly has been trying to do, in every one of those cases, is to get citizens or ownership plus ways to enforce it once it is done. We have been successful in some areas. Unfortunately in other areas we haven't been as successful. That is part of the plan in each of these that we clean up to try to do.

Mr. Hartwick: If we can just for the record and for folks here. Let's talk about the County Commissioners have taken steps to increase the fines and punishment of individuals who are caught in illegal dumping. Kelly, can you list the details for individuals out there who are caught what the consequences will be if in fact they get caught and how we can enforce that?

Ms. Wolf: You can receive a fine of up to $500 or more, based on the prosecution and the type of dumping and how long it has been going on and so forth. The State, as well, has an anti-litter illegal dumping ordinance or law that could also come into effect. The Commissioners adopted an Ordinance a few years ago to conquer that. Unfortunately, trying to get folks to turn somebody in and it holding up in court it is difficult. Cameras would be perfect, but to have a resident call, unfortunately we haven't been able to do that. So, we have been taking steps otherwise in trying to help community organizations to cleanup their neighborhoods.

Mr. Hartwick: I'm all for the cleanup. I'm just trying to figure out what the follow through is and how they are going to knock on doors and those 15 neighbors you talked about that don't want to get involved or assuming they don't want to get involved. You need to knock on their doors and ask them and tell them this is your neighborhood and it is an extreme concern to us. This is what we are doing and this is the enforcement and this is our responsibility for the neighborhood.

Mr. Rissler: What we have done in December the residents from those two blocks spearheaded this effort and went with me to distribute flyers. We went to everyone on those two blocks inviting them to join and also on the flyer it gave the police number to call if they see illegal dumping. The neighbors are looking out for our block. We have had some success. The cleanup on Friday, part of the problem is the properties behind the dumping site are all abandoned properties. They face Mulberry Street. There are two businesses, B&M Autos who are neighbors here and they are contributing towards the food for the meal and also there is a store and they are contributing as well. They are providing sodas.

Mr. Hartwick: Earth Day, working toward each and every individual knows that we can try to do our part and save the environment is certainly an appropriate day to bring this forward. We should also and I don't know what kind of community education campaign you have to let folks know in the area to how individuals in the community can help with trying to save the environment. Is that a part of your curriculum as well?

Ms. Wolf: I also want to thank you three Commissioners for being so supportive of our programs, because obviously without your support we wouldn't be able to achieve or help community organizations clean up their neighborhoods.

Ms. Nixon: Since we took over this project in July 2007, we have been trying to bring people together to educate them on the importance of cleaning up the community through the Weed & Seed and through our monthly meetings. It is an uphill battle. There is only so much we can do. I think writing a grant to get cameras is something that we are doing and continuing to be out there with Jason and the team and a lot of the community organizers are doing is helping. Are we there yet? Absolutely not. We appreciate your help and additional help you can give us as it relates to the cameras. We will seek out not only the City, County and State level so that we recognize that this is a problem and we are working on solutions to this problem. It is an ongoing basis through education. When you walk down Derry Street, 13th Street, which I do on a regular basis, some of these alleys have been like this for months.

Mr. Haste: The problem is, and you mentioned it, it is the vacant houses. Wherever they end up in the City is where the next dump goes, it just seems to follow those houses, the back yards of them.

Mr. Rissler: With these properties that are abandoned, doors are hanging wide open, windows of busted out.

Mr. Haste: That is the way it is with almost everyone we have seen.

Mr. Rissler: As far as education, both Kelly and I are part of the executive committee for keeping Harrisburg beautiful and I think this issue that we are struggling with is an issue to some degree throughout the City. How do we educate the neighborhoods on keeping them beautiful and clean?

Mr. DiFrancesco: One of the critical components of the revitalization if you are going to be successful in revitalizing any community obviously the key to it is taking ownership and responsibility. I look at this situation and I have mixed emotions in terms of, I shouldn't say mixed emotions it is actually terrible. It is not a mixed emotion, but it is a mixed message in terms of communicating. No resident anywhere should have to live with this, but in saying that it is also important to realize the critical aspect of what is going on here. Government has a responsibility to maintain order and to prosecute and keep the community safe. So, in terms of the government's responsibility is in fact the security cameras making sure that if laws are being broken in terms of dumping we are there to enforce. When it comes down to taking responsibility for cleaning up the neighborhood, it is the residents that have to stand up. The thing that concerns me is in the past what I have seen is we will go in and do a project and we will clean an entire area up and as Commissioner Hartwick mentioned a couple weeks later it is trashed again. Government can't be responsible for going in and cleaning up. It is like any other household at the end of winter season the homeowner is the one out there sweeping the cinders back off the road, cleaning up their property and when trash cans dump they are cleaning up whether it is their garbage or not. In order to take ownership what I really would like to see throughout the City and throughout the entire County is the idea that when we have situations like this, these illegal dumps that pop up as Government we will come in and make it as easy on you as possible, you being the residents, to where we will put the roll offs in if we need to, whatever it might be to facilitate. We will put that in there so you can clean it up easily, but ultimately the hands and feet need to be the homeowners. We might come in with some extra hands and feet to be part of the process, but the homeowners are the ones that are upset with the fact that I just spent an entire Saturday throwing out someone else's garbage then why would they ever want to get involved in picking up the phone and calling law enforcement and say hey by the way something is going on out here.

Mr. Haste: Half of these properties there are no homeowners.

Mr. DiFrancesco: That is the challenge in this particular case. I realize that. As you said there are alleys throughout the City of Harrisburg where people do live where they have been closed. It has been going on for many years. This is not just a Harrisburg City problem. It is probably most pronounced in the City of Harrisburg, simply because when you take yards of garbage and pour it onto a City street it tends to stand out as opposed to taking the same yards of garbage and dumping it down over an embankment. You don't see the full breadth of it. In reality if we are going to be successful in cleanup projects it cannot be a government stepping in and cleaning it up. It has to be government coming in facilitating and making sure they have the resources, the dumpsters and so forth. It is almost like a situation of there is the roll off, here is the Saturday date and if no one shows up an empty roll off is going to sit there and all that trash is going to remain in the street and that is when you are going to start to see movement of people. I'm here to clean up my community and if somebody decides to show up tomorrow night and think that this is some place that they can dump I'm going to be the one to pick up the phone and call.

Mr. Haste: What you are doing is exactly right. In absence of the homeowner I think with an organization and getting the businesses involved you are doing just that trying to take back your community.

Mr. DiFrancesco: To be clear I am very excited when you tell me the local businesses are joining in and partnering that is the way it should be. It should be a real community effort, community spirit building effort. I agree when I look at something like this it is absolutely appalling that these dumps pop up. This is just one example. It is unfortunate, but these are all over.

Mr. Rissler: On a block those 10 houses you might have five homeowners that are committed, but the other five will end up bringing their couch or mattress out there and then the question is then what stuff do we take. We are in close communication with City Codes. They are strapped because of finances.

Mr. DiFrancesco: That is another issue that you raise. When we are at our town meetings, we have people who say that they called, they picked up the phone and called and nobody does anything. That is another issue from a governmental side that we have to deal with.

Mr. Rissler: We don't have a provision for bulk trash removal in the City of Harrisburg and that is a very big frustration for the City. Whoever I talk to what do you do with your bulk trash? They put it in the alleyway and then how do you get rid of it?

Mr. DiFrancesco: That is a policy issue that the City has. Down my way we can put one bulk item out per week. There is no excuse for anybody being irresponsible with their garbage in Lower Swatara Township with the way the garbage contract is set up. That is a policy issue that someone needs to address and probably have changed, because ultimately we all have mattresses that we have to get rid of and refrigerators that break and things of that nature. That is a reality and you have to address it.

(The Commissioners presented the mock check to Ms. Nixon and Mr. Rissler.)

1. Commissioners
   1. Earth Day Proclamation

Mr. Haste: To follow-up with that I will just read real quick a Proclamation. Yesterday was Earth Day. We actually did a Proclamation yesterday and we will ratify it today.

(Mr. Haste read the following Proclamation.)

Office of County Commissioner
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Proclamation

We, the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners, take great pride in celebrating Earth Day 2008 with the inhabitants of this changing planet and in encouraging all Dauphin County citizens to renew their pledge to adopt environmentally-friendly practices and strive to conserve our natural resources and preserve the environment;

Whereas, since the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, environmentalists, scientists, government leaders and concerned citizens have continued to spotlight the need for a healthy, sustainable environment and to fight against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, toxic dumps, the loss of wilderness and green space, and the extinction of wildlife;

Whereas, Dauphin County has joined the quest for clean energy, from our aggressive curbside and voluntary drop-off recycling efforts to the 10,000-plus acres of farmland we have preserved; we remain committed to confronting environmental issues with forward-thinking practices and policies;

Whereas, preserving and protecting the environment today directly impacts the planet of tomorrow; we join the global campaign for viable solutions to climate change and pollution to ensure that future generations have a safe, healthy atmosphere;

Therefore, we hail the 38th anniversary of Earth Day with the 253,000 residents of Dauphin County by declaring April 22nd, 2008 as "Earth Day in Dauphin County," and we urge citizens to address environmental issues each and every day to promote and sustain a clean, green world.

SALARY BOARD

A complete set of Salary Board Minutes are on file in the Commissioners' Office.

PERSONNEL

Ms. Lengle: There are a few items that I would like to have a vote on today. I would like to pull New Hire #28. The Addendum I passed out replaces that one. This person is already an existing Dauphin County employee.

Mr. Haste: Is there just one like this or is there two?

Ms. Lengle: There were actually three transferring, but the other two I was aware that they were existing employees. Vacancy #3, I would like to request a vote on, as well as New Hire #13 and #14.

Mr. Hartwick: Any reason for the hurries?

Ms. Lengle: New Hire #13 as you can see the start date isn't until May 12th, but they want to be able to give notice. The other person there was an email concerning the delay. (Commissioners were okay with that.)

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board approve Vacancy #3 and New Hires #13 and #14; motion carried. (New Hire #28 was pulled.)

PURCHASE ORDERS

Mr. Baratucci: Are there any questions on the Packet? (There was none.) There are a few minor budget adjustments that need to be made.

TRAINING PACKET

Mr. Saylor: There is one item on the Training Packet that we need to consider. It is for the Public Defender's Office.

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board approve Item #3 of the Training Packet for the Public Defender's Office; motion carried.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Request for Exoneration - Strohecker Mobile Home Park: Parcel #29-001-004-001-0001 ($149.88 - 2007/08); Parcel #29-001-004-037-0096 ($662.22 - 2005/06/07/08) and Parcel #29-001-004-038-0086 ($196.74 - 2007/08).
2. Budget Amendments: 2008 Calendar Year Budget Amendments through 3/31/08 and 2007/08 Fiscal Budget Amendments as of March 31, 2008.
3. Request for Exoneration - Little Hollywood Mobile Home Park, Parcel #36-004-057-035-0199 - $15.90.
4. Request for Exoneration - Caracas Mobile Home Park: Parcel #24-020-043-007-0007 $181.54 (2006/07/08); Parcel #24-020-043-008-0044 $435.20 (2005/06/07/08); Parcel #24-020-043-009-0009 $1,037.23 (2001/02/03/04/05/06/07/08); Parcel #24-020-043-012-0012 $280.75 (2006/07/08); Parcel #24-020-043-018-0045 $281.21 (2006/07/08); Parcel #24-020-043-022-0022 $425.74 (2005/06/07/08); Parcel #24-020-043-030-0030 $86.95 (2007/08); Parcel #24-020-043-031-0031 $105.40 (2007/08); Parcel #24-020-043-035-0035 $375.21 (2005/06/07/08) and Parcel #24-020-043-038-0038 $74.65 (2007/08).
5. Request for Exoneration - Cedar Manor Mobile Home Park - Parcel #34-026-005-006-0592 - $52.02 (2006/07/08).
6. Partial exoneration of 2006 County taxes in the amount of $6,280.93 for Millennium Neighborhood Church, Parcel #62-026-027.
7. Contract for Housing and Redevelopment Assistance Program between the Commonwealth of PA Department of Community & Economic Development and the County of Dauphin for the Volunteers of America Section 811 State DCED Grant. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 4/23/08***)

Mr. Haste: It is requested that Item G be voted on this week.

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board approve Item G listed above under Items for Discussion; motion carried.

SOLCITOR'S REPORT - WILLIAM TULLY, ESQ.

Mr. Hartwick, on behalf of Mr. Tully: I have nothing to add to the Solicitor's Report that is in front of you. I would be happy to answer any questions. (There was none.)

CHIEF CLERK'S REPORT - CHAD SAYLOR

I have nothing to report unless you have any questions of me. (There was none.)

COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS

(There was none.)

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Mr. Haste: We are again 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.)

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, it was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick that the Board adjourn.