DAUPHIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONER
WORKSHOP MEETING
JULY 30, 2008 10:00 A.M.

MEMBERS PRESENT

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

Jeff Haste, Chairman (ABSENT)

STAFF PRESENT

J. Scott Burford, Deputy Chief Clerk; Bruce Foreman, Esq., Solicitor's Office; Marie E. Rebuck, Controller; Janis Creason, Treasurer; Gary Serhan, Deputy Controller; Steve Libhart, District Attorney's Office; David Feidt, Solicitor's Office; Joe Dougher, Children & Youth; Sandy Pintarch, Children & Youth; David Mattern, Children & Youth; Dave Schreiber, Personnel; Kay Lengle, Personnel; Brittney Miller, Commissioners' Office; Carolyn Thompson, Court Administrator; Leila McAdoo, Solicitor's Office; Tom Guenther, Director of IT; Justin Imes, IT; Randy Baratucci, Director of Purchasing; Melissa Wion, Personnel; Amy Richards, Commissioners' Office; Jena Wolgemuth, Commissioners' Office and Richie-Ann Martz, Assistant Chief Clerk

GUESTS PRESENT

Garry Lenton and Susan Sheaffer

MINUTES

CALL TO ORDER

Mr. DiFrancesco, Vice 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. DiFrancesco: We have four sets of meeting minutes that we will take up at next week's meeting.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Mr. DiFrancesco: We are at the point in time in the meeting for public participation. Is there anybody who wants to address the Board of Commissioners? (There was none.)

DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS/GUESTS

1. Joe Dougher, Children & Youth
   1. Children & Youth Needs Based Budget

Mr. Dougher: Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I provided to each of you, as of late yesterday afternoon, the most recent, hopefully the last, copy of the Children and Youth 2008/09/10 Plan. First of all I want to let you know of the people who took the greatest responsibility in making this document a real document for us. Over the years we have had a significant positive working relationship with our friends in Juvenile Justice, the Juvenile Probation Department. This year, the folks on our staff are Sandy Pintarch, Dave Mattern and Chad Libby from Juvenile Probation. They have spent a great deal of time working on this document, researching it and putting it together. They met for a significant number of hours to assure that what we are providing to you today is a meaningful document with meaningful spending. Our objective over the next two fiscal years is to work diligently to maintain youth in our community without sending them away as much as we have in the past.

As you read through the Needs Based Budget, you will note that there are a lot of programs and initiatives in there over the next two years that are designed to work with youth in the community without sending them away. There are at least five different programs in each of the next two years that are designed for that specific purpose, both for Juvenile Probation and Children and Youth.

Last week we received a finalized budget figure from the Department of Public Welfare with regard to our allocation for 2008/09 and it was $113,000 less that the appropriation that they had sent us originally. However, be that as it may, the budget that is being submitted to you for 2008/09 the $44 million basically is also $400,000 less than the Commissioners approved for our County budget several weeks ago. The budget that we are sending to the Department basically has $400,000 less for County share than the original budget did, because we received $1,750,000 more from the State this year than we did last year. Our allocation was pretty good as far as that goes.

The programs that we are looking at for 2008/09 include three month permanency reviews for Children and Youth. That means that we are going to be bringing kids home more quickly. We are working with the juvenile court on that and also the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to accomplish that task. There is more money in the budget for Family Group Decision-making for delinquent care, family development, and neighborhood check-in center for Juvenile Probation, which is our first attempt at working with a group of juvenile delinquents keeping them in the community and working with the provider. The first step in that is for that particular program, our goal for that is to make that kind of a facility a community resource center for children and their families. We are starting with a particular group of delinquents and working to expand that to make a much more community centered organization. This is our first step in that process. We will be annualizing them next year in our budget. We are also working with a particular partner to work with a group of delinquents who are already in care to bring them home quicker, saving the County a significant amount of dollars. That is in the budget for this year also.

This year and next year's programs are all toward community focus, prevention focus and bringing kids home and keeping them home more. I'll be asking for your approval for this Needs Based Budget at the next Legislative Meeting.

Mr. Hartwick: Just a couple comments. I know your board has been trying to move in this direction. We are finally seeing the actual dollars that are associated and the programs that are associated with significantly reducing a number of kids formally in both detention and placement. I think the key to this is the commitment and I'm going to go on public record that we have received from the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Public Welfare that will not, because we are going to perform well, because we hopefully will be reducing the $18 million or so that we spend in placement or detention and we got the commitment that every dollar we reduce out of those formal systems they will not take away from us. Usually the State provides a disincentive for us to perform. That means we reduce kids out of placement and reduce kids out of detention, they reduce our County allocation, which is absolutely the wrong message to send. We've got the commitment from the Deputy Secretary that every dollar we reduce out of that formal system we can reinvest in these community-based programs, which include the neighborhood check-in centers, the right to stay and taking a look at alternative ways to keep kids in a permanent situation with their family rather than in a system where we send them away for nine months and then we don't do a whole lot of reentry stuff, we don't engage the family and we send them back to the same street corner, same problems, same issues with the family and expect somehow that these kids aren't going to graduate to the adult system. This is a much better way of trying to strengthen the kids and families in working with them and ultimately try to reduce recidivism. We see, through these past practices, that not only does this help the numbers that we have in the formal system, but you also see, in a number of cases, a correlating reduction in the crime rate, because there are healthier families and healthier communities. For folks who think this is going to be something that all of a sudden there are going to be more kids in the community and a rash of crime, that is absolutely the opposite. From the information that we have seen, it has shown that there has been a reduction in the crime rate as well.

I want to commend you for putting this together. We are always in like three budget years in Children and Youth. The current one, the one that we are doing for the next year and then we are always planning for the other year. I know it is very difficult to stay on top. You hear a lot of talk about kids aging out of foster care and what they are doing once they reach the age of 18 and there has been some conversation around do we extend the age. In my opinion I don't think that is necessarily the right way to go. I think we need to offer some real opportunities for kids in that position of foster care that is going to enable them to take advantage of trade and technical schools other ways that they can have real life skills that when they age out they are going to be able to find a job. That is one of the things that we have had some discussion on lately and this may be more information, because it is actually things that we discussed more recently, but the idea of a technical and trade school attached to a foster care or group home situation that would require kids in that position to be able to go into and learn a skilled trade and partner with the building trades. It would ultimately get them into the workforce versus now I'm 18, now we have nothing to do, I don't have job skills and I need to figure out where I'm going that I'm aging out of the foster care system. We need to be doing things with kids in foster care and prepare them for when they turn age 18 to be able to move directly into the workforce and have a meaningful career. You will hear a little bit more from me about that particular venture.

Mr. Dougher: Commissioner, you do know that we have a very active independent board that works very hard with kids 16 and older in our facility to give them those kinds of adult living skills when they graduate out of our programs. We do already keep some kids age 18 and older in our custody when they are in some kind of educational program. Thanks to Congressman Holden we do have a grant that we are working on this year to work with kids who age out of our program to provide them long-term adult mentors in the community after they age out. There are a lot of things going on at Children and Youth with regard to the older population of kids. We are looking at that population and the prevention work to keep kids out of that middle part and more expensive part of our system.

Mr. Hartwick: This is a Workshop Session, just about throwing around an idea about potentially a new opportunity for folks who do the group home work and attaching it directly to sort of a vo-tech school or some sort of trade or even the Midtown HACC campus. Some how provide direct training as a link and opportunity for the kid who is currently in that group home situation.

Ms. Pintarch: All educational costs have to be pulled out of our system. It certainly would have to be a joint venture between the provider and the school district or educational system where they reside. I think we do try to steer kids towards vocational training whenever possible. How much is really truly available to some of the kids given the location of their placements would be something for us to really look into.

Mr. Hartwick: What about even having a conversation with Richard about whether or not they would even pay for some vocational training in this case, not just the school district, but if they would consider a pilot program with a small number of kids for some sort of vocational training and to see what the outcomes would be at the end of maybe a two year period.

Mr. Dougher: It is certainly a conversation worth having. All they can say is no. What Children and Youth is doing now is we are having ongoing meetings with groups and providers. We are having one in this very room as a matter of fact tomorrow morning to talk with our providers about the very issue that we talked about in the Needs Based Budget Plan; working harder with our families, once we get our kids back in the community to keep them here. So, we are asking them to change the way they work with our families over a significant period of time. Those meetings are going to be connected to the children's roundtable issues that Judge Hoover and I are part of Statewide.

Mr. Hartwick: I'm happy with the direction of the Needs Based Plan. I think it has been four years of giving here, but we are finally moving in the direction that will reduce our kids in the formal system and figure out a way to strengthen families. Even if you aren't as concerned about the well-being of kids it makes financial sense and it certainly is not going to institutionalize kids for the rest of their lives, which we end up paying for them and they certainly will not be productive members of the community.

Ms. Pintarch: The only thing that I would point out at the end of the Needs Based Budget, to the left of the pages, actually is very specific to transition living expenditures and planning.

Mr. Hartwick: Where is that?

Ms. Pintarch: It is at the end of the Needs Based Budget package. There is the narrative and then some budget pages. Our current IL grant is around $120,000. We are putting in a request that really significantly increases that. I believe, off-hand, it is maybe over $800,000 for special funding for more expanded services to children from the middle age group.

Mr. Hartwick: I want to make sure that we look through that. For those who think we are talking in Greek language, because we are talking human service talk, it is a major shift in philosophy in the way that we are handling them. I think it is very important to note that we are being very progressive and sort of leading the State in a lot of these practices and particularly some pilot programs if in fact they work, we'll have an opportunity to provide models for the rest of the State. It is exciting.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I'm going to echo a lot of things that Commissioner Hartwick said, but I feel all along there is a need for that radical change where you pull that kid out of the community and send them away to break them from whatever it is that has gotten them to that point, but the realistic approach is also having them stay here and deal with things that they have to deal with every day and teach them how to deal with them in the environment. I think that is really where we are trying to go with this. It is putting more resources in the community. I know the other initiative that we have undertaken and I don't think it has been reported on yet, but taking a look at specifics. Where is the crime happening? Actually getting geographic locations or a map that shows this is where the highest crime rates are and being able to put those check-in centers and things of that nature into those high crime areas so there is more eyes, resources that even when a young person goes off probation or whatever they might do that those officers are still in that community walking by and they built that relationship and now if they see that kid hanging on the corner again they can in a non-threatening way just communicate with them. The whole plan is very logical and makes a lot of sense. It is a better way to deliver the services. I commend you on the plan and I hope that we can move forward. The partnership with the State seems good at the moment. That is always a positive thing. Also, it really gives us the opportunity to test some things and see how they are going to work out.

Mr. Hartwick: And, I always like to hear that we are going to need $400,000 less of our County General Fund dollars to be able to perform these new progressive ventures. I'm going to hold you to it. Don't smile Joe!!!

1. Brittney Miller, Commissioners' Office.
   1. Presentation on the "New and Improved" Carpooling Module of the Sharepoint website.

Mr. Burford: While Brittney is getting ready, I just wanted to point out that she comes to us from Shippensburg University. It has been a real pleasure to have her this summer. She is starting to wind down her experience here. She went through a variety of our different departments working on a variety of different projects. It has been a real pleasure to have her with us.

Ms. Miller: Thank you. In the effort to go green, we have updated the carpooling section on the Sharepoint so that employees can better organize carpools within themselves. When you come to the home page of the Sharepoint, the carpooling link is located on the left hand side of the page and you can also get to it from the bottom right hand of the page. Both will be permanent links onto it. When you get into the actual carpool site, you can see the list of the employees who have entered their information will be the first thing that appears onto your screen. You can see their name, email address, their work extension/phone number, where they work, hours that they work and where they live (general area) and then if they have parking downtown or if they want to be a driver or passenger or alternate and if they have any other comments that they would like to add.

To add your information to the actual list, down at the bottom you can click on "add your info" either way. I'll enter my information just to give you an example. I'll put my name, email address, extension number, the building that I work in, the hours that I work and where I live, the general area of where I live is in Cumberland County, if I have parking and if I'll be a driver or passenger or alternating and then if there are any other comments that I wish to put in I could, but I do not have any at this time. You then have to hit publish and you will be added to the list on the main page.

To monitor the activity that goes on the page IT has administrative access where you can go in and they can see who created the site, the post and if anybody modified it so that way as long as the names are the same then you know that none of the information has been changed by someone else. Also, if they organize their carpools and they are ready for their names to be taken off the list, because they no longer need to be in contact with other employees because their cars are full they can contact the Help Desk and they can go in and delete or if any of their information has changed they can go in and edit it for them.

To announce the creation and update of this, there has been a general announcement on the home page. Also in the August Personnel Newsletter there will be an announcement about it. That is the update on the carpooling section.

Mr. Hartwick: You did a great job presenting. I was impressed with your typing skills, only one mistake!! That was pretty good. I said this last week, we try to be progressive and address some of the energy issues and allowing our interns to have meaningful work with a product at the end of their experience of being here rather than shredding paper or filing, which I know you have done some of, particularly the filing stuff and stuffing envelopes. These are real things to be able to accomplish and they are going to make a difference in County government, hopefully with the reduction of greenhouse emissions, effect on the environment, the parking issues downtown and hopefully allowing folks from all over the County to find and link up with individuals who are from the same area and reduce the number of cars on the road. I think it is a meaningful project and very well done. You should be commended. Good job!

Mr. DiFrancesco: You have come a long way since the first day when I walked by and you were sitting at the shredder for the entire day. Great job and as Commissioner Hartwick said you basically left a lasting mark. You have done something very real and you have done it very well. Hopefully the employees of Dauphin County will take advantage of it and you will be saving them money and we will be protecting the environment. It is a good thing.

Ms. Miller: Thank you.

SALARY BOARD

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

PERSONNEL

Ms. Lengle: Are there any questions on the Personnel Packet? (There was none.) Item #6 that goes along with some of the things that we are working on in Security. If I could have a vote on #6 today that would be helpful.

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board approve Item #6 in the Personnel Packet; motion carried.

PURCHASE ORDERS

Mr. Baratucci: The Purchase Order Packet was provided to you yesterday. There are a few budget issues that need to be fixed by next week. Do you have any questions on them, otherwise the entire packet can be moved to next week for approval?

Mr. DiFrancesco: Page 9, it is probably uniform shirts, but under the Prison, employee clothing and uniform DCP logo shirts - are they uniform shirts?

Mr. Baratucci: I believe, but I'm not positive on this, that they are for the upcoming outing.

Mr. DiFrancesco: The United Way Golf Outing.

Mr. Baratucci: I think all of the people that help with that wear those golf shirts to identify themselves. I believe we order those every year and I'm pretty sure that is what they are for. I can double check.

Mr. Hartwick: Then they can use money raised to reimburse us for the shirts.

Mr. DiFrancesco: That is what I'm wondering. Do they normally reimburse for that?

Mr. Baratucci: I don't think so, but I can check on that. I will check with Dominick to be exactly sure.

Mr. DiFrancesco: If that is the case I would prefer that to be handled in a much different manner.

Mr. Hartwick: Are you going to talk about the request?

Mr. Baratucci: What I passed out to you was a request for a remote access for someone from MH/MR and I believe Mr. Guenther talked to Commissioner Hartwick about this yesterday. It doesn't need approved today. It can go to next week, but I think from what I understood this is one of those that you want to approve through December 31 and then take a look at it along with others that were approved that way as well.

Mr. Hartwick: That's correct.

Mr. Baratucci: It can wait until next week for a vote. I'll let both of you know the answer on the Prison matter as soon as I talk with Dominick.

TRAINING PACKET

Mr. DiFrancesco: I think we are good until next week.

Mr. Burford: There doesn't appear to be anything that we need to act on today.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Adoption of Ordinance #5-2008 defining the dates by which taxes collected must be remitted to the County Treasurer requiring the same be remitted no later than the last day of the month following the close of the collection period. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 7/30/08***)
2. HRG Proposal No. R000208.0425, MDJ 12-1-01 Indoor Air Remediation Plan. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 7/30/08***)
3. Approval of the following Repository Sales:
   1. Parcel #2-48-25 - William Harding - $300.00
   2. Parcel #9-16-29 - Veronica Belcher - $300.00
   3. Parcel #2-19-61 - Aubra Perdue & Hugo Pastor - $300.00
   4. Parcel #9-26-8 - Aubra Perdue & Hugo Pastor - $300.00
4. Tax Refunds:
   1. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #12-012-001 - HarrisPenn Trust - $544.56.
   2. Refund of 2007 Real Estate Taxes - Parcels #06-009-002, #06-009-003 and #07-025-020 - Buonarroti Trust - $623.16.
   3. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #63-011-065 - Charles VanSickle - $952.46.
   4. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #63-073-041 - Huedillard M. Cundiff - $101.97.
   5. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #35-067-035 - Select Medical - $50,357.11.
   6. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #34-006-017 - Gary Thorpe - $1,436.12.
   7. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #24-088-148 - Anita E. Hayward - $1,139.48.
   8. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #09-089-022 - Miguel A. Guzman - $637.33.
   9. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #30-003-034 - Robert Klock - $612.54.
   10. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #36-002-018 - Stephanie S. Saylor - $1,312.20.
   11. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #68-015-044 - Kurt Steward - $70.81.
   12. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #62-032-218 - Ermilo P. Flores - $562.26.
   13. Refund of 2008 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #25-004-039 - Bryan & Barbara Perry - $202.53.
5. Appointment of David R. Ranck to the South Central Workforce Investment Board. Term expires September 30, 2010.
6. Request for Exoneration - Shady Back Acres Mobile Home Community - Parcel #25-013-016-405-0016 (Robert Morningwake) - $160.32.

Mr. DiFrancesco: We actually have two items that a vote is requested on.

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board approve Items A and B, listed above under Items for Discussion be approved.

Discussion:

Mr. DiFrancesco: On Item B do we have a document?

Mr. Foreman: There was a document, which Fred Lighty reviewed from HRG.

Mr. DiFrancesco: I just want to make sure that as it was presented in the email it still says. What is the dollar amount that we are specifically.?

Mr. Foreman: Not in excess of $20,000.

Mr. DiFrancesco: That is what I thought it was. I just wanted to make sure that was still true.

Mr. Hartwick: Once we do this we are not going to hear. This is the end all.

Mr. DiFrancesco: It is not you. We are the landlord, but it is just unbelievable that whatever this problem is. It was the printers and now it's not the printers. We did a lot of air quality testing and nothing showed anything.

Mr. Foreman: That is part of the purpose of this contract. The conclusion is that the suspect is now the adhesive in the carpet coming in contact with moisture from the concrete.

Mr. Hartwick: I just don't understand how all of this wasn't known before we actually bought the building.

Mr. Foreman: That building has been occupied for a number of years by the district justice.

Mr. DiFrancesco: Without any problems.

Mr. Hartwick: That is just amazing to me.

Mr. DiFrancesco: We will do this study and see. Obviously we have to see what is wrong.

Mr. Hartwick: I stand by my motion. It's just not a pleasant one and I'm getting tired of the situation.

Motion Carried.

Mr. DiFrancesco: The rest of the items will be awaiting action next week.

SOLICITOR'S REPORT - BRUCE FOREMAN, ESQ.

Mr. Foreman: Nothing to add to the report that was circulated, but would be happy to try to answer any questions you may have. (There was none.)

CHIEF CLERK'S REPORT - J. SCOTT BURFORD

Mr. Burford: Nothing to report, but happy to answer any questions you may have. (There was none.)

COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS

Mr. Hartwick: Just one. We have our 5th Annual Northern Dauphin Community Family Fun Day in Elizabethville Park. The actual pool is part of the deal. Families are welcomed to come and enjoy hamburgers and hot dogs, ice cream and a number of things for free. We got information about our Northern Dauphin County Government Center, as well as Northern Dauphin County Human Services. We have about 50 vendors and clowns. We even have a frozen t-shirt contest. We have a great day planned in northern Dauphin County. It is from 10:00 to 2:00 on Saturday at the Elizabethville pool and park. We are expecting a big turnout from the residents in northern Dauphin County and all are welcomed.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Mr. DiFrancesco: We are at the point in time again for public comment. Is there anybody that would like to approach the Board? (There was none.)

ADJOURNMENT

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