DAUPHIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
WORKSHOP MEETING
MARCH 26, 2008 10:00 A.M.

MEMBERS PRESENT

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

STAFF PRESENT

J. Scott Burford, Deputy Chief Clerk; Marie E. Rebuck, Controller; Janis Creason, Treasurer; William Tully, Esq., Solicitor; Fred Lighty, Esq., Human Services Director's Office; Peter Vriens, Director, Human Services; Dave Schreiber, Personnel; Kay Lengle, Personnel; Steve Libhart, District Attorney's Office; Leila McAdoo, Solicitor's Office; Gary Serhan, Deputy Controller; Randy Baratucci, Director of Purchasing; Diane McNaughton, Commissioners' Office; Amy Richards, Commissioners' Office; Jena Wolgemuth, Commissioners' Office; Brenda Hoffer, Commissioners' Office; Greg Schneider, Budget & Finance; Gertrude Farling, Controller's Office; Jack Wright, Human Services Director's Office and Richie-Ann Martz, Assistant Chief Clerk

GUESTS PRESENT

Garry Lenton and Joe Trojak

MINUTES

CALL TO ORDER

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

MOMENT OF SILENCE

(Mr. Haste asked everyone to keep Chad Saylor in their prayers while he grieves the loss of his father.)

Everyone observed a moment of silence.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

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

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

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

DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS/GUESTS

Stephen Libhart, District Attorney's Office

2008-09 Drug and Alcohol Restrictive Intermediate Punishment Grant

Drug Court Continuation Grant

Mr. Libhart: I have two grants that are in affect continuations of existing programs that we funded through the same sources last year.

The first I'll talk about is the Drug and Alcohol Restrictive Intermediate Punishment Grant. The funds requested from the State of Pennsylvania through the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency for 2008-2009 will be $216,706.00. A majority of those funds are used for treatment of offenders accepted at program. Roughly 20% of those funds are used to offset the personnel costs associated with the program management. That represents a total increase of about 5% from last year's initial budget not including the Addendum that we had requested additional funds about three weeks ago. We still reserve the right, of course, midway through this program to ask for additional funds. The State's typical way of handling this is each year that you have expended the entire initial request the next year you are already entitled to a 5% increase. That is why we adjusted the budget accordingly. The program itself remains substantially unchanged. If you have any questions in regards to it I would be happy to answer them.

Mr. Haste: It has been working well since we have taken it over.

Mr. Libhart: The second grant is somewhat related. It is the grant that we have been using to fund personnel costs associated with when somebody initially applies for the Drug and Alcohol Restrictive Intermediate Punishment Program and they are not qualified due to an offender level. We then divert them into what we consider an informal Drug Court, which basically is identical to the Drug and Alcohol Restrictive Intermediate Punishment Program, however, it is specifically for Level 1 and Level 2 offenders. There are strings attached so to speak to the previous program whereas when they apply for that if they are not Level 3 or Level 4 we cannot use funds from that to pay for that. The funds for treatment typically come from funding through TASC Medical Assistance. If an applicant has private insurance that is used first and the Department of Drug and Alcohol Services is well aware of how to go through that step-by-step process. They do divert people into that program, which they have to carry a burden of the legwork before we use the grant that I'm speaking about currently to offset personnel costs associated with those actions. That is what this grant does. It is a strict continuation from a grant that we had applied for and received last year. The last year of this grant's initial phase will be next year. Last year it was at 75/25 split. This year it is 50/50 and next year it will be 25/75.

Mr. Haste: Does Ed have that budgeted?

Mr. Libhart: We apply for it through our office, but the actual budgeting goes through the Department of Drugs and Alcohol Services. We are allowed.

Mr. Haste: Those funds are.

Mr. Libhart: Already on hand.

Mr. Hartwick: We are supposed to have the implementation of Drug Courts in June of 08.

Mr. Libhart: It is going to be July 1, 2008. Right now we are in the preliminary arrangements. We are going to use the umbrella of the Drug Court to encompass both these two programs under one Drug Court application. Then the County personnel are going to handle telling the client well you are better qualified for this program. They will put them into the appropriate program for their offender level, their offense and so forth. Judge Lewis wants that up and running July 1, 2008. The new Chief of Adult Probation and I are working right now to do that. He has extensive experience in starting one of those up. It is a great resource to use.

Mr. Hartwick: Parallel ideas about trying to start the Mental Health Courts as well?

Mr. Libhart: I believe that is going to be pursued. We are just not going to bite off both of those at the same time, because it would be entirely too difficult to.

Mr. Haste: July 1 is sort of our kick-off of specialty courts.

Mr. Libhart: We will continue to expand them. The Criminal Justice Advisory Board is collaboratively working on setting up timelines for that. As we receive more and more of those aside from the Justice Advisory Board Minutes I can brief you whenever you want. That is all I have.

Mr. Haste: Do you need action this morning?

Mr. Libhart: If you can vote on it this week that would be preferred. I need to hand in the signature pages otherwise the applications are in.

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board approve the 2008-09 Drug and Alcohol Restrictive Intermediate Punishment Grant and the Drug Court Continuation Grant; motion carried.

Peter Vriens

Mr. Vriens: I am very excited to be a part of the Dauphin County team. Having worked with Commissioner Hartwick, Judge Hoover and a number of team leaders here in the County and a number of Statewide initiatives, I have always been impressed with the leadership, vision and integrity shown by all. My vision for delivery of human services here in Dauphin County builds upon the strong foundation already laid for a strength- based approach to serving children, individuals and families. By focusing on a person or family's strengths and what is going right and providing the necessary supports we can empower people to make good decisions and plans that will meet the needs of their families. A priority will be the continued expansion of Family Group Conferencing across all social service systems. This best practice brings families together with extended family, informal and formal support systems to put families in a position of strength to develop their own plans to address concerns that brought the family together initially. It is my goal that the Family Group Conferencing will become the standard for social service delivery of Dauphin County. The second priority would be the integration of social services offered in Dauphin County. This will include a no wrong door philosophy and common screening protocol so that no matter which agency a family first approaches for help they can be assisted and thus avoid the frustration that so many families feel in trying to navigate what can be very complex service systems. Such an approach allows for a seamless delivery of services for our constituents and results in positive and consistent outcomes for our families. Another area of focus will be to reduce the number of teens in our Juvenile Probation system through providing necessary supports to strengthen families and where feasible create therapeutic programming in the community that previously required residential placement of the youth. Greatly reducing the waiting list for Mental Retardation services and expanding services to the County's growing aging population will also be priorities. We have a significant agenda and will need to continue to balance ever increasing State mandates with decreased funding. I have no doubt that Dauphin County will continue to be looked at as a leader in the State of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Haste: Welcome aboard! If I can add one and maybe it is already on your agenda. We talked about taking the concept of Family Group Conferencing to even the adult level, Adult Probation even with reentry from the jail. Mike Potteiger is our new Chief Probation Officer and the timing may be right for the two of you to at least start that discussion and the planning of moving that concept forward there as well.

Mr. Vriens: Absolutely. I do have experience working with that population and Family Group Conference and I would be happy to do that.

Mr. Haste: Did you have a chance to meet Mike yet?

Mr. Vriens: Yes, I have.

Mr. Haste: If the two of you could start to talk that out I think that would be a good approach there.

Mr. Vriens: We absolutely will.

Mr. Hartwick: In my conversations with a lot of human service folks around the State, they are starting to really get mad at Dauphin County. We are recognized because of our talent that is out there in the human service fields and trying to bring that talent to help implement all those best practices here in Dauphin County and with the support of three progressive Commissioners, a team of elected officials including the Judges and a concept of trying to be smarter about the way we invest our dollars and to see individuals quality of life improve as a result of our efforts. It puts you in a really unique position to really see a lot of things that you have worked on in theory and talked about be implemented and to see the results here in Dauphin County. I know you come with an excellent reputation. Most importantly I note that working with you on the Statewide implementation team for Family Group Decision-Making has been something that has caused me to make the recommendation to the Board to bring you here. Don't get tired at all because we have a lot to do, Peter. I look forward to getting to work.

PERSONNEL

Ms. Lengle: The first item I have in the Packet is the Salary Board request. Are there any questions on that? (There was none.)

There are a few items on the Personnel Listing that I would like to request a vote for today. Are there any questions on anything that is in the Transaction Listing? (There was none.)

I need a vote on Vacancies #2 and #3 and Personnel Change #14.

Mr. Hartwick: We all would like an explanation for #14. Could you provide an explanation as to why we are changing?

Ms. Lengle: Right now she is in the dual position helping with retirements and benefits. Now she is going to strictly handle benefits and we will have to train someone to do retirement.

Mr. Hartwick: Does that have to be acted on today? I would like to get further clarification on #14 before we move forward on that.

Ms. Lengle: It can wait.

Mr. Hartwick: So, we can just do #2 for vacancies.

It was moved by Mr. Hartwick and seconded by Mr. DiFrancesco that the Board approve Item #2 under Request to Post/Fill Vacancies; motion carried.

PURCHASE ORDERS

Mr. Baratucci: You should have all received your Packet yesterday. There are a couple of budget adjustments as usual. Do you have any questions? If not, it can be moved to next week for approval. Also with the Packet you should have received two of the Remote Access Air Card Requests for Juvenile Probation. Tom is not here today, but he did mention that he discussed this with Commissioner DiFrancesco and he asked me to move them forward so they can be approved next week. Do you have any questions on those?

Mr. Haste: They are for the two northern Dauphin County people.

Mr. Hartwick: Are we doing that until the end of the year and then doing a re-evaluation?

Mr. DiFrancesco: I think we should do them all like that.

Mr. Hartwick: Good.

Mr. Baratucci: We can make that note.

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick that the Board approve the two Remote Access Air Cards for Juvenile Probation only until December 31, 2008; motion carried.

Mr. Baratucci: Do you want me to make a note on it that they are approved just through the end of the year?

Mr. DiFrancesco: That should be a standard note on all of them.

Mr. Baratucci: The ones for upper Dauphin County?

Mr. DiFrancesco: All of them in general. We need to re-evaluate at the end of the year if things changed. We should do that for all of them.

TRAINING PACKET

Mr. Haste: We need to approve Item #14 on the Training Packet. Is there anything else that needs to be approved?

Mr. Burford: There is nothing else.

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick that the Board approve Item #14 of the Training Packet for the Coroner's Office; motion carried.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Appointment of Jayme Simmons to fill the unexpired term of Mary Jane Schell as Dauphin County Tax Collector for Jefferson Township. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 3/26/08***)

Lease Agreement between Dauphin County and Washington Township for MDJ Margerum. (***A VOTE IS REQUESTED 3/26/08***)

Refund of 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 Real Estate Taxes - Parcel #32-010-005 - Wilmer & Jody Sheesley - $2,304.85.

Mr. Haste: Under Items for Discussion we have two items requesting Board action. The first is to fill a vacancy of a tax collector in Jefferson Township. The second is the Lease for Washington Township for MDJ Margerum.

Mr. DiFrancesco: A standard question that I would ask, because I'm not sure of the policy but I know we had some confusion over one of the prior tax collectors that we appointed. I just wanted to make sure that the Solicitor's Office is looking at it to make sure that they meet the standards of the law. The last one that we did the person did not live within the municipality, but it was still a legitimate appointment because of things that they did. I just wanted to make sure that the Solicitor's Office is looking at these appointments to make sure that they are proper.

Mr. Tully: This one I haven't seen.

Mr. Haste: We will hold that one until next week.

It was moved by Mr. DiFrancesco and seconded by Mr. Hartwick that the Board approve the Item B under Items for Discussion, the Lease Agreement between Dauphin County and Washington Township for MDJ Margerum's Office; motion carried.

SOLICITOR'S REPORT - WILLIAM TULLY, ESQ.

Mr. Tully: All the items that are listed will be available and ready for action next week. I'm happy to answer any questions you have in the interim.

CHIEF CLERK'S REPORT - J. SCOTT BURFORD

Mr. Burford: Nothing to report, but happy to answer any questions.

COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS

Mr. Hartwick: I just want to make the Board aware that we have been successful in acquiring two competitive grants recently. One is from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency that is going to be coming from the Board for Family Therapy. It was a competitive grant process that we are getting ready to finalize and begin the process of implementation. It is one of those family support blueprint outcome-based programs that have been supported by the Department of Public Welfare. We have received the resources to actually have that program up and running for this year, which is great news.

The second is we also received notice that we are going to be receiving the Tobacco Grant in the amount of $36,000. Another example of how we are going out after every available dollar in drug and alcohol services outside of the base allocation attempting to serve additional people.

The last thing I want to note is the National championship of Philip Davis, a Harrisburg High graduate who on Saturday night had me on the phone at 1:00 a.m. with tears in my eyes. I couldn't be more proud of him than of my own son. He is a phenomenal kid and one that I'm going to have the good fortune of recognizing. He asked me to come up and speak at the Penn State wrestling banquet on Sunday. He was on the front page of the sports section. Some of you may never have heard of him because he has not committed a crime, not involved in drug deals and he is not out at Dauphin County Prison. He is a kid who successfully navigated his way through a difficult life and to a pinnacle of a high school and college career in wrestling. I just want to give him his kudos in the public meeting. Congratulations Phil!

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

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

Just a reminder, that we have Retirement Board, which will convene 5 minutes after we adjourn the Commissioners' Meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

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