County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

like to call to order the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners meeting for July 8th, 2026. We'll begin with a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

Chief Clerk's report, Mr. Haggerty.

Good morning, commissioners. An executive session was held on Tuesday, July 7th to obtain the advice of legal counsel regarding economic development funding. Oracle implementation, contract language, collective bargaining, and personnel matters. In addition to the June 3, 2026 Board of Commissioners meeting minutes and the purchase order packet, there are 43 items for board consideration today. We have one adoption assistance agreement, 41 human services agreements, and the training packet. please note that although we anticipated one item on a personnel packet for your consideration today it was delayed until next week so there is no personnel packet today despite its inclusion on the agenda that concludes my report i'm happy to answer any questions you may have any questions for mr hagerty hearing none we'll move the solicitor's report mr owens good morning uh all matters requiring board action uh this morning and on this agenda have been reviewed by my office and approved for action

any questions for mr owens hearing none we'll move to public participation related to agenda items only so this is uh a time to speak on any agenda items before us for action you'll need to note which item you're speaking on and uh you have a three minute cap and we are being live streamed you'll need to state your name prior to speaking anyone for public comment on agenda items only there'll be a later time for general public comment seeing none we'll move to review and approval of the minutes june 3rd 2026 board of commissioners meeting minutes moved by commissioner hartwood second seconded by commissioner priest any discussion hearing none all those in favor aye opposed motion carries we have no directors and guests no salary board today all uh well we also have no uh because we don't have a personal packet today so we'll move to budget and finance mr davis

Commissioners?

I have no changes to the purchase order packet sent out last week. That's ready for your approval.

Any questions about the purchase order packet? Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Moved by Commissioner Priest, seconded by Commissioner Hartwick. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. We have 43 matters requiring board action before us today. Does anything need to be pulled for a separate vote? I'll entertain a motion for all 43 items. So moved. Second. Moved by Commissioner Hartwick, seconded by Commissioner Preece. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Former business? None. New business? Commissioner's remarks. Commissioner Hartwick.

My only remarks will be, uh, thinking. Of the many public servants, public works. Emergency response residents. Who have endured some difficult days as a result of the storms that we had over the 4th of July weekend. Um, I know that, uh. There's still a lot of work still left to be done related to trees down and I know that the emergency management department has done an excellent job of. Collecting municipal unmet needs. And making determinations related to both public information and ensuring that we do everything we can to be able to support our local municipalities as they deal with these particular issues. So. The folks that you don't see in the middle of the night responding, we, we get. A text even late last night of major incidents that are happening throughout this county. It's those ones who are responding, making sure that folks are safe, making sure by the time you wake up many times powers back on. Places are restored, places are secured, gas lines are secured, roads have begun to be, as they've been washed out, already begun to be both notified and worked on in different locations. But that doesn't mean we know everything that exists. And we would encourage folks, as it relates to coordination, to make sure that we are continuing to check back in with emergency management to ensure uh to make those uh known uh if there are any additional unmet needs or any additional concerns that our community should be aware of we want to make sure we partner and support those municipalities as they get through these difficult days following the storm that's all i've got thank you commissioner harwood commissioner priest

yeah thank you george i i concur with your comments and i want to say a special thank you to director jeff enders at emergency management and some of his team members chris fisher alexey passero bob stout our great 911 telecommunicators who handled all those calls hundreds of calls came in during those two days for the back-to-back storms that we had here in dolphin county significant damage in the city of harrisburg dairy township hummelstown south hanover several other areas and as george mentioned we're in constant communication with the local municipalities emergency management agencies uh great communication set up there and we're urging them if you have some unmet needs not hearing of any right now but if you have some unmet needs please let us know uh as of this morning that we still have 12 000 county residents without power uh so that's still a significant amount of people here in dolphin county that are still waiting power to come back on uh i also want to thank my colleagues uh three of us met this morning Harrisburg City Councilman Ralph Rodriguez and a bunch of students that he brought in here this morning they're visiting us today for question and answers on county government and right now they're meeting with the courts some judges I believe Royce Morris and some other folks over there and then they're going to visit the Sheriff's Department so I want to thank Ruby Dow Uh, 1 of our county employees are helping put that together today as well.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh, I, I joined my colleagues and, uh. You know, our gratitude for the 1st responders, uh, obviously the weather on the 4th of July. It was a real challenge across the county. um just uh seeing the amount of trees down power lines down challenges and then on top of that the kind of flash flood that we got and you know when you don't have power your sump pump doesn't kick on so that's a real problem and we know many people are dealing with on top of trees down and on top of no power uh the realities of filled basements um or flooding happening in their house and so um just want you know as a board to express our concern for our community but certainly our gratitude for all the first responders who are often uh there we also want to thank ppno for all the work they're doing across the you know the entire state but here in central pennsylvania certainly uh getting power back on uh and doing you know the best they can i think to get to get that back up and going I want to also thank all those who took, you know, there's a lot of people that volunteer to work to plan things like 4th of July celebrations. And any of those, unfortunately, the time and energy and effort put into that were impacted by the weather. And so just want to thank all those people who try to provide for the community in that capacity through those events. And ultimately, maybe some of that was experienced, but some of it was also impacted. So I just want to thank them for all their efforts. I had the opportunity to attend Parks and Rec, did some free ice cream at the Whitaker Center. And I just want to thank Anthony and her team, Parks and Rec, for that event and for Urban Churn as well and all that they do to provide amazing ice cream here in Harrisburg and to provide it for that event. I also just want to note number 16 on our packet. Obviously, we vote on a number of human services things that are really important to do a lot of great things. But I think this board as a whole has been united in suicide prevention, specifically in our Bhutanese Nepali community, as we've seen some of the challenges. And I just continue to... to thank my colleagues for our continued commitment to address that issue and to ensure that we have human services funding flowing there so that there's proper education and cultural sensitivity to how we educate that community and provide resources to that community. With that, we will move to general public participation. And I believe Vince is bringing a list here for me. All right, I have one individual on the list, and then we'll open it to the floor. Just a reminder, you have three minutes to share. You'll need to state your name prior to speaking, and we are being live streamed. Douglas Lynn. Good morning. Good morning, gentlemen.

My name is Douglas Lynn, Susquehanna Township. My children have taught me many lessons in life. One of the most important is to lead with love. While it's important to correct when they stray from the path, it is much more important to recognize when they maintain the path. I would like to take this opportunity today to specifically thank Commissioner Hartwick, Your communication and activity on the Welcome resolution, Welcome County resolution, is proving instrumental in moving that forward. Your community appreciates that greatly. We see you and we hear you, neighbor. Thank you very much. We look forward to continuing to work with you. On my way into this very meeting last week, I received an alert from a local watch group about the immigration and ICE-involved shooting on 17th and Derry. I want to thank Commissioner Douglas for putting out the public statement condemning the irresponsibility and just blatant neglect of public safety. that those officers, if you can call them that, displayed. I would also like to go, as a resident on record, thanking emergency management for their response over the last few challenging days. It's not often a resident will step up and give people a public pat on the back, so thank you. Thank you, everybody. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Anyone else for public comment? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved.

Seconded by Commissioner Hartwick, seconded by Commissioner Priest. All in favor? Aye.

We're adjourned.