County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call to order the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners meeting for August 26, 2026. We'll begin with a moment of silence, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance. Chief Clerk's report, Mr. Haggerty.

Good morning, Commissioners. An executive session was held on Tuesday, August 25th to obtain the advice of legal counsel on issues relating to personnel matters, county finances, and active or pending litigation. In addition to the salary board packet, personnel packet, and the purchase order packet, there are 63 items for board consideration today. We have three adoption assistance agreements, four appointments to the gaming advisory board, one parks and recreation agreement, one registration and elections agreement, one prison agreement, 25 opioid remediation grants, one victim witness assistance program grant application, 21 human services agreements, two legal services agreements, two satisfaction pieces, one tax forgiveness request, and the training packet. Today we are joined by Sally Berry, Director of Adult Probation and Parole, to recognize Probation and Parole Week, as well as Randy Yeager, our Director of Human Services, to further discuss opioid remediation grants. I also want to provide an update about our ongoing work with Creole SMX Consulting to address issues with the county's previous attempts to implement Oracle for our financial and human capital management. Right now we are actively managing 94 unique projects to improve Oracle, and by the end of this week we expect to have completed 35 of the 41 projects included in Phase 1. Several of the items which will be completed this week have been of particular interest to the Board, including implementing formal budgetary controls. These controls will ensure transactions which are not budgeted for will be declined and fail to process, halting payments that may not have corresponding board authorization from a budgetary perspective. Over the next two weeks, Chris Davis, our director of budget and finance, and I will be providing formal guidance to department heads outlining these new budgetary controls and explaining how budgetary revisions and adjustments will work effective September 14th, assuming everything this week goes as we expect it will. I want to thank Creole and our staff here at the county for the months of work that has gone into this project and getting us to a place where all of our financial systems are working as they should. So thank you, everyone. And to our department heads, please keep an eye out for guidance, which will be forthcoming. That concludes my report. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Haggerty. Any questions?

Hearing none, solicitor's report, Mr. Owens.

Good morning, commissioners. All matters requiring board action and requiring review by my office have been reviewed and approved for board action today.

Any questions for Mr. Owens? Hearing none, we'll move to our first portion of public participation. This is related to agenda items only. At the end of the meeting, we'll have another opportunity for public comment. For this public participation, it's three minutes. We are being live streamed. You'll need to state your name and the item on the agenda you're referencing prior to comment. Anyone for public comment related to agenda items? Seeing none, we'll move forward to directors and guests. I'll hand it over to my colleague, Commissioner Hartwick, as you have oversight of probation.

Director Baric, could you please come forward and staff? This week I have the great honor to recognize Dauphin County's Adult Probation Department and the dedicated professionals who work every day to protect our community, promote accountability, and help individuals successfully rebuild their lives. Our Adult Probation Department Supervises nearly 6,000 individuals under court orders while connecting people with critical community-based services and specialized programs, including drug court, veterans court, recovery connections court, electronic monitoring, mental health, and intellectual disability services, as well as intensive supervision. under the leadership of Director Berry, who has been a real welcome addition to Dauphin County. Our probation officers and staff perform difficult and unseen work that strengthens public safety while creating pathways towards rehabilitation and reducing recidivism. during national pre-trial probation and parole supervision week we want to thank sally and the entire adult probation team for their professionalism commitment to service and their work truly reflects this year's theme connected for change in building bridges and supervision so without further ado director barry thank you um i have with me today deputy director andrew cooper and supervisor tina trussell i appreciate both of their presence and support today with me

Although pre-trial probation and parole supervision week was recognized nationally from July 19th to July 25th, the Dauphin County Probation Department has elected to celebrate this week, August 24th through the 28th. Again, thank you for the opportunity to be here today as we recognize our probation officers, our supervisors, our support staff, and the important services that they provide to Dauphin County community. This year's national theme for Probation Parole Week was Connected for Change, Building Bridges and Supervision. And as I reflected on that theme, it really does reflect the important work and the truth about the work that we do. That meaningful and lasting change doesn't happen in a solo environment. Meaningful change is built through strong supportive relationships with the courts, with county leadership, with law enforcement, with treatment providers, with community organizations, with families, and most importantly, with the individuals that we supervise. Many folks don't realize that our probation officers are expected to wear many hats. They are protectors of public safety. They're managers of responsibility. They're mentors. They're problem solvers. They're a constant source of guidance for people who are navigating some of the worst experiences of their lives. Every day, our officers are expected to balance accountability with compassion, structure support, and public safety with the belief that people really are capable of changing. The work that our officers do every day can be mentally and at times physically challenging and demanding, and it often takes place quietly and outside of the general public eye. It requires sound judgment, courage, strength, empathy, and a strong commitment to our community. Our officers really are change agents who respond to crisis, they conduct field work, and they connect with They connect individuals with treatment, housing, employment, and other resources. And they work closely with our justice and community partners to build a safer, stronger community. However, none of this work could be possible without our supervisors, without our administrative support staff. Their professionalism, organization, and dedication provide the foundation that really allows our department to carry out its mission every day. Every position in our department is important, it matters, and every member of our team is crucial. Today, I ask that we pause to recognize the many ways our staff go above and beyond, whether that means staying late to help deal with the crisis, making an extra phone call to connect someone with services, or supporting a fellow coworker in need, or simply just showing somebody that they care. Our probation officers and support staff, we'd like to say thank you. Thank you for your dedication, your professionalism, and your willingness to do difficult work with strength and humanity. The bridges we build create opportunities for change. They strengthen public safety and they make meaningful differences throughout Dauphin County. And we wanted them to know that their service does not go unnoticed. And it is my privilege to recognize all of our staff today and the work that they do for Dauphin County. Thank you.

I want to say thank you to the staff, especially during all the times that are unseen that you don't get credit for, but the investment you make in people's lives, the ability for you to provide a level of heart service and pathway and guidance during, as you said, some of the most troubling times. and also being true servants, which also risk your life day to day. So we are truly grateful for the level of service. I'm turning it over to my colleagues from some additional comments, and then I have a proclamation. Yes, thank you, Commissioner.

The work you do is truly a team effort, and you mentioned all the areas that you touch in human services and law enforcement. you're changing lives and also many times saving lives by the work that you do. It's not just an eight to four job. It's a seven day a week, 24 hour a day job where you and your staff are many times responding on a moment's notice to help your clients and the residents of Dauphin County. So we can't thank you enough for the great work that you do. And thanks for mentioning the work you do with the courts as well. It's a very, very important job. Thank you.

Director Barry, thank you for your work. Thank you for your leadership, Deputy Director as well, Cooper. This is a really like unnoticed, I think, by the community department, maybe, or, you know, some might not notice the impact that you can have on individual reentering, you know, and I think it's just so important to see the commitment of probation officers to to see these individuals as rebuilding their lives and a support system. And I'm very thankful and grateful for the probation officers that I've met who are committed to that level of service, to seeing the opportunities that you had mentioned, a mentor. Some of these individuals haven't had a guide in anything in life, maybe a teacher at one point. incarceration is so challenging and we know the recidivism rates so individuals uh entering into uh you know your guys's care and custody and you know aid uh it's certainly something that uh i'm very grateful to have you leading and grateful for your team so thank you for your efforts and we're all i think honored to honor you today so thank you thank you anything to add no appreciate the comments thank you

I know that you've made specialized care. You have mental health units. You have specialty units. You connect with landlords. I mean, you guys take care of free entry at multiple levels, as well as the level of supervision and safety. So we want to thank you for your efforts on behalf of the Board of Commissioners. We welcome the opportunity to honor and thank the pretrial, probation, and parole employees for their dedication, perseverance, and care in all they do as we celebrate National Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week. Whereas these professionals help those who are reentering society feel stable, ready, and aiding them in finding solutions to problems and success in living a safe, healthy, and productive life. Whereas pre-trial probation and parole officers work tirelessly not only to provide reentrants with an opportunity for reintegration into society, but to ensure that the public's right to safety is honored and upheld. Whereas these officers work in conjunction with local law enforcement, treatment providers, social service agencies, group individuals in a variety of programs to give reentrance the best chance at success. Therefore, we take this week to recognize the efforts, attentiveness and diligence of these incredible individuals who helped to provide reentrance with a second chance while providing the supervision to keep our neighborhood safe. Therefore, it's with great pride that this board joins with the 293,000 residents of Dauphin County in giving our everlasting gratitude to these officers for the work that they do and the assistance they provide as we do hereby proudly proclaim August 24th through August 28th, 2026 as Pretrial Probation and Parole Supervision Week in Dauphin County. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir.

Next up, we have Director of Human Services, Randy Yeager, to discuss opioid remediation grants.

Good morning, Commissioners.

Good morning.

Thank you for having us to talk about this awesome grant opportunity that you all have made possible. We have 25 of the 30 contracts on the agenda today for your consideration. And I would like to highlight a couple items. First of all, I want to thank our opioid remediation grant board members. I believe we have two of them today present, both Dr. Erica Pinkney and Kristen Varner. All of our board members dedicate a lot of time and energy To making this process work and hearing all the wonderful projects that are opportunity for this community. I also want to thank Jess camera who helps keep us. Very well organized and running in the most efficient way, because we have a lot of applications to review. We want to make sure that we haven't missed anything. So I think you just, um, I 1st would like to highlight. collaborative effort and this grant opportunity allows organizations to work together in a really effective way and this particular program highlights the work for mothers and children so I'd like to ask dr. Taffy Anderson of Penn State Health I'd like to ask Jen Strasburg of Bethany Christian Services Renew Program to join me just to talk about this program briefly. As they arrive, Pam Haddad from Samara Family Services was not able to join us today. Unfortunately, she's under the weather, so she sends her regrets. but um with uh samara and these two organizations there's really been a collaboration like no other so i'll turn it over to you guys to talk about that a little bit do you want to go first good morning good morning good morning uh i just want to say thank you thank you for this opportunity and um we're so happy to be part of this collaboration

And, um, I was, I was particularly excited to hear from, uh, director Barry, because I want to thank, um. Randy for helping facilitate the connection between. The county agencies where we've been able to with the help of Randy, um, really connect with probation, children and youth. And other county agencies to, um. further that collaboration along with dr anderson and samara as well so that was what i wanted to highlight but as far as our program i can just give you a quick little intro to what's been happening during this grant cycle this is this was our third grant cycle And we were able to serve 28 women in Dauphin County and received 31 new referrals during this period. And Renu provided intensive case management focused on recovery, mental health, prenatal care, parenting, housing, transportation, and other barriers to stability. The real power of this work is in collaboration. So I was excited to hear that collaboration is sort of the theme of the day. Addiction treatment, prenatal care, parenting support, and intensive case management each address a different piece of a woman's life. When those services are connected rather than operating in isolation, we are much better positioned to help women achieve long-term stability for themselves and their families. Thank you.

I want to thank you for inviting me to be able to speak. And I cannot say how grateful I am to have Randy, who has really worked with our program. So we have a program at Penn State Health. It is our maternal substance use disorder program. And I can say without certainty that I think it is probably one of the premier programs, not only in Pennsylvania, but in the United States. And that's because we have the collaboration with Renew. We have collaboration even beyond that. We have collaboration with our community resources, Kudensia, Pyramid, that have reached out to us and have taken our patients. So we bring moms in who have substance use disorder. And if it's opioids, they're transitioned in the hospital to methadone or buprenorphine. And then we see them in an outpatient setting and on our same campus at least up until the year. And because we know that postpartum state is actually the time when they'll have an increase in overdose and death. So we continue to follow them. We've also developed a mental health program because we know that Probably 90% of our patients have trauma and have mental health we consider co-occurring disorders. So in our reproductive and behavioral health program, our patients are able to have a one-stop shop where if we diagnose them with PTSD, which the majority of them have, anxiety and depression, especially around the perinatal period, we are able to get them into our reproductive and behavioral health program. So what do we do in that program? We have psychiatry and we have trauma therapy. So we have a complete one-stop shop for our patients that have substance use disorder.

1 of the opportunities of this collaboration is to reduce and really break through the stigma of substance use disorder. And these organizations have done that and 8 people feel really welcome. They have been. Grant award heats for a couple of years now, and it just. Gives them that opportunity to solidify the connection. So I thank you both very much. With this grant, we also have the opportunity for new providers in our community, and I'd like to have the Sarah Jane Bentley Foundation join me.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

We have Herman Bentley and Kelly Thompson, as well as Frances Lavender with that organization, and they are doing some great work. I'd like to share with you about their accomplishments.

Good morning, Chris. Commissioners, Dauphin County, very exciting and pleasant to meet and be in your presence. Thank you again for the opportunity of Sarah Jane Bentley helping the analysts and the devs with opioid use. I want to give a quick overview of our program and what we do in Dauphin County. Sarah Jane Family Foundation is committed to restoring hope, improving lives, and strengthening Dauphin County by connecting individuals and families affected by the opioid use to orders to treatment, recovery, and long-term stability. We are committed to being a partner, resisting services while addressing gaps in services.

Commissioners, thank you for the opportunity. What our focus is to increase timely access to opioid treatment services through assessments and warm handoff referrals. We're looking at expanding our intensive outpatient treatment service for adults and adolescents. I know I say this all the time, addiction affects the whole family. And we are looking at helping to strengthen support systems that improve long-term recovery outcomes and improve through the opioid grant and build some healthy connections and relationships to combat the isolation and lack of connection that can drive relapse and delays in recovery. AND WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE OPPORTUNITY TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS. AND WE'VE ALREADY ESTABLISHED THAT BY WORKING WITH WE'VE CONNECTED THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE PROCESS. WE THANK YOU, RANDY, FOR LEADING US AND GUIDING US AND ESPECIALLY JESS. I HAD A THOUSAND QUESTIONS. SO I'LL TURN IT OVER TO YOU.

Good morning, commissioners. Again, thank you for the opportunity and for giving us just a few minutes to talk about this. My name is Kelly Thompson. I come to the foundation as a health care executive, an attorney by background, former state and federal public official for many years. I've dedicated my career to health care in the past year. I've had the distinct opportunity. to volunteer and work with this foundation in our community. It's been a really nice opportunity for me to see just how our provider community in an outpatient setting can have such an impact on the adult and particularly the adolescent community. If you look at some of the pictures that are up on the screen, you'll see about a year ago we kicked off an adolescent-focused program. We're very excited about that as we look to partner and to treat individuals in this community. No one provider, organization, or program is going to be able to heal Harrisburg. And Ms. Francis's comments, I think just with regard to even the prior presenters, No one person is going to be able to do this, and we've already established those connections. We work with justice-involved individuals through some of the reentry that you've heard already about this morning. So I just want to reiterate, you know, as a volunteer, as a longtime member of this community, our appreciation, our excitement, and our gratitude for your trust in us to be able to do this. This will be our first grant cycle, and we're looking forward to getting started with this opportunity. So thank you again.

Commissioners, lastly, I would just like all the potential awardees in the room today to stand up and hopefully we can get a photo of everybody if your time allows.

Yeah, of course, of course. Thank you. Go ahead and stand if any awardees in the room. Well, I think we all would say thank you for the work that you and your organizations are doing. When we think about this opioid settlement funds, we know the destruction that has taken place in our communities around opioids and the addiction that exists. I think most of us probably can think of a loved one or a friend who's been impacted. And we're very grateful for the number of organizations right here in Dauphin County that are doing the hard work to to bring about some healing in that space. So thank you each for your commitment to that. And I think we're each excited to, to have the opportunity through these funds to support that work. So yeah, let's grab a picture unless, unless my colleagues have anything to say.

uh i just want to say and we've heard it here many times already this morning connections and collaboration and they are critical components to the success of our communities and each of them doing a wonderful job there and we have found before and we find now that we get a lot work a lot more done we work together in a joint cooperative banner and you're showing it day to day so thank you very much

I just 1st, like, to think the board members. All board members who dedicated time expertise resources. To commit to review these applications in a, in such a significant way. And I know providing these recommendations, I'd also like to think. uh randy for her leadership and jess um and then you know congratulations on these cooperative relationships because it's not about competing against each other for these grants it's about collaboration to be able to serve a population that shares similar challenges and needs components to our system in order to make sure that we stop from re-entering the system and particularly in light of the pregnant females knowing that Our children and youth organization has had the highest level of interaction with kids coming into care because of folks' substance abuse issues and ensuring that we've got a collaborative approach to be able to provide a pathway to those parents and for the safety of the children and ultimately a healthy family, which is that's where we want to provide that support. Despite what folks think, we don't want to take children. We want to figure out a way to be able to invest in families and provide skills and support to be able to provide that kind of safe home that would be free of those challenges. So thank you to all involved, and I'm looking forward to seeing the results of this type of investment as we move forward. So thank you.

Randy, speaking of investment, the one thing we never really talk about is on the back end. cost savings to everyone in the community. Millions and millions of dollars are being saved by the work that you're doing as opposed to letting folks go down the wrong path saving they're saving their lives you're saving tons of money for the county. So thank you very much.

I think for the sake of our picture probably the easiest way would be for everyone to come up to the desk with a picture in front of the desk is that OK. All right.

congratulations thank you

Thank you.

There's no way that Me? Okay.

what it was.

We're in a good position. Okay. Good to see you. Thank you. Yep.

right we'll move to salary board salary board consists of the commissioners and the controller we have a salary board packet uh before us for approval do i have a motion second moved by controller bateman seconded by commissioner priest any discussion oh sorry sorry okay i can i can i can i can run it back we have a motion for the salary board packet second uh we have a motion from controller bateman second by commissioner priest Is there any comments, questions? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. We'll move to Human Resources, Faye Fisher. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning. Commissioners, before the vote, I would like to request a transaction number 13 to be pulled. This new hire will not be starting employment at this time.

And all of the remaining transactions are budgeted for I will make a motion to adopt the personnel packet with removing item 13 All right, so we have a motion for the personnel packet absent item number 13 by Commissioner Hartwick seconded by Commissioner priests any discussion Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you, Fay. Budget and Finance Director, Chris Davis.

Good morning, Commissioners. Good morning.

Good morning. I have no changes to the investment report that was sent out earlier this week. There's also no changes to the purchase order packet that's ready for your vote approval. Happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Mr. Davis? I make a motion to accept the purchase order packet. Motion made by Commissioner Hartwick to accept the purchase order packet. Do we have a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Preece. Any discussion? Everything's within the budgeted amounts for 2026. As far as where... All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you. Move to matters requiring board action. We have 63 items before us. Do any need to be pulled for a separate vote?

Yes, I'd like to pull item number six, the gaming advisory board at large appointment.

Item number six has been pulled for a separate vote. Anything else? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion for items 1 through 5 and 7 through 63. So moved.

Second. Moved by Commissioner Hartwick. Seconded by Commissioner Priest.

Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Move to item 6. Do we have a motion for item 6? All motion for item 6? Seconded by Commissioner Hartwick.

Any discussion? Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, it's good to see that we now have a full gaming advisory board in place. And I believe it's worth noting that the former board member from last year, Ellen Brown, will stay on this year as one of the five. And then we have three others that were just appointed. Donald Holmes from south west hanover township and michael yingling from east hanover township as well as charles duncan from dairy township i'm just bringing up for consideration the topic in front of us which is the at-large category i personally believe the at-large appointment is to be actually at large which gives a municipality that's not contiguous an opportunity to have a representative on the gaming advisory board I know this year the city of Harrisburg had someone interested, Lower Paxton, Londonderry Township, Swatera, and we have communities in the northern end of Dauphin County that haven't had anyone serve in that capacity. Now, we will have one first responder back on the board, down from three last year, but we don't have anybody representing the labor movement. And I just think there are opportunities for us. We have 293,000 residents in Dauphin County, and the at-large appointments Seeing that Derry Township already has one East Hanover has two by statute West Hanover is one of the other ones and Derry Township is now gonna have two so I'm from Derry Township But I just think that with all the residents out there and this board saying that we've wanted more folks from out there to get involved and I think we missed an opportunity here to put somebody on from one of the truly at-large municipalities. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Commissioner Preece. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? No. Motion carries. Move to former business. I see none before us. Any new business? Seeing no new business, we'll move to Commissioner's remarks.

Commissioner Hartwig. First, I'd just like to congratulate and recognize Mr. Emil Powell from the Borough of Steelton. There was a ceremony this weekend to dedicate a brickyard park in his honor. For those of you who know Mr. Powell, he has been somebody that has been actively engaged in Stilton borough affairs, politics. Some call him the unofficial official mayor of Stilton. He is somebody who served us with great distinction in times of service, both in military service as well as community service. And it's great to see him at the ripe age of 95 still alive to accept that honor and to know that he will be honored as a result of his legacy and service. Also attended two other important events this weekend, both back-to-school events, where Ralph Rodriguez and All You Can served over 600 families, and Reverend Ben Harvey with Stop the Violence Ministry also served a significant number of families. students and families who are going back to school in Swinara Township. I know this morning we all took turns at various schools. I'd like to thank our partners who joined me at SciTech this morning. One of our own solicitors, Natalie Burston, was out. wishing and saying hello and giving congrats and enthusiastic welcome back acknowledgements to all the students at SciTech High this morning. So thank you for all of those participants and those who've taken their time to welcome our students back to the school year. That's all I've got.

Commissioner Preece. Thank you. On Saturday, I had the privilege of representing the county at the Tunnel to Towers event in Hummelstown. There were hundreds of people in attendance there. A great job by the organizers, led by Dee Van Gavry and Justin Hess, and the Committee of Community Volunteers did a wonderful job, and they raised over $65,000 to a great cause. And this morning, I had the pleasure of representing the county. I know Commissioner Harwick, Commissioner Douglas were out there as well. I was at Foose Elementary School for the back to school event. Dozens of kids came by and I joined Representative Dave Madsen handing out goodies to the kids and hopefully Harrisburg School District gets off to a great start and it's a safe and healthy year for all the students and the teachers. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Priest. We want to welcome everyone back to school. I actually was not able to get out today, but um But excited to see all of Harrisburg going back to school. Certainly last week, we even had schools going back that I was there greeting and excited for all the different areas, school districts that are headed back to school. Looking forward to a great school year for our students, teachers, administrators, everyone involved. Prison Board Town Hall was last night. Thanks to all those who came out and joined. I also want to thank our IT department for being here, for our facilities and maintenance, for setting up the room, and for security as well for being present there at the Prison Town Hall. Wildwood 5K was last week. I want to thank our Parks and Rec for a great job for the 5K. I think this is my second or third time doing the Wildwood 5K. Did not train this time, but we did have a wager going on on the fourth floor for who would be the fourth floor 5K champion. And so I have to invite our budget director, Chris Davis, up. I'm just going to ask that if IT could zoom out to make sure you get this whole trophy on the live stream. 2026, Dauphin County, fourth floor 5K champion goes to Mr. Chris Davis. Give it up, everybody. We need to get a picture. I also want to acknowledge a podium finisher as well, Mr. Eric Haggerty, who finished in third place. do not clarify the record third place on the fourth floor 86th place overall thank you all right yeah well everyone uh if you haven't uh been out to wildwood even if you're not a runner the trail is great to walk it's a great park and if you haven't been in some of the amazing parks that we have here in dauphin county make sure you get outside this beautiful weather to go experience our parks With that, I see no correspondence before us. We'll move to general public participation. I probably have a list that I'll read from. Just a reminder, there's a three-minute time limit, and you'll need to state your name prior to speaking, and we are being live-streamed. We'll begin with Herman Bente, or maybe Bentley. Well, then we'll open it to the floor. Anyone for public comment?

Good morning morning.

Good morning county commissioners. Good morning. Solicitor chief clerk and everybody. It's great to see... I'm sorry, could you please state your name for the record? I apologize. Please forgive me. My name is Pastor Earl Harris. I live at 103 South 21st Street, Harrisburg, PA. I'm a retired pastor and I guess a retired lawyer, too. I'm here on behalf of Core Community Blueprint because we're working with over 30 churches in the Dauphin County area and synagogues and across denominational lines. And while it's pleasant to see the staff do so well in drug and alcohol, et cetera. The reality is that as an African American in Dauphin County, I'm concerned about the recidivism. It's over 60% in Dauphin County, higher than most counties. We're spending about $35,000 per prisoner in Dauphin County. In the state level, we're spending over $60,000 to $67,000 per prisoner. 47% of the prisoners are occupied by people who look like me, while we make up 10% of the population of this commonwealth. We clearly have been since 1965 into a permitted underclass position in America, and I recognize that. So I'm here because providing the services and the approaches being used, it's not working. the recidivism rate is higher in dolphin county than most counties the process is not working and it's not working in part because of the lack of economic opportunities jobs contracts etc which is afforded the people of color in dolphin county while i believe they have good intentions reality is the numbers don't lie take a look at what we're doing and take a look at how we can approach this. And I encourage you to talk to persons outside the box because this is great, again, to see people doing their job, but It just means more people are feeding on the prison system. More people are feeding on other people's failures. I can applaud their success, but I don't like being the product. I don't like my son and grandson and others being the product of America in a failed prison system, in a failed economic system, in a failed social system. I'm asking you to please take a look at how we're approaching this whole matter. Improving the prison is great, but it's not working. Perhaps we can find ways to improve people and help them before they go to jail. Thank you.

Thank you, Pastor Harris. Anyone else for public comment?

Did you all miss me?

Good morning, Commissioners.

Good morning, Solicitor and Mr. Haggerty. Pamela Parson, City of Harrisburg. As you know, one of the things that I always talk about is public participation, accessibility, accountability, and transparency. And I was very concerned attending the last prison board meeting, as I usually do. And my reasons for my concern are this. I'm talking about the policy that is being created behind our ICE collaboration resolution. for lack of a better term and I was particularly concerned when the solicitor told the public that we would not have access to that policy in its final form that it was for security reasons we would not be able to have access to that policy although as we can by the Sunshine Act. There will be a public comment period before the prison board votes on it, but how can the public make meaningful comment if they don't know what they're commenting on. Because the Sunshine Act requires that the public have an opportunity to make meaningful comment, a meaningful opportunity. That is what the statute said. Additionally, I was concerned that a subcommittee was created. There was nothing on the agenda, last prison board agenda that said who was on that subcommittee. There was no opportunity for the public to know when that committee was going to meet, there was no agenda posted, and there was no time for public comment. My understanding in my reading on the Sunshine Act is that subcommittees are covered under the Sunshine Act, which means they are public meetings. I'm on this dinky little committee appointed by the city of Harrisburg, the Environmental Action Committee. We have to publish our agenda, and our meetings must be open. So for the life of me, I cannot understand why it doesn't apply to our prison board. And this feels to me like things are being done in secret so that the public does not know.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved. Moved by Commissioner Hartwick, seconded by Commissioner Priest. All in favor? Aye. We're adjourned.