Commissioners Meeting - Regular Meeting

of 2026. uh hopefully everybody if you'd like to get agendas over there if anybody needs an agenda they're over on the table uh some other housekeeping items i'll note this meeting is being live streamed and recorded and if you do have a cell phone with you if you'd be kind enough to put it on vibrate or silent we appreciate that courtesy we always begin our meeting with the pledge of allegiance and then we would ask you to remain standing we'll have a brief moment of silence with that Brief moment of silence. Thank you, everybody. Brian, could you call the roll, please?

Commissioner Sonato? Here. Commissioner Kennedy? Here. Commissioner Vogler? Here.

We do have a quorum. I'll note that during the course of our public meeting, we... set aside time for public comment. If you wish to make a comment, you're very welcome to. We ask that your comments be related to county government matters. If you have a state-related issue, we suggest you talk to your state legislators. The same would be true if it's a federal matter, you talk to your federal legislators. And if it's a local municipal matter, we would refer you to your city borough or township. But if it's a county matter, we certainly welcome your comments we will have two opportunities for public comment one in just a few moments and then one before we adjourn uh you're welcome to speak both times if you just want to speak once that's also fine or if you're just here to listen that's that's equally fine we do ask if you have comments try to limit your time to about five minutes or so uh so that we can be respectful of everybody's schedules Next on the agenda, we always set aside time for our elected row officers for any reports they might wish to give. And today we do have our County Comptroller, Dave Prestafine, with us. Dave's here for a bid opening, but over and above that, Dave, do you have anything else for us? I do not. Thanks, we appreciate your joining us, Dave, as always. With that, I'm going to open it up and have a comment if you could state your name for the record we'd appreciate that hearing none at this time we'll move along i know some of you folks are here for the bid opening and we're going to get to that very shortly so we appreciate your patience again any public comment thank you well actually that does take us to uh bids and proposals and uh

We're having an issue with the bid. Okay. So I'm sorry, Dan. It's saying that she's in there pending review by her. Who? Missing. I tried to call her. She has to release it before we can open it. She has to release it before we can open it.

All right. Hang on. I'll call her right now.

Okay. That's fine. Would anyone object? We're going to keep moving along. And then when the matter is resolved, we'll come back.

Is that okay with Chris and Dan? You all okay with that, gentlemen?

I hope you're able to get everything worked out. Incidentally, the bid opening is for the work that we're anticipating taking place at the Bill Humphrey Center at the former St. Joseph's property off of Cascade Street that we've acquired. We'll keep moving along and then whenever you folks are ready, just give me the high sign and we'll come back. Next in our packet, we have...

If you can't submit it, it's after 10 o'clock.

10 o'clock was cut off.

10 o'clock was cut off. If they can get it in then.

They were still available when you guys started meeting at 10 o'clock.

Have the other ones come through?

Oh, yeah. There's ten of them. There's ten of them on there. That many? Two contracts, one, yep.

Okay. Sorry. Oh, you're fine. Would you want us to continue? Yeah, you go ahead and continue.

Okay.

She's going under release.

We'll keep moving, and then once you're ready, just let us know. That'd be great. uh in our packet gentlemen we have the uh warrant registers that are submitted to us each week usually by the county controller's office and they are dated september 4 and september 9 of this year they are a listing of all the checks that have been cut by the controller's office on those two dates and uh they're also Dan and Chris, I'll give you gentlemen whatever time you need.

Whenever you're ready, we can take a motion to accept these documents. I've read the documents, and I'm going to make a motion to accept them at this point.

I have also, and I'll second that. Thank you, gentlemen. Do either of you have any questions on the warrant register? if not uh we have a motion in the second we have a roll call please commissioner yes yes yes thank you also in our packet we have the uh minutes of the uh commissioner's meeting that was held on uh september 6. once again gentlemen take whatever time you need to look them over and whenever you're ready we could take a motion vote are there any concerns or questions hearing none we'll ask ryan to call the roll please commissioner sonata yes commissioner kennedy yes commissioner vogler yes motion carried thank you still waiting yeah it's about okay okay we'll keep going just like i say get my attention and we'll stop what we're doing and go to the video uh we've approved the minutes We've received two documents over the last week that fall under the heading of written communications. The first comes to us, this doesn't happen too often, this is an interesting one, from the Federal Service Transportation Board based in Washington, D.C., specifically their Office of Environmental Analysis. And the letter is in reference to docket number FD36873, Union Pacific Corporation and Union Pacific Company Control, Norfolk Southern Corporation and Norfolk Southern Railway Company, preliminary consultation. The letter involves a proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern by The document provides comments concerning the potential environmental impact on a four-mile section of here in Lawrence County, specifically in New Beaver Borough and Little Beaver Township, and the document makes wetlands flood zones abandoned mine lands natural heritage areas conservation greenways air quality and noise and the notes that this was based on the review of our planning department that planning department notes that the proposed acquisition of the two of the company of norfolk communion is national in scope a segment of this rail line as we noted is in the southwest corner of the county and it could be potentially experiencing operational changes including the potential for an increase in the number of trains per day so uh our planning department has responded to this uh correspondence from the surface transportation board we'll we'll enter that all into the record uh We received this on September 9, we being the planning office, and then they turned it right around. Our planning office responded on September 10. So these documents could be part of the record. The second letter that we have received is from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, based out of their Evansburg office out in Cambria County. The letter advises the commissioners that the Pennsylvania Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation is proposing to reclaim abandoned mining hazards in Scott Township, Lawrence County, specifically along Rock Springs Road in Scott Township. And this is signed by Matthew Steele, the professional engineer, and is also a mining engineer. And they're required by law to give the county notification of this project. And my assumption is that they have probably sent a similar set of documents to the Scott Township Supervisor. Mr. Kennedy, any concerns on either or both of these letters? Not at all. Thank you, Dan. Mr. Sonata? Not at all. Thank you. May I have a motion then for us to accept and enter into the record these two pieces of written communication? I'll make a motion to accept them. I'll second that. Thank you, both gentlemen. We'll take a roll call, please.

Commissioner Sonata? Yes. Commissioner Kennedy?

Yes.

Commissioner Vogler?

Yes.

Motion carried.

and we'll go back to under fiscal and contractual uh receipts of bids and proposals and specifically the opening of the bids for the uh humphrey center uh at our new property uh off of cascade street and um we're utilizing an electronic format for receipt noting of the bids this has been in place now for a good year and a half days we've been doing this maybe longer And so far it's worked very well and I'm assuming that everything's in order for you to proceed. Have all the bids that you've received, have they been received in a timely manner? The system had a cut off point and after that any effort would not be successful. Correct. Okay. Amy McKinney is our planning director. And anything, Amy, that you'd like to note before we begin with the bid opening? No. No? Mr. Kennedy, anything before we start with the bids? No. Mr. Sonata? No. Joe, you're all right? I'm good. Okay, thank you. Well, let's proceed.

Okay, there's two separate bids. There's an electrical contracting and a general contracting. We've got 10 total, five electrical and five general. I'll start with the electrical contracting. How do you spell that Dave? A-L-D-E-R-S-O-N. A total of $729,547.39.

Dave, I'm sorry. You may have said it. Forgive me. Did you know where they're based on? Mercer. Mercer. You did say that. Forgive me. Thank you.

Next one is Blackhawk Neff, Newcastle, Pennsylvania. 983,425. McCurley, Houston, and Newcastle, Pennsylvania. $627,000. Next one is Hay Electric in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Hay Electric, H-E-Y, Hay.

$999,000. And the last one is Cabin Food. $629,000.

my colleagues. So before I ask for a motion to table, I'll see if Mr. Kennedy has any concerns. Thank you, Mr. Sonata. These all seem to be vetted companies, if I corrected that.

Yeah, nobody's name's on here already.

a look at the sure all this to make sure everything meets the standards that we need out there and they'll make their recommendation and then we'll come back and make that recommendation sounds good and this will be two separate contracts yes and yeah that will work with the proverbial fine excuse me i was asking about the 999 um very fine too

Any other concerns before I accept a motion to table these bids? Would you wish to make that motion? Yeah, I'll make that motion. To table? Yes, to table. Thank you. I second this motion. Thank you, Chris. We'll take a roll call to table, Luke.

Commissioner Sonato? Yes. Commissioner Kennedy?

Yes.

Commissioner Vogler? Yes. Motion carried.

Thank you. The next group of bids, if you'd care to move along with these, Mr. Crestafari?

Yes, sir. The first one is Middle Cam Incorporated in Brookfield, Ohio.

these bids?

This is a general contractor plus plumbing and plumbing HVAC general contractor.

Thank you for noting.

No can is $2,809,000.

And Dave, I'm sorry. I know you said it. Tell me again where they're out of.

Brookfield, Ohio.

Thank you.

Next one is Lee Michaels Industries in New Castle, Pennsylvania. 2,650,000. Next one is Frank Burns, Incorporated in Chippendale, Pennsylvania. $2,675,000. Next one is Massaro Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. $2,397,000. The final one is from Crown Field Services in Brooklyn, New York. $2,965,000.

That concludes the second round of bids.

Amy, anything you need to add on this group? No, Mr. Henry, you're always saving all these documents to give to Thomas.

I'll take a look at everything, make the recommendation, and I hope this will be best for an award of two separate contracts.

Thank you. Mr. Sonata, questions or concerns? No. Mr. Kennedy?

No. Okay. We've got to come in a lot less than that. So that makes me... We'll be able to get this. Thank you, John. That was pretty close. Yeah, you were. You were real close.

carry thank you as mrs mckinney noted uh these bids will all be reviewed uh the hope is that next tuesday uh you'll be able to bring them back with a recommendation obviously if you need a little extra time we understand that our hope would be you'll be able to meet that goal so uh for those of you who would wish to come back next week uh that will be at 10 o'clock a week from today in this room For those of you who were here today for the purpose of hearing the witness and the bid opening, you are very welcome to stay for the balance of our meeting. We also understand you have a lot of work to do, I'm sure. So if you do have to leave, we understand. Thank you all so much. Thank you. David, as always, thank you. Thank you.

I got another one right down the road.

We'll move along. Thank you all. Commissioner reports and comments. Today Mr. Kennedy gets to go first. I have no comment. Chris Sonata is next.

It was a busy, actually somewhat of a busy weekend. Unfortunately, the rain had come on Saturday. I did have a chance to stop out and train at Township's Fall Festival. They did a nice job out there. They have a lot of nice vendors and especially many local food trucks and things like that. I was there earlier in the morning and it was a beautiful morning, so I enjoyed doing that. I got a chance to go out to Pulaski Township.

to do both of those activities.

And unfortunately, the rain came later in the day, and a little bit of a damper. We were supposed to go up the Hoyt up to there. All three of us were invited, and we got information that it was canceled. That was unfortunate under the circumstances of the weather. I understand why they . vendors, vendor shows for the wildwood photography studio.

It's nice to see another business going in that facility. And I talked to someone was in coffee shop.

Hopefully, within a month or two, they're going to be one of the grand. I invite all three of us see some activity starting downtown and last yesterday I had a chance to represent the commissioners. I know you guys have other meetings that you were at and I got to represent us downtown at the Soul Cafe next to the library down there. It's something unique with teas and herbs and things like that. I wish them the best. It's something unique for downtown. Let's hope that they're successful in what they're trying That's pretty much what I had to do, but it was nice to see that .

That is good news, and we appreciate your representing us at those events. I just have a couple quick things. Last Thursday, Mr. Kennedy and I attended the meeting of the Ag Preservation Board out in And I'll also note that tomorrow at noon, the Lawrence County Prison Board will hold its monthly public meeting in this room at 12 o'clock noon. The prison board consists of the county controller, the district attorney, the sheriff, the president judge, and the three county commissioners. That's all I have, so thank you. We'll move on to new business. We have first today a budget amendment. Ryan, what number do we give this?

Number 235.

Thank you. This pertains to our public safety department. And it looks like on the resolution we have an error. Boy, I wish it was this amount. Was that 14? Million or billion? If I'm reading this correctly. Is yours corrected? Yeah. It's actually, if you look at the second page, it's $14,000. Now, gentlemen, am I reading that correctly? It would be $14,000. Yeah. So we'll note a correction on the wording of the A lot of zeros. This is revenue that was received from the universal 9-1-1 surcharge of Commonwealth levies and unanticipated revenue. So it was $14,000 and the Public Safety Department would like to earmark that towards their GIS server project. uh mr sonata do you have any questions no chair mr uh mr kennedy thank you so noting the correction on the printed resolution which should read fourteen thousand dollars this is resolution 235 may i have a motion i'll make that i'll second question thank you gentlemen if there are no other concerns we'll ask for a roll call yes commissioner kennedy yes commissioner vogler yes motion carried thank you resolution 236. i'm going to turn this over to mr vanasco who chairs our opioid advisory board this board was created to handle requests from organizations that can utilize dollars from the opioid settlement fund that was established. And the advisory board meets periodically and then makes recommendations to the commissioners. Mr. Van Asco chairs the board and this resolution would earmark an amount not to exceed $94,523 for organization known as Growing Wellness LLC. And again, this is not general fund money. This is money that has been collected through the various opioid legal settlements. So Joe, I'm going to turn it over to you for some background, if you would please.

the individual submitted towards the end of 2025 um it was reviewed by our local committee um our local committee decided to move it ahead to the trust uh we researched received word back in the last week or two that uh the plan was approved by the trust um the the agency i believe they're based out of wilmington township um is that the man We currently do this service under the opioid grant in many of our local counties. Mercer being one of them, they're very prominent in. They've done work in the past in Lawrence County. They work closely with our drug and alcohol program. so as we sent this in we got got the uh approval in the last week or so and now i want to be able to pay out ask the commissioners for grants the privilege to be able to move forward with the service and find the service of course the board you reference is a statewide board it has to the trust will be statewide and we also have our local board as well

Uh, before I turn it over to commissioner Kennedy, um, I do want to just make certain, or maybe get an assurance that, uh, uh, there will be.

individuals from lawrence county who will be served by this organization 100 it's opening up the service to actually some of the other programs that she's offering in lawrence county will uh benefit from this program as well but it'll be served 100 percent uh lawrence county with the lawrence county fund mercer county with the mercer county funds

comfortable now knowing that this will benefit at least in part because of the way that we we do our funding a little bit different we wait mr kennedy questions thank you mr sonata thank you this is resolution 236 that would based upon the recommendation of the lawrence county opioid settlement advisory board they're recommending that the commissioners allocate from the opioid fund 94 and wellness llc for programs that they offer that will benefit residents of lawrence county and i have a motion for this resolution i'll make that motion and i'll second the motion thank you gentlemen there are no other concerns and incidentally thanks joe for giving us that information we'll take a roll call please question yes commissioner kennedy yes commissioner yes motion carry thank you Next on the agenda, Resolution 237 is from Children and Youth Services, and Donald Andrews is with us today. Donald, it's always nice to have you join us. We appreciate it. Looks like you have a contract, a purchase of service agreement with an organization known as Families United Network out of Muncie, which is out in Lycoming County. What can you tell us about this one, John?

Yes, so this is a renewal for 26-27. They recently got their budget approved through CYF, so we're able to proceed with contracting with them. They are a foster care facility. We don't typically use them. They're a backup if none of our local providers can accept the use. They are requesting a rate increase around 2% to 5%. However, they're still well under their OCYF approved budget, and we have not used them since 2020.

Thanks, Chris. Mr. Kennedy. Nothing wrong. Okay, thank you. This is Resolution 237. May I have a motion for its approval? I'll make a motion to approve. And I'll second. I thank you both, gentlemen. If there are no other concerns, we'll ask Ryan to call the roll, please.

Commissioner Sonata? Yes. Commissioner Kennedy? Yes. Commissioner Boatwood? Yes. Motion carried.

Thank you. Donald, thanks for your time. Thank you. Keep joining us next week.

I don't believe that's it.

We'll miss you. Take care. Resolution 238 is a transfer through the commissioners, utilizing commissioners contingency dollars. The amount is $28,000 coming from the commissioners contingency line item into that of software. Chris, thank you. I have a motion for resolution 238. I'll second the motion. Thank you, gentlemen. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Solano? Yes. Commissioner Kennedy? Yes. Commissioner Vogler? Yes. Motion carried. Thank you.

And as this time of year, it's typical when we start to see more frequent transfer requests as we've We have a number of transfer requests, and as we usually do, I'll read them into the record. Stop me if you have any questions. If not, when we get to the end, if we're able to take one motion for all of them, we can do so, or we can split them out if you need us to. Under the commissioner's office, the request is for a transfer of $1,119 from the commissioner's contingency into the land building rental line item. uh 650 000 uh from contingency into that of other improvements specifically the roof repair that is taking place in this building or above this building and then finally under the commissioner's jurisdiction forty thousand dollars uh from the contingency into that of contracted services children and youth services office is asking for an 86 000 transfer from within their budget coming from contracted provider care moving it into their vehicle line item domestic relations is asking for a total transfer of four thousand two hundred and ninety six dollars and ninety five cents It reads as follows. From their staples line item into materials and supplies, $1,000. From office minor into equipment maintenance, $296.95. From their staples line item, $1,500 into equipment maintenance. And from their contingency, $1,500 into contracted services. Coroner's office is requesting a $2,500 transfer from his software line item into vehicle expense line item. And then from his contingency, again, the county coroner, and he's asking for a transfer from his contingency into maintenance and repairs. I'm interpreting that as $1,450. That little zero is kind of small, but I think it's $1,450. Okay. Thank you. Court administration is asking for an $800 transfer from their contingency into uniform line item. The Veterans Office is asking for a transfer of $450 from their flags and markers line item into that of maintenance and repair. The maintenance department is asking for a $10,000 transfer from their salary of staff line item into their maintenance and repair line item. And then finally, the Human Resource Office is requesting a $300 transfer from materials and supplies into their line item of land, building, and rental. Mr. Kennedy, do you have any concerns? Okay, thank you, Dan.

Mr. Sonata?

That being said, gentlemen, would one of you wish to make a motion to approve these requested transfers? I'll make the motion. And I'll second. I thank you both, and we'll ask for a roll call.

Commissioner Sonato? Yes. Commissioner Kennedy? Yes. Commissioner Vogler?

Yes.

Motion carried. Thank you.

Moving down to announcements, this is the second time that I'm announcing this. I'm making note of the fact that the Lawrence County Airport Authority Two of the incumbent members' terms have expired. They are permitted to reapply, to be reappointed, and my understanding is both of them have done so. However, we're governed by an ordinance that's been in place now for a good 30 years at least that requires us to announce openings on our authority boards and we are required to do this at two public meetings we did this last week and we're doing it today if anybody wishes to apply for consideration to serve on the airport authority which is a non-paying position they can submit a letter to us any applicant is subject to a criminal background check we'll leave it open for another week i have now officially announced the opening twice so we've met the requirement of the ordinance that governs this process i i noted earlier that uh the prison board will meet tomorrow at noon in this room and it's open to the public also this board of commissioners will meet a week from today uh september 22 at 10 a.m in the uh in this room Two weeks from today, it's a little bit up in the air right now. We may or may not have a meeting on the 29th. I'm sure we'll probably know by next week the status of that, and we'll announce whether or not there will be a meeting on the 29th. So we'll keep everybody posted. I'm gonna open the floor at this time to see if anybody has any public comment. Hearing and seeing none, thank you all for joining us today. Mr. Sonata, do you have any closing comments? No? Thank you, Chris. And Mr. Kennedy? No. Thank you. Joe and Ryan, anything that we've overlooked? No, sir. Okay, thank you both. Will there be no other business to be brought before the board today? Could I please have an adjournment?

Thank you, everybody.

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