Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

0:00 – 0:34•DVDan Vogler

We always start the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, then we'd ask you to remain standing for a moment of silence. Call the roll, please.

0:38 – 2:07•DVDan Vogler

We have a quorum. All three of us are present. Since we do have some visitors, I will note that during our meeting, we always have two opportunities for public comment. One in just a few moments, and then one before we adjourn. If you do have a comment to make, we welcome that. You're welcome to speak both times. you only want to speak once that's fine or if you're just here to listen that's fine we do ask that your comments be related to county government matters if you would please uh i'll also note that we set aside time for our role officers who might be in attendance and today we have our

2:13 – 3:16•DVDan Vogler

Thank you. This is proposed resolution 196. This was a bid of $600 that was made to the tax claim office by Cheyenne Baker Kelly for a parcel at 204 North Boulevard in North Beaver County. And the North Beaver Township supervisors approved and accepted the bid on August 10. And then back on July 15, the Mohawk Area School Board did likewise. So today, it comes before us, again, a $600 bid for a parcel on North Boulevard and Would one of you wish to make a motion for approval of this resolution? I'll second the motion. Thank you, gentlemen. If there are no other comments, we'll move on to a rol

3:22 – 4:12•DVDan Vogler

Thank you, Ryan. Proposed resolution 197 is our second and final repository bid. This is a $500 bid made by Jonnell Baker. for a parcel at 800 South Boulevard in North Beaver Township. On August 10 of this year, the North Beaver Township supervisors accepted the bid. And on July 15, the Mohawk Area School Board also accepted the bid. It now comes before us for consideration. Mr. Sonata, any questions? No. Mr. Kennedy, would one of you wish to make a motion to approve Resolution 195? gentlemen, and we'll ask for a roll call, please.

4:17 – 5:00•DVDan Vogler

Thank you. Most every week, we receive from the County Controller's Office a listing of warrant registers, which provide us the information of the checks that have been cut by their office. And these ones are dated August 14, 18, and 20. And I'll give my colleagues time to look them over if you need that time. And whenever you're ready, we can take a motion to accept these documents. I'll make that motion.

5:02 – 5:33•DVDan Vogler

Thank you, gentlemen. Are there any questions? on we'll take a roll call please commissioner sonato yes commissioner kennedy yes commissioner vogler yes motion carries thank you in our packet we have the minutes of the august 18 uh meeting and i'm going to stop for just a second uh amy mckinney or well she was heading this way maybe she could come in this door we'll find out behind door number two

6:02•DVDan Vogler

Yes. So he's advising you that we have the ability to amend the agenda.

6:33 – 7:00•DVDan Vogler

I have a lot of Could I ask this favor of you? Unless my colleagues overrule me, will you try reaching our deputy solicitor, Emily Sanchez-Prody? Unless you gentlemen are satisfied with what we've been told. And again, I totally respect Mr. Long, but I feel a little more comfortable if- Let me get on my phone.

7:02 – 8:03•DVDan Vogler

Thank you. Thank you so much. We were discussing the minutes. By the way, for the benefit of the people that might be watching, that was Amy McKinney, who is our planning director. And she had a matter to be brought before the board today. Inadvertently, it was not placed on the agenda, and that was her desire. I think she was operating under the assumption that it was on today's agenda. It has not been posted. So we asked her to consult with a solicitor to get some guidance. And as you may have heard her say, she was not able to reach Attorney Medora, who is the county solicitor. She did spea

8:08 – 9:05•DVDan Vogler

she thought she and again Mr. Long is a municipal solicitor for a number of boroughs and townships in the county however as you may have heard us say we asked her to double check with the assistant county solicitor Emily Sanchez Perotti which she's doing right now there is a time limit on this issue which is one reason we're we're trying to figure out a way that we can legally uh address this matter so thank you for your patience the minutes of the august 18 meeting are in our packet gentlemen if you need time to look them over please do but whenever you're ready i would be glad to accept them

9:10 – 10:44•DVDan Vogler

Thank you so much. Under written communications, we have one document submitted to us by Frank B. Taylor Engineering, which is based here in Lawrence County. They're letting us know that they have applied to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on behalf of Nicholas and Lindsey Bunker, who reside on Wallace Drive in the Shannock Township. This is for a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System general permit that the DEP would have to give approval to. It's described as a single residence sewage treatment plant to replace the malfunctioning septic system serving th

10:48 – 12:36•DVDan Vogler

Thank you, Ryan. Commissioner, reports and comments. It looks like I get to go first today. I do want to note that, excuse me, on Friday of last week, Commissioner Savada and I attended the annual Beaver Lawrence Farm Bureau tour. They alternate each year between something in Beaver County and then something in Warrens County. This year it was Beaver County. And we were down at Penn State Beaver's campus for a relatively new animal diagnostic testing lab. Did I get that right? Yes. Yes, thank you. That they gave us a tour of. And we were able to spend a little bit of time with two of our fello

16:00 – 16:32•DVDan Vogler

I appreciate it. You may not know that fairgrounds actually sit in two townships. The line that divides Scott Township and Hickory Township runs through the fairground property. So most of the property, I believe, is in Hickory Township, but some of it's in Scott Township. So you'll sleep better tonight. What did you find out from our legal friend?

16:44 – 18:08•DVDan Vogler

Oh, okay, good. Thank you. What we'll do, if you don't mind, and particularly if Mr. Baldwin doesn't mind, lengthy list for us. have you come up or come on right before uh mr baldwin does do you have copies of the resolution that you can share when we get to that point okay i just want to make sure we all have copies and debbie will include it in the But we've done the Commissioner reports. That takes us to new business. And please forgive me. I'm going to digress here just a little bit. Generally, what we try to do, and Raya, if you'll make a note of this, when we have one of our role officer

18:10 – 18:50•DVDan Vogler

What number would we give Mr. Rappone's resolution? Thank you. Rich, would you care to come up to the microphone? Sure. We welcome you. Thank you. We do this every year and we appreciate that you come down and share this with us. county treasurer. His office is responsible for the collection of county property taxes, and he puts together a schedule. Would you mind, as you go through this, could you point out how we're somewhat unique in that we're one of the few counties that doesn't? Sure, could you point that out? Sure, absolutely.

19:49•DVDan Vogler

Do you consult a little bit more with the other five treasurers that are in the same boat as you?

20:05 – 21:09•DVDan Vogler

Thank you for noting that. You're welcome. And the schedule is somewhat comparable to each year. For county tax bills, May 3 of 2027 will be the end of the discount period. And then also in this are the interim bills that are sent out both in the spring and then in August as well. I'm just curious, for August of this year, do you know if they've gone out yet? They have. Okay, thank you. Rich, do you have anything else to add? I do not. Thank you. Let me see if my colleagues have questions. Mr. Sanat, any questions? I'm not at this time. Thank you, sir. Mr. Kennedy. Thank you. May I have a moti

21:15 – 22:06•DVDan Vogler

Rich, good to see you as always. Thank you, sir. You're always welcome to stay, but I'm sure you're busy. I appreciate it. Take care. We'll move back then to the first item is listed on the agenda. Okay. The next item is our public safety office. This would be resolution 199. And looks like Chad Strobel's with us today. Good morning, Chad. Good morning. It's good to have you. We appreciate your coming down. This is an agreement. It's an amendment, actually, to an existing agreement, I believe, with Motorola Solutions for our inter-county regional radio system master site service agreement. But

22:49 – 24:21•DVDan Vogler

and continuing at less that cost for the remaining years of the service contract if if you know this it would be helpful but if not it's not that critical that the other counties are going to have sir mr uh this is resolution 199 may i have a motion for its approval please make a motion to approve and i'll second thank you gentlemen any if there are no other questions we'll ask ryan to call the roll commissioner sonata yes commissioner kennedy yes commissioner yes motion carries thank you so much chad anything else for us I didn't hear of any major problems. I'm sure there were little hiccups,

24:21•DKDan Kennedy

There was a small shuffle, I guess, between a couple people Friday night, I believe, or they were

25:11•DKDan Kennedy

They were very proactive and prepared, and showed it went well.

25:24•DVDan Vogler

Reminds me of the last fight I was in. I was in seventh grade. She won. Well, Chad, thank you so much.

25:46 – 29:36•DVDan Vogler

item on the agenda involves some personnel changes that we're going to be experiencing the past practice of this board has been that when a department head retires or moves on But today, we do have a change that is coming up here in the next few weeks. Our current human resources director, Mike Ockebone, is going to be retiring after many years of service here in Lawrence County. In fact, his final day will be September 11th. And when he retired from that position, we chose him to become the human resources director. And he's done a tremendous job in that capacity. We thank him for that. He no

30:31 – 31:57•DKDan Kennedy

When we had both of our HR director and deputy director retire about the same month, we had to find some people. Mike, I was off with medical problems at the time, and Mike called me at home and I said, I don't have a problem as long as you digitalize that office and get rid of all the paperwork. You used to have paperwork about that thick you had to fill out. but above and beyond what I asked of them. They both have got this place pretty well digitalized now. Christine will take it to the next step. I think you have it completely done before long. It took time to get it done. They had a lot o

32:02 – 34:02•DVDan Vogler

that motion i'll second the motion if there are no other comments we'll make a roll call please commissioner yes commissioner fennedy yes Thank you very much. Before we get to mental health and developmental services, Scott, thank you for your patience. If you've been following the meeting since the beginning, our planning office has a proposal for us to consider. Inadvertently, it did not end up on the agenda in a timely manner. So we were faced with needing to get legal guidance and Amy McKinney, our director, spoke to two different attorneys and they both gave you the same advice. That's go

34:49 – 35:51•DVDan Vogler

All right. Thank you. So that being... And thank you again for taking the time to speak with both of those gentlemen. We're considering Resolution 201, which is a Noted, this does not involve the expenditure of county general fund dollars. This is to allow county in conjunction with Lawrence County Social Services to apply for this grant. And there's a deadline by which we have to meet. That being said, based on the legal advice we've been given, may I have a motion to amend the agenda to on this procedure. Any questions on the procedure that we're following? Okay, thank you. It's been made an

35:55 – 36:14•DVDan Vogler

Thank you. Again, we just amended the agenda to allow Pennsylvania Healthy Homes Production Grant. We have Amy McKinney, our planning director, and Jennifer Elliott from Warrens County Social Services. I think you're going to give us some background on this.

36:25•DVDan Vogler

How to rely on our solicitor. Absolutely.

39:36 – 39:58•DVDan Vogler

I appreciate that so much. Hopefully that will be noted in the minutes as well. So thank you. Mr. Kennedy.

39:58 – 40:16•DKDan Kennedy

No, just Amy said it again. She's willing to help. Yesterday at St. Joe's, we did want to, and Amy offered to come out and help us, and she really did. She stepped up to the plate, and I thank you for that.

40:21 – 40:45•DKDan Kennedy

As you know, Jen. Yes. The guy yesterday wanted to steal her. He wanted to know if he could take her to his office. I said, no way. Good. John Anderson. He's just getting to realize that he calls Amy and she hasn't done for him right away. He's not used to that, so thank you.

40:45 – 41:02•DVDan Vogler

I remember when I was a teenager, I'd call one of my friends. We'd go out. His dad would always answer the phone. His dad was uh hand the phone to his son and say you're not going anywhere and that's what we say to you uh mr sonata sounds like a very worthy program if we can tap into those

41:56 – 42:18•DVDan Vogler

ladies thank you both uh we've already made the motion we've approved the motion to amend the agenda to allow us to consider this resolution so we are now able then to move forward with resolution 201 would one of you gentlemen wish to make a motion for its approval i'll make that motion thank you gentlemen any other concerns

42:28 – 42:42•DVDan Vogler

Ladies, thank you both very kindly. Thank you. I know you probably have to move along, so thanks for joining us. Sorry. Scott has about 530 residents. I know, right? Maybe 530.

42:43 – 43:29•DVDan Vogler

Thank you. and his staff do tremendous work. One of the responsibilities he has and we have from a procedural standpoint is we have to approve a couple of meetings, the proposed contracts with service providers with whom Scott's office works. So I believe he has 18 of them. Gentlemen, could we let Scott walk us through and then interrupt them if you have to. If not, when we get to the end, we can maybe take one motion to cover everything, unless you want to split it up.

44:03 – 44:41•DVDan Vogler

Thank you. I appreciate you giving us that background. One minor request I'll make for just future reference. Usually the office address of the agency, you may not have them in front of you, but usually the office address of the agency is listed in the resolution. Next time, we'll get that worked out. But I just want to point out that we don't have that. Maybe if you're able to tell us where they're located. To the best of your ability. We don't have to have a precise answer. But let's start with, well, before we start, Dan, anything?

45:56 – 46:23•DVDan Vogler

Sure, as long as my colleagues don't object, I'll turn it over to you, and as you go through this, note that Dan or Chris or even myself, we may have to stop you and ask a question along the way. But no, that's fine. I mean, this will all be entered into the record. Let's get started. We'll start with number 202, which, again, is life steps. And then you can take it from there.

48:54•DVDan Vogler

Scott, thank you. Mr. Sonata, any questions on this first group?

49:03•DVDan Vogler

Thank you, Chris. Mr. Kennedy. Thank you. Scott, that'll take us then starting with number 217, I believe. Yes, sir.

51:02 – 51:43•DVDan Vogler

Mr. Sonata? Thank you, gentlemen. Well, Mr. Baldwin has presented to us resolutions 202 up through and including 219. I'd be happy to accept a motion to approve all of these if one of you were so willing. I'll make that motion. And I'll second that motion. Thank you, gentlemen. Before we vote, anything else on any of these? We appreciate your patience. Chris, any final concerns? No. No? No, sir. Mr. Kennedy? We'll take a roll call vote, please.

51:55 – 55:14•DVDan Vogler

You're always welcome. It's part of business. It certainly is. And plus we enjoy having you. Thank you. Take care, Scott. We probably don't say it enough, but we've seen examples today of professionalism of our We're very blessed with some top-notch department heads. We'll move along. We have some transfer, budget transfer requests. I'm going to read them, gentlemen. Stop me if you have any questions. The office of District Judge Imoti is asking for a transfer of $1,000 from their temporary part-time line item into that of their materials and supplies. Also from Judge Imoti's office, they're a

55:19 – 56:41•DVDan Vogler

Thank you. And we have a couple transfers that fall under the commissioner's jurisdiction. Ryan, I believe we start with number 220. Does that sound right? Yes, that is correct. Thank you. we'll begin with resolution 220 uh this would take three thousand dollars from the commissioner's contingency line item and put it in into the line item of special counsel that being legal counsel resolution let's start gentlemen can we do all three with one motion are you okay with that thank you uh resolution 221 Transfer $1,400. I stand, we have part of this. Let me start. This looks like it's broken out.

57:06 – 59:00•DVDan Vogler

to make that correct i appreciate your clarifying that so again the 1400 transfer is from the commissioner's contingency into that of juvenile probation that's correct all right thanks joe very much mr uh kennedy questions thank you uh mr sonata thank you gentlemen that being said resolution 220 and 221 may i have a motion for the approval of both of them oh my goodness i'll second the motion thank you gentlemen we'll take a roll call please commissioner yes commissioner kennedy yes commissioner vogler yes motion carried thank you ryan apologies uh under announcements uh this board will meet a

59:02 – 59:36•DVDan Vogler

Thank you, sir. And Chris? No. Uh, Ryan, Joe, anything we perhaps overlooked? No, sir. All right. Well, thanks, everybody. We appreciate, uh, appreciate you all joining us. And, uh, there being no other business to be brought before the board, uh, Joe, would you mind? Thank you so much. Have a good day, everybody.