Commissioners - Regular Meeting

REPORT OF ANY EXECUTIVE SESSIONS? NONE AND A HALF. WE HAVE SOMEBODY HERE TO DO A PRESENTATION, DANIELLE FROM NEVIUS. THAT'S THE PROPOSED BUTLER TOWNSHIP DATA CENTER. IS SHE HERE YET? YES, MR. CHAIR. SHE'LL BE RIGHT IN. IS HE ALL WORKING BETTER? IS IT TURNING NOW? A little golden owl? That's in Clash of the Titans? That's in Clash of the Titans. Whenever they say the owl.

Paul sent a group message to us about our awareness now that it's panicked.

It moves. Go ahead. She's up. Morning, Daniel. Morning, Greg.

I can't do it. Just a quick introduction. Frank Sukas, Google Economic Development Corporation. Diane Millich is... the public affairs manager for Devious, a company from Amsterdam that we've been in a month long, several months long in negotiations with regarding a project at the High Ridge Business Park. She's gonna give us a little bit more detail on that project.

Thank you.

Good morning. Good morning. Thank you so much for having me here. I do have a couple copies of the presentation we're gonna walk through. We'd love to have those. But, yeah, first and foremost, thank you so much for having me here to speak today and tell you a little bit more about who NEVIUS is and what we're looking to build over at the High Ridge Business Park. I didn't ask this question. Sorry. Thank you. So, as Prince said, my name is Danielle. I help lead the public affairs efforts at NEVIUS across our U.S. operations. Currently, we're building sites in Independence, Missouri, Birmingham, Alabama, and Vineland, New Jersey, and then now obviously Schuylkill County. A little bit about Nebious, because I'm sure some people aren't overly familiar with who we are and what we do. A lot of folks think that we are just an AI infrastructure company, and while we do build critical AI infrastructure, we also build the compute and software all the way to the hardware. So you might not know Nebious. I'm sure you've heard of some of our customers, Meta, Microsoft, and Stanford University uses our platform for critical research also. So as I'm sure lots of people know, there's lots of actors in this space. Data centers have become a very hot topic for people. And as we've started building out our operations in the U.S., something that we kind of came across was that we thought there was a better way of doing it. And we kind of point that the nebbiest way. What that means is that we engage early, transparently, and often. When we know information, we share it with you, we share it with the public, we share it with the communities in which we're operating. It's critical that people get to know as much information as we're able to provide to them. And so it's really important to us to have these kinds of conversations, to answer questions and concerns from the public. When it comes to the design, we implement closed-loop cooling systems for water use that minimizes all of our water use across our sites. Power, we pay the full cost, full stop, period. No bills are passed on to ratepayers ever. And then when it comes to noise, all of our designs have acoustical sound walls built in to make sure that we're minimizing the impact across and any disruptions to the community members. And then on the economic side, it creates jobs, both construction and full-time. A lot of people think that a DAC center comes in, doesn't need any jobs. Not the case. The site we're talking about here in Schuylkill County will have about 100 full-time positions, and those educational requirements for those jobs range from GED all the way to specialized advanced degrees. And then community. Huge point of what we do is really becoming part of the community. We're not building in Schuylkill, we're building with Schuylkill. That means taking into consideration the things that like the design. What design makes sense in this area? We take that into consideration and then also what the community needs are. Huge pillar that we take very seriously is education. We'd love to partner with local schools. An example is an independence, Missouri. We found out that the independent school district had an outstanding lunch school debt of 120,000 dollars. So we paid it off that allowed a lot of graduating seniors to walk across the stage at graduation and. just alleviate something that folks are concerned about. So that's kind of rounding out Nebious, who we are in community. Project details. As Frank mentioned, located in the High Ridge Business Park, about 600 acres split into two parcels of land. Right now we fully own that parcel one, and we have an agreement to purchase the parcel two. When it comes to power, we have an agreement with PPL for them to supply up to 122 gigawatts of grid power. Again, we pay the full cost. As I mentioned, when it comes to water use, we use a closed-loop system that minimizes our water usage, and then once operational, uses the same amount as a comparable office building. Noise, we've talked with community members already, and that's been something that's been brought to our attention is that there's a lot of concern over the noise disruption and impact that it may have. So we are making sure that we're using ultra quiet fans on site. That's an aftermarket upgrade. So it's something that we're making sure we're taking into consideration. The typography of the site, the way that the hill is, will act as a natural sound barrier as well. And then we're putting in those acoustical sound barriers that I mentioned also. And then when it comes to job creation, we're expecting hundreds of construction jobs over the three-year build. That's our expected build period of time. And then another hundred full-time positions, as mentioned. So I know that I've thrown a lot at you. I really wanted this to be a quick overview so that I could take some time to answer any questions that you may have. I did include in the presentation a tentative site plan so you can see kind of what we're looking to build. One of the things that comes with these early interactions is that sometimes these things are subject to change. But what you see here is the largest that it will be. Anything that changes would make it condensed and be smaller. So yeah, so happy to answer any questions that you all have.

So you project six buildings or something?

Yes, yep.

And each one of those six buildings is what, 100 people? 100 people total. Across the building?

Across the building, yes. Okay, and is that...

There will have to be someone on site at all times, but as far as exactly how those shifts will break up, I don't think that that's been necessarily figured out yet, but there would be people on site. We are still working out the exact water figures. As soon as we know that, though, we will share it with everyone. We are hosting an August 6th open house where we will have our water technical expert on site to answer some of those questions. And the August 6th open house is where? It's at the North Schuylkill High School in the cafeteria. I brought some flyers to hand out as well for folks.

Danielle, I appreciate your presentation. My wife and I only fall apart between the constructs when the PPL power lines come across. It's all full of corn and soybeans right now. Every week I get another request to put solar panels on it. Your picture here shows me that we're not going to take some plant-based farming, so I appreciate that.

Yeah, absolutely. We're trying to be incredibly mindful and minimize any disruption that the community would feel.

Then you space for all the line upgrades. That is page for all. Yep. Yep. Yep. As far as being the community partner, where are some ideas to.

You give back to the community, you know, you mentioned just an idea.

Yeah, something that has already been made aware to us is the North Schuylkill High School. They sponsored meals for the football team. They asked the community to fundraise for that. So that's something that we're already looking to participate in so that the football team's meals are provided for the entire season.

As far as the job, are you looking to connect with the SDC? More career and technical school. Yeah, hopefully that students there can go and then hopefully join into that profession.

100% we love partnering with vocational schools, trade schools and creating that talent pipeline. So that we're teaching them the tools that are needed to work at a site like this. And then we already have that pipeline built and ready to go once operational starting.

So sorry, what would you estimate starting? So you've heard numbers.

It ranges, and it would very much depend on the position. I'd hate to say a number right now, but I would certainly find out for our team. Yes. Yep. We'll absolutely be sure to have that. Absolutely. Yeah, that's critical.

It's something people want to know.

That's our preference, too. We love to hire local as much as possible. It's something we do have a microsite built for this project specifically with updated information. And once those job listings go live, we'll have a careers tab right there that makes an easy application for anyone to apply to.

i like your presentation i have a commissioner friend who says he's gonna be a good neighbor yeah that's one of the biggest things their pr has been horrible

yeah like it has been public outage their pr educating people has not been well it's it's all these data centers coming here but then there's no information surrounding now we're able to put some faces yeah to the two that are going on at school kevin your company and amazon was here too to try to put a face to these and get them to have some public outreach and some meetings and just make sure when they the surrounding communities are inclined to not just follow township or apply township, but it's like school county-wide so people can be educated on it.

I think that's key. We say it all the time, myself and one of my colleagues, John Sutter, who some folks may have met, there are bad actors in the space and they come in and there's a veil of secrecy and we understand completely why there's hesitancy, why there's concern. That's one of the reasons that doing things like this we think is important, is to lift it back and be transparent. Talk regularly and have an open door. Yeah, it's really important.

Thank you. Thank you.

I have a question. Do you have short, long term? No, we're not doing the question and answer.

Hold on. We're asking question and answer. And she's going to stick around afterwards. Well, I asked her to stay afterwards. If you have any questions, that's what she'll answer them. And she's going to do the flyer, hand the flyer out to everybody. Yep.

I have a flyer. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you all very much. Thank you.

Okay. Let's move on to public comment.

Good morning. Good morning, Commissioners. Chris Molesky, Norwegian Township. Of course, I request any comments or replies be held until after my three minutes. Today, I would like to address the Natural Soil Products Municipal Waste Permit Renewal, currently under review by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. First, let me be clear. I am not here asking the board to automatically approve or oppose this permit renewal. I'm asking that Schuylkill County to fulfill its responsibility by conducting a thorough review, engaging the public in submitting meaningful comments to DEP before the county's review period expires. DEP distributed the application of Fraley Township, the Schuylkill County Commissioners, and the Schuylkill County Planning Commission. However, I have a question. Was Porter Township also notified? The facility operates in both Fraley and Porter Townships, and the primary entrance to NSP is located in Porter Township. If Porter Township was notified, great. If not, why not? Shouldn't every municipality directly affected by this operation have the opportunity to review and comment on the permit renewal? As I reviewed the application, other sections stood out. The application asks, have you informed the surrounding community prior to submitting the application to the department? The applicant answered, yes, stating that the method of notification was Act 14. The next question asks, have you addressed the community concerns that were identified? The application answers, yes. But then the application asks, if yes, please briefly describe. Nothing. No explanation of concerns were raised, no descriptions on how they were addressed, no documentation of what changed as a result. A checkbox is clearly not a substitute for transparency. The application also acknowledges ongoing odor complaints to neighboring communities, including Goodsprings and Donaldson. DEP's online records show recent enforcement activity, including a consent order and agreement, a notice of violation issued in December of 2025, and an unresolved technical review related to facilities operations. These are exactly the kind of issues that deserve careful local review. Therefore, I respectfully ask the commissioners and Schuylkill County Planning Commission to publicly identify who is reviewing the application, what recommendations will be submitted to DEP, and when the review will occur. I also encourage you to request a complete record of inspections, violations, odor complaints, enforcement actions, and ask the applicant to explain exactly how community concerns were addressed if the information is absent from the application. Finally, I encourage the county to host a public informational meeting. Before submitting the recommendations, invite DEP, Fraley, Porter Townships, Natural Soil Products, and the public. Give residents the opportunity to ask questions, voice concerns, and hear directly from all parties before recommendations are made. This isn't about sides. It's about ensuring decisions affecting the communities are made through transparency, accountability, and meaningful public participation. Well, I can answer that pretty- Thank you for your time. Pretty easily.

Please. They're putting a letter in saying, no, you're not further expansionary because they cannot control the order. The way we were notified was we saw the ad in the paper. The possible Republican had it in, I don't know what section. But that's how we were notified. We read the ad in the papers. We never got nothing official. Did we get an official notification?

We did. We did. The Planning Commission was emailed it into the Commissioner's office. When was that?

Because it was on the 16th. It was last week.

It may have been Wednesday or Thursday.

No, it was in the Potsdam Republic before that.

Well, they have to publicly advertise that. That's what we saw first. And then it goes out. And it's all electronic.

Correct. I saw that. So we are putting in that we're against the expansion because they cannot control the road.

And we, as in all three?

Yes.

Yes. Thank you. Because, of course, let's focus on the West End. You're opposed to it. You know the violations they had. And I think it's super important that we don't have to ask the Chamber of Commerce or the Visitors Bureau to say, welcome to Sputnik County, folks. Go smell our...

need to control their owner so we're putting as soon as we saw that our solicitor's office started working on the preparation for the letter and getting because there is that short period of time frame that has to be done as soon as we saw it in the paper every time i go to harrisburg and i smell that smell no i'm through the farm i'm around the north it was so bad that i thought i always email

be Roger Bell and say, Roger, you're out of compliance again. So I must have done that 30 times now.

And like I said, hopefully with this person that they have now stationed in Houston County, because what the problem is, Shirley can attest to this. It might smell now and the wind shifts a half an hour later and by the time somebody gets there, it doesn't smell.

Exactly. There's no meter to check this. It has to be the complaint has to be there plus the person that agreed smells bad. So If one person is available or if the wind shifts, so it's very difficult to get this. There's no stiff meter that we can measure.

Because I asked.

So we're on this. I mean, Larry's been a career.

And of course, I think the permit goes until April of next year currently. So this is nine months ahead of schedule. They're trying to make sure that they can try to get this through. Thanks for your time, guys. You're welcome, sir.

Any other public comments?

Thank you, Chris. I appreciate that. Myra Tremont, I'm here to talk about the same thing. Joe and I took a couple weeks off because we're tired of all this. We were exhausted. I'm sure you're as happy as we were. The only way we knew, sorry guys, I wasn't reading anything because we needed a break. And then if it hadn't been for Rachel Wallace reaching out to us directly, and you all know this is a concern, we talked about it, and she made us aware of the permit and the renewal. We would not have known to be engaged. And then we got online, we saw the Cool Region Canary article, which was terrific, and got up to speed. I'm not going to go over All the specifics. I want to tell you what it's like living in Tremont, and I've spoken to you before about this. I have exercise-induced asthma. I already have lung issues. I don't walk or run without my inhaler. A lot of us in the population there have lung issues. In the morning, I do a sniff check, which shouldn't even have to be a thing. I stick my head out the door. Does it smell like shit? Can I go for a walk or run? If it doesn't, I get ready and I go. What I find more concerning is it shouldn't be the smell, okay? What I have found is that I can do the sniff check. I can go out, go for a run. No smell while I'm running. At the end of the run, and I can't tell you how disgusting this is, I have the taste of shit in my throat and my mouth. I have to gargle when I get home. It is, and I didn't smell it. So I'm breathing in things that that end result is in my throat and my mouth that I can't get rid of for hours. And I'm trying to be healthy and take care of myself. I want to know what the longterm, like I don't want to study in 15 years when I have cancer, I want to know what damage is this doing to my body now because I don't even have to smell it and I'm tasting it. So it shouldn't be a smell check. Who thought of that? Like there's gotta be, they're not following regulations. We're inhaling it, whether we smell it or not. It's doing stuff to my body and you all are supposed to protect us. So I appreciate you're fighting it, but a smell check should not be the measure. And I don't know what is, but it's impacting our daily life and it's appalling. So we're trying to get the word out about writing letters. Rachel Wallace is meeting with us tomorrow night to try and come up with what we can do to try and make them aware. I would like to tell the people listening and who are watching that you have to write letters. And I will say the address, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Northeast Regional Office, Waste Management Program, to Public Square, the number two, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 1-8-7-1-1-0-7-9-0. and you have to send letters that have your full name and address, the impact it has on your daily life, like what is going on, how the facility affects you. If you can give specific dates and times and examples, that would be great. And what you would like DEP to require before renewing the permit. It shouldn't be renewed without the town having impact.

I would add to that call.

Oh, and you know what's interesting is our cousin was over last night. She lives in Fraley. She works at Amazon. And when they take breaks and they smell all this, she didn't even know the number. People who are impacted by this don't know the number. And we're busy. And they smell it and they don't know what to do and they don't know who to talk to. They're not engaged like we are. And we pass the number on. But honestly, it's so much. It's so frequent. I have to call and tell them now that I'm tasting shit. It's insane. And they'll ask me, do you smell it? No. I'm tasting it after I'm outside, and it doesn't smell. I can't explain it, but it's hurting my body, and I need you guys to do something.

Well, we have been on top since, well, before I came on as commissioner. But when I first came on as commissioner, this issue really blew up big with the Gore system and all this stuff. And I've been there, and I've been with DDP every time on this because I believe the people out there, I'm not saying shut a company down or do it, but they should be able to control their own business. It should affect their daily lives.

It's more than that. But what I'm saying is your quality of life, you should be able to enjoy your property. I haven't opened my windows three times in two years.

And the big issue is what I've always said is this stuff isn't coming from our own county. It's coming from New York and New Jersey. And again, they have that thing of interstate commerce. That's where it needs on the national level to change those things, that they have enough space in New York.

Even if it was our waste, I still don't want to smell it.

I know that. And I'm just saying, why are we taking their junk? So that's one issue.

If we have this short time span, maybe that needs to be extended and reviewed and the town actually have some say in it and some changes made. Thank you. Is this yours? No, yeah, I made it. You made it, okay.

Good morning. Good morning. Joe Wiskan of Tremont. Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. And we want it shut down. They cannot control the odors. We're all going through everything. It just needs to be shut down. I'm here today on behalf of the residents of Tremont, Joliet, Good Spring, Donaldson, and Newtown, who continue to live with the consequences of natural soil products, biosolids operation. This isn't a new complaint. It's a year long struggle, years long struggle that's never been resolved. And now Pennsylvania's DEP is considering renewing NSP's permit. Let's be clear about the West End residents have endured. DEP's own investigation found that odors from this facility cause sleeplessness and illness for people trying to live normal lives in their own homes. As proof of this personal story, Sunday night, my mom got back from vacation. The next morning, we always have a conversation, how'd you sleep? And at our ages, no one ever sleeps well. But my mom was awoken at 2 a.m. this past Sunday night by the intense putrid smells from NSP that entered her bedroom window while she slept. She was unable to fall back asleep for the rest of the night. The DEP investigation led to a consent order requiring NSP to reduce intake and install odor control equipment NSP missed its own deadline for that equipment, and DEP had imposed daily fines just to get compliance. As recently as this past December, DEP cited the company again, this time for storing nearly double the permitted volume of biosolids on site, and for using groundwater testing methods that didn't meet approved standards. These are consistent and persistent problems, not just isolated incidents. A company that has repeatedly violated the terms of its existing permit is now asking to continue to pollute our water, our air, and hope that our West End communities and Schuylkill County stay silent while it's handed a renewal not acceptable. The West End residents in Schuylkill County should not be silent bystanders. Many West End residents have emailed and sent letters to Governor Josh Shapiro asking his administration to take this concern seriously and utilize the DEP to fully object in NSP's request for the renewal permit. Due to past negligence, which continue to contaminate our air, water, affecting our daily quality of lives. Emails and letters have also been sent to DEP asking them to oppose this permanent renewal, but letters and emails from residents aren't enough. They carry a different weight than a public position taken from our elected officials. I'm going to go off script here. I thank you for your support because this was going to be asking you for that

Um, that's how we got the secretary here when we met with about the ice detention facility. We took the opportunity to say.

Is there any possibility to meet with them now between August 12?

Is there we can try it was. They get the secretary here was, we took the opportunity with the governor.

We'll say you do all you can give a tight 2 week because of how this was publicly not really noticed.

Like I said. I saw the notes the first time in the paper, and I had our solicitor's office start, and Gary Boots and I both reached out to our solicitor's office to try to, like, because I know it's a short window. And so we're trying to do whatever we can, but when we met with the DEP secretary, we brought up everybody's concerns. We gave them Shirley's letter that she gave us. We brought up about all the violations, about the Gore system not being, because I even said it to them, the Gore system was supposed to be all and end all. all the problems. What was it? $10 million or whatever. $10 million, the door system was supposed to fix everything.

Well, this is years of this. That's why it needs to be shut down.

There's no... You can only do what's within our power, the county's power. I've told this to DEP many times. If they don't want to deal with the problem, let us have the power to deal with them as well.

I don't have much left. Okay. We were all affected for a handful of days recently with the smoke-filled air caused by the Canadian wildfires. The air affected our breathing, our fresh air, and we were forced to remain inside. These conditions are exactly what the residents of the west end of Schuylkill County have been forced to endure daily. Replace the smell of crap with smoky air. We had both one day. That was beautiful. We've been patient. We followed the process. We made numerous calls to DEP when our air has been unbreathable. as we have been told to do. We have emailed, we have filed complaints, we have spoken at the commissioner's meeting, we've waited for the DEP's consent order to fix this problem. None of this has addressed it. We deal with these consequences daily. Again, we ask for your support. We thank Rachel Wallace for notifying us about this, because without her, we wouldn't have been aware, and Co-Regent Canary, Josh, for putting that public as well. Uh, we thank you commissioners for your time, your consideration, and we really appreciate your public support opposing the renewal of renewal permit. Thank you.

Just for the record Jessica surely was here. She understands she didn't at no point defended what they're doing. She is very upset with what's going on and she's trying to work with the scope of the law and the rule of regulations. Plant down on this operation, but she was very, very supportive of us and say, listen, I get what you're saying. This is not. I mean, once again, you know, Larry Larry requested the governor, the secretary come here personally together for 2 hours. So we fixed somehow.

Well, we have a very short window, but now's the time to end this.

Like I said, I think that putting this person here possible was in response because I asked about trying to get somebody from county certified. So that's our solid waste person. I said, because the response time is. Couple hours to the next day. So I asked if we could get somebody from the county certified not to be able to issue fines or anything, but to do a report. And I think that's why they stationed somebody at this place.

It's a bit of a help, but the guy, he comes, but then all we do is just file up complaints, and we ask him what can be done, and I'm drilling him. I know it's only doing him a great job, but all it is is the complaints pile up, but nothing gets addressed or something.

John Brzezinski, the deputy at DEP, is born and raised in Monty City and has relatives and friends in the area, so he was the one that pushed the secretary real hard and said, listen, we've got to get somebody up there fast. They did some of their fast work. yeah he's actually assigned to the office across the street so if we get a complaint he's out there within five minutes well whether they actually smell it or not it happened please smell it well and it just needs to be stopped so no one smells it if that's the solution the only way to get them in trouble is to have the person to complain so also having the agent verify That's I realize that's not a good answer, but that's the way it has to be. And now we have a person that can be out there and try to make that happen. A lot of times, like Larry said, the complaints, I'll call a second on the higher spring. We'll play drive up, which it was no longer an issue. So we have, we have to get that. And you have to keep calling somebody to keep calling and keep sending.

I know, I know on a first name basis. I know it's been shut up. I know Jacob. I know them all on first name basis. Just keep calling. We're actually becoming friends in a weird kind of way.

Okay, let's move on to a public comment. Morning, Linda. Morning, y'all. It's been a month of Sundays, hasn't it?

Yep.

Okay. That's Southern saying Melinda diver North township. Okay. I'm going to switch gears a little bit here, but we're still going to kind of keep things out to the West end of the county last year. I like to just revisit an idea. I brought this up last year. I'd like to see if the county could start some sort of program to recognize volunteers. across the county. I know that we have something, I think it's called the RSVP, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. So that's essentially seniors giving back or helping other seniors. How about we kind of extend that to a younger age group? So when I brought this idea up last year, I mentioned two names. of individuals that I thought were worthy of recognition for their service and dedication to the youth within their neighborhoods, their communities. And those names that I brought up, Sean Mosser and Marty Sowers, both of those men have dedicated over 20 years each, over 20 years each, coaching, volunteer coaching, not getting paid for it. I know coaches in some school districts or whatever get paid. This is volunteer. Youth, baseball, and football. Each of them. Over 20 years. So for today, I'd like to take a look at Sean Mosser's record. Just for the last 10 years. He made it to the midget... Super Bowl in the county, all 10 seasons. He made it to the Super Bowl, won seven of them. He has a record of 82 wins and eight losses. Pretty darn good, wouldn't you say? And for Teener baseball, other than this past season, his Higgins team teams had eight consecutive Teener baseball championships. Now, for the football program, he operates under the Higgins Area Little Bulldogs. It's a non-profit, charitable organization, 501 , President Billy Kimmel, Vice President Jeremy Fry, Secretary Nicole Dingler, Treasurer Michelle Carl. Now, with a record like Sean Mosser's, wouldn't you think the Little Bulldogs Association and Billy Kimmel would be down on bended knee thanking Sean for his service and dedication? Maybe let's hold a parade in his honor. Let me tell you, Sean was asked, invited to attend a surreptitious, all right, secret, meeting of the little bulldogs. And he was told, Sean, man, you're all washed up. We meet someone younger. We're looking to go in a different direction. All washed up? Really? With a record like that? Hmm. My dear time is up, sorry. They've been asked for a copy of their bylaws. They won't give them out. Why? Why won't you give your bylaws out? If you didn't have anything to hide, you'd be handing those bylaws out like they were candy. There has been a public outcry from parents, other coaches, community members, Guess what they did? Their Facebook page, they switched from public to private because they couldn't handle all the derogatory comments that people were lobbing at them. And nothing against you, Josh, but there's going to be an article today in the Citizen Standard. And I think the reporter's going to be in a little bit of hot water, too, because there's some... Have you already seen it, Larry? You're not... Okay. Okay. So I think, like I said, I think the reporter may be in a little bit of hot water because some comments in there. Talk about slander. Get ready, little bulldogs. I think a hell storm is coming your way. Thank you.

Any other public comment?

Morning, sir. Morning, commissioners. Roseann Weinrich, Butler Township. I'm here to discuss NEBIUS. Are they still here? Yes. I was at the Butler Township meeting last night and we were told that there would be a meeting August 6th and I asked what the format was. And we were told that it would be a presentation much like this morning, I'm assuming, and then they would have tables set up for people to go from, like, the water table to the jobs table. And I really don't like that format. I think that that eliminates the public from hearing important information. And I would ask that they maybe do something like they did in client township where. the public had an opportunity to ask questions of the board, and Amazon was there to answer the questions. Everyone could hear the questions. Everyone could hear the answers. I think having different tables and having people wander through like it's a science fair is just not the right way to do this if you want to be a good neighbor. I was doing a little research on Nebius, a little quick Google research. I found that they're the AI ecosystem for media innovators. One partner for your entire AI lifecycle, from secure model training to low latency inference. We provide deep industry expertise, infrastructure, and white glove support. What is that? I really don't know what that is. I found out that Nebius is a Dutch holding company. It's a branch of a Russian internet giant, Yandex. So the 70% owner of Nebius is a Russian person. When I got my right-to-know papers, I saw that. Glenn Geisinger had an email, and it was discussing how we should use data centers and have a security issue argument for data centers, like this is about national security. So my question is, if this is about national security, why are we working with a Russian company? And to go back to what Commissioner Hess said, why are we taking their junk? Isn't Siberia pretty big? And isn't it cold? Can't they open the windows there like Amazon Web Services told people of Incline Township? We only need to use the cooling system 2% of the year. If these data centers were in Siberia, they wouldn't have to use cooling systems ever, and we would not be in this situation. I did look up on ScamDetector.com. It gave Nebius AI a 10.9 out of 100 And these three words were right under that, untrustworthy, risky, danger. The company data, the owner, address, and state were redacted. It was listed as a United Kingdom company. There are no operational facilities in the United States. So how do we trust you, is my question. I just don't know how that happens. Okay. What's the difference between a business park and an industrial park? Have a great day.

Back in May, I brought up the subject of the state Supreme Court's Caulfield decision and was told that the election bureau lets voters know through the sure system if their mail-in ballot is deficient in terms of lacking a signature or, you know, wrong date, obviously wrong date. But what I'm asking now is, I mean, do they let them know, does the election bureau let them know like upon receiving the ballots, or do they, as I have been told previously, they wait until Election Day, they just put all the mail-in ballots in a pile and then go through them on Election Day, because that seems to be against that whole field decision. Pardon me?

We're compliant with everything that the state requires us to do.

Well... Does that mean that you did? So does that mean that you're that the election bureau is notifying people immediately?

We notify the share system. Excuse me? We notify the state share system and then that's the way it's handled.

But do they do it on election day or do they do it? Well, upon receipt, because you can't open up, you can't open the ballot.

You can't open a ballot before it. You can't open a security envelope other than on election day.

But you don't have to open it. It's on the outside envelope. And the court said that.

The green envelope is on the inside.

Excuse me?

There's a green envelope on your ballot's inside. There's also a security envelope. All I get is a security envelope the day they're handed out on election day. So they open it up that day and they see that the the actual ballot envelope is done wrong. I mean, they can't really touch the ballot before elections. Go ahead, Chris.

Yeah, so I get a mailing ballot from my mother due to her physical limitations. So when I sign her up for that, I get notified that she is going to receive the ballot. When the ballot arrives, it's scanned. All the information is there. When it's returned, an email comes back confirming that the ballot was received. Right. They take that insert that they had spoken of, I guess, at that point, and then placed it in the file. They can't open that until election day. So there is confirmation that the ballot was received.

But they get information that the ballot's received. And that was the whole crux of that lawsuit, that they get information that the ballot is received. But the voter gets that information. But they don't get information. They weren't getting information that the ballot was rejected. because of something that was on the outer envelope. And the court said there's no reason to have done that. They could have informed the voters out in Western Pennsylvania that the ballot was deficient upon receipt so they could request a provisional ballot. And I would be happy, more than happy, to send you the decision with some of the relevant points highlighted

I know our election bureau is complying with all the state mandates and laws. But you never answered the question as to... Well, you're talking about a cure, and we don't do that. We do not do that. That's what you're talking. And if you can't fill out your information and send it in, how is that... If you don't know how to put the date on it and follow directions, it specifically says on the front of the envelope, you want us to tell people, well, you can just do whatever you want and send that in, and then we'll notify everybody that you didn't know how to do your information, that's ballot curing, and we don't do that. We put it into the share system, we follow all the laws and regulations, our election bureau, so I don't know what, other than that, all the way to what we say.

Well, the share system has provisions apparently, I guess, right underneath your ballot is received. You could say, instead of your ballot was received, you can say it's deficient, and It's just a matter of checking a different box. And I don't understand why this is like some kind of hill that you want to die on. I think you should vote in person. I'm sorry, but I'm finished. Your time is up, ma'am. Well, 25 ballots apparently were not recorded. And I assume it was because of this. Um, and they were, they were half Republican. You're assuming wrong. Pardon me? You're assuming wrong.

Some were wrong precincts. Some were wrong precincts. Some were out of county. Some were people that moved, they didn't get their, you know.

Some people sent in a mail-in ballot. I think if you talk to Albright, they did a provisional ballot. Some people sent in a mail-in ballot and still didn't vote at the precinct. So, you know, there are 21 out of all of the things is a is a bad i'm sorry that's not a bad number so um and we review every one that if it's rejected or accepted and we err mostly on you know we we could see voter intent like if somebody circled instead of checking they circled the name and we accepted because you can tell that's They intended that person. So, no. You should, honestly, before you make assumptions, please talk to Albert Vosky. I know we're following all the laws for the election thing. You have to. I haven't talked to Albert Vosky.

Well, I did, and I didn't get a return call. I tried, and I didn't get a return call, but I was told by an election employee before the primary how it was done. And in Lebanon...

Okay, and I can't answer your questions because I'm telling you, we're complying with everything the state is telling us to do. And if you have an issue with how we're doing the election, talk down because, like I said, there was 21 ballots. I believe we reviewed them all.

Yes, all three. So is the actual election go across? And like I said, some were people that didn't change their address.

Some cases, they mean something that voted here and they were registered in. We're at Berks County in Hamburg, and they voted here. They didn't switch their registration yet. So I just, I don't, I really don't think it's an issue.

Well, I know that.

Okay, well, let's.

I know that you could follow, you could follow it easily, and it happened in Lebanon, and it was, and they did change their policy once they looked at their decision.

I gave you what you need to do to think your answer for it. So let's move on with public comment. I'm going to move on with another public comment.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. I mean, if you get sued, there's only one person.

We do. We have attorneys for that that are advising us that we're combined. Good morning, Jeff.

Good morning. Good morning. Jeff Donkel Palo Alto. Seven elected officials not here at 940 this morning receiving $100,000 roughly in salary and benefits. We're now over 700 days that Ms. Gaffney claimed she was on FMLA. Still yet to come here and explain those things. Maybe we can schedule a tour on a Wednesday at like 9 o'clock so she's in the building. And then she can come here at the meeting and explain at the same podium that she said she was on FMLA when it's completely illegal to do so. Just want to follow up because I... Of course, we get ignored a lot here. Missing evidence. Has there been any update on that? The president judge had made a formal statement here that the reason to hire somebody in a very excessive amount of salary was due to missing evidence that needs to be calculated, found, whatever. So, is there any update on that? Is there any update also on the access to the documents? that people are now being charged and stopped from being able to access public documents that have been able to for years. Also, now that the tax bills are coming out for the school taxes, everybody sees the true impact of the reassessment. The amount of calls and messages I got, insane in the last couple weeks. And I urge everybody to look at their camera cards. There's a lot of people that I've helped out that there's outbuildings that aren't theirs that are on there. The land size is wrong. The land use is wrong. The beds and baths are wrong. There's a lot of things that are wrong that, unfortunately, some people either thought that they didn't want to fight it because it wasn't going to go up that much, or now they got it, and it's like a punch in the face. Jeff, you know, we tried to do as much as we possibly could. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that now the people... People are going to start losing their homes now. And I said that all along. In 28, you're going to see a large increase in homes on the tax sales because of this. And then there are places that these out-of-state people and out-of-county people, they didn't know how to fight it. They didn't even touch it. There's a house in Mount Carbon, $71,000. It says it's a three-floor home. When you walk in the first floor, they converted it into a one-floor because everything came right down. There's a nice skylight now. but it's completely destroyed. $71,000 they have that at. So now if you take that into account with the municipality of that size, and there's other ones throughout the municipality, that means that municipality's gonna be on the hook for that money. And then when they're not paid, who's gonna have to pay next? It's gonna fall back on the taxpayers. So again, these reassessments, they said that that house, the same interior as the exterior. It was the same. The outside doesn't look too bad. It looks like it'd be redone. The inside, Absolute disaster. So something needs to be done. I don't know. I mean, this vision, they've been absolutely, I don't know, mind blowing. He took his money and ran. So we're pretty much screwed there. But people have till September 1st to appeal it. So I encourage everybody to do so. And also just touching base on the NSP and the application. I'm not sure. I know the other thing that was filed with BRADS, you couldn't just file a letter. You had to file some sort of document.

No, we're filing an official for both.

Okay. Just so it's done the right way, not because I remember BRADS was just going to be a letter and that wasn't going to hold any weight.

No, we're actually filing for BRADS. We actually got participation from somebody here from the public, invited them with what they wanted to see in the letter for BRADS and all with the lead chain instruction. And with NSP, we're putting in everything. Everything that they've had. All the violations. Just as long as it's done properly. I mean, these people... We're making sure because, like I said, we might have got emailed, but I first became aware of it a couple weeks ago when it was in... I guess it was advertising the POTS Republican in the back of it. Somebody sent it to me and said, hey, did you see this? And that was like maybe three, four weeks ago that was advertised in there, maybe more.

Yeah, I mean, these people have been suffering for long enough.

I agree completely.

And I agree with Joe when he said about the, you know, red flag, purple flag warnings. You know, they put that out for a little bit of smoke. These people have been dealing with purple flags for four years, and nobody gives a damn.

Well, that's not true.

I'm saying DEP doesn't.

Well, we tried. Like I said, we can only do what our folks want.

I appreciate his opposing it. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comment before I move on to the meeting?

Any more?

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Lily Hirsch, Potsdam. Good morning. No matter what we do here, our electric bills are going to increase substantially. One of the problems is what's happening with data centers elsewhere outside of our county. A case in point is the two Susquehanna nuclear power plants up in Berwick. Amazon is building a humongous data center now, which will be finished in a couple of years. Talent Energy which owns the Susquehanna units, will be selling as a contract into, I think, the next 10, 15 years at least, to sell almost 2.0 meg of the 2.5 meg of the two nuclear power plants directly to Amazon, which means that power will not be going into the PGM grid from which PP&L and all of our utility companies get its power. Nuclear power, as you know, is the cheapest of all. And we'll be left with less power generation and more expensive power generation, which means that the public and others should focus on what the state and what the federal government are doing to protect the consumers on this issue. At the state level, this Amazon data center is even getting off on the sales tax. They're getting an exemption on the sales tax for their data center. So it's costing the taxpayers of Pennsylvania also for this data center. So one of the big problems is we just don't have enough generation of electrical power, and not enough generation is being built. So I think we, not only in government, but private people, should look at how we can solve this problem. One of the things that Schuylkill County has here is a lot of old coal mines, and there's a new technology developing for the generation of geothermal energy from coal mines. This is a new technology, but I think we should pursue not only through government, but as individuals to try to find out who the experts are, try to attract companies here to take advantage of that and generate that electricity. So I'm not exactly sure how to go about that. I tried reaching out to the federal government, their energy department, ask questions like, how do we get people trained in this new technology? And I didn't really get much of a response.

Our electric bills started going up before data centers were even on the rise in Pennsylvania because we shut down coal-fired power plants without replacing them with anything. So that's why you said with PGM, they're competing over less producers of energy than we had before. So it's a real simple solution in Pennsylvania. We're an energy-rich state with coal, natural gas, and even oil. Build natural gas power plants. Get more power online. Our state, we should be paying some of the cheapest energy rates of the entire country. But no new plants are being built. I think the first new nuclear power plant is being built in South Carolina or Georgia. And I think that took 25 years to get permitted and through the process. And it's going to generate energy. It's going to pump it up to the East Coast. But it's real simple. Pennsylvania, I mean, Harrisburg and the governor need to seriously look at this and get power plants on and invest in innovative stuff like the geothermal system. But it's real simple. We need more power plants. Even before data centers were here, our electric bills had been going up. So when they shut down all the coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania, That's when our energy rates started going up. So it's real simple. You need to replace that with something. So do it with natural gas, nuclear, coal. Coal is still, our heart anthracite, Pennsylvania, is one of the cleanest burning coals there is. And we could be producing energy. Other countries burn all their garbage. Singapore burns all their garbage to produce energy in Singapore. Nuclear is still the cheapest. If we're losing that to Amazon, it's a big problem. But they have to produce more energy. We need to produce more energy. That's the bottom line. Before any data centers were built in Pennsylvania, our transfer rates have been going up. Mine have gone up all the time. Didn't PPL just recently get a rate increase? I don't believe any power plants, when that rate increase was put in, I don't even believe there are any data centers, large scale data center projects finished. So it's spying demand.

PP&L doesn't generate electricity. It's spun off.

PP&L is starting. PP&L wants to get back into generation. It does have meetings with them, and they are petitioning the state now to build package natural gas power plants in Pennsylvania because we need energy, and we have all the energy under our feet, and we're not... My view on it, not the government's view, but the state's is, we have natural gas, we have coal, we have oil. It should benefit the people of Pennsylvania first. Then, after we're satisfied, then export it to other states and other countries and everything. But it should benefit us here. The natural gas and coal and energy, we should be paying some of the lowest kilowatts per hour of any state, in my opinion.

But how can we get it for school county only if we have a PGN system we have to use?

What I'm saying is if you put more power into the grid, the PGM, you bid less then. There's more supply, so it'll cost less for that pool of energy. So if you have more power plants working in the base load, then that power is cheaper to buy when they contract it for a two, three year period through PGM. Right now, the reason it's up high is because we shut down power plants. So you're bidding, smaller producers are producing this much energy and we're bidding on it, where if you had more producers producing this much energy, now you're bidding on that energy. So it's all a matter of supply and demand, and we just need more supply.

But some of that supply is a lot cheaper than others. Yes, nuclear is 100% the cheapest form of... And other countries have built nuclear power plants to this day.

They're on their... 10th generation nuclear power plant, we're still on our second generation nuclear power plant in the state.

So the problem is the companies that generate power are forced to have 25% green energy. In Pennsylvania. I have a big, there's 65 windmills starting in my property building in Shemokin. They're not near as efficient. There's push to, we just turned on two applications for solar panels. They don't produce cheap energy, but the companies are being forced to do that. They have to have one fourth of their work class to be green energy. So that's why we're paying $0.12 to the $0.09 per kilowatt because they're being forced by government regulation to make green power. It's not economic.

That's what it is. So thank you. Thank you. Is there any other public comment? Chair?

Morning, Senator. I promise I'll be brief. Just a quick PSA.

All right. Time for Jeff.

Good morning, Commissioner. Firstly, I just wanted to bring everybody up to date on our KDOT program. Sarah is halfway through the program. And the canine handler and trainer are confident that she could pass that test tomorrow for certification. So she's doing great. She has another four weeks, which will be the tracking portion of it, but we're really excited about it. Secondly, I don't know what these gentlemen are aware of. I don't know if everybody in the county is aware of that. currently has a girls softball team playing in Bristol for the regional championships. So a win tomorrow, they play tomorrow at 3.30, would secure them a seat in the World Series of Williamsport. So I'd just like to wish them continued success in the tournament, and hope everybody can tune in. Minorsville.

Minorsville, that's right.

Minorsville softball team, yeah.

Congratulations. I know. We're good.

We're a good team.

As your day is Saturday, the judging is Sunday, and the fair opens Monday morning. The fair opens at 4 o'clock each day, and please support the fair. And once again, nobody's bound that fair against the Pan-South. It's all volunteers. Paul Kennedy works at the Pan-Lock. He did a good job. The Greg Morgan's family is down there. They are at Bruce Green Shearer with the livestock show. The kids show their animals and get On auction, so it's Trump polls, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, celebrity tractor pull Wednesday night, boil up contest Wednesday night. I didn't visit the fair when I worked for the governor and the only fair in the state that has a boil up contest. And some are really, really good. The deal is you're supposed to sip it and then spit the rest out. Well, I don't do that. After 31 samples of oil, I'll probably drive me home.

Excuse me, I know you have the rest of your meeting.

Danielle and I will be out in the hallway. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for getting it correct. Thanks, Daniel. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes for the work system July 15th? So moved, Chairman. Any other questions? Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Hetherington? Yes. Commissioner Hess? Yes. Can I have a motion to approve what's presented by adult probation? So moved, sir. Any other questions? Commissioner Fedora? Yes.

Commissioner Hetherington? Yes. Commissioner Hess? Yes.

Any questions? Commissioner. Yes.

Commissioner Haas. Yes. A motion to approve was presented by the grant writer.

So moved, sir.

Second. Any questions? Commissioner Padora. Yes. Commissioner Hetherington.

Yes.

Commissioner Haas. Yes.

A motion to approve was presented by mental health and medical services. So moved, chairman. Second. One question. Commissioner Padora.

Yes. Commissioner Hetherington.

Yes. Commissioner Haas. Yes. Can I have a motion to approve what was presented by the engineering and real estate. So moved, chairman. Second. Any questions? Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Hetherington? Yes. Commissioner Haas? Yes. That motion to approve was presented on behalf of Planning and Zoning.

So moved, sir. Second. Any questions? Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Hetherington?

Yes.

Commissioner Haas? Yes. That motion to approve was presented by the President.

So moved, sir.

Second. Any questions? Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Hetherington? Yes. Commissioner Hess? Yes. A motion to approve a tax claim?

Just, Chairman, briefly. On tax claim, approval is being requested by the School County Tax Claim Bureau that the board approve the following repository sale in West Illinois Township. The information is contained within the agenda.

Thank you. just two items for informational purposes only commissioners

186,500 dollars in the mental health division, and then a 550 dollar budget. Thank you. Uh, resource.

So, in the veterans office, we have the appointment of Victoria Spittler as the director at 65,000 effective 727 in the prison. We have 2 appointments. Brian Dugan Taylor swine part as correction officers part time. Both of the rate of 26.4555, both effective 727 and the rate is for the evening contract. Tax assessment, we have the appointment of Kimberly Graves, clerk type is two, at a rate of 14.9753, effective pay three. The rate is per the union contract. And also in assessment, we have the transfer of Megan Felty as the mapping technician at a rate of 15.7769, effective pay three. And she's transferring from the payroll specialist in the controller's office, and the rate is per the union contract. The human resource office, we have the appointment of rachel barr as an office support secretarial position and a rate of 14.2805 effective b3 rate is per the union contract and all the appointments are pending drug test and physical any actions involving salary or for positions being created our pending salary board approval and we'll also throw the words appointments and transfers

So move, sir. Second. Any questions? Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Hennington? Yes. Commissioner Hess? Yes. New business? I think everyone's here. Ms. Gerrard, do you want to present your business? Do you want me to go up there? Okay.

On behalf of the human resource office, we're asking for approval of the continuation of the employee assistance program with inroads family guidance center. The contract covers July 1st, 2026 to 30 and 2027 provides up to 3 sessions. per household member, per contract year. The cost is $10 per covered employee per year. Each employee session is billed at $70 per session. If critical incidents stress the briefings are needed, the cost is $150 per hour plus mileage. Additional required consultant cost is $90 per hour plus mileage or 160 per hour plus mileage for two consultations. THE CONTRACT INCLUDES TWO HOURS OF TRAINING PER YEAR WITH ADDITIONAL TRAINING SESSIONS BUILT AT $150 PER HOUR PLUS MILEAGE. ORIENTATION AND LITERATURE THAT CAN BE DISTRIBUTED TO EMPLOYEES IS ALSO INCLUDED IN THE CONTRACT, AND WE'RE REQUESTING IMMEDIATE APPROVAL. DO WE HAVE A MOTION FOR THAT?

MOTION TO APPROVE THE REQUEST OF THE HAPPINESS RESOURCES.

SECOND. QUESTION? COMMISSIONER PADORA?

YES.

COMMISSIONER HETHERINGTON?

YES. Human services, sorry.

Good morning. I have an approval of a rate agreement with horizon information systems, Johnstown for the implementation set up monthly subscription and custom programming of horizon transportation software for the medical assistance transportation program for the period of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2031. Software implementation setup training and data conversion will be a one-time charge of $3,475 and is expected to start on or around August 7th, 2026. Subscription fees are $209 per month. Customer programming, if needed, would be $275 per hour. Thank you. Do you have a motion for that?

I'll make a motion to approve the request for human services.

Second. Any questions? Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Heddington? Yes. Commissioner Hatch? Yes. Thank you.

The controller's office is asking for immediate approval to, to.

extend our services we already received through Gabriel, Roeder, and Smith & Company. They're our actual servicer for the design and implementation of the pension administration system for $17,000. And then every year after that, the maintenance fee is $20,500. I did ask for a motion for a foster and foster probably a month and a half ago, but the people that we do business with Gave us a much better rate. So we're sticking with that.

On behalf of the controller's office. So move, sir.

Second question.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

On behalf of tax payment approval.

of a resolution appointing Lisa Yannick, Denise Burke, Nicole Peel, Joseph Gerchak, Kathy Manning, and Colleen Wormcastle, who are vested with all duties and powers there under for posting and service of all notices and to make personal service required by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Tax Sale Law, otherwise known as RETZL, for the 2025 entry of clean posting, which actually will be for the 2027 tax upset sale and the 2026 upset tax sale posting, and filing with the Bureau of Written proof of service, setting forth the name of the person served, date, time, and place of service, and attachment of a copy of the notice which was served, and we are requesting immediate approval on that.

Is there a motion to approve it? I make a motion on behalf of tax claim. Second. Second. Commissioner Bedora? Yes. Commissioner Heaven?

Yes.

Commissioner Happ? Yes.

Good morning, Commissioners. On behalf of Engineering, I'm requesting approval of the grant application submittal to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for the Multimodal Transportation Fund for Keystone Boulevard rehabilitation and safety improvement project located within the High Ridge Business Park. Keystone Boulevard is a county road and is managed by the High Ridge Improvement District Authority, HIDUP. The application for the multi-model transportation fund would provide up to 70% funding with the remaining 30% match provided by CEDCO. Keystone Boulevard roadway rehabilitation and safety improvement project cost is estimated at $1,126,264, with the multi-modal grant request of $788,385, and the 30% match provided by CEPCO would be $337,879. So when you do the second one, you just do one motion. And the next one is approval of a resolution to execute all documents and agreements with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to facilitate and assist in obtaining the requested pen, oh, I should say DCED, Multimodal transportation project for the Keystone Boulevard rehabilitation project.

And I have a motion for those things. Yes, sir. All the questions. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Before we adjourn this meeting, I just want to say next week is the 5th Wednesday. There's no meeting and our next meeting will be Thursday, August 6th. Before we have any executive sessions, public comment or salary board?

Yes, I'll make it quick. I don't get everything out.

She even ran there.

Melinda Diver, North Manheim Township. As difficult as it is to get volunteers to do anything, I think it's getting harder and harder. We see that with our fire companies. They're having a difficult time recruiting people. younger people to come in and you know as you get older maybe you don't have the energy the wherewithal maybe you develop health issues etc you can't uh you know you just can't give it what you used to maybe okay i just wanted to share with you again my thoughts on sean mosser and the job that he has done out in the west end of the county tri-valley school district is the area that he has served. Sean's style of coaching helped to build better athletes and human beings. He taught the fundamentals along with life lessons. Any youth who has been fortunate enough to be coached by Sean Mosser learned the importance of discipline, teamwork, and always giving it your best. Sean has never wanted the recognition and accolades for himself. He poured his time, energy, and heart into the kids. He has years of experience and depth of knowledge that cannot be replaced nor duplicated. He not only brings strategies and game plans to the table, but he brings perspective and an understanding of the game that only time and dedication can develop. Every parent, player, coach, and community member should be standing up to support Sean Mosser. There are moments in life when silence carries as much weight as words. When someone has spent years serving others, needs our support, choosing not to speak, can be remembered just as much as choosing to stand beside them. Good people have the opportunity to make a difference simply by speaking the truth and refusing to tolerate injustice. This world is headed for hell in a handbasket if we don't start standing up and speaking up when we see things that are just flat out wrong. Let us have the courage to speak up when it matters and to stand beside someone who has spent his life shaping the character of our youth, both on and off the field. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comments for Saragor? That's a little long at the beginning. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes from the salary board work session of July 15th?

So moved, chairman. Second. On the question.

Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Hetherington? Yes. Commissioner Hess? Yes. From the resource office.

Thank you, commissioners. In the salary board, where you're looking to set the salary in the veterans office for Victoria Spittler as the director at $65,000, effective $727,026, and in 911 communications, We have a wage increase from Michael Wall Telecommunicator Senior Level 1 to $24, effective $7.27, and that was per a union agreement.

Can I have a motion for Veterans Affairs and Iowa Law at one time?

So, can I have a motion for Veterans Affairs and Iowa Law Communications? So moved, sir. Second. Any questions? Commissioner Fedora? Yes.

Commissioner Heddington?

Yes.

Commissioner Hess? Yes. Comptroller, you can check.

Yes.