County approves public safety purchases

BY STACI WILSON

The county commissioners approved two Act 13 (Impact fee) qualified purchases – critical incident management software and a new fire alarm system – at the Wednesday, March 12 meeting.

The county renewed its contract with Grey Wall Software to utilize the Virtual Emergency Operations Center (VEOCI) program to provide critical incident management, as well as other uses. The $43,200, three-year contract provides for software maintenance, training and support.

The fire alarm system at the Susquehanna County Correctional Facility will also be replaced, at a cost of nearly $35,000. The commissioners approved a contract with Triguard Inc. for the project.

Both purchases could be paid for out of Act 13 funds, Commissioner Alan Hall said.

Audience member Vera Scroggins asked how a fire alarm at the county jail would qualify as an Act 13 expense.

Hall said the purchases would fall under the provision that allowed for judicial or public safety purchases.

Scroggins said she did not feel the fire alarm was a matter of “public safety.”

“I don’t make the rules, I only follow them,” Hall answered.

In the public comment portion of the meeting, Scroggins asked if the county would consider buying a water truck and water buffaloes for residents’ who claim their water has been contaminated because of natural gas drilling.
While she was speaking, Hall said “no” to her request three times.

Three people were hired as dispatcher trainees in 9-1-1 department.

Scroggins questioned the high turnover rate of people employed in that position.

Hall said the dispatcher jobs can be stressful and not everyone is capable of handling that stress.

A staff of 13 is needed to fully cover the department, Hall said. Currently, there are six dispatchers in place now who are regularly working “a lot of overtime.”

Hall said new dispatchers would be hired to start to train in groups of about three.

In the public comment portion of the meeting, Scroggins asked, “What is going on in our county that is so stressful?”

“I’m not even going to answer that,” Hall replied.

Resignations were accepted, with regret, for: Matthew Thomas, Director of Veterans Affairs, effective March 28; Laura Watson, DA Task Force, effective March 7; and Michelle Hillard, DA Task Force, effect March 7.
The salary board approved a rate increase for the part-time detectives of the Drug and Alcohol Task Force from $13 to $15 per hour.

District Attorney Jason Legg said the pay rate has not been increased in eight years.

The starting salary for the Recycling Center Process Manager was also changed from $9.69 per hour to $11.29-$11.69 per hour, depending on experience.

Audience member Bruce Paskoff asked, “Aren’t you putting (the recycling center) out to bid?”

The center, Hall said, had not been put out to bid yet and with the retirement of the manager, someone was needed to fill the position.

The board also amended the county personnel manual regarding the donation of vacation time.

Hall explained that employees have the option of donating accrued time to other employees dealing with an illness.

The change, according to Hall, defines that this can only be used in circumstances where an employee would miss more than 10 consecutive working days.

During a retirement board meeting, also held Wednesday, the board set the rate of regular interest for 2014 at four percent to be credited to the member contribution accounts in the county pension plan.

Tom Wilson, of Brinker Capital, told the board that with the increased contribution from the county, the shortfall in the pension fund had “closed substantially” over the past 18 months.

Wilson said the fund was averaging about 11 percent in its annual return; and was up about $400,000 since his last presentation to the board, running on the agreed upon risk profile for the account.

Total assets in the fund are $21.4 million, up from a starting point of $12 million, with $2.2 million coming in from the Skybridge hedge fund. The total assets, according to Wilson, reflected the appreciation of investments, contributions from the county and payments made to pensioners.