Contract Renewals, Grant Funding, and CYS Appointed Attorney Pay Increase Discussed at Clinton County Commissioners Work Session
By Emily Wright
LOCK HAVEN — The Clinton County Commissioners work session Monday morning covered a variety of topics, including contract renewals, grant funding, and an increase in pay for attorneys appointed by Clinton County Children and Youth Services. The county’s Information Technology Director, Ernie Jackson presented the commissioners with one-year license and subscription renewals relating to computer software used by county employees. Director of Planning/County Engineer Steve Gibson presented an agreement between the county and Flemington Borough to be voted on at Thursday’s meeting for assistance with engineering and planning services related to sewer projects in the borough. Gibson also requested that the commissioners consider passing a resolution that will assist local municipalities in receiving funds from the Broadband Ready Communities (BBRC) Program to provide faster internet service to residents.
Tristan Rock, Assistant Director of Clinton County Children and Youth Services (CYS) presented contracts to be voted on during the commissioner’s Thursday voting session. The contracts she discussed are part of an annual renewal process, as CYS operates on a fiscal year that begins July 1.
The first contract Rock discussed related to wages for attorneys appointed to represent clients that CYS works with. According to Rock, the contract includes a $10 hourly rate increase for attorneys appointed by CYS to represent clients, which was a request made by the president judge. Under the contract, the attorneys will go from a $90.00 hourly rate to $100.00 per hour for their services. ”All attorney contracts are reimbursed through Children and Youth at varying rates depending on the type of hearing and type of case that they’re appointed to preside over, so it is roughly 80 to 95% reimbursement depending on the circumstance,” Rock explained.
The Human Services Development Fund (HSDF) contract was also discussed, which awards CYS with $50,000.00 in grant funds. The agency breaks up this funding between local service providers and organizations to pay salaries and operate their programs, and the funding is 100% reimbursed by the state. Rock said that the funding will be dispersed between the Ross Library, Community Connections, Confer Home Health, and two different infant development programs in the county.
On Thursday, the board will also consider entering into a final agreement for the clinical information and reporting system used by CYS prior to the agency’s switch to the Child Accounting and Profile System (CAPS). Rock explained that the previous system agreement will not be needed in the future since the agency has since replaced it with CAPS.
During the meeting, Clinton County I.T. Director Ernie Jackson spoke to the board regarding three items for consideration at the commissioner’s Thursday voting session. The first was a one-year license renewal for the GroupWise email system used by county employees, totaling $28,153.15 for 350 user licenses. The second item for consideration is a one-year subscription renewal for the Retain Email Archiving system offered by GroupWise, totaling $9,190.88. GroupWise is a complete collaboration software that provides email, scheduling, instant messaging, task management, contact management, and document management functions.
Last, Jackson discussed a one-year license and subscription software renewal for IBM inspection backups, totaling $13,887.20. Jackson noted that these are all annual renewals that have been previously budgeted for.
Director of Planning/County Engineer Steve Gibson presented two items for Thursday’s agenda. The first was an agreement between the county commissioners and Flemington borough to provide engineering and planning services to help them with the construction and PENNVEST (Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority) reimbursement process for their sewer project, totaling $9,500.00.
Second, Gibson discussed a resolution to support the countywide Broadband Ready Communities (BBRC) Program. The BBRC Program seeks to make it easier for communities in Pennsylvania to get faster internet service by removing obstacles and encouraging investment in better broadband infrastructure.
Gibson explained Pennsylvania’s $1.16 billion allocation from the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program and noted that municipalities must pass ordinances to streamline permitting in order to improve their chances of receiving funding. The county resolution would support municipal efforts to become broadband-ready and provide residents with faster internet service. Gibson said that the planning department would reach out to all 29 municipalities in the county to discuss passing their own resolutions for broadband projects and offer additional meetings if needed.
The commissioners will hold their voting session this Thursday, May 16, at 10:00 a.m. The meeting can be attended in person in the second-floor conference room of the Piper Building located at 2 Piper Way, Lock Haven. The meeting is also available via livestream on the county’s Facebook page; search Facebook for “Clinton County Government”.
