We will call to order the salary board
and board of commissioners meeting and
we will begin with a roll call please.
>> Commissioner Nera
>> I'm here.
>> Commissioner Fashi
>> I'm here.
>> Commissioner Eckleberger.
>> Controller best here.
>> Is there any public comment at this time
relate uh under the salary board? Is
there anyone showing online?
>> No request online.
>> Okay. We'll begin now with the approval
of the minutes of the July 29th meeting.
>> I make a motion to approve the minutes.
A second. It's moved and seconded. All
in favor say I. I. I.
>> Next is the approval of the salary board
actions.
>> I make a motion to approve all the
salary board actions except for the
items that are related to the courts and
the district attorney. Okay.
[clears throat]
>> I second. It's moved and seconded. All
in favor say I. I. I.
>> Behalf of the district attorney's
office, I make a motion for the approval
of the district attorney's salary
action.
>> Second. Motion.
>> It's moved and seconded. All in favor
say I. I. I.
>> On behalf of the courts, I request
approval of the courts salary board
actions.
>> I second.
>> It's moved and seconded. All in favor
say I.
>> I. I.
>> I.
>> Thank you. Is there any other business
to come before the salary board at this
time?
Hearing none, we'll entertain a motion
for adjournment.
>> I motion to adjourn.
>> We are adjourned. Thank you so much.
We'll go into the board of commissioners
meeting and begin with the pledge of
allegiance.
I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
» Get this uh meeting done with a roll
call as well, please. Desire.
>> Commissioner Anita,
>> I am here.
>> Commissioner Aashi,
>> I'm here. Commission Iber.
>> Um, if anyone would like to make public
comment on non-aggenda items, now would
be the time. I don't think we have
anyone in the room interested in that.
Is there anyone showing online?
>> No request only.
>> Okay. So, we will move into a really, I
think, delightful opportunity for us
here today. We are going to be uh
issuing a proclamation uh recognizing
Parker Skip Coons. I never knew it was
Parker. I've only known you by Skip
forever. Who is uh celebrating 47 years
of service on the Cumberland County
Industrial Development Authority Board.
And I'm going to read the proclamation
and then we've got a few folks from the
board that are going to join Skip and
we'll come on up and get some pictures.
But first, the proclamation reads as
follows. Cumberland County recognizes
Skip Coons for distinguished service.
Whereas for 47 years, Parker Skip Coons
has served the Cumberland County
Industrial Development Authority Board
with dedication, institutional
knowledge, and a sustained commitment to
helping businesses grow, invest, and
create opportunities in the county and
surrounding region. And whereas since
joining the board in 1979,
Skip has helped advance its mission of
providing lowinterest financing,
administering grant funding, and
delivering technical assistance to
developers, industries, nonprofits, and
other economic development
organizations. And whereas through his
continuous service, Skip assisted in
advancing multiple projects across South
Central Pennsylvania and helped provide
funding solutions to support business
investment and project development. And
whereas Skip is known for contributing
to financing efforts for projects
including the hotel in downtown Carlile,
known now as the Comfort Inn in Suites.
and whereas his decades of service,
steady leadership, and commitment to
community reflect the highest standards
of public service and civic dedication.
Now, therefore, the Cumberland County
Board of Commissioners hereby recognizes
Parker Skip Coons for his distinguished
commitment to the Cumberland County
Industrial Development Board. May we all
be fortunate enough to have someone like
Skip Coons whose dedication, commitment,
and public service set such a strong
example for the community. And that is
presented on this 12th day of August.
Wonderful. Skip, thank you for being
here. And come on up.
We have Skip and joining him. We have we
have um the chairman of the Industrial
Development Authority Kentucky and the
secretary uh Jim Ross. So we have two
board members with us here.
[laughter]
My pleasure
together real.
So Skip, if you have any words of wisdom
you'd like to offer us, we would be
happy to hear them. The only words of
wisdom I can say is that
in 1979 when rates were as high as 23%.
Wow.
>> And poor soul people wanted to expand
their business. The IDA which was set up
by the state I believe
was a wonderful thing because you could
get 11% instead of 23. [laughter]
And 11% at that time was a great deal.
It was a wonderful deal for the
financial institutions. These guys at
Farmers, by the way, everybody [snorts]
remembers Farmers Trust. They'd take
anything we could give them. And so, it
was to me
a nice place to do business.
>> Wonderful. Thank you, chairman. Do you
have anything you'd like to offer?
>> It's been a pleasure. Skip was when you
stop and think about it, I won't tell
you how old I was when he was appointed.
[laughter] He had a good start on me and
I couldn't have asked for better teacher
in this process. Wonderful historian and
fully engaged. He was never He's known
on our board as somebody that will voice
his opinion and not a long way about it.
Yeah. So, it was very good and Skip, it
really has been a pleasure working with
you. Look forward to calling up and say,
"Hey, Skip, remember this?" [laughter]
>> Thank you.
>> Jim, did you have any thoughts you
wanted to add as well?
>> Very briefly. Ken summarized everything
very beautifully and I just want to
congratulate Skip first. Thank you.
>> Wonderful.
>> Let's get we'll get a few formal posed
pictures. I don't know if we can.
[laughter] Okay. How we want to squeeze
in a little bit.
>> I said we need on [clears throat]
here for us to know where we are to be.
Okay. There's the camera. [laughter] All
right. Everyone look here. I'm going to
take several.
» All right. Thank you.
>> Perfect. Thank you. Thank you all so
much, gentlemen. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> You guys are welcome to stay or you can
certainly skip out.
[laughter]
>> These boys, these boys are out of here.
Congratulations.
» [clears throat]
» All right,
that takes us then to the consent
agenda. And pinch hitting for us today,
we have our CFO, Paul Landers, and I
will turn it over to him.
>> Thank you, Commissioner. This takes us
to our consent agenda, which consists of
items 5 through 13. The following is a
list of routine items that do not appear
to be controversial in nature and which
seem to not require additional
discussion. If discussion is desired on
any particular item, any member of the
board of commissioners or the public may
request that the item be removed from
the consent agenda and that item will be
considered separately under the regular
agenda. The remaining items will be
acted upon through one motion. Does
anyone have any questions?
>> Not hearing none. Seeing none, uh, can I
get a request to approve?
>> I move to approve the consent agenda.
>> Second.
>> It's moved and seconded. All in favor
say I. I. I
>> thank you commissioners. This takes us
into our regular agenda. The following
is a list of non-rine items that will be
discussed and may be acted upon
individually. I will now hand it over to
Angela. Thank you, Paul. All right. The
contracting grants portion of the agenda
begins with agenda item 14. And I will
call on Kim Winton to discuss the
contract addendum for aging and
community services. Good afternoon, Kim.
>> Hi, good afternoon. Good afternoon,
commissioners. We are asking for
approval for an amendment for Mayor
Nantha. Uh they serve at risk
individuals, low-income families,
veterans, and disabled residents in
Kland County by providing uh budget
counseling, money management, rep pay
services, and financial education in the
homeless assistance program.
» Any questions?
>> I move to approve. Second.
>> It's moved and seconded. All in favor
say I. I. I. Thank you, Kim.
>> Thank you.
>> Takes us to agenda item 15, and I will
call in Jamie Vyber to discuss the
contracts for children and youth. Good
afternoon, Jamie.
>> Good afternoon. Uh the first contract I
have is for Bethany Home Incorporated.
They provide residential, group home,
and I services. They are requesting
increases to their levels of care
ranging from 4.83%
to 9.29%
for the 2627 fiscal year.
The next contract is with Daring
Consultant Group. Um we are using the
same program uh that the county uses for
leadership essentials. However, given
the size of our management team um and
the spaces the limited spaces available
through the county program uh we wanted
to make sure our management team got
through this process um sooner rather
than later. So we are contracting with
Daring separately uh and we did put it
in our needs space budget um and we are
doing their leadership essential program
uh for our management team here starting
the end of this month.
uh Hugh S. Smith, PhD and Associates. Uh
they provide multiple evaluations and
assessments for clients to allow for
better service planning. Uh their rates
are set by the behavioral health system.
We don't use them often, but whenever we
need evaluations or assessments, we have
the ability to pay for them if the child
or the youth does not have insurance. Um
their rates are increasing uh ranging
from 8.33% to 25%. And again, we don't
use all of their programs, but they're
there in the event that we would need
them.
Language Service Associates Incorporated
provides interpreting and document
translation services. The only increase
to their rates for 2627 is their
increase to their mileage reimbursement
rate.
And the last one I have is the Bear
Foundation of Pennsylvania Incorporated.
They provide multiple levels of foster
care and kinship care services as well
as providing transportation through the
ESSA program. They are requesting
minimal increases to their levels of
care ranging from.97% to 5% for 2627.
Any questions?
» I move to approve.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. All in favor say I.
I.
>> Thank you, Jamie.
>> Thank you.
>> That takes us to agenda item 16. And I
will call on Melissa Calanelli to
discuss the contract for court
administration.
>> Good afternoon, commissioners. Um, we
are requesting approval of contract with
URK. Um they provide mobile competency
restoration services for community-
based defendants as well as assisting in
maintaining competency for both
community- based and incarcerated
defendants. This contract will guarantee
availability of those services to these
clients. Um they are actually looking at
hiring a rep in our area which will also
reduce the travel time that uh
defendants would need to travel to um
meet their obligations for competency
restoration. [snorts]
>> Any questions? I do not have any.
So, there's no dollar amount on this.
>> It is an hourly. It is either a flat
rate um weekly amount or an hourly. And
it depending on the defendants's needs
will determine which one makes the most
sense. If they need to be seen much more
frequently, we would go with the flat
rate weekly. Um if they need to be seen
much much less frequently, we would go
with the hourly, which would work out
less. The comment field in on the box in
the cover sheet has the rates listed
there.
>> I'm really sorry and I'm not trying to
>> 532 per week per case.
>> I'm not trying to be out too or
quarterly rate
here at the bottom of the box.
>> It is very small.
>> I apologize. It is it is very tiny when
it's printed out. So it's 532 per week
per case and the quarter quarterly
hourly rate is $73.90
with the min minimum of servicing
consumer two times weekly unless
in maintenance then service
something a week one time at least
[snorts]
minimum of servicing consumer two times
weekly unless maintenance then they're
serviced one time a
at 532 a week for case.
We'll do the analysis of which way is
the most cost effective
before and the that's the way the
contracts that's why the contracts the
way it is. I didn't want them to lock us
into one or the other. the the team for
their competency which involves mental
health and other county agencies will
determine which track kind of they need
to take
as far as the number of times they need
to be seen.
>> Okay. So, Mari won't be deciding that.
Our team won't be deciding that.
>> I'm assuming Mar will make
recommendations based on their
assessment, but our team will decide
which track they're going to go in and
follow. They're going to be seen.
[snorts]
This is new.
>> We have been using them on an ad hoc
basis. We spent about $10,000 last year.
Um, if we don't have a contract with
them, we would need to contract with
them individually for each individual
defendant. There are currently five and
that would also delay services as we
went through the contract process.
>> I would move to approve.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. All in favor say I.
I. Thank you. Thank you.
That takes us to agenda item 17 and I
will call on Eric Ravenovich to discuss
a contract for the district attorney's
office FID. Good afternoon, Eric.
[snorts]
>> Good afternoon, commissioners. Uh the
contract before you is for Thermal
Electron Corporation
uh
>> and it's it's for the uh contract to
cover our uh instruments in the
laboratory. It's $127,826.99.
Represents a small decrease from last
year.
>> And I ask for commissioner's approval.
>> I will move to approve.
>> Second.
>> It's moved and seconded. All in favor
say I.
>> I. I.
>> Thank you, Eric.
>> Thank you.
>> Takes us to agenda item 18. And I will
call on Holly Sherman to discuss the
contracts for human resources. Good
afternoon, Holly.
>> Good afternoon. Um, the first contract
is uh, Diesa Global Global Solutions
Doing Business as Castle Branch. We're
asking for a one-year extension. On this
contract is for our employment
background checks for all of our new
hires. The reason we're asking for just
a one-year extension is that we're
continuing to explore alternative
vendors who um will be able to link
directly with our new applicant tracking
system. So, we would like to continue
for one year while we explore other
options.
The other contract is for Calair and
that is our current applicant tracking
system and we are asking for a uh
extension till January of 2027 that
allows us to get to the implementation
of our new applicant tracking system and
a little bit of overlap to get us up and
running.
probably if if we end up not getting the
new system up and running in time, is
there a month option to just ex continue
to extend this on a monthly basis or no?
With Kelair?
>> Well, I certainly hope that does that
does not happen.
>> I [laughter] hope not.
>> Um, but yes, we could certainly explore
that with him if we had to.
>> Okay, great. Thank you. I move to
approve. Second.
>> Moved and seconded. All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Thank you.
Holly.
That takes us to agenda item 19. We
saved the best for last, Miranda, and
she'll be discussing the contracts for
MHID.
>> And it does.
>> Good afternoon.
>> I do have a list of contracts for you
today. Um the first bunch of contracts
or the first group here, these are all
increases to fiscal year 2526 early
intervention contracts. This is due to
providing additional services that were
not covered by medical assistance. The
first is for Invo Healthcare providing
um evaluations for us. This is an
increase of $24,251
bringing their total contract to
$156,000.
Next, we have pediatric therapy
specialists of South Central PA. They
provide occupational, physical, and
speech therapies as well as special
instruction, increasing $5,567,
bringing total contract to 96,133.
Finally, in this group is UCP of Central
PA. They provide nutrition support,
occupational, physical, and speech
therapies, as well as special
instruction, increasing their contract
$10,17
for a total contract amount of 120,942.
The next group of contracts are early
intervention contracts that we are
renewing for fiscal year 2627.
These are both decreasing from the
previous year and we base our contract
amounts um based on the number of
clients being served and the amount that
we have paid um over the last year. So
of course subject to change um based on
the mix of consumers and how many have
medical assistance and may be eligible
or not eligible.
>> [snorts]
>> So these contracts are for ASL services
providing American Sign Language
interpretation
contract for $30,000
and then UPMC Pinnacle Hospitals or
Pinnacle um infant development program
and their contract is for $187,398
to provide diagnostic evaluations,
occupational, physical and speech
therapies as well as special
instruction. uction.
The next group of contracts are for ID.
These are some increases, some decreases
from last year. Again, based on the
amount of services that we provided in
the previous fiscal year and based on
the services that have been uh
authorized for our consumers for this
year. So, these include Aurora Social
Rehabilitation Services to provide
recreation and leisure activities.
We have Bloom Human Services to provide
companion inhome and community supports.
We have the Center for Community
Resources to provide supports
coordination.
We have Family Links to provide supports
coordination.
Focus behavioral health to provide
inhome and other community supports.
Kenrest services provides community
participation support as well as
residential services.
Keon Enterprises provides transportation
services.
Markei Pennsylvania provides in-home and
community supports.
One provides companion and other inhome
and community supports. PA LifeSharing
provides inhome and community supports.
The Ark of Cumberland and Perry counties
uh provide community participation
support, family education, other inhome
and community supports as well as
residential services and supported
employment services. We have UCP of
Central PA. They provide agency with
choice administration. They also have a
community links program and an
employment first program. They do inhome
and community supports as well as some
residential services, respbit services
and supported employment.
Work opportunities unlimited is for
supported employment services. And then
we have York County Transportation
Authority doing business as Rabbit
Transit to provide transportation
services.
And last but not least is our mental
health contract which is a renewal for
2627. It is an increase from last fiscal
year due to a court order that increased
the amount of um reimbursement for
involuntary commitment hearings. So this
is for Bareric Sheerer. This is
increasing $6,780
for a total contract of $33,180.
I know I didn't go over all the
contracts amounts for all the ID
contracts. I didn't want to overload you
with all of that, but please let me know
if you have any questions and I'd be
happy to answer those for you.
» I move to approve.
>> Second.
>> It's moved and seconded. All in favor
say I.
>> I. I.
>> Thank you, Miranda.
>> Thank you.
>> That concludes the contract and grant
portion of the agenda. So, I will turn
it back over to Paul.
>> Thank you, Angela. This moves us into
our next agenda item, the commissioner's
leazison reports. Commissioner Never.
>> Yes. So I'd like to give an update over
the last couple of weeks. I participated
on the world affairs council as a
panelist along with um Senator Kim and
Rothman. Uh the discussion was around
the polarization of politics and how it
can quite frankly prevent good
government. Again, these students from
the World Affairs Council are so
incredibly engaged and ask wonderful
questions and it was it was really quite
a a a wonder a nice exchange. Um and I
appreciated being uh part of that. Uh
additionally welcomed the secretary of
the department of drug and alcohol, Dr.
Latica Davis Jones to Sarah's House of
Hope. Um that program is for supportive
uh family supports for individuals who
have lost uh someone due to drug
overdose. And there are a lot of
programs available that support um the
individuals facing the drug addiction
but not necessarily the families who
also go on a very tumultuous uh path
with them. So uh it's a great program uh
over um near um oh gosh uh near the pen
Harris in in Camp Hill. If anyone needs
those services, please look it up. I
participated in the national night out
in Middle Sex and you know thank you to
so many county departments that showed
up and participated. Um I know at the at
Middle Sex there was public safety,
LEAPC, victim services that made it such
a great event for the kids and it was
while be albeit a warm night it was uh a
really lovely time. Um, additionally,
our participated our Kirk Stoner has
hosted a uh a virtual meeting uh that
was well attended uh it was on the 21st
century road to housing act and it was
coordinated uh in addition with Andrew
Bombberger from Tri County Regional
Planning and Margaret Parsons. It was
walking through some of the impacts of
this new act on a state and local level
and anyone is welcome to see the it's
being rebroadcast on the planning
department's YouTube channel which is
planning in plain sight. So please if
you have interest in uh there's a
summary of the act uh that was provided
by the national association of realtors
and what townships and municipalities
can do to prepare for that which was
wonderful. Additionally, I um
participated in the Commission for Women
uh meeting and that is a reminder that
on Saturday, August 22nd from 10:00 a.m.
to 12 p.m. We will be commissioner Fashi
and I are participating on a panel uh
women's voices in government and it is
uh two panels split between folks that
are elected and those that are appointed
and trying to provide resources to
anyone who wants to become more involved
in their community uh at a governmental
level. So I look forward to doing that.
Um, additionally, the commission is
working on their health health care
resource fair which will be held in
October in Camp Hill and I'll have more
details on that later and they are
evaluating ways to elevate the
affordable housing discussion with the
housing coalition of Cumberland County.
Um, additionally, we had the A board
meeting this morning and if there are
any folks out there that own a farm that
are interested in preservation, I know
this is last minute, but there are two
sessions being offered tomorrow, one at
10:00 a.m. and 6:00 pm uh at our Allen
Road building uh discussing how you can
uh preserve your farm. [snorts] If you
are interested, please just give a call
out to uh Jessica Cohen 24-5362.
And the um the actions that the board
took at the meeting today, they approved
a formal subdivision for the Stark farm.
Uh Stephanie updated the board on the
status of farms uh the closing of the
farms that were already approved from
2023 through 2025. And then she provided
a summary of the offers to be made for
the selected farms for 2026. Uh it's
going to be a banner year uh this year
for farms. They are looking at 18 uh
preserving 18 farms which will be a very
large year for them. And um
additionally, Elizabeth Grant offered an
update to the board that focused on the
steps that they are taking to improve
water qualities and the water quality in
four areas of the county. They're just
being very focused at Wartzrun, Apossum
Creek, Bulls Head Branch, and the lower
Ltor Spring. you know, three of these
targeted areas are rural and so they'll
be approaching farmers uh to talk about
best management practices and if there's
any way that the planning department can
assist. And then the one obviously Lort
Spring is more urban and that will have
um some possible restoration
opportunities that they'll be trying to make happen within the creek beds.
And I believe that is it for me. Thank
you.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Commissioner.
Well, good afternoon, Cumberland County.
So, the Western Council of Governments
does not meet um in August, and neither
does the Cumberland County Library
System. But boy, I would be remiss if I
did not remind you to use the library
system. And I would like to formally let
everyone know that the Pennsylvania
Citizens for Better Libraries awarded
the 2026
Friends Group of the Year Award to the
Friends of Simpson Library. And that is
a very big deal. Very big deal. Um I
attended uh CCAP, the County
Commissioners Association of
Pennsylvania, their annual meeting. Um I
had a day of board meetings because I
sit on board and then I had two
committee meetings, one human services,
one emergency and veteran services. Um,
Butler and Pike counties have done a
tremendous amount of work in finding
alternative ways to make sure that EMS
that there's a workforce, that there's
funding for that workforce, that there's
funding for equipment. So, I know that
Stacy sent some things to the board of
commissioners. There are um a plethora
of materials to read on that particular
matter, but maybe there's something
there that that we could be diving into
and looking at. um the message from
veteran services and the emergency
services group.
You know, there was the lamenting of the
state budget not not helping emergency
services. We certainly did not get the
911 search charge increase that we so
desperately need. Um so, you know, we
have to think creatively about how we're
going to fund things. Um same thing
happened at human services. the
discussion of the state budget not
really doing what it needs to do for
human services. In fact, I think that was a bit of a surprise uh to some
people from the state that were there at
how that budget is not helping counties
to do the job that they're mandated to
do. So, those were my takeaways from
that and um that's it. Thanks.
>> Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner
Ekleberger.
>> Okay, just a handful of items. So we had
this week was the uh solid waste
advisory council uh handful of things
going on there as you know they're
meeting less uh frequently so the uh
volume and substance of the discussions
tends to be a bit deeper uh those folks
are more than up to that task but I have
a summary here of just some of the
topics. So, uh, recycling grants are a a
an ongoing agenda item and, uh, Jud
Justin provided a draft scope of work,
uh, on the battery education
that, uh, program that we has been under
discussion, reported on several times.
So the uh scopa workbay was prepared by
SCS engineers that's going to be
submitted to D and uh so the the the committee did approve
of uh moving that project forward uh
advancing that so that the scope goes to
D and then uh we can move on to the to
the next step uh on on the grant
application.
Also the um [clears throat]
uh we had talked about the effort to
increase glass recycling particularly
for the western part of the county where
the uh [clears throat] municipal
programs generally don't include glass
anymore. So, um,
the, uh, Barb Arnold, who is the vice
chair, uh, attended the PA Resources
Council and spoke to the executive
director there because the glass
packaging institute really has not been
much of a an assist to us. So, she said
that was a promising conversation. We'll
wait to see if that develops into
anything. they would really like to to
uh [clears throat] advance glass
recycling.
Um so also just as anformational item,
Dickson College farmer is no longer
seeking food waste for their interro
digtor.
See, also on the electronics recycling
side, I don't have any new totals, but
uh Jud did report to the group that the
county's electronics recycler, ReWorld,
um has has noted that there's now a
requirement from their certifying
agency, NIDA, that um requires companies
[clears throat] to record serial numbers
on hard drives that come into their
possession unless the client actively
opts out. So there was a lot of
discussion around that potential
liability for taking possession of these
things because of data security and
such. So um
Jenhip has reviewed the sample agreement
that was provided. Uh so the
uh feeling is that the there will be a
disclaimer sign put at the website or
I'm sorry at the uh the recycling site
as well as uh information security
disclaimer will be placed in any of the
documents that that the public signs so
uh that the county is not um in danger
immediate danger of being brought into
any data security issues. So, um,
uh, yeah, that opt out is is the
preferred way to to go. So, uh, there
was a unanimous vote on that.
Let's see. Also,
should introduce Bob Sabatini. You may
have remembered that we had recommended
him for appointment. Uh, Bob's the new
burough manager in Newville. Used to be
the upper Allen Township uh, manager for
a while. and he was welcomed to the the
group and of course introduced and uh
had an opportunity to speak to the group
about [clears throat] his knowledge on
the issue elsewhere. So I think
everybody thinks he's going to be a
super addition there. So we're really
glad to have him volunteer for the for
the position and giving the knowledge
that he has. The next meeting is going
to be November 3rd.
I'm going to try to get some updated
numbers from the recycling programs that
are on the way. I'll provide this
probably the next meeting. The um
[clears throat]
see we had the affordable housing trust
board meeting was yesterday. Handful of
items there. Pretty lengthy meeting but
really boiled down to a handful items.
So, we have the new bylaws that were in
development by uh uh Mary Kuna, the
executive director in along with help
from uh Stacy Snder, our COO. Um those
were put before the board before the
organization and um
uh uh Mary did summarize
a lot of the requirements in there. In
the past, the organization was um more
or less governed by simply past practice
as most counties apparently do. Uh but
they decided to formalize this into uh
bylaws. So that has now reached its
fruition. Um let's see other items were
the applications for the funding of the
affordable housing grants where it was
discussed. They have now implemented a
formal $50,000 limit per request. Um, in
the past, those could be loans or
grants. What they've decided to do now
is build into the program that the the
grant aspect will apply to the
nonprofits, but the for-profit
organizations that are applying will be
uh restricted into a loan status on
those. So that's formalized now and that
application is going to be posted up on
the uh housing and redevelopment
authorities uh web page within the next
few days. So we heard again from Gary
Linker with Tri County Housing who had
presented to us previously on uh the
Ltor Lofts project that's going into the
former Tao site. Um we received quite a
number of renderings and some background
information. Very interesting. Looks
like a terrific project. It's going to
have eight units of affordable housing
uh as part of the project and the board
did approve the $50,000 grant. He was
requesting 150 uh and they had some
discussion because his request it did
come in before they uh uh essentially
adopted the 50,000 limit. But the
feeling was that the new cycle begins in
January. So, he was awarded 50 and we'll
resubmit and it'll be uh redone in uh
relooked at in in January. Um
but the the the advisory group was
very very favorable and it's a very
good-look project. So, uh that
recommendation for funding will come to
the commissioner. So, we will be seeing
that shortly and it ultimately has to be
approved here. Uh let's see. Uh Mary's
also going to be preparing
recommendations on increasing the down
payment closing cost per program limits
because those have not been changed in
quite a while. uh Gail Galla who was on
board did know particularly that um the
costs closing costs have escalated
dramatically in recent years and because
of the uh lack of an adjustment in a
long time she advocated heavily for that
and um that'll be as I say act reviewed
and acted on in November but the group
seemed very famous toward that so uh
let's see there are
had a great discussion regarding
just the programs in general, what the
history has been. And just real quick, I
wanted to mention that we do always get
an update on that um the closing costs
program, which is probably one of the
more valuable things that they do, down
payment closing cost assistance program.
So, we have a summary of those that are
that have applied and are now approved,
others that are um approved, but still
looking for a location. And the uh Barry
did provide the summary of what the
program has done since its inception uh
in 1998. I've read some of these numbers
at past meetings. So there's been a
total of 997 homes that were purchased
between 1998 and this past month. Um and
uh [clears throat] obviously there are
some values that have more than others.
Anybody want to guess who's the number
one?
No guesses. East Pensburgh 140,
Carlilele at 132, North Middleton 54. So
those are your top three municipalities
in terms of of offering and closing on
those uh down [snorts] payments. So a
lot of good work being done there. Uh
again, pretty impressive. 997 homes.
They're expecting because of the
population increase and just the flow of
events that the demand for funds and the
number of applications are are really
going to to escalate pretty
significantly. So, we'll be hearing I
believe a lot more about that program.
Uh lastly, I attended the uh uh local
elected officials committee of the
workforce investment board last week and
uh in addition to approving all of the
contracts and doing our our regular
review of all expenditures, Jesse
McCree, the director, gave an overview
there of uh the past year of activity.
It was really interesting. So he did
want us to know that they had met or
exceeded all nine of the workforce
investment and opportunities acts common
measures for adult dislocated worker
programs. This is the third year in a
row they've met or exceeded that. So um
he really promoted the uh idea that it's
we need to do more about telling the
story of the organization and he went
through a litany of some of the
adjustments they're making to
performance measures that really discuss
the impact rather than just the
numerical accomplishment. And uh he he
gave a presentation in regards to the
multipliers that they uh their program
provides. He gave some very specific
numbers and uh uh it was extremely
interesting to see
how it was a bit of a master class
really on how to report on on uh the
results of what you're doing and
uh he also gave a policy overview on
things that are pending. He did mention
uh some caveats though even though
they've enjoyed enormous success over
the past 12 months and he noted some
familiar topics. The OMB grant rule
obviously is going to affect them. The
uh un uncertain appropriations picture
obviously something we're familiar with.
Uh workforce investment and
opportunities act reauthorization is is
needed and still pending and the
legislature has not really uh I'm sorry.
The Congress has not addressed that and
they don't believe that's going to
happen in this Congress either.
um Medicaid work requirements uh could
push significant new volume of
individuals through the uh the the
centers and they have no capacity to
absorb that. So they're monitoring that
very closely. So uh he gave me a bunch
of other numbers and happy to provide to
others. I'm not going to read all of
this. So I think that's plenty. Um and
some of these will be reported on the
future as well as they progress. So
[snorts] I think that's everything I
have for today.
>> Thank you, Commissioner.
>> That moves us on to agenda item number
21, report of executive session. We did
hold executive session on August 5th,
2026 at 1:30 p.m. regarding personnel.
[clears throat] This takes us on to
agenda item number 22, other business.
Is there any other business to come
before the board today?
Hearing none, seeing none, takes us to a
>> Thank you.