[0:02] Good morning. I call this meeting of Lancaster County Commissioners to order for
[0:05] Wednesday, September 9th, 2026.
[0:09] First item's the Pledge of Allegiance. Zach, will you please lead us?
[0:15] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
[0:19] And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
[0:24] liberty and justice for all.
[0:28] Thank you.
[0:30] Next, we have minutes. We have approval of the September 2nd, 2026, commissioner
[0:35] meeting minutes.
[0:38] We have a re-announcement. We have an evening commissioners meeting that's
[0:41] scheduled for Wednesday, September 16th, at 7:00 at the Christiana Borough Office,
[0:47] which means there will be no meeting in the morning that day.
[0:50] So we'll be at an evening meeting in Christiana. I have another announcement.
[0:54] This is an executive session announcement.
[0:55] We held an executive session yesterday at 11:00 AM
[1:02] to discuss a matter of litigation, the Francisco case in the
[1:08] Eastern District Court, docket number
[1:11] 5:25-CV-5775, a matter of potential
[1:17] litigation, and also a labor matter.
[1:21] We've done old business, so we'll go right to new business.
[1:23] The first item is a proclamation for Emergency Preparedness Month.
[1:27] Commissioner Parsons to read the proclamation.
[1:29] Thank you. This is a proclamation for Emergency Preparedness Month.
[1:34] Whereas Emergency Preparedness Month occurring annually in September creates an
[1:38] ideal opportunity for every citizen in Lancaster County to join citizens across the
[1:43] United States in preparing their homes, businesses, and communities for any type of
[1:47] emergency, including natural, technological, and human cause.
[1:51] And whereas Lancaster County has been impacted by various emergency events, and
[1:55] through the work of Lancaster County Department of Public Safety Emergency
[1:58] Management Division, county preparation, and community cooperation, Lancaster
[2:03] County has successfully tackled adversity when it arises.
[2:07] And whereas Lancaster County's top priority is the safety of its citizens,
[2:10] including ensuring citizens are educated on and preparedness for emergencies.
[2:15] And whereas Lancaster County Department of Public Safety's Emergency Management
[2:18] Division partners with municipal officials and their local emergency management
[2:23] coordinators, emergency medical service agencies, firefighters, law enforcement,
[2:27] search and rescue organizations, private, nonprofit, and community agencies and
[2:32] organizations to educate communities on local hazards and natural disasters.
[2:37] And whereas when residents working together with local and county government take
[2:42] responsibility for preparing their families and their communities, the chance of
[2:45] survival and return to normality following a disaster is greatly increased.
[2:50] And whereas the Board of Commissioners is grateful for collaboration within the
[2:53] community during an emergency, including a cooperative relationship with
[2:56] municipalities, first responders, local faith-based organizations, school
[3:00] districts, and other community organizations who commit to planning for and
[3:04] responding to all disasters to ameliorate the post-disaster conditions and quickly
[3:09] transition to recovery. And whereas all citizens of Lancaster County, PA are urged
[3:14] to plan for disasters and encourage their family and friends to do so by supporting
[3:20] and contacting their local emergency management coordinators for essential
[3:24] preparedness tips and information.
[3:26] And whereas citizens of Lancaster County, PA are encouraged to educate themselves,
[3:30] their family, and friends by visiting the Lancaster County Department of Public
[3:33] Safety website for essential preparedness tips and information.
[3:37] Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Commissioners of Lancaster County,
[3:41] Pennsylvania, that the month of September 2026 be proclaimed Emergency Preparedness
[3:46] Month. The community is encouraged to observe this month by preparing for
[3:49] emergencies before they occur in Lancaster County.
[3:53] Signed, Rady Agostinho, Josh Parsons, and Al Yoder, the Board of Commissioners of
[3:57] Lancaster County.
[3:59] Thank you for reading the proclamation.
[4:02] I'll offer an opportunity for my colleagues to make some comments.
[4:08] Go ahead.
[4:09] Yeah, I think we all know that we can't always prevent emergencies, and we try to
[4:14] predict them, but not always can predict them as well.
[4:17] But we can certainly be ready for them.
[4:20] So I think this is a good time to pause and first and foremost thank the team that
[4:25] we have here at the county in terms of the preparation you do in conjunction with
[4:28] many of our community partners. And then also how you get the word out about every
[4:33] individual citizen can also be prepared for an emergency, and how they can do that
[4:37] by going to the website and finding that information out.
[4:40] But thank you for all you do, because the planning's so important when emergencies
[4:44] happen. We've had several of them lately, and your teams really rose to the
[4:47] occasion. So thank you for all you do.
[4:49] Thank you. Well, this proclamation is to highlight and help get the word out about
[4:55] emergency preparedness, and also to thank our team and those who across the county
[5:00] who work in this area, and I think it's appropriate to do so.
[5:05] We've had great work on many different issues, but most recently the
[5:11] tornado that hit Columbia. I think it highlights the great partnership that we have
[5:16] between the Department of Public Safety Emergency Management team and the local
[5:21] emergency management coordinators, and there was certainly high praise given to
[5:26] everyone involved in that, how quickly and effectively the team worked alongside
[5:32] the state. So just want to express my appreciation for that continued work and
[5:37] continued preparedness. I think we have a great team here in Lancaster County, and
[5:42] we're prepared in the eventuality.
[5:45] Hopefully, you don't have a big disaster, but
[5:50] all kinds of things can and do happen, and we want to make sure we're prepared for
[5:54] it. So thank you.
[5:57] I add my thanks to the team, the entire emergency management team here at the
[6:01] county, but also all those throughout the county, the emergency preparedness
[6:06] coordinators. Because
[6:10] what people don't realize is a lot of the work that goes on behind the scenes.
[6:14] By the time an emergency comes and you see the team, first responders, emergency
[6:19] managers, and their teams know that there was a lot of training,
[6:25] a lot of preparation that goes into that to be ready for that moment.
[6:30] And so we want to thank you for what you do on behalf of the 560,000
[6:35] residents here in Lancaster County, because when the time comes, we can
[6:41] be assured that our team and the folks in the field will be able
[6:47] to jump to the occasion and do what's necessary to mitigate
[6:53] and help people who are in a tough situation, whether it's life or property.
[6:59] We appreciate it so much. Thank you.
[7:02] With that, I'll open up for comments from the team.
[7:05] I know we have with us the public safety director, Brian Pasquale.
[7:10] You have the team behind you, so I'll let you introduce them as well.
[7:12] Yes, sir. Thank you, commissioners, for your very kind words.
[7:16] This year was a particularly busy season.
[7:18] So we had a lot of very small but very intense storms.
[7:22] So the emergency management team, they were really, really busy, and these are our
[7:27] key folks. I'm going to transition to them very, very quickly.
[7:31] Zach is our emergency management hazardous materials operations manager.
[7:35] And this gentleman, if I liken our emergency management team to a pickup truck,
[7:40] this is the guy who's got his foot on the gas pedal. We're always at an idle.
[7:44] And then when that day arises, then he's foot, that gas pedal's to the ground, and
[7:50] he's moving things forward. And behind him, we have Sarah.
[7:54] Sarah Glatfelter is our business manager. She's our EMA admin.
[7:59] So when you're talking about fuel that sustains that division, she's making sure
[8:03] that our grants are processed and all the inner workings of keeping that division
[8:08] stable and in operation. She's the brains behind that.
[8:11] Although she tends to like to fade off into the background.
[8:15] And again, here we have Grace. And again, the work that they do spreads
[8:21] across our county. So Grace is really who brings the local emergency managers.
[8:26] She works on their training. She schedules the exercises.
[8:29] She puts together the glue of the framework we call emergency management across the
[8:34] county. So I'm going to transition to them and let them have an opportunity to
[8:38] introduce themselves and anything they want to talk about.
[8:41] While you're doing that, it's a good opportunity with this proclamation to let
[8:45] people know very succinctly what they can do to be prepared so that they can help
[8:50] us, people who are coming out to help them. Go ahead, Zach.
[8:54] Yeah, definitely. Good morning, commissioners.
[8:57] Thank you for the kind words and highlighting the Proclamation of Preparedness
[9:01] Month.
[9:03] Definitely as citizens, it's really important to know your local emergency
[9:07] managers, know who that person is in your community, and get involved with that
[9:12] person so that preparedness can be a whole community approach, and the communities
[9:17] themselves can build off of each other to sustain themselves longer
[9:23] and give the responders time to do the work that they need to do, and then recovery
[9:28] will happen quickly after that. So that's the best thing.
[9:33] Going to ready.gov, learning how to get a disaster preparedness kit together,
[9:39] having those essential items with you so you can be sustained for 72 hours are all
[9:42] very important things. We've been very fortunate to have those local teams and
[9:47] local emergency managers be very involved this summer with the activity that we've
[9:52] had
[9:54] And them having all of their community organizations prepared and
[10:00] basically ready to go when the disaster happened.
[10:04] So, that's been a very big blessing for our community, just being able to have
[10:10] that right there ready to go, and it's made our job much easier.
[10:14] So it's definitely been at the local level for sure this year.
[10:18] Pass it off to Grace here. She has some information about the
[10:22] Prepare Lancaster event.
[10:24] Good morning, commissioners. So recent-- Last Thursday, September 3rd, we held our
[10:30] third annual Prepare Lancaster event, and it was actually very much a success.
[10:36] We had a lot of different partners come this year, a lot more vehicles to show off.
[10:40] We even had a smoke trailer to identify those
[10:45] issues that can come up with fire. So students and parents were prepared to see
[10:50] what will actually happen. It was very much a success, and I'm looking forward to
[10:55] next year's event, hopefully making it bigger and more Lancaster-centered.
[11:07] Sarah's a professional of few words. She just keeps us in business.
[11:11] So again, thank you, commissioners. And final applause for residents.
[11:16] Get to know your local emergency managers and your first responders.
[11:19] Be familiar with them. Get involved. Participate in exercises.
[11:23] Most of our exercises are open events.
[11:25] We encourage participation from the citizens.
[11:27] This way, there's expectation management is met.
[11:31] They can know what they can expect, and they also become well-practiced and more
[11:35] comfortable in their ability to be resilient as families, communities, and the
[11:40] county as a whole.
[11:42] Okay. Thank you. Anyone else like to offer some comments?
[11:48] All right. Then we'll, as we usually do, get a picture with everybody.
[11:54] Come on.
[11:59] Two,
[12:12] three.
[12:18] Thank
[12:25] you.
[12:27] Thank you.
[12:27] Appreciate
[12:37] it.
[12:43] Okay. That takes us to item 6B, which is Resolution 59, the issuance of tax-exempt
[12:49] revenue bonds.
[12:52] Mr. Chairman, I'll move to adopt resolution number 59 of 2026, and that is
[12:57] approving in accordance with Section 147F of the Internal Revenue Code of
[13:03] 1986, as amended, an issuance of a bond by the Cumberland County
[13:08] Municipal Authority and declaring that it is desirable for the health, safety, and
[13:14] welfare of the people of Lancaster County for the Cumberland County Municipal
[13:18] Authority to undertake an issuance for the benefit of Penn State Health,
[13:24] as noted and stated in the written motion.
[13:27] Second.
[13:29] Okay. We're joined by Tim Horseman, who's an attorney with Eckert Seamans, who will
[13:34] just give us a brief overview like he did yesterday.
[13:39] Yes, I do.
[13:40] Morning, Tim. Good morning.
[13:41] Good morning, commissioners. So as we noted yesterday, Penn State Health is looking
[13:45] to issue through the Cumberland County Municipal Authority up to $230 million of
[13:51] tax-exempt bonds. The reason we're here, of course, in Lancaster County today is up
[13:56] to $21 million of those bond proceeds are proposed to be used in Lancaster County
[14:02] to undertake an electronic health record improvement project.
[14:06] So they're going to do a complete modernization of all their electronic health
[14:10] record systems throughout their entire footprint in the county, so including the
[14:14] hospital and the city, as well as all their outpatient and other offices here.
[14:19] As we indicated yesterday, this is just simply a revenue bond issuance by the
[14:24] Municipal Authority for the benefit of Penn State Health.
[14:27] It does not involve the county pledging any type of a security.
[14:31] It's purely an approval that's required by the tax code and by the Municipal
[14:35] Authorities Act. If you have any questions, I'm happy to take them at this time.
[14:40] Once again, thank you for that overview. Any comments or questions from the board?
[14:45] From the public? All right, we'll take a vote then.
[14:47] All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
[14:49] Aye.
[14:49] Aye.
[14:50] Any opposed? The motion carries.
[14:52] Thank you.
[14:53] Thank you.
[14:55] All right. Next up is item 6C. This is Resolution 60 for the purchase of
[15:00] agricultural conservation easements.
[15:03] Mr. Chairman, I move the adoption of resolution number 60 of 2026.
[15:08] This would be agreed for the County of Lancaster to enter into an agreement of sale
[15:12] for an ag conservation easement with the following property owner, Aaron S.
[15:16] Stoltzfus and Naomi S. Stoltzfus.
[15:19] The amount and term is $208,520.
[15:26] And this is for a farm consisting of 56.33 acres, 52.13
[15:32] of which is proposed for preservation, and this is in Colerain Township, Lancaster
[15:37] County.
[15:38] Second.
[15:40] We're joined by Matt Nepper, the director of the Agricultural Preserve Board.
[15:43] Good morning.
[15:44] Good morning, Matt.
[15:45] Yeah. So as noted, this is for the preservation of the Stoltzfus farm, which is 52
[15:49] acres in Colerain Township. This is going to be a 100% state-funded easement
[15:54] purchase. We anticipate approval by the state board in October.
[15:58] So there's an outside chance we could still preserve it this year.
[16:02] I wanted to note a couple of things that I mentioned yesterday.
[16:04] The first is that this is a 2017 application from the Stoltzfuses.
[16:08] So Commissioner Yoder, you asked about farms that we didn't preserve that were
[16:14] maybe ahead of the-- ranked higher than this farm.
[16:18] One of the upsides of having some higher ranked farms say, "No, thank you this
[16:23] year, maybe next year," is that we can move further down our ranking list and get
[16:26] to folks who've been waiting for a long time.
[16:27] In this case, pretty much 10 years they've been waiting to preserve this farm.
[16:32] And I'm so happy to be able to do that.
[16:33] Secondly, I want to note that, touched on the bargain sale yesterday, this is a
[16:37] significant savings to the county.
[16:39] We're preserving the farm for less than half of the value of preservation.
[16:44] Part of the reason for the high value in this case is that the farm is currently
[16:48] comprised of two tax parcels, two separate tax parcels, roughly 42 or 40 and 12
[16:53] acres that could be sold completely separate from each other right now.
[16:57] And after the farm is preserved, it will be one 52-acre farm that can't be
[17:01] subdivided in that way and can't be sold that way.
[17:04] So that's a significant value that's given up by the farmer to preserve the farm
[17:07] all in one chunk like that. So I want to recognize him for that as well as
[17:12] accepting the bargain sale.
[17:16] As noted yesterday, I think my eyes are working a little better, I can read my
[17:20] page. But our stats don't include this farm in our total number of preserved farms
[17:25] because that will come later this year.
[17:27] But as of now, there are 1,687 farms preserved in Lancaster County on
[17:31] 126,123 acres, and that's between the Ag Preserve Board and Lancaster Farmland
[17:37] Trust.
[17:39] Thank you for that. Any comments, questions from the board?
[17:43] No. Just thanks for the background information.
[17:45] It's good to have that context, especially you have a farm who's been waiting, the
[17:51] owner's been waiting almost 10 years to preserve it.
[17:53] So that speaks highly of the willingness in Lancaster County of family
[17:59] farmers to
[18:01] preserve no matter how long it takes.
[18:04] So we appreciate that we have people who are willing to do that and also willing to
[18:09] offer a significant bargain sale, which saves money and allows us to preserve more
[18:14] farmland.
[18:14] That's right.
[18:17] Anything from anyone else?
[18:20] Okay, then we'll take a vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
[18:24] Aye.
[18:24] Aye.
[18:24] Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.
[18:27] Thank you. Thanks, Matt.
[18:30] All right, item 6D is a collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME.
[18:35] Do we have a motion?
[18:36] Yes, Mr. Chairman. I move to approve the collective bargaining agreement between
[18:41] Lancaster County and AFSCME District Council 89, Local
[18:46] 1738 for a three-year period from January 1st,
[18:52] 2026 through December 31st, 2028, in accordance with the terms and conditions of
[18:57] the agreement.
[18:58] Second.
[19:00] Okay. We're joined this morning by Christina Pedigvee, our HR director, and our
[19:03] solicitor, Jacki Ferson.
[19:05] Yes. Good morning, commissioners. Thank you very much.
[19:08] I'm just seeking for your support in finalizing the submitted collective bargaining
[19:14] agreement that was negotiated by designated county and AFSCME
[19:20] staff. So thank you very much.
[19:24] Thank you. Any comments, questions from the board?
[19:27] Anything from the public?
[19:29] All right, then we'll take a vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
[19:32] Aye.
[19:33] Aye.
[19:33] Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.
[19:35] Thank you.
[19:38] And item 6D is a renewal agreement with CDWG through the IT department.
[19:45] Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that it be agreed upon for the County of Lancaster
[19:49] acting on behalf of Information Technology to approve the following of renewal
[19:53] agreement with CDWG. The purpose is to approve the annual renewal for the
[19:58] hardware licensing and support of the county's Rubrik backup service used to create
[20:04] backups of county servers. The amount and term is
[20:07] $166,936.95 for a one-year period from September
[20:12] 21, 2026 through September 20, 2027.
[20:16] The funding is through the information technology budget.
[20:21] Second.
[20:22] Okay. We're joined by Ian Ralph, the technical services manager for IT department.
[20:27] Good morning.
[20:28] Good morning. Good morning, commissioners.
[20:29] Yeah, so as you said, this is a renewal for licensing and maintenance support for
[20:34] our Rubrik backup service. That is what we use to back up all of our county data on
[20:38] all of our servers.
[20:42] Thank you. Any comments, questions from the board?
[20:44] Anything from the public on this?
[20:47] All right. We'll take a vote then. All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
[20:50] Aye.
[20:50] Aye.
[20:50] Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.
[20:53] Thank you.
[20:55] It takes us to a business from guests who would like to address the board.
[20:58] Please come on up.
[21:01] Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.
[21:03] So moved.
[21:04] Second.
[21:05] All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
[21:06] Aye.
[21:07] Aye.
[21:07] Any opposed? The motion carries. We're adjourned.
[21:09] Thanks, everyone.
[21:10] Thank you.