BELLEFONTE — In their final meeting of the year, the Centre County Commissioners wrapped up business as usual, tackling a series of contracts and grant-related motions.

With unanimous approval on each, the commissioners acted on over a dozen motions impacting the county’s human services, risk management and criminal justice.

Human Services

On Dec. 17, the commissioners acted on four human services-related motions, approving a contract with Easter Seals Western & Central PA, renewing a contract with Service Access Management and authorizing the submission of two competitive grant applications for senior centers in the county.

Human Services Administrator Julia Sprinkle presented the commissioners with the contract with Easter Seals Western & Central PA for childcare services, which are provided on behalf of Children and Youth Services (CYS).

“This is to add an additional daycare/childcare setting to the compliment CYS has,” said Sprinkle.

The contract total is $10,000, funded 80 percent by the state and 20 percent by the county for the period of July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

Commissioner Amber Concepcion noted that Easter Seals specializes in care for children with disabilities.

“I’ve attended a number of their events in the past nine years. (They’re a) good group of people,” Commissioner Mark Higgins said in support.

The second item brought before the commissioners was a contract renewal with Service Access Management, Inc., a human services consulting firm, to provide independent consultation and fiscal management services for the Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention & Drug and Alcohol (MH/ID/EA/D&A) super-department, as well as the county’s Aging and Transportation Departments.

MH/ID/EA/D&A Administrator Catherine Arbogast introduced the three-year contract, which will run from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2027. The agreement with Service Access & Management, Inc., which provides the county a senior accountant, an accounting manager, three accountants and two fiscal technicians, totals $2,526,061 or roughly $800,000 per year.

The super-department was the first office to partner with SAM, Inc., a firm that collaborates with nearly every county in Pennsylvania and a significant number of counties in New Jersey. The decision to outsource the department’s financial administration followed the simultaneous retirement of its administrator and fiscal officer. Facing challenges in hiring a fiscal officer at its offered salary, the department opted to contract out the work.

“It was felt doing so through a provider agency would result in greater success in recruitment and in a quality staff that could be maintained,” said Arbogast.

SAM processes invoices, prepares entries for all incoming departments, assists county staff in planning allocations for individual providers, tracks expenditures against available funds and prepares forecasting and required reports. They also handle budgeting for each department, file reports after county review and approval and hold monthly meetings with each department to review income and expenditures.

The agreement includes a two percent increase in compensation for the company from their previous contract.

“I think we’ve got a great relationship with SAM — an open dialogue — and I recommend that we continue working with them at this time,” Arbogast said.

Commissioner Higgins echoed Arbogast, adding, “It seems like it’s a system that’s working out, and it seems that it’s financially in our favor to have this as a consulting service rather than in-house.

Quentin Burchfield, director of the Department of Aging, presented two competitive grant applications for the Bellefonte and Philipsburg Senior Centers. The county is requesting $46,408 to fund the purchase of new furnishings for the Bellefonte senior center and $36,404 for Philipsburg to replace the building’s outdated HVAC system.

Burchfield explained that, “Competitive grants are for renovations, equipment and programming that is geared towards increasing or maintaining participation in the senior centers.”

“Obviously we would urge our legislature, legislators and governor to support these two competitive grants,” said Higgins. “HVAC is incredibly important around here for most of the year, and I’ve been in the Bellefonte Senior Center a number of times and new furnishings would be very appreciated.”

Risk Management

Krista Davis, chief risk officer and director of workplace operations for the Department of Risk Management, guided the commissioners through four risk management action items on Tuesday’s agenda.

The first was approval of a contract with Americhem, a family-owned wholesale distributor of facility cleaning supplies. The agreement to provide maintenance to various cleaning machines, which runs Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2025, is not to exceed $3,079, based on Americhem’s estimated costs.

According to Davis, the department’s cleaning equipment, which includes items like i-Mops, MotoScrubbers and floor burnishers, frequently break down, so “Americhem has offered a program we would like to enter in with them for preventative maintenance,” she said.

As part of the agreement, an Americhem representative will visit twice throughout the year to service the equipment to ensure it runs properly.

Davis also addressed the renewal of a contract with PMA Companies, a subsidiary of the Old Republic Insurance Group, to provide the County’s Workers Compensation insurance policy. The policy, which is valid Jan. 1, 2025, to Jan. 1, 2026, totals $155,601, a 2.2 percent increase, “which is fantastic in this market,” said Davis.

With an abnormally low experience rating modification, which is an important factor used to adjust workers’ compensation premiums, the county secured a very low rate from PMA Companies.

“We spent a lot of time on this Krista, which is another reason why the $155,000 total is also a pretty low number for an organization of our size that does as many things as we do,” Higgins noted.

As part of the agreement, the commissioners were required to sign a Program Agreement Endorsement (PAE). This key document accompanies the renewal, affirming the county’s commitment to the large deductible program, verifying the existence of a letter of credit from the bank and restating the policy’s terms and implications.

Additionally, Davis presented a contract renewal with Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America to provide the county’s supplemental crime policy from Jan. 1, 2025, to Jan. 1, 2026.

According to Davis, the cost remains unchanged from 2024, totaling $2,463.

Criminal Justice

Centre County Correctional Facility Warden Glenn Irwin, Sheriff Bryan Sampsel, Director of Criminal Justice Planning Karri Hull and Facilities Superintendent Johnathan McClure each spoke Tuesday on behalf of criminal justice related action items up for consideration.

Warden Glenn Irwin presented for consideration a contract renewal with the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Institute regarding the Pennsylvania Statewide Automated Victims Identification and Information Network (PA SAVIN).

PA SAVIN allows victims of crime to be notified by phone or email when an offender is released, transferred or has escaped. The program also provides victims an opportunity to share their concerns about the offender’s release, helping decision-makers understand safety concerns for the victims and their families. Additionally, it allows victims to request specific conditions for the offender’s release.

Formerly known as VINELink, Centre County was one of the first enrolled in the victim notification program.

To register, visit www.pa.gov/services/pcv/register-for-offender-release-notifications.html.

Centre County Sheriff Bryan Sampsel presented a contract for consideration with Axon Enterprise, Inc. to purchase body cameras, tasers and their associated hardware and licenses.

The agreement includes the purchase of 21 body cameras with 30 licenses, along with 26 tasers and 34 taser licenses. The cost for the body cameras, including associated hardware and licenses, totals $135,262.28, while the tasers and their licenses amount to $110,648.70. The combined contract total is $245,910.98, covering the period from Feb. 1, 2025, to Feb. 1, 2029.

Sampsel noted that the county’s current contract with Axon expires in February. However, by signing a new agreement before the end of the year, the county can secure the current rate and save $2,600.

“The equipment wears out, there are licenses involved and these items are to both protect our deputies and the citizens of Centre County,” said Higgins, acknowledging the value of the agreement.

Karri Hull, director of criminal justice planning, presented for consideration a project modification request for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime (PCC) and Delinquency Indigent Defense Grant.

According to Hull, it is necessary to modify the current proposed training and travel section of the grant agreement due to a change in the selected training required for the Public Defender’s Office. Because the office did not meet certain PCC requirements, the group had to select a different training, which came with slight changes in travel related costs. The modification is requesting changes to the costs associated for the training registration, airfare, lodging and subsistence

The director noted that the new training came in only slightly over budget, and that the extra funds were able to be acquired from another line item.

Finally, Johnathan McClure, Centre County’s facilities superintendent, brought forward a contract addendum to an agreement with Hoffman Leakey Architects, LLC, to provide additional design services for electrical upgrades at the Sheriff’s Office,

“We currently have a project that’s being designed to renovate the second floor, and with that we discovered that the electrical service at the building is inadequate to handle the new load that is required,” said McClure.

Higgins, who was aware of the situation, said the addendum is related to HVAC upgrades as the current equipment dates to the early 1970s.

The contract addendum totals $10,250.