energy savings, re-addressing, state cuts (again), interviews, renovations...and telepathy:)?

We had our meeting with Johnson Controls at the end of last week about the guaranteed energy savings audit. Two binders full of information and of course our committee had many questions which we hope to have worked through by the end of this week. I know I have probably said it before but guaranteeing a loan paid for by the saving of energy gets complex, especially with the diversity of all seven buildings being included into the project. Regardless, we need to get this hammered out and in motion.

Re-addressing will be hitting the news as we have started to deliver addresses in the first region. We did try every avenue of media to get the word out and even spent nights making phone calls to hundreds of residents. Yet somehow there are still people that are not aware of it which make things more difficult. I am sure we will work through it. The second region is being approved by the post office and we hope to get started with that as soon as we get the go ahead.

We did recieve more cuts in human services as well last week. Our legislators and governor really need to get it together down there. I found it interesting last week, when I was at the state capital, in the main rotunda, that it was so quiet with so few people you could have probably heard a pin drop. There were more people in the Bradford County Courthouse than what I had seen in Harrisburg last week. This is no joke, you could have parked closer to the capital building than you could the courthouse in Towanda! I am amazed everytime I go there with one thing or another.

Today we finished up our first round of interviews for the public safety director position. I am very happy with the candidates.
We are also moving forward with both the library restroom renovations as well as the new building for the District Judge Clark. Construction bids for the library will be awarded Thursday. Some initial work has started and engineering will begin for the district judge building hopefully next week.

On the lighter side of things John Sullivan was awfully sharp today, so sharp that Doug and I thought he may possess some sort of telepathic abilities. He was literally finishing peoples thoughts and cracking jokes at lightning speed. He and Doug, were at one point today, in complete sync with each other. In fact those two have been ganging up on me the last few weeks and I have been the source of their laughter. I must admit I try hard not to be on the recieving end of the inner-office sarcastic humor, I would much rather dish it out...LOL.

Here is a link to a story about the potter county presentation I did last week.
http://today.pottercountypa.net/?p=4205

Coudersport Tonight, Harrisburg Tomorrow

I just returned home from Coudersport in Potter County. I was asked to do a presentation on our experiences thus far regarding the natural gas industry. They had a nice turnout and great discussion, it was alot of fun with great residents and commissioners.
It's a busy week with going to potter county tonight and a trip to Harrisburg for tomorrow. Then Thursday we have our regular commissioners meeting along with a meeting with Fortuna Energy, and a meeting with Johnson Controls to present their energy audit for Bradford County to our energy committee. Friday we have a natural gas advisory committee meeting in which two college professors are presenting the different studies they are doing in relation to the gas industry.

Budget Passed...

The Bradford County budget passed today $55,848,995. There was no fanfare as the meeting only garnered about five visitors. That included press and county employees, but no one from the public attended. A few changes to the budget occurred over the last few weeks to bring the number down from over $56,000,000. Namely the airport loan that we decided against this year. There was some added expense to the budget with some employee reclassification's. We also added to part time nurse positions at the jail which will eliminate the "not so good" current practice of corrections officers distributing prescription medication. Other than that things have been tense as the year was wrapping up with the budget and other situations that are too much to get into tonight.

Best Wishes and Merry Christmas!

A Nice Editorial in the Daily Review....

"Benefit of Sound County Leadership now is Paying Off"

http://thedailyreview.com/opinion/benefit-of-sound-county-leadership-now-is-paying-off-1.464603

The Budget is Out!

Read about the budget in my report to the taxpayers...

2010 Chairman's Report to the Taxpayers

2010 Proposed Budget

Budgeting away.......

Right now I am sitting at the courthouse, waiting for Joan (fiscal director) to revise the changes to the budget we came up with late this afternoon. One more time over the budget that is due out tomorrow, there are always last minute issues. I have been working on the State of the County report. Michelle has been working on the newsletter which is also due out tomorrow. We will have to proof and rework things.

It is an awfully quiet building after hours. You get to look around a little bit at things you don't even notice during the day while its busy here. This courthouse is a wonderful and beautiful building.

Anyway.....tomorrow is going to be busy. At 8AM we have a gas committee meeting. Then we have a commissioners meeting at 10AM, a 911 readdressing meeting at 11 and a meeting with the Manor at 1:30 meanwhile the newsletter and the state of the county are due our with the budget, so it will be a busy day here.

Buildings and Things

Today we had an eventful meeting as we voted to purchase a building to house District Judge Tim Clark and we officially awarded $65,000 worth of tourism grants to groups across the county. We bought the building for $140,000 and we will have to do a major remodel over the course of the next year. We will be selling the old school building in South Towanda and vacating the building DJ Clark and Penn State Extension are currently in on Fourth St.

I also attended a meeting for Penn State with our Human Services Director Bill Blevins to inform administrators from university on gas drilling and how it is affecting our county. We didn't get to stay long as I had to get back to courthouse for a meeting with Johnson Controls regarding the guaranteed energy savings project we are engaged in. The final guaranteed numbers for the project will be submitted in mid December.

I will be reviewing a rough draft of the 2010 budget over the weekend and beginning of next week.