The new Board convened yesterday for their first gathering as a Board and spent most of the session reviewing a list of major projects. The list has nothing new and is filled with all the major initiatives the County has been pursuing for some time. It served to bring the two new Commissioners up to speed. Let me not that is no need to prioritize this list because these projects are spread over many different departments. Each department has already prioritized its projects and these tend to be the highest priority projects for each department.
Commissioners oversee the County and provide guidance on projects, decide which ones go forward and expend the funds for the projects. They do not manage these efforts, department heads do in coordination with Bill Dennis the County Administrator. For example the financial management software project is being done through the Controllers Office, the Community Corrections Center is a project of the Prison Board, the new 911/EMA communications system is their effort, the tower for cell phones at the North Campus is being negotiated by the Solicitor's Office, etc.
Sitting through these meetings for a long time gives a sense of the status of each project as matters involving them come before the Board. This is the role of the Board of Commissioners. They shouldn't be telling Sandy Graffius, for example, that her project is subservient to another. The other projects don't impact on hers and vice versa (most of the time). The County is big enough to simultaneously perform many tasks at once. It does so every day.
In other business Lisa Siciliano came before the Board with an emergency request for immediate action on a situation with the Visitation Center. This is an operation which provides divorced/separated/estranged parents with a safe environment for transferring their children for visitations. It seems the rent and other expenses haven't been paid for several months and eviction proceedings are commencing.
After some discussion it turned out this wasn't a dire emergency needing immediate attention and will be voted on Thursday.
A crime fighting grant of federal funds was also discussed. This annual grant is split with Reading and the Commissioners need to decide how to split the money with the city. In the past the split has been 80-20 though it presently is 85-15. One of the projects it has funded is the camera system installed by Mayor McMahon. I remain doubtful about having video cameras scattered around public areas as a privacy issue but the argument is that they are effective. Police states always are effective at fighting crime but that doesn't make them proper or appropriate. As much as I like and support the Mayor sometimes this City can be very heavy handed.