(8/2019) Adams County residents going to the county Finance or Controllers offices should now go to the first floor of the historic courthouse previously occupied by the District Attorney. Both departments had been located on the "new" 40-year-old courthouse second floor. The Adams County Building & Maintenance staff is to be commended for their work freshening up the work space by moving walls, painting, and installing carpeting and ceiling tiles. This kept costs down with only HVAC contracted out. Randy said that Building & Maintenance will now turn their attention to the second floor as their work load permits where the county solicitor office will re-locate. When that is completed the Public Defender will be moving to the historic courthouse to allow expansion of the Sheriff's Office.

In significant news from Harrisburg that impacts Adams County financially, the status of voter reform legislation and paying for the new mandated voting machines has been bouncing around like one of those crazy balls. Because I am on the County Commissioners Association Board of Directors, I can tell you that organization has been lobbying hard for reasonable state reimbursement for the new machines. This process to date has been like a yoyo. At first the state was only going to reimburse counties 10%. The counties screamed bloody murder, lobbied their legislators and the Governor's office, and that went up to 50%; but with other voter reform attachments that were not agreeable to both parties.

There was much anticipation regarding the Senate Bill 48 reform package that included reimbursement, and the Governor vetoed that package because of the attached reforms and things went back to square one. The Governor has countered announcing he intends to support taking a bond for $90M to reimburse counties for 60% of the cost without the reform attachments; but there may be some legislative push back on that plan. Voting machines for Adams County are in the ball park of $500,000, so 60% combined with federal reimbursement of 10%, could amount to $350,000 reimbursement for the county - if it ever gets through the Governor and the legislative process. Regardless of the reimbursement amount, voters will see the new machines during the upcoming November 5 General Election so both poll workers and residents can become familiar with them prior to the next Presidential Election that normally has a much larger voter turnout.

We are all aware that there is an opioid epidemic in our communities resulting in a human and financial toll. The Mercy House at St Francis on High St. is currently vacant and was used as a residence for the church nuns. During the Battle of Gettysburg they provided care for wounded soldiers. There is some irony in the fact the residence will again be used to provide care to the community. The Mercy House Recovery Center, envisioned by this Board of Commissioners, in partnership with our York/Adams MHIDD joinder, is moving ahead full steam. The county team has finished up the last of the grant applications and are still waiting for some hopefully good news from additional funding sources.

Just to recap, the Mercy House will be a facilitator for substance recovery services in the county. It will be a drop in center during the day and will also contain five apartments for men as they work through their recovery process. Over the past year we have applied for funds from eight government and philanthropic organizations. We have been awarded $11,500 from the Adams County Bar Association, $55,000 from the Adams County Community Foundation, and $762,000 from Health Choices for a total of $828,500. While we have not heard back from five organizations, we are optimistic that they are looking favorably on this project.

So far the initial support has been amazing and we look forward to more philanthropic and community investment into this project. With the last of the grants written, staff are turning their focus to the bidding process and getting the project ready for construction work. Once a contractor is approved, we will keep the community updated as the project progresses. Our hope is to have the project ready for move-in during the first quarter of 2020; but historic renovation may impact the time line. This facility will remain county owned. While providing recovery and counseling services, renovation will largely be funded by grants and the county will collect rent from the RASE Project who will run the center. Blending this service and business model is an efficient method to provide service and renovate a historic property.

Land preservation is an important issue to many Adams County residents. After six years of lobbying support throughout the agricultural community, HB 370 has finally passed! What does that mean for Adams County? Adams County’s Farmland Preservation Program proposed a change to the State Farmland Preservation Program to allow for a one-time subdivision of either an existing residential structure or the construction of an additional residence for the landowner, immediate family member or employees.

The motivation for such a bill came from the necessity to allow the next generation to continue to work on the farm, but own their residence outright and not under the property ownership of the farm. The Bill also gives permission to the agricultural conservation easement landowner to relinquish and extinguish the right of construction of the additional residence if they wanted to. This current Bill was introduced by Representative Klunk in 2017 and co-sponsored by local Representative Dan Moul. A shout out to our conservation staff for their support and facilitation of this bill.