2007 News

April 4 , 2007

Bucks County Commissioners Visit Historic Bristol Borough Municipal Building
Preservation of County’s 102nd Farm, Public Works and Corrections Contracts Highlight Spirited Bi-monthly Meeting

As the Board of Bucks County Commissioners began their spring/summer tour of the county today, leaving the familiar confines of the courthouse community room, they ventured to the third-oldest town in Pennsylvania and one-time Bucks County seat, Bristol Borough. The borough, founded in 1681, served as an extremely gracious host.

Praising the magnificently renovated Bristol Borough municipal building council room as a wonderful meeting venue, Chairman Charles H. Martin summed up the rejuvenated tone of board’s bi-monthly meeting by saying, “At first, I didn’t recognize this building. The borough has done a magnificent job.”

“Bristol Borough was the first county seat, with court being held in Bristol from 1705 to 1725,” West Ward Councilwoman Robyn Trunell told Martin, commissioner colleagues James F. Cawley, Esq. and Sandra A. Miller, and county Chief Operating Officer David M. Sanko. “Our borough hall was built in 1927. Council thanks the commissioners for helping renovate borough hall by using (Community Development Block Grant) funds. Also through your financial assistance, you helped the borough install walking path lighting throughout the town.”
 

As Chairman Martin presided over the unanimous approval of contracts for 13 county departments inside the state-of-the-art meeting room, the county’s Agricultural Land Preservation and Open Space programs continued to gather momentum.

The commissioners approved $267,831 as the county’s portion of a 66.96-acre conservation easement to preserve the Haring Farm on Blooming Glen Rd. in Hilltown Twp. According to county Agricultural Land Preservation Director Rich Harvey, the Haring Farm is the 102nd preserved by the commissioners since 1989, lifting the total preserved acreage to 9,381. The county remains on track to achieve its goal of 10,000 preserved acres later this year.

“This is next to a farm that we are currently considering (for preservation in 2007),” Harvey told the commissioners. “This is a nice farm that has been in the Haring family for a long time. It has good soils, and is a working farm, including corn and hay.”

The commissioners also approved a pair of Natural Areas Program grants under the Open Space umbrella, including a 20-acre portion of the Breitinger property in Chalfont Borough. The other acquisition involved a 2.199-acre parcel of the Brooks property in Plumstead Twp.

“This is a great opportunity,” Open Space Coordinator Kris Kern told the commissioners. “Twenty acres in a borough are hard to come by.”

Following a re-bid process for construction of the 9-1-1 addition to the Emergency Operations Center in Ivyland, the commissioners approved more than $5 million of general, mechanical, fire protection and site work contracts for the Public Works Department. The total cost of the 9-1-1 work will be approximately $1 million lower than the initial bid figures, which were re-bid following scrutiny by the commissioners.

Director of Corrections Harris Gubernick discussed a pair of contracts with Honeywell Building Solutions to expand the security and digital video housing control at the Bucks County Corrections Facility. One of the contracts will address the temporary housing unit that is currently under construction.

During his bi-weekly COO report, Sanko delivered several layers of good news from Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, including a $108,000 federal Homeless Assistance Grant, a $130,000 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Growing Greener II grant to update county trails and greenway planning, and a $186,000 state grant for the West Nile Virus mosquito surveillance program.

Sanko also trumpeted a two-year Correctional health care accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. That designation was received for the county’s compliance with NCCHC standards.

At the start of the meeting, the commissioners issued a proclamation to seven members of the Community Development Advisory Board, including Chairman John Burke. The proclamation designated April 9-15 as “Community Development Block Grant Week.”

“The Community Development Advisory Board has been a long-standing board of the county,” Burke said. “The advisory board members care deeply about the program and implementing the objective of the county each year.”

Commissioner Martin thanked the attending board members, in particular those who serve as designated “citizen members.”

Pictured from left to right: Commissioner James Cawley, Commissioner Chairman Charles Martin, Barrbara Abbot, Jane Ward, Bob Schram, Commissioner Sandra Miller, John Burke, Kathy Horwatt, Maureen Scanlin and James Dillion (Community and Business Board Members).