2009 News
August 13, 2009
An Opening – And the End of an Era
Commissioners Acknowledge Departure of Chief Operating Officer David Sanko during Opening Ceremonies of 61st Annual Middletown Grange Fair
During a wide-ranging, three-hour business meeting that included the approval of 56 contracts for 22 departments and the tabling of one resolution item, the Board of Bucks County Commissioners also acknowledged the departure of county Chief Operating/Managing Director Officer David M. Sanko. The meeting doubled as the official opening of the 61st Annual Middletown Grange Fair No. 684 in Wrightstown, PA.
Since joining the county in January, 2005, Mr. Sanko teamed with Finance Director Brian Hessenthaler to help oversee three consecutive years with no county tax increase (2007-09 budgets) and a significant increase in the county’s general (or rainy day) fund balance. He also shepherded ongoing improvements in the county’s Emergency Management structure, contributed to the success of a 10-year, $87 million Open Space Referendum during November, 2007, and spearheaded a highly successful “Bucks Votes” education campaign prior to the November, 2006 General Election. He announced plans to take a job in the private sector.
“Government can’t be all things to all people at all times,” Mr. Sanko said during his bi-monthly report, which has been a staple of Commissioners’ business meetings for the last five years. Mr. Sanko praised the county management team and entire 2,600 employee county workforce and stressed his commitment to “fiscal sanity” and being an advocate for taxpayers. “At the end of the day, when you are able to provide more services for people and it doesn’t cost more to do it, that’s a good day for the taxpayers,” he noted.
Both Commissioner Chairman Charles H. Martin and Vice Chairman James F. Cawley, Esq. expressed deep gratitude for Mr. Sanko’s service. “Bucks County is the envy of almost every county in Pennsylvania,” Chairman Martin said of Mr. Sanko’s tenure as a county financial steward. Commissioner Cawley praised Mr. Sanko for his ability to leave Bucks County government “much better than he found it. In conducting the business of county government, he was above reproach.”
Mr. Sanko’s announcement followed a full slate of business that included the preservation of the 130th and 131st farms in the county’s ongoing Agricultural Land Preservation program – the 54-acre Mease Farm in Springfield Township and the 78-acre Rice Farm in Bedminster Township. Both conservation easements were split 50-50 with county and state funding, and they bring the total number of farms preserved since 1990 to 131 farms totaling 11,324 acres. The Rice farm is a working farm that produces corn, wheat, soybeans and hay. County Agricultural Preservation Director Rich Harvey also presented his program’s 2008 Annual Report to the Commissioners’ Board.
Other approved resolutions included a $3.44 million request to the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole for funding of 54 county Probation Officer salaries, a mutual aid agreement among the five southeastern Pennsylvania counties (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia) within the Southeast Pennsylvania Regional Task Force, a $372,432 amendment with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to provide supplemental funds to support pandemic (H1N1) response, a $1.49 million, three-year contract to provide insurance coverage to county employees, and seven park/conservation easements with the Bucks County Parks Preservation Foundation.
Commissioner Ellis-Marseglia voted no on five separate items and abstained on another two, disagreeing with a $10,425 contract renewal of the county’s annual flood insurance policy, hospital payments for 37 clients for inpatient services at Grand View and Lower Bucks Hospitals, and the lease of 25 additional Danaher 1242 voting machines needed for the special State Senate election to be held on Sept. 29, 2009 for the 24th Senatorial District. (Click here to view the letter from the Commissioners to Secretary Cortés regarding the special election.)
The meeting also included the annual crowning of the 2009 Grange Fair Queen, Caitlyn Beck, the presentation of farm produce baskets to the Commissioners by Penn State Cooperative Extension Agriculture Director Mike Fournier, and the recognition of five state 4-H competition champions as part of a “4-H Youth Leadership Day” proclamation.
In light of state funding cuts to the Grange Fair, which totaled $40,000 this year, Commissioner Cawley motioned for a $2,500 “Other Civics” donation to the fair. “They have treated us as commissioners with courtesy and respect. This is our way of paying back that kindness.”
For a full audio account of the meeting and a copy of the business agenda, please visit www.BucksCounty.org. The next meeting of the Bucks County Commissioners will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 2 at the Warminster Fire Department, Station 90, 300 Madison Ave., Warminster.
