2010 News

August 4, 2010

Commissioners Meet at Warminster’s Ben Wilson Senior Center, Proclaim September 2010 “Senior Center Month”

Bucks County is home to 13 uniquely vibrant senior community centers, which range from Bensalem to Ottsville. Last year, a total of 6,798 people received 149,560 meals at senior community centers throughout the county. During its August 3 bi-monthly business meeting, the Board of Bucks County Commissioners visited Warminster’s Ben Wilson Senior Center to recognize the “creativity, energy, vitality and commitment” of the county’s older residents. As seniors dined and even played Wii electronic games in the background, Commissioners Charles H. Martin, chairman, Jim Cawley and Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia proclaimed September as “Senior Center Month” throughout the county. The proclamation was presented to Claire Kreuter of the Ben Wilson Senior Center, along with county Area Agency on Aging (AAA) Director Brian Duke and AAA Administrative Director Bill McTigue.

“Senior community centers have undertaken strategic planning for the future,” Chairman Martin read to the assemblage. “We recognize the efforts of the senior community centers throughout Bucks County in maintaining the quality of life older Bucks Countians deserve.”

In a rare twist, the meeting was conducted on a Tuesday rather than its normal Wednesday. Commissioner Marseglia thanked her colleagues for making an adjustment in the schedule in order to help her with a scheduling conflict. Following the senior proclamation, the board approved 44 contract resolutions for 18 county departments, all but four of them by a unanimous 3-0 vote. Those items included a $401,000 contract to elevate three homes on Main St. in Hulmeville as part of the Neshaminy Creek Watershed Plan, a $172,508 grant award for the District Attorney’s office through the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency, a $1.076 million grant renewal to provide special supplemental nutrition for women, infants and children through the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and a $429,368 contract with Pro Com Roofing Corp. of Warrington to replace the roof of the Youth Center. The roof replacement was the lowest of 10 bids received by the county Purchasing department.

Commissioner Cawley asked several questions about a $124,727, one-year contract for Bucks County’s portion of the Southeastern PA Counties Cooperation Purchasing Board bid for Xerographic paper, including the desire to reach out to Philadelphia County to fold it into the process. Philadelphia’s inclusion and “purchasing volume” would help Bucks County taxpayers receive a greater discount through the cooperative process.

Commissioner Marseglia voted against four contracts, including an Emergency Management agreement involving the Southeast Pennsylvania Regional Task Force and three annual flood insurance renewals for county buildings totaling $28,954.

The personnel list included the promotion of AAA Volunteer Resources Coordinator Joanne Kozak to Adult Block Grant Finance Administrator, as well as the promotion of Acting Director of Finance and Administration David Boscola to Director of Finance and Administration.

During his chief operating officer’s report, Brian Hessenthaler mentioned the first annual Southeast Pennsylvania Regional Task Force Public Information Officers Summit, which will take place on Wednesday, August 17 at the Newtown campus of Bucks County Community College. It will focus on crisis communication tactics. Mr. Hessenthaler also noted that the county’s 2011 budget process commenced this week, with packets being sent to county departments.

Chairman Martin’s miscellaneous remarks included reference to a newspaper article about a 1,200-space parking garage currently in the bid process near Atlantic City, NJ. Those bids are in the $30 million range, as opposed to the $20 million price tag on Bucks County’s just-completed Judicial Complex Parking Garage. For an audio account of the August 3 meeting, please visit the home page of the official county website, www.BucksCounty.org.