Funding for Millbrook Marsh Nature Center improvements, a consultant for a regional fire protection program model, Whitehall Road Regional Park additions and new staff positions are among some of the preliminary proposals municipalities will consider for the 2020 Centre Region Council of Governments budget.
At Monday night’s General Forum meeting, COG Executive Director Jim Steff provided an overview of ‘major ticket’ proposals that are included in the 2020 Program Plan, a 263-page document which lays out the current status, priorities and tentative proposals for each COG agency for the coming year. The Program Plan serves as a starting point in the budget process and to gauge interested and feedback from the six municipalities on preliminary proposals. Each municipality will discuss at local meetings and provide feedback and it will be discussed at multiple General Forum and committee meetings before a budget is ultimately adopted in December
The plan asks participating municipalities to consider a combined contribution of $200,000 over the next two years to help with funding for the expansion of the Spring Creek Education Building at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center. Expected to begin in 2021, the expansion will more than double the square footage of the existing building, providing in-demand space for programs and community uses. A new welcome pavilion also will be constructed as part of the project.
Steff said the current space is too small for many events, with room for only 50 people per floor. The COG contribution would be about 10 percent of the project’s approximately $2 million budget and could also be used as the local match for any state or federal grants the center receives. So far Centre Region Parks and Recreation has received about $700,000 in community contributions for the project, Steff said, and the COG contribution would show municipal leaders support the idea.
‘There’s been a significant community investment in this project and I think this would demonstrate the public officials are behind it also,’ Steff said.
Regional Fire Protection
The future of firefighting services in the Centre Region has been under scrutiny for several years, with analysis of local and statewide trends finding that the almost entirely volunteer-based model will be increasingly problematic into the future. While it is generally thought that region eventually will need to move toward some form of paid fire protection to meet the area’s growth, what that model will look like is not yet known.
Under consideration for 2020 is budgeting for the hiring of a consulting firm to prepare that model for future services. The estimated consulting cost is not yet available, but an already established working group has issued a request for proposals and is expected to present a scope of work at the General Forum’s Aug. 26 meeting.
Steff said the Centre Region is growing fast in both population and new construction, with about $1 billion in new buildings added in the past four years. That growth is expected to continue on pace for at least the next five years. At the same time, calls for service are steadily growing, now at about 1,300 per year, while the number volunteer firefighters has declined. Alpha Fire Company currently has about 100 active volunteer firefighters and fire police.
Patton Township Supervisor Elliot Abrams asked if a consultant would just be providing a ‘cookie-cutter’ plan that has already been implemented in other communities and if the model could be developed by COG professional staff under the direction of Fire Director Steve Bair.
‘This is a multi-million dollar decision and it might be good to bring somebody in from the outside so there’s not a sense that this is something Jim Steff or Steve Bair or Elliot Abrams wants to do but that we went through an open, transparent process where we heard from various stakeholder groups and this is the consensus of where we should go in the future. I think that has value’ Steff said.
‘I do think we’re blessed here that we have very knowledgeable people. The question is, will what those knowledgeable people have to say be viewed as legitimate by people who don’t happen to agree with the outcome?’
Regional Parks
The long-delayed first phase of Whitehall Road Regional Park is still two years away from completion, but municipalities are asked to consider a few allocations not included the park’s construction budget.
One of those is $45,000 for an in-ground irrigation system to water the parks four planned ball fields. It would be cheaper to add it during construction and less expensive than other methods, Steff said.
‘If we do it now it will be less expensive than if we do it later,’ Steff said. ‘And having an in-ground system uses less labor than mobile irrigation systems when you have to have staff move the hoses and sprinkler heads around.’
Also under consideration for either 2020 or 2021 is a storage building at the park at a cost of $75,000.
A proposed new parks caretaker could be hired in the second quarter of 2020 to eventually be assigned to Whitehall. The caretaker position is in charge of general maintenance and landscaping. Hiring a new caretaker in 2020 — with a total salary and benefits compensation of about $47,000 for the initial nine-month period — would allow him or her to be trained by senior staff before the new park opens.
“So when we do open Whitehall Road in 2021 we have a trained person who is familiar with how to operate our equipment, our safety procedures and maintenance standards,’ Steff said.
Steff’s presentation also noted that in a tight labor market, long-term seasonal staff are difficult to recruit.
The Program Plan additionally proposes $15,000 for a new outfield fence at Hess Softball Complex. The existing fence is ‘curling up,’ which presents safety issues, Steff said.
Facilities Coordinator
If approved, a proposed new facilities coordinator would be hired mid-way through the year to help manage COG’s $30 million in physical assets. For six months in 2020, estimated total compensation would be about $45,000, with the expectation that it will become a permanent full-time position totaling $90,000 in salary and benefits.
‘Right now each building is managed by either the agency director or someone who reports to the agency director,’ Steff said. ‘A lot of times, even though we have a very talented pool of employees here, they don’t have a background in facilities management.’
The coordinator would help better develop preventative maintenance and repair schedules, oversee seeking project bids in a more clear and concise way that will save money, and implement plans for upgrades to facilities, Steff said.
‘This is an area the COG can do a better job in terms of managing, repairing, maintaining and improving the great number of buildings we have,’ Steff said.
Organizational Changes
The Program Plan suggests transferring the regional refuse and recycling program from COG administration to the Centre Region Planning Agency. There it would be under new sustainability coordinator Pam Adams, who previously was COG’s refuse and recycling administrator.
‘That provides a strong continuity for a program that impacts 16,500 customers,’ Steff said.
He added that it also would provide the regional planning program with a non-municipal funding source and would create space in the administrative suite for the proposed facilities coordinator.
Another organizational change is related to Steff, who previously announced plans to retire next year. The Program Plan suggests $35,000 related to the appointment of a new executive director. That would be used for costs including candidate interview expenses, consultant fees, relocation and temporary housing reimbursements, overlap of the current and new director and separation costs related to Steff’s retirement. Some of those costs, up to $27,000, can be paid from the 2019 contingency fund.
CIP
Finance director Joe Viglione also gave a brief overview of the draft five-year COG Capital Improvement Plan, covering 2020-2024. Recommendations from the CIP are included in the 2020 Program Plan.
Viglione said that over the next five years, 77 percent of proposed capital expenditures fall into one of four categories: regional parks (25.93 percent), Millbrook Marsh Nature Center (21.85), Schlow Centre Region Library (14.66), and fire apparatus (14.61). Not all projects are funded by municipalities, with some receiving grant, philanthropic and other funding sources.
For 2020, some of the biggest proposed expenditures include $2.975 million for Whitehall Road Regional Park construction; $242,000 for redesign of Schlow’s second floor; and $150,000 for an overhaul of Schlow’s digital branch.
In 2021, the Millbrook Marsh education building expansion and welcome center pavilion will total $2.3 million, while replacement of an Alpha Fire Company 2005 tanker is anticipated to cost $508,000. The replacement of a 2002 fire engine in 2022 is expected to cost $880,000.
Replacement of the filters at both Welch and Park Forest community swimming pools in 2024 is expected to cost $300,000.
The CIP will be distributed to the municipalities to review and make comments for consideration during preparation of the 2020 budget.
