New Commissioners Declare Questionable Emergency

New Luzerne County Commissioners take office on January 1, 2004. At the end of the year they suddenly decide there is an “emergency” when in fact they had been paying PA ChildCare on a per diem basis for almost two years. On what grounds can they claim an emergency when they already were contracting with PA ChildCare and other facilities throughout the state. They can’t claim there was a capacity issue because the bed census was not at 100% throughout the state or at PA ChildCare. One Commissioner admits bypassing the normal bidding process. Another Commissioner points out that this lease was costing Luzerne County more money than need be. According to officials at the Committee of Seventy (215-447-3600 Ext. 104) in Philadelphia such a tactic is absurd and should not be tolerated.

Vonderheid tries to cover his tracks by asking for the results of the audit being conducted by the State Department of Public Welfare when he already voted for the lease. Once you enter a lease it is very difficult to break. Vonderheid justifies the lease cost based on prices paid for the last three years. Again, if they are doing it for the last three years where was the emergency?

Vonderheid states if the audit comes back and is unfavorable to PA ChildCare he will do what is right for the taxpayers. What were his actions when he found out about the results of the audit? Nothing.

Further, at the same meeting support services for the PA ChildCare facility are authorized for only 30 or 120 day periods. How can you have an emergency for the main facility but not the services that support it?

12/31/2004
County declares emergency, OKs pact with juvenile care center
By James Conmy , Citizens' Voice Staff Writer

Luzerne County Commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid declared a state-of-emergency Thursday to ratify four short-term contracts with service providers for a Pittston Township juvenile care center. The county will begin a 20-year, $58 million lease for the facility with Pennsylvania Child Care on Jan. 1. All contracts with service providers at the facility expire Dec. 31.

The most expensive deal was with Northwestern Human Services, which will oversee juveniles 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The firm will bill the county $193,000 monthly.

An emergency was declared to bypass normal advertising requirements for services, Vonderheid said.

Commissioner Stephen Urban did not support any of the contracts. He said declaring the emergency was unnecessary and proves Vonderheid and Skrepenak acted on the lease too quickly.

Urban continues to push for the county to construct a new facility. He said the cost to taxpayers would decrease by $90 per bed, per day.

"We're spending $4,000 a day more by leasing, rather than building," Urban said. "This was poor management on the part of the majority commissioners."

Vonderheid's letter to Estelle Richman, secretary of the Department of Public Welfare, asking to expedite an audit, which allegedly warns the lease is a bad deal for taxpayers, is too late, Urban said.

"He didn't do his due diligence on this," Urban said of Vonderheid. "His letter is nothing more than back tracking. He is asking questions that should have been asked before he signed the lease."

"The lease was based on rates approved for three straight years, by two different administrations," Vonderheid said.

If the state audit uncovers wrongdoing, the county could attempt to get out of the lease, Vonderheid said.

"I'll take whatever measures are necessary to ensure taxpayers are getting the best service for the lowest cost possible," he said. "My concern is the children and the taxpayers. Grandstanding isn't solving any of these issues."

Other contracts approved were for food service, custodial and maintenance service, and health insurance. They were all for 120 days, except the custodial and maintenance contract, which is for 30 days.

The cost of all three, when added to the Northwestern Human Services' expense, is less than $225,000 a month and in accordance with original estimates, Vonderheid said.
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The short-term contracts were executed to give commissioners time to review the state audit when it is completed, Vonderheid said. There also was no indication of problems with Pennsylvania Child Care before it was executed, he said.