The Schuylkill County Commissioners renewed contracts Wednesday with the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service with the hope Gov. Tom Wolf soon approves funding for the agricultural research program and state’s 4-H clubs.
Gregg Gnatt, Penn State Extension district director for Berks and Schuylkill counties, told the commissioners that the program has not received any state funding since July. Wolf also vetoed the $50.5 million line-item in December.
“The line has been drawn in the sand that basically says if there is no funding by June 30, the extension will close along with three ag experimental stations in the state, all the county offices will be shut down, it will be the end of 4-H, the master gardener program, about 1,100 of us will be layed off, 90,000 4-H kids will no longer have a program,” Gnatt said. “Unfortunately, it will also probably cascade to the complete demise of the college of agriculture at Penn State because there will be a critical lapse of faculty and staff to run the college.”
Gnatt said the economic impact goes even further with the state losing about $80 million in additional revenue through contracts with the United States Department of Agriculture and the state’s 67 counties.
“I think everyone understands the impact, but there is not a meeting of minds,” Gnatt said.
“The county commissioners do understand the impact of what the extension does in the state from an educational standpoint,” commissioners Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. said. “With agriculture being our top industry, this is crucial. We will lend out support in any way we can.”
“In the (County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania) conference we just held, I think that message was portrayed to our legislature and governor and the importance to hopefully get to some resolution because it is important not just to our county, but to Pennsylvania,” Commissioner Gary J. Hess said.
“This affects everyone in Pennsylvania,” Gnatt said. “When you open your refrigerator door, you shake hands with agriculture.”
The annual contracts approved by the county commissioners Wednesday were pre-approved budget items, Gnatt said.
The contracts were $31,910 for consumer horticulture, $60,115 fro 4-H services, and $30,000 for commercial horticulture.
In other news, the county received bids for two service contracts.
Four companies submitted bids to repair county bridge No. 200 on Maple Avenue over the west branch of the Schuylkill River in Norwegian Township: Heim Construction Co., Orwigsburg, $714,379.80; Bi-State Construction Co., Easton, $778,487; Barletta Materials & Construction, $823,057.93; and Kinsley Construction, York, $983,935.
The bridge provides a roadway from Route 209 to the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29, the Schuylkill Technology Center South Campus and Tredegar Plastic Fabrication Co. Built in 1959, the 65-foot-long bridge has a daily average traffic of 1,000 vehicles and a 25-ton limit.
Work will start in the spring and must be completed by Aug. 1.
TKO Cleaning Service submitted the only bid for cleaning the Human Services Building, 410 N. Centre St., Pottsville. The bid is for three years, totaling $64,800.
The commissioners also renewed contracts for service maintenance at the county communications center. The $260,000 annual agreement with Greens Communications, Pottsville, is for the maintenance of the Motorola Centracom Gold Elite radio consoles installed in November 2008. The contract runs through 2018 and cost the same as the previous contract.
The $413,632.98 agreement with Motorola Solutions is for 24/7 monitoring and service of the radio system through 2016. Scott Krater, county communications director, said the warranty on the equipment installed 18 months ago is ending and this agreement covers all the equipment at the county courthouse, tower sites and the communications center.