(4/2019) Whether we
know it or not Adams County is an
extraordinary county. We are the central
historic gateway to Pennsylvania and the gate
keeper of hallowed ground. This hallowed
ground is a monument to one of the most
decisive battles of the Civil War that helped
to preserve the Union. To many this is a
treasure of honor that is to be respected.
Enveloping this
treasure are vistas enhanced by preserved
lands and good stewardship of natural
resources. With all this in place we also have
the need for economic development to provide
quality jobs for our residents and to sustain
and support our tax base for ever increasing
county expenses and services.
Given the mix of these
varied elements relevant to Adams County, how
do we sustain the extraordinary character of
the county? One answer to that question is to
curtail the "shotgun" approach to agricultural
land preservation that lacked uniformity. To
me it does not make good sense nor does it
seem to be in the best overall interest of
Adams County to mix preserved land and
commercial development. This mix does not
enhance the value of preserved land. Also
preserving land that is more suitable for
development leads to increased costs and
decreased opportunities for needed economic
growth.
To avoid moving
further into this direction, the board of
commissioners came together to lead the
development of the Priority Land Preservation
Map. This map has become the county’s planning
guide to designate the best suited locations
for preserving agricultural land. This is an
example of applying vision, leadership, and
common sense to get results that will continue
to sustain the character that makes Adams
County an extraordinary county.
Rather than contract
to have a priority map developed, we utilized
the staff and analytical equipment of our
Planning and Development Department. I might
add that for a County our size we have an
extraordinary Planning and Development
Department. Under our leadership, they
continually take on projects that support the
planning needs of both the county and
municipal governments in Adams County. The
board of commissioners understands the benefit
of using county resources to aid municipal
governments, thus saving expenses and time
with their operational needs. This is another
example of how the commissioners have been
involved in effective leadership to benefit
municipal governments.
Not only is it one of
our goals to help others, but to listen to
others. Just listening brought about a
milestone change in staffing our Children and
Youth Service Department. After meeting with
our Children and Youth Services (CYS) Director
and our HR director, the frustrations and the
expense of adequately staffing CYS were put on
the table. The conclusion of the discussion
focused upon new staff who had to be hired
through the state civil service pool of
applicants. Many of these applicants did not
have adequate skill to perform their job
requirements. As a result terminations were
too frequent. This meant carrying excess
employees, wasted hours of training, overtime
needed to cover the vacancies, repeating the
hiring process, and a negative effect on
department morale.
Obviously this issue
translated into wasted time and expenses.
After review of the state code, we found there
was a provision allowing counties to opt out
of the civil service hiring process. The
decision was then made to apply to the state
civil service for a waiver of hiring through
state civil service system. To accomplish this
the county developed a number of newly written
policies and procedures. These guiding
documents clearly stipulated that all new
hires would be provided all their employee
rights that exist under civil service.
After this task was
completed, all documents were submitted to the
state civil service for review and the
anticipated approval. We waited nearly a year,
without an answer. Our inquiries produced no
action. We then gained the support of CCAP
members to investigate why the delay. To make
a long story short, we received our waiver.
However, we are not free of the State Civil
Service. We are constantly audited by them to
insure we are following all approved
protocols. I hope the level of audits
represents their care, concern, and
appreciation for the work Adams County does.
Since the approval, the efficiency of our CYS
has definitely increased as a result of county
direct hire. This is the type of result that
the commissioners strive to achieve on a
continual basis.
As experienced
commissioners we know the importance of
accurate property assessments and keeping our
assessment personnel furnished with up-to-date
analytical resources. Producing accurate
assessments is essential to preventing the
expense of unnecessary reassessments.
Basically if assessments are poorly done the
ratio of assessment to market sales can have
too wide of a disparity. This situation could
easily produce a county-wide COD (Coefficient
of Dispersion) above 20% and precipitate a
required county-wide reassessment.
According to our Tax
Services Department, the cost of a county-wide
reassessment could easily exceed $1.5 million.
That expense would be extremely difficult to
absorb. The attention to details and the high
standards of operation that our Tax Services
adheres to is more valuable that people
realize; it definitely helps to prevent a
premature assessment expense.
Stepping outside of
our county’s own annual calculation of COD, we
also have a third party review by the State
Tax Equalization Board (STEB). Their recent
analysis and calculations utilizing Adams
County sales data produced a COD of 11.2% for
Adams County. This is the second lowest COD in
the state of Pennsylvania which validates the
high level of accuracy of our Tax Services
Department.
The internal
operations of county government are complex
and to have it operate in an effective and
efficient manner as the matters expressed
above, requires commissioners with multiple
skills and qualifications. For over seven
years you have witnessed commissioners that
have provided the leadership, experience,
vision, and common sense that has moved Adams
County into a better position than when we
took office. We are looking forward to future
opportunities to serve the residents of this
extraordinary county.
Read other articles from Adams County Commissioners