2009 News

March 19, 2009

Commissioners Add 192 Acres to County Agricultural and Open-Space Preservation Rolls

In a setting renowned for its historic preservation significance, the Washington Crossing State Park Visitors Center, the Board of Bucks County Commissioners added four significant acquisitions to an ever-growing county list of preserved properties. The easements, which were approved during the March 18 business meeting, included the 86.44-acre John and Evelyn Ahlum farm in Haycock Township.

County Agricultural Land Preservation Program Director Rich Harvey explained the merits of the Ahlum farm to Commissioner Chairman Charles H. Martin and Commissioners James F. Cawley, Esq. and Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia, LCSW. “This is a corn and hay farm, one of five in the area we have been working to acquire. We will have 500 acres in one cluster.” Overall, since 1990 the county has preserved 124 farms totaling almost 11,000 acres.

Joining Harvey at the microphone was county Open Space Program Director Kris Kern. She lauded the acquisition of a 77-acre parcel on Kintner Hill Rd. in Nockamixon Township is an “impressive addition.” Ms. Kern also touted the addition of a 27.5-acre easement on Durham Rd. in Springfield Township. Both properties were acquired through Natural Areas Program Grant funding.

In addition to the land preservation items, the board approved resolutions involving 12 county departments and tabled one item, a contract increase for the executive director for the Bucks County Health Improvement Program (BCHIP). Commissioner Ellis-Marseglia cast a dissenting vote on four individual items – a $25,000 contract with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC, of Harrisburg, PA to provide legal services for managed care for the Behavioral Health Systems; a $25,510 Children & Youth contract increase with Harrisburg’s Community Services Group, Inc. to provide foster care services; a $110,000 Children & Youth contract with Families United Network, Inc. to provide foster care, emergency shelter and residential services, and a $116,353 General Services contract with GIA Consultants Inc. of Berwyn, PA, to approve a testing and inspection service agreement for the Bucks County Parking Garage.

The board unanimously approved a two-year, $63,085 Corrections Department contract for a Livescan Fingerprint and Computer Photo Imaging Network Records Management systems interface and administration. The system is the latest in a series of data-sharing initiatives pertaining to the Corrections Department’s inmate management and identification.

The meeting took place at the Washington Crossing State Park Visitors Center as a means of showing the board’s support for the facility’s preservation and expansion. The Visitors Center has been the topic of potential state budget cuts through the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commisison.

Commissioner Cawley, who chairs the county Board of Elections, announced that board’s next public meeting, which will take place at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14. The location for that meeting will be publicly advertised and placed on the official county Web site, www.BucksCounty.org.

Commissioner Cawley also asked Solicitor Glenn Hains for an update on Commissioner Ellis-Marseglia’s request to freeze property reassessments for home improvement contracting projects. Mr. Hains reported that only the Board of Assessment, with the advice of its solicitor, is “authorized statutorily” to make such policy decisions. Commissioner Cawley further voiced his concern that the action to be considered by the Board of Assessment would be a violation of the State Constitution, and therefore illegal.

The board issued a pair of proclamations, naming March 25 as Resiliency Awareness Day throughout the county and designating Saturday, March 28 as Passport Day. On March 25 at Spring Mill Manor, the theme of the county’s Fifth Resiliency Conference will be “Springing Forward with Community Partnerships.” Also, according to county Prothonotary Pat Bachtle, three county offices will have extended Passport Day hours to handle applications. They included the Courthouse, 55 E. Court St., Doylestown; the Lower Bucks Government Services Center, 7321 New Falls Rd., Levittown, and the Upper Bucks Government Services Center, 261 California Rd., Richland Township.

NOTE: The next Commissioners’ meeting will take place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 1, at Habitat for Humanity, 31 Oak Ln., Chalftont, PA 18914. To access a full audio account of the March 18 meeting, please go to www.BucksCounty.org and click on the link on the Commissioners’ meeting page.