Four Schuylkill County employees in the Office of Senior Services will be laid off by the end of the month due to the loss of state Department of Public Welfare funds.
According to a list of personnel actions presented during a county commissioners work session Wednesday, the layoffs of clerk typists Dawn M. Williams, New Philadelphia, Erica Fritzinger, Tamaqua, and Tiffany Kiehl, Butler Township, and aging care manager James Bankes, Frackville, will go into effect Jan. 28. The layoff of a paid social casework intern, Amber Chernewski, Shenandoah, will also go into effect the same day.
The Schuylkill County commissioners approved leaving the state Department of Aging Waiver program during a work session Nov. 21. The program provides home- and community-based long-term care service as an alternative to nursing homes.
During the work session, Georgene Fedoriska, executive director of the Schuylkill County Office of Senior Services, said the department could no longer administer the program because reimbursement changed from federal block grants to billable hours.
Also during the work session Wednesday, the board approved the settlement of assessment appeals filed by the Allentown Diocese on two former churches in McAdoo. The buildings are no longer exempt from real estate taxation as they are no longer used as churches. The fair market value of the former St. Mary Church on East Grant Street was set at $46,000 and the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church and rectory on East Washington Street was set at $61,500 for the 2013 tax year.
The board also extended two agreements with David W. Fannick Electrical, Frackville. The company is installing security lights in the Rest Haven and courthouse security parking lots. The projects were approved in July and were to be completed by the end of November. They were delayed due to coinciding paving projects.
The Rest Haven project cost $46,061 and the courthouse was $9,854. The contracts were extended until the end of January and the cost did not change.
The Schuylkill County retirement board meeting will be held Wednesday immediately following the commissioners' public meeting. The monthly prison board meeting will also be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the prison classroom.