What started Tuesday as a meeting to determine Schuylkill County's allocations of federal grant money to agencies that aid crime victims became a clash between two agencies over which should help sexual assault victims.
Schuylkill Women in Crisis, which wants to provide such help, pitted itself against the Sexual Assault Resource & Counseling Center, which took over the function three years ago. The debate before the Victims of Crime Local Policy Board involved how the shrinking pot of money should be divided as well as the role of each agency.
At the end of Tuesday's 100-minute meeting in the Hoffman Board Room at the county courthouse, neither side emerged victorious. The board postponed a decision on its recommendations for dividing the money until its next meeting, which it set for 10 a.m. May 29.
"The decision ... is to make no decision today," said board Chairman Gary R. Bender, who also serves as the county grant writer.
District Attorney Karen Noon, a board member, made the suggestion to delay the decision, saying she needed more time to consider information SWIC Executive Director Sarah T. "Sally" Casey provided.
"This was a lot of information thrown at us in a short time," Noon said.
Although the board determined to make its decision on the money next week, that will be only a recommendation to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which will make the final ruling by June 30.
However, the board will make no decision on the clash between SWIC and SARCC.
"It's not the role of the local policy board to get into these discussions," said Kathy Buckley, manager of the Victim Services Program for the commission's Office of Victims' Services, who is not a board member but attended the meeting to help the members better understand their roles.
At stake is $174,046 in grant money earmarked for the county for fiscal year 2012-13 under the federal Victims of Crime Act, a reduction of $17,191, or 9 percent, from the original appropriation.
Under the old numbers, SWIC was to have received $112,780, SARCC, $75,793, and Pinnacle Health, Harrisburg, which serves child sexual assault victims from Schuylkill and other counties, $2,684.
Casey asked the board not to reduce SWIC's allocation, saying her agency serves far more people than SARCC does.
"In addition to more victims, we also provide shelter," Casey said. "We're very proud of the work we've done with the victims of sexual violence."
That shelter is at capacity, and a cut will prevent SWIC from serving victims properly, according to Casey.
"We were just getting to hire someone when we found out about this 9 percent cut," she said.
However, Casey also said that SARCC inaccurately reported the number of victims it serves, which clearly irritated Jenny Murphy-Shifflet, SARCC's president and CEO.
"We will be happy to go over numbers at another time," Murphy-Shifflet said.
Murphy-Shifflet also objected to Casey questioning which agency should be serving sexual assault victims, saying the Independent Review Committee of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape made that decision on March 24 when it approved a five-year contract with SARCC to provide those services.
"These decisions already have been made," Murphy-Shifflet said to Casey. "I don't believe what you're doing is fair."
SARCC, which is based in Lebanon but has an office in Pottsville, has been serving sexual assault victims in Schuylkill County since 2009, when it took over that role from the Rape and Victim Assistance Center of Schuylkill County, which closed that year.
Bender also said the board is not the place to re-argue the coalition's decision.
"Let's get to the issue at hand," the allocation of the money, he said.
Murphy-Shifflet asked that the three agencies be treated alike and each get a 9 percent cut.
"We are all struggling," she said. "I ask that you consider a fair cut, an equal cut. It is not a hit that we can't manage."
If each agency received such a 9 percent cut, SWIC would get $102,641, SARCC, $68,962, and Pinnacle Health, $2,443.
Casey, a member and former chairwoman of the board, stood her ground, saying her agency already has handled more victims in fiscal year 2011-12, which will end June 30, than it did in fiscal year 2010-11.
"We're already beyond last year's numbers," she said. "We recognize that you're in a really difficult position."
No one from Pinnacle Health attended Tuesday's meeting.
Casey and Stephanie Barron, SARCC's representative on the board, will not be allowed to vote on the allocations to those agencies.
Before the board heard the reports from Casey and Murphy-Shifflet, Jennie E. Seigler, a criminal justice system planner 2 in Buckley's program, gave a presentation on how the board should operate.
"You're looking at the community at large," she said. The board should consider whether needs are being met and how victims can best be served, according to Seigler.
"(Boards) meet when it's time to determine funding," she said. "I would encourage you to meet at least one other time."