By JOHN RISHEL

jrishel@lockhaven.com

LOCK HAVEN — A bid from Cholin Corp, Inc., a security system supplier from 1427 W. Southern Ave., South Williamsport, was opened and accepted by the Clinton County Commissioners on Thursday morning.

Cholin will provide fire alarm inspections and maintenance services at the Clinton County Correctional Facility on the basis of a one-year contract effective May 1, 2019.

Commissioner Jeff Snyder opened the bid, noting it was the only one the county received for the project.

“It is a specialized service. It could be that this is the only company locally that does this sort of thing,” Snyder said. “They have been servicing the prison for 17 years. It is just a matter that the contract we had with them expired.”

Snyder urged that, though this was the only bid, the law requires the board to accept it as long as the scope of work is clearly laid out.

Cholin will provide two inspections on the fire alarm system at the prison and at the prison’s warehouse, once in August of 2019 and again in February of next year.

The cost of the inspections will be $1,275 each, with an additional $350 for each inspection of the warehouse for a total contracted cost of $3,250.

“When we are dealing with housing criminals, we have to make sure it is completely legal,” Snyder said.

Chief clerk Jann Meyers noted that the scope of work had been drawn up by warden Angela Hoover and reviewed by the prison board’s solicitor.

After being questioned by community member Kevin Ferrara, commissioner Robert “Pete” Smeltz admitted that he was unsure if the inspection is required to be done twice yearly.

“The prison is occupied 24/7 and these people are locked in. I would have no opposition if the warden chose to want to have this done twice a year. We don’t have to approve this right now, we can have it pending review of our solicitor as far as whether we are obligated to take and pay for the second inspection,” Smeltz said.

“I disagree,” said Snyder, pointing out again that this was the only bid the county received. “I just don’t want to upset the apple cart. With one bid, I don’t want to put the facility in jeopardy and it is not worth taking that risk in my opinion. If we approve this as it is written, and we come to find out just an annual inspection is adequate then we can address that in a year when we go to renew the contract or reopen the bidding process.”

“It is a one year contract,” commissioner Paul Conklin agreed. “We can change it next year if we want to do that in any way.”

Ultimately, the bid was unanimously accepted and approved.

In another item, a zoning ordinance amendment in county’s zoning ordinance was approved to reduce the minimum acreage required for a cemetery.

Grugan, Colebrook, West Keating, East Keating, Noyes, Logan and Gallagher townships are all affected by any zoning ordinance changes made.

The previous minimum lot size for those seven municipalities was five acres, and the change was made at the request of Elam Fisher who plans to build a private Amish cemetery in Logan Township. Moving forward, the minimum lot size will be two acres and it has been established that any cemetery must be at least 100 feet from a water well.

County planning director Katherine de Silva noted that she reached out to supervisors of all seven municipalities by mail and Logan Township was the only to respond, with a two to one vote in favor of making the change.

“I believe it is fair to make the assumption that if they had feelings of opposition that they would be vocal. We had a recent case of opposition and everyone came out,” Snyder said.

Smeltz also pointed out that there is no maximum lot size being discussed and that all cemeteries must be covered under Pennsylvania statute and comply with the current regulations of the commonwealth.

“By law, the state always supercedes local zoning ordinance,” Smeltz said, with de Silva adding that all cemeteries must first get a special exception before being awarded a permit.

The board also approved the payment of county bills in the amount of $289,438.12 and net payroll in the amount of $4308,261.66 for the period ending April 19, 2019.

Bill invoices over $10,000 included:

∫ Payment of $16,530 to Crossroads Counseling for services to the Clinton County Correctional Facility and Children and Youth.

∫ Payment of $16,003.44 to George Junior Republic for residential treatment.

∫ Payment of $44,922.53 to Hewlett Packard Financial Services Co. for enterprise wide hardware.

∫ Payment of $10,293.35 to Oasis Management Systems, Inc. for commissary at the prison.

∫ Payment of $81,056.83 to WellPath, LLC, for a medical contract at the prison.