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BELLEFONTE -- Centre County employees won't be headed back to their offices anytime soon.
At Tuesday's Centre County commissioners' meeting, it was announced that full remote work status will continue through Friday, March 12. The county returned to full remote work status on Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. The action was taken as a result of some guidance that came from the state and the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the county, said county administrator Margaret Gray.
There are many factors in keeping county workers fully remote, Gray said.
"In addition to looking at state guidance and being in lockstep with the state guidance, we do look at other factors," Gray said. "Between Jan. 29 and Feb. 5 here in Centre County, the positivity rate has been moved by the state from moderate to substantial. That has triggered the human services agencies of the state to continue keeping a lot of our provider agencies closed at this point in time."
Gray laid out several options for the commissioners, including a return to a "less restrictive" work setting, extending the remote work into the beginning of March or keep it open-ended. In the end, the commissioners opted to have county workers remain fully remote through the first few weeks of March.
"I know for planning purposes, it's important to give our department heads and others an understanding of what this looks like in terms of time frame so they can schedule meetings accordingly and so forth," Gray said.
Chair Michael Pipe said that he preferred being remote through the first few weeks of March.
"I think the one option outlined which was to continue following state guidance regarding telework, I think that's probably best in terms of getting advice and guidance from health experts. I think that's an important thing for us to do. Obviously, we all want to -- again -- be able to be in the office and work in person," Pipe said.
Pipe also cited the return of Penn State students to the University Park as another reason to keep staff out of the office.
"We know that cases may increase with that," Pipe noted.
He also cited a new strain of the coronavirus as another reason to play it safe.
"There's a new strain that is out there. I don't think we know if that's going to come to Centre County," Pipe said.
Pipe said that it's important to follow the Department of Health guidelines.
"Just from my standpoint, I think following the state's guidelines would be important," he said.
Commissioner Steve Dershem said that he would like to see the commissioners review things in two weeks.
"I would agree that we should follow the guidelines. However, I think it should be reviewed every two weeks just in case there is a change," Dershem said.
"That sounds good," said commissioner Mark Higgins.
The decision was unanimous.
In other news, the commissioners:
-- Approved installation of a silent panic alert system from Vigilant Security at the Centre Hall Magisterial District Judges Office. The equipment installation and cost are $1,959.83. Monitoring service can be included for $51 per month, for a total cost of $2,520.83. Court Administration will submit application to the AOPC for cost of the equipment an installation, monitoring service is not eligible to be covered under the grant. The item was moved to next week's consent agenda.
-- Approved submission of a request to the Department of Agriculture regarding the State Food Purchase Program grant agreement for the period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2025. This request is to change the payee from Central PA Community Action as the Local Lead Agency to Centre County Government.
-- Approved submission of a request to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to amend the Emergency Solutions Grant-Cares Act (ESG-CV) agreement for the period of July 8, 2020 through Jan. 8, 2022. This request is to reallocate $115,500 awarded for homeless prevention to the rapid rehousing program.
The commissioners will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16. The meeting will be held via Zoom and televised live by C-NET.