Local News-Thursday, Feb. 8th

Schuylkill County Solicitor Paul Datte says a public presentation of the findings of the audit of MH/MR provider ReDCo could be held within two to three weeks. At Wednesday’s commissioners work session, Datte said Parente-Randolph will have a dollar amount that ReDCo should return to the county by Friday or Monday. He said the Welfare Department’s Bureau of Financial Operations will then need a few days to take those adjustments and revise the income and expense statements for each of the three years in dispute. He said BFO had to create a model that would take the place of the lack of income and expense records in the County’s former MH/MR Office. Datte said the report will be presented at a public meeting by Parente-Randolph and BFO. The plan is to have those officials to conduct the meeting in order to answer all questions about the three year audit, since they have first hand knowledge of the process. Datte said ReDCo’s contract with the county costs about $8-Million Dollars a year and if necessary, the county could withhold payments to them until the amount the county believes it is owed is satisfied.

The audit of program provider ReDCo may now be closer to a conclusion. All of the requested documents are in. Yesterday, ReDCo Chief Operating Officer Virginia Schenk said that the last of the documents were delivered to the auditor, Parente-Randolph, earlier in the day. According to a statement by ReDCo, the delivery of the final requested documents will hopefully bring the three year audit to a conclusion. Schenk went on to say that the company welcomed the assistance of the state Department of Welfare’s Bureau of Financial Operations in order to bring closure to the audit. Parente-Randolph reportedly asked for BFO’s help to wrap up the proceedings. Schenk also took Schuylkill County officials to task for “reckless, politically inspired calls for intervention by a higher authority, or threats to withhold payment from present contracts” would tarnish all the good work by ReDCo’s employees. Schuylkill County’s MH/MR program incurred cost overruns of over $3-million-dollars between 2002 and 2004, prompting the investigation of several contract providers, including ReDCo.

Will storage sheds be built in Schuylkill Haven? Residents certainly hope not. At Wednesday’s borough council meeting, concerned citizens on Penn Street peppered council with questions about the proposed project, to be located next to the borough’s sewer treatment plant and in an area that was heavily flooded in June. The Pottsville Republican reports that the project was put on hold in December after numerous questions were raised about it. The developer is supposed to submit revised plans for the project before it is considered again by Schuylkill Haven borough council.

The investigation into the death of over 20-thousand fish at a northern Schuylkill County fish hatchery is still in progress. We reported the death of 22-thousand-trout at the Pumping Station hatchery in Brandonville late last month. The state Fish and Boat Commission still don’t have any concrete answers as to why they died, but officials believe that a change in the water’s acidity may be to blame. The hatchery is a cooperative effort between a private group and the state, where the fingerlings are provided to them, and they cover the costs and work of growing the fish for sportsmen to catch. The fish kill could force the sportsmen’s group to cancel their children’s fishing derby in the spring.

A Tuscarora man was arrested by Tamaqua police and charged in connection with an incident at the Tamaqua Area High School at the end of the school day Tuesday. Police said 18-year-olf Mark Buchieri, slapped a 16-year-old Tamaqua girl in the face but then claimed it was an accident. The girl’s family wanted charges filed against him. He will face those charges before District Judge Stephen Bayer of Tamaqua.

A Coal Township woman had minor injuries in a one-vehicle crash on Route 901 Wednesday. 21-year-old Janelle Stevens was westbound on the roadway when she lost control of her car on the cinder-covered road. She left the roadway and slid across the snow-covered grass, off an embankment and flipped onto its roof. State police at Frackville said Stevens suffered minor injuries to her hands and was treated by Ashland EMS.

A Frackville man will serve time under house arrest on drug charges. 39-year-old Richard Slotcavage Jr. was told by Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin that he would spend one to two years under house arrest, with electronic monitoring, rather than go to state prison. According to the Pottsville Republican, Slotcavage was found guilty on December 4, 2006 of possession and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance after being found with cocaine in November 2003. The sentence was handed down in that manner so that Slotcavage’s son could continue his schooling at North Schuylkill. Dolbin said that while Slotcavage did commit a crime, he was on the right road to rehabilitation. He will have to pay costs, fines and restitution to law enforcement.