Bucks County Blog

Bucks County Commissioners Approve Resolutions for 11 County Departments

June 12th, 2007

Human Services Director Charles A. Kane Remembered during Bi-Monthly Meeting in Courthouse Community Room With heavy hearts, the Bucks County Board of Commissioners postponed their regularly scheduled bi-monthly four hours to attend the funeral of Health and Human Services Director Charles A. Kane. Mr. Kane, who passed away June 1 at age 56, was remembered as a treasured colleague, a true friend and tireless advocate for older Bucks Countians.

“As an administrator, Charlie’s passion was on display as he constantly championed the causes and funding streams that are critical to more than 100,000 Bucks County seniors,” Commissioner Chairman Charles H. Martin praised as he delivered a brief “in memoriam” to Kane at the conclusion of the meeting. “He was the county government’s “go-to” guy for health and human services.”

Martin, commissioner colleagues James F. Cawley, Esq. and Sandra A. Miller, and Chief Operating Officer David M. Sanko each expressed their deep condolences to Kane’s immediate family, wife, Cindy, daughter Christianna and stepdaughter, Melissa.

During the regular business portion of the meeting, the commissioners approved contracts or agreements with 11 departments, including an $82,500 Natural Areas Program Grant to acquire a five-acre portion of the Tessmer property in Buckingham Twp. Throughout the county’s diverse open-space preservation efforts, Buckingham Twp. has been a well-respected leader. Open Space Coordinator Kris Kern recognized the Tessmer parcel as another key addition to the county’s inventory, noting that it will be part of more than 500 preserved acres lying in the same watershed.

“This demonstrates the incremental nature of open-space planning,” Kern noted.

The Parks and Recreation Department received authorization to perform renovations to the Core Creek Park tennis courts in Middletown Twp. The work, to be performed by Chalfont-based S&H Landscaping Contractor, will include a thorough resurfacing and new fencing around the popular courts, according to Executive Director of Parks & Recreation Bill Mitchell.

“The courts are 30 years old, but they have been out of use for the last eight years,” Mitchell explained. “This will put them back in play.”

For the Health Department, the commissioners approved a pair of Health Department contracts to provide mosquito control pesticides through the West Nile Virus program until the end of 2008. For the Recorder of Deeds, they approved an efficiency upgrade contract to recreate and convert images to CD-Rom and microfilm.

The commissioners also approved a memorandum of understanding between the Consumer Protection Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. According to Consumer Protection Director Mike Bannon, the memorandum is a renewal of monitoring devices such as scales and gas pumps throughout the county.

During his bi-weekly COO report, Sanko detailed his attendance of last week’s Emergency Medical Services, which was hosted by Congressman Patrick Murphy (8th District, PA).

“The state came down and again pointed out that the EMS system in Bucks County is hailed as a model that they hold up about how to organize,” Sanko said. “Congressman Murphy and the respective state representatives left to go back to Washington and Harrisburg with a laundry list of funding items for EMS squads.”

Entry Filed under: Bucks County News