Supervisors renew subscription for veteran’s affairs software

The Washington County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday, July 30 to renew the county's subscription with its current veterans affairs software vendor even though the county's HIPPA compliance advisor had advised against the move.

The vote to renew the $500 subscription with Vetraspec came when the supervisors learned that some veterans would have their benefits delayed if action was not taken at the July 30 meeting. The motion to renew included language to aggressively address the HIPPA compliance problem with Vetraspec.

Carosh Compliance, the county's HIPPA compliance adviser, advised against renewing the subscription because Vetraspec refused to sign a business associate agreement stating that it is HIPPA compliant. Carosh recommended that the county use VetPro software which costs $6,000 a year and has a $5,000 fee to transfer data from the current system. County Auditor Dan Widmer told the supervisors that VetPro said it would waive the $5,000 transfer fee if the supervisors voted to make the software switch on July 30 but might not do so if the decision to switch was made at a future meeting. Widmer also said that Carosh will not advise the county on any HIPPA-related legal issues under its retainer agreement should it decide to go with VetPro. Any VetPro-related advice given would be an extra charge, he said.

Vetraspec has told the county that its attorney has advised that it does not need to sign the business associate agreement. Supervisor Jack Seward said the matter has been referred to Washington County Attorney John Gish for an opinion, but that opinion has yet to be rendered. 'It looks like this may become a battle of legal opinions,” he said.

Communications Building Bonds

The supervisors unanimously passed a resolution authorizing a loan agreement providing for the issuance of $6,990,000 in general obligation county communication facility and equipment bonds and directing the levy of taxes to pay for the bonds. In October 2018, the supervisors approved a bond of $3.5 million to begin the process. The county was authorized to spend up to $10.5 million on equipment for the project but spent only $8.1 million. The county was authorized to spend up to $3.5 million on the building but spent only $3.4 million.

In a related matter, the board approved an agreement with Terracon Consultants of Washington to provide field and laboratory services for the communication building project at an estimated cost of $28,873 which could be reduced by work done by the county engineer's staff.

Other Business

In other business, the supervisors:

' Held a public hearing and approved a construction permit for a new confinement feeding operation for JDSD Farms, an animal confinement feeding operation in Highland Township;

' Certified the appointment of Lindsay Michelle Adam as Deputy Treasurer and

' Approved a transfer for Lyle Thomas in the secondary roads department.