The Centre County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 31 approved a series of procurement and agreement steps, moving several items onto next week's consent agenda and formally approving a 180-day extension of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement with Penn State University.

Norm from 911 asked the board to approve a contract addendum with CDWG LLC for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux extended lifecycle support subscription to provide security patches after the server enters end-of-maintenance. The county will pay $680 for Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2025 and invoice four partner counties their equal share. Commissioners voted to add the contract addendum to next week's consent agenda.

Jonathan presented a capital-project contract with Berkshire Systems Group Inc. to install a non-proprietary Siemens addressable fire alarm at the sheriff's office. The proposal totals $134,838 and includes an annunciator panel, a cell dialer for monitoring, 42 smoke detectors, two heat detectors, a carbon-monoxide detector, seven wall-mounted pull stations and 14 horns and strobes; installation, programming, commissioning and testing are included. Jonathan said the building had been without a fire alarm for more than 10 years. The board voted to add the Berkshire Systems contract to next week's consent agenda.

Julia of Human Services requested approval of a contract with Abound Health PA, the successor to Care For People Plus; the contract maintains the same services at a total of $60,280. Julia said most local staff remained in place under the new management. The commissioners added the Abound Health PA contract to next week's consent agenda.

John, the county administrator, requested approval of a 180-day extension of the PILOT agreement with Penn State University to allow more time to complete negotiations following the end of a 20-year agreement. Commissioners approved the 180-day extension by voice vote.

Dave from Transportation requested acceptance of a 2018 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor in-kind from Penn State for use in the county fleet; the total cost including fees is $12,182.50. Commissioners approved the in-kind acquisition.

Several of these procurement and contract items were routed to the consent agenda for formal approval at the next meeting or carried as motioned items in the current meeting. Board members thanked staff for work on negotiations and for identifying cost-effective fleet and IT solutions.