A rule in the journalistic world is that if it bleeds, it leads. Truth be told, the more sensational, the more likely the public will want to hear it and read about it. Webb Weekly is a different kind of newspaper in that it actually believes that many people like to read about ‘good’ things as well as the tragedies, crises, messes, problems, hang-ups, and other dramas that fill our airways, tabloids, and electronic media gadgets.

This thought went through my mind during the return of the County Commissioners after their July 4th break. There were no meetings the week of the 4th, so when they returned to hold their work session on July 10th, it might have been expected that there was a backlog of items or problems to solve. Actually, the opposite was the case. The meeting was quite routine, nothing really happened. Yet behind the scenes, a lot has to happen for nothing to happen.

The Commissioners opened the meeting as usual by going through the bills that needed to be paid for that week. Board Chairman Jack McKernan was a little concerned that the totals did not quite add up, but Chief Clerk Matt McDermott offered an explanation that seemed to resolve the discrepancy. Later in the meeting, Matt explained that an item of equipment that was being purchased listed as “pre-owned” actually was a demo model that had hardly been used at all, which meant a savings of almost $8000. Matt sits at the end of the table and rarely opens his mouth. The reason is that he is not a part of the deliberations. But, in the simple examples shown above, Matt had the necessary background information that possibly saved the Commissioners many hours of extra work. Nothing happened, because one man had done his homework and was ready when the time came.

Another example was the biggest money item on the agenda; approval for a $1,727,099 MATP grant agreement with the PA Department of Human Services. This is obviously a LOT of money, but it’s from the state and not out of the county budget. The Medical Assistance Transportation Program, also known as MATP, provides transportation to medical appointments for Medical Assistance recipients who do not have transportation available to them. This may be through STEP vehicles or supplying bus passes. It covers 64,000 transportation trips (!) for the year.

Here again, there could be lots and lots of questions and maybe even controversies about a program of this magnitude. But again, it was reviewed with very little discussion, because Jim Plankenhorn, President & CEO of STEP, Inc. took time out of his very busy schedule to attend the meeting and simply outline the program, and also note that there have been considerable savings since a requirement has been made that medical services must be sought from the nearest qualified provider. (In the past, some have abused the program by using the need to see their “doctor” in Philadelphia as a way to get a free trip to visit friends and relatives there). So, instead of a contentious debate, nothing of the sort happened. Recognizing the worth of a viable program and one that waste, fraud, and abuse are being addressed made the measure one that will be easy to approve at the regular meeting.

Perhaps the best example is one from a few weeks ago when Forrest K. Lehman, Director of Elections and Registration, shared what could have been a national story of disenfranchised voters, but instead turned out to be — nothing happened. During the primary election on May 15th, severe storms hit about 2:00 in the afternoon and seven precincts lost power. Yet, the Department of Voter Services had equipped fresh batteries in all the electronic voting machines, so there was no immediate problem. Forrest notified John Yingling, Director of Public Safety, who went about to ensure that emergency generators were made available. There was a lot of work by a lot of people, but instead of closed polls and possible lost votes, the voting continued without a glitch. Nothing happened. Sometimes, the best thing that can happen is for nothing to happen.