Schuylkill County commissioners on Thursday took another step toward the sale of the county nursing home Rest Haven.

The commissioners, with George F. Halcovage Jr. absent, approved a memorandum of understanding and closing agreement between the county and AFSCME Local 1721, the union covering nursing home employees.The county and union, which covers about 110 full-time and about 30 part-time workers, engaged in "effects" bargaining as a result of the decision to sell Rest Haven."We had a collective bargaining agreement in place. Because we're selling Rest Haven, we had to move to negotiate the effects of that sale on the bargaining unit," said county Administrator Mark Scarbinsky.The "effects" bargaining details the severance package offered to any workers who will be displaced by the sale, scheduled to close on Sept. 1, he said.The package includes buyouts of unused sick and vacation days and compensatory time. The county will provide retirement benefits and post-retirement health care to eligible employees, and will not actively contest any unemployment claims filed by displaced employees.The commissioners' acceptance of the agreement "finalized it as we go to sale," Scarbinsky said.The county engaged Eckert Seamans, the Harrisburg law firm that guided the sale of the 142-bed nursing home, to work with county solicitor Al Marshall to negotiate the agreement.The previous contract was scheduled to run through 2016."As of the signing here, it will officially terminate as of Sept. 1," Scarbinsky said. "The county's obligations then end."In a related matter, the county salary board hired Jessica Snyder of West Brunswick Township as a per diem supervisor/payroll employee at $16.37 an hour to continue to assist in that capacity at Rest Haven.She'll work through Aug. 31.The county in May agreed to sell the home, in Schuylkill Haven, to Investment 360 of Lakewood, New Jersey for $10.9 million.Commissioners a year ago decided to sell Rest Haven because it was bleeding red ink. The home relies on Medicaid reimbursements, but the reimbursements are less than the actual cost of care.Last year, the county took $2 million from the general fund to subsidize Rest Haven.By the end of 2013, the home was running at $4.6 million deficit, according to the state Department of Community and Economic Development.But as it awaits the finalization of the sale, the county continues to pump money into Rest Haven.On July 15, commissioners approved an additional $500,000 to be transferred from the general fund to the home to pay the bills.