Schuylkill County commissioners on Wednesday authorized the emergency purchase of a $21,849 piece of security monitoring equipment for the Sheriff's Office. The equipment, which scans visitors' purses and briefcases for contraband at the county prison, will replace an aging one that is about to fail.

Due to the equipment's age, parts are difficult to find.Because of the emergency nature of the purchase, commissioners approved the purchase without going through a bidding process."The Sheriff's Office did look to see about getting it repaired, said Commissioner George F. Halcovage. "They did go out and check out the companies who work with this. They also looked at different counties to find out what equipment was state-of-the-art and at the same time cost-effective."In other matters, Schuylkill County residents will continue to receive the mental health and developmental services they need.Commissioners renewed a $6.3 million contract with Service Access & Management from July 1 through June 30, 2015.The company is the umbrella agency for human services in the county.Commissioners also approved a number of requests from the county Children and Youth Services Agency.They included an addendum to the current purchase of service agreement with Avanco International, of McLean, Virginia, to increase the cap to $66,114 through June 30.Commissioners also approved a purchase of service agreement with the following providers from July 1 through June 30, 2015:• Karen Rismiller of Pottsville, for agency solicitor at a per-unit rate of $2,506.65, for state Department of Public Welfare appeals at a per unit rate of $100;• Dawn Turitto of Orwigsburg, for orientation/training sessions at a per unit rate of $400;• All-Shred, of Moscow, Lackawanna County, for on-site shredding container at a per-unit rate of $60, fuel charge at a per-unit rate of $15.• Triad Treatment Specialists, of Lancaster, for sex offender group at a per-unit rate of $32, individual/family therapy at a per-unit rate of $88, and Abel Assessment at a per-unit rate of $375;• All Brite Cleaning Services, of Pine Grove, for cleaning services at a per-unit rate of $17;• Sandy Palokas of Port Carbon for legal services at a per-unit rate of $25;• Language Line Services of Monterey, California, for Spanish interpretation at a per-unit rate of $0.75, all other supported languages at a per-unit rate of $1.10;• Penn Kashar of Pottsville for answering service at a per-unit rate of $90, additional calls at a per-unit rate of $0.45;• Suzanne Ail of Mount Gretna for bonding assessment at a per-unit rate of $100.For the Emergency Management Agency, commissioners approved a contract addendum on behalf of the East Central Task Force with Delta Development, of Mechanicsburg, that will renew the current maintenance and support contract by an additional year. The renewal term runs from July 1 to June 30, 2015. The renewal cost is $35,000 for the annual term. Funding for this contract is through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant program.In other matters, commissioners awarded the job of scanning documents for the Children and Youth Services Agency to File-X Document Imaging Services, of West Conshohocken, Montgomery County, for $72,750. The company was the lowest of six bidders for the work.On behalf of Juvenile Justice Office, commissioners approved an addendum to a contract with Bethany Children's Home for a psychiatric evaluation completed by Dr. Jeffery Hermann for $300.