By CARL LINDQUIST
The York Dispatch

YORK COUNTY, Pa. — York County is unprepared for a virtually inevitable flu outbreak that could leave residents without gasoline, electricity and other critical services, according to a local social service official.

"It's a very high-risk situation," said Bruce Funk, the county assistant director of Human Services. "We need a plan; we need it quick."

Funk outlined the county's lack of pandemic planning on Monday before the York County Commissioners.

The board considered five different federal earmark requests to submit on behalf of the county. Commissioners must rank the requests by Friday to tell federal lawmakers which projects are the most important, said Samantha Dorm, grant coordinator.

The funding, if approved, would become available as early as the beginning of 2009, she said.

It's unclear whether Congress will approve any earmarks this year, she said. But the county was advised to make its requests anyway.

Earmarks allow members of Congress to direct funding to district-specific projects or organizations. Some criticize the practice as secretive and say funding is based more on a member's seniority than the merits of projects.

U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, said recently that he's considering joining the ranks of lawmakers who will not submit earmark requests this year unless Congress reforms the earmark process.

Experts needed: Funk said the county needs to bring in outside experts as soon as possible to begin planning for a flu outbreak. The planning would involve a variety of partners in public and private sectors, he said.

A pandemic planning task force and the county's Office of Emergency Management would head the project, which would cost an estimated $280,000.

Early estimates show that several thousand people will need hospitalization in a flu pandemic, with 50,000 seeking outpatient medical care, Funk wrote in a formal request to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

People could suffer from limited, or no, access to trash pickup, child care and funeral homes, and health care providers might not have the staff to handle the influx of sickened people, he wrote.

'Major' disaster: "We're talking about a major potential disaster," Funk told commissioners Monday.

President County Commissioner Steve Chronister said pandemic flu planning was, in his eyes, the top priority among the earmark requests.

"It affects really everybody," he said. "We have to prepare and have a plan."

If the federal government doesn't fund the request, the county should find other avenues, he said.

Millions requested: Among the earmark requests put before the county commissioners, the most expensive came from the York County Planning Commission, which is hoping for an approximately $4.9 million earmark, according to Randy Beck, chief of municipal/current planning.

The money would cover about half the cost of an estimated $9.9 million effort to improve the Codorus Creek watershed, he said.

The project includes 6.8 miles of stream restoration in nine locations, he said.

The county would have to pay, either in cash or through in-kind services, about $4.9 million toward the project to get all the work completed. The cost could be less if county commissioners decide to go forward with only a portion of the work.

Chronister said the projects were the lowest on his priority list because of the cost to the county.

"It's a large outlay of money in the future," he said.

-- Reach Carl Lind quist at 505-5432 or clindquist@yorkdispatch.com

Project funding requests
Several other groups affiliated with York County are requesting federal earmarks. They include:

---York County Department of Emergency Services: $54,000. The money would be spent on computers stationed in local police department offices. The computers allow officers in the field to retrieve information from databases and access the county's computer-aided dispatch system.

---York County Department of Emergency Services: $20,000. The money would be spent on a new tow-behind trailer for the county's mobile command and communications vehicle. The vehicle is used for emergency response.

---York County Quick Response Team: $3.2 million. Wireless technology that would improve communication between incident commanders and front-line officers during stand-offs and other situations. Pictures of assailants and others could be sent wirelessly to officers. Real-time locations of officers would be available to incident command.

York County would become a test site for the equipment. The budget includes training for law enforcement from across the county.

Copyright 2008 York Newspapers, Inc.