Schuylkill County commissioners will pay up to $225 an hour for a Pittsburgh legal firm to provide services for the Human Resources Office.

The Gabriel Ferra law firm will perform the services for the county’s merit system from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024.

The merit system hires and promotes government employees on the basis of their ability to do the job.

The hourly rates are: $225 for partners; $210 for senior associates; $190 for associates and $145 for paralegals.

In other matters Wednesday, on behalf of the Juvenile Probation Office, commissioners approved a $1,767,671 grant-in-aid application to administer pass-through funds from the Juvenile Court Judges Commission for Improving Juvenile Justice Services in Pennsylvania.

The grant package amount is $1,767,671 through the Schuylkill Statewide Impact program. It runs retroactively from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.

In a related matter, commissioners approved executing the Juvenile Probation Services grant agreement from the Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission for Improving Juvenile Justice Services in Pennsylvania.

The award amount is $250,042, and it’s affective retroactive from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.

In other matters, commissioners approved an increase from $2,777 to $2,804 monthly for contract with Korn Ferry, Philadelphia, for professional actuarial services effective Jan. 1, 2024 in accordance with the fee agreement for the employees retirement fund.

Commissioners also approved a resolution to submit an application to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for the Community Development Block Grant Program in the amount of $1,156,649 for this year.

Commissioners also approved a contract with Antz Energy Systems to replace and install a chiller, first stage compressor replacement, at the courthouse for $17,500. The project should take from October 12 to March 31, 2024.

They also approved Advanced Enviromation for automatic temperature controls in courtrooms 3 and 4, and DDC controls on fan coil units and heat pump control upgrades on the first floor of the courthouse for $17,055. The contract runs from today through April 30, 2024.