County Executive Isiah ‘‘Ike” Leggett last Thursday recommended that a temporary, double-wide trailer be set up near the county’s liquor distribution warehouse as a place for dozens of workers to wait for employers.

Presuming the choice gets the green light after a public hearing next month before the county’s Planning Board, whose role is only advisory, the new center will bring to an end a tortured process to come up with a site in Gaithersburg.

At the same time, it is certain to re-ignite questions about the county government’s long-term role in supporting centers for the laborers, some of whom are in the country illegally, as well as renew the debate over national immigration and workforce policies.

Leggett’s statement announcing the half-acre site, near 16640 Crabbs Branch Way, called labor centers ‘‘a temporary expedient” that help solve ‘‘a practical problem.”

In the Gaithersburg case, the ‘‘practical problem” was loitering, littering and public urination in the well-kept neighborhoods around a church parking lot where the workers congregated, sometimes seven days a week.

After studying about 30 potential sites, Gaithersburg’s appointed and elected leaders threw up their hands and said none were suitable, plunking the issue back in the lap of the county government, which had already budgeted more than $114,000 in operating costs for a center in Gaithersburg.

Leggett’s compromise is already rankling neighbors near the County Services Park, land sandwiched between Rockville and Gaithersburg that includes bus depots and warehouses. The neighbors are being given minimal opportunity to protest and question the decision, which does not require County Council approval, and is essentially a done deal.

On most scorecards, the location makes sense. The parcel is about a half-mile from the nearest house, close to several bus routes and 50 yards south of Shady Grove Road, a major thoroughfare. The site is a mile-and-a-half from the church lot in Gaithersburg.

Although not an ideal location, it is a neutral one that represents a compromise, and a step forward. A permanent fix it is not. Two existing centers, in Wheaton and Silver Spring, have been effective to varying degrees. At some point, elected leaders will have to decide whether government should continue subsidies for the centers.

Leggett has also suggested that the county might try to use existing economic-development dollars, earmarked for programs to help small entrepreneurs, for loans to allow qualified day laborers to start their own businesses. An aide to Leggett stressed there would be no special treatment ‘‘other than a little more assistance in helping navigate the complexities of the paperwork.”

Where do you draw the line? It’s one thing to provide a basic gathering place and access to information about existing services. How much more should the county stretch?

Leggett is correct in wanting to shift the county out of the business of running labor centers: ‘‘No one wants to be a day laborer forever,” his statement said. Such moves will take patience and vision but, in the long haul, will prove beneficial.

The new county executive deserves credit for breaking a cantankerous, months-long impasse over a Gaithersburg center. At the same time, the work toward a policy to phase out centers is only beginning.

When 5,900 county students were barred from class Jan. 2 for failing to get the hepatitis B and chickenpox vaccines, required under new state regulations for students in grades 6 through 9, it was easy enough to chalk it up to a minor oversight on parents’ behalf. Some even speculated whether school system officials did enough to alert parents of their children’s immunization needs.

There were some explanations for missing the initial deadline. In at least one school, parents were accidentally given a Jan. 11 deadline. However, 20 days after the deadline extension was granted, excuses have run out.

School wellness centers and county clinics offered free vaccinations, even on Saturdays. Notices have been sent home, and school officials went so far as to make appointments for students, but many failed to show up.

Yet, nearly 4,000 Prince George’s students – out of an estimated 8,000 statewide, according to the state Department of Education – still did not get their shots.

Those losing the most are the county’s students. Valuable classroom time is lost while parents scramble. Just as important, waiting on these immunizations puts the children’s health at risk – chicken pox can result in severe health problems, and hepatitis B attacks the liver.

The solution is not difficult. Parents must get their children immunized – now.

Deal or no deal?

Either Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson owes Dimensions Healthcare an apology – and a boatload of money – or Dimensions has put the nail in its coffin regarding its ability to manage Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly.

Dimensions Chief Executive Officer G.T. Dunlop Ecker said the county has paid only $15 million of a $20 million commitment made last year to help the financially strapped hospital.

Johnson said he paid the $20 million, ahead of schedule.

Neither has produced any evidence, and if Dimensions does not get the $5 million by Friday, Ecker said the hospital will close in 60 days.

The debate began as Dimensions went before the Health and Human Resources subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee seeking $14 million, which Ecker said is needed to keep the hospital open through June. The amount sought includes the $5 million Ecker said the county owes.

Johnson has since offered to give $5 million to Dimensions – on top of what he says has already been paid – but with conditions still unknown to the public, causing even more debates.

The county needs to provide evidence of payment. If it doesn’t exist, Johnson must pay up – by Friday – with a major mea culpa attached.

If Dimensions made the error, management changes must come quickly. A hospital struggling to keep its doors open can ill afford to make a multi-million dollar financial error – and neither can the patients who depend on its services.

Either way, the question must be answered. Taxpayers deserve the right to know how their money is being handled.

It is disheartening that so many smart people, working toward a noble cause, can’t even seem to understand or sort out the math of a deal, further eroding confidence in their longer-term ability to save the hospital.

The Journey, a non-denominational church in Eldersburg, is raising $100,000 for a café⁄concert house that caters to teens. Steve Lowe, The Journey’s pastor, said in December that the idea grew out of a need for a place for teens to gather.

‘‘The idea originated because there’s nothing to do in Eldersburg,” Lowe said. ‘‘Right now the cool place to go is the parking lot at Denny’s, so we need a facility for youth.”

We could not agree more, and applaud The Journey’s effort. Hanging out in the parking lot at Denny’s can lead to little good.

A December forum in Mount Airy centered on the need for youth activities after Councilman Gary Nelson said many residents expressed to him the need to examine the situation.

Last week's Park and Recreation Commission continued the conversation. The idea to start a teen club similar to one run by a church in Hampstead surfaced.

‘‘We'd like to get several teens together and put responsibility on them to plan and organize some dances and eventually a monthly type of activity,” Nelson wrote in an e-mail. ‘‘If the kids are involved, it will give them a sense of ownership and parents are likely to support and get involved.”

Nelson is on the right track. Teens do need to be part of the process if they are going to buy into the programs; they need to be involved from the beginning.

Just because a program meets the needs of one community, such as the program in Hampstead, does not mean it will work in another.

In the fall, the Mount Airy library branch followed the lead of a successful program at the North Carroll branch and launched a teen advisory board.

The idea behind the initiative was to involve the youth in planning activities, but usually no teens show up, even though they can earn a service hour credit toward graduation.

Two questions that surface are whether there are not enough programs for the town's younger residents or whether the programs simply don't interest them.

If the adults in Eldersburg, Mount Airy and Sykesville are serious about creating programs for teens, then we suggest they sit down with the youth and find out what they think.

Hold a teen-adult community forum to get the conversation flowing. Or conduct a survey at the least. The adults need to talk with the teens at the start to discover their needs and interests.

Otherwise, the community can spend time and money developing programs for teens, but will they come?