Update in case anyone else runs into this same problem in the future: I tried porting my code to use Net::OpenSSH but due to the platform I am targeting, I just could not get it working properly. The entire connection would sever and then re-establish and prompt for password after each command. I also had the same issue with Net::SSH::Expect. The solution I came up with was to implement a counter and after 20 iterations, sever the connection cleanly and re-establish for another 20 lines indefinitely. Everything now seems to be in working order. Added code snippet below. Thanks Monks!
if($i == 20){
print $channel "logout\n";
print "$_" while <$channel>;
print "\n";
$channel->send_eof();
$channel->close();
$ssh->disconnect();
undef $ssh;
$ssh = Net::SSH2->new();
$ssh->connect($host, 22);
$ssh->auth_password($tacacsusername, $tacacspassword);
$channel = $ssh->channel();
$channel->blocking(0);
$channel->shell();
$i = 0;
}