AGENDA- January 6,2026 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting

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AGENDA

DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING

 January 6, 2025 

8:30 a.m. Henry Dearborn Room

Dearborn County Government Center

165 Mary Street, Lawrenceburg, Indiana

REORGANIZATIONAL MEETING

I. CALL TO ORDER

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

III. TITLE VI STATEMENT FOR COMPLIANCE

IV. REORGANIZATION OF BOARD

1.  Election of Board President

  2.  Boards Commissioners Serve (All serve on Solid Waste, Drainage Board & Board of Finance)

• Commission of Public Records (Jim)
• Emergency Management (Kevin)
• Juvenile Board (Jim)
• OKI (Kevin)
• Personnel Advisory (Jim)
• Plan Commission (Jim)
• Region 9 Workforce (Duane)
• Southeastern Indiana Regional Plan Commission – SIRPC (Duane) 
• Justice Reinvestment Advisory Council – JRAC (Kevin)
• Aurora Emergency Rescue Unit Board – (Jim) ? still a board?

V. OLD BUSINESS

• Property on Westside Dr., Aurora (nothing new)
• Use of "old County ROW" / Dog Ridge Rd. - Dennis Kraus, Jr., Surveyor (tabled from Oct 21, 2025)

VI. NEW BUSINESS

• Board Appointments 

• Community Corrections (SERCC) - continue tabled
• Cemetery Board – Joyce Bear
• Regional Sewer District – Steward Cline & Russell Beiersdorfer

• 2026 Litter Initiated - Celeste Calvitto

• March 14 - Logan / Whites Hill.   Weather alternate March 21
• March 28 - Cole Lane.  Weather alternate April 18
• April 11 - State Line
• May 9 - York Ridge
• May 16 - Jamison
• Sept. 12 - Georgetown 

• Use of "old County ROW" / Old Houston Road off of Bloom Road - Sean York
• 
  
• Lawrenceburg Conservancy District Election

VII. ADMINISTRATOR – Sue Hayden

• 2026 PAWS Contract
• 2026 Contracts for 1st Responders (Dillsboro, Friendship, Miller-York, New Trenton)

VIII. AUDITOR – Connie Fromhold

• Claims/Payroll/Minutes

IV. ATTORNEY – Andy Baudendistel

X. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS

XI. LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION

XII. PUBLIC COMMENT

XIII. ADJOURN

18 December 2025 Dearborn County Regional Sewer District Meeting Notes

 

18 December 2025 Dearborn County Regional Sewer District Meeting Notes

Board present:

Steve Renihan President County Commissioners 12-31-2027

Doug Baer Treasurer  County Board of Health 12-31-2027 

Brett Fehrman VP & Secretary City of Aurora 12-31-2025 

Jeff Bittner Board  County Council 12-31-2026 

Russell Beiersdorder Board County Commissioners 12-31-2025

Jeff Stenger Board  County Council 12-31-2028

ABSENT: Steward Cline Board  County Commissioners 12-31-2025 

Board Attorney - Frank Kramer

Also present: Christy of Hrezo Engineering and Commissioner Duane Bischoff, Meinders and Neyer.

Renihan read the Public Access Statement as legally required.

Minutes: December 4th Minutes Approved

Treasurers Report: TABLED till Doug Baer reviews it during the meeting as this is the year end meeting. 

Public Comment: Meeting on January 8 is only an executive session to interview candidates before Jan 15. 

Then regular meeting on Jan 15th.  

Project Updates: Christy - lots of snow and rain slowing construction down a little bit. IDEM issued a comment period till the end of January. Nothing concerning in their report. 

Guilford- Jeff Meinders poured building floor and equipment pads too. Ordering equipment for Dillsboro and Guilford. They will take board action on the January 15th meeting. 

Dillsboro- Jeff has worked out equipment at Dillsboro. There is a change order for this. Kramer has to look this over too. It’s about $30,000. This is for sampler. Meinders said- They are buried by existing pipe and meters is there and dumping into small trough that existing line dumps into. Our pipe will be higher than theirs to prevent cross contamination. Reworking how to get ours to set beside theirs.There is a flow pacer- which can detect whether one or two meters are running. The sampler and meter tie together.  Using the same brand meter as Dillsboro -only in a smaller size. Cost was $32,083.66. Approved. So Meinders can order it. Doug Baer is putting this under engineering. 

Regarding the PER and Asset management plan and Christy has been in contact with Steve Brock on this. 

High Ridge WWTP - Doug Price not here- no issues reported. Blowers ordered- need serial numbers etc for Christy. She also is considering a change on orientation for the expansion on High Ridge to make this work better for access. This will have to extend the wall. Meinders has cleared this out in the past. 

Christy needs DCRSD Asset Management Plan to be updated with serial numbers etc. This has to be done by March for submittal for grants and the state revolving fund. She has a plan for getting this done. PER- Preliminary Engineering Report- has to be in this. This will actually help double income to get the High Ridge Expansion done to service the area.  

New Business: Steward Cline did summary in emails on 3 RFPs received - to discuss at executive session on Jan 8th.

Brett Fehrman- reported 275% increase in rates for Crossroads is being requested with OUCC per email he received for 4,000 gal. Our rate is about $88 for that same gal amount. Board members tell people that it is NOT our CTA- not our rates. Serenity Ridge customers might be affected by this. Our fee to those customers is a fixed $18. As they are in our district.

Renihan says we need to get capacity. Fehrman- In 16 years we have a LOW rate increase- Crossroads is huge increase.  

Office Update: Kelly just wanted board to cash their checks so she can balance at end of year.  

Claims: Baer- wants to accept for the approved change orders that were approved on November and Dec 4. Change order $102,246.89 bridge  and includes $37,000 etc. These are all under  construction in the records for Baer.  He needs to move $110,000 out of contingency to construction. This is within the Guilford Account. Approved by Board 

Baer- we are in the legal account for the RR issues at Guilford that Kramer has encountered. Approved to move $12,000 plus $3,000 for legals on Guilford. Total $15,000.

Baer - Lake Dildear account- $69,000 in contingency and needs $33,000 to be moved from that under construction. Approved.

Baer- We have not taken any money out of contingency money for county. Just collecting interest there. Agreed that is a good idea to keep separate. When we go for grants - need to keep spreadsheet accurate. 

CLAIMS- Baer - $7278.53 normal operating. Approved 

Baer- Lake Dildear construction costs -$9522.80 Approved

Baer- Guilford construction costs- $100,240.95 Approved.

Discretion of the Board: Exec session Jan 8 @5 pm to discuss RFP. Excited they got 3 responses. 

3 Appointments- They will recommend that the 3 commissioner appointments be reappointed and also that Aurora reappoint Fehrman ( longest serving board member.)

Wants board members to think about serving still or not. Jan 15 is officer election. 

Special thanks to Kelly and the board members.

Per Meinders- Hoosier Hills water charges 50 cent per meter per month, they will bill DCRSD quarterly.

Chris Mueller- asked about who Anthony Smart (DCRC Attorney) had talked to regarding the money that DCRC had requested in the past for the sewer line for the Whitewater Mills project and West Harrison TIF. Anthony Smart reported to DCRC that the DCRSD had no intention to ask DCRC for TIF money so they did; t have to worry about that. [NOTE: See previous posting on this blog with a short video of that report to DCRC.] 

A 30 minute discussion with the DCRSD Board and their attorney followed. It was evident that the Board had not discussed it prior to Steve Renihan talking to their Attorney Frank Kramer and then speaking to Anthony Smart. 

Adjourn: 7:00 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

17 December 2025 Dearborn County Redevelopment Special Meeting Notes

 

17 December 2025 Dearborn County Redevelopment Special Meeting Notes

Present: Jim Deaton, Chairman, Dennis Kraus,Jr.,Tom Tepe, Trevor Bischoff, Jordan Hoffman, Jim Mansfield,Doug Baker.

ABSENT: Daryl Cutter (non- voting school board member)

Also present: Sue Hayden, county administrator and minute taker, Connie Fromhold, Auditor and DCRC treasurer.

ABSENT: Anthony Smart, attorney.

Title VI statement read by Deaton as legally required.

Deaton said one issue had developed and he wanted to take care of it. Board agreed to allow people to speak again tonight. 

Jackie Randolph- Hon Road- She is against this- moved out here to enjoy peace and quiet. Ramrodded it thru without telling people about it. Kind of like the county did with the rezoing of people’s land without listening to people. She compare it to West Chester with TIFs and see what they get out there. 

Rhett Dennerline-  is here to share information. I agree we should be civil. Replacement theory- SEIReadI- in 2021- repeats it over and over that they want to increase our population. It is all about diversity, equity, and inclusion, etc. They see this as a problem. It is a way to destroy the people’s culture. The weakness of this area is low cultural diversity.  Resistance to change is the threat to this plan.People signed this to support this plan. Maxwell Construction One Dearborn and Duke Energy signed this.

Dean Swami- Agrees with Dennerline. I am not an expert in this- but know a bit about economics. Bring in new people and they will be on the boards and they will vote things like Link 101 in. I feel that more discussion needs to be had.

Ms. House- from Lake Dildear.- Apologized for her behavior at last meeting. Tif represents loss to schools. Infrastructure not able to support this endeavor. The lack of transparency and not informing the affected residents. There is a noticeable lack of empathy for us. Thank your for listening. 

Stephen Otte- Bennington IN- Thx for reconsidering this issue. I have a feel for people on these issues form nay involvement on issues lately. We are living in a time when people trust their gov’ts less and less. You could buck this trend and listen to them The perception is that power is in the hands of just a few.Are you going to stand up for interests of the few and not the people. This will create sprawl along this highway. The developers stand to benefit- not the people who live here. 

Richard Dennerline- brought from a hospital in Lawrenceburg to house on Mt Tabor. Thank the nays and considerers for their courage. Likes the representative of One Dearborn and thinks he wants what is best for here.  But One Dearborn is not accountable to the people or the gov’t. Many of those behind the One Dearborn rep here have their own agenda.Duke energy, Randy Maxwell of Maxwell Construction etc. Data centers are targets for small towns that cannot resist them. They are massive users of energy and water.  Expect this to be noisy and exhausting 24/7. Support for this TIF is short-sighted. We are defending our way of life routed in woodlands, farmland and integrity. 

End Public Discussion

Trevor Bischoff- lives in Jackson Township- he voted for it to proceed originally so he could hear from people. He said we are here to help you and cannot if we don’t know your opinions. 

Jordan Hoffman- Appreciates the amended proposal that was submitted by Mr Dennerline. I’m hearing the people are not interested in this development. He has not seen much to change his opinion when he voted NAY before.

Jim Mansfield- Has seen a lot of good from TIFs. It’s Clay Township which surrounds Dillsboro. 

Doug Baker- Heard a lot of things that are not correct. We want the same things the people want. The uneducated comments that people made are not fair to the people  who are on this board. Does not think Duke is out there- Has REMC. Some people called who were in favor of this also. 

Dennis Kraus, Jr. Some of us are new to this board- like Doug and himself. He voted Nay and  he still doesn’t see a plan for his area so he doesn’t see it still.

Tom Tepe- It’s important to be part of this- Likes to hear the comments- Has noting to add. 

Jim Deaton- lives in Dillsboro - we have been working on this for several months. We do have a plan. Asked Perleberg to talk about the SEI READI plan

Mike Perleberg- - SEI READI plan was founded through 2 rounds in Regions in Indiana. There is interest in maintaining and growing population in Indiana. No one wants to see schools and churches etc closing. That mens you have. Good place to live- and that attracts others to live there too. That’s a little bit of context around the SEI READI plan. 

Deaton- Working on a new comp plan now- you should consider working on this. He states they have no power over anyone’s land. To get TIF’s we have a professional tell us how this will work. We did that. We would get $72,000- from this TIF per year. 

The purpose of the $72,000. Twelve years ago he worked on a plan about water quality and Lake Dildear was part of that issue due to the septic issues. Cannot drive across the dam anymore. Someone needs to drain that and clean it up. Wants to hear from the other 51,000 people. Be your own man and I am going to do what I think is best for this county. 

Mansfield- moved to accept the old one and Tepe 2nded

4 NAYS- Bischoff, Hoffman, Kraus,Jr. And Baker. 

3 Ayes Tepe, Mansfield, and Deaton. 

Clay TIF was rejected. 

Audience Applause. Bischoff said - this shows this board listens so keep talking. 

Kraus told them he was on the board appointed by council - NOT because he was the surveyor. And he encouraged them to get involved in the master plan by contacting Nicole Daily- Planning Director at 537-8821

ADJOURNMENT - 5:50 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township