Wednesday, February 20, 2008

19 February 2008 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

19 February 2008 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

Present: Hughes, Chairman, Thompson, and Fox
Also present: Pickens, Auditor and Ewbank, Attorney.

ABSENT: Messmore, Administrator (at GIS conference until Wednesday)
A uniformed police officer was present.

The meeting room was full- most were from CASE- Citizens Against Forced Sewer Hook-Ups.

There were several candidates for commissioner in the audience as well.

1. The personnel manual was tabled again.

2. Donna Imfeld- spoke regarding forced sewer hook-ups. She asked the commissioners if St. Leon Sewer reps were obligate to give the commissioners accurate numbers when they present information. Hughes said that they would have to look into it if they hadn’t. Imfeld told them she didn’t live in St. Leon and that she was here because “you are my elected officials.” She gave them a packet outlining the record of deceit of the St. Leon sewer officials throughout the years. She spoke of IDEM saying they were not to go outside their corporate limits until they had first supplied the inhabitants inside the town. She said that Andy Bischoff (on the board) spoke on giving the people a choice protesting forced hook-up and that was 5 months AFTER he was supposedly hooked-up.

They said in writing that if they were 500 ft or more from the point of connection they didn’t have to hook-up. Her home was 1365 ft from the point of connection and now they tell her she “rolled the dice and lost.” And they are forcing her to connect.

They said the state is making them do it.

On Nov 7, 2005 they said the town ordinance was making them do it.

Now they say the bonds are.

Your letter to Lawrenceburg supporting them does NOT force them to retire the bonds.

Watson told you 42 were unhooked of the 115. 77 out of 115 weren’t hooked and 71 of those will not hook up. (Later in the discussion it was noted that all of these people were called within the past week and this data was verified by three women who gave their names for the record.)

They have shown favoritism in deciding who gets letters to be forced to hook-up and who does not. They are based on business or personal relationships.

Imfeld went on to say that personally she cannot afford the over $30,000 quote she got to hook-up. She does not want to do business with St. Leon- because she doesn’t trust them, she has no vote, and she has no control over what they can do.
She asked the commissioners to not put up an argument and support St. Leon’s sewer deception.

Fox: You are not under our jurisdiction for sewers. But I also do not want forced hook-ups.

Hughes: Not wanting forced hook-ups either.

Imfeld: Lawrenceburg is NOT interested in doing this loan without the 3 of you.

Fox: If St. Leon could get the money it would get you free and clear if they retire those bonds. [NOTE: Not necessarily- only if they retire the bonds AND have another source of money to pay off Lawrenceburg’s loan. DCRSD may have lead St. Leon to think that they will be the recipient’s of that $4.5 million sewer money that Council is holding. That would then stymie the effort of West Aurora sewers that High Ridge needs.]

Imfeld: You could say they won’t get a letter of support until they retire these bonds.

They filed a lawsuit against 18 of us 2.5 years ago and the only action is their motion for a summary judgment. John Watson told me I would be the last one sued.

Hughes: The state has Indiana Code, which says municipalities can go outside in a 1-mile radius and DCRSD now has authority so they can’t sewer anything further. I talked to Tom Knollman a state rep via email. He said he would look into it. [NOTE: What specifically did Hughes ask Knollman to look into?]

Imfeld: How long can they hound us? She delineated her costs and maintenance issues and asked- Are we to lose our houses over this?

Fox: The law is flawed- they reason we took over the county with DCRSD was to help stop this. [NOTE: Why does this idea make me laugh? Who is he kidding?] We wanted to support the loan because we thought they’d swap future customers for those of you under this. The law is crazy- if existing septic works.

Imfeld: Shouldn’t you actively pursue this?

Thompson: I have- I talked to Senator Beverly Guard and also Bischoff and Nugent. I didn’t sign this letter. Ewbank says it’s a bad law. We need to write to these people- the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Imfeld: You were close to fixing this for us.

Fox: IF Lawrenceburg doesn’t give them that much- then they can’t retire the bond. I don’t think they’ll get enough from Lawrenceburg to retire the bond. [NOTE: Why is he hedging now?]
If you could go to Lawrenceburg to get the money to retire this…

Mary Lynn Hertel: (another CASE member) Lawrenceburg insisted that St. Leon make peace with their people and make sure they can pay back the loan- they wanted a 100% guarantee of monthly payments. So how will they pay it back?

Ewbank: We don’t want Lawrenceburg to feel like they can’t use the same enforced hook-up law. Though he didn’t think they forced hook-ups and they did have lines outside the city.

Donna Imfeld and Mary Lynn Hertel and Judy Schneider identified themselves as the 3 who called the 77 members to see who was hooking on or not. They noted that the mother of one of the people of St. Leon was hooking on.

Thompson motioned and Fox 2nd to authorize Ewbank to provide veracity of St. Leon’s version at their next meeting. All ayes. Ewbank will check with the attorneys and court.

Ewbank: Wants to see the bond documents. [NOTE: Watson will give those documents out- I personally have seen them as have other activists.]

Ewbank:The local municipal authorities won’t want to give up this power. [NOTE: Government gets its power from the people. When its power ceases to serve the people- we all know what is supposed to happen next. The history of America is based on what happens when government forgets whom they serve. We even have a national holiday on July 4th celebrating it.]

Imfeld noted that Thom Hammond, their spokesperson, was out due to surgery and Thompson reiterated the importance of writing to get the law changed.

3. All 5 text amendments to the subdivision ordinance were passed. (Bonds, fences, and collector road access issues were corrected) PC will look into making text changes only effective twice a year – unless emergency.
McCormack said the biggest changes will be in the zoning district texts, but that will occur after the master plan maps get adopted.

4. Todd Listerman quickly updated commissioners on the Triple Whipple and said they were seeking federal aid for bridges on Collier Ridge, Cold Springs, and Bonnell.

He also introduced Matt with Gehring Group to discuss a geotech assessment of 6 borings to see what problems actually exist above the hill. Cost is $17,500 that is already in the engineering budget. They think a smaller wall may work near the RR tracks versus the current larger wall in the HC Nutting report.
Thompson agreed it was a way to quantify and see what problems are on the hill. Fox motioned, Thompson- all ayes to proceed with the borings.

5. Claims signed- minutes tabled for corrections.

6. Ewbank said there were no new lawsuits.

Meeting adjourned at 8:20 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fox: You are not under our jurisdiction for sewers. But I also do not want forced hook-ups.

Hughes: Not wanting forced hook-ups either.



But they have not done one meaningful thing to stop such forced hookups!

Hell, they created the DCRSD that was based on the St. Leon forced hookup model!

May their defeat at the polls be most humilating!

May Ewbank be shunned by the new group of elected officials for years to come!

Anonymous said...

"Ewbank:The local municipal authorities won’t want to give up this power."

No Bob, a handful of corrupt developers and lawyers don't want to give up this power.

Put the vote to the "people," I know, I know, the "people" scare you, but let them vote on whether they want this sort of municipal shakedowns.

I'm pretty sure municipalities are made up of the "people."

They may not be your golfing partners or fellow mutual pocket liners at the taxpayers's expense, but they still are the "people!"

Remember the "people" Bob?

Those "people" who showed up for the Comp. Plan Bob?

Those "people" are going to make sure you and your two puppets are thrown out of office!

Anonymous said...

Hughes: The state has Indiana Code, which says municipalities can go outside in a 1-mile radius and DCRSD now has authority so they can’t sewer anything further.

Now the new "spin" is that Fox and Hughes created the dcrsd to stop St. Leon from going out further and forcing hook ups? The same dcrsd which has done its best to partner up with St. Leon to strenghten St. Leon and to give it a taxpayer cash infusion? Do Fox and Hughes forget the little temper dantrum by Ensweiler (who Fox and Hughes has since reappointed to the board) in front of the County Council when they turned down giving them more money to partner with St. Leon? Fox and Hughes don't even work hard to make up semi-credible lies. They just throw out whatever the weekly spin that is agreed on by their development bosses.

Anonymous said...

Has the Dearborn County sewer district offered one alternative for financing their sewers that did not include forced hook-ups or availability fees, charging us for sewers we are not using?

Jeff and Rick are such weasels.

Anonymous said...

DCRSD could have provided an on-site fix for Highridge Estates for the money it wasted on Lisa Lehner and the cost of the Wolpert study, which they then chose to ignore. Guess the study didn't support the goals of certain Board members.

By the latest DCRSD model, the homeowners won't have to hook up, just pay for the sewers (and subsequent development) they do not want or need.

Anonymous said...

By the latest DCRSD model, the homeowners won't have to hook up, just pay for the sewers (and subsequent development) they do not want or need.

The "latest" DCRSD model just epitomizes and exemplifies what the objective was all along when creating the DCRSD: to subsidize the sewers of a handful of crooked realtor/developers.

The public health subterfuge was just to give development interests control of a sewer district so they could begin coercing and extorting from the rest to finance their development.

It was a scam from day one.

Witness the “fix” so far for High Ridge.

Shameless self-serving crooks and their political enablers all.

Anonymous said...

CLIFF EIBECK LOGAN TOWNSHIP WROTE

IF ST. LEON WAS'T PAYING THE BOND PASYMNTS ON TIME.

WHY WOULD THE BOND HOLDERS WAIT TEN YEARS TO PISS AND MOAN ABOUT EVERYBODY IN THE TERRITORY NOT BEING HOOK TO THEIR SEWER LINE, AS STATED IN SAID BOND WORDING.

QUESTION: IS ST. LEON BEHIND IN GHEIR PAYMENTS, THIS NEEDS AN ANSWER

Anonymous said...

The "fix" for High Ridge Estates is for less than 30 homes. One half of High Ridge is on septic systems which is not being considered an urgent fix. If the dcrsd can't fix 30 homes on one street, what are they doing that's worth funding them? It isn't pollution of our environment that the drsd is studying. It's about how to get more money and projects that will add another layer of beaurocratic expense to the development of ANY new sewer systems in Dearborn
co.

Anonymous said...

They have shown favoritism in deciding who gets letters to be forced to hook-up and who does not. They are based on business or personal relationships.


Argumentative

Slander

Politiking

Ad Hominem



Or so some would say, right Mr. E?

Anonymous said...

"The "fix" for High Ridge Estates is for less than 30 homes."

After Board Member got "his," he started talking about High Ridge being out of options. Of course, he never said the same of Gabbard Estates, another Board Member's project or the dcrsd's proposed sewering up toward St. Leon, for the benefit for yet another Board Member. High Ridge is getting in the way of a few crooked developers' development. The dcrsd, brought to you by the incompetent Commissioner Twins. Keep them in mind when you all vote in May.

Anonymous said...

It looks like the "good old boy" system is circling around the bowl.

I personally would like to thank whomever the imbeciles in, or associated with, the republican leadership who thought up running a democrat against the choice of their own primary voters in the last commissioners’ race.

Your hubris and arrogance will prove to be damning for your corrupt cause for decades to come.

Keep up the good work, champs!

Anonymous said...

Who will be left for the Republican big shots to order around and order who to vote for? Only the most scared mongrels with their tails tucked tightly between their legs will listen to these soon to be powerless jerks!

Anonymous said...

In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man

Gary Hubbell
February 9, 2008

There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.

Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.

There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.

His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.

The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.

He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.

The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.

The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.

His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.

He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.

Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”

He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.

He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.

Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.

He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.

There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.

He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.

Anonymous said...

He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.

And the angry white men and women, the angry brown and black men and women and whoever else who would like to to join in who dislike corrupt government are going to beat a couple of petty politicians and a shyster or to like a drum this coming election!!!

Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh, yeah
For you and me

Anonymous said...

The NBC affiliate news van that covered the Dearborn County Republican Leadership turning on its Republican Rank and File voters to support a Democrat which helped Democrat Baron Hill beat Republican Sodrel:

http://www.redplanetcartoons.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/1292007newsvan.jpg

Our Republican Party Leadership is now the darling of the Left-Wing Media!

Anonymous said...

We need to have Vera Benning Challenge Ralph Thompson his next election cycle.

Her campaign theme:

"VOTE FOR ME OR MY CORRUPT REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP FRIENDS WILL SEE TO IT THAT I GET ENOUGH PATRONAGE JOBS TO EMPLOY MY ENTIRE CLAN!"

Anonymous said...

Don't be picking on vera, she ain't equipted to work outside jobs. Why do you think Lisa and Bob tried so hard to keep her employed on the taxpayers' dime? What hearts those two public servants and officers of the court have...

Anonymous said...

He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.

Learn English?

So I am not the only one who gets a little perturbed at having to talk real slow in order for Rick and Jeff to comprehend what I am saying in English?

I don't blame Rick and Jeff for their deficits.

They never got a chance to learn English with Bob Ewbank always finishing their sentences and answering all question directed towards them.

Anonymous said...

Vera Benning's political future:

"Vote for me!"

As those the target of her plea wait slack-jawed for the punch line!

Anonymous said...

”Thompson motioned and Fox 2nd to authorize Ewbank to provide veracity of St. Leon’s version at their next meeting. All ayes. Ewbank will check with the attorneys and court.”

Next Commissioners’ meeting:

Mr. Ewbank’s 33 and a 1/3 second glowing recitation of how truthful and candid St. Leon has been with their handling of their sewer issues with those they impose their will against with no representative recourse will be followed by yet another 3 hour riveting narration by John Zeiden as to the charity and benevolence of the DCRSD and how all their kind attributes and wonderful community outreaches can be ascribed to the DCRSD’s close obedience and loyalty to the ethical framework set forth by the St. Leon Sewer Syndicate.

A uniformed police officer will be present.

Anonymous said...

Dissolve the dcrsd NOW!