3 July 2012 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

3 July 2012 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

COMMISSIONERS APPROVED A BURN BAN FOR THE COUNTY- SEE NOTES AT THE END OF THIS MEETING UNDER LATE ARRIVAL.

Present: Jeff Hughes, President, Tom Orschell, and Shane McHenry

Also present: Gayle Pennington, Auditor, Teresa Randall, County Administrator, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney.

OLD BUSINESS:

Payroll Schedule Change- tabled until next meeting at auditor’s request.

Maintenance for Dearborn County Vehicles- tabled until Randall can like at fuel consumption also at Orschell’s request. Randall will give periodic updates on this.

Consulting services Agreement- Auditor- this was informational- Pennington said she has contracted with Frank Cummings and he will be working on the budget.

Whitewater Canal scenic Byway- Randall said that she and Listerman had talked to INDOT.

 INDOT admitted they did not have any policies or procedure to handle this type of Federal Funding. County will wait on answers from INDOT before proceeding. She also communicated this to the Whitewater committee.

Dearborn County Board of Health Appointment- Alan Goodman, Chairman of the County Republican Party, was appointed to the Board of Health by Commissioners. [NOTE: This board has to be politically balanced by law. Commissioners checked per Orschell and this is still the case even though Goodman is replacing Rodney Dennerline, a democrat, who recently passed away.]

NEW BUSINESS:

OKI Funding Contract- Hughes said they have helped us out at times with the electronic signs and things on Stateline. Payment of $16,000 is due in February. Randall will visit OKI and SIRPC to see what each group does for us in terms of grants etc. Tabled to see what their value is with respect to the dollars spent. We are also in their MPO. Randall will see what impact letting the contract lapse will have. She will report at the August 21^st meeting. Hughes said OKI doesn’t meet until the August.

Ratify Signature for Construction Manager- Randall had asked to go thru with the contract at the last meeting and Baudendistel and she went over the contract. Hughes signed that contract after the meeting. Commissioners approved Hughes’s signature.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: Todd Listerman, Highway Engineer- Stateline, North Dearborn, and SR 1 have the warning lights up and installed this week.

Congress agreed on a new highway bill and it kept the off road bridge money like Collier Ridge. The bill is about 500 pages long. He is still trying to figure out how we fared economically with it.

Fed Hwy Adm- approved the additional funds for the Stateline Rd project.

Tim Grieve, Highway Superintendent- FEMA slips are starting to be fixed next week. Some things we are doing in-house. They will start on Hogan Hill Road. It will be closed except for emergency vehicles. North Dearborn, Dover hill, and West Laughery follow.

They ordered the Mack truck chassis.

They are working on the budget.

Grieve is having trouble finding grindings. O’Mara is unwilling to give the ones up they are getting from North Dearborn project. There are some 3-4 year old ones stock piled in Aurora. Jurgenson owns the ones in Penn Town. They have been sitting for 5 years. They’d need to be double chipped and they are not sure how much oil is in them.

Hughes said he wanted them to do it by their priority list.

Council approved refilling the positions they have open. They will fill from in-house first. Foreman and a maintenance worker are open. Several in-house employees are interested in the foreman position.

ADMINISTRATOR: Teresa Randall:

New smoking law effective July 1, 2012-signage had to be posted at all public entrances and some that are on employee entrances. There was a smoker’s revolt of sorts that said they are infringing on their rights. Some counties put the limit at 8 ft from the building- one had it at 25 ft. Some have a smoking area. They have to move the ashtrays to that 8 ft. distance too. You could also designate it as a smoke free campus. There are penalties and fines for non-compliance. Health Board can enforce. People can file civil suits if they feel we are not complying. What to do in the county vehicles? McHenry said that vehicles hold that smoke smell for a couple years or more. Randall reminded them of their health initiative to help people stop smoking. They have helped pay for some of this also. Pennington reminded them of the Personnel policy on the smoking breaks also. Listerman said hwy vehicles are shared and he’d like to see them smoke free just like the offices. Tabled for further review and Randall will go over campus with Eric Hartmann to find smoking places and door issues. [NOTE: Taxpayers probably shouldn’t be paying for special smoking areas, at least not indefinitely.]

Jail Architect Recommendation- 5 firms interviewed for this position – the committee interviewed each for 2-2.5 hours. Council and Commissioners sat in and watched these. They checked the financials and references of all these firms. She still has a couple of calls and references coming in. McHenry said he wants all the info first- so he wants to table this. Orschell agreed. Tabled.

AUDITOR: Gayle Pennington- claims and June 5^th minutes signed. McHenry hadn’t reviewed the claim dockets so he appropriately abstained.

ATTORNEY: Andy Baudendistel- sheriff’s dept leased 3 agreements on vehicles to HVL and they are signed by HVL’s Bruce Keller and the sheriff. Commissioners signed the 3 agreementsfor 2007 Crown Vic, 2008 Crown Vic, and another 2007 Crown Vic- all “county sheriff dept.brown. “

Gary Hensley Assessor – put out trending bids with Tyler Technologies - $49,600. Approved to enter the agreement even though they were higher by $100 because the lowest bidder did not put in a performance bond.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS- Orschell wished everyone a safe happy 4^th of July. Hughes agreed. McHenry commended Randall for all her hard work so far.

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- Bill Black EMA- wanted to issue a burn ban for the county. This allows law enforcement for this. 83 out of 92 counties have a burn ban now. This does not affect the fireworks. People should use good judgment on fireworks. Commissioners approve the Burn Ban. Campfires are OK as long as they are in a fire ring. They can call sheriff’s dept. for issues. Fines are $200-$1000 and court costs.

Communications Board- Randy Abner had resigned and Johnny Tremain was approved by Commissioners to fill out the rest of that term.

PUBLIC COMMENT- none

Meeting adjourned at 7: 15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township