Thursday, March 28, 2013

Agenda April 2 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting


AGENDA

DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING

April 2, 2013

9:00 a.m., Commissioners Room
County Administration Building
215 B West High Street, Lawrenceburg, Indiana

 
I.              CALL TO ORDER 

II.             PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
 

III.            OLD BUSINESS
 

IV.           1.  Surveyor – Dennis Kraus, Jr. / Appointment of Licensed Surveyor
                       

V.            NEW BUSINESS

                        1.  Planning & Zoning – Mark McCormack
                             A.  Proposed Text Amendments to the Zoning Ordinance        

                                    1.  Articles 5, Section 520 – Contents of an Application for a Zoning                                                      Map Amendment
                                    2.  Article 23, Section 2320 – Site Plan Requirements

                             B.  Proposed Text Amendments to the Subdivision Control Ordinance

                                    1.  Article 7, Certificate E – County Recorder’s Certificate
 

                        2.  Assessor – Gary Hensley

                        Signatures for New Construction and Trending Contract
 

                        3.  Transportation/Highway Engineer – Todd Listerman

                             A.  Notice of Award and Proceed for Bridge #49 Ester Ridge Road

                             B.  Signatures for North Dearborn Rd. Change orders 0006-0010
 

                        4.  EMA – Bill Black, Jr.

                        Signatures for EMPG (salary) Grant
                                               

VI.           ADMINISTRATOR – Terri Randall
 

VII.          AUDITOR – Gayle Pennington

1.  Claims/Minutes                       

VIII.         ATTORNEY  

IX.           COMMISSIONER COMMENTS 

X.            LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION           

XI.           PUBLIC COMMENT 

XII.           ADJOURN

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

North Dearborn Road Closure Delayed


The closure of North Dearborn was been delayed an additional week until  April 8 due to wet conditions.

Todd Listerman
Engineer
Dearborn County Transportation Dept

Tuesday, March 19, 2013


19 March 2013 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Shane McHenry, President, Art Little, and Kevin Lynch

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

ABSENT: Gayle Pennington, Auditor. Connie Fromhold covered the meeting for her.

OLD BUSINESS: none

NEW BUSINESS:

Jail Update- Rosser International – Mark Schmeltzer- really wonderful working with Maxwell Construction - brightest and most professional I’ve experienced. It increases the quality of my work.

They are going to issue notice to bidders to bid on project when the documents are ready.  Commissioners approved going out to bid when Maxwell determines the bid documents are ready.

Surveyor – Dennis Kraus Jr. – appointment of licensed surveyor- tabled

Gas line easement for jail expansion- for Sycamore Gas Co for the jail project. Commissioners approved and will sign it in front of a notary.

EMA- Bill Black Jr. – Severe Weather Proclamation Signatures- Commissioners signed March 24-30th as Severe Weather Awareness Week.

First EMA Advisory Meeting last week per McHenry. He thinks it is all going well- with interested board members.

ADMINISTRATOR: Teresa Randall

Request to Approach Council for additional appropriations:

Last year she went with their permission to Council for jail project. She wants to keep as much money in the bank as long as possible.  The auditor and she think this is best- to get periodic draw downs as needed. This is not an additional appropriation- it’s just splitting up the amount in stages as needed. Maxwell put together a draw-down schedule. Because of Council’s few scheduled meetings she wants to get this done now.  $ 425,000 for April and $675,000 for May.  Total needed is $4,475,000 through the end of the year.  Commissioners approved the $4,475,000 request to Council by Randall on their behalf.

There is a line item for County attorney’s retainer and his additional fees. There is another line item #31102 for $20,000 for their deductible for insurance. They have a $5,000 deductible for each event. She needs an additional appropriation of $10,000 for deductibles for lawsuits.  Approved to seek this from council.

On the Worker’s Comp budget. $23,457 needed to pay that this year and their estimate was short this much based on payroll when they did this insurance in December.  McHenry said they are taking a hard look to try to change this expense and to reduce claims. 

Randall said all these were advertised.

Randall said they had approached them with Officer Hedrick regarding active shooter training. ALICE is the acronym for the training program that the insurance company recommends for basic things to do until the police arrive. Bill Black and she met on this and two of their officers are certified in this training. They would perhaps take it to the schools in the future. There is a two-hour training for all supervisors, then the employees. She asked permission to move forward on this. Some of the speakers are people who have survived an active shooter situation. They will proceed with this.

They have met with Fire and EMS groups. She and Kevin Lynch find these one on one meetings to be very instructive. They discuss and are more open in smaller group meetings. Lynch also met with Roger Howard at the hospital and they will give more support to getting more emt training. Randall said breaking it down shows that issues are across the county. Solutions from different regions might be different for each part of the county. 

Commissioners signed the standard agreements for Moore’s Hill – 2 EMS units at $20,000 each. They also signed Aurora EMS for 2 units at $20,000 each.

Randall said that the phone system is outdated and needs to be updated. $70,000 is the estimated amount to finish the job. They also need new PBX systems. They have had a major circuit board go out and patched it together.  Indicom is doing this. She got him to do this in phases. This is already approved and budgeted. She’s just letting them know they are migrating the systems out for this new one.

They have approval from CSX to get the fiberoptics run over the RR tracks to Hoosier Square. $4850 for encroachment license fee and other fees associated with this. Commissioners signed the contracted $4,000 after Baudendistel said it was iron clad and Randall said they didn’t want to change this wording and waste another year. The other $850 is separate from the contract. There is also a $1,000 fee to install this. Indicom will cost about $8000 to finish off Hoosier Square.

Lynch congratulated Randall on her one year of service and all she does.

AUDITOR:  Connie Fromhold presented meeting minutes which were approved ( 3 sets)

Claims were also approved.

ATTORNEY: Andy Baudendistel- nothing more

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS- Art Little also thanked Randall for her energetic approach to her duties.

Kevin Lynch- said the new office configuration has turned out well and the employees are happy with it. It has also helped be more efficient for the citizens. Hartman and Shelton also helped out a lot on this with Randall.

ShaneMcHenry said Sue Hayden has taken on more responsibility to free Terri up to get her tasks done. Randall said and Hayden did it with no additional pay.

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- none

PUBLIC COMMENT- Jim Schuler- Aurora- asked about the transfer of the jail budgeted funds and if they were to be costs at or UNDER the budget. He asked if it will stay in interest bearing accounts until needed. Randall said it will be up to the auditor.

Randall will be attending the SB 528 at the Statehouse on the Riverboat Funds. She and Liz Morris will be carpooling. Art Little will go with them.

McHenry is disappointed in Lawrenceburg having a “circus” going on there especially while trying to get the Riverboat funds to stay here. The bad press is not good now. He said losing some of our services will be detrimental to our community.

Bill Black said that the EMS Advisory Board did reappointment him- unanimously per McHenry.

[NOTE: These meetings seem to echo a continuous refrain of praise for each other.  While we are all glad everyone is getting along so well, the amount of back patting actually seems to lesson the effect. It’s like my kids used to say after soccer tournaments- “If everyone gets a trophy, it’s like no one got a trophy.” ]

Meeting adjourned at 6:27 PM
After the meeting I got a mini tour of the new office arrangment on the top floor. Commissioners and Administrator and their Assistant will be in small offices surrounding the Commissioners meeting room. The Building Inspector, Sewer Board, and Planning Office are all upstairs. the big windowed room will be a conference room for all departments to use as needed. The rooms are bot finished yet.

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

 

Monday, March 18, 2013

Friday, March 15, 2013

Agenda for March 19th Commissioners Meeting


AGENDA

DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING

March 19, 2013

5:30 p.m., Commissioners Room
County Administration Building
215 B West High Street, Lawrenceburg, Indiana
 

I.              CALL TO ORDER
II.             PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
III.            OLD BUSINESS        


IV.           NEW BUSINESS

                        1.  Surveyor – Dennis Kraus, Jr.

                                    1.  Appointment of Licensed Surveyor

                                    2.  Gas Line Easement for Jail Expansion 

                        2.  EMA – Bill Black, Jr.
 
                                    1.  Severe Weather Proclamation
                                                                   

V.            ADMINISTRATOR – Terri Randall

1.  Jail Update

2.  Request to Approach Council for Additional Appropriations
 

VI.           AUDITOR – Gayle Pennington

1.  Claims/Minutes                       

VII.          ATTORNEY  

VIII.         COMMISSIONER COMMENTS 

IX.           LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION            

X.            PUBLIC COMMENT 

XI.            ADJOURN

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

State’s Brief in Response to Petition to Transfer Brewington Case to Supreme Court

The State’s Brief in Response to Petition to Transfer

 
This is the document the Indiana Attorney General’s office filed on Monday, March 11, 2013. Brewington has 10 days to respond and then the Indiana Supreme Court decides if they are going to hear the case.
http://www.dadsfamilycourtexperience.com/State%27s%20Response%20to%20Petition%20to%20Transfer.pdf

Pope Francis I elected on 5th ballot


Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope on the 5th ballot this afternoon. He took the name Francis.

IndianaLawyer.com on Brewington


IS COURT OF APPEALS OPINION ON THREAT TO A JUDGE A THREAT TO RIGHTS?

http://www.theindianalawyer.com/is-coa-opinion-on-threat-to-judge-a-threat-to-rights/PARAMS/article/30955

Planning and Zoning 2012 Annual Report



Dearborn County Planning and Zoning 2012 Annual Report.
Statistics on permits, inspections, grants for county entities, and board decisions.

http://www.dearborncounty.org/Government/County-Offices/Planning-Zoning/Newsletter

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

ABUSE OF DUE PROCESS




 
Abuse of Due Process- by Mike Adams March 11, 2013


The War Against  Fathers- by Mike Adams September 21, 2009

 
In case you want to know about the Conservative Website and Magazine - Townhall.com

 

Monday, March 11, 2013

WE THE HOOSIERS HOSTS MICHAEL MAHARREY MARCH 14TH

Local Tea Party- We the Hoosiers hosts speaker Michael Maharrey. He is from Lexington, KY and part of the 'think tank' of the tenthamendmentcenter.com.

We the Hoosiers invite you to join us as we try to educate ourselves and others concerning important life issues which will have such lasting effects on not only ourselves, but our children and grandchildren. We the people can make a difference – but we must let ourselves be heard! Learn about your rights as a citizen of your state!

The topic for the We the Hoosiers meeting Thursday, March 14, (from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the meeting room of the Lawrenceburg Firehouse on Tate Street.) is ‘Nullification.’
We are pleased to welcome special speaker Michael Maharrey, author of OUR LAST HOPE: Rediscovering the lost path to liberty. He is also the national communications director for the tenthamendmentcenter.com.


He explains the history of the forming of the federal government versus the state government. He attempts to instill hope in each of us as he encourages us to voice our rights as citizens of our state. We do have power!

‘Nullification’ is any act, or sets of actions, taken by a state legislature that find a federal act  unconstitutional, and render it null, void or simply inoperable in that state. The people of the state have the right through ‘Nullification’ to say ‘NO’ to the federal government!

The meeting is open to the public.

We hope you will join us.

submitted by Kathy Jacobsen
Lawrenceburg Township

Friday, March 08, 2013

North Dearborn Road Section Scheduled to Close March 25th



Dave O’Mara Contractors is scheduled to close North Dearborn Road west of Hiltz Road starting March 25, 2013. Closure should last approximately 3 months.
 
Todd Listerman
 Engineer
Dearborn County Transportation Dept

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Technorati, Huffington Post, change.org, and Free Dan Brewington Links

Dan Bimrose articles with some new insights on Brewington case plus an online petition:
 
Another article written by Dan Bimrose. " There is indeed two major aspects to this story. One being what most would consider the wording in Indiana’s code and the other being the heavy handed and somewhat vindictive nature of a small town legal system that boasts the most extreme sentences in the state and a frequently overcrowded jail just twenty years old with a proposed expansion strongly advocated for by the very same Prosecutor Negangard.
It is readily apparent that Mr. Brewington was not trying to hide anything. The grand jury transcript is even available on-line. He put it all out there for everyone to see and judge for themselves.
I suspect Daniel Brewington will fare far better in the court of public opinion than he did in the court of Indiana Judge James D. Humphrey."- Bimrose

 
 
"This type of scenario should horrify anyone reading this story. Our government officials must be held accountable. Anyone who chooses to serve the public, is elected by the public, or is paid by the State must expect and tolerate being berated by the public.
Is it really wise to allow those who have so much power in our community the power to imprison people who expose them to "hatred, contempt, disgrace, or ridicule"? Dissent, particularly when justified, is seen by many in the United States as our patriotic duty.
A world where the people are afraid to speak for fear of imprisonment is a world where the people in power have the ability to quell protest and ensure that injustices performed by the state are hidden."- Bimrose
 
 
 
"In the meantime, the people are coming together on a new Facebook page(Free Daniel Brewington) and signing an on-line petition (change.org petition) to further encourage the Indiana Supreme Court to hear Daniel Brewington's case."- Bimrose
 
 

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

5 March 2013 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes


COMMISSIONERS ADDRESS HOMESTEAD EXEMPTIONS, CURB COUNTY VEHICLE USE, CHANGE BOARD APPOINTMENTS (HON REMOVED AND DAWSON TO FOWLER), AND RIVERBOAT REVENUE AND SEQUESTRATION EFFECTS.
5 March 2013 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Shane McHenry, President, Art Little, and Kevin Lynch

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

OLD BUSINESS:

Historic Hoosier Hills- Change board appointment to Ted Fowler- Commissioners approved replacing Brad Dawson who is serving in another capacity per Terri Randall.

Ordinance- Retention of Service Weapon, Badge and ID card for deputies retiring with 20 years of service- Sheriff Kreinhop said this is a common practice for state police but not sheriff’s departments. Baudendistel prepared the ordinance modeled after 5-22-22-6 and the 36-1-3-5a and the state ordinance on state police. He read the eligibility requirements into the record. This has been done previously on a case by case basis. Commissioners approved the ordinance with McHenry abstaining. (he works for sheriff’s dept.)

County Attorney Agreement- Randall reviewed other counties and other agreements with previous county attorney’s here. Pay is $20,000 retainer and $150/hour for work beyond the retainer.  Commissioners approved. McHenry said Andy came on two years ago when McHenry took office and  has done an outstanding job and has stepped up whenever needed.

Confirm remainder of Commissioner Meeting dates- 1st Tuesday at 9 AM and 3rd Tuesday at 5:30 PM. This will avoid running into occasional Council meetings on the 3rd Tuesdays.

NEW BUSINESS:

Certificate for retiring Aurora postal worker- Bill Blackburn after 30 years retired Feb 28th. McHenry acknowledged his military service and postal service and presented the certificate. Audience applauded. Randall took a picture of him with Commissioners and auditor.

Drew Barth- signatures on title sheet for Bridge #102- Drew Barth introduced himself to the 2 new commissioners. This is for bridge on North Dearborn Rd. Commissioners signed. 

ADMINISTRATOR: Teresa Randall- nothing much to report other than that she is recuperating well from her foot surgery. They (she and Lynch) are scheduling individual meetings with EMS units to get regional meetings later. They are also looking at the jail project for the next agenda.

Local elected officials agreement for region 9 work force board to address unemployment. Kevin Lynch has been appointed to that board. They want each county to sign a local elected officials agreement. Mayor Carr is also on this board as the mayor of the highest populated city in the county. The agreement runs 18 months thru June 30, 2014.

Kevin Lynch and Art Little discussed this and the meetings run back to back with his OKI meetings. He asked Little to take over his spot and have the county administrator with her HR background could also attend with Little. Little asked if this was just setting on the board or if the executive meetings in Greensburg were required. Lynch said the meetings move around the region. Little doesn’t want to use the phone attendance option. Little agreed to do this if Randall would go also. She said she was there for him. She said she was impressed with the group attendees. She thinks they should be more involved with them that we have been in the past. Little has attended some of the meetings in the past also. Commissioners appointed Art Little as CCEO fro region 9 Work force development and also signed the agreement.

Kevin Lynch also addressed the Work force Investment Board changes. This will take place this summer. Current rep is Marty Hon. In discussions with chief elected official of this Work Force Act. The criteria set forth may mean that our rep may not be eligible to hold this spot. They are looking for getting some business people involved in this board and related economic development. Rick Craig from Craig Distributing has been considered for this spot. Lynch was going to make the motion to appoint him when the time comes. McHenry said he would like to meet him first. Little said he knew Craig well. McHenry asked if they were going to withdraw Hon from the board as it transitions. Hon is currently president of the board. McHenry said –from what he has heard  it might be better to withdraw and have a better transition with someone who can continue on the new board. Commissioners voted and decided to remove the current member ( Marty Hon) from that board.

AUDITOR: Gayle Pennington- HOMESTEAD DEDUCTIONS introduced Tim Jorczak from Maximus Consulting service- who helps auditor’s get thru their homestead audit. He also has DLGF background (he worked for them for 3.5 years) This is the program they are going thru. There is a pink form verification process. The benefit varies on where you live. It can cut your property tax bill cut in half at times. You can only claim one homestead credit in the state. His company helps verify the homestead exemptions. They identify and root out the ineligible deductions. They have done Boone ( 17,500 homesteads and 360 letters and 70 were eligible) and Putnam Counties. They have $400,000 in back taxes and in Putnam they found $100,000 in back taxes. They identify possible issues and send out a first letter. Many are OK in that first letter. They then proceed on to cover the ones who are not for further investigation. They generally end up mailing to about 1% of homesteads on file.  $2 for each Homestead reviewed is their fee. $35,000 was fee paid in Boone County.  Pennington said there is an appeal process if someone wants to appeal their homestead decision. She said using this rate is much more cost effective than using her deputies for the research. They are down to 2,000 people to investigate now in Dearborn County. Rick said they do an overview of the County still as part of the process. This helps identify some of the dual homestead claimers also. You cannot claim a homestead in Florida and one in Indiana also. This affects a lot of the “snowbirds” in the county. Commissioners will be presented with an agreement to sign in the next month or two.

Commissioners signed claims. Minutes were not ready. Pennington has been in INDY a lot over the SB 528 issues with gambling revenue.

ATTORNEY: Andy Baudendistel- Prepared a letter to send to Gillman but heard from Beam Longest and Neff that Gillman was accepting the county offer and so no condemnation on this property for Stateline Road.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS- Kevin Lynch- said the Riverboat Revenue issues have made him look at the county budget more closely. He has concerns about some things such as county vehicle usage. Fuel cost increases are a concern. He motioned that - Effective immediately- all county vehicles are to be parked at the county and not taken home. Uses need to be requested and approved by the commissioners before taking the vehicle out.  Snow time is an exception for county highway and sheriff’s dept is exempted. There will be some case by case exceptions that can be approved. Commissioners waited for McHenry to return from his phone call. Randall said that they need to get bidding on maintenance also. She also said they need to set criteria for the approval process. Baudendistel said that should be part of personnel policy handbook. McHenry apologized for call (he has a sick kid at school) Pennington said they will need to keep mileage logs. See motion above from Lynch-   Little 2nded the motion. Approved.

Lynch also said he appreciated all the info on the gambling legislation. He also said that Mcmillin and Frye need to keep us informed on a regular basis. McMillin said he would keep us in the loop.

Little said they have all been working for us as had Nugent. We will lose half our gambling money if this  goes thru.

McHenry said that he’s confident in our representatives.

Little said he is honored to represent Dearborn County.

McHenry asked Bill Black to discuss the snow coming. Black doesn’t think we need a formal commitment on our advisory levels. Yellow is hazardous, Orange is a watch and try to stay off roads, and Red is emergency vehicles only. McHenry said he will be in contact with Black tonight and also the Highway Dept. Baudendistel said there are fines that can be assessed if in violation of these levels.

Severe Weather Awareness is next week is in March. Black asked if he can drive his vehicle because it is an emergency vehicle. Bill will put that in writing to Randall for Commissioners for their decision.

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- none

PUBLIC COMMENT- Randall had met with judges  yesterday and had shared the info from lobbysist on sequestration affects that trickle down to local level. $262.00 in JAG grants will be affected. $739,000 wildlife and fish, $1.75 million in substance etc.

Meeting adjourned at 10:30 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

 

Monday, March 04, 2013

Brewington now on Drudge and Fox News

And if things weren't already bad enough for the prosecution ---

Conservatives, liberals, media advocates rally behind man jailed for criticizing Indiana judge



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/03/conservatives-liberals-media-advocates-rally-behind-man-jailed-for-criticizing/#ixzz2MXiFqWV3


"Humphrey said he could not comment on the case. But court records purportedly show he felt threatened enough to get a gun out of storage,  install a home-security system and get protection from a police detail."




.. so did he not comment or did he direct them to (or provide) "court records"?  That the records "purportedly" show something suggests that the reporter was told that the records show what followed, right?  

In any case, that Humphrey requested protection is a new bit of info, since the sworn testimony suggested that this was the sheriff's reaction to a jail house snitch on March 9th (One that Hamilton County records show never had access to Brewington. see http://dearborncounty.blogspot.fr/2011/09/hamilton-county-jail-management-system.html).  I wonder if they will get around to checking the same records we did and wonder that the Sheriff reacted with "protection" AFTER Brewington had ALREADY VOLUNTARILY SURRENDERED HIMSELF to the Sheriff on March 11th? (see http://dearborncounty.blogspot.fr/2011/08/17-august-2011-dan-brewington-bond.html)  How strange would it be if all the "fear" in this case stemmed from the Sheriff or Prosecutor sharing this poorly vetted fairy tale with the judge?