7 January 2014 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

 7 January 2014 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.

Reorganization Meeting:

ELECTION OF BOARD PRESIDENT- Commissioners approved Shane McHenry again.

RE-APPOINTMENTS

1.  Department Heads

a)  County Attorney- Andy Baudendistel

b)  County Engineer- tabled until McHenry speaks withTodd Listerman about the direction of the highway dept. Listerman still serves at present.

c)  County Highway Supervisor- Tim Grieve

d)  Building Inspector- Bill Shelton

e)  Emergency Management- Bill Black Jr. was recommended to EMA board by commissioners..

f)   911 Director- Charlie Ashley will serve until the 911 board makes their recommendation to Commissioners,.

g)  Veteran’s Service Officer- the state actually appoints that position. We only notify state when that position vacates. Michael Burgess is current officer.

h)  Maintenance Supervisor-Eric Hartman

i)   Animal Control Director- Marlene Underwood

j)   County Administrator- Terri Randall

2.  Boards Commissioners Serve (All serve on Solid Waste and Drainage Board)

a)  Common Construction Wage (Shane currently)- same

b)  Juvenile Board (Shane currently)- same

c)  Emergency Management (Shane currently)- same

d)  Redevelopment (Kevin currently)- same

e)  Plan Commission (Art currently)- same

f)  Personnel Advisory (Shane currently)- same

g)  Region 9 Workforce (Art currently)- same

3.  Citizen Boards

a)  Planning Commission – Mike Hall and Ken Nelson who resigned

 Jim Thatcher- nominated by Little. Lynch wanted to table this until they could get more names. Both seemed to favor appointing someone from HVL. Tabled Nelson’s replacement. [NOTE: The Plan Commission is balanced by political party and in the past they have attempted to balance it so that all areas of the county have some representation. HVL is governed by a POA and residents there may not feel affected by county planning decisions, the same way that someone actually living in developing areas might. Nelson was from the SW rural side of the county. He also had planning background and experience. Perhaps the commissioners should look at the board- their residence area and their political party before looking for candidates. Candidates should be neutral no matter what their political party and so appointing someone who is politically active might be counterproductive when tough decisions have to be made. It can set the board up for bias accusations and conflict of interest.]

Mike Hall was reappointed.

b)  Cemetery Board – Milton Massing approved

c)   Alcohol Beverage Board – Jim Dole approved

d)   PTABOR (property tax review) – Mark Neff and Mark Hardebeck tabled to see if they need to reduce number on board.

School Board Brandon Dusty Burress from Sunman Dearborn to Redevelopment Board as non- voting board member.

Mark Banschbach- Chamber President to OKI Board

4.  Other appointments

a)   ADA Coordinator- Terri Randall said she should still serve as that - approved.

OLD BUSINESS:

1.    Commissioners Certificate Sale (tabled from Dec. 17^th) Lynch didn’t recall getting info he requested on other sales they had held from that company. They had a grid and sales from those counties but none of commissioners recalled reviewing that. They will get that resent from Pennington. Little was glad that they could pull properties from that sale if people are trying to pay taxes. Glen Wright – Recorder- brought up some tax deed issues with one of the last sales. Some of these parcels are landlocked. He made them put parcels together so that that wouldn’t happen as it is illegal to create landlocked properties. Pennington said it isn’t illegal- but they do have to notify the buyer as they will need to get an easement to use the property. Commissioners do not want to create unnecessary problems or court battles. Commissioners took that information under advisement. Commissioners approved the company to sell the properties as they were running out of time to have the tax sale.

NEW BUSINESS:

1.  Bill Black, Jr.  District 9 Planning Council- Tabled until he gets to talk to potential appointee. Black got travel advisories and watches signed related to the recent snow emergencies. Conference calls with the state and we have been very lucky in the recent storm compared to the other parts of the state. Governor is declaring a disaster area for parts of the state. Often no money for snow disasters.

2.  Signatures on letter to SIRPC regarding Brownfields Coalition grant- Randall said we were approached for sponsoring this. We agreed to do that and she has prepared the letter. Randall read the letter. Commissioners approved and signed the letter of support to SIRPC for Brownfields grant. Little will take the letter to the SIRPC meeting he will attend tomorrow.

3.  Signatures for letters regarding Hospital appointments – Commissioners decided to reappoint Betty Bischoff and Carl Petty previously in November. The now signed the letter stating that.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: Todd Listerman, Highway Engineer:

 Collier Ridge Bridge #55 letting information / signatures- INDOT said this is set for April letting. These signatures are cleaning up the paperwork on this. State wants this designed to a higher volume road standard. There were a couple places where this couldn’t get this accomplished due to railroad area etc. The lower standards are met in those places. Commissioners approved signing the information for the state

Going to INDOT for Bridge 24 Cold Springs Road for 2017. The structure is damaged and he is confident it will get approval now or in the spring.

ADMINISTRATOR: Teresa Randall- thanked commissioners for allowing her to serve the last two years. She has thanked Baudendistel and Pennington for all their support. She added that there is more work to be done so if I’m nice to you you’ll continue to help!

RFPs sent to 6 firms with a base in Indiana. 4 came back. One opted out due to workload ( Ratio)

DLZ

American Structurepointe with Rossert

 Schmidt Associates (Decatur courthouse annex)

Integrus.

Interviews set for this Friday. Her committee is Randall, Maxwell reps, (if keeping on) Dennis Kraus suggested Liz Morris, Bryan Messmore as courthouse rep. ( Prosecutor approved using him), Shane McHenry as observer instead of voting same as Orschell did in the past on the jail. Eric Hartman. The judges will be asked and someone from sheriff/jail.

$250,000 for geotech fee was already approved for council tonight.

Commissioner Lynch and I went to breakfast with reps from west side of the county.( Dillsboro, Manchester, Moores Hill) $100,000 received for EMS was the big topic of discussion. They are trying to use the funds to make a difference in run times. They want payment based on performance looking back. The east region – St Leon, Sunman, Bright. Trustee and fire dept dialogue going to set up.

Redevelopment training in Muncie all next week. Hoosier energy and AEP sponsored their fees.

AUDITOR: Gayle Pennington- Covered Bridge certification for Guilford Bridge signed.

Claims signed. 2014 Claims schedule is set for the meeting schedule.

Commissioners will have TWO MORNING MEETINGS IN FEBRUARY due to McHenry and Little having conflicts with evening tomes for either date.

ATTORNEY: Andy Baudendistel- Old Orchard Hill Subdivision Contract Signatures- Tucker and Watson his attorney, Baudendistel, and Arnie McGill met and hammered out what needed to be done. $25,000 to county held in escrow until he meets those dates. We did not have to call in the bonds and the third phase has been reduced . Commissioners signed the contract with Tucker.

Renihan approached council about for compensation for his services and was approved.

Conflict of interest form for Renihan disclosing his employment with Seitz insurance and board members are insured by them. This was filed and signed by commissioners.

We had 3 different county attorneys in a two year period and he hopes he has provided some stability here.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS:

Lynch feels like they have accomplished much in the past year. He also said Jan 31^st is the tentative date for groundbreaking ceremony for Whitewater mills.

In Feb he will be attending a conference in Washington DC with OKI.

Little- Agrees with Lynch and appreciates working with everybody. Thanked for all their efforts.

McHenry said he feels like they have a good team all the way down the line. We made a tough call to close offices Sunday night. This hasn’t happened in 20 years. He apologized for missing Glen Wright calling him - now they have an emergency contact list they are setting up for departments.

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- none

PUBLIC COMMENT- ALICE training is also on the 31^st of January per Bill Black.

Meeting adjourned at 9:48 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township