11 March 2014 Dearborn County Council Meeting Notes
FOUR COUNCIL MEMBERS (MORRIS, BARRETT, ULLRICH, AND LYNESS) APPEAR READY TO REMOVE THE 5 VOTE RULE FOR SALARY ORDINANCE CHANGES. LANSING AND KRAUS OPPOSED. KEYES ABSENT.
see discussion under the Redevelopment and Administrator duties.
Present: Dennis Kraus. Sr., President, Dan Lansing, Liz
Morris, Randy Lyness, Maynard Barrett, and Bill Ullrich.
ABSENT: Charlie Keyes- out of town
Also present: Gayle Pennington, Auditor and Teresa Randall,
County Administrator
Mark McCormack-Planning
Director- Troy Frazier, Assistant
planner- gave 2 weeks notice- going to Tennessee for better pay. $16,200 for city’s and town’s work is included
in his salary. Advisory Committee gave a favorable recommendation to replace
him. Council approved to seek a replacement
for this position.
OLD BUSINESS:
Redevelopment
Commission , County Administrator increased duties, and new title for
Commissioners Ass’t.- tabled from previous meeting, Andy Baudendistel and Shane
McHenry presented with Terri Randall speaking at times. Baudendistel said there
was an agreement between redevelopment and commissioners to let Randall and
Hayden assume some duties for their board. [NOTE:
This agreement was done retroactively. Economic Development Title was added to
the administrator retroactively also. ]
$30,400 requested- 12,020 for last year and 18,020 for this
year for Randall. This is to cover the work she did in 2013 beyond her administrator
duties. [NOTE: there was no evidence at
the meeting of hours worked or calculated as based on last year’s assumed
redevelopment duties.]
4,810 for Hayden
for her Redevelopment duties and Executive Ass’t title?
48,750 plus 15,000
for 2014 plus 3,020 for benefits for Randall = $66,770 salary for 2014.
Lansing asked how many hours a week spent on redevelopment.
– Varies per Barrett.
County commissioners and redevelopment to work closer
together- to make sure they are on same goals.
Morris- said the revolving door of DCEDI and Redevelopment.
This is better serving the county by doing this in house. We actually got
results when she (Randall) came in. Sewer there got more interest. Now we got
someone- and no one at EDI to get to this when Mills project people were there.
[NOTE: Maxwell is actually the power
behind the scenes here. He has the knowledge and skills to get the project off the
ground.]
Shane McHenry- assured them she has gone above and beyond her
duty.
Lansing said- you are compensating two positions. Sue (Hayden)
is getting more work because of things Terri Randall can’t do.
Barrett said that he sees both side of this. They considered
hiring someone and when he came back after missing a Redevelopment Commission meeting
they had decided to use Randall and Hayden.
McHenry said we want it over here so we can see how they are
spending the money. This is one central location for the contacts. They may
have been putting the business other places.
[NOTE: The auditor will see how the money is being spent. The Commissioners can
request the Redevelopment minutes and financials at any time. There is a
commissioner and a council person sitting on the Redevelopment board. Meeting
on the county campus saves money- but it does NOT ensure close control over
Redevelopment decisions.]
Lansing- no matter where the business is in the county- the
county still gets the taxes. All agreed. [NOTE:
So why worry about whether the city, town, or unincorporated county gets the business?
One reason is that whoever gets the business gets to pick the bidders and
contractors in some cases. They get to be the new business’s eyes in the area
and help smooth the transition to the county. This all gets paid.]
Baudendistel- goal is to make county more efficient.
Kraus- asked who authorized the $10,000 check that was
written- and we wouldn’t have known about it because it was stopped. Barrett-
It was decided by the Redevelopment Board to pay it this way. The auditor
questioned it. Kraus said there is no line item for salaries in the budget. Barrett
said they thought of it as purchasing a piece of equipment. [NOTE: Barrett sits on the redevelopment board
as council’s rep. How does a council person who sits through budget hearings
every year not know that salary cannot be paid out of any line item that is not
designated as salary? Redevelopment has no salary line item in their budget.
This was hurried along like many of the Redevelopment requests this past year-
and they were not adhering to the laws governing the expenditure of money. The
auditor held this up as she knew the SBOA would require this to be repaid.]
Kraus said- Compensatory time is not allowed for exempt
employees!!! Randall is salaried- and an exempt employee. So they are not paid
for overtime.
Two different departments- should be kept separate in his (Kraus’s)
opinion. Should be two different jobs. Talked to Deddins (Chair of
Redevelopment) yesterday. Lansing and Kraus said that is not enough work for
full time.
Ullrich- no one would say Terri hasn’t gone above and
beyond. Now this position has not had as wide a scope as now. Thinks we are
getting more for our money now. Need to maintain the forward movement. Reluctance to have two different things
from an accountability standpoint. Still thinks we should bring salary up
to what it deserves.
Looked at administrator’s pay across the state- many don’t
have one- per Lansing and Kraus.
Morris- said Deddins signed off on this- and we brought Redevelopment
Commission in house- on this campus.
Lyness- is there enough time for her to even do both jobs? Kraus
said- this is at least a job and a half.
Morris said- Sue Hayden was underutilized and now she can
use her skill sets. She has a college degree. She’s a hard worker. [Note: So her pay increase doesn’t look
like she’s getting a new title and that much work.]
Lansing said- people always say it is no new money.
Baudendistel- Sue and Terri would do the work for over half
of what it cost for Rozow etc. before. Sue is $27,851 now.
What is the recommendation from the advisory committee?
Kraus read it- and it was not clear that they wanted two jobs here.
The county needs somebody like this- Lyness.
Salary study showed we weren’t paying people what they
deserve in this area. Barrett
Morris- a lot of people aren’t putting in the extra time.
Add a line item to Redevelopment budget to go to salary is
what the agreement is asking for. Morris said they (redevelopment commission)
have the money. [NOTE: TIF money cannot
be used to pay salaries. So the money they have is money that the county and
Lawrenceburg gave them for land and incentives etc. They talk about being self-sustaining
but the money actually “earned” by the Redevelopment Commission is in the TIF. ]
Kraus – letter from Siemers from Whitewater Mill company- $4,728,000
package- how long to get a return on this? No answer. He’s getting a 50% per
year abatement on property taxes. Council just skimmed past this comment.
Randall spoke: $25,000 from the county goes to Redevelopment
and $75,000 from CVTB goes to Redevelopment budget in the past. Now we give
them $100,000- now have $700,000 now in TIF etc. They do have the payback info
on it. And you can get that from us. [NOTE:
Why haven’t they brought that in to the public?] The 2nd company will be
here in 2 years. Rick Siemers from Whitewater Mills was there and I showed up-
he said if she hadn’t showed up he wouldn’t be there today. This agreement with
Redevelopment and Commissioners is finite- if I am not doing the job they can
let me go. Don’t want 2 jobs. But it has to be done. I am not double dipping. I
just stepped up and did it. The more we partner with L-bg the more likely they
are to give us another million to do more economic development.
Randall still - When this was priced out by the firm we use-
this job I am doing was priced out at what highway engineer is making. And we
asked for less. [Note: Not much less.
The highway engineer has a PE and years of experience with the state. What is
Randall’s experience and educational background?]
Baudendistel said the TIFs were just renewed again in West
Harrison and Aurora. Plat maps of TIF will also be in these from now on. Each
city has its own Economic Development person. This is giving the county a point
person for Economic development. [NOTE:
The city and town people are doing one job- not more than one job.]
Gayle Pennington- Auditor-- clarifies-the money has not been
moved- the $10,000 claim from Redevelopment was not paid. IRS checklist said
this had to be done differently. She has to protect the county and pay this
correctly. There was no transparency.
SBOA said to bring it to council. The money will come out of redevelopment. NOT
county general.
Glen Wright- DC Recorder- had a difficult time with $10,000-
it’s a big number compared with other paychecks here. Others do a lot of extra
work. Snow plow- maintenance staff- police- volunteer firefighters. Many go
above and beyond their job descriptions. They have satisfaction to make the
county better. TIF districts invested heavily and it will take years to see the
effects. I do not believe a single
individual brought this econ dev here. No one pays any attention to the
drummers who keep the band in step in a parade. Consider the effect this has on
your other employees.
Steve Renihan- (Chairman of sewer board and also paid extra
for work for supervising projects)- as a private business owner – don’t make
the county penny wise and pound foolish- for $10,000 to keep increasing our tax
base. Important to recognize. Cities have a highly compensated person to do
this. More than half land mass is unincorporated in county. We need to have
people to represent this. Think from a long term perspective. We put a lot of
money in W Harrison to get the sewer there in W Harrison. Protect our
interests. We did the W Harrison at request of commissioners. Revenue is going
down from casino. [NOTE: It is more than
$10,000- it is $18,020 annually.]
Chris Mueller- two points- in summary I asked them to
consider what happens to the administrator duties- the ones Randall was HIRED
to do originally. We keep talking about Redevelopment, but the administrator job
is the main job. If this is really a job and a half and if the administrator
works long hours and meetings in the evening, there is risk of burnout as well
as the job not being done well at times. Adding more money does not
miraculously create more hours in the day to get things done. It would be a
shame to set talented people up for failure. The second point was that I
believe in the checks and balances of government. Council checks commissioners
and vice versa. WHO CHECKS THE REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION? And if they are joined
so tightly with Commissioners and/or Council then that party of the system is
not going to work.
Lyness- Randall has been doing this job since March
2013-knows how much time it takes. He assumes that some of those duties will go
to Hayden.
Chris Mueller- perhaps take the time to spell this out in
job descriptions and pay scales that match up. It doesn’t look like Hayden’s
pay increase will match her new duties and title.
Lyness asked Randall about her job time spent and how it was
going.
Randall – I think I have been doing it “and I have been
doing it pretty awesome.”
Kraus- -you know where I stand on this
Lyness- $10,000 – choking on that. That should have come up
before November. [NOTE: Was that claim
presented in November?]
McHenry brought up at budget time and was told not to bring
it up for more money. Barrett- and there wasn’t any enthusiasm for it at budget
time.
Barrett- has voted for it twice on Redevelopment Commission
and Personnel Advisory Board. He motioned to accept Redevelopment
recommendation and include the $10,000 in the total of $30,040 [NOTE: Where did $2,020 get added here? See
above numbers whne this first proposed at beginning of meeting.] for both
years for Randall. $4810 for Hayden. Ulrich 2nd it and want to revisit this at budget hearings
to work a better solution. Votes- 2 Nays Kraus and Lansing. Rest ayes (4) and so fails- It takes 5 for
salary ordinance.
Baudendistel is big on the out clauses in the contracts and
stated that again.
Mueller- But you don’t want to set up something that pretty
much makes you use them- it’s a failure then.
Morris referenced the county attorney’s email on simple
majority. Much discussion on precedence- now Baudendistel gets with Kramer who
was the attorney Council asked about the 5 vote salary rule. Kramer hadn’t
answered yet. [NOTE: Council has been
using 5 votes for salary ordinance approvals over 30 years. I know personally
they used it all the time I have been attending meetings since mid 1995. In the
blog notes the earliest record of it is Nov 2004 and again in Jan 2006. Both of
those stand out as the board was not unanimous. There are many counties in the state
who use this supermajority rule as a protective measure to keep payroll costs
from expanding too much. It also helps to keep the decision from being a
partisan vote, as it generally requires more than one party to approve. At
least it does in counties that are more politically balanced than ours is. That
is how it was explained to me years ago.]
Review and vote to add two salary line items to the budget
and amend the Salary Ordinance- approved pending the result of Kramer and
Baudendistel talking. Lansing Nay and Kraus Nay- rest Ayes
Review $10,000 gross adjustment to the County
Administrator’s salary for work performed in 2013- included in the above
agreement.
Accept job description changes to the County Administrator
and Administrative Secretary change to an Administrative Assistant- included in
above agreement.
[NOTE: This is not an
official approval unless Kramer says the 5 votes rule is not allowed for salary
ordinance. If he does- the council can then meet and vote by simple majority to
change that rule – the same way they changed the one on spending riverboat
savings account to simple majority. Expedience seems to be the name of the game
now. Rules that get in the way get changed. Titles and job descriptions and pay
get done retroactively to cover jobs that just expand without a job description
or pay scale or designated supervisory board. I am not sure why the Redevelopment
doesn’t hire a person and the administrator stays separate. There are items in the
county that are not finished that were started two years ago. There are also
signs of work overload, when notices get posted just barely by deadlines and sometimes
meetings changes as deadlines were not met. Too many last minute items lead to
mistakes. More planning is needed for this to possibly work. And even then,
doing it right will probably lead to burnout in my opinion.]
Lawrenceburg Loan-
Lawrenceburg will forgive 25,000 of the 256,000 loan. On the table for 30 days.
Lansing reported this. Voted to pay off the whole amount to Lawrenceburg after
Pennington advertises it. Pennington will advise Jackie Stutz of our intention.
Dearborn County
Community Foundation Letter- signature approved at the February meeting-
Fred MCarter prepared the letter and sent it over, $84057.35 $75,000 stays with
the foundation in our Quality of Life Endowment Fund. The rest comes back to
the county. Signed.
Aurora Lion’s Club-
Council Benevolent Fund- $1000 for Payback the Clown at the Farmer’s Fair- lost
the casket company support- council approved. [NOTE: The Council gets dinged by SBOA for this charity donation type
item every year. With the Riverboat Revenue declining, perhaps this needs to be
stopped.]
Dearborn County
Regional Sewer- Steve Renihan- no addition- just a transfer- Hrezo and
Fehrman also present. 70 % done with N Dearborn rd and 25% done on Guilford
study. Going nowhere on Guilford so they want to spend money elsewhere and Briarwood
and Outer Drive off 148 needs a study. It is densely populated and it will give
them more customers. The folks want it and they can afford a sewer bill. They
will continue to look at Guilford. Lawrenceburg and Aurora support doing 148.
Sewer ends at Springdale area. Not financially self sustaining yet- but Renihan
says they are getting there. Interlocal agreements are how the county gets the
existing sewer companies to pick up the sewage for treatment. We help set rates
so the county residents are represented. Morris
motioned to transfer the funds of $8925 for the study of Outer Drive area. 2nded
and Approved.
Auditor- Minutes
approved. Created a fund for 911 dispatching funds received from Aurora to do
their dispatching. Approved.
Council
probably changing budget hearings to August 25th week at Barrett’s
request.
Hensley requested position to replace and they decided in
personnel committee to NOT fill it at this time per Kraus. Hensley is not happy
about this he said.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
