Thursday, July 31, 2014

Agenda August 5th 8:30 AM County Commissioners Meeting


AGENDA

DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING

August 5, 2014

8:30 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.        NEW BUSINESS

            1.  Children's Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana – Sarah Brichto

 

            2.  LifeTime Housing Group – Paul Murphy & Carla Burkhart

 

            3.  Highway Engineer – Todd Listerman

                 1.  Change Order

                 2.  LPA Consulting Contract for County Bridge Inspections

                 3.  Bridge #5 INDOT LPA Agreement

                 4.  Award of Line Striping

 

            4. Highway Supervisor – Tim Greive

                 1.  Award of Road Paving Project

 

V.         ADMINISTRATOR – Terri Randall

            1.  Jail Project Update

 

VI.        AUDITOR – Gayle Pennington

1.  Claims/Minutes

           

VII.       ATTORNEY

 

VIII.       COMMISSIONER COMMENTS

 

IV.        LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION

 

X.         PUBLIC COMMENT

 

XI.        ADJOURN

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

28 July 2014 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes


28 July 2014 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

Present: Mike Hall, Chairman, Dennis Kraus Jr., Russell Beiersdorfer, Mark Lehman, Mike Hornbach, Art Little, Jake Hoog, Dan Lansing, Jim Thatcher

Also Present: Mark McCormack, Plan Director, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney and planning staff, Vinnie Fazzino and Nicole Daily.

There were about 25 citizens present in the audience.

NEW BUSINESS

REZONING REQUESTS:

1.Request by Daniel Badinghaus for 4.2 acres in Miller Township on the northeast corner of the Stateline Road and Bond Road intersection from Res to RESTRICTED B-1 for a woodworking business and office. Mike Hall stepped down as he was the surveyor on the project.  Dennis Kraus, Jr. took over the meeting for this item.

Mark McCormack- Planning Director: This has been platted for R use but only one house suits on the property. There was a church here. There are 3 entrances to the site. Proposed office use is in the house on the property. There were issues with the sewage disposal system a while back when the church was there. The staff looked at the parking lot and whether it needed improved. The entrances might also need improvement if the business becomes larger. One of these entrances is gravel. There is a proposed storage area on the back side of the church building area. The commissioners will ultimately decide if the rezoning occurs based on the recommendation from the Plan Commission. They usually do that in an evening meeting so that the public can attend. There has been discussion that there is an intent to provide public sewer and trying to work it out with LMH and the DC regional sewer District. Fire and EMS have not provided a letter even though the owner has tried to repeatedly get that. Anything that is allowed in a B-1 would be allowed here possibly and that has to be considered. There is no landscaping proposed for the outside storage area along Bond Rd. Terrain is not an issue- no steep slopes. County Engineer letter said that the roads are sufficient to handle the business as proposed. However, if another use is proposed a traffic study may be required. Lighting etc and other things could also be issues if the business changed. 29 letters were sent to anyone within 500 ft or an adjoiner. 25 receipts came back.

Terry Hall presented for Mike Hall Surveying. There are no new buildings or parking areas to be added. The house may be an office, the existing gravel is to be used to store a truck, a van, and two 18 ft trailers. There is some building blockage covering the storage site. The sanitary sewer is still in the talking stage. If not the vacant lot between the house and the church will be used for that. It would be pump and haul.  There are several businesses along Stateline Road. The size of the site will limit the uses for future owners and also the septic tank issue. The county would be in the position to approve or deny any future business that goes in there. This is presently classed as a commercial building on the county assessor site. 3200 lineal feet to the sewer line by the school. Badinghaus said he has 4 employees. They hope to get more automation so as not to have to hire more than a couple more people. Board members asked about other things that could go there. Repeatedly questioning the options that would not be suitable to the area that he isn’t considering- but someone else might should he sell it. Lehman said he could strike 22 of the 39 uses to make it OK for the area. McCormack also went over that concept. They seem to want the applicant to make up a self- limiting list to impose upon this. Baudendistel said that they need to have a list for commissioners to consider because the commissioners will probably not put any additional restrictions on this- they will depend on your recommendations. 

Board took a 5 minute recess to allow the applicant to consult with his surveyor. He is considering what to do about restrictions being placed on the B-1. He decided to ask the board to give him a list of what they want stricken and then table for a month for him to consider that. McCormack encouraged them to be self limiting and not use the board meeting time for this type of discussion. That is inefficient. Terry Hall asked for what their main issues were- besides traffic generators. Lehman outlined retail and anything with long hours or lighting issues.

PUBLIC Discussion:

Mike Sitke ( spe?) – Bond Road- Asked if Light manufacturing wouldn’t be more appropriate. Concerned about dust generation. Noise and motors etc. Moving equipment on the property as neighbors that work night shifts. There is a hidden dip on the driveway  along Bond Rd. He showed it in one of the county slides of the area.

Jed Belvin- lives across the street. He works shift work. Wants it quiet. Concerned about the future uses.

Harold Hall- Bond Rd. wanted to know what kind of shop. ( A cabinet shop- working 7- 5PM. Asked about planers and pneumatic tools. Noise travels more when there are leaves off the trees. They also had a problem with church noise in the winter. Also concerned with dust.

Sandra Wykoff- Bond Rd- live by the dip in the road. Built a home 10 years ago. She doesn’t see wood working in the B-1 list. It’s more of a M-1. It is listed as a conditional use in some areas. Husband ill- and concerned about noise. She has seen Hoosier Wall Bed Co and other trucks and trailers going in for the last couple weeks. She reiterated some of the other issues.

Others said their issues were already covered.

Shirley Gardner- She and her husband put this subdivision together and we have restrictions on his subdivision. There were protections such as only one unlicensed vehicle per lot. This was to keep it a clean quiet neighborhood. She said that on Tracy lane it is hard to get out on Stateline Rd between 3-6 PM. Most neighbors own a dog. If you have ever heard a planer run- you know it will have every dog going off just like the sirens do. She is sorry she sold to the church now- and apologizes to her neighbors for that. People moved here to get away from all the noise etc. Bright now has enough businesses. The people that lived here for years- did not ask for all these things. New people bring in all these extra items. She agrees with her neighbors that spoke before. This place was advertised as B-1 business- but it has not ever been that before. This is like opening a can of worms.

Brigid Essert- Stateline Rd- right across the road. She is not worried about Badinghaus- but what else might happen. She is also concerned about noise as the church building does not contain noise well. There is no sound barrier.

Chris Mueller- asked about where this could be a conditional use as McCormack had mentioned. (Answer- Ag zone) I also pointed out that was the only way they could restrict this to exactly what the applicant proposed and make it stick.

Sandy Wykoff- also- pointed out that it was a property value issue should they ever want o sell their homes around this.

They tabled public discussion and application until the August 25th meeting.

[NOTE: It is unclear why woodworking business is not listed in any primary business or manufacturing zone. If the owner is concerned about growing his business and also about selling his business or property, then this should be located in an appropriate zone. This may be shoehorning a potentially good business into an inappropriate location or perhaps inappropriate building. ( noise and dust issues)]


2. Request  for 905 acres involving the Oxbow owned and leased properties (from M-3 to Ag).Oxbow is represented by Tim Mara, Attorney. Site location is in Hardinsburg in Lawrenceburg Township. The entire area is in the flood hazard way or flood plain. There was some issue for Lawrenceburg Levee and want to leave zoning as is.  DNR property on both sides of the river- with about 6 plus acres and they said they were probably OK with the rezone. BUT they have not responded to the letter officially yet. US 50 and I-275 were listed as main roadways- no sanitary sewers proposed. He discussed surrounding property uses. 45 letters sent out and 37 came back.

Tom Mara- presented and Ed Gemperle- treasurer and board member. He is also joined by three additional property owners. Oxbow began acquiring the property in 1985. These are two contiguous aggregations. They feel uneasy about advocating for the flood plain and yet having it zoned M-3. Sedler, Pope and Graham-Undercoffer were the 3 additional owners. The request is consistent with the master plan. They lease hundreds of acres to local farmers. Thousands of people come to this nature preserve and there is no cost to taxpayers. It would be the area’s largest park- if it were publicly owned. They are not asking for anyone else’s property to be rezoned.

Public Discussion:

Mr. Bernard- owns the lake area- wants it to remain M-3.

Don Bernard- owns the property by the Whitewater River and RR tracks – also wants his to remain M-3.

Melissa Lake- lived in Hardintown and wanted to see what was included on the map. They showed her.

Mike Hall asked about the buffers required for M-3 to Ag if this passed. In the new zone code it will a smaller one than before. Some of these are already grandfathered. Discussion was held with board and McCormack about the boarder. This already happened when Bestway disposal  went in. The bufferyard is pretty reasonable. Even if they developed today they would have  a bufferyard to deal with. It will be about 60 ft. Baudendistel asked if Greendale was consulted as an adjoiner. MCcormack talked to Lampert and they know it is happening. Mara said they already have conservation easements in most of this. He also said that they would have no problem splitting that buffer zone. Minimum lot size in M-3 is 5 acres. Minimum district size if asking for a rezone is 50 acres of M-3. (This answered the Bernard’s question)

The board gave a favorable recommendation to the Ag rezone for the area with the map as currently submitted and including them splitting the bufferyard with their M-3 neighbors. They believe it is the best use and responsible use of the land and that it conserves property values and conforms to the reasons for zone changes. All ayes. It will probably be the 19th of August meeting for the Commissioners to consider this .

ADMINISTRATIVE:

Tucker Development Old Orchard Subdivision improvements and financial guarantees. According to reports, the street improvements are complete but Todd Listerman, Dennis Kraus Jr., and Mark McCormack need to check it and also check on the stormwater system and improvements. $25,000 was in escrow in Jan 2013 with Tuckers. The final work was to be done by June 30, 2014. Section 3 was to be reduced. Otherwise they keep the $25,000 and call in the bond. They have been working with Tuckers. Sections 1-3 were inspected and they have the report. Jeff Tucker said they didn’t get the 7/22/14 email with that. There are some items that still need to be finished- but they are better than last year. McCormack read a 2 page punch list that was needed to be done- and about $10,000 worth of work per Listerman’s estimate. Kraus said there were retention areas grown up with weeds, some sign issues because the road ends now instead of going on and some energy dissipaters that were not installed.

McCormack said he normally would be calling in the bond next week. Do they want to have him do that or have deadlines or have him financially guarantee the remainder? Be flexible or call in the agreement as we are past the time?

Jeff Tucker- said they have “substantially” complied with the document that they signed. Though they did not meet the June 30 deadline. They were ready for O’Mara but they didn’t get there by June 30th.

He thinks Todd Listerman’s estimate is accurate. They don’t want to renew the bond. They do have $25,000 in escrow- and the $10,000 is under that limit. Discussed the details of how much it will cost if the county has to do it. Kraus Jr. and McCormack were quite firm with Tuckers on the issues needing to be addressed. [NOTE: Tucker stating he has substantially accomplished his part of the agreement seems disingenuous. He is NOT finished and in fact seems to be somewhat demanding that his money be given back ASAP. The PC has to protect the county and not get stuck holding the bag- as happened in the case at Sugar Ridge Planned Unit Development. There is also more work for ucker to complete on another of his old subdivisions.]

It was decided that the Tuckers and McCormack and staff and Listerman can meet to get the details and amounts ironed out on Monday. There are issues with letting the bond go if the county has more liability possibly.

Other administrative items:

Applied for 9 homes to be demolished and will get $25,000 if the grant is approved.

Comp Plan will have info sent out next week.

New website will hopefully be up in August.

There may be some side tracking with federal changes.

Introduced Vinnie Fazzino- the new assistant planner.

Also will bring Animal Control ordinance for PC to consider next month.

Vacation request in Wilmington and Badinghaus request for next month.

 

Meeting adjourned at 10:15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

22 July 2014 Dearborn County Solid Waste District Emergency Meeting Notes


22 July 2014 Dearborn County Solid Waste District Emergency Meeting Notes

Present: Shane McHenry, President, Art Little, Kevin Lynch, Mel Davis, Dennis Carr, and Randy Lyness

ABSENT: Doug Hedrick

Also present: Doug Garner, Attorney and BJ Ault, Executive Director or the DCSW District
Register Publications- Denise Freitag-Burdette also covered this meeting.

This emergency meeting was preceded by an executive session at 4:30 PM to “discuss personnel performance evaluations and may include discussion of records classified as confidential by federal statute.” IC 5-14-1.5-6.1(b)(7) and IC S 5-14-1.5-6.1(b) (9) as noted in the Journal Press Public Notice 7-22-14

McHenry called the meeting to order.

Motion was made by Kevin Lynch and seconded by Dennis Carr to Discontinue the Executive Director’s normal salary. She is paid by Workers Comp until the doctor allows her to return to work. All ayes.

McHenry asked if there were any comments or questions. There were none.

Meeting adjourned.

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Dearborn County Redevelopment Commission Guilty of Multiple Counts of Open Door Law

Dearborn County Redevelopment Commission Guilty of Multiple Counts of Open Door Law Violations

Register Publications assistant editor Denise Freitag Burdette filed three separate complaints regarding executive sessions, missing meeting minutes, and the non-existent DCRC public discussion of the $10,000 payment the county administrator sought for her additional work for the DCRC.  
Dearborn County Administrator and Redevelopment Director Terri Randall apologized to the public for her mistakes. Full story is in the Journal Press July 15 issue front page and editorial page. The following links are fully readable for all the public.

http://thedcregister.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15121:access-counselor-county-violated-open-door-law&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=44


http://thedcregister.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=79&Itemid=141

Agenda July 17 Special DC Redevelopment Commission Meetring


 AGENDA

DEARBORN COUNTY REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSIONS MEETING

July 17, 2014

8:30 a.m., 3rd Floor Commissioners Room

County Administration Building

215 B West High Street, Lawrenceburg, Indiana

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION @ 8:00 am

 

I.              Call to order 

 

II.             Certification Statement of Executive Session

 

III.            Action of Executive Session

 

IV.          Approval of Minutes

1.  July 10, 2014 Meeting

 

2. Claims for Whitewater River Dredge Study Survey

 

V.           Unfinished Business

 

VI.          New Business

                   

VII.         County Administrator Report

 

VIII.        Attorney’s Report

           

IX.          Other Business

 

X.           Adjournment

 

15 July 2014 DEARBORN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING NOTES

15 July 2014 DEARBORN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING NOTES  
 
 
Commissioner Shane McHenry called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance at 5 p.m.

Commissioners Kevin Lynch, Art Little, Auditor Gayle Pennington, and Attorney Andrew Baudendistel were also in attendance.

 

Old Business:  None.

New Business:

1.        Assessor Gary Hensley stated we needed to have a cyclical review of the contract between Tyler Technology and Dearborn County.  The State law previously assessed the contract on March 1, but a new State law changed the assessment to January 1.   Commissioner Art Little motioned the change be made to meet the State law, all ayes.

 

2.       Highway Supervisor, Tim Greive, asked the Commissioners to determine awards for three items, a truck, a pole barn, and the completion of paving North Dearborn Road.  The bids for the truck were Lischkge Machinery $119,711.60, and Shirks International $118,234.56.  Mr. McHenry asked if the service of the truck will take place in Greensburg, and Mr. Greive replied yes.  After discussion, Commissioner Lynch motioned Lischkge Machinery be awarded the bid for $119,711.60, Art Little seconded the motion, all ayes.  Mr. Greive then stated it was a disadvantage to leave equipment outside in the winter and he proposed they build a 40 x 120 building with electricity to house the equipment.  Mr. Lynch asked if the building will have a gravel floor, and Mr. Greive replied yes.  The bids were $46,500 – Redwine, $36,485 Comer, Mike White – no bid.  The bid was awarded to Comer for $36,485, all ayes.  The paving bids for North Dearborn Road going down Jameson were Paul Rohe $109,662, and Dave O’Mora $105,800.  Mr. Lynch motioned the bid be given to Dave O’Mora for $105,800, Art Little seconded the motion, all ayes. Mr. Greive said West Laughery Rd. will be done next week.

 

3.       Mr. Lynch said the OKI Contract is a standard agreement which is signed by the Commissioners and will run until June 30, 2015.  The amount paid is $16,468 on a per capita basis of $.33.  This is the same amount that was paid last year.  Mr. Little motioned to pay for the OKI contract from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015, and Mr. McHenry seconded the motion.

 

4.       The Automobile License Agreement renewal with the Hidden Valley Lake Property Association is for three separate vehicles, and is leased for $1 each from June 14, 2014 to June 15, 2015.  Mr. Lynch motioned to renew, and Art Little seconded the motion, all ayes.

 

Administrator – Terri Randall stated Judge Humphrey, under Rule 19 enacted a Court house security process, and has written a security guide, which is on order.  There was an online notice for public review for 30 days.  The Judges worked with Judge Humphrey, and all three Judges have signed off on the security guide. They are forming a security committee.  Judge Humphrey is ready to accept a letter from this Board, and Ms. Randall presented the letter she composed to the Commissioners to approve and sign, which she read.  Mr. Little said he is concerned if a farmer goes into the Courthouse and has a pocket knife in his pocket, there will be an overreaction, because now if that happens, they just ask him to leave the pocket knife at the desk until he leaves. Ms. Randall said she is sure that will be addressed. Mr. Little that they should make sure that is addressed.  Ms. Randall said she can represent them, she is on the Board.  Mr. Baudendistel then addressed the issue of the security committee, and said it is to review CR15, and then he named 15-25 people, i.e., the Dearborn County Sheriff, the three Judges, the representative from the Dearborn County Board, the representative from the Dearborn County Council, etc.  Ms. Randall is on the list as the Dearborn County Administrator.  Mr. Baudendistel said they needed to appoint a representative from the Board.  Mr. Lynch and Mr. Little chose Commissioner McHenry as their representative.  Mr. Bill Black, Emergency Center, said he and the sheriff have reviewed the plans in place, so they are already rolling.

 

Ms. Randall said the second item she wanted to discuss was EMS and the $100,000 given by Council to recruit volunteers.  She met with Kevin Lynch and they want to keep $10,000 of the money for a massive recruiting program for volunteers.  The two of them have also met with the EMS units from each region, there are two regions, and it has been decided that $22,500 will be distributed each quarter based on the percentage of runs for each region.  They will send out to each of the units’ numbers which they want them to validate, and if they are not correct they will make corrections.  Ms. Randall said the EMS units were part of this decision, and they said they are very grateful to the Board for their interaction with them.  Also, both Mr. Lynch and Ms. Randall feel the EMS units are beginning to realize they are part of a larger region.  Ms. Randall said one discussion that keeps coming up is St. Leon and the fact that they do not transport.  They struggle so much, the people who volunteer run businesses and leave their businesses to respond to calls.  Mr. Lynch said it is tough to penalize them because they don’t transfer.

 

Auditor – Gayle Pennington requested approval of the Minutes for June 17, 2014, and July 1, 2014, all ayes.  Accounts payable claims for Commissioners signatures, all ayes.  Commissioner docket – Mr. Little motioned to approve, Mr. Lynch seconded, all ayes.  Payroll claims, Mr. Lynch motioned to approve, Mr. Little seconded, all ayes.

 

Attorney – Andrew Baudendistel asked the Commissioners to approve an agreement for a Route of Entry for Steve Duncan to move items at the Animal Shelter.  There are three copies for Mr. McHenry to sign, and Bill Shelton is to get the SD signature.  Art Little motioned to sign the documents, and Kevin Lynch seconded.  Mr. Baudendistel then said regarding Public Records, drafts of Minutes cannot be withheld, they are public records.

 

Terri Randall said the website is soon to be in place in August.

 

Commissioners – Mr. Lynch said this website is a big deal, and he commends Ms. Randall for her work.  He also recognized Gayle Pennington and her service, and the attorney, Mr. Baudendistel.  Mr. McHenry said we have a great team, which can be seen with the results accomplished, and he asked Bill Black what he thought.  Mr. Black said there is more information flowing, and good preparation.  Kevin Lynch wanted to remind everyone of the Job Fair on August 7th, the employer seminar will be from 10 am to 1 pm; from 1-2 pm Veterans; 2-4 pm open to the public.  Also, Mr. Lynch wanted to remind everyone of the Bright Community Festival and the St. Leon Festival to support the EMS and volunteers.

 

Mr. Little motion to adjourn meeting, Mr. Lynch seconded.  Meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

 

Helen Kremer, Logan Township
 
Many thanks to Helen Kremer who graciously agreed to take meeting notes during my absence. Christine Brauer Mueller

Monday, July 14, 2014

Executive Session for DC Redevelopment Commission Thurs 8 AM followed by 8:30 AM public meeting


PUBLIC NOTICE


Executive Session & Meeting

 

The Dearborn County Redevelopment Commission

has called an

Executive Session for

Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 8:00 a.m.

 

The purpose is to discuss interviews and negotiations with industrial or commercial prospects or agents of industrial or commercial prospects by the Indiana economic development corporation, the office of tourism development, the Indiana finance authority, an economic development commission, a local economic development organization (as defined in IC 5-28-11-2(3), or a governing body of a political subdivision.

This is classified confidential by state and federal statute.

IC 5-14-1.5-6.1(b) (4)

 

And also for the purposes of discussing strategy with the respect to the purchase or lease or real property by the governing body up to the time a contract or option to purchase or lease is executed by the parties.

This is classified confidential by state and federal statutes. 

IC 5-14-1.5-6.1(b) (2) (D)

 

There will be a meeting held at 8:30 am for action, if any needed for the Executive Session

 

These meetings will take place at the

Dearborn County Administration Building, 3rd Floor Commissioners Room,

215 B West High Street,

Lawrenceburg, IN  47025

Friday, July 11, 2014

Agenda July 15 Commissioners Meeting


AGENDA

DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING

July 15, 2014

5:00 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.  Assessor, Gary Hensley

                        Addendum to the cyclical review contract

 

            2.  Highway Supervisor, Tim Greive

                        Bid Awards

 

            3.  OKI 2015 Contract

 

            4.  Automobile Lease Agreements with HVLPOA

 

V.         ADMINISTRATOR – Terri Randall

            1.  Courthouse Safety Committee

 

VI.        AUDITOR – Gayle Pennington

1.  Claims/Minutes

           

VII.       ATTORNEY

 

VIII.       COMMISSIONER COMMENTS

 

IV.        LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION

 

X.         PUBLIC COMMENT

 

XI.        ADJOURN

Thursday, July 10, 2014

See and Comment on the Proposed Forms for Requesting Public Records in the County

Give 2 cents’ worth on county public record request form PDF E-mail
Written by Denise Freitag Burdette      
Thursday, July 10, 2014 3:42 PM



http://thedcregister.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15092:give-2-cents-worth-on-county-record-request-form&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=44

10 July 2014 Dearborn County Redevelopment Meeting Notes


10 July 2014 Dearborn County Redevelopment Meeting Notes

 

Present: Dave Deddens, Chairman, Jim Helms, John Rahe, Jim Deaton, Dennis Kraus, Sr.,

ABSENT: Dusty Burress (non- voting school board member)

 

Also present: Terri Randall, county administrator and economic development director, Andrea Ewan, attorney, Gayle Pennington, Auditor and DCRC Treasurer, Randy Maxwell Consultant, and Andy Baudendistel, county attorney

 

Erika Schmidt Russell (Register Publications) covered this meeting. Joe Awad on special assignment was present for PAC discussion. Celeste Calvitto ( Bright Beacon) and Kathy Scott were also present.

Action of Executive session that preceded this meeting: no action was taken and they set another executive session for next Thurs July 17at 8 AM. It will be followed by a brief meeting to announce any decisions.

The board welcomed Dennis Kraus, Sr.- as a new member replacing Maynard Barrett and Gayle Pennington who is now treasurer due to a change in state law.

Approved May 8 minutes. There was no June meeting.(Kraus abstained as he is a new member.

Unfinished business-none

New Business:

PAC (Public Access Counselor) Complaint and Advisory Conclusions- Andy Baudendistel- County attorney. Baudendistel addressed the proper way to handle the items the DCRC was found to have violated on open door law on executive sessions a concise and pointed tutorial. He advised them that they needed to certify that nothing else was discussed other than what was advertised at executive sessions. The president (Deddens) stated that he certified that and Baudendistel said they need to write that statement into the record. They also have to use the code to see what items they are allowed to call executive session for. They will keep this memoranda of the executive session actions as part of the minutes of the regular meeting that follows it. He encouraged them to only call executive sessions when absolutely necessary. He showed the public records access law to them and how to find it. He told them that minutes when kept have to be made available – even in draft form. He said he has developed forms for public records requests. He is proposing the form to be adopted and used the PAC office to see their samples. He wants to wait till the website is up and they are looking to have all public records requests to go thru Pennington’s office- Auditor is in charge of all records. Fax, email or regular mail you have 7 calendar days. If in person you have 24 hours business hours. This is to get a response- on when they can expect the records. The reason behind getting a form is to get one process to be sure the law is being followed. The county can also have a record of what they produced. It’s a CYA for the county as Judge Humphrey would say per Baudendistel. This does not apply to Clerk or Recorders office as they have their own separate statutes and fees. If the commissioners adopt the form then the DCRC can adopt it per Andrea Ewan, DCRC attorney.

Randall would like to apologize on her own behalf regarding the violations and said she did not have an “official” role at that time. She said this was a difficult process for her. She feels responsible for this. She noted that she was covering a lot of things at the time, but that was not an excuse. She also apologized to the public and said she is pretty much a stickler for being open to the public. Executive session memoranda and certification will be in the regular minutes following the session.

Andrea Ewan asked the DCRC board to start getting a list of attendants at their meetings now. I asked if it was legal to require that anyone attending the meeting sign in. Ewan said they wanted to have a list so that if questions come up later and that person was in attendance, then they can show that they had the opportunity to question things at the meeting.

[NOTE: This is because the DCRC was held responsible for violations more than 30 days old when the complaint was filed by Register Publications reporter Denise Freitag Burdette. It should be noted that even if the board tried to get off on a 30 day timeframe technicality- it does not change the fact that there were repeated open door violations and they needed to be corrected. Fortunately for DCRC Burdette told PAC she was interested in getting corrections made and not fines levied.]

 I asked about when they discussed the $10K salary for the administrator as the response to the complaint from the DCRC did not address that third part. No answer was given and when asked again after some non-answer was given, Rahe said he thinks they did it at the earlier 2013 meetings that they have no minutes for. (This would be April-June maybe- but the timeline shows this in November financials of their board- not the springtime 6 months earlier.) No other board member spoke up on that. I also asked how the DCRC knew what was being responded to the PAC on their behalf as it was never brought up in a public meeting. They said that the president, attorney Ewan and Randall did the response and emailed it to the board. Ewan said that was privileged info. They could have had input if they disagreed.

They said they want to just move forward- (and essentially did not answer my question regarding when they actually discussed and decided to pay the administrator the additional pay of $10,000 for work done in 2013 for the DCRC. [NOTE: There is no record of hours worked or dates and times to corroborate that $10,000 is a reasonable pay for the job done. The only evidence produced in meeting minutes, emails, and texts requested in researching the open door violations that show this salary request were emails from the administrator trying to get her pay worked out after the Nov- Dec claim was stopped by the auditor due to rules regarding salaried employees getting paid for two county jobs. There were no emails from commissioners, council, or DCRC board members. Was this ever discussed by the board?]

Financials and Claims- Pennington asked if they liked the way things are reported now with the spreadsheet. Randall said she wants to have the Lawrenceburg funds listed separately to make sure they are kept separate. She wants them to be listed as restricted funds and what they are restricted for to be sure they don’t touch it for the wrong things. DCRC board agreed. Grants will be assigned a fund also per Pennington.

Randall said that on the claims Hirlinger is separate. She wanted to maybe read thru the items on the claims to be more transparent. Hirlinger Motors has a claim. When they purchased from Tom Stone- it was agreed that he would pay $35,000 for access to the property. When this board took over the property this board took over that responsibility. They can pay it out of the TIF. This was all done thru EDI originally as Andrea Ewan acknowledged. DCRC board agreed to pay out of the TIF. They did not read the claims out- but approved them. Dennis Kraus received explanation for some of the claims as he asked about them. Pennington asked about if they were going to keep the separate website or be part of the county’s website. They plan to do a link to the county from their separate website per board. Discussion on late payment to Register Publications waiting on the payments from Lawrenceburg first. $457.90 is their bill. $16,840.84 was approved minus the Register’s amount. It will be paid as soon as they get it. [NOTE: I questioned this after the meeting. The claim for register Publications is for an ad that was run for the position for the economic development group formed by the cities, towns and county and their visioning process. It has nothing to do with Redevelopment Commission money and will be paid out of the Lawrenceburg grant money to the visioning group when they get that in. It is interesting that a local business has to wait to be paid from a group trying to attract more business into the county. Erika Schmidt Russell from Register told them at the meeting that it was no problem- they understood that this happens sometimes.]

Resolution #2014-DCRC-001-“Determination of Need to Capture Tax Increment Revenues.” and Letter regarding the need to capture all incremental assessed value - annually the DCRC is required to look at their TIF funds to see if any should be returned to the taxing unit. Since a lot is not coming in- they will not be returning any to the taxing units. They need to send a letter to each of the taxing units involved to let them know they are keeping all the TIF funds. DCRC board approved both items. 

Ratify support letter to the city of Aurora- Randall said they were contacted to have a letter that they discussed with Deddens as president. It was needed quickly to get support to INDOT in time as they are improving an access to their state road. Ratified.

Ratify consulting Agreement with Economics Center for Labor Shed Study out of University of Cincinnati. Some time ago the DCRC had discussed this with Randy Maxwell per Randall. We need to have this as it is a number 1 consideration in many potential new businesses we are seeking. State info was not complete and not seen as credible. They want more than just data- they want a report or marketable piece. A response was due on a large project that was concerned about this labor pool. DCRC ratified the agreement. The cost amount was questioned by Kraus. They told him it was just shy of $7,500.  Approved by the board.

Mark McCormack- Planning and Zoning- The Blight Elimination Program. This is specific to housing- not commercial. Sometimes it will be greenspace or sold to adjoiner or redevelopment for commercial purposes. They have some in Moores Hill and Aurora and Wilmington and Kaiser Rd. They are needing a program partner and sponsor for possibly 2 properties to hold title to these. They would cost some money up front. It may not even be used, but they need everything by next week to turn in. They should know by next week if they need DCRC or not. They only need a 10% match. That’s $1500 or $2500. DCRC Board decided to support this program. Legion and N Dearborn is one property. Rahe wanted to know if any Aurora properties were in historic district. None were historic register. DCRC agreed to sponsor the 2 properties in the county if needed.

County Administrator report- Redevelopment Commissions have been lax in the state on their reporting so the DLGF is requiring a lot of info now. They need to do the TIFs and she needed to get more history. Ewan has old EDI records. Pennington said the new state law changes get more seamless reporting for the gateway so all this is accessible. Rahe said the TIFs have only been around about 4 years.  He asked about the Aurora Industrial Park sign. Randall said she is trying to work on that and also find out what companies do this. She had Sue Hayden put it the agenda for the next meeting to remind her to look into it again.

Attorney Report- Andrea Ewan- nothing more

Other Business- Pennington introduced Craig Zwiren- the new GIS Coordinator, who moved up from Georgia. He worked for EPA and a local city government previously. He has worked in Americus GA for a renaissance project. Also he described part of it as getting bars more focused on being “for working professionals instead of crazy college kids.” Bicycling programs also. Mapping the county utilities throughout the county – has experience in all of that. Pennington said he will be a good resource for many organizations. Randall said they are hoping to get an interactive map on their DCRC website.

 Meeting adjourned at 11 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township