Tuesday, February 16, 2016

2016 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

2016 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

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

Also present: Gayle Pennington, Auditor, Andy Baudendistel, Attorney, and Terri Randall, Administrator

OLD BUSINESS:
911 Board appointment- Jared Teaney said the board had recommended someone from Bright and one from Manchester to replace Glen Brandt who retired. Jason Eckhoff from Bright was approved as that area needed representation on the board. 
To fix the overabundance of 3 reps from Aurora- they removed Josh Dogherty( sp?) from there an put in police chief Combs from Lawrenceburg. They also approved overlapping terms on the board. 

NEW BUSINESS:
National Day of Prayer May 5- Connie Riegel- requested the Courthouse Lawn to pray for the nation at noon. Approved. She invited them to join the prayer group. 

Child Support Pilot Project- Aaron Negangard- there is an accumulation of $90,000 in this fund that can only be spent for child support. He wants to use $50,000 of this to enter into this pilot project. There is a company that is successful in getting felons employed. They are successful in keeping them monitored by GPS. They think if this is  successful project then they can seek additional money thru the state to fund this. This is to get non- payers in the child support into paying. A representative of the company then spoke about the fact that they only had one criminal arrest out of the 250 they monitor. They work together to get a business model that qualifies for funds. They are starting in Vanderburgh and Boone counties soon. They are working with noncustodial parents in a TITLE IV D case with young children. The goal is to get them to pay current support and pay the arrears also. There is a bit of crossover with the criminal population. They are experience with that population also. They have a network of employers here that work with them on employment. Approved the $50,000 and the contract. Shane McHenry abstained form any discussion or voting to avoid conflict of interest.

CASA Update and Grant approvals- Donna Thacker- went over the programs they have done through the year for citizens against substance abuse. They did a skateboard camp to reach kids who don’t participate in other sports and were averaging 75 a night. The more the adults hung out with the youth, the more the bad elements reduced. They now have program to be more present there. They are also doing survey on recovering people in another program. they get money for countermeasure programs- these programs have less money to give so she is asking for the county to try to contribute. McHenry suggested she approach Liz Morris and he will meet too to see what they might be able to do. He will help coordinate with Liz. All 92 counties get money based on countermeasures they do. She said this would be precedent setting. Pennington verified fro McvHenry that the county cut almost 1 million before budget and had to cut another $1.9million as required by the state. The commissioners all appreciated CASA’s results, but…they would see what they can do. Thacker talked on about recovery programs- but how are you going to get them there? You have to acknowledge that a program doesn’t fix it- you have to work on it for the rest of your life. Approved the grant as received.

Surveyor Dennis Kraus, Jr. - Storm Water Discussion and approval to approach Council- This storm water has been worked on and it is pretty general. Eric Lang thinks they (Eric, himself, and Amy) can do the ordinance in-house ( he’s the new Plan Commission member) They need mechanism to inspect drainage systems set up in developments. There is no interval or policy to inspect yet. He also wants to approach Council for money to hire an outside firm to review some of these plans. About $5,000-10,000 to only be used as needed.) Baudendistel said they had done some things before with Drainage Board. He was OK with getting together with them to set this up. Commissioners approved him seeking money form Council and trying to set up this mechanism. Kraus said it was a matter of time and expertise in his office. Lynch asked if he was a licensed surveyor. He also asked if he was working to get that license. Kraus said he stays up to date with seminars though they do not help toward credits to get licensed. Kraus has a local surveyor who always dedicates his time for this. Lynch pushed Kraus to consider getting licensed. 
Kraus also asked to discuss a new county map soon- the last one is 2003.

Zoning Administrator Nicole Daily- Update on Blight Elimination Program and Invitation to Media 
Day for Demolition in Aurora- this will be on 536 Green Blvd- US 50 in Aurora near the Road Dog Gas Station. They wanted to use one thetis very visible. They have 4 more to go in the 1st round. They have about 6 homes in the 2nd round. 

DCH Board of Trustee appointee- Robert Schroeder as recommended by Hospital Board was approved.

ADMINISTRATOR- Terri Randall: Non voting school board member for DC Redevelopment Commission- Dusty Burress had some personal circumstances that prevented him from coming to the meetings. (for two years!?)

Jamie Graf was recommended by the school board fir DCRC and commissioners approved him.

Title VI Non discrimination policy and plan- tabled as it was not ready yet per Randall.

AUDITOR- Gayle Pennington- Claims and Feb 2 minutes were approved as corrected to show Jeff Lane as being from Aurora, not Dillsboro. 

Financial annual report- been uploaded to the GATEWAY on state site for public viewing.

ATTORNEY- Andy Baudendistel- $13,260 with a $3,000 discount per year for Schneider Corp to run the Beacon site for Tax assessors. There is an early termination clause should they need it. It is in the budget. 

He has been meeting with Mark McCormack to have an ordinance for public utilities when they are constructing things that are over 60 ft tall. Insurance and bond coverage is part of this. 

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS:
Lynch- commend highway dept for road clearing this month. They did a great job. They continue to deliver. Tomorrow is the first public open house at EC in the Performing Arts center from 4-7 PM. No structured program. Can come in any time from 4-7. He was in Washington DC with OKI last week. He said our representatives were very accommodating. Friday at 8 PM for Messer to meet with people at Janet’s Diner in Dillsboro. 
Little- echoed Lynch on how much better our roads were that other counties.
McHenry- said that he called Red Plum and they were polite and talked to the carrier to have them put them at the foot of mailbox on it. He would rely on me to let him know if they improve. 

PUBLIC COMMENT-none

LATE ARRIVAL:Travel Advisory Level 1 declared this weekend so Jason Sullivan EMA Director asked commissioners to sign that. Approved. 

Mark McCormack- following up on interlocal agreement with Dillsboro and suggestions from Council. Computer is being given for 911 addressing project to Planning and Zoning. It ties 911 to GPS on road centerlines. It covers the computer issue for Dillsboro. That cost issue drops out then. Dillsboro agreed to $7200 up front and then will deposit the extra money into the account for use as needed near the end of the contract. This is the same process as they use with wireless telecommunications systems for their costs. This would have to be written into the interlocal agreement. He would like approval to this and then present to Council at Feb 23 meeting. Approved to go to Council and move forward- he does not need to return to Commissioners. 
He also wanted to expound on the surveyor’s request. He said that drainage is not his area of expertise either. Ultimately we will need someone employed or in- house to review these projects. They have a lot of storm water calculations. Todd Listerman is more focused on transportation though he has the best knowledge of these of all of them. McCormack says there is a need for this expertise. A big project requires a lot of homework on these models and calculations. Lynch said Jane Witke retired from OKI- but maybe they could be helpful? McCormack said he would check with them. 

Meeting Adjourned at 9:47AM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Private company taking over child support payments?! I would be interested to know the name of the company, how the company was chosen, the annual contract costs, and why a for-profit business is taking over what is the job of the government.

According to multiple investigative reports, these type companies(child support, probation, GPS monitoring) are rife with abuses which many times have been linked to profit margin and CEO pay.

Hopefully, the commissioners will do their due diligence before signing on the dotted line.

A few of the HUNDREDS of media reports:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/06/private-misdemeanor-probation-industry-faces-new-scrutiny

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/us/private-probation-company-accused-of-abuses-in-tennessee.html

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know the name of the company taking over the child support duties?It's important for the commissioners to vet this company. And since there are several of these companies was a bid put out to see if the county got the cheapest price?

Anonymous said...

McHenry has a conflict of interest finally? Wow.