St Lawrence School SCHOOL PRINCIPAL JOB POSTING

 

AGENDA- February 24, 2025 @ 6 PM Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting

DEARBORN COUNTY PLAN COMMISSION MEETING

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2025- 6 PM

165 MARY STREET, LAWRENCEBURG, IN 47025

There is one case on the agenda.

• Request:  Zone Map Amendment from Low Density Residential (R-1) to Moderate Density Residential (R-2) for a proposed 108 lot subdivision on a 74 acre tract of land along Carr Road in Harrison Township, Parcel #15-01-27-100-001.000-006.  The applicant is Maronda Homes and the property owner is Randall, Gary, Barry Britton and Peggy Wanamaker.

Please contact the Dearborn County Planning and Zoning Department (812) 537-8821 or email Nicole Daily at ndaily@dearborncounty.in.gov for any questions.

VIDEO COVERAGE OF February 20, 2025 Dearborn County Sewer Board Meeting

Thanks to Uncle Sam Mortenson for providing the video coverage of the February 20, 2025 DCRSD Meeting

Click the link below for the full video

 https://youtu.be/q0RnE_l8DGQ?si=da_0-5fZRI99ixeH

DCRSD REVOTES _ DECIDES NOT TO SELL THE SEWER DISTRICT-

 

20 February 2025 DCRSD Board Meeting Notes

Steve Renihan - President, Brett Fehrman - Vice President, Russell Beiersdorfer, Bill Shelton, Doug Baer, Jeff Stenger, and Steward Cline 

ABSENT: Doug Baer

Board Attorney - Frank Kramer (absent)

Also present: Christy Harlan, Mike, and Bob Hrezo of Hrezo Engineering, Jim Thatcher, Commissioner, and Marc Emral, Register and Tamara Taylor, Bright and 7 citizens.

This meeting was video recorded by Uncle Sam Mortenson

Renihan read the Public Access Statement as legally required. 

Renihan also noted that Bill Shelton had to leave for another meeting in 45 minutes

Minutes: February 6th minutes approved with the correction on p4 He wanted “and sell in a few years,” to be struck and replaced with “wait for the new infrastructure to be installed and see where we are at that time.” Stew Cline added to his meeting comments as well. Both were accepted. Approved.  

Financials- Cline said that $616,214 of revenue is from the grant and that really isn’t revenue for operations. Adjusted income  $115,817.21 He went thru several items clarifying the accounting and showing where things should be moved. He said they could accept the year end financial statement- noting the nuances in the numbers. Stenger thanked him for doing that. Approved the year end financials. 

TABLED January financials until Treasurer, Doug Baer, reviews them. 

Public Comment:

Ron Krieg by the covered bridge across from the firehouse. He wants to tap into the new Guilford line. Stenger advised him that he’d need to slow it down on the hill and get engineering involved. They deal with Hrezo first and they can give him possible contractors etc. 

Robert Lischge- (formerly on the DCRSD board) He has a couple taps he owns and he wants to get it in writing that those are his. Board and Christy said he should be fine. 

Lischge- Asked about the potential sale. If we are $13,000 in the red- why does a company want to buy you? He also talked about a few pump issues. Back to the district- this district is a YOUNG system compared to what’s around it. If you sell and eventually in 30 years would this new owner be around? Where is the bid of the operations without a sale? How will they get easements?  The DCRSD put in sewers and turned them over. That money should have been coming in to the DCRSD in retrospect. It would help operate the system. Would an outside company care about complaints? Knows they will do their best. 

John Draper- High Ridge Estates. - I have seen privatization - it does not work- It should stay a public works project. He’s still a customer at High Ridge. 

Project Updates: Christy advised of a new customer on Mt. Tabor Rd area. Discussion of availability and if the line has to be a main and capacity. They need more customers on the line. She is putting together an estimate. Stenger said they need to make it a main at this opportunity. 

Trying to get easement at SEI Data wrapped up for the Dillsboro project. Cline clarified several points for Christy when she was working with Mr Clark at SEI Data. Only one lift station and it is at the gas station. Costs and capacity fee at Dillsboro calculated.

Renihan appreciated Clines work on this with all the calculations. Rates not know yet. 

No one has contacted Christy and Bob Hrezo about the new project out in West Harrison TIF yet. 

Brett Fehrman said there were a couple issues on Marsh Rd by the Casket company. That might be an ideal candidate for a line extension. Lift station out there is private. Aurora might be there??? Just have that on our radar out there.    

RFP review- Steve Renihan - said they have had some conflicting information if that vote was a legitimate vote. He said things went in a different direction then he thought it was going to go last meeting. He said this board has not made a decision one way or the other to sell he district. We need to do a rate study to be sure we can cover our expenses. We were $13,000 in the red, which is not terrible. But we do need to be responsible. We do not have a superintendent - this is a volunteer board. We need to look at that. It cost up about $8 million to get these 2 big projects. We need a superintendent. That’s going to cost us. Commissioners paid for us to get this RFP. He thinks people thought we were going to sell.

Stenger- Along those lines, I blame myself for this. If you look at the original RFP. There is some language in here that says purchase and operation. But the overall tone is about purchase. There is no mention on the timeline about having someone operate the system. He cited several places where this occurs. This Board made it very clear we wanted getting help operating. 

6 PM- Bill Shelton left at this point for another meeting.

There are options in this for going to officials or the DCRSD. 

Steve Renihan- We are in a due diligence process. 

Stenger- we were negotiating with Greendale. We were wanting a company to do a peer review and there was one offered from Envirolink. Never got that. There was an offer from them to buy then. We all seem to agree we want management to operate this.

I know his proposal is bad and the timing is bad. We are taking on 103 customers. How many customers are paying into our $115,000. Average sewer bill is $60/month. Why keep spending money on another RFP. 

Cline- I don’t believe there is anything that keeps us from considering a proposal that does not go into the Barnes and Thornburg process. He thinks they could learn a lot in the next 30 days about this- we could get one more level of detail about our questions. Cline persisted in trying to keep this RFP alive. 

Cline went into details of the rate study that he requested. 

Beiersdorfer expressed frustration at the slowness of this rate study. 

Stenger- agreed that the rate study data he’d submitted was spot on I don’t believe we should keep going on. He brought up that he wanted to bring up the motion to reconsider. Fehrman 2nded the motion. 

Cline said it’s premature to stop work when we have come this far. Barnes and Thornburg should give us answers to our questions in short order. 

Fehrman said that we put projects on hold, while we keep going over and over. We don’t have the options we asked for. This is hanging over our head. If they want to redo this in the future, they can submit a better response. 

Renihan said he would have liked to ask more questions. 

Stenger- We have wasted more time and resources and this is a complete disappointment that this is what we have. I have invested 17-18 years of my life. I may look like a hillbilly but I am college educated.  And this is a waste of that time. This is not in our best interest. 

Renihan- Once we go though this rate study - people might come in here when these rates go up. (Does he think the rates won’t go up with investors owning it?)

Beiersdorfer- This is what I think of it. He tossed the RFP into the waste can. He said he was college educated too. 

According to Andy Baudendistel advice to the board :  the vote had to be the majority of the quorum of the board.

The By Laws-

 Article II Section 5 of the DCRSD By-Laws states that “The act of the majority of the Trustees present at a meeting at which there is a quorum is present shall be the act of the Board of Trustees.”

Motion passes 3-2. To remove the RFP from consideration- to be done with it. Vote was Beiersdorfer, Stenger, and Fehrman, ayes. Nays were Cline and Renihan. 

Stenger is working on the RFP for the Operations and they will divide it into the various operational tasks like office, billing, and field work, Plus have evidence of their ability to actually do the work. All suggestions came from the board.

New Business: none

Office Update: none

Claims: Approved - nothing form Lake Dildear or Guilford. 

Discretion of the Board: Renihan- said they will get Steve Brock to move ahead with rate study especially with all the numbers they got to him. They will start with the full number of customers, and then another iteration. Fehrman-trying to blend the rates of High Ridge with the new plants?

Cline- asked to have rates combined- do not separate areas out. 

Renihan- like to move faster- which is why we need a superintendent. There will be some synergies. 

DCRSD board working together to get this rate study now that they have a clean start with the new customers. Doug and Stew spent a lot of time getting 7 years of data. Brock is supposed to be expediting this. 

Adjourn: 6:45 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

18 FEBRUARY 2025 DEARBORN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING NOTES

  

18 FEBRUARY 2025 DEARBORN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING NOTES

Present: Jim Thatcher, President, Duane Bischoff, and Kevin Turner

Also present: Connie Fromhold, Auditor, Andy Baudendistel, Attorney, and Sue Hayden, Administrator

Also present: Marc Emral, Register Publications and Tamara Taylor, The Beacon

TITLE VI STATEMENT FOR COMPLIANCE was read by Baudendistel as legally required.

PUBLIC HEARING:- PROPOSED LEASE AGREEMENT FOR HEALTH DEPT.

ACTION ON LEASE AGREEMENT FOR HEALTH DEPT.

No public spoke. 

Dr Eliason from Health Dept- They are renting the lower floor of the former building of Dr Swanson on SR 48 across from hospital. Rest and Relax Rentals is the Leasing Company. 

Baudendistel - this lease agreement is- $21/sq ft and 3% per year increases. For 10 years . 

This has been going on for a long time as it solved the problem of people going to health dept now don’t have to go thru all the security here. Patients have more privacy. They are maintaining a couple rooms here at the county building for staff. Commissioners signed off on the lease. Health Dept does have sustainability for funding too. They will be announcing this from the Facebook page for the county and the Health Dept Facebook page. Open house some time also. Lease term is: Feb 19, 2025 to Dec 31, 2034. Health Dept is relieved to have this new site. 

Memorandum of Agreement with Dept of Health - Amy Rose, Administrator/Health Educator- this is for them to review until March and then sign. They also were invited to Belterra for a training exercise for big emergencies to see how that works. TABLED until Commissioners can review the memorandum. 

NEW BUSINESS:

Ordinance 2025-001 Regarding the DC Dept of Redevelopment and the DCRC- Baudendistel found the ordinance from 1995. (This was when the Redevelopment code came out and the Commissioners set it up in Dearborn County) Bischoff saw the law that allows the DCRC to be a 5 or 7 member board. This ordinance now moves the DCRC to a 7 member board from the current 5 member board. Approved and signed. 

 

OLD BUSINESS:

Citizen Boards:

Cemetery Board- 5 year term open position-- Per Sue Hayden There were some people interested in this but want to see what the duties are. They will get the particulars from Denny Kraus, Jr. They will know which cemeteries fall under County maintenance- most are under township trustees. More info is needed before next meeting. [NOTE: Originally there were members of the historical society involved with the cemeteries also. Art Wenzel did a lot of work and some volunteers were posting some of the data on Ancestry sites including findagrave.com]   Continued TABLED until March 4

Redevelopment Board Members- 1 year terms - Current - Jim Deaton , Jim.Mansfield, Tom Tepe/ Recommended Trevor Bischoff and Non-voting School Board Member (2 year term) Daryl Cutter.- Approved all the above to DCRC for the 4 Commissioner appointments plus the school board rep. 

ADMINISTRATOR – Sue Hayden- nothing more

AUDITOR – Connie Fromhold  -Claims/Payroll and February 4th Minutes- Approved

ATTORNEY – Andy Baudendistel- you are well aware Plan Commission has an item that you will see later. Andy will be out of town. He has Anthony Smart covering for him at PC. Andy sought Luke Britts help again to be sure that Commissioner Bischoff could attend the PC as Thatcher serves on the board and will be there also. Britt said they could. Britt is leaving office as Public Access Counselor. Andy praised all the help he has received over the years from him.[NOTE: Luke Britt served our county activists well over the years too.He was an equal access PAC.] 

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS- Turner- reached out to Moores Hill and Dillsboro Towns Board to recommend one person for 911 Board.

Thatcher- finally getting some relief out of EMS with the Attorney General looking into this filing a case against that, - we will retain the assets that are out there and they will be put into a position where they can be utilized. Once we get a decision on where the assets will go- which will either be the town or the Dillsboro Fire Dept, When that all happens. We have already started some preliminary discussions as to how we can get this thing up and running in a few months. Happy we are where we are. 

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- Jeff Larson from United Consulting - needs signatures on the plan design for Lower Dillsboro Rd. Approved. 

PUBLIC COMMENT- none

ADJOURN- 6:25 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

WHY WOULD THE DEARBORN COUNTY REGIONAL SEWER DISTRICT CONSIDER SELLING TO ENVIROLINK/CROSSROADS?

 

SUMMARY  OF ENVIROLINK’S PURSUIT OF DCRSD SALE

Dearborn County awarded a total of $8,114,737.49 of federal ARPA money to finance DCRSD building a sewer treatment plant in Guilford ( $5,576,448.79) and to get the Lake Dildear project ( $2.538,288.72) lines in place and treatment through Dillsboro’s sewer plant. That construction was bid out and is underway. 

On May 4, 2023, there was a meeting of the DCRSD where representatives of Envirolink (called Crossroads in Indiana) expressed interest in buying the county sewer district. (See notes on this blog)

Crossroads was operating/managing the SDRSD SOUTH Dearborn regional Sewer District in Lawrenceburg for Lawrenceburg, Greendale, Aurora, and the distillery— but not owning it.

Crossroads had purchased LMH Utilities from the Tuckers in Bright and owned and operated it. Tax records show they purchased the LMH sewer plant for $1.7million. 

One of the ways to improve rates for a sewer utility is apparently to merge sewer companies. Older sewer utility rates might be lower than a newer utility applying for rates. At least that seems to be part of the reason for possibly merging DCRSD and LMH (Crossroads) according to the Envirolink/Crossroads proposal. 

The High Ridge Treatment Plant in western Dearborn County is not mentioned in the proposal. That is the only other treatment plant under DCRSD. 

Last year -Commissioners proposed paying for attorneys from Barnes and Thornburg (the firm also acts as lobbyists for the county) to help the DCRSD with an RFP (Request for Proposals) to see what the DCRSD sale or operation/management would cost. 

Barnes and Thornburg disclosed that their firm also does work with Crossroads.

Barnes and Thornburg indicated that they would seek out both types of RFP ( buying or operating)  and had companies they knew to send the RFP-  in addition to advertising/publicizing it.

The RFP deadline came and went with no applicants sending a proposal. 

DCRSD decided to extend the deadline and then receive one proposal- from Envirolink/Crossroads. 

Board members asked other local sewer plant managers if they had been contacted or sent an RFP and were told that they hadn’t.

The proposal was opened and later discussed at the  February 6, 2024 meeting of the DCRSD. (Meeting Notes on this blog. Also, see a link to the video of that meeting on this blog.)

What  is puzzling is why would DCRSD even consider a sale when the offered price for the sewer district is $600,000 for $8,114,737.49 of new assets ? 

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township 

AGENDA- 6 PM ( NEW TIME) February 18, 2025- Dearbborn County Commissioners Meeting

 AGENDA

DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING

February 18, 2025 

6:00 p.m. Henry Dearborn Room

Dearborn County Government Center

165 Mary Street, Lawrenceburg, Indiana

I. CALL TO ORDER

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

III. TITLE VI STATEMENT FOR COMPLIANCE

IV. PUBLIC HEARING – Proposed Lease Agreement for Health Department

*Open Public Hearing

*Open Public Comments

*Close Public Comments

*Close Public Hearing

• Action on Lease Agreement

V. NEW BUSINESS

• Ordinance Regarding the DC Department of Redevelopment and the Redevelopment Commission

• Memorandum of Agreement with Department of Health – Amy Rose, Administrator/Health Educator

VI. OLD BUSINESS 

• Citizens Boards 

• Cemetery Board – Open position (5-year term) (continued tabled – no recommendation yet)

• Redevelopment Board Members (1-year) Current members– Jim Deaton, Jim Mansfield, Tom Tepe / Recommended: Trevor Bischoff 

and Non-Voting School Board Member (2-years) - Daryl Cutter 

VII. ADMINISTRATOR – Sue Hayden

VIII. AUDITOR – Connie Fromhold

• Claims/Payroll/Minutes

IX. ATTORNEY – Andy Baudendistel

X. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS

XI. LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION

XII. PUBLIC COMMENT

XIII. ADJOURN