What do you know about those you have elected?

This is a wonderful idea having homes representing 30% of an individuals income. Lovely subdivisions will be a joy to behold. The only problem is that these homes will not produce enough tax to pay for the schooling of the children. It costs about 6500 dollars a year
to school one child in Dearborn County.

The state, which pays a large part of the school costs, is near bankruptcy. Local property taxes will have to be raised. The state wants to raise the state income tax. Our seniors who are living on small fixed income pensions or simply Social Security will be taxed
off of their property. The developers will snap up those properties for more development.

It seems that we will be electing county commissioners that have a personal interest in development. Watch what happens to Dearborn County.


Alan Freemond Sr.

25 May 2004 Council Meeting

Present: Charlie Fehrman, Chairman, Bill Ullrich, Bo Lansing, Tom Cheek, Mark Mitter, and Dennis Kraus. Absent: Aaron Negangard and Cary Pickens, Auditor. (Helen covering minutes for Pickens)

1. Lorie Howard- County Administrator- absent due to illness. Her items were: $60 inadvertently left off when OKI was paid. Cheek motioned, Kraus 2nd. Passed
Harrison EMS contractual amounts for county coverage - $34,000. Cheek motioned, Mitter 2nd to Table for more clarification.

2. Library Capital Projects – Sally Stegner and Mary Alice Horton- Resolution signed for the annual review of their 3-year plan to show continued county support. Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd - signed resolution.

3. RSVP- Mary Lewis, program director, and Jack Kennedy, treasurer – primary funding sources for RSVP are Cities, County, Grants, and Federal Funding. Requesting $6,000. They presented their budget and gave short presentation of all the programs they help. RSVP volunteers donated 56,000 hours to the community last year.
Cheek motioned, Lansing 2nd - $6,000 approved.

4. Gladys Russell Park – Steve Walker – Culmination of several years attempts to get water to the park. Now need $27,500 extra to accommodate a second plan because of ROW difficulties with one citizen. North Dearborn Water to upgrade their piping to accommodate the park needs. Kraus motioned. Ullrich 2nd - $27,500 granted out of fund 126 Park Board funds. Verification of the original denial of ROW and documentation of services rendered from the water company are required before payment. (Give to auditor)

5. Aurora Farmer’s Fair – George Feustel – Requested $9,000 from Youth funds. Cheek motioned, Kraus 2nd – FAILED. Eliminated the uneducational elements and granted $3,500 for Grandpa Cratchit (sp?) event. Mitter motioned, Cheek 2nd. OK’d.

6. HVL Parking lot for sports complex – Craig Lysne and Bob Will- Cut the request to $15,000 for paving of a second lot. Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd, OK’d.

7. 911 Communications- Charlie Ashley - Grant $101,000 from 911 fund, grant $7500 for equipment repair, grant $12,000 for phones, and table the $2500 for dishes to add to the tower until results of Lorie Howard’s negotiations with tower company are completed. Ullrich motioned, Cheek 2nd, OK’d.

8. Highway Dept.- Mike Davis- updated Council on roadwork.
Requested 203 Fund- $36,000 for East Laughery slip repair in house. Cheek motioned, Mitter 2nd, OK’d.
Tabled from last month- requested $40,000 from cum bridge. Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd. Kraus NAY- Passed.
Insurance requested out of highway budget- $81,000 per half year. (property and equipment ins) Tabled till June.
Equipment repairs- $7500 granted- Cheek motioned, Lansing 2nd. OK’d. (Kraus – nay)
$10,000 Truck repairs. Lansing motioned, Mitter 2nd, OK’d.
$5,000 for tires, $2,000 for hardware and tools, $400 drug testing, $1500 cell phones (7). Cheek motioned, Mitter 2nd. OK’d.
Uniforms tabled until they get details on contractual arrangement.
Davis- FYI told them Triple Whipple is being revived with Rising Sun possibly. It’s county’s bridge so expenses would fall in county hands.

9. Jail- Dave Lusby- $80,000 for medical for inmates and $100,000 for meals. Kraus motioned, Cheek, 2nd. OK’d.

10. Building Dept.- Jim Smith presenting for Al Werner - $10,000 for part time help coverage for Don Townsend. Ullrich motioned, Lansing 2nd. OK’d with Kraus abstaining because he missed part of the discussion.

12. Prerogative of the Chair-
Solid Waste Bins will not be lease to own arrangement- IDEM would not allow that- they will still honor the loan payback. Loan signed for UCB Bank. (from April)
Loan signed for Welfare Office with UCB also. (from April)
Gov’t Financial Services contract for $6,500 with Frank Cummings signed. Kraus motioned, Lansing 2nd. Signed.
Budget hearings- dept. heads will have to be there for their budget hearings.
Minutes approved with minor correction. Negangard’s Senator Byrd comment had been eliminated. Cheek – in jest- said he wanted it included.
Mitter (who is also Plan Commission Chairman) informed the council that a new attorney for the Rollander Development was present Monday at the Plan Commission, indicating that the Health Board must have spoken with their attorney about deciding who he was working for. [Note: Richard Butler, previously Rollander’s attorney and Health Board attorney had sued the county for Rollander]

Meeting adjourned at 9:45 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

24 May 2004 Plan Commission Meeting Summary

Present members were: Mike Hall, Nick Held, Patrick de Maynadier, Karen Shell, Tarry Feiss, Roger Woodfill, and Dave Schmidtgoesling. Absent: Rick Pope

Two subdivisions were denied at the 24 May 2004 Plan Commission meeting. Each took over 2 hours of discussion at the public hearing.

The 26-lot Golf View Acres Subdivision (29 acres) on Soaphill Road in Manchester Township submitted by Rollander Enterprises was denied. Several attempts to pass it with various conditions failed. This was tabled from April's meeting and still had another 2+ hours discussion at this meeting.

Fox Hole Estates (7 lots - 38.644 acres) on North Dearborn Rd in Kelso) with owner Everett Fox Jr. was tabled by the applicant until June.

The 187-lot (69.369 acres) Heritage Ridge Subdivision by Welsh Development owned by B&Z Development in Miller Township on Stateline Road was denied.
[NOTE:Jeff Hayes- form Planning Director of Dearborn County who revised our zoning ordinances - presented for the applicant.]
Sewer issues were the problem the first time this property was presented several years ago. Road issues with Stateline predominated the discussion this time, as did the single access point for 187 lots. Other issues included drainage and sewer capacity questions and requested variances. Most of the opponents to the subdivision were from the adjoining Hidden Valley Lake community and submitted 268 petitions opposing the development citing negative impacts on their community. High density seemed to be the issue for them.
[NOTE: Sugar Ridge Planned Unit Development with 315 units is across the street from this property now. The impact to Stateline from Sugar Ridge will be significant. Adding another 187 units would further increase this impact of development. Stateline is not slated for further road work this year.]
Denial was unanimous.

Meeting adjourned at 12:30 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

Notes from 17 May 2004 Commissioner Meeting

Present: Vera Benning, Acting President, and Dan Batta. Absent: Karen Shell
Present also: Cary Pickens, Auditor, Lisa Lehner, County Attorney, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator.

This meeting resembled a working meeting.

The main items of interest included:

1. Discussion concerning the inspections of road paving and how they were being accomplished. Mike Davis, Hwy Director, replied that there were bonds in place and if anything went wrong in a year it would be fixed under warranty. Implication seemed to be that there was no need to inspect as long as the bond was in place. This seemed to contradict the plan earlier that he was going to see to it that inspections of the work would be done by the Hwy Dept. There were also questions regarding the density gauges that HC Nutting Co. would be using to check the roadwork. The county had owned one of these in years past, but it seems there is no one certified (engineering wise) to use it.
A lengthy discussion on a $0.39 O-ring problem with some of the county’s caterpillar equipment finally concluded when it was determined that the problem was fixed!!

2. Lorie Howard is incorporating more specific language into the paving bid templates so that when they are converted to contracts they will serve the county’s needs better.

3. Owner of a landlocked piece of property is seeking an easement and neighbor involved wants the county to get the easement rather than just a private agreement with the landowner. The two landowners are Ullrich and Knopf (sp?)

4. Vera Benning wanted to table the item on destruction of old trial records from the courthouse until she heard from Judge Humphrey. Lusby and Pennington were in charge of the records and the Records Destruction Committee met concerning these. There was concern that there wouldn’t be adequate supervision at the actual shredding to be certain nothing needed was shredded. They need to get extra appropriations to shred them. (approximately $3200 –3300)

5. Bid documents for jail expansion strategy and architectural design are being written up under the supervision of the county administrator. (Lorie Howard) The team of individuals from the courthouse and community corrections staff are helping design these documents.

Meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
LAwrenceburg Township

3 May 2004 Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Karen Shell, President, Vera Benning, and Dan Batta, Cary Pickens, Auditor, and Lisa Lehner, Attorney.
Lorie Howard, County Administrator was on vacation.

1. Economic Development Initiative – Bill Ritzmann- Gave a presentation outline the background and history of the group. They wish to form a public-private partnership for the purpose of promoting economic development in Dearborn County. Their projected annual budget is $250 to 300,000.
They have committed pledges from over thirty businesses for $135,000 a year for three years. The list includes banks, surveyors, realtors, the hospital, IVY Tech, homebuilders and construction related companies, Perfect North Slopes, telecommunication companies, road paving companies, electrical companies, engineering companies, computer companies, WSCH, developers, and a law office [Note: Wood Lamping, and Lehner Law Office- and Lisa Lehner ALSO functions as the County’s attorney. This could present some ethical issues and conflict of interest, if Lisa has to advise the commissioners regarding their agreements with the initiative and the money going from the county to that entity.]
They have committed public funding of $100,000 a year for three years from Lawrenceburg. This brings the annual total to $235,000. To meet a $300,000 annual budget requires an additional $65,000 to date. They intend to include all cities, towns and villages in the public sector.
Ritzmann asked the county to contribute the $25,000 that they have already earmarked from the Economic Development budget and also use the money they had in the chamber and the Visitor and Tourism Bureau earmarked for economic development, thus using no new money. [NOTE: It was unclear here if the $25,000 was the entire county share per year or if there was more under the chamber and CVTB budgets. It would seem that the other towns and cities should have something left to contribute if they want to be part of the initiative.]Discussion from the commissioners included:
Dan Batta: The bottom line is that progress requires change but that change isn’t always progress. Concerned that everyone will want THEIR proposal pushed. More details are needed so that everyone understands what it is that you will be doing. You need to create this entity so that it is safe to express your opinions. When you have a marketing effort like this you have to have something to market. I think you will be coming back to us for that- for infrastructure or other needs to get ready for businesses to come in. In order to promote something, we have to have something to promote. This will be the challenge.
Ritzmann – We understand and accept that challenge.
Karen Shell - Taxpayers need help – we can’t stay a bedroom community forever. The person you hire will have to know what to do- they will have the answers. It should be someone from outside the county so that it is not political.
Vera Benning – We need to make a motion today to show approval to amend the contracts with CVTB, Chamber, and the Economic Redevelopment Commission to transfer that money to this initiative.

Lisa Lehner restated Benning’s motion for the record and Dan Batta 2nded it. Motion passed.
Dan Batta- You need to make sure that the private dollars that are donated are for the community and not used as leverage to get their own way.

2. Animal Control- Cheryl Lohmiller – gave brief report on the shelter’s adoptions and current status of repairs to the trailer. Currently there are 57 dogs and 40 cats at the shelter.

3. Emergency Management- Bill Black – Starting the new Certification program with 14 people tomorrow night. They received a $50,000 check for the 800 MgHz system. Passed out the GIS information sheet and has $47,000 for a new flyover of the county that will cover 100% of the costs. Only 30 counties in the state have 100% coverage of these costs. He is communicating with Planning, assessors , Highway, and the Soil and Water district to coordinate needs to get the right pictures.
There was some discussion over the moving of recycle bins to heir lot- EMS doesn’t want there to be any dumping there. He will check with BJ Ault to see if it’s a temporary need due to L-bg’s construction.

4. Transportation- Mike Davis – Finishing up the slip on Pinhook Rd. this week. White’s Hill realignment – will work around the one property that has ROW issues because it’s in court till the fall. June 2 was to be start date for the project and closed to local traffic. Commissioners pushed to make someone ACCOUNTABLE for the work during this project. Davis decided that Tim Moore will be supervising all the work and HC Nutting will report to him. Per Cary Pickens- council earmarked $1.2 million for this project. There was a later problem brought out- Mark Seiler came in with the bad news- LMS won’t have their bond for 45-60 days, thus delaying their startup time. [Note: Bonds are supposed to be part of the bid process- so if their bid was accepted, it should mean a bond was in place.]
A meeting Wednesday night from 6:30-8:30 at the North Dearborn Library will cover the public inputr for the realignment of North Dearborn Rd. from McCann to Dover.
The slips on Wilson Creek and East Laughery are getting too severe to let go. He is trying to get funding from Council to fix these. More funding issues with the Triple Whipple Bridge and the Ohio Cty portions.
INDOT plans to redo the intersection with Georgetown and SR1 and also the Bridge near Salt Fork. Davis wants to coordinate with state work on Georgetown to fix the little bridge and the hill to HVL.

5. YES Home – Cathy Piche and Susan Craig – application approved for the county to be the pass through on a $30,000 grant for IHFA to get a feasibility study done on the uses besides just transitional apartments for the first floor. Karen Shell was authorized by the commissioners to sign off on this when it is ready.

6. Septic waste- Dan Goodman- has a septic tank cleaning company and nowhere in the county to dump the waste. SDRSD (Dennis Feichtner) said they can’t dump county waste there because the county doesn’t pay into the district as a user. Commissioners were of the opinion that it would be the responsibility of the septic owners to pay the $50 fee or whatever SDRSD assessed for the dumping. Goodman will check with the County Sewer Board.

7. County Att’y- Lisa Lehner- introduced Elaine Korb as the new law clerk in their office.

8. County Auditor – Cary Pickens- Minutes approved and claims paid.

9. County Commissioners – Karen Shell- Travis Miller requested an old Sheriff’s vehicle to use for the Planning Dept. Approved by commissioners.
The county engineer ad includes the concept that the engineer must be a PE with IN residency and and IN license in order to qualify for the $20,000 stipend from the state.

10. Public Comment – Chris Mueller- reported to the commissioners that the GIS issue and the transportation assessment information needed attention. Council funded the study, they funded the dedicated computer for the information, they funded the GPS equipment for the highway department to keep information up to date. BUT they did not approve a GIS intern to enter the data this summer. This means that the information stops at last June. Karen Shell will speak with Charlie Fehrman regarding this.

Meeting adjourned 11:15 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

27 April 2004 County Council Meeting Notes

Members present: Charlie Fehrman, Chairman, Bo Lansing, Tom Cheek, Bill Ullrich, Mark Mitter. Arrived at 8:10 PM- Aaron Negangard.
Cary Pickens, Auditor also present.

[Note: Item #6 contains info regarding questions surrounding a possible ethical conflict for the Health Board’s Attorney.]

1. Dave Lusby- Sheriff – presented the proposal by RQAW to conduct a study to plan for the jail expansion. Expansion to include courthouse offices also. RQAW’s $43,500 fee will be refunded to the county if the county selects them to do the design work for the jail once the study is completed. Council questioned the possible conflict here and Charlie Fehrman asked if another company was selected to do the design, would they want to use the criteria from RQAW’s study. $300,000 is currently in the jail fund now.
Tom Cheek asked if this was duplicating info from Crowe Cizek’s (sp?) study on the capital improvement plan. Charlie Fehrman asked about storage needs. Dave Lusby informed them that RQAW was original jail designer and that they had contacted the county to do this. He said Lisa Lehner said it is legal to not get bids for services. Tom Cheek said- “It’s legal, but is it prudent?” Dave Lusby stated that a year has gone by and there has been no progress- getting too crowded, etc. He also told then they’d be coming in again for additionals of $80,000 for medical and $60,000 for meals, after they advertise.
Kraus motioned, Cheek 2nd, to request competitive RFPs with a 45 day time limit to get them. Ullrich abstained. Passed.

2. Randy Hillenbrand – Family Services and Bill Ritzmann, UCB proposed a loan from UCB against the county’s $2.9 million on deposit there for the $1.5 million that Family Services needs because of taxes not being collected yet. The loan is short term at 1.5% till about August. Lisa Lehner had prepared a resolution for this proposal that Bill Ritzmann gave to the council.
Lansing motioned, Kraus 2nd to approve the $1.5 million loan at 1.5%. Passed.

3. Travis Miller- Planning and Zoning presented 4 items:

1. Attorney fees of $9,000 for the year won’t be enough. Requested $12,000. There are lawsuits, pending that might go higher. Kraus asked if enforcement officer was driving the county looking for violations. Miller stated no- it was primarily complaint based enforcement.
Kraus motioned and Cheek 2nd – to allow $6,000 now and table $6,000 for later for att’y fees. Passed.

2. Mileage for enforcement officer when he has to use his own vehicle. $600.
Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd for $600 for mileage. Passed.

3. Request for additional to increase salary for enforcement officer to $35,000 for 04 and to keep it at that level for 05 budget. (This would mean $3350 for balance of the year plus $500 SS and PERF) Rationale was that that was the median salary for that position in Indiana and also that Council had said he could request it after 6 months. Discussion heavy on NOT increasing salaries mid year. This was stressed - that it was not about performance- only about competitive wage. Will revisit at budget.
Mitter motioned, Ullrich 2nd to increase $3350 plus PERF this year and maintain at $35,000 for o5 budget. Cheek, Kraus, Negangard, and Fehrman voted Nay. FAILED.

4. Part time intern position $12850 at $12/hour. Info on the superb job and large amount of labor obtained in this fashion for a good price was supported by other council members on the master plan. I gave info on Purdue students experience with college intern jobs supporting the $12/hour for junior and senior level interns.
Kraus motioned, Ullrich 2nd to approve $12850 Passed.
Mitter motioned, Ullrich 2nd to amend the salary ordinance to allow up to $12 per hour for college interns. Negangard Nay. Passed.

4. Benevolent Fund – Kim Tucker – Miss Indiana project- absent.
Terry Luhrsen – South Dearborn Pee Wee Football – requesting $15,000 for a scoreboard. They serve 150 – 200 kids. Negangard said there is a disproportionate amount of money going to South Dearborn and Aurora in this fund and that it is going for parks we don’t own. Also stated we are giving more than Aurora city is. Was concerned that the role of government was being distorted. Fund raisers should be handling these needs. Referred to Robert Bird in his discussion with Cheek on this (a reference to gov’t pork projects) [Note: Later in the evening Negangard apologized to Cheek for his comments and for being unprofessional in the heat of the argument. Cheek said he understood and accepted it.]
Cheek motioned, Lansing 2nd to approve $5,000 to Pee Wee Football in Aurora. Mitter and Negangard Nay. Passed.

5. BJ Ault- Solid Waste- updated the council on the recycling center news and produced the promissory note that they requested last month for their $150,000 loan at 0% interest and 2% interest if default.
Kraus motioned, Lansing 2nd to approve with the loan from UCB to be increased to cover this so as not to use county funds that might be needed. Passed. Papers signed at 0% -The 1.5% rate will not apply to Solid Waste- the county will absorb this ????
Requested again- Tax levy increase for solid waste at .03 rate not to exceed $520,000. Solid Waste has not been asking for the possible 5% they could get each year- and have been fiscally responsible.
Kraus motioned, Lansing 2nd to approve the rate increase resolution. Negangard Nay. Passed.

6. Doug Baer and Rodney Dennerline- Health Department – brought in Xerox company rep to explain the multi purpose copier, fax, scanner, printer they wish to purchase eventually. Costs and maintenance were discussed.
Tabled by Ullrich and Cheek motions and council agreed.
Overtime expenses due to sewer board start up. Requested $40,000. They’d asked for $50,000 at budget and got $10,000 then.
Kraus motioned and Cheek 2nd to approve $10,000 now and table the rest. Passed.

Mitter asked Baer and Dennerline if they were aware of the Health Board Attorney’s suits against the county planning department. Dennerline stated that he was aware of Richard Butler’s actions and “told him it was stupid.” He wasn’t sure if the other board members were aware of it. Dennerline also stated that he’d “ talked to his att’y son who told him it was legal, but it was extremely unethical!” Dennerline thinks he should be working for someone else if he wants to sue the county.
The Health Board is not condoning this type of system (mound) at Soaphill. Fehrman stated that he was concerned about it in light of the increased legal fees being requested by the planning department for this and stated that if your board is in agreement, then Butler needs to choose who he wants to work for. Dennerline will bring this up at the Health Board.

7. Lorie Howard – County Administrator-
YES Home mound system has failed on both mounds. Dils has been working on it and will do the repair. They have to excavate and remove the contaminants and replace pipes. Filters will be installed so that it will hopefully last another 20 years.
Ullrich motioned and Kraus 2nd to approve $15,000 out of Riverboat Fund 146 and tabled the other $15,000. Passed.
Computer services for the Adm. Bldg. Have been evaluated by the tech committee and the pricing committee and then consensus was reached. The tech differences were varied, pricing was similar. They need $25,000 for the rest of the year. There is $3800 left in the account. Commissioners will award bid at their next meeting.
Kraus motioned, Mitter 2nd to approve $21200 to complete the money needed for services for 04. Passed.
Negangard commended Lorie and stated he met with her throughout the process.
Lorie Howard reported that she’d met with Kramer of Pinnacle and that we were on target with the budget on health care. She’s updated on the HIPAA requirements and is considering taking our big cases to MED Ben to let the employees work through lifestyle and drug benefits to help cut costs.
Howard has been looking for space for 911 because they want to move out of the building on the hill due to expense. They are trying to be sure they can lease additional space on the tower anyway.
She has developed a bid/contract template with Mike Davis to streamline the bidding process.
They are proceeding with a job description for a highway engineer and council is invited to the 10AM executive session on Thursday to discuss this.
FX- the company that manages the county website has updated it and Davis has a highway site also.
Seitz insurance files are not updated. All dept. heads are reviewing inventory to be sure insurance is covering appropriately and fees reflect correctly insured items.
Council minutes will be posted on the web in approved form- not draft version.

8. Mike Davis- Hwy Dept. Director- passed out info on the GIS system and what it could do. Asking for $26,000 for small structures inventory by United last meeting and needs a total of $66,000 for this eventually.
$182,000 needed to pay for gravel and salt in 04.
Ullrich motioned and Cheek 2nd to approve $182,000 out of contingency fund for gravel and salt. Passed.
Feelers have been sent to colleges looking for interns to enter the GIS data that has accrued since last summer to keep the Transportation Assessment Study up to date and accurate. Kraus is opposed to this. Final discussion on this GIS and United’s inventory was that Negangard was concerned that privacy was being invaded with all the GIS info.
Mitter motioned and Cheek 2nd to approve $5,000 for GIS intern. 3 Nays and it required 5 for a salary ordinance and so failed.
Union Ridge Rd. slip used $11,000 out of $12,000 requested.
Kraus motioned and Cheek 2nd to approve $11,000. Passed. $40,000 contract for small structures inventory from United was unfounded apparently. Discussion ensued- Vera Benning reminded them it was signed by all three commissioners because they were of the understanding from the former Hwy. Director that it was funded. Grants were also mentioned.
Concern that the work was done in good faith and a vendor needed to be paid.
Ullrich motioned and Lansing 2nd to pay $40,000. Negangard, Kraus, Mitter, Nays. Passed.
Road list for 2004 Paving and Chip and seal was approved for $787,700 total. This includes fixing Schantz because of a mistake in gravel being added to a road that was chip/seal. Kraus discussed Ester Ridge improvements and Angie Batta was there to represent Schantz Rd. and her son who is asthmatic.
Ullrich motioned and Mitter 2nd to approve $628,000 from the 147 account and $160,000 from the 203 account to finish the 2004 Road paving and chip/seal list. Passed.
Triple Whipple bridge back up for discussion per Mike davis and the White’s Hill work is ready to start in June. They are still working around one ROW issue.

9. EMS Funds were finished out giving $10,000 to Dillsboro Fire Dept. and $5365 to Hogan Fire Dept.
Ullrich motioned Cheek 2nd. Passed

10. Judge Michael Witte called and left a message for Charlie Fehrman which was played into the meeting tape. He requested paying his court reporter out as a 100 level item rather than as self employed so that she’d get her taxes withheld. [Note: This also means the county is paying the SS share as they do for regular employees.]
Cheek motioned and Ullrich 2nd to move the pay to the 100 level per Judge Witte’s request. Passed.

11. $74,000 in the Benevolent Fund was earmarked for Community services.

Minutes approved with Cheek and Ullrich’s motion and Kraus and Lansing abstaining.

Cheek and Kraus motioned to adjourn at 11:35 PM.

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

26 April 2004 Plan Commission Meeting Notes

Notes from April 26, 2004 Plan Commission Meeting

Plan Commission members present: Mark Mitter, Chairman, Rick Pope, Tarry Feiss, Mike Hall, Nick Held, Dave Schmidtgoesling, and Roger Woodfill. Absent: Karen Shell and Patrick deMaynadier. Attorney Arnie McGill present as was Travis Miller, Planning Director and Mark McCormack, Enforcement Officer.

Soaphill Road Subdivision- 25 lots from Rollander Enterprises - was tabled after nearly two hours of testimony and discussion. Mike Hall removed himself from the board for this because he was the surveyor for the development. Attorney for Rollander was Richard Butler who is also the attorney for the County Health Dept. [Note: Because there are issues surrounding the type of sewage treatment being sought on this land and because the Health Dept. has indicated that they will require a 2nd leach site, it appears that there may be some ethical conflicts for the attorney. This was brought up by one of the residents in the area.]

Approximately 35 residents attended.
Issues to be resolved for the next meeting include but are not limited to: roadway width, evaluation of intersections at both ends of Soaphill Road, traffic counts with regard to the seasonal activity of Elk Run Golf Course, conflicting info on the traffic counts from the developer’s previous study two years ago and the current counts, fire hydrants, water line pressure and line size, septic considerations and the future connectivity to a sewer line.

The developer presented plans for a fitness trail at the meeting- this was not included in the application. The trail appears to access the 10.7 + acres reserved for leach fields and the greenspace area. It should be noted that the 10.7+ acres has a little less than half of it as a reasonably flat area for leach fields. According to the topographical map that area is surrounded on 3 sides by fairly steep slopes, so that the leach fields will run off to the surrounding properties and creeks. It should also be noted that the 25 homes in this development will send all their septic tank effluent thru a pump and high pressure lines to this field of about 5 acres.

Sewer Board was approached about providing oversight. They cited several reasons why they couldn’t- timing as well as it not being in the current geographical area they service at this time. The board is still getting the original district set up- and don’t want to add to it till they get this part right. [Note: see minutes of the previous sewer board meeting on this site for details.]

Applicant’s attorney- Richard Butler, presented his letter from two years ago restating why he thought the board had to accept the subdivision. He also stated that IDEM has the authority over the septic issues and that, in his opinion, the Plan Commission has no authority to deny based on septic issues.

Item tabled and will come back in May for consideration with more facts at that time. [Note: It was apparent that the applicant was not ready at this meeting- if all items are not in place the Planning Department should not schedule a hearing.]

Several technical items concerning roads and results of the transportation assessment study were discussed for two hours and approved for review and approval by the commissioners at their June meeting. These will update the code books.

The Plan Commission scheduled a working session May 12th to begin the review of the draft master plan. Copies were passed to members for their review prior to that meeting.

Meeting adjourned 11 PM.

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

20 April 2004 Sewer Board Working Meeting

The sewer board had 100% attendance. Present were: Mike Hankins, Chair, Pat Hanlon, Brett Fehrman, Greg Vollmer, Pat Holland, Barry Pruss, and Rodney Dennerline. Also present were Lisa Lehner, Attorney, Joe Tierney, GRW consultant, and Vera Benning, Special Advisor.

1. Minor changes were made to the wording of the easement document requiring restoration of property after maintenance and repairs to the sewer equipment and lines. Approved by vote.

2. Mike Hankins conducted a detailed item-by-item review of the FAQ sheet to be given to homeowners prior to the May 19th meeting.
Approximately 15 homes are greater than 400 feet from the line per Joe Tierney. The board opted to keep the language the same as the state law regarding the 300 ft. from the property line rule. If a home is greater than 500 feet from the line- there may be other options to consider.
The sewer board will have to pay prevailing wages because federal dollars are being used to subsidize the district. Homeowners will not have to follow those rules for their part of the construction from the shut off and grinder pump to the home. The service agreement will include an abuse clause in the event that homeowners do damage to the pumps. Grinders will have a standard 50 ft. cord and the outside electric service is a 220 line. There will be a gravity connection from the house to the pump in most cases. Homeowners will have to locate their lines and tell the district where to locate the grinder pump.
At the suggestion of Brett Fehrman, the board decided that connection fees of $800 would be waived if the easements are signed and the land is donated by June 25th. A federal document will be given out to homeowners advising them that they are entitled to payment for easements. Survey costs and legal fees will likely eat up those payments, and the district costs would be passed on to all the sewer customers. The $800 cost will be recouped in $2-3 monthly fees on the sewer bills rather than an up-front outlay of expense to hook-up for the customer. This only applies to those who meet the June 25th deadline.
There are 25 homes that have new septic systems less than 5 years old. They have the option to wait 3 years to hook up, HOWEVER they will incur all the expense of hook-up fees, pumps, etc. If a homeowner will be there long term it is economically smarter to hook up for “free” now.
Dennerline motioned and Holland seconded to approve the FAQ revisions. Approved by vote.

3. Doug Baer updated the board on the status of the funding sought from Lawrenceburg. It was decided that they would submit the application for $100,000 to the Lawrenceburg Municipal fund managed by the Community Foundation before July 1. Dennerline will make a personal contact with Mayor Cunningham regarding this request also.
Seitz Insurance blanket bonded everyone except the Treasurer and Doug Baer who handle district money. They will get separate bonds. Doug is checking to be sure the advisory committee members are covered as well.
They have a federal tax ID number now and no worker’s comp, because they have no employees yet.

4. Doug Baer brought up two subdivision requests, the Old Gabbard Property on US 50 needing service by Fall 2005 and also the Soaphill Road project from Rollander Enterprises that is going before the Planning Commission April 26th.
Discussion on Gabbard property included the following comments:
Mike Hankins – Likes to focus on doing one thing right first before moving on. The primary focus is to get service to the 300 homes the district has taken on right now.
Pat Hanlon- this will affect the grants and funding because low-income status would change.
Lisa Lehner – We are still waiting on IDEM’s response to the grants.
Joe Tierney – We’re looking at 2006 before these people will be on sewer lines. Gabbard wants to start in 2005.
Lisa Lehner – Sewer districts are not in the development business. They exist for safety issues.
Rodney Dennerline – The developers will provide all their own lines and pumps and pay to join plus pay for plant expansion of plant capacity. No further discussion till May 4th meeting.

Discussion on the Soaphill property included the following comments:
Doug Baer- It is a mound system on Lot 14 and the POA will have private ownership of the “utility.” I told them we might take it over later, down the road. IDEM is in charge of it. They are no longer using a drip irrigation system for this- it is a mound system.
Rodney Dennerline – It is NOT in our district! I don’t like the POA owning it – problems.
Mike Hankins – That’s a bad location for a subdivision.
Pat Hanlon – I don’t think it’s irrational to put one there though.
Greg Vollmer – A package plant would be better if the sewer board were to ever take it over.
Rodney Dennerline- we’re opening a Pandora’s box – we’re not up and running – and we would end up with a whole bunch of these.
Pat Hanlon – I’d like to see our sewer board take over the whole county eventually, so we’d approach things in a responsible, engineered way.
Rodney Dennerline – The purpose was to take over the whole county eventually. We can’t give an answer now- we’re not ready! If we say yes and if we fold, he sues us.
Doug Baer- I’m going to require a secondary site for this mound field.
Lisa Lehner - We’re not prepared to offer him anything now. This is partly by IDEM’s order.
Mike Hankins – I’m strongly against this. He hasn’t been “kissed by everyone else yet” – Planning and Zoning hasn’t kissed it yet, so we aren’t either.
Doug Baer- I have to give him an answer tomorrow.
Consensus was that they wouldn’t (couldn’t) provide service.
5. Vera Benning- Advisory Committee- report – Meeting for homeowners to get easements will be May 19th 7:30 PM at the Starlight Reception Hall on US 50. Invitation letters and FAQ sheets will be mailed out. Hankins and Lisa Lehner will review the letter. They will also include a short description of who and what the advisory committee is. Audio-visual aids and pump demonstrations plus maps of the lines will be available that night for viewing. Holland motioned and Dennerline seconded to approve this. Approved by vote.

6. Doug Baer suggested a “last chance” meeting for June 22 at 7:30 PM at the Reception Hall also. This was approved by consensus.

7. Joe Tierney will mail the rural development grant applications now. This has to proceed before the DOC grants. (Board thought he’d done that from last meeting.)
Joe also passed out answers to the capacity questions from last meeting for the board to review.

8. Pat Hanlon reported that he’d contacted Bruns at the Seymour office and Mark Brunner from INDOT to be certain the district could use the US 50 ROW. Drawings will be submitted to INDOT for line placement.

9. Brett Fehrman will hand deliver the list of questions to the Mayor Hastings of Aurora- they “lost” the last one.

Meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller Lawrenceburg Township

Highlights of the 19 April 2004 County Commissioner Meeting

Present: Karen Shell, Vera Benning, and Dan Batta. Also Lisa Lehner, Attorney, Cary Pickens, Auditor, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator.
Denise Freitag, Register Publications also covered the meeting.

1. Bill Black reported on the status of the grants that Emergency Management is seeking.
2. Mike Davis – Transportation Director - reported on the three district’s roadwork status.
3. Ester Ridge Road residents filled the room (approximately 40+) and with their spokespersons (Bruce Smith, Joe Grote, and Diane Sullivan) expressed the desire to have their entire road paved rather than mostly chip sealed, as is currently planned. They cited drainage issues, safety of the kids and school bus route, health concerns with the dust, and wear and tear on vehicles. They also stated that they did not want it paved for development but just for the needs of the families who are there. The chip seal 3 years ago did not hold up. They also stated that gambling dollars were promised to go to paving all the roads in the county.
Karen Shell stated that she’d been out to se the entire road. She wants a good base and drainage with culverts put in. She wanted them to know that there were three grades of chip seal- and they would be using a better grade than the last time. They would probably widen the road in areas as well.
Dennis Kraus, Sr. told the commissioners that the ROW already has been dedicated so that widening should not require extra easements or ROW acquisition.
Dan Batta stated that commissioners failed the residents on that road and this needs to be addressed. Dollars were spent fastest in some districts so that others didn’t get theirs in time.
Vera Benning stated that she wants to stick to the plan and that maybe this could be added to the second draw in July or August. They need to get approval from Council.
No vote was taken, but commissioners seemed to indicate that they were going to stick to the plan so far and consider paving the rest of Ester Ridge when they see how the improvements in the site hold up after a year or so.
4. Angie Batta appeared with Ben Batta for Schantz Road, which is the connector to East Central for Ester Ridge. Gravel was put over the top of their chip-sealed road and now the dust is causing problems for her asthmatic son.
Commissioners discussed and then agreed to amend the road list to ask Council to approve chip-sealing Schantz again for an estimated $30-50,000. Dust control can no longer be done- the EPA shut that down.
[Note: it appears that someone is graveling and grading roads in the county without supervision or a plan. This road and Hogan Creek were both “changed” by highway workers this spring and residents are complaining about them.]
5. Locust Road- Priscilla Probst discussed notification requirements for vacating alleys with the commissioners. Lisa Lehner cited IC 8-1-8-1 as being the guide. She recommended consulting Senator Nugent if they wanted the laws changed to require newspaper notifications and not just adjoining property owners. [Note: Commissioners did not vacate this alley and the applicant removed his request last month.]
6. Planning and Zoning- Lorie Howard represented Travis Miller. The changes to the wording for chairman and vice chairman were approved for the zoning codebook to match up with state law language.
7. Lorie Howard – County Administrator reported on signing the IHFA agreement, attending the MED BEN seminar on HIPPA rules, that Dr. Scudder will be the county privacy officer, and that she is gathering info on the jail expansion plans. She viewed the Hillsboro, OH GIS system, one of the best in the area, and Highway Dept. is trying to get a GIS intern for the summer to update and keep our GIS info current. Computer proposals were reviewed and she will go to council to get funding approved, before committing to selecting a company. She is also working on forms to consolidate proposals so that they can become agreements if accepted. Lisa Lehner is also involved with this.
8. Cary Pickens introduced the new and improved claims forms with different account numbers to match the state’s codes. They have a cheat sheet to convert old fund numbers to new ones until everyone gets used to it. Minutes were held over for Dan Batta to review before approval.
9. Vera Benning added that the Housing Assessment Study meetings are being held and invited the commissioners to attend if they would like to.
Adjourned at 9:15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

Meet the Candidate Night

The Manchester Area Civic Association is sponsoring a 2004 Dearborn County Primary Candidates Night. Thursday, April 22, at 7:00 p.m. at the Zion Lutheran Church of Manchester. The meeting will take place in the basement. The church is located on State Road 48 just past Manchester Market.

All opposed Dearborn County Candidates running in the primary have been invited to meet the citizens of Dearborn County to answer our questions.

Candidates expected to attend so far are:

Commissioner District 1

Karen Shell vs. Jeff Hughes

Commissioner District 2

Richard Fox vs. Mark Hall

County Council

Bill Ullrich and Mark Mitter

Treasurer

Amanda Pickens vs. Gayle Pennington

Surveyor

Dennis Kraus vs. Roger Woodfill

School Board Candidates

District 1
Mark Manford vs. Tim Whiteford

District 2
Terry Luhrsen

District 3
Karen Loveland


ARISTOTLE --
"If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost."

THOMAS JEFFERSON --
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government."

6 April 2004 sewer Board Meeting Highlights

Highlights from 6 April 2004 Sewer Board Meeting

Members present: Brett Fehrman, Pat Holland, Pat Hanlon (Acting Chairman), Barry Pruss, Rodney Dennerline, Greg Vollmer. Absent: Mike Hankins, Chairman, who arrived near the end of the meeting.
Att’y Lisa Lehner, Doug Baer, and Vera Benning, Special Advisor, also present.
Minutes of 4 meetings approved.

Special Speaker, Connie Stevens, postponed until May meeting.

Old Business:
1. Joe Tierney- GRW- provided clarification of project cost differences in various areas in an attempt to explain why Cole Lane’s cost differed so much from Stewart Lane and the main area. He stated that with 40 mobile homes on Cole Lane that already were connected to a central system, there was no need for individual grinders for each home. The entire system would be attached to the main. They only have to upgrade the main pumping system. [Note: Does this also apply to the other trailer courts in this district?]
Pat Hanlon wants the figures to be put on the back page to clarify.
Greg Vollmer wanted to be sure all 40 were considered in the effluent treatment figures though. Tierney said yes.
Greg Vollmer wanted them to consider gravity fed for parts of the area- some looked suitable for this - like High Ridge.
2. Lisa Lehner and Joe Tierney presented a reworded easement, which changed the language from plural to singular to reassure owners that only their system was being granted easement rights. References to adjoining properties were eliminated and returning land to proper grade with seed and fertilizer was added.
Pat Hanlon presented several other possible low cost options, but most were ruled out for practical considerations and long-term potential costs. Board seems to desire standardization so that they can easily repair and replace units as needed.
Brett Fehrman wondered if the owner’s own att’y could draft an easement. Lisa Lehner replied that it would have to satisfy the board’s engineering.
3. Advisory Committee- Vera Benning- Committee further discussed easements. They plan to have an easement gathering for all residents in the district at the reception hall on US 50. Space was donated free as well as refreshments, by the owner who lives in the district. Dave Emsweiler will take the easement to his company att’y to get a second opinion, so as to have more back up for the new version possibly.
Much discussion centering on the committee members feeling like they needed more concrete facts to take with them to the residents when requesting the easements. They may use a script so as to standardize what everyone is told and reduce liability issues for the board. Ed Yelton suggested that they use pictures and diagrams to illustrate.
Lisa Lehner stressed that title searches had been done and it was imperative to get the easements ASAP before that work was obsolete. Costs would increase if they have to do that again as land changes hands etc.
Board voted to move forward with the Rural Development grant application with the understanding that the scope of the work could change or be modified later if necessary. They also voted to move forward with the Advisory Board members to get easements as quickly as possible.
Joe Tierney will get Mike Hankins to sign the application and send it to Rural Development.
Joe and Lisa will attend the next advisory committee meeting to assist with the easement plans.
Tierney stated that they would have to see how things play out with Aurora and Dillsboro to determine if the county will have to build it’s own plant. [Note: Building a plant seems to be a recurring theme with Tierney and GRW]
4. Doug Baer- reported that the Lawrenceburg Bond Bank and Community Grant program, info was in their gray folder and they can discuss it at the next meeting after they have time to review the material. “We are slowly running out of funds,” per Doug. He also noted that Lawrenceburg has $100,000 in the Municipal Development Fund that they can apply for by July for 2005.
5. Doug Baer – Insurance is with Seitz Ins. Co. They also have Workers Comp to consider if they hire clerical staff. Binding and liability is purchased and the papers will be forthcoming for Mike Hankins to sign. Lisa will review them first.
6. Doug Baer- Regional Sewer District space in the large closet in the Health Dept. has been OK’d by the Commissioners this week. He will rehab it with a desk, phone, and computer wiring.
7. Joe Tierney – Letters to Aurora and Dillsboro. No decision yet from Randy Turner or Scott Fortner.
8. Pat Hanlon – Petitions against the district were reviewed. Most were concerned with cost issues. “We’re beyond these now.” Per Pat Hanlon.

NEW BUSINESS:
1. Sewer 101 postponed for another meeting possibly due to lateness of the hour.
2. Rural Development and DOC (Dept of Commerce) grants covered under old business.
3. Preliminary engineering report was questioned: Answers- Only High Ridge and Walston Trailer Court were on private plants. Only minor commercial facilities were in this district and on US 50. Flow rates for 4,6,and 8- inch lines will be given at the next meeting by GRW. Doug Baer will make some calls to determine what happens to the abandoned plant and lagoon at High Ridge- i.e. clean-up issues. Doug Baer thought that IDEM might release Superfund money to take care of it. Pat Hanlon gave a history of High Ridge’s sewer woes and the plant owner’s lawsuits and bankruptcy issues. IDEM had apparently proposed another permit on the failed plant in 1999 and the Health Dept. told them no way – they’d have to be “crazier than a pet coon.” Per Hanlon.
4. More clarification of pump costs and Tierney detailed piping details at the board’s requests.
Pay back of 40 years is figured in the study and Pat Holland suggested that they get a long term commitment from whoever they send the sewage to so as to be set and not have to change pipes etc. at some future date. He also suggested that they get expansion set up also so as to accommodate future growth anticipated in that area with several properties up for sale.
Tierney is hoping to make improvements so that Aurora will accept Cole Lane.
Doug Baer informed the board that they were proceeding slowly with out of compliance businesses that are trying to cooperate so that they can solve their problems with this sewer district. That’s why it was imperative that the district move forward in a timely manner.
Questions concerning Rodney Dennerline’s trailer park on Cole Lane – Rodney told the board that it was a non- grinder system with a 4” line from the trailer park to Aurora. The bills were about $50 per month for the residents of the trailer park.
Tierney stated that they were going to put modular units to help at the plant and extra pump stations to help with expansion near the sites for growth possibilities.
Doug Baer stated that no more septic permits were being issued in that area. He also stated that when a new development comes in- it won’t be approved by him on tech review for the Plan Commission unless they have sewage OK’d. That puts the Sewer Board in the driver’s seat.
5.Lisa Lehner gave a brief talk on the Open Door Law and that it applied to both the board and the advisory committee. She illustrated it with examples. Dennerline commented that newspapers were responsible for this law. And that the ”penalty is just that you have to have another meeting.”
6. Working sessions – the board decided to use the second meeting each month as a working session- open to the public- BUT no public comment during these sessions.
Meeting adjourned 10:30 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

Highlights of 5 April 2004 County Commissioners Meeting

Present: Karen Shell, Vera Benning, Dan Batta (arrived at 10AM), Lorie Howard, County Administrator, Lisa Lehner, County Att’y, and Cary Pickens, Auditor.

Brief reports from Veteran’s Officer, Animal Control, Transportation Dept.

Randy Hillenbrand- Division of Family and Children received the OK to go to Council to request another loan – this one for $1.5 million due to lack of funds from assessments and taxes not being completed yet.

Health Dept.- Doug Baer gave update on YES home problems with their mound type septic system. Lorie Howard is approved to sign off on repairs for the commissioners. He also received the OK to use a portion of the Health Dept. space to set up a regional sewer district office with phone and computer. Eric Hartman may provide funding for this from maintenance funds or else it will come from Regional Sewer District funds that Council loaned them.

ELECTION NEWS!
Gayle Pennington, Clerk of Courts- requested moving two voter precincts. Miller 4 at old firehouse in Bright will move to Miller 2, the new firehouse. Lawrenceburg 1 at Central Elementary will move to Lawrenceburg 2 at Tate Street Adult Center. OK’d.

Lorie Howard- County Adm.- reported that Animal Control is checking with the Dearborn County Farm Committee to use additional acreage for the Animal Shelter expansion. She met with Mike Kramer of Pinnacle regarding the Med Ben contract, which looks stable for 2004 and is on target with the budget at this time. They will be offering training on HIPPA (privacy) rules April 13th, which she and several others will be attending. Lorie is also looking through the insurance schedules to be sure coverage is appropriate and not duplicated. They are hiring an intern to help manage the GIS data collected as part of the transportation assessment study. A Computer Use Policy was adopted which she and Lisa Lehner developed. This will address internet issues that have arisen in the county buildings.

GOOD NEWS!!
Lorie presented the 2004 highway priority list including bridges, road slip repair, guard rail installation, maintenance schedules, striping, and paving plans. North Dearborn realignment and White’s Hill top the list.

Lisa Lehner – County Att’y – presented the CMHC lease amendment. The Animal Control ordinance revision with penalties was approved and will be effective upon publication.
Conflict of interest statements were signed off on for Greg Vollmer and Pat Holland for the Sewer Board, though commissioners have not signed off on the other two that are in the clerk’s office (Pat Hanlon and Mike Hankins). All state that they have no conflicts.
Lisa reminded the commissioners that she wants to be involved in the jail expansion project and they are to notify her of meetings etc.
Snow alert ordinance was tabled till Bill Black could be present. Batta wants it coordinated with the tri-states definitions, because of the media announcing it.
Zoning book change tabled till next month. Med Ben agreements signed. Bridge 15 contract with Schneider Corp. needs a scope of services to be attached.

Long discussion on the the Locust Road vacating request- it was subsequently dropped by Mr. King- the applicant. Fire Dept. wants the road to stay open. (Wilmington area)

Commissioners:
Batta brought up the Chamber of Commerce meeting on April 14th where the lobbyist the county council hired is presenting. Apparently there is a fee to go to the talk- and so the county will be in the position of having to pay to hear their own lobbyist. [my note] (already paid for by county tax dollars)
Commissioners are not getting the emailed updates from the lobbyist. Council members are though…
BIG PLANS TO EXPAND COUNTY JAIL!!! (Note- this project is expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars)
Earlier in the meeting Sheriff Lusby presented the commissioners with a proposed agreement with RQAW, the company that designed the original jail. The agreement is to do a study to figure out a scope of work for the jail expansion. The $43,500 fee for the study will be waived by RQAW, IF THEY GET THE DESIGN CONTRACT FOR THE PROJECT!!!
Commissioners discussed this further. Batta was opposed to meeting with just RQAW – wants it bid out. Lisa said that by law they are not required to bid contracts for services like this.
Batta was opposed to the arrangement, as it seems that RQAW will be given an unfair advantage over the other bidders ultimately, particularly with their fee waiving arrangement.
Benning stated that RQAW has more experience with our jail and understands the security system.
Shell thought that it would be best to have the meeting in the afternoon still at 2 PM, but to not have RQAW present.
Lorie Howard agreed that it might be CLEANER (fairer) to keep any contractors out of the meeting at this time. [my note –RQAW did not attend the meeting at 2PM.]
Meeting adjourned at 12:30 PM

Christine Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

County Council March 23,2004 Meeting Report

Present members: Mark Mitter, Aaron Negangard, Charlie Fehrman (Chairman), Bill Ullrich, and Tom Cheek. Absent: Dennis Kraus and Bo Lansing.
Cary Pickens, Auditor also present.
Denise Freitag, Register reporter, also covered this meeting.

1. North Dearborn Road realignment. Mike Davis introduced Dick Robertson (also a former hwy director from Boone Cty Indiana) and Matt Taylor, engineering consultants, who gave an update and recommendations on the North Dearborn Road realignment project (estimated cost $1.8 million) that they have worked on since November 2002. This is the area of North Dearborn near McCann Road.
They recommend doing a federal aid project to get more accomplished with less county dollars involved. The downside is that it takes 4-5 years on average to complete a federal project. They intend to have three meetings with the local residents to garner support for the grant and get them involved in the final project design. Larry Smith, a local landowner, has been conferring with them and with the commissioners regarding the alignment and right of way (ROW) around his land.
(NOTE: I recall that nearly two years ago Larry Smith was the owner who originally approached the commissioners about donating some land to realign the roadway there before he does anything more with the land.)
Engineering, surveys and ROW can be included as part of the county match for the federal aid project. Per Mark Seiler, North Dearborn Rd. is the top road needing to be fixed according to the list devised by the Transportation Assessment Study.
Charlie Fehrman encouraged Council to ask questions at this point while he went over to have a private conference (approximately 5 minutes) with Mark, Seiler, Mike Davis, and Lorie Howard at a side table.
Charlie then stated that without going into any details but based on conversation he had with Karen Shell about an hour ago, he wanted to delay it a month. Wanted to know if that would hurt the grant cycle.
Matt Taylor told him that would give them one day to get the grant papers done and submitted.
They agreed to compromise- with the following motion:
Negangard and Ullrich motioned for $30,000 from Fund 203- Special Projects to cover survey work and three public meetings (probably at North Dearborn Library) with the understanding that NO PHYSICAL WORK would start until the commissioners sign off on it. All ayes.

2. Barb Kaffenberger – not present- had requested to be tabled till next month. Charlie substituted Andrea Thalheimer from Dearborn Community Foundation. She presented a check for $74,579.84, which was the county’s investment return from the Dearborn County Quality of Life Endowment Fund (matched by Eli Lilly funds originally) County can spend this as they see fit.

3. BJ Ault- Solid Waste – Needs a $150,000 loan from county to cover the tax revenue they normally receive and haven’t gotten because of reassessment issues and taxes not being collected. They will pay it back in Jan 2005 if taxes get paid out this year. She reported that they received $64,000 in grants last year also.
Tom Cheek reported that he’d called Gayle Snyder at the state to see what the tax problems were and was informed that they were waiting on the Auditor’s certification of assessment. Cary replied that it was the TIF (Tax incremental financing) areas that weren’t adding up and they were working on it.
Charlie said it was permissible to loan money to Solid Waste.
Ullrich and Cheek motioned to table it till next meeting, when Doug Gardiner, Solid Waste Att’y, could draw up the papers leaving the loan amount blank. Cary referenced IC 13-21-3-18 as the basis for the paperwork. All ayes.
BJ Ault also needs to get $165,000 to purchase 10-12 bins to replace Rumpke’s. Ours will be sorted bins. Projected revenue is $36,000 per year to sell our own recyclables. Without paying Rumpke this reduces their costs by $72,000 per year. IDEM grant won’t come in until Jan 2005.
Since out of special projects fund- there is no need to advertise per Cary.
Cheek and Mitter motioned for $165,000 from Fund 203 – Sp. Proj. County will own the bins and lease them to Solid Waste for $1 per month until grant comes in. Then Solid Waste will buy them from the county. Because it’s over $50,000 they will have to get bids. BJ will approach commissioners to get that accomplished. All ayes.
(NOTE : Per Cary $865,000 left in special projects fund.)

4. Council Benevolent Fund:
Daryl Caldwell- Executive Director of Safe Passage (812-933-1910): Batesville shelter for domestic abuse victims (in 5 counties) will be completed in July- 30 + beds and 15,500 sq ft.
Requesting funding as seed money to get a full time presence in Dearborn County to advocate case management, law enforcement, etc. Since there were 490 domestic violence runs in 2003 in our county they are requesting 54% of the seed cost from us - $20,000. Division of Family and Children, SEIOC, Lifetime Resources, Sally Blankenship, Sheriff Lusby, etc are supporters and will use the services. Benevolent Fund is at 0 till the May draw comes in per Cary.
Negangard and Cheek motioned to take the $74,000+ check from the Dearborn County Foundation received earlier this evening and deposit that into the Fund. Then appropriate $20,000 for safe Passages. All ayes.

5. Chris McHenry- County Cemetery Commission-
Lois Harper and Milton Masing accompanied her- request was for $2000 to purchase signs for cemeteries in the county. They selected one per township so far and most were on main roads for easy access for people researching ancestry. The Dearborn County Historical Society will handle the Funds for this officially. Lois Harper will do all the paperwork for free to get the special signage.
Cheek and Ullrich motioned to use the Benevolent Fund for $2,000. All ayes.

6. Cathy Plummer- Aurora Little League- Aurora gave them the land for a baseball/soccer/football field area. They are going to have a removable fence and removable mound. Aurora donated the land and $5,000. Aurora Little League requests $29,700 or at least $18,138. Discussion that this was too much for a predominately municipal league totaling 185 kids. Cheek and Ullrich motioned for $20,000 and then amended it to $15,000. Still not passed. Mitter and Cheek motioned for $10,000 and that passed. Note: they haven’t been to the Community Foundation yet.

7. Mike Davis- County Highway Dept. - Mark Seiler gave out the Transportation Study’s most deficient roadway list. Tom Cheek talked about how much was wasted before on roads when the paving projects didn’t properly prepare the roadbeds etc.
Charlie Fehrman stated that Lorie Howard (cty adm) has a spreadsheet on bridges and roads- and that she’s done a good job on it.
Mike Davis discussed Jim Brickner’s ability to get bridges fixed quickly – in house. Needed some “emergency” funds for this. They said it wasn’t an emergency. Davis replied that “it was a quickie.” They agreed to advertise for $11,000 from cum bridge and put it on April’s agenda. Davis stated that Hwy was $10,000 in the hole for gravel so far and would need about $150,000 for the year total. They also need $32,000 for salt.
They agreed to advertise for $182,000 from the contingency fund to vote on in April’s meeting.
Davis reported that Paul Rohe paving claimed $55,000 in accounts payable for past four years that they never received. They only had about $22,000 in invoices though. They signed a letter of agreement to settle for $21,900. They have improved their invoicing process as a result and the county will do a walk through on each project per Davis.
O'Mara is starting on the work repairing Serenity Ridge. It will cost about $94,000 and the bond is for $85,000.
Cary reported that there was $11,000 in local road and street and the MVHA was out of funds.Thursday he and Lorie Howard are meeting with Prices on White’s hill to try and get the easements and ROW settled for that project.
Davis and others from the county are going to INDOT to present the Transportation Assessment Study on Tuesday next week. They hope to get more $$s added for the roads added to the list.
NOTE: This was supposed to be about 140 miles. It’s really 12 miles more. The consultant mistakenly added in the State highway miles and those don’t count for county road reimbursement. Mitter (who Chairs the Plan Commission) reported on this fact at the end of the meeting.

8. Lorie Howard- County Administrator – Requested consensus from Council that it intended to proceed when she lets out the RFP for computer services for the Adm Bldg.
Five people sit on the committee- Travis Miller, Mary Weseman, Jessica Tibbs, Shelly Moorman, and Stephanie Disbro. Plans to award by April 29th. Pricing and scope of work are separate.
Negangard won’t agree to anything- stated that Lorie’s good, but Commissioner’s have the ultimate control and they can ignore recommendations etc. Rehashed the Proware issues in detail and then said he though the RFP was overkill.
Lorie responded that she could discuss his concerns further off-line. She stated, “We need to take a multi-million dollar company (i.e. the county) into the 21st century.” We have to become much more computer savvy.
Charlie said she still needs our OK to proceed. They OK’d it with no commitment as to dollars.
Lorie wants to use the $5,000 that was appropriated for her job in January (before she was hired) and use it to pay Wanda Treadway for her Thursday and vacation coverage on the front desk. They will prepare a memo and look into that.

9. Clean up items: Charlie Fehrman NOTE: These items below were note on the agenda.

Exclude Solid Waste from COIT funds. Ullrich and Mitter motioned- all ayes

Health Dept. flu serum order- costs doubled $4493. Mitter and Ullrich motioned – all ayes.

Mental Health - $182,000 not paid in 2002 (Commissioner error per Cary). Cheek and Mitter motioned- all ayes.

Revote on GPS units from last month- needed a majority of the board – not a majority of the quorum. Mitter and Ullrich motioned for $1500 for 5 units. Cheek voted this month to make the 4 votes needed with Fehrman. Negangard still Nay. Passed.

Unencumbered Funds When they (Charlie and Cary) consolidated the unencumbered funds they put anything possible related to highway into 203 Special Projects. However he found the Impact fund with $640,000 in it and it now stands at $947,000 per Cary. He doesn’t know where to move that- and wants them to think about it for April’s meeting. Tabled till then.

10. Emergency Services Funding- (on the agenda)
There is $70,395 in this fund.
Bright EMS wants $40,000, Dillsboro EMS wants $10,000, and Hogan VFD wants $10,000. Water Rescue answer on the underwater cameras still not back to Charlie from L-bg and Argosy.
Mitter suggested that they table these items until they find out what each entity has gotten so far – to be fair.

11. Minutes were OK’d from February- Cheek abstained because he was absent last month.

12. Negangard reported that he attended the L-bg School Foundation meeting and found out that in their reorganization last year they eliminated the county council representative. He is therefore NOT on that Board.

Meeting adjourned 11:15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township.

Meeting of the Manchester Area Civic Assn.

The next meeting of the Manchester Area Civic Association will be Thursday, March 25, at 7:00 p.m., in the basement of the Zion Lutheran Church of Manchester.

Our agenda includes discussion of:

• 2004 Candidate Night - an opportunity to meet the candidates and learn the issues that will drive the primary elections in May.
  
  
• MACA sponsored Manchester Scholarship Program - consideration of a local area scholarship award.
  
  
• Spring Clean up Day - how MACA can help create an opportunity to clean up our neighborhood.
  
  
• Update on Alternate Highway 101 - still in the works or a dead issue?
  
  
• Sewer Board Update by Pat Hanlon - how will Manchester be affected? Sewers in our future?
  

Please come join us.
Manchester Area Civic Association

Future Sewer District Areas Detailed

Dearborn County citizens be aware. Now that the Sewer District is in place, per a Dearborn County commissioner the process for the next areas can be accomplished much more quickly, in approximately 4 to 6 weeks.

There are four other areas already indicated in the GRW study. They are as follows:

1. New Alsace

The area is along North Dearborn Road from St. Leon west to Lawrenceville Road, north on Lawrenceville Road to above State Highway 46 at Lawrenceville, south on Lawrenceville Road to and including Weisburg and south on York Ridge Road from North Dearborn Road to Yorkville. The areas form a corridor along the highways widening at the village areas.

2. Wrights Corner, Kyle and Manchester

This area starts on State Route 48 at Lawrenceburg and extends northwest along State Route 48 to Manchester, through Wrights Corner and Kyle. It also extends up Greenbrier Road into Wrights Corner.

3. Wilmington, Mt. Sinai and Sparta

This area starts on State Route 350 at Aurora and extends northwest to Moores Hill. It is also a corridor along SR 350 only.

4. Guilford

This area starts at Greendale/Hidden Valley Lake area and extends along State Route 1 up into Guilford.

The original fourth area is now the current Dearborn County Sewer district along US 50 from Aurora to Dillsboro.

Most of the corridors pick up the main roads from town to town along the main highways where years previously the zoning has been changed to residential. They do not infill either areas in the county. In Dearborn County residential zoning permits up to 4 houses per acre with adequate sewage facilities. The addition of sewer systems in these corridors would greatly enhance the ability of these areas to be developed with high density residential subdivisions.

A copy of the GRW study and 20 year plan map were available at the Lawrenceburg Public Library.

If you are concerned about this issue, you need to look into it now or you may not have a chance.

Ralph Thompson
Citizen in the newly formed Dearborn County Sewer District.

Dearborn County Regional Sewer District Meeting 16 March 2004

DC Regional Sewer Board Meeting
16 March 2004 7PM
Register reporter Denise Freitag was present- watch the paper for her story in the next week or so .

Present: Mike Hankins Chairman (Left for about half the meeting to deliver a baby at the hospital and then returned to Chair meeting), Pat Hanlon (Chaired meeting during Hankins absence), Pat Holland, Rodney Dennerline, and Brett Fehrman. Lisa Lehner, Att’y and Doug Baer, Health Dept. Absent: Barry Pruss and Greg Vollmer.

No printed agenda prepared.

Waived the reading of the previous meting minutes- they were verbatim transcribed and were nearly 3 inches thick in a binder! It was decided to do abbreviated minutes with a tape for all future meetings. Minute taker was absent and there was no tape for this meeting. Hankins even went so far as to ask me to take their minutes- I declined and told them they needed an unbiased minute taker in THEIR employ and that I wouldn’t necessarily be at all their meetings.
Vera Benning, Special Advisor, took minutes.

Joe Tierney of GRW told them the engineering and environmental reports were completed. He gave a draft copy of 10 FAQ (frequently asked questions) and the draft responses to them. (Newspaper has a copy of these) Of the homes in the district 82% were 150 ft. or less to the ROW, 13% were 150-400 ft. and 5% were greater than 400 ft. Grinder pumps and pipe are at the district’s expense- it is prorated into the cost of the sewer bill. Homeowner’s costs will include: electric service and outside disconnect switch, abandoning the septic tank, annual electric costs ($15-24/yr), any pipe greater than150 ft., and $500-$1000 connection fee. The sewer district will maintain the grinder pump. Easements are required and they want them DONATED to save costs to the district. Whatever has to be paid for will be passed to the sewer users. If a pump station is installed on a person’s property - they WILL pay for that easement. If a septic system is 5 yrs old or less you can delay hook-up for up to 3 yrs, but then costs will increase. Monthly bills for all are estimated to be $55-65 per month. Electric setup for grinders $500-1500.

Tierney spent a large amount of time responding to the comment letters on the Dearborn County Public Forum site. In dissecting the numbers he refuted the costs and talked about why some of the solutions proposed are infeasible. He then discussed the hookup costs for each of the three sections of the district.
NOTE: For some reason the costs are LOWER on Cole Lane than on Stewart Lane or the main district area. The other two areas cost $7,700 and $7,800 respectively and Cole Lane is $4500! If grant money is being evenly distributed and the owner pays costs of extra pipeline, why is this number different?

At the end of the meeting Dennerline told me that his trailer park on Cole Lane is already on Aurora sewer, but that he's switching it to the County District lines and it'll COST him $4500. I asked why switch? He said so that he wouldn't have to maintain the lines. I reiterated that he needed to fill out a conflict of interest statement.

Dennerline stated that he hated for the public to be mislead by this engineer on the website who obviously hasn’t studied Indiana law… At his request, Doug Baer quoted IC 13-18-12-9 – the law on discharge permits. Also quoted were the costs of drip systems and recirculated media filters running $15-20,000 for residential, which is equal to the sewer costs.

Pat Hanlon played devil’s advocate and led the discussion regarding the alternatives for sewers such as treatment after the lagoon at High Ridge. Apparently the NPDES permit has been revoked from High Ridge’s private plant. The sewer district operates under an IDEM permit because they are incorporated. Lynne Newlon from IDEM joined in this discussion.

Also discussed was that the sewer board should have a maintenance program and see that all private and cluster systems are checked. Hanlon stated that he wants to investigate every potential to have a cost effective and well-engineered system.


GRW presented a draft letter to Randy Turner at Aurora to see if the district can go thru Aurora. They are also checking with Dillsboro as an option or the final option is building their own plant. A proposed site choice would be at Walston Mobile Home Park’s existing site, which is the low cost option per Joe Tierney of GRW.
NOTE: Does GRW get the contract to design and/or build the new plant?
Costs to consider are the number of miles of transport to the plants (pipe and pump stations) and the treatment cost that is quoted from Aurora and/or Dillsboro.

As to easements: of 107 questioned, 30 said yes, 47 said no, 5 didn’t know, and 19 didn’t answer.

Lynne Newlon talked about the volunteers who were going to go door to door to get the free easements so that would benefit all the users. She recommended that they get Connie Stevens (sp?) the mgr. of South Henry Regional Sewer District to come talk to them and give them some by-laws to help jump-start the board. They can’t get a DOC (Dept. of Commerce) loan until all the easements are in place. But she recommends getting in line for the loan anyway- because money is tighter this year. DOC got less than they’d hoped for.

Rural Development is the other funding source – pre applications are in Jan and July. Formal apps are in April and September.
Joe Tierney wants to pursue the Rural Dev. Application and get things done as quickly as possible. Board response was that they want to take the time to try to do it right.

A citizen in the audience- Dave ??? last name expressed a problem with the open easements that they were given. Two lawyers told him NOT to sign it - it gave away too many rights. Lisa Lehner was going to discuss it after the meeting with him - but the board wanted to do it in public, since it was an issue that many people had and the easements were a necessary step to the timeline. Since they were trying to get a general easement for everyone, surveys couldn’t be done- plus expensive. The thought was that they could put statements in as to the actual purpose and restrict the easement only to the owner’s specific service line. Lisa and Joe Tierney are going to “fix” the easement language.

Vera Benning, the special advisor, gave a report on her 6PM meeting with her special advisory board of 10 people that she asked to have accepted by the Sewer board. Last names were: Elliot, Hegge (official minute taker), Weatherford, Manford (Fehrman Realty), Fisher, Maxfield, Lawrence, Phister )sp?), Zeton )sp?) and Fehr. Their MISSION is to each take a road and get the necessary easements. They raised lots of concerns and questions and got some answers. Lisa Lehner stated that this adv. Board has to adhere to the Sunshine Law and publicize their meetings and make them open to the public.

Gene Rogers of Umbaugh and Assoc. is handling the Sewer finances. He commented that the Rural Dev Loan is better because you get 40 years to pay it back.

Vera and Doug Baer reported that L-bg Council was open to their request for money and advised them to seek out help with the Community Foundation and the Bond Bank as well. They are to come back with more info next meeting.

Doug Baer reported on the current financial situation of the board:
1. $125,000 loan from County Council of which about $50,000 will be “forgiven” is being used up – they need to be aware of this. (lawyers, consultants, meeting costs, transcription, new phone line, letterhead, etc. etc)
2. Lisa Lehner and Joe Tierney are paid up to 3/16.
3. Need to talk about staffing to hire for their district.
4. Purchase of liability and bond insurance from Seitz approved that night. The sewer board is an individual gov’t unit and can’t be covered under the health dept. or county’s umbrella.
Dennerline stated that the county was sued for not aggressively pursuing sewage problems and won, but now it’s in appellate court??????

Tom Kent and Bill Yelton are being considered for the excavation contracts per Dennerline. Kent was present.

Brett Fehrman and Pat Hanlon met with Scott Fortner and the President of Dillsboro Town Council to discuss cost estimates of hooking on to their service. Dillsboro plans to have a grant in June and bids by Aug to Sept on the expanded plant that will hold 500,000 gal flow design as opposed to the 170,000 they now have.
Base fee was $11.75 per month and with an estimated 4,000 gal user the cost would be $29.47 per month. Approx. 3 miles to their new pump station for county access.

Per Lisa Lehner: Be aware that Gene Rogers of Umbaugh also works for Dillsboro so he shouldn’t be privy to our negotiations with them probably.

Pat Hanlon read the petitions and thought the comments were good. Many were about affordability and having currently working systems. He offered to give a Sewage Treatment 101 talk at the board’s request. He will give a 10-minute one at the next meeting.

Lisa Lehner provided sample by-laws to help the board adopt some soon. Additionally, she advised that the state atty general is being sought for an opinion in addition to the State Board of Acc’ts opinion on the conflict of interest statements.
Note: I called and only 2 are turned in so far- Mike Hankins and Pat Hanlon per Gayle Pennington at the Clerk’s Office on 3/16.

It was decided that the board will meet at least twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at 7PM. Next meeting April 6th.
Meeting adjourned at 10:15 PM

Christine Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

15 March 2004 Commissioners Meeting

Karen Shell was absent due to illness. Dan Batta arrived shortly after 8 PM. Vera Benning ran the meeting with reports only until Dan Batta arrived for a quorum to be present. Cary Pickens (Auditor) and Lisa Lehner (Cty Att’y) were present.

1. Emergency Management- Bill Black- CERT informational meeting Tues at Tate St. Adult Center. Attended Flood seminar in Indy, looking into the 800 MgHz radio system for the county emergency with part of a $50K grant. Weather tests from Nat’l Weather Service will be this Wednesday. Will get Karen Shell’s signature for the grant application he’s holding.

2. Transportation – Mike Davis – Reported on hwy crews doing hand patching, ditching, grading, guard rail replacements, and culvert replacements. New computer for GIS and transportation inventory is set up. DNR (John Hall) to come down and go over some of the creeks and flood issues this week. Settled up the back billing with Rohe Paving for around $21,000. Base coats being applied to Cole Lane, and some of the other roads in D-3. Tabled the Locust Road vacating issue until certified letters to the adjoiners with the complete legal description of the land vacated have been verified.

3. Health Dept. – Doug Baer- Regional Sewer District Report – 2/18 informational meeting and 2/26 (Aurora) easement meeting and 3/2 (Dillsboro) easement meetings were held. Dillsboro meeting was not as well attended as the Aurora one. Needed some money for the project so he and Vera Benning attended the Lawrenceburg Council meeting tonight and made their request for bond bank money or ... Lawb’g asked them to return with further information. Official Sewer Board meetings are the third Tues of every month at 7 PM. The “Sewer Advisory Board” will meet at 6PM. (This was questioned at the end of the meeting during public comment- I was told by Vera Benning that they were a 10 member board that will “help with easements,” report on their particular road, and support the sewer district concept. They have no vote. They are volunteers and then are “selected” to serve. It was unclear as to WHO selects or directs this advisory board. Commissioner Benning is a Special advisor to the sewer board and reported that she is a liaison between them and the commissioners.)

4. Prosperity Road Damage (Caesar Creek Township)- no one showed up

5. County Administrator – Lorie Howard – Insurance renewals for the county, Draft RFPs going out for Tech Review, Storage in the jail (went on a walk thru with Sheriff Lusby), Thursday 3/18 at 7PM the Transportation Study final report is being given at the Tate Street Adult Center.
Dan Stropes and Alan Cornelius were appointed to the Historic Hoosier Hills.
Snow Alert Ordinance was tabled.

6. County Att’y – Lisa Lehner – CMHC grant – looking to bond bank for $$s and a grant. Made notes on County Personnel policy proposal for commissioners to look over. GASB-34 reviewed - accounting rules on inventory of assets etc. for the Auditor to set up. Per Cary- another UNFUNDED state mandate. Required for bonding etc. Reviewed the rules on county projects- if over $100,000 they have to be bid out- can’t be performed in-house. (related to the Bridge 15 project over Laughery Creek near Bell’s Branch)

7. Auditor – Claims paid – none related to lobbyist yet- question raised by Dan Batta.

Meeting adjourned 8:35 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

Comments on the Economics of the Proposed Sewer System

The sewer system as proposed by GRW for the area of the District west of Huesman Road has a projected price of 5.8 million dollars. For 303 houses that amounts to $19,140 per house. Even allowing for the 20% additional capacity to bring the total to 364 houses, the cost per house is $15,934. And if the top capacity number is exceeded the package treatment will require additional units and the piping will require up sizing.

A fully functional small treatment plant at each house, which produces virtually clean effluent can be installed for approximately$12,000 and the total project cost can be reduced by not replacing already up to date or functional systems.

The area of the current problem, Highridge estates per the GRW report has 45 houses. A medium size package treatment plant can be installed in the line to the existing lagoon with minimal disruption. Per the GRW report a package treatment plant for all 303 houses would cost $130,000. If a plant of that size were installed for Highridge Estates the average cost per house would be $2,889. Since the number of houses is less than one sixth of the total number (303) it would permit the use of a smaller plant. Even allowing that the plant would be half the cost in lieu of one sixth, the cost per house would $1,444.

These costs should give an idea of options to consider as opposed to just following the single option presented in the GRW report.


Ralph Thompson

Open Letter to the Commissioners - Emergency Services

TO: Dearborn County Commissioners
SJ: Emergency Services


Dear Commissioners:

There is a situation in Dearborn County that I find extremely troubling. On Tuesday, Feb. 17 my son was hurt at the Manchester Elementary School. He fell against a brick wall. He was bleeding profusely and was unconscious. The school nurse began to administer aid and the school secretary dialed 911. There was a wait of 55 MINUTES before the ambulance arrived at the elementary school.

Response times of this magnitude are UNACCEPTABLE. This is not Hooterville anymore, the area needs some professional, paid, ambulance services. At the very least the schools need to have a contract with an ambulance service that operates during normal school hours. How can Dearborn County entertain the idea of being a major, metropolitan area in which families would like to reside and have this kind of emergency response system? Why would we even discuss homeland security and protection from terrorist attacks when we can't get an ambulance to an elementary school in under 55 minutes? Please provide some feedback on this most vital issue. Is anyone addressing the appalling situation?

Thank You.


Loretta Ferro Lipps

County Commissioners March 1st Meeting

The March 1 Commissioner meeting was over in 50 minutes- a record short meeting.
All three Commissioners were present along with the Auditor, County Attorney, and the new County Administrator (Lorie Howard).
Veteran’s Service Officer (Bill Ewbank) reported that the transportation service would be available up to three times a week beginning in March.
Planning and Zoning received approval for the member list for the Housing Assessment Study Steering Committee. Their first meeting is 3/10 at 6 PM in the Adm. Bldg.
Animal Control (Cheryl Lohmiller) turned in their annual report for 2003 – noting that 1042 dogs came in and 456 were rescued. 667 cats came in and about 20 were rescued. Currently there are 42 dogs and 22 cats at the shelter.
Emergency Management (Bill Black) noted that March 14-20 was Severe Weather Awareness Week. They received a $50,000 grant for Project Hoosier Safety and the Communications Board will probably serve as the committee to decide how it will be used. They are also getting a free automatic defibrillator for the “Sunman area” of the county.
Transportation (Mike Davis) reported that all three districts were working on pothole repair. The slips in the county are beginning to be addressed. Vandalism was reported at the D-3 site. Fences will be added to that and District 1 per County Zoning regulations. Council approved $80,000 for striping, but to do all the main roads about $136,000 is actually needed. Some in house work is being done by the bridge crew to save money. Pre- engineered bridges are being supplied by CPI, Inc.
Vacate Locust Road (David King (citizen) and Mike Davis)- Legal description obtained, need to get certified letter to adjoining property owners. Tabled till next meeting.
Lifetime Resources – release of lien and Safe Passages Advocacy program for abused spouses and families- no one showed for the meeting to present either issue.
County Administrator (Lorie Howard)- Art Exhibit will be at the Courthouse for 3 weeks. Working on delineating the computer services for just the Adm. Bldg. There are space issues in each department. Looking into the possibility of CD-rom and microfiche storage and putting it into next year’s budget to alleviate storage issues. Reviewing the Transportation Plan with Mike Davis and Mark Seiler to obtain a road priority list. Requested that she be given copies of all contracts that are out for the county, to oversee them.
Minutes were tabled to be reviewed.
Claims paid.
Lobbyist will be paid quarterly- no claims for lobbyist yet. Lobbyist reports will now be emailed to the commissioners- they have not been receiving any of them. The Jewell DuBonis lobbyist ( Lewis and Kappes) was the contract signed by commissioners. The second lobbyist contract was with County Council.
Personnel policy was revised. Per Cary Pickens it was pretty much a carbon copy of the one from Clinton County.
Vera Benning- reported on the Sewer Board Meeting that went from 7-10:30. Approximate attendance was 100-120 people. Major worries were the costs of the system. A group is going with Vera Benning to Lawrenceburg to request some aid from Lawrenceburg (Riverboat Revenue). Citizen petitions were presented at the sewer meeting.
Adjourned 10:20 AM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township