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
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