7 June 2004 Commissioner Meeting Notes

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

1. Veteran’s Office- Bill Ewbank stated that the driver’s van program may be ‘dead in the water” due to drivers possible having to have near CDL certification. He’s still trying to get further information on this.

2. Animal Control – Cheryl Lohmiller reported that a new full timer was hired- Becky Foster. Two people were going out on calls now due to a dog bite that Cheryl received last month. She wants back up for potentially dangerous animal collections.
Mark Seiler did a survey for the expansion of the shelter and consulting with County Farm Board to be sure it fits their plans also. John Maxwell’s company has been out to see what type of building might be built there for the shelter. [NOTE: This probably has to go out for bid]
233 people visited the shelter last month.

3. Emergency Management – Bill Black reported that the FEMA certification class is completed and others are interested for the next class. Lisa Lehner is working with him on the Hazmat First Responders agreement. Commissioners have a disk and proclamation to be signed after they review it.

4. Highway Dept.- Mike Davis- gave the 2003 annual report to commissioners and it was signed to go on to INDOT etc.
Davis reported that there was a fair amount of work in D-3 to be done after last week’s storm damage. Also Bridge 16 in D-3 is being replaced.
There have been a rash of flat tires on county equipment lately.
They have a new engineer working on White’s Hill to work out a way to shorten the project and accommodate the problem of ROW that cannot be obtained.
Inspections on Sugar Ridge continue as excavating goes on. They will need to close Stateline just below HVL to get the sewer access also. Signs will be posted warning of this a few days in advance.
Zimmer Tractor will be selling them a new brush cutter (rotary style) to replace the scissors type one- this will cost about $10,000 and should save man-hours in clean up and removal from the old scissors style cutter.
Sunrise Estate is seeking road acceptance into the county and apparently have addressed the hwy dept. concerns. Commissioners will check this out further.

5. United Consulting- Jeff Larasen reported that the $40,000 to do 200 small structure inventory for the county hwy dept. is needing nearly $26,000 more to finish the project. There are about 120-150 more small structures than they thought. Extras go at $175 each approximately. July 12th is the estimated completion date. A draft plan will be submitted at the Thurs. meeting on the first 200 structures and they will also demonstrate HOW this report can be utilized to prioritize the maintenance of these small overpasses, culverts and bridges. (4-19 ft in span). [Note: Does Council need to be approached for more money?]

6. Planning and Zoning – Travis Miller presented the technical cleanup on the roadway sections of the ordinances. The plan is to make the language match up to the transportation study classification system. Jamison Road was added as an arterial.
They also addressed how the private streets would be handled in the county. Currently a private street can be 16-18 ft wide with a 50 ft. ROW and chip seal for 6 houses or less. Proposed is to make it 20 ft and asphalt for the same number of homes. The thought is that in the future- these streets may end up as public streets and need to match up to county specs.
Batta stated that in rural areas the private street might be a better road than the one it is accessing!
Lisa Lehner wanted to know who decides the roadway classification and the design. Travis stated that the hwy engineer and planning director can recommend but that the Plan Commission decides, by law.
Lisa and Travis reminded the commissioners that this was certified to them on April 30th and they have 90 days from then to act or it will be in effect automatically.
Vera wanted to know how it could be repealed. Lisa said the commissioners could send a request to the Plan Commission to review that, have a hearing, and then come back to the commissioners again with a recommendation for their approval.
Dan wanted to know how they would know what collectors might turn into arterials in 20 years.
I spoke at public comment time reminding them that the Plan Commission has typically required minimal access to collector roads with combined drives and unified accesses from the subdivisions they review, in anticipation of this potential issue.
Tabled this for further review.

7. Lifetime Resources – Karen Anderson gave report and requested to go to Council for $10,000 for both Lifetime resources and Catch – a – Ride combined. OK’d.
Julie Schaefer said they have 90 days to get Transit worked into the County Emergency Disaster plans. She was referred to Bill Black for that.

8. County Administrator- Lorie Howard- Requested $3200 to go to Council to fund records destruction- OK’d.
The Jail Expansion Board is on target to award a contract by July 2 for the planning phase.
She and Lisa, Cary, and Dennis Dunlap will present a final draft to dept. heads for the personnel policy in July. They may look into an EAP program (Employee Assistance program for alcohol and drug abuse so that an affected county employee may get help and retain his/her job. Grants possible.

9. County Auditor – Cary Pickens- Minutes and claims approved.
$1,000 signed for brucellossis and TB for cattle as mandated by law.
Paving bids were opened by Lorie Howard and Rohe was $273,132.40. O’Mara was $172,793.02. They will be reviewed in detail and decided at the June 21st meeting.

10. Vera Benning wanted to know if the buildings would be closed for Reagan’s funeral. Commissioners decided to have a memorial service at noon that day instead. Judge Humphrey will be asked to preside.

11. At Karen Shell’s request, Dan Batta motioned to have him replace her on the Plan Commission Board. Vera did not second it. Karen Shell 2nded and it passed 2-1.

Meeting adjourned at 11:30 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township