25 January 2005 County Council Meeting Notes

25 January 2005 County Council Meeting Notes

This meeting was preceded by a 7 PM executive session regarding legalities of terminations and related issues that ran till 8:05 PM. No decision was announced after the executive session.

Present: Charlie Fehrman, Chairman, Mark Mitter, Aaron Negangard, Bill Ullrich, Dennis Kraus, and Tom Cheek. Absent: Bo Lansing.
Also present: Cary Pickens, Auditor, Brian Messmore, County Administrator, Bob Ewbank, County Attorney, and Jeff Hughes, County Commissioner.
Register Publications covered this meeting also.

Charlie Fehrman asked for a moment of silence was observed for Tom Cochran, who was critically injured in an accident on SR 48 early this morning.

Election of Officers: Negangard motioned and Mitter 2nd for Charlie Fehrman for Chairman. Passed.
Mitter motioned and Cheek 2nd for Bill Ullrich for Vice Chairman. Passed.

Appointments were made returning everyone back to their same boards:
Ralph Schaffer- Alcoholic Beverages Board
Ron Selmeyer- SEIRP
Ruth Ann Walker- Lawrenceburg Library
Nancy Turner- Aurora Library
Dennis Kraus- Advisory Board
Bo Lansing- Solid Waste
Mark Mitter- Plan Commission
Jake Hoog – BZA
Bill Ullrich- Emergency Management and ???
Aaron Negangard – Juvenile Detention
Bonnie Haas, Ruth Smith, and Ruth Wright- Div. of Family and Children
Travis Miller – DC EDI

Ruth Ann Batta requested $1000 from Youth Benevolent Fund for a county summer art program operating out of Sunman Dearborn Intermediate School as a match for a grant from Columbus Arts Council for a total of $4000 to run the program. Dearborn Community Foundation will probably be granting another $1000 toward the 50% match. Program has been in effect for 20 years. Ullrich, Mitter, and Cheek motioned for $1000 for the Summer Art Program. All Ayes. Passed.

Charlie Fehrman proclaimed a thank you for Al Werner (retiring) for his many years of service to the county. Council members donated personal money to purchase a plaque for Werner, who was unable to be present.

Cary Pickens requested $6000 to outsource excise tax billing so that he could free up someone in his office to work on property taxes. Tax bills are about two weeks behind. Mitter motioned and Ullrich 2nd to pay this out of the contingency fund in the Auditor’s Budget. 4 Ayes. Cheek and Negangard voted Nay. Passed.

Travis Miller, Planning Director, gave an update on GIS services and Margaret Mintsner (sp?), GIS tech, presented a brief demonstration of the current GIS capabilities. Miller stated that this data would be helpful to Pickens excise tax tracking to get the correct funds to each township by having accurate parcel and address data. Cary Pickens stated that he wasn’t a fan of GIS in the past, but after seeing this and how Dusty Rhoades sets it up in Hamilton County, he’s become a convert.

Pickens advised Charlie Fehrman and Council that they should hold decisions on the cum jail fund until budget time to see how the taxes shake out.

Charlie Fehrman brought up the possibility of helping the schools with their interest payments on money borrowed from tax collection problems. Schools have over $200,000 in interest each. Cheek and Negangard came down hard against this, as they see the school spending a lot of money on other projects, so they aren’t really hurting. Pickens stated that it wasn’t the county’s responsibility and that SBOA would come down on them for it. No school loans was decided by “consensus.”

Aaron Negangard said we need money to solve the US 50 problem and our new D-9 rep is on the Federal Transportation Committee. He wants a FEDERAL lobbyist now- in addition to the 2 state lobbyists. Federal lobbyist would be with Barnes and Thornburgh (sp?) for $3500 per MONTH - $42,000/year. He wants commissioners to approve this contract. Council had 3 yes, a hard no, and some probablies. Bryan Messmore will take that info to the commissioners.

Charlie Fehrman and Mayor Bill Cunningham had a meeting with the state legislators earlier this month. The upshot is that they are not going to touch the county’s portion of the gambling revenue.

Charlie Fehrman requested $650 to attend a Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce sponsored Transportation Committee meeting in Washington DC in early February. Negangard suggested he take a commissioner and Bryan Messmore also. They will have to use Commissioner travel fund for their expenses though. Negangard motioned and Kraus 2nd to grant $650 out of Auditor’s Contingency Fund for a one day trip to Wash. DC for this meeting. All ayes except Charlie. Passed.
[NOTE: Travis Miller would be the most knowledgeable county person on the status of US 50 initiatives and processes. He might be a good addition to this trip, if the money is available. In the least, he could brief the attendees before they go.]

Tom Cheek updated Council on Extension Offices leases with Aurora and Ewbank will review them. He also told Council that Aurora was hoping county would do George St bridge repairs in conjunction with the bike trail addition.

Meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township