2 August 2005 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

2 August 2005 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

Present: Benning, President, Fox and Hughes.
Also Present: Pickens, Auditor, Messmore, Administrator, and Ewbank, Attorney.

1. Bill Black- Emergency Management Director- got the signature for another Homeland Security Grant Application for about 25% less than last year. He also noted that on Aug 1st Lawrenceburg Council committed to $1 million to be used for the 800 MgHz radio communications system.

2. Don Townsend- Building Dept presented the final version of Ordinance 2005-10- the New Commercial Fee which was approved.

3. Lisa Lehner attorney for CMHC requested the commissioner’s sign off on restrictive covenants for the CMHC building as part of their HUD grants. The county owns the land that is leased long term to CMHC for the building. County is held harmless per Lehner, in this transaction. Ewbank reviewed the agreement and commissioners approved it.
Lehner also slipped in (THIS WAS NOT ON THE AGENDA) the revised DCEDI contract, which Ewbank said he’d reviewed and that the funding was already in place. Commissioners approved this contract. There was no answer to Benning’s question about how the dollars will flow.
[NOTE: This contract revision reportedly contains language making the DCEDI a provider of services to the county, thus making their inner dealings LESS TRANSPARENT to the public. In other words their books will not be open to the public, so the public will not know HOW THE PUBLIC’S DOLLARS ARE BEING SPENT! It’s truly amazing to me that taxpayer dollars can be spent and the private entity getting them does not have to account to the taxpayers for those dollars. Though it is understandable that DCEDI would have to keep business negotiations private until deals are struck, it still makes me wonder why the DCEDI would be so secretive about their economic development expenses- as in detailed summary reports similar to what Redevelopment Commissions are required to file.]

4. Mike Davis- Transportation Dept. noted that Bridge 37 was finished (“the worst bridge in the county”) and that Macke Development was paying for the new light at Stateline and Stephens Rd.
Bids for paving were opened but not awarded yet.
O’Mara- $888,121.65
Rohe - $852,334.76
[NOTE: This is far less money than has been spent in past years (since gambling revenue) on paving, when each district typically ad $1million.]

5. Cheryl Lohmiller- Animal Control got her ordinance change (2005-11) so that meetings are quarterly rather than monthly. She also noted that they have a possible free architect to help with designing the animal shelter. She showed the brochures (designed by Becky Foster, staff) and talked about the pet cages bought with $10,000 PetSmart grants. Center closed Wednesday to unload and assemble cages and also do plumbing repairs. She noted that August Ladies Home Journal carried a story about their animal rescue efforts.

6. Edna and Paul Chase and their neighbors from Rumsey Road and Coyote Run in Manchester Township asked to have their road paved. Per Mike Davis it is on the list NEXT to be improved and then widened and paved. Fox went on at length about how the county wants to do things right and not pave until all the improvements (culverts, ditching) are done.

7. Byron Lewis- Timber Ridge in Miller Township- has a large problem with numerous cars parked on the street blocking the fire hydrant and his mailbox. Postal service held his mail at times because they couldn’t get to the box.
Road is private as Tucker has not had it accepted into the county inventory. Davis, Ewbank, and Messmore are to review this with Tuckers and render a legal opinion to commissioners on their options.

8. Claims and minutes signed

9. Bryan Messmore- Administrator- received permission to go to Council to get $1675.32 for Wanda Treadway to finish out the part time receptionist for the year.
Vehicles were requested to be donated to Soil and water, Moore’s Hill Fire, and the Building Dept. Bryan is handling these requests with a prioritized list of needs.

Pinnacle Advisory Contract for 2005 was presented- they are waiting to sign it, as there is confusion on why this wasn’t signed earlier.

EWBANK also requested permission to get an independent insurance consultant to appraise and audit the county’s ins. needs. He will get back to commissioners with a fee for that before they approve it.

Messmore reminded commissioners of the Land Use Meeting on 8/18 at Tate St Adult Center from 7-9. He also noted the 8/10 Transportation Steering Committee meeting at 10 AM at Tate St. also.

AT LAST- Messmore presented hiring the county engineer- Todd Listerman. All references were checked and pending his physical, the commissioners approved the hire. Listerman was not present. [Note: J. Todd Listerman is an IN licensed engineer (so the county can get $20,000 per year from the state for part of his salary.) He formerly worked at INDOT’s Seymour district. He has worked on INDOT projects in Dearborn County.]

10. Hughes noted that DCEDI asked about bringing in someone from Boone County to discuss their economic development with us. [NOTE: KY enacted legislation that allowed for a lot of state money to be spent that IN does not have.]

11. Benning brought up approval for Jim West (DCEDI), James Helms (IVY Tech), and Pat Sutton (DCH) to be appointed to the Region 9 Consortium per Mike Rozow’s request. As no one knew what Region 9 Consortium was, they decided to table this item. Mark Neff was going to find out and report back to them. (Neff is liaison with Chamber of Commerce)

The state of IN is disposing of real estate in the county along Meyer Road. Ewbank to look into this. [NOTE: This is related to SR48 and Meyer Road closure along the new route.]

Benning wants to get salary reviews and forms by Aug 19 to Council. Per Pickens these are never done, because Council does whatever it wants to do anyway. Ewbank noted that they still should do it.

Ewbank also sent a letter noting that the county would like smoke detectors in schools, but intend to comply with the IN building code requirements on this issue.
[NOTE: This is in reference to issues that the building dept is having with South Dearborn having sprinklers but no smoke detectors. It would seem that whatever system is in place, they still need to be alarmed to call the fire dept. If the sprinklers work, they would seem to over-ride the need for detectors, depending on how sensitive the sprinkler detection is.]

Meeting adjourned at 8:05 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township