7 February 2006 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

7 February 2006 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

Present: Benning, President, Hughes, and Fox.
Also present: Pickens, Auditor, and Messmore, Administrator.
Ewbank, Attorney, on vacation- Jeff Dornette stood in for him.

Commissioner agendas are not being posted online until the day of the meeting. This agenda went online at 3:45 PM Tuesday. A citizen has to give a weeks notice to be on the agenda. Why can't agenda's be out early enough so that citizens can see if they need to come or not? It would seem that the commissioners need time to review their packet of materials for each item- how can that be done with a couple hours notice?

1. Ruth Ann Batta was granted permission to go to Council in May for funding from the Benevolent Account for the summer art program that runs for 2 weeks for approximately 49 kids.

2. Commissioners authorized Messmore to prioritize and assign old county vehicles as requested with county needs being addressed first.

3. Dave Lykins discussed paving Woliung Road a connector road in District 2. He owns nearly all the land on both sides of it and wanted to do all the widening and culvert work if the county would agree to pave it. Widening would include taking down fencerows. County estimates for asphalt wee $126,000. Listerman pointed out that the road priority list was not complete. It was thought by commissioners that Lykins offer to incur the excavation expense would factor into bumping it up the list somewhat. Listerman wants to use traffic counts (county is getting bids on counters as we presently only get 10 counts a year from SEI Regional Planning) and on current conditions rated on a scale of 10 points. The bridge on Woliung is already on the list to be redone. Currently Woliung is a 16 ft gravel road in fairly good condition. Commissioners expected numbers to be reviewed by next meeting. Woliung asked if he paved the road would the road then be his. Answer was that the county was not giving up a through street. [NOTE: Taxpayers need to know that roads are being prioritized appropriately. Any developer could say he’ll do the excavating work if the county will pave it for him. Generally, subdivision roads for example, are paved at 100% developer expense and then accepted by the county. Why is this any different?]

4. Todd Listerman- Transportation Dept. – got more paperwork signed for the easement ($2635 perpetual easement) for CMHC drainage area to SR 48 by the hospital.
He updated Commissioners on the funds that Council approved to be transferred from Whites Hill project to Stateline and Stephens Road improvement at the intersection of HVL. They have asked 15 companies to get proposals and about 11 will probably bid.
He and Mike Davis and Chuck wells met with Freightliner and the truck equipment will be ordered soon- all is in order.

5. Charlie Ashley- 911 coordinator – updated commissioners on progress on the layout at the law enforcement center and the move from the 911 tower on Pribble to their new spot in L-bg. They figure that after the first year expenses of the move are recouped they will save about $100,000 a year.

6. Bill Black was given permission to submit the loan request to Lawrenceburg for $468,000 for 20 years for the 800 MgHz radios with annual payments to begin in 2007 and not to exceed $30,000 per year. [NOTE: Finally-they finished this.]

7. Legislation to enact GIS as an IT dept was tabled until Ewbank returns.

8. DLZ reps Lorie Christie and Eric ??(couldn’t hear)- gave brief comments on designing office space in the EMA Bldg. Messmore brought them in with the thought of moving some adm. building offices to that building. It was clear that whatever was done would have to be a freestanding structure inside the building as the building is a warehouse. They are going to meet with depts. To see needs and storage issues. (This seemed to be somewhat disorganized)

9. Pickens presented a resolution that commissioners signed supporting Mitch Daniels Major Moves Campaign bringing in $3.85 billion. [NOTE- An Australian and Spanish company has combined to lease toll road in northern IN. The particulars can be seen on the Daniels website www.majormoves.in.gov for those interested.]
Contracts for EMS with Greendale, Lawrenceburg, and Sunman were signed.

10. Messmore- presented:
RFQ for a Comprehensive Financial and Program Management Service- this was completely unclear as to what Messmore is planning to do with this.

SKS Risk assessment – insurance needs review suggested by Ewbank will have it’s first report at the next meeting- Messmore warned that they will “need to go to council for additionals on this to keep up with that.”

DCRSD and Woolpert had a kick-off meeting to start the countywide sewer study. Letters were sent to sewer entities to prepare for introduce Woolpert.

FY 07 (Fiscal Year 2007) Federal requests questionnaire was being looked at using the transportation plan to “think about this from a major moves mentality on seeking grants.”

Agro-economic focus group met with Hastings (Aurora), Nick Held and the Economic Dev. Director of the Ag Dept. Not clear what they are pursuing.

Messmore called together a “workshop” with the school superintendents, tax assessor, treasurer etc. to discuss issues from the tax delays and consequences. He’s trying to establish a working relationship with them. [NOTE: My guess is that they want to get paid on time and have the interest they incurred covered by the county – period.]

TIF districts are going through the legal and public process- he thinks they will finalize these by late March. [NOTE: The Plan Commission may be hearing thsi at their Feb meeting after all- check with them if you are interested after Thursday ofthis week to see if they met the deadline to be considered.]

11. Ewbank- on vacation at the beach- Dornette was introduced at this point.

12. Jeff Hughes- Pickens said he’s trying to get a system in place to put their info online without using our server- for security issues. He’s getting a demo later in the week for a system similar to Hamilton County, OH.

Mike Hall was asked to speak regarding the new parking ordinance. He noted ROW varies in the county and that the county doesn’t own it out there in many cases, as opposed to subdivisions. Hughes. Listerman, and Hall will get with Ewbank to tweak the ordinance when he returns next week. They will report to commissioners in about 30 days.

13. Vera Benning- introduced Mr. Nusibeh of Midwest Data who gave a presentation on courthouse computer costs versus Adm. Bldg Computer costs. She noted that Midwest was shut down on their original presentation to get the Adm. Building contract as well as the courthouse. [NOTE: That interchange a few years ago was halted by Dan Batta when Midwest accused commissioners of something akin to racism.]
The judge in the courthouse won’t let anyone but Midwest service their computers. Fox wanted to know if they knew how many computers were in each locale. He would like to have one service doing it all. They have the option to rebid with notice to the other vendor. Benning noted there was an exit clause in the contract. Midwest Data in their packet indicates a difference of $28,000 Courthouse vs. $46,000 Adm Bldg. Comparing 2003-4 Courthouse with last 8 months of Adm Bldg. Messmore asked if there’d be a conflict with Ewbank as Midwest services their office. Dornette didn’t know who did the office- would have to look into that.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township