2 October 2007 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

2 October 2007 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

Present: Hughes, Chairman, Thompson, and Fox.
Also present: Ewbank, Attorney, and Messmore, Administrator.
Stephanie Disbro took minutes for Pickens who was in Indy.
A uniformed police officer was present.

Hughes called an executive session prior to this meeting concerning highway dept grievance process. Commissioners decided at this public meeting that they intend to follow the policy already in place, but will authorize the county adm. to waive the 15-day reporting procedure to be fair to those complaining. No further details were given.

[NOTE: Information gathered from various sources outside the adm. bldg: Workers have been lobbying with some local citizens about their issues. Some highway workers are complaining about combining work forces from what were previously three districts. Some workers have issues with cross coverage training. Dearborn County is one of a handful or less of county highway depts. that had used the district system. Most have combined for greater efficiency and to save funds. Change seems to come hard to depts. where workers have been there for a long time and “have always done it that way.”]

Harrison Fire and EMS Contract was signed. It is an annually renewing contract that can be stopped with 30 days notice prior to each year-end. It also provides for renegotiation if the county can provide services in all or part of that area.

Craig Beckley from Heart House- came to explain the audit issue and federal findings with their procedures. Corrections have been made- none were concerned with money- only the paperwork supporting the draw downs from the federal grant funds. He asked Commissioners to sign a letter showing they have provided itemization and certification for all their draws and corrective action was taken. Commissioners signed.

Citizen concerns citizen was not present- but issues regarding road carcasses, trash, and paramedics were discussed.
Hughes was concerned that we do not have paramedic training and Mary Margaret Hospital works with Ripley County EMS to do this. Paramedics can administer medications. Thompson asked Messmore to get a database of factual info on the EMS volunteers to see what their training is. Hughes and Thompson rehashed briefly their disagreement on Dillsboro EMS contract issues.

Listerman spent about 15 minutes answering questions and explaining what other counties do with regard to road kill and trash in the county ROW. The bottom line- the county only removes what is a road hazard. They usually just push the carcass over the bank or away from homes to decompose. Health Dept does not indicate there is a health issue. (Though it stinks) Highway Dept. is not going to be in the trash pickup business. [NOTE: Littering and trash in the ROW is also a hazard for mowing equipment on county roads. It used to be thrown in out of the way (rural) areas. Now I see it in yards and along main streets. It is too bad litterers cannot be caught because there is a fine that can be assessed.]

Mark McCormack- Planning and Zoning: commented that there is a provision in county ordinance for fining people for trash dumping. Sometimes the trash dumped has a way of identifying the owner.

McCormack told Commissioners that he has 2 PC members up for renewal or replacement this year. Patrick DeMaynadier indicated he was willing to continue to serve. Tarry Feiss indicated she would rather be replaced. One of these two has to be a Republican, but the other can be either office per state law on politically balancing the board. There were three people in the past who indicated they would like to serve- Rick Pope, a former PC member, Jane Ohlmansiek, also a former member, and Dennis Sparks, who has not contacted the PZ office recently- but had sent his resume in a while back. Commissioners reappoint in Jan 2008.

Sugar Ridge Enforcement issues were detailed for Commissioners. The bond lapse and stoplight issues were also brought up. No permits will be given out from building or planning depts. Ewbank said that we need to enjoin him- file in court so that he cannot sell any more property. This will also show up on title searches for people buying land so they know a problem exists. The light should stay up – we need to settle this, Ewbank said.
McCormack asked about condos starting etc. – Ewbank reiterated that they need to take SWIFT ACTION to stop any further problems and get injunctive relief in the courts on this.

Listerman asked about stopping letters of credit and just having surety bonds. Thompson agreed. Listerman asked to be sure the commissioners were in agreement on this. Ewbank said the bond should be surety with NO EXPIRATION DATE! Thompson said – if they are financially unstable, they are unlikely to get a bond. Ewbank said- that is a point.

McCormack will bring in the ordinance revision on this. The PC attorney (McGill) to file for injunctive relief possibly and Ewbank is willing to help on this.
[NOTE: Letters of credit were a big issue over 10 years ago and have come up repeatedly as being risky for the county as there is no good system to see that they are kept current. It also allows for less financially stable developers to get involved in the county. Sugar Ridge was apparently going for several letters of credit from several different banks to add up to the total needed. Apparently that has not even been possible. What happens to the people who have invested in this development and built homes there? What about the subdevelopers who own sections- are they able to continue their work? Perhaps we need to get a list of all the owners and interests in this development and have the PC and their attorney assess their strategy. Some of this plan may be salvageable- and stopping all work may prevent another developer from taking over and buying it up – should that be the necessary next step.]

McCormack discussed the I-74 bridge at SR 1 rehab plans that PC feels is inadequate. INDOT consultants are estimating another 1000 vpd and with the plans in the area for commercial/industrial uses here and in Franklin County (industry on 59 acres), this estimate is far too low. The turn lane addition is not enough- PC thinks 4 lanes are needed. McCormack said this is just like what happened in Batesville and Harrison- we need to fix this so that in 2009 to 2010 when they build this rehab- they do it right. Commissioners will sign the letter and send it to Seymour and to Mr. Williams, head of INDOT. [NOTE: Why not add Chamber of Commerce, Redevelopment Commission (they declared the TIF up there), the school system, OKI with the MPO, and St. Leon? In addition, send copies to business friendly Gov Mitch Daniels and Rural Development head- Lieutenant Gov Becky Skillman. Get them all on board. Why waste the money on an inadequate fix?]

Transportation Dept- Todd Listerman- presented an hour’s worth of road work.

Listerman stated for the record that his house was on Carlee Acres Drive (1164 ft) and then presented it and Tree Top Drive by Happy Hollow (2030 ft) for acceptance into the county inventory. Testing results etc. were given. Tree Top was accepted under old requirements for specs in place at the time it was developed. Accepted.

Fox said- Do not accept anything that will be a maintenance problem in the future.

Cambridge Road will be set up as a two way in and out utilizing north (from 1960s) and south ( from 1937 or earlier) sections onto Georgetown Road. Site distance issues and safety are the reasons given for this. Craig does not own the south approach- it goes through another neighbor’s lands. It’s county ROW and the county is starting to maintain it again. Fox wants Listerman to send Craig’s a letter on this. Commissioners motioned to set Cambridge Road up this way for safety. Listerman asked Craigs why they had not asked the county for help in opening the south road- they said it would not have done any good then.

Randall Avenue appraisals (for highway offices and garage)were given out and Messmore and Listerman were given the OK to negotiate a price using the rules regarding appraisals. Two appraisals were received- Atlas and Thomas Appraisals. Total for 12 acres and the building were $1,060,000 – 1,085,000. Rack is the property owner. Fox and Thompson voted Aye to get an agreeable price. Hughes Nay- no reason given why. Listerman said there is $400K in Major Moves coming and $450K in 2008 hwy budget for capital improvements. (This still will not cover it all- unless it is spread out over a few years)

To get a complete list of the roads in these categories- contact the highway dept.
The county stressed that they are not giving up the ROW (right of way) just giving up the maintenance of these roads. People on these roads can upgrade them and bring them back in for acceptance per Fox. Listerman agreed.

The first batch was 26 roads that were accepted into inventory but do not exist. These are creek crossings and roads that didn’t get built or sections of roads that didn’t get built. Fox asked how roads were accepted if they did not exist. That means they could not have been tested either. There are 3 roads in HVL that were taken off this list (Cathy, Golfview, and Putter) because they need a letter from Mr Keller (the manager of HVL) to be sure they are HVL POA payers and not county roads. Commissioners approved removing the non-existent roads and sections.

The next batch is 30 roads and sections that we maintain but were not on the inventory lists. Commissioners approved these.

The third batch is 24 roads whose mileages do not match the inventory- so their mileages are corrected. Commissioners approved these.

The final batch are roads that were maintained but Listerman wants to remove them from maintenance. Many of these are roads that have issues- too narrow, inability to handle a car safely, etc. Some have no houses or just one. Mentioned out loud were Grady Anderson, Darling, Fly Run, Chapin, Carrie, Disbro, Lower Probst, and part of Happy Hollow. Commissioners refused to do anything with these until owners had been notified. Fox was concerned that out of town owners may have plans for the future for these lands.

[NOTE: It would seem that this would essentially land-lock some properties. Some of these roads run THRU one owner’s property to another’s. Some have water lines and public utilities along them- including fire hydrants. If some of these owners were issued permits by the county to build on these roads, it seems unfair to take that away now.]

Listerman updated Commissioners on progress with interlocal agreements with Aurora and L-bg on snow removal of some roads in both districts.

Safety shirts ordered at savings form INDOT supplier. CPR training to occur at $10 per person for all hwy workers.

Hughes asked Listerman about the NO PARKING signs in cul de sacs. Listerman explained that the county police can’t enforce the law without them. They need them for snow removal, buses etc. Hughes said he thought it was unnecessary gov’t spending. [NOTE: Kind of like unnecessary spending to have a police officer at every commissioner meeting?]

Listerman is also getting an ordinance together on speed limits for all county roads.

Claims and minutes were signed. Hughes voted NAY on the minutes he tried to shorten from early Sept. Bright EMS contract signed.

Messmore said the prepaid legal services were highlighted on Court TV in Sept and they are a good value as a protection against identity theft.

Messmore completed application and got supporting letters for Hometown Competitiveness Program presented last month.

Messmore said others in the building are trained to work with the new recording system now. And that it is fixed. (There was an echo still from the podium speaker throughout the entire meeting tonight)

Ewbank asked Thompson to get with him on the Vieste letter of recommendation. Thompson said he was busy this week- the secretary will contact him with a meeting time.

Hughes asked about the forced sewer hook-up letter.

Ewbank said there was a case pending with St. Leon and he’d talked to that attorney about it. He did not want to make a local law less restrictive than the state law. [NOTE: Restrictive from whose perspective? The Sewer Company or the citizen?]

Thompson said it hinged on the “MAY” in the state law. He had talked to people from the state and got no answer.

Ewbank said 300 ft from the property boundary could be excessive.

No conclusion on this issue.

Thompson asked about when they’d lift the No Burning Ban. Commissioners decided to keep it in effect as it’s still too dry to be safe. Local fire chiefs can be contacted for individual issues.

Meeting adjourned 9:10 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township