17 June 2008 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

17 June 2008 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Hughes, Fox, and Thompson

Also present: Pickens, Ewbank, and Messmore. No uniformed county police officer was present. (Lawrenceburg police officer, Doug Taylor, was a guest in the audience) Candidates Tom Orschell and Phil Darling were also present.

The exempt vs. non-exempt employee rules were tabled again.

Southeastern Regional Planning Commission representatives presented a list of $6.75 million in grants that the county has received from eth past 10 years and a listing of all grants since 1985. Many were for sewers, water, and flood relief. They have counselors for foreclosure prevention (Hotline- 1877-GET-HOPE) and for first time homebuyers- plus classes for the latter.
Currently they are doing a Moore’s Hill study grant on sewers and going for a CFF (Community Focus Fund) to build the treatment plant there. Dillsboro is doing a storm drainage project and they have a County Advocacy Center for kids in Dillsboro planned. They are also working on flood assessment with OCRA. Margaret Minzner is the county rep to SDRSD and she praised their work.

Bill Black- EMA. Commissioners signed the Emergency Declaration from the June 5 storm. There were 3 businesses damaged and a trailer park on Cole Lane. There is also a bill- SB334 that designates more warning sirens but no state funds. We have a couple years to accomplish this. Currently the county has 33 sirens for 14 townships.

PAWS- is in need of about $200,000 more to reach their $1.3-1.6 million goal to build the shelter. When they sign things over to the county- they will incur $400,000 MORE costs due to paying prevailing wage ($320,000) and also architect fees as he will then be under contract (increasing his liability)
Commissioners sent them to Council to see if they could help in any way. [NOTE: The shelter will be built on county land]

Jim Kinker- Jenny Lynn Dr came to commissioners to get the emergency access issue finished. Currently residents of Old Orchard are cutting thru the gravel to go out Jenny Lynn. He is concerned for safety as Jenny Lynn access to Stateline is hazardous. Listerman is to get with Ewbank and they will send a letter to Tucker to give him a time limit to get the soil and seed on the access and a cable put up. Commissioners want a barrier up now as it will curb the habit of using it.

Bruce Keller- HVL Manager and Robert Starks, POA Board President- asked to put an informational sign up in the county ROW on Georgetown by the old dump site. Highway dept will help with placement o be sure site is OK and safety issues addressed. Commissioners approved.

Pat McAdams- Mt Tabor presented for his wife Theresa who is housebound due to her chronic severe asthma. They currently have a no- burn area in their neighborhood enforced by letters approved by Lusby and Negangard and possible prosecution if they violate. Some new people have moved in and open burning is occurring in the area. He read a letter by her pulmonologist (lung doctor) Dr Zidarescu.
This is not in an Agricultural area and takes in about the first 1/8 mile of Mt Tabor and some side streets. Ewbank will review the letter and the wording on some signs marking off the area as a no burn area. McAdams showed pictures of his wife in a coma for a week after people burned in the area. Some people have asked them to leave for a weekend and one to leave permanently. Apparently, there is cause to enforce this as it is life-threatening for Theresa McAdams.

The ordinance for the Health Dept- establishing nominal fees for vital records passed. Ewbank read it- fees are in the $10-15 range.

Mark McCormack, Planning Director, presented the 3 items sent to commissioners with favorable recommendations. Only one person from the public spoke- and was NOT opposed. All three passed. The ROW between Lake Dilldear Road and Megan Drive was vacated for Hope Baptist Church. The future ROW connector for Data Park at the end of Process Dr was vacated for Maxwell. He has upgraded the other roads to current county standards on a subdivision from the 1970s. Decker is building homes there now that the road is in. The M-1 zone area in question for Washington Township along US 50 by the Legge properties was approved to clean up some paperwork that hadn’t been done years ago. There is a caveat that if a home is destroyed there- they can rebuild as residential use still.

Listerman- Transportation Dept- gave a 45-minute report:

1. The Triple Whipple bridge change order was reviewed by Thompson with the engineers (Graf and Barker) and commissioners approved the $36,150 increase. (80/20) The bridge will be painted black as it was before.

2. Matt Stegman- Land Consultants- spoke about the geotech work and “cure” for the Wilson Creek slip. They are going for funding to fix this next year. The plan is to excavate a new key-way and re-establish the slope. They will realign the road horizontally and vertically there. The garage by the house there WILL BE AFFECTED. Cost for the slip fix- estimated at $600-700,000.

3. Data Park Roads that Maxwell fixed will be accepted by the county eventually. Homes being built again in there now.

4. Grubbs Road connector is getting paved

5. Mt. Pleasant paving was finished today. Johnson Fork, Huseman, S Hogan, and Ester Ridge will be next in that order. Pipes and ditching are done on all the roads. (Thompson said DCRSD said they weren’t going to be ready to sewer Huseman for 3-5 years – so paving now is OK)

6. Striping starts for the next 2 weeks.

7. Chesterville Road won’t be closed Wed- have to clear ROW first.

8. Bells Branch- Bridge 15 will be let July 9 and DLZ will do inspections for the county.

9. Listerman will be in Henryville Wed to get new budget numbers for MVHA and Local Road and Street funds. Looks like a 5-10% cut due to loss of gas taxes as people drive less.

10. June 30 Listerman goes to INDOT to check on federal funding for North Dearborn Road. He’s hoping our old DES number from the $1 funding will help put us ahead. He plans to go for just the urgent section and work on the end parts later.

11. John Maxwell has approached Listerman with copies of letter to commissioners about building a cul de sac at the end of Chappellow Ridge. He plans to put a private street off this for a MINOR SUBDIVISION of 8 homes maximum. He will bring the concept plan to the next meeting.

12. INDOT approved the ARTEMIS cameras on I-275 (2 of them) with the county as lead agency. All funds invested by the county will be reimbursed. They want the one with the view of the bridge to see on and under the bridge for Homeland security reasons. This happens next spring.

13. Listerman is skipping his intern this summer and hiring 2 part time summer employees to help offset the 3 he has on disabled list.

14. SR1 signs are up they think- but guardrail is wrecked by Guilford and Phil Darling suggested a no semis sign for Guilford and Yorkridge like Pribble has. Apparently, a semi has turned around in Wildoff’s 3 times and also went DOWN Burzelbach to Bonnell. (Which is next to impossible)

15. Thompson brought up the baseball diamond issue on County Farm Road. He had met with the township trustee and also McCormack and Listerman. There are numerous concerns for safety for drivers and spectators and the kids. Cars parked along the road, spectators in the ROW etc. The county will furnish the labor to get the barriers with guardrail and posts in and the township will pay for materials. Signs for speed limits will be moved PAST the park and slow signs placed appropriately. The township will be looking for more land for parking and more fencing.

Pickens- Auditor- presented 2 Greendale EMS contracts that were signed.
Three sets of minutes were signed. He noted that post office costs were high for their mailers on the minutes. [NOTE: Why not email them for review?]
Claims were approved with Fox having reviewed them. Hughes said he had not and was concerned about holding them off. Thompson did not get to them either. There were 2 boxes of them. Hughes 2nded Fox’s motion and approved- with Thompson abstaining. [NOTE: Perhaps a master list of the claims should be included to narrow down the potential problem claims. Two boxes to review would be time-consuming. The Auditor SHOULD catch the clerical errors. Commissioners should be looking more for claims that are for services not approved or work not completed. How did they get into the role of “accountants?”]

Messmore- County Administrator had NOTHING to report.

Ewbank- Attorney- had sent letter to SBOA with copies to commissioners on claims pending. There is a planned executive session on the light at Stateline and Stephens by HVL.

Hughes attended SDRSD and asked them if the county could have a non-voting seat to stay aware of all building going on. [NOTE: I can think of better reasons to be on that board- like making sure the master plan and the planned expansion and extensions of lines match up. But then I’m looking at the county as a whole and not at a certain special interest group.] He wanted Messmore to be the source to go to the meetings.
Thompson asked if they were aware that he himself had been going to SDRSD for about a year now?
Hughes and Fox said Messmore has been going all along.
Messmore told them he had not been going for several months now. Messmore was told by Hughes and Fox to look into that possibility for SDRSD. [NOTE: It was abundantly clear that they did not think Thompson should be the non-voting member. They did not say why. It was also clear that the county commissioners don’t know what meetings their administrator is attending for them. Perhaps some communication is in order.]

Meeting adjourned at 9 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township