2 March 2010 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

2 March 2010 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Ralph Thompson, President, Tom Orschell, and Jeff Hughes
Also present: Cary Pickens, Auditor, and Mike Witte, Attorney.

NEW BUSINESS

Margaret Minzner- GIS Coordinator- Pictromitry-The end of March is deliverable date for parcels. They are editing changes that are being brought in. Three day training is available at IVY tech for people to learn how to do GIS. Oblique imagery brought a lot of positive comments. DC Foundation grant for removable drives for 1st responders.

“Change Findr” software available from Jeff Leonard of Pictromitry. Can detect differences between the different aerial photography times- like 2005 to 2008. This will detect decks, rooflines, pools etc. This helps the assessor for property tax purposes. Reports can be created from this- it is automated- but it is NOT perfect- some pictures need to be verified. Building permits can be used to check these sites preliminarily. This gives more accurate tax data- it pays for itself in increased tax revenue. Leonard showed pictures of isolated areas easily captured in aerials- so saved gas and trip costs. Orschell asked about the fee. Fee is $22,185 first time. $11,475 the 2nd time done. Usually done whenever they do aerial photography.

Thompson noted- “So BIG BROTHER really IS watching!”

Bill Black- EMA- Grant signatures- $1,088 for ham radio equipment. $110,000- for equipment for Region 9 in Indiana. We sign just as fiscal agent for region 9. Have to be submitted before June. Both grants signed.

Issues about Level 3 snow emergency and potential ticketing brought up by Hughes. Black said – it says they MAY be ticketed at discretion of officer. If they have to go to work – that is essential. No one was ticketed per Thompson. Even Level 2 indicates it’s dangerous. Business owners can send employees home at their discretion.

Commissioners signed Severe Weather Awareness Week for next week. Alarms will be tested then. Snow emergency proclamations signed for last storms.

Brett Dodd- RQAW Charette teams for the Justice Center campus have been selected. Weekend time offered due to judges schedules was Sat. the 3rd. But he discovered it was Easter weekend. They are trying April 10 instead. Three teams have 9-10 people each. He gave lists to commissioners to approve. It is a public meeting and they can attend and watch the process. May want to allow public to participate at one portion of this. Commissioners approved the charette lists.

Suellen Cauble- Human Resources Director- Personnel policy – grant financial comptroller the ability to work at home from surgery. This is a key position in the county from the auditor’s office. She can effectively access the system from her home in a secure and confidential manner. She will maintain a log of tasks performed daily and county equipment that goes with her. This will be about 6 weeks and only temporary. Witte thinks they have done a good detailed job of outlining the job description and is reasonable to cover this temp arrangement this way. Federal government is encouraging tele-work. Pickens said you can track her work as it gets printed at the office here. Commissioners approved this with Hughes voting NAY.

DC Regional Sewer District- Steve Renihan

DR2 Grant- Margaret Minzner is certified Indiana CDBG grant administrator. One of opportunities is for small wastewater plants. She talked to Steve Renihan of DCRSD and a couple projects on Huesman Road and Lake Dilldear came to mind. DR2 money is $300 million more than it usually is due to Hurricane Ike. Renihan and board agreed. Preliminary engineering report on Huseman nearly finished. Required for grant. Getting the engineering report on the shelf will make these grant-ready. Lake Dilldear about $16,000 including legal costs to get the study done. Renihan hope to do DR2 for both. Minzner said that the grant requirements aren’t completely known yet- just the deadline of July 1. Orschell noted we need the study anyway to eventually use for other opportunities should this option fail. Commissioners approved DCRSD to go to Council to get $16,000 for engineering study for Lake Dilldear.

West Harrison preliminary- Renihan said Jim Kinnett approached them about how to get a line to this TIF area. Renihan said they were committed to getting problem areas fixed first. But they want to get Commissioners feeling on this.

Kinnett is a consultant working for a specific entity trying to get this done. 1 retail and 2 industrial projects proposed. 66- 100 employees possible and about $2 million each structure. Recommending a gravity feed from Johnson fork to Harrison collection system. Companies want service there before they commit to us. This is the last component to be completed for this to be “shovel ready.” If they can see significant progress being made- these companies can announce projects in about 60 days. Taxes would be $43-44,000 per year on one. He estimates $131,000 total taxes and $1.5 million payroll. These sewers would then serve more of the TIF. Thompson asked, “Potential payback 10-15 years?” Kinnett- Yes. Pickens asked about bonding. Pickens asked if the TIF money they get will be returned to the county to help pay back the costs of putting the sewer line in. Thompson agreed. Said it was smart growth and an area that the county agreed to use for this investment. Hughes asked about High Ridge. Thompson reminded him it was debt service there- not a TIF.

Renihan does not want bonds – because it would possibly force hook-ups like St; Leon got stuck with. This Harrison area is sparsely populated so it won’t be used by a lot of residential- it’s more for industrial/business. He said we will make sure the sewer line goes out there and spend the money- IF the Commissioners feel this is a good investment. They will need to get a preliminary engineering study for this also. This will give feasibility and costs to accomplish this. This will buy some time for redevelopment to investigate these projects further. Orschell agreed this was an investment the county needed to make. Commissioners approved the request to go to Council for $14,300 for preliminary engineering study.

Highway Dept- Todd Listerman- gave a 40-minute report

Ziegler Blvd accepted by Commissioners- 0.09 miles in Industrial Park in West Harrison TIF to North Bend Patternworks.

INDOT- sent final acceptance letter for Bells Branch Bridge #15. Commissioners signed.
Funding for chip seal/ fog seal on North Dearborn and north Hogan Rd was extended due to weather- commissioners signed. June 4th is new completion date.

Resurface via stimulus on Yorkridge will start in April- complete in July.

Don’t know how big stimulus II will be. There were $8 million projects that were not funded in Stimulus I. Wants to work with Barth and Assoc to get $2,000- 2,500 plans ready for North Dearborn from Stateline to Jamison ready for that round. We have to be ready in order to go for that money- can still use those plans for project in the future, if we don’t get funds at this time. Orschell asked about what roads would qualify. Listerman said this was about the only one left that fit the criteria. Commissioners approved getting the plans ready.

PUBLIC MEETING for Beam Longest and Neff- April 14 at North Dearborn Library- for plans for Stateline Rd in the heart of Bright including sewer, curbs, etc. Goal is information – parameters for ROW and what is needed to go forward. It will also inform them of their rights for ROW acquisition. Listerman will notify all media sources of this meeting.

Listerman advised commissioners of plans for permits to modify the new highway garage so they can move there by summer. Bob Hrezo spoke and Kendall Bales gave a report on what they would propose to do for the county with engineer’s estimates. Previous design releases are good for this building. CAD files for this are in their hands. This is to bring them in full compliance with the state for a garage. It was a warehouse. Needs the proper fire separation code work also. Listerman said they have $150,000 for this undertaking so far. Proposal from Hrezo in 2 phases -$2700 and $ 8,080 was approved by commissioners for the engineering.

INDOT project between Batesville and Greendale with Rohe- allows us to get millings again. We will use these to pave some of our roads. Council emails said to make the deal and get funding approved at the May meeting. Konradi from Platt to Bonnell and Bonnell to Burzelbach proposed next.

Jeremy Reese – a construction management student will be hired May 17 as a part timer for $11.50 per hour this summer ( no benefits) to continue our traffic data and sign inventory etc. Not filling Mark Seilers assistant engineer position.

Snow and ice update- record amounts- thanks and appreciation to the highway personnel- special thanks to Commissioner Orschell who took over the night shift to take over for guys who had a death in the family during this. Grieve- Highway Supervisor found a 3rd supplier at lesser cost to have enough salt for these storms. Thanked Lykins, Klump, Murray, White, McGraw, and House- private contractors who helped in the storm- and Davis towing who got their trucks out when they got stuck.

Exceeded the overtime in the budgets for in these storms- and is using some comp time to get rid of some of this expense. Will talk to Council to see what to do about this. State budget cuts in MvHa may require some layoffs.

More gloom and doom- 2 trucks blew up. 15 routes with 15 trucks- only have 12 good reliable trucks. Don’t have enough personnel to cover the routes with layoffs and no rehires. Looking at buying a smaller truck to help cover routes in subdivisions at reduced cost.

Lastly- road school Tues thru Thurs and he’ll be off Monday. Recycling signs and spreading sign replacement over a 14 year period. Will be finishing speed studies soon.

Auditor- Pickens- Claims and 5 sets of minutes signed. Commissioners signed EMS contracts for St. Leon, Hogan, and Manchester.

Pickens asked Todd listerman if he had the money to tear down the old garage. Listerman said he was waiting to see if Parks was to use it. Hwy will clean up the property.

Attorney- Witte- Hartford Ford meeting scheduled next week.

Planning and Zoning has asked him to look into Sugar Ridge performance bonds etc.

Greg Davis vs Don Townsend was dismissed from court and Townsend had immunity. Davis had until yesterday to file an appeal.

Linkmeyer was here for rezone last month and Lawrenceburg has annexed that property as expected.

Ordinance on grants will be discussed at a meeting on Thurs 18th. This will make it a requirement. Wants to make sure that Home Rule allows you to establish fees on this.

Signed his contract as attorney for this year.

He’s reviewing accident report forms – insurance company wants standard form for their purposes. He wants to cross reference with standard traffic incident reports.

“That’s all I have to report- a lawyer actually talked less than a County Highway Director!”

County Coordinator- Bill Ewbank- letter from Hughes from town Board of Harrison to support resurfacing State Street because we share costs. They want to apply to L-bg by March 31st for a grant to do this as they are strapped for cash. Commissioners agreed to support and Bill will write it up.

Investigating per Orschell’s request if county can enter into contract with private parties such as PAWS.
Need to get a public meeting together with stakeholders to see what tehrelationships will be and adoption fees etc. They will coordinate a date.

Veteran’s Office has 17 applications so far. Wants a series of interviews after morning Commissioner meeting. OK.

Commissioners:
Thompson- ratification of signatures on CAC Grant Semi-annual report- approved.

New county Website demo is 9 AM Thurs.

Late Arrivals –none

Public Comment-
Doug Weldon- why have district 2 highway guys split into 3 and 1. The snow on Ellinghausen was not cleared enough for emergency there. There have been 7 or 8 guys who have quit or retired and they’ve never been replaced. Bright should form a city and plow their own roads.

Todd Listerman- there are no districts in the county- we are all Dearborn County. The hiring freeze started before I came on board. We are getting less funding that we got in 1999. I need about $6 million to keep present conditions- I get $2 million. It would cost $100 per vehicle in the county to fund this. We are not unique. To get this funding would come from all of our back pockets. I average 3 employees off per day due to the age of employees. (health issues??)[ NOTE: Per Listerman: due to sick days and vacation days they've accrued]

Doug accepted this explanation- he understands. He asked about the new garage. Listerman talked about it being needed to get in compliance with state and federal requirements. I guess I missed the article in the paper on Running in Empty on the highway budget and also when it was melded into one unit.

Orschell- when I started we had 33 employees and 21 now.

Listerman detailed several roads they had to dig people out with health issues. We may use Manchester as a salt facility.

Thompson – the garage on Randall will pay back in about 10 years.

Steve Feller- own property in Guilford – have a neighbor who continually parks across my easement. Brought pictures. I have to come off my easement 30 feet to get out. Witte- this is a civil issue because it’s a private easement. Question about if this was a county easement-they will have Todd Listerman look at that.

Phil Darling- York Township- county did a remarkable job during snow storms. Would like to see a policy that you cancel all public meetings during snow emergencies of any level. If you are trying to limit travel then it should apply to everyone. Level 1 says to limit driving. Out in the county many people can’t get out to get to your meeting. Level 3s are thrown out pretty often.

Thompson said some complained of Level 3 being called when their roads were OK. Dearborn County has to operate as a unit- so if the north is bad, for example, the whole county goes on that level. Did get a dozen calls praising the county’s service during the storm.

Witte took the blame for calling the meeting as an emergency to get claims only paid. That was permissible by law.

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township