21 December 2010 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

21 December 2010 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Tom Orschell, and Jeff Hughes
Also present: Gayle Pennington, Auditor, Bill Ewbank, County Coordinator, and Jack Gay, Attorney.
ABSENT: Ralph Thompson. Jeff Hughes was acting chairman in Thompson’s absence.

OLD BUSINESS:

Tucker Development- Seldom Seen and Old Orchard – Ewbank reported that Tucker proposed a $10,000 payment and patching repair on deteriorated roads, 60 ton of blacktop, plus giving the ROW needed on Stateline and Jameson, and Salt Fork Roads. The properties were verified by the county as being owned by Tucker. Todd Listerman also recommended that this course be followed. Commissioners accepted this negotiated agreement for Seldom Seen. They will accept those roads once all this has been conveyed to the county. This does not affect Old Orchard.

Maximus Consulting Services- tabled again

Seig Associates- Vacate a portion of Happy Hollow Road for Dave Lykins. This was tabled until it could go through Planning and Zoning.

NEW BUSINESS:

Sheriff Lusby- Food bids were awarded. All three food bids were accepted so that they could competitively shop all three: Gordon foods, Ellenbee Leggett, and US Foods.
Lusby made it known that they have mattresses, sheets, and blankets from the jail are available to any organization that needs them. Otherwise they will go to a dumpster.

Nate Peterman, Hylant and Rich Laffoon, and Travelers- Property Insurance- Nate Peterson said this is the first renewal of the 3 year agreement that began last year. $416,000 last year was reduced to $380,000 plus for an 8% decrease. They increased property values 3% and also have the maritime endorsement for when EMA gets on the river. Travelers was not able to do all the endorsements needed. They also have to deny terrorism insurance as a formality. Commissioners renewed the insurance with the Hylant group. (without terrorism insurance)

Brett Dodd- RQAW – Update along with Mark Van Allen of RQAW. Mark went over stats on Community Corrections Analysis- Appendix D. total over the last 5 years went from 62 to 110. Primary participants are Class D felons and Class A misdemeanants. 15-20 in work release- limited by bed space. In home detention- shows steady growth- from 60 to 140 in last 5 years. Community service has remained somewhat flat- with 80-100 a year. Total number of Jail Work programs- 1 to 5 participants. The county is exercising potential alternatives to keep people out of jail. [NOTE: How long do people wait for trial? Is that population large?]

50-75 work release beds needed. Mark Van Allen thinks the county is taking advantage of the diversionary programs available. Hughes asked about sentencing guidelines changes from the state and also the ability to send prisoners back to the counties for incarceration.

Brett Dodd went over Appendix E on Staffing. This is a projection for 20 years from now to 2030. It suggests fairly steady growth. There are some ways to become staff neutral on this. Staffing is even more expensive than building perhaps in the long run. Put in housing pod for cameras etc rather than more staff for example. Cooks and patrol officers will increase as population of jail increases. Existing space is 65,000 sq feet and needed 90,000sq ft to fix deficiencies NOW. They came up with 110,085 sq ft total for 2030 needs. It suggests 224 beds in dorm style and 64 beds for work release. Work release is pretty much cost neutral. Those beds are paid for by the people in there. Sometimes old hotels are taken over as work release centers for a fraction of the cost of building a jail.

These drafts will change as we get to the design phase. We’re where we can get to a conceptual plan. He wants to meet with their advisory group again in January. Commissioners agreed to let them get together on this. Tom Orschell will be the Commissioner rep on this advisory committee. 28 jailers manage 216 inmates per Dodd. Updating the technology will help reduce staff. Patrol officers don’t have office – but does have some shared space for locker and training room. Both commissioners desire keeping staff and costs low. Ewbank will set up the advisory committee meeting.

Dennis Kraus, Jr. for Planning and Zoning Dept. - Proposed amendments to the Dearborn County Zoning Maps- Kraus explained how these new maps were made- condensing 8 parcel maps to digitized and colorized maps. Commissioners adopted and accepted the new maps. Hughes noted that there was a lot of green on there.
[NOTE: green is ag land and it currently also holds flood plain, steep hillsides, and wooded areas. This map consolidated all previous zone changes and annexations.]

Vacate ROW at the end of Willoughby Road – neighbors were there to be sure their easement was protected. It was as it was not on their section of the road. This is a section between Willoughys and Donaldsons and Goodpasters. They will also build a cul de sac for school bus turnaround. All the property owners on this 50 ft ROW have signed off on the plat. This is being done to settle a nearly 10 year old lawsuit with the county. This was advertised for a public hearing at this meeting. Commissioners tabled it for January 18th meeting. There will not be readvertised. Cerified letters have already been sent out.

Rob Seig- Snow mobile club- North Dearborn Ridgerunners- 25 year old club. They have been allowed in the past to cross SR 46 to access area by I-74. A conservation officer has been giving them some trouble. On State highways you can travel adjacent to them or cross at 90 degrees, but not ride on them as if you are traffic. You can operate on the shoulder or berm. Previously under Commissioner Mark Dole – this was allowed. He gave the commissioners a list of members. They also help during snow emergencies. Hughes thought this was a good idea and Bill Black of EMA will get an updated lest also. These snowmobiles can get basics and medications to people in snow emergencies. Commissioners can adopt an ordinance to allow this. Jack Gay will look at the state laws to see what might be needed. Ewbank said there were local roads that were restricted access and our ordinance also defers to state law on state highways. In declared emergencies, rules can be suspended if needed.

Frank Kramer- DCRSD- requested commissioners’ approval for the amendment to OKI Regional Water Quality Management Plan- wants commissioners to amend the 208 plan. The existing 208 plan deals with the municipalities and also High Ridge estates. It does not address the rural areas. OKI is working on this but it won’t be ready till summer to fall of 2011. Problem is the deal with West Harrison TIF area and the sewer deal with Harrison. There is a deal pending there for business. He has prepared a resolution and a letter for OKI to address this matter. This area is not in conflict with St. Leon. They want to have OKI be able to amend the 208 plan to have this area assigned to the DCRSD at their March 2011 meeting. Kramer read the resolution into the record. Kramer said no one else has this area assigned to them. Commissioners approved this and signed the resolution.

HIGHWAY DEPT- Todd Listerman gave a 5 -minute report:

He spoke with Mark McCormack regarding Hillsprings Court – a sub’n off Hillcrest off SR 48 and Rollander’s bond is expiring. They will no longer be able to complete it or renew the bond per Rollander Enterprises. Union Savings bank is involved. He is asking permission to draw on $24,670 bond so that the roads can be finished to county specs and accepted. Commissioners approved pulling the bond. Any funds not spent will be sent back to Union savings Bank.

INDOT has sent agreement in relation to the bridge inspections- United Consulting engineers will perform the work. INDOT asked to go ahead and sign the contracts and get them sent to them so that they can get started the dollar amount is unknown at this time. This agreement is for 2011 and 2013. This is required by federal mandate. We get reimbursed at 80/20. Commissioners signed the INDOT contract on bridge inspections.

AUDITOR- Gayle Pennington – Claims and minutes approved. There were 3 boxes of claims to go through. Gayle also presented the payroll and claims schedule for their review. McHenry was consulted and they will still use 1st and 3rd Tuesdays. They will keep day and night meetings as they currently have them. Hughes commented that he liked the streamlined way they do minutes now.

ATTORNEY- Jack Gay- Hoosier Square Contract for $669,000 executed by Mr. Crouch and also Dennis Kraus, Sr. (Council President) certifying that funds are available. Commissioners approved and signed the contract.

Votaw Building Contract for $350,000 owned by JJ Malcam Inc- they shifted some of the costs to the buyer (the county) but this is below appraised value. Commissioners approved and signed the contract. They also initialed all changes.

There will still be the Shumway building deal with Lawrenceburg for $1.00 at a future date.

Jack Gay relayed that Listerman has asked for condemnation proceedings on North Dearborn project. Knue and Reinhardt are the owners that have not been able to come to agreement with the county. Gay said these 2 very small parcels are needed. One is a postage stamp sized piece that lies in a creek bottom. The other claims his access is being affected. This is designed to protect the taxpayer- not paying too much- and the property owner by not paying too little. Condemnation proceedings will not delay this project of done appropriately. Early in the process the county gains the right to use the land- even if the lawsuit proceeds. Once the owners see they have to hire a lawyer, they usually accept the appraised value.
Listerman was asked if they’d exhausted every possible opportunity. Listerman said: 25x25 ft is one piece- or 1/12,000 of an acre. ( Reinhardt)
2nd owner wants the county to buy an additional 4-5 acres that they think they will not get their FUTURE use out of it for development. ( Knue)

Commissioners tabled this to go out and exhaust every opportunity. They will talk to the owners. They can’t pay more that appraised values. Orschell is going out to talk to one of them, as he knows them already. They don’t want to miss the timeline on this. Commissioners are adamant that they don’t want to do any condemnation.

COUNTY COORDINATOR- Bill Ewbank- Hi-Tech Contract renewal for administration building. Price is same as last year for $1105.00 Hughes wanted to have a task force to look at all IT firms to see who to accept. He put Pennington and Minzner on this task force.

Web mapping proposal- GIS- got down to 2 companies and each had presentations. They chose the Schneider Company out of INDY to host the project. They want to interrelate that with all depts. That get involved in property. Goal is to have a platform to have everyone access all property information in one place. They want permission to enter into contract negotiations. $49,665 for a 3 year period. The GIS has funds for the first year of that project. We will also see some licensing savings using them. We can also provide subscription based fees for heavy users. He is confident that this will be revenue neutral for the county. It will also open up more opportunity for county users. Commissioners gave permission to Ewbank to negotiate the contract with Schneider Corp.

Persons seeking deed and mortgage records can see that also- as a pay for download process. Ewbank and Glenn Wright discussed this. Docspop is the company that would do this. A lot of companies are doing this. They also have a fraud alert as a free service. People can get an email if someone accesses their property, if they sign up for this alert. Commissioners approved Ewbank negotiating with Docspop.

COMMISSIONERS:

Jeff Hughes- nothing

Tom Orschell- said that with all the discussion at the end of the last meeting he hadn’t been able to address Thompson’s last meeting. He appreciated Thompson’s service and wished him well in his new life. Also wished everyone a Merry Christmas. Hughes concurred with these statements.

PUBLIC COMMENT- none

Meeting adjourned at 11:05 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township