21 June 2011 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

21 June 2011 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Jeff Hughes, President, Tom Orschell, and Shane McHenry
Also present: Gayle Pennington, Auditor, Bill Ewbank, County Coordinator, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney.

OLD BUSINESS:

Private Real Property Rights Preservation Ordinance- tabled at Hughes request

Animal Control/PAWS Contract-Bill Ewbank presented the final draft of the contract and the funds were appropriated to meet the county’s obligations. The board will have several public members and there is a reduction to 180 days severance clause and liability insurance of $1 million. Start date is July- we may need to be amended to Sept 1st for occupancy. They asked Liz Morris who was in the audience if Council was OK with it. She affirmed. Commissioners approved and signed the contract with the amended start date of Sept 1st.

Nolte Road Right of Way- Andy Baudendistel had the ordinance prepared and it will take place 30 days after approval and will be recorded. It was based on Kraus’s survey description. Commissioners approved.

Interlocal Agreement and Resolution with the City of Lawrenceburg- Baudendistel presented this with regard to Shumway Building 232 West High Street. This transfers the building to the County and affirms that it will be for public use. Commissioners approved both the resolution and the interlocal agreement.

Website Ordinance- Baudendistel read the ordinance. The County website is intended as a resource for the citizens and removes links to private businesses or websites to avoid any appearance of favoritism or bias. Commissioners approved the ordinance. Hughes asked about the website IT company and the Wyly Brothers. Ewbank said they are setting up meetings with dept heads to get material online.

GIS demonstration- Andrew Harrison from Schneider Company did a brief overview of the GIS site. It is now open to the public. All is available through the internet without the need for special home software. The info is updated nightly. It links to recorders and assessor and auditor’s offices. You can create mailing labels for properties within a certain distance of a property for example. There is redistricting information and you can see who your representatives are. They have Commissioners, Council , Congressional Districts etc. voting precincts can also be found on the site. Google map intersections etc are also on this site. Searching is through the tax records. They also have the 911 address records. Measurements of distance can also be done. This information is also printed as a pdf file. Exact property lines are not on these maps. Exempt and non-exempt parcels are shown on this. (for example the homestead exemption) This is accessible as a LINK from the county’s website. Tomorrow ( Wednesday) at 1 at aurora Library and 4 at Lawrenceburg Library – there will be demos for the public.

NEW BUSINESS:

RQAW- Revised Jail Expansion Project-Mark Van Allen presented- predesign was presented to Council in May. Council indicated they weren’t ready to fund a project of this size. They went back to see if there was something they could do to mitigate the crowding problem. Hughes was not happy with the referendum being circumvented essentially by getting a new design that is under $12 million. Because of the diverse nature of the jail population empty beds are needed in each type of population block. RQAW now broke the project into 2 projects. Work release is separate now. They propose a two story instead of three story building addition. The county can still expand to the west. Work release beds could go into the marine storage facility adjoining this building at some point. Hughes said he’s had a lot of questions asked to him. He asked about the $134 million cost to house all these prisoners. He asked about the total number of beds we need and why it’s so high here by comparison. RQAW response is different counties – different demographics- different prosecutors etc. Hughes said we need to look at this – even the governor looked at this with sentencing reform. It adds 5 members to staff to get to 416 beds total in the old plans. Hughes asked about food service prep and costs to bring it in vs prepare onsite. Bottom line- eliminating one floor and work release addition. There is room for work release- but not out 20 years and there will be another project there. Work release can be constructed as a residential facility which is cheaper if it is separated. An elevator and staircase are eliminated. Demolition of adjacent buildings cost is out now. The $200,000 for vehicular sally port is a separate cost on this plan now too. Soft cost breakdown is also included. Mark anticipates that Umbaugh and assoc will tweak those numbers a bit when they come back. McHenry noted that the numbers for 2011 were better except for May with a big party that resulted in arrests. McHenry asked Dave Hall- jail commander- if 1 sergeant per 4 is needed, he said yes. He also asked about LEED certified projects. Mark said they try to be as green as possible without costing excess money. Looking at solar water heating, led lighting, etc. – things with a relatively quick payback. Often there is initial capital, but the overhead goes down. Food wastes- recycling are also considered. Shane McHenry asked if someone had come to him to get this below referendum costs. Mark said no- that they were asked if they could get something viable and cost effective for the county. Hughes asked if they had some people who had independently looked over the plans. Ewbank said yes- but not this new one. They had concurred with RQAW on the $15 million version. Barrett and Morris and Jim Hughes were in the audience and it was not a referendum VOTE at the council- it was more of a straw poll in May. Orschell wants to take 2 weeks to review and then meet again. The referendum vote would not be appropriate until the Commissioners decide on a plan. Barrett agreed that they should have voted to get money to get the next step of the plan done. Commissioners will take this under review.

RQAW Hoosier Square Completion Contract- Bill Ewbank said there is an existing plan in place for Hoosier square and remodeling of Courthouse and Adm Bldg. Council has approved money for Phase 1 of this. That will remodel EMA Bldg section for records storage and Hoosier Square. Next year will be the Courthouse and Adm Bldg. Total cost will be between $50-67,000 for the schematics, design development, and construction documents. He recommends that we go ahead with the completion of the entire program for the 3 buildings. This eliminates 2 of the bidding phases. McHenry asked what we’d already paid RQAW- Ewbank said that was the pre-design fees. The City of Lawrenceburg’s Bldg dept has agreed to waive their fees on this project for inspections. They will control soft costs- do a lot of move in house and not buy much new furniture. McHenry wanted to be sure that Counci was going to fund that. He also said something was going to have to be done with superior Court 2- as that is not a good situation. Ewbank stressed that they will fund the project in 2 phases- part for 20112 and part for 2012. Barrett said Council was OK with this- numbers seem solid. Commissioners decided to move forward with the RQAW proposal contract for $50,000 for the Hoosier Square and Courthouse projects.

US Office Supplies Presentation- program that is available to all counties via AIC. John Hopscatch ( sp?) from Broz’s Office Plus they buy in a cooperative. Headquartered in Indiana- one of the largest in the world. They can compete with big box process because of this. There is no contract for signing- they need permission to present to all their dept’s. As independent office products. Pricing is deeply discounted because we share the same prices as huge companies. Price includes all freight etc. they are delivered the next day. Indy, Columbus or Louisville are the warehousing sites. Broz ‘s job is to make sure that counties know about this savings. Rather than buy local big box- they should compare the prices first. They support buying local- but also buying smart. Commissioners want time to look this over.

Thank You Letter for DC Foundation-Bill Ewbank – for Fire and EMS study grant of $58,500 and for $7790 for HWY Dept for Light flasher speed limit trailer. The study includes a survey. Commissioners signed the letter.

Bill Black EMA District Administrator Contract- this is the final contract for a $50,000grant that we administrate form June 1. In the future Switzerland County will take over as administrator for grants. Commissioners signed off on this grant. McHenry commended Bill and all the EMA staff and mobile command center with the help with the tragedy of the little child in Aurora.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: Todd Listerman, Highway Engineer- gave a report:
1.Dearborn County received the additional $1million for the Collier Ridge Bridge 55 and alignment. No2w there is $2million total on that project.

2.Cook Road washed out with recent rains and so it qualifies for $750,000 and we have to come up with 20% which is $150,000 for a permanent fix for this. This can be done thru labor or stone provisions as well rather than money. We can do a lesser fix at half that cost- but no guarantee it won’t fail again. The road will be back as gravel. There are 8 homes, 18 residents and only one way in or out. Commissioners are going to go out and look at it. McHenry said we should take advantage of the funds we are getting here- it’s going to keep happening. We need to do this now. Ewbank reminded them that this can be partially in in-kind services- not all cash. Tim Grieve also talked about how this money is for NEW slips and problems only. They will be getting into the creek to shore that up. Cook Road washes out twice a year at least. Commissioners will look at it prior to next meeting. If there is a time issue on the money availability- they will set up a special meeting. Coucil has a pool of money for these types of issues.

3.Reallignment of North Dearborn Road project- they have secured 3out of 4 owners. Rinehardt wants to go to court over a25ft by 25 ft parcel. It is 0.012 acre needed to protect the end of the pipe. It’s been appraised and he’s benn made an offer and a counter offer. He still wants to go to court. $2.8 million federal in this and about $500,000 in county money. Motioned to table until Jeff Hughes cold talk to Reinhardt- as he knows him. Commissioners are reticent to condemn land.

4.Bridge 34 on Short Ridge Road can proceed as soon as Orschell and Listerman can come to agreement with Irwin on the price for his ROW. They had 2 appraisals.

5.County highway lost an employee due to cancer and our crew leader. The new leader at Randall Ave. is Blake Hamilton, who was promoted from within the ranks. They need to go to Council to seek to fill 4 vacant worker positions that occurred in the last 8 months. These are already funded, but they need to get Council approval to fill. Hughes asked Grieve to justify it. Grieve said if we want to keep up our service level we need this. Commissioners agreed as long as Council is OK with it.

6.Grieve looked at costs to privatize mowing. Mowing $60,000 per time. We do it twice a year so $120,000. Presently we do it with two people at $35,000. The county’s cost is $65-70,000 a year. It’s cheaper to do within.

AUDITOR: Gayle Pennington- claims approved. Some claims not approved as Hughes and McHenry hadn’t looked at them yet. Motioned to accept claims once reviewed by Hughes and McHenry. No minutes ready for approval.

ATTORNEY: Andy Baudendistel- working with Bill Shelton Building Inspector and typed up new resolutions for the local towns substituting his name as current inspector.

He also had a letter for Frick and Associates as requested to be mailed to them. They are lobbyists. This will terminated their agreement with the county.

COUNTY COORDINATOR: Bill Ewbank- Ratify Lifetime Housing rehab and extension letters- we are the delegate for IHA- using fed money to rehabilitate a house. Approved. Also approved another extension to complete a project on 7 homes for Owner Occupied rehab project. Approved.

Ratify memorandum of agreement with DC Health dept- this authorizes the county to provide facilities to them in an emergency. Approved. Hughes asked if the NIMS certification is still in effect. Ewbank to check.

Ewbank wants to send a letter to agencies to be sure they do not pop in last minute for signatures. Approved.

Record’s archive in EMA building- $51,000 or $35,060 quote for shelves. Approved Cardinal Office quote of $35,060.

*******Special meeting in Commissioners room with Council and Commissioners on Wednesday June 29 at 6:30 PM to hear rules of referendum and Umbaugh’s financial models. McHenry may not make it- trying to get rearranged. Council is the group that decides on referendum or not. Rick Hall from AIC will also be there as attorney.

Hughes asked if we can put the budget requests online. Ewbank said yes- Gayle gets them and they will put a link online for them.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS- none

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- Baudendistel presented - Arnie McGill informed him that a 7 year old suit has been settled with Plan Commission and the County with Eugene McDonald. This was in relationship to ROW on Willoughby Road for a cul-de sac.
Baudendistal asked and Commissioners voted to allow for signature on warranty deed for Shumway Property.

PUBLIC COMMENT- none

Meeting adjourned at 11:20 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township