19 March 2013 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Shane McHenry, President, Art Little, and Kevin Lynch

Also present: Teresa Randall, County Administrator, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney.

ABSENT: Gayle Pennington, Auditor. Connie Fromhold covered the meeting for her.

OLD BUSINESS: none

NEW BUSINESS:

Jail Update- Rosser International – Mark Schmeltzer- really wonderful working with Maxwell Construction - brightest and most professional I’ve experienced. It increases the quality of my work.

They are going to issue notice to bidders to bid on project when the documents are ready.  Commissioners approved going out to bid when Maxwell determines the bid documents are ready.

Surveyor – Dennis Kraus Jr. – appointment of licensed surveyor- tabled

Gas line easement for jail expansion- for Sycamore Gas Co for the jail project. Commissioners approved and will sign it in front of a notary.

EMA- Bill Black Jr. – Severe Weather Proclamation Signatures- Commissioners signed March 24-30^th as Severe Weather Awareness Week.

First EMA Advisory Meeting last week per McHenry. He thinks it is all going well- with interested board members.

ADMINISTRATOR: Teresa Randall

Request to Approach Council for additional appropriations:

Last year she went with their permission to Council for jail project. She wants to keep as much money in the bank as long as possible.  The auditor and she think this is best- to get periodic draw downs as needed. This is not an additional appropriation- it’s just splitting up the amount in stages as needed. Maxwell put together a draw-down schedule. Because of Council’s few scheduled meetings she wants to get this done now.  $ 425,000 for April and $675,000 for May.  Total needed is $4,475,000 through the end of the year.  Commissioners approved the $4,475,000 request to Council by Randall on their behalf.

There is a line item for County attorney’s retainer and his additional fees. There is another line item #31102 for $20,000 for their deductible for insurance. They have a $5,000 deductible for each event. She needs an additional appropriation of $10,000 for deductibles for lawsuits.  Approved to seek this from council.

On the Worker’s Comp budget. $23,457 needed to pay that this year and their estimate was short this much based on payroll when they did this insurance in December.  McHenry said they are taking a hard look to try to change this expense and to reduce claims. 

Randall said all these were advertised.

Randall said they had approached them with Officer Hedrick regarding active shooter training. ALICE is the acronym for the training program that the insurance company recommends for basic things to do until the police arrive. Bill Black and she met on this and two of their officers are certified in this training. They would perhaps take it to the schools in the future. There is a two-hour training for all supervisors, then the employees. She asked permission to move forward on this. Some of the speakers are people who have survived an active shooter situation. They will proceed with this.

They have met with Fire and EMS groups. She and Kevin Lynch find these one on one meetings to be very instructive. They discuss and are more open in smaller group meetings. Lynch also met with Roger Howard at the hospital and they will give more support to getting more emt training. Randall said breaking it down shows that issues are across the county. Solutions from different regions might be different for each part of the county. 

Commissioners signed the standard agreements for Moore’s Hill – 2 EMS units at $20,000 each. They also signed Aurora EMS for 2 units at $20,000 each.

Randall said that the phone system is outdated and needs to be updated. $70,000 is the estimated amount to finish the job. They also need new PBX systems. They have had a major circuit board go out and patched it together.  Indicom is doing this. She got him to do this in phases. This is already approved and budgeted. She’s just letting them know they are migrating the systems out for this new one.

They have approval from CSX to get the fiberoptics run over the RR tracks to Hoosier Square. $4850 for encroachment license fee and other fees associated with this. Commissioners signed the contracted $4,000 after Baudendistel said it was iron clad and Randall said they didn’t want to change this wording and waste another year. The other $850 is separate from the contract. There is also a $1,000 fee to install this. Indicom will cost about $8000 to finish off Hoosier Square.

Lynch congratulated Randall on her one year of service and all she does.

AUDITOR:  Connie Fromhold presented meeting minutes which were approved ( 3 sets)

Claims were also approved.

ATTORNEY: Andy Baudendistel- nothing more

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS- Art Little also thanked Randall for her energetic approach to her duties.

Kevin Lynch- said the new office configuration has turned out well and the employees are happy with it. It has also helped be more efficient for the citizens. Hartman and Shelton also helped out a lot on this with Randall.

ShaneMcHenry said Sue Hayden has taken on more responsibility to free Terri up to get her tasks done. Randall said and Hayden did it with no additional pay.

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- none

PUBLIC COMMENT- Jim Schuler- Aurora- asked about the transfer of the jail budgeted funds and if they were to be costs at or UNDER the budget. He asked if it will stay in interest bearing accounts until needed. Randall said it will be up to the auditor.

Randall will be attending the SB 528 at the Statehouse on the Riverboat Funds. She and Liz Morris will be carpooling. Art Little will go with them.

McHenry is disappointed in Lawrenceburg having a “circus” going on there especially while trying to get the Riverboat funds to stay here. The bad press is not good now. He said losing some of our services will be detrimental to our community.

Bill Black said that the EMS Advisory Board did reappointment him- unanimously per McHenry.

[NOTE: These meetings seem to echo a continuous refrain of praise for each other.  While we are all glad everyone is getting along so well, the amount of back patting actually seems to lesson the effect. It’s like my kids used to say after soccer tournaments- “If everyone gets a trophy, it’s like no one got a trophy.” ]

Meeting adjourned at 6:27 PM

After the meeting I got a mini tour of the new office arrangment on the top floor. Commissioners and Administrator and their Assistant will be in small offices surrounding the Commissioners meeting room. The Building Inspector, Sewer Board, and Planning Office are all upstairs. the big windowed room will be a conference room for all departments to use as needed. The rooms are bot finished yet.

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township