5 November 2013 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

5 November 2013 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes

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

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

OLD BUSINESS: none

NEW BUSINESS:

Courthouse Analysis- Project Update- Terri Randall- Maxwell Construction has been doing this with council’s approval. John Maxwell and Allissa Ruhlman gave a power point presentation.  John Maxwell stated the following:

Started with the idea we could knock a few walls out etc- but that is simply not going to work. We reviewed all the previous studies. Judges, clerk, prosecutor, maintenance, sheriff and Bill Ullrich were interviewed as stakeholders.

Seven previous studies – the first in Nov 2004. When the jail and sheriff issues were taken out that set the stage for where we are now. That 2004 study was the really good one they based all their decisions upon.  When you take out the rotunda area etc you own about 16,000 sq ft of usable space. The 2004 space projections for 2014 were remarkably close to what we have now. We did have to project a 2000 sq ft for the magistrate that was added for Humphrey’s court to help with Ohio county. Storage spaces needed, private conference spaces needed and ADA is not up to par in areas. Gross areas that is needed is 37,000 square ft.

He had originally hoped that the prosecutor space could leave the site- but it has to be in the complex. He still likes the total review of the functions in that report. That is how they came up with the 37,000 square ft. A third superior court would take more square ft. than adding magistrates. By adding 2 magistrates for Cleary and Blankenship’s court they can save on space. They need to add a little over 20,000 sq ft.

Maxwell will create an RFP similar to the jail project. He feels they were blessed with the architects and subs on the jail. He sees a similar process of short listing qualified firms to choose from again. They would then come in with recommendations. The architect selected will then go thru all the items Maxwell has gone thru. At that point they will do preliminary work and get a budget. It will go to Commissioners and Council then.

Three things came up thru interview process that require attention in the short term per Maxwell:

Sheriff’s dept wants space outside women’s restroom as holding area. It currently has storage items in it. This would secure them better.

Clerk’s space is very difficult and crowded. They have asked for space across hall- vacated by probation.

Blankenship Court by the front door- she would like to move it across the hall as it would have more space. The other idea is to add a partition wall to separate people entering from the front door immediately to her courtroom. They want o raise her level of security.

Maxwell said they were treated respectfully and everyone was cooperative.

McHenry asked if these space needs were absolutely necessary and not just a wish list. Maxwell said Humphrey ripped off a list of 10 things and they matched up to what needs they had determined, for example. We can defend the program as written. We could argue politically about his- from the human side or psychological side.

Terri Randall said that RQAW’s space info is completely validated. We could look at must haves nice to haves and wish list. We have already pushed that envelope as hard as we could and that’s why we never moved forward. [NOTE: This was before her tenure as administrator.]They need more space than exists there. If you are going to invest money- do something that hold s the county for 20 years. The beautiful historic building has been turned into an eyesore with the cubicles in the rotunda area. A department may have to move- but they are all interconnected in work relationship. They will get numbers in the next few months before going to Council. McHenry said he has spent time over there. It’s obvious the space is inadequate. Lynch said that they have shoehorned things in there. He doesn’t like the partitions in the historic space and also the safety concerns. Little agreed with them.  It is obvious to see Aaron’s cubicles and security desk sitting over the beautiful floor space.

Lynch motioned to let Maxwell get RFPs to get architectural firm selected. Little seconded. Commissioners passed.

Grant Application Request- Health Dept- $12,056 no match required and this is a reimbursable. Trailer to set up clinic sites. Walk thru clinics for vaccinations etc.  Approved.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: Todd Listerman, Highway Engineer

United Engineering- presentation on 2013 Bridge Inspections- Chris Bueller sp?- said that they like to present in person in case they have any questions. They also have an interactive pdf file to plug into computer to search more easily than the written book form. There are bridges replaced and some are under design. Bridge 5 at top of replacement list as it is also on a 12 month inspection cycle. Bridge 88 is also on their 12 month inspection list due to bearing areas of the bridge. They have recommendations also to extend the life of these two. McHenry said he met with Todd and Tim – and they were complimentary about what your firm does. Report was taken in.

Todd Listerman said there are 23 bridges needing to be replaced. We have done a lot- but there is a lot still to do. The property taxes aren’t covering it all. We are at 1/3 of the rate that is possible by the county at 3.33 cents. If we doubled that to 6.67 cents we could do additional 3 bridges per year. The casino funding is not our long term solution. He knows it is a tax increase. Library in Aurora is at 15cents. Lawrenceburg is over 7% on libraries. He is lobbying for more funding for bridges. He is trying to combine some design work into other contracts also. Commissioners need to take a long look at this.

Bridge #55- Collier Ridge -  INDOT Supplemental Contract- scheduled for July. ROW cleared. Waiting in INDOT review. Federally funded. Trying to petition INDOT to get moved to April. $2 million fed funds. The agreement has fed funds of $661,000 extra is added via this agreement for this project. Approved and signed. Listerman said that INDOT is graded on meeting their dates for projects to start, so they select safe dates. Hoping that they can get it moved up- as someone else doesn’t make their date, so we can push up on the list.

Bridge #108: Harrison-Brookville Road - Howard J. Barth and Associates:  $74,700.00- less than projected for engineering. Approved and signed contract.

Bridge #76: Jamison Road:  FPBH, Inc. for engineering - $45,900.00. Approved and signed contract.

Strand Associates Agreement- Multi Bridge Rehab Project Box Beam Bridges: (concrete decks on bridges) Design not to exceed $42,700 and Bid Related Services of $7,000.  Total $49,700.00. Two part contract  depends on what has to be done on each bridge- so there are possible permit requirements on some of them.  Approved and signed.

Road Inventory Changes due to annexations: All approved by commissioners as below:

Pleasant View Drive from 0.13 miles to 0.04 miles due to City of Aurora annexation. County maintains Pleasant View Drive from Dutch Hollow Road to 185 feet east of Dutch Hollow Road, 0.04 miles. 

Scenic Drive from 1.88 miles to 1.39 miles due to City of Lawrenceburg annexation.  County maintains Scenic Drive from Wilson Creek Road to 165 feet north of Paxton Lane, 1.39 miles. 

Pribble Road from 2.92 miles to 2.64 miles due to City of Lawrenceburg annexation.  County maintains Pribble Road from SR-1 to Shady Lane, 2.64 miles

Contract #R-30956- Change Order 14 on North Dearborn Road. This is from the end of the job that shows an item changed for over $20,000. All has been settled on this road. This is paperwork for INDOT. Approved.

Paving has all been completed last Saturday and line striping are in now. Should be complete this week.

Lynch said he wanted to acknowledge that citizen said he was responsive in handling situation with road striping.

ADMINISTRATOR: Teresa Randall- asked Eric Hartmann to join her. Very serious leak coming from behind the jail of diesel fuel.  McHenry pulled Baudendistel to the side for a sidebar conversation at this point. Hartmann said the tank is not easily repairable. The tank is for the generator. The generator sits on top. They could get temp generator for 3 days to replace tank etc. This is an emergency situation. Resolution declaring an emergency per Baudendistel. Pennington concurred. Approved Baudendistel to get resolution. Will have by next meeting and council will meet after that.

Brad Ruhlman from Maxwell gave a jail project update. Invited commissioners to drop over anytime. Poured slabs and masonry walls going up. Security metal frames. Demolishing and remodeling existing basement. Rough ins of plumbing etc going in. Looking to complete that area in December. Precast walls will go in next- and it will start looking like a building. Hope to have roof on about Christmas time. There are some plumbing items that require change orders. That will be here next meeting hopefully. Project budget is still good so far. Crime scene investigators are doing more in house work and so chemicals can’t be put in drains etc. They are looking to do this with grant funds as this was not in original plan. This will be a lab addition in that space.

Randall has some appropriation requests. One is on legal services. Some have required more legal services than last year. $20,000 additional needed before the end of 2013. Approved to seek $20,000 from Council for legal fees.

Two others are fund transfers.

$7473.80 was left over from the other funds for Hoosier Square Project to use for running fiber to Emergency Mgmt to eliminate $560 per month for phones at emergency mgmt. Approved.

$800,000 balance left from L-bg. for Economic Development. $300,000 was reappropriated for incentives by “old”  Redevelopment. Move it from Growth Fund to Land Acquisition account.  Lynch abstained as he was on the Redev. Board. Approved to seek transfer to land acquisition fund.

Parking lot done.

$28,282 for a study to improve SR 1- Belleview traffic back-up esp during Perfect ski season. American Structurepoint will do study. Greendale is paying $20,000 and CVTB is doing remainder for the study. Approved to partner with city of Greendale for this with no money due from the county. Baudendistel will have interlocal agreements on this next meeting.

AUDITOR: Gayle Pennington- claims signed. Longevity disbursement is included in the payroll on these. October 15 minutes approved.

ATTORNEY: Andy Baudendistel- suit filed for accident on Stateline- insurance has picked it up. Sue Hayden compiled and sent accident reports in this.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS- Lynch wanted to encourage Veterans ceremony attendance Monday 11 AM on Courthouse lawn. Also big success for 34 companies at IVY Tech job fair. Many people hired.

Lynch said Messer’s staff called and he will be in on Nov 25^th to thank Work Force One for their efforts on that.

Little said to thank the Veterans and also is amazed that the roof will be on jail in December already.

McHenry said Courthouse restrooms available for veterans during the ceremony.

McHenry said that he was disappointed in the Indy Star article. The gist of his entire comment was that it was holding 50,000 county people hostage while others use the gambling money for their own political fighting. He thinks that people in Indy are looking to take the revenue and people here feeding the information are potentially harming the county’s reputation and revenue source. [NOTE: The conflicts of interest mentioned in the article in detail should serve as a reminder to all elected and appointed officials that they need to be more mindful of ethics in their deals. Our Redevelopment and economic development procedures should be looked at carefully as well. Are the goals clear? Do we measure the effects of the expenditure of county money on these companies? Are we fairly apportioning the work? Are county businesses able to bid on these projects or are we hand picking and inviting bidders? Do we write up the agreements to stress county workers if possible? Are certain businesses controlling the county? Have those businesses shown their appreciation by supporting political candidates? We need to think about what we do and how it looks to the PUBLIC when it shows up in print.]

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- $15,000 awarded for project per Bill Black EMA. Also one for $5100 grant for assessment. Black has had trouble getting approval in a timely manner when these are not applied for- they are just given to us. There are rules with SBOA on this. McHenry said he and Kraus could sign these and bring them in for ratified signatures at the next meeting. Pennington said that this is FEDERAL audit rules. All these grants have to be placed on the GATEWAY now for the public to see.

PUBLIC COMMENT- none

Meeting adjourned at 10:50 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township