Wednesday, May 07, 2014

7 May 2014 Dearborn County Commissioners Meeting Notes


7 May 2014 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:

Proposed Animal Control Ordinance- tabled until May 20th meeting- Baudendistel said Marlene was notified of that also. McCormack said he would send 2-3 sets of comments from Plan Commission also.

NEW BUSINESS:

Planning and Zoning- Mark McCormack- Amendments to Zoning Ordinance Article 26, Sections 2600,2605,2612,2618,2620,2625,and 2630. Uniform numbering system proposed to be renamed to address and road name assignments. These were all reviewed by Plan Commission in March and had unanimous recommendation from the 7 members present that night.

2600- rename article and add some new text to the into.

2605- doesn’t give an address for pole barns etc so now they will be able to address some at their request.

2612- new section – names for new roads will be reviewed and punctuation marks will be not allowed in any name. They also provided a list of all road suffixes like road, boulevard, etc. All road names have to be unique- no duplications. If a road name needs to be changed for safety issues etc., The road name change will be reviewed at  a public hearing and review by several gov’t departments listed in the ordinance.

2620- what Listerman has been referencing in the past months.

2620-minor changes

2625- time limit is 2 weeks

2630- agencies to be notified

McHenry said that he was pleased that McCormack had led the charge to fix this after the issues from West County Line Road.

McCormack said there are still some issues with city and town roads where they meet the county.

No public comment.

Commissioners approved the recommended changes to the ordinance for road names.

 

 

Community Corrections/Superior Probation- Steve Kelly- request to approach Council- $30,000 for a van- theirs is 17 years old. This will be out of Community Corrections user fees- not taxes. It is a 12 passenger van for road crews and work crews. This is safer and less liability than separate cars parking along the road.  Community Corrections Board approved this. They want to get a line item created for this.

The second one is for $6,500 for evidenced based programs for female offenders called Moving On. This is not tax dollars- but out of user fees.

He said there are 6-12 on road crew now. McHenry asked if they could expand that program. He knows there are challenges to that but he thinks it would be a good idea to get more out of the program. Kelly said they could partner with churches and graveyards and non-profits. They have thousands of hours of community service that need to be used.

Commissioners gave approval for Kelly to go to Council for the above two requests.

Kelly said he has to turn in a budget to state and also county. The state one has less in it than he needs for ankle bracelets etc. So he may be back for additionals.

Emergency Management- Bill Black. Jr.-  Grant Application Approval- was notified on April 3 and paperwork was due by April 11 and he made the application after he returned from vacation. This was for a repeater for radios to be used. The process takes 2-3 months for approval. The 800 MgHz system doesn’t have enough aliases (identifications) for all the radios. If Commissioners and Council don’t approve- he can pull the grant.  This system can be used in Bright and Dillsboro where communications don’t work. This can take off some of the radio traffic on the main system. That would work in local system. There are some areas that are a complete dead zone in this county per McHenry. Grieve asked also about possible use for his snow plowers. This is more site specific per Black. Commissioners approved the grant request. Black said that the state is changing all the radios over to a new system. And the state changes their towers over too. Black said we have to pay for it and he thinks he has barely enough money to accomplish this.

Health Department- Fees Ordinance- Mary Calhoun- wanted approval to go to Council . Two new charges added– long death and long birth certificate forms. This is $20 fee based on what other departments are charging. It is also based on increased paper and ink. Randall said that she had received a complaint about this and tried to work with health dept with a previous employee. She complimented Mary for taking this on. This is often needed for insurance and settlement cases. Commissioners can approve this without Council per the statute per Baudendistel. Baudendistel had the fee ordinance and Commissioners approved it. [NOTE: Does the Auditor have to create a line item or fund for this?]

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: Todd Listerman, Highway Engineer:

1. Signatures for Stateline Road Slip Construction Inspection Agreement with United Consulting. INDOT agreed to letting the contract in August for the road work. $34,600 (NOT TO EXCEED) is the contract amount. Commissioners approved the contract.

2. 2013 Annual Report- was approved and turned in to the state due by July 1st. This is basically a financial accounting of roads and bridges funds and operations.

3. Request to Approach Council for Funding on Projects- Box beam bridges have been worked and is almost complete. The estimate is $775,000 for that box beam project,.

Our share is $220,000 to fix the S curve on Georgetown Rd.

90/10 to do a small structure inspection- 325 of these. With the new highway bill we have money to do this. We need $35,000 for the match.

Want to do a box beam on Kaiser and they think it needs to be a MAJOR rehabilitation. The consultant will do it for same fee. Rehab is $450,000 estimated. They may have to push it to 2015.

Bridge 138 on Bonnell Road by railroad crossing. This will be replaced with a bridge for $375,000.

All the above requests under #3 were approved to go to Council for approval.

Heads up- not gotten an award yet for Collier Ridge Bridge- there was an issue with paperwork on the low bidder. INDOT is handling this- but no answer in the process yet. They will proceed as soon as that is approved.

Tim Grieve, Highway Superintendent:

Quote for Trucks- 550 size – 2 ton truck. GM doesn’t build this anymore. Ford- $46,650 in Greensburg. Haag for $780 less for $45,870. Council already approved for budget. Commissioners approved.

Request to approach Council for Additional Funding- has a laundry list:

Workers are short on funds to pay for the extra work and overtime this winter is included. $300,000 for replenishing salt pile. Estimates are $75-80 a ton. This is more than last year in the $60’s range. Equipment repairs for $75,000. All the Freightliner trucks have a deficiency in the engines. New engine is 15,000 and to fix is $8000. Commissioners granted approval to go to Council.

 

Health Dept- Environmental Health- Grant Application Approval-  the trailer was approved previously. They want to put the trailer on this grant request. The grant was increased by $12,056. They want one they can load themselves for things like H1N1 flu to take out into the community. We have two trailers that are about 30 ft long. This one would be 16 ft. Lynch asked how often we need both trailers. This happens about once a year for 6-7 events. They could do school clinics etc monthly if we had one. The other two ones are supply trailers- not the same as setting this up as a clinic. Commissioners approved the grant.

Rick Probst- County Clerk – Election update. Showed the delegates state list and the cut-off for the 19 who made it. He said that Siekman won here but not the district. He said the trustee races were close. Maynard Barrett won County Council. 6500 voters – low turnout- about 10%. Highway dept showed up with trucks to get equipment out to precincts. Sheriff’s dept. helped with security and maintenance. Boy scout troop had volunteers help get equipment loaded and returned. He said they will make some minor changes to make it better for November. Commissioners thanked him for his efforts. He also has spare equipment should it be needed. They submitted the results to the state before 8 PM last night.

Administrator- Terri Randall- said they can take occupancy of the jail addition and use it sometime in August. They are working on the kitchen. They will have cold meals for a few days as they transition. They are still on the budget. They may have some issues with wiring in sheriff’s area. Some computer cables are in the ceiling and they are not plenum rated. Potential fire issues. Some of these may not even be used. The vendors who supplied these have been called in to help work this out. Contingency will cover this. She is trying to get everyone to share in this. She is close to using contingency amount possibly.

Plan for preliminary design on the courthouse addition. Kraus and Morris are members of this committee. They will have a joint meeting but not ready until June. They will have to schedule an additional meeting for this, she thinks. Hopes to have a joint with Commissioners after the June 17th Commissioners meeting.

Eric Krantz – new Chamber director- met with Randall- she said it was a wonderful meeting. A member of commissioners is ex-officio member of Chamber– usually the president . Dave Deddins- DCRC Chairman is also on that board.

Eric Hartman- maintenance- because of meeting with Maxwell on the jail project – has stepped up and taken a leadership role and has learned some ways to save money etc.

Mark McCormack and Bill Shelton- have had state down to talk and look at blighted properties and pull all areas of county together to get a grant by combining forces. This will be coming in later this year. McCormack has been a big help in supporting economic development grants too.

Randall said that she wants to get ideas on the EMS funding they have received.

Auditor- Gayle Pennington- claims paid. Minutes from April 15 approved.

Attorney- Baudendistel- unsafe building ordinance- Shelton said that he got a lot of calls from people offering up buildings to be torn down. He told him to explain they have no money yet and they can contact their Council rep.

He asked if they wanted him to look at any other ordinances. Commissioners said jJust general review now. Pennington has looked at Unico- and they review and update ordinances annually. They may also get them online.

Commissioners Comments- Memorial day- coming up and want to remember our trips. Lynch said it was disappointing to see low attendance at those events. Sen. Donnelley said they are at adult center today- recording war vets experiences. Little agreed. And said that a large number are dying per day and we won’t have their stories. He also said to CALL him if you need him. His email is unreliable. McHenry applauded all who signed up and put themselves out there on the ballot. It comes with some ridicule at times. Glad people want to make their community a better place.

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- none

PUBLIC COMMENT-  Chris Mueller- brought up the supermajority council vote and perhaps getting an ordinance setting it up officially to change back to the simple majority that the state has allowed since 2002. Mueller also brought up that there were at least two instances she knows about that were denied due to lack of the one extra vote in the 12 years form 2002-2014. It would be a liability to the county if someone challenged that. Has to be council request per Andy. Mueller suggested they might want to have  a dialogue with Council about that as the COUNTY would be liable- not just Council.

Meeting adjourned at 10:10 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

 

No comments: