28 August 2014 Dearborn County Council Budget Hearing Notes

28 August 2014 Dearborn County Council Budget Hearing Notes

Present: Dennis Kraus. Sr., President, Dan Lansing, Liz Morris, Randy Lyness, Charlie Keyes, Ryan Brandt, and Bill Ullrich.

Also present: Gayle Pennington, Auditor and Leah Bailey, Financial Controller of Auditor’s Office

Register Publications was present.

 Bright Beacon was also present for part of the jail/shriffdiscussion . Terri Randall County Administrator sat in on the sheriff and jail discussion.

10:10 AM

911 COMMUNICATIONS

Charlie Ashley- Budget similar to last year. Some items moved to his budget such as radios and they are trying t o see if the funding comes from each entity or thru EMA with Bill Black.  800 to 700 MGHz and all radios in emergency services get rebanded. Cost is about $50 for portables. This changeover in the state comes in October.

Morris asked about money coming in to 911 from the 911 statewide fund. That monthly amount went from $6000+ DOWN to $5,000+.

They are asking for a new staff member- that will be covered at Friday meeting. This one will be a floating person to cover vacations (47 weeks to cover) and they need 3 to cover all the time. There was discussion of holiday pay versus overtime pay. Ashley keeps it separate so he can track how much overtime he is using up.

Ashley said he shaved $15,000 from last year’s budget already. Council urged him to cut, so he took out uniform allowance and general supplies cut to $2000 and Equipment repairs to $6000. That way he has to come back if he needs more next year. Taking computer down to $3500.

The accounts for agreements with the other entities goes to a separate fund. Aurora pays into that now and there are other entities that are signed up- so the total should come to about $120,000 per Ashley. Some of that goes to pay for the new person needed to cover all the 911 calls. Ashley returns tomorrow at 8:45 AM for the additional help in his dept as advertised.

10:30 AM

SHERIFF AND JAIL

Mike Kreinhop- showed up with 6 others, some from jail staff. Introduced  Dr Norman Johnson- physician and advanced care- the health care provider for the jail. Bill Wilson Monroe county jail commander for jail analysis, Ken Witner- jail inspector for IN former 2 time sheriff. John Lee IT , Dave Hall Jail Commander and also the assistant Jail Commander. [NOTE: He obviously anticipates some tough questions.]

Sheriff budget:

McCready and Keene- submitted calculations for police pension. 22.58% increase over last year’s per Morris. ($48,000 extra) Kreinhop said he didn’t know what changed and Morris continued to grill him on that huge increase. He didn’t  know what percent the firm gets for doing those calculations. Charlie Keyes said the statute may have mandated the increase same as PERF did to make the pension funds actuarially sound.

Merit board allows for a monthly meeting at $20 per member. They only meet as necessary- only had 3 meetings last year.

Overtime $60,000. They cut it back $5000 this year. Supplies same as last year. Cut $1500 out of forms. Cut $2500 out of police supplies.

Canine is $5500. This is the first year they are asking the council to support the bloodhound. Past funding was donations or commissary. This includes vet bill etc. Sometimes get vet services for free unless it is special services. Council gave them $500 for this dog.

Routinely buy 5 new cars a year. New tires are an ongoing expense. Has an additional appropriation for gas pending now. Tires cut to $7500. Body armor last 5 years and cost about $600. This is mandated by statute. Travel and mileage is paid for use of own vehicles or community corrections etc – Cut $2500. Education is at $4000. Sheriff dept is covered in part by county liability insurance and the other amount is to cover deductible. Last year had 3-4 this year 0 accidents so far.  $30,000 is maintenance oil and repairs and transmission. About 35 cars in the fleet. Vehicle installation costs $25000. It costs over $6000 per car. They use Midland. Vehicle costs were discussed also and places to buy.

 Budget is still higher than last year. The pension is the reason. Lansing asked about number of sheriff employees- those are the same as last year- just reduced the rank of one to sergeant as the captain retired and filled with a sergeant. He added a couple part timers. Kreinhop said - It pays to house inmates. Lansing corrected him- you meant costs...

Jail budget:

Jail officer is filling in for IDAC coordinator.

Staffing analysis indicated they needed more staff. They expect 25 more inmates than last year. 285 inmates this year. Kraus said they were told that the jail would be staff neutral. Morris chimed in and grilled further as she was on the committee. Kreinhop said HE didn’t say neutral. Hall said it- and she said- well he works under you! She said she was told it would be staff neutral with 144 more beds even. He demurred and indicated that didn’t mean with people in them. ( WHAT!?) [NOTE: Silence when those around you are pitching it as staff neutral isn’t the right thing to do. If you know that the committee was being misled, speak up. Morris was a string advocate for the jail; it was not a good idea to mislead her.]

He estimated they can make over million a year if we put 50 more outside inmates in there. Keyes said- you wouldn’t approve jail over 4 additional staff? Morris said- I would need the info and know what was coming. Kraus said we were lied to.  Or misled. Keyes said we should know that all those beds would require more staff no matter what they were telling us. Keyes said- if they haven’t been approved- they don’t exist. So take these 4 off the budget.  You need to take these guys to the committee to get your 3 additional. Keyes said- by rights we shouldn’t be talking about it- same as Charlie Ashley has to come back tomorrow for his. Kreinhop said these are to reduce liability. Built to protect the county and staff it to protect the county. Hall said that he is not a liar- and that he said they could do it by combining the low risk and cut staff coverage there. They have 5 jailors covering 270 people sometimes. They are claiming the sentencing guidelines and also more felony staying local is the cause.

Bill Wilson- Monroe County Jail- had a lot of jails built in the 1980s and staffing was lax. As the increasing liability risk- the staffing increases. All criminal justice is run differently- some are tough, some sit in jail longer, some have work release etc. YOU are # 5 in the state on the number you lock up per 1000 residents. That is where the county is at. Several counties are grappling with these issues. You can’t have unsupervised people in jail.

Bill Ullrich- said the county is tough on crime- if you come to the county you may leave on probation. We are tougher than the other tristate areas. We hold people accountable. Problems with cramming people together- they get testy. Safety for staff and the inmates. Potential powder keg. Try to give them more space and keep low risk offenders away from high risk ones. Staff neutral was a pie in the sky dream I think. Logic alone tells you – you will need more staff for more inmates.

The IDAC officer is already approved. Will discuss that tomorrow morning. Brandt said to have sheriff go to PAC Personnel advisory committee- for the other 3 before adding or discussing them.

Dr Johnson- CEO of Advanced Health Care. Nurse has to do Physicals on inmates. Looking at our first lawsuit since a non- trained person got in the way of medical care. Looking for a full time LPN and cost effective rather than an RN. There will be 24/7 coverage eventually. There is more money for supplies and medications. There is no way around this. This large a jail should not be operated with one nurse. Jail nurse and medical assistant. She does not have the correct licensing. Also a $400,000 request for medical. The medical assistant is not in that number. If Advanced Medical provides the nurse- then they are liable if sued. If we do- then we are liable. They plan on hiring LPN.

84% of all lawsuits are civil rights lawsuits in jails. NOT Medical malpractice. Per Bill Wilson- former jail commander Monroe.

Randall gave the commissioners perspective she said. She said Commissioners had some concerns about the language in the contract. DCHospital is excited about providing the service at a lower cost. Contract has not been put out to bid. That is just to be sure we get the best value. Insurance company has been brought to the table. Keep current provider for now and look at this. Still use the Personnel advisory committee for what it was designed for. However the sheriff makes this decision. But the county is the one who has to deal with the liability. Majority is about civil rights- did we make the right decision about medical care. Hospital will have a proposal in the next 30 days. [NOTE: News to me - This was not discussed at commissioners meetings.]

Council decided to have $300,000 in there and if we need additional they can come back for that. Dr Johnson reminded them that DCH works with them now on patient care there. Leaving the nurses as they are for right now.

Office supplies- cut back to $5000. Bedding and clothing suspect they need $40,000 and put in $25000 for now. Plan on purchasing 100 bedding sets and clothing sets right now. He recalculated meals so that he hopes to get reimbursement for the higher level felony cases that stay beyond their 5 days here. They made over $500,000 in last couple years on that. He thinks we will get 310 inmates at $1.24 per meal. $421,000 per year for meals plus juveniles adding $30,000. Historically they spend about $400,000 annually.

John Lee spoke to campus security. Cameras and DVRs were all on the list. Security touch screens, X-ray and metal detectors etc. Council continued questioning and cutting thru each line item.

12:35 PM

CVTB

Debbie Smith – Brandt said- this is self funded. Smith said less money coming in. They do have 168 more rooms for innkeepers. If we approve it at this level- they still can’t spend anything if it isn’t there. Smith said a lot of their new marketing and business will come from the new convention center. We operate as a Commission Board- 7 members. Riverboat money is quarterly and she can monitor it closely. Frank Cummings recommendation is anticipating receipts of $1.2million. They take their innkeeper’s tax money in one lump and haven’t got their 2014 money yet. They may not get the $800,000 till end of 14 per Leah Bailey. Smith said the hotel won’t be done till November. She said Doubletree will be great looking forward to the restaurant.

12:45 PM

PAWS

Sandy Carly- gave a quick update and agreement is due in October. They are trying to get on an annual agreement to start in Jan again to get on a calendar year. She has been working with Randall and the county attorney to comply with that. So they fixed a bylaw to work with this. Bailey said the money is there and money is approved. The dollar amount is not changing. They just need to extend the contract 3 months to fix out this year. No other questions. She said the Facebook page has good pics of new animals .

Departed at 1 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township