19 November 2019 DEARBORN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING NOTES
Present: Jim Thatcher, President, Art Little, and Rick Probst
Also present: Connie Fromhold, Auditor, Andy Baudendistel, Attorney, and Sue Hayden, Administrator
TITLE VI STATEMENT FOR COMPLIANCE was read by Baudendistel as legally required.
OLD BUSINESS- none
NEW BUSINESS
YES Home Project Updates- Tamara Taylor- passed out info to Commissioners - maintenance and repairs- roof completed and the garage roof and gutters are finished. Rebuilding the doors to basement from outside and secured. Old water line that fed boiler cut out. Windows (about 20) around foundation with grating and these are being closed in. Excavation and drainage improved. Window replacement with grant from Community Foundation. Grant for doors to be replaced. Chimney needs to be removed or tuck pointed. No purpose for it. Probably tuck point and cap as it is cheaper. Occupancy certificate needed for the insurance transfer.
Blighted Property- Old North Dearborn Elementary School @ 5687 North Dearborn Rd- Nicole Daily, Zoning Administrator
From OCRA they have a Four factor analysis, Appointment of Public Hearing Officer to hold public meetings about the school if necessary in the process, Authorization of Submission to get updates when the grant is awarded and completed in 18 months, and Resolution for Spot Blight so this is not a whole area of blight. Health Dept and Building Inspector involved. There is black mold in the one floor and carpets and asbestos. 70,000 sq ft of flooring with asbestos in it and some piping that will require abatement first. Gym floor buckling. Commissioners approved and signed off on Public Hearing officers (Susan Craig or Nicole Daily), submission authorization, four factor analysis, and the resolution for spot blight.
Cook Road Repair - Highway Supt- Tim Grieve- wants to approach Council for additional money for repair on 2 major slips with 536 ft to fix. Two bids. Also installing guardrail. Commisisoners declared an emergency on Cook Road to repair. there are 7 landowners behind the slip and won’t be able to get out or get services. If it completely collapses it will cost far more- millions of dollars. GSI- $704,000 plus with no guard rail in the bid. McAllister was $2,548,000 plus. Both are still in the area to be able to start on this. 5 year guarantee on the GSI fix. Piering would require large amounts of concrete up that little road as specified in the McAllister type fix.
Commissioners signed the emergency resolution for Cook Road after Baudendistel read it into the record. Grieve was approved to approach Council for the money. GSI is the lowest bid.
Highway Engineer - Todd Listerman: represented by Sue Hayden-
Amendment #2 LPA Contract Bridge #5 East Laughery Creek Road- INDOT contract. The original was in 2014. It increased the amount of money also. Approved and signed.
Grant/Federal Aid- Bridge #33 North Hogan Replacement- Match is $400,000 and requesting $2 million. Approved the grant application.
ADMINISTRATOR – Sue Hayden:
Midwest Data Support Contract- same as previous years - for 2020 and verbiage added for tech services. $4,500 /year, $99/hr, and $75/ hr for remote work. Approved.
SIRPC 2020 Rep appointment- SE Indiana Regional Planning Commission - Art Little was reappointed to that board.
Health Board Appointment- Dr Eliason- was reappointed to the Health Board for 3 years.
AUDITOR – Connie Fromhold -Claims and Minutes from November 6th were approved. The claims schedule for 2020 was approved.
ATTORNEY – Andy Baudendistel- nothing this evening.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION- TIM MALONEY- HOOSIER ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL- TANNERS CREEK PLANT CLEANUP UPDATE- Hoosier Environmental Council does statewide work to shape environmental policy in Indiana since 1983. They were not here to address the Port but the clean-up would affect when and if the Port could locate there.One of the things they have worked on for many years is coal ash. CCRs or coal combustion residual waste is a major pollutant after coal is burned.
In 2009 it got national attention when a billion gallons of coal ash got dumped into in the Emery River. This waste stream was largely unregulated by the federal government up to then. Ash can cause contamination via fugitive dust, surface water, ground water, and spills. Coal ash is small- 1 micrometer, so it can get deep into lungs when you breathe it.
Indiana has 86 closed coal ash impoundments, the largest amount of any state in U.S. Indiana has had 2 major spills to White River. 17 power plant site have confirmed contamination of groundwater. Town of Pines by Lake Michigan is a Super Fund site by EPA. Most residents of Pines have water brought in from Michigan City now though some are still getting bottled water.
States and power companies are currently excavating numerous sites around US and putting it in lined secure areas.
Federal rules in 2015 and Indiana rules have closure plans to close in place or mine it to move it to engineered, safely lined sites.
Tanners Creek LLC initially thought they were not subject to federal rules but now knows they are subject to federal rules. Their Fly Ash pond has had some spills this summer that were cleaned up Main fly ash pond is unlined pond. Tanners Creek LLC is attempting to close in place. IDEM is monitoring that process and various permits have been issued and revised etc. Maloney listed the the timeline of those quickly.
There is a permitted landfill at the AEP site and they were denied the ability to get more brought in from OHIO, due to letters and concerns from the locals here. (which would have added to our pollution issue)
Tanners Creek Plant - has coal ash is sitting in and saturated by groundwater. When coal ash is dry, it can be managed. When it gets wet the metals leach out leading to environmental problems. (It is hard to see how coal ash could stay dry in a flood plain.)
Boring samples show coal ash down to about 40 ft. Groundwater is above some of this so the coal ash is in the groundwater. River and groundwater are exchanging levels as the rains and dry spells come and go.
Recorded near the landfill - Boron 2.6 which is close to the 3 limit.
Arsenic .027 so its twice the drinking water standard.
Typical flow is toward Aurora and LMS wells. When the groundwater is high the flow goes in other directions. When floods occur it goes backward toward the river.
Mayor Hastings of Aurora wrote a letter to IDEM regarding cleanup- as coal ash is starting to affect their wells. They are cleaning it out so it is not in the final drinking water. City of Lawrenceburg is not at immediate risk at this time.
The only way to reduce the risk from these sites is to dig it up and moved to lined sites.
The river area is not a secure area for this type of CCR storage. 30 year monitoring time is all Tanners Creek LLC is required to do post closure. (so if you build business in the area and it fails in 30 years, what happens?)
20 mil PVC liner on the one pond the other is unlined.
Maloney urged them to dig it up and move it for a safe fix.
Questions from the audience- Aurora Mayor elect Drury, Bill Ullrich, County Council, myself, were answered - Commissioners didn’t have questions. Mr Maloney was limited to about 20 minutes for his presentation.
COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
Little- Miller Township fixed cemeteries looking good.
Thatcher- holidays are time for family and friends. Ken Madden started a group for people to come to the Adult Center from 12-4 on Christmas Day to socialize. Calling it “A Christmas With Friends” Wants people to get the word out for people who don’t have anyone to share Christmas with.
LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- none
PUBLIC COMMENT- none
ADJOURN- 6:28 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
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