Christine Brauer Mueller
Andrew Baudendistel
12:30 PM (8 hours ago)
to me, Jim, Rick, Art, Sue, Elizabeth, Allen, Tim, Connie
Christine,
As you know, I have never done this before, but given the nature of the discussion that took place last night, I wanted to reach out with a couple of corrections/clarifications to the notes that you took because I do not want the discussion to be mischaracterized:
1. Commissioner Thatcher has been regularly attending the DCRSD meetings. Commissioner Probst has not, but he can obviously attend any meeting that he likes. In this instance, he did not tell Commissioner Thatcher or anyone else that he planned to attend the meeting. The Commissioners did not sit next to each other nor did they interact with one another during the meeting. Therefore, last night would constitute a "chance gathering", and not a "meeting", as found in Indiana Code § 5-14-1.5-2(c)(1). Even if not a "chance gathering", it would more than likely fall under the "administrative functions" exception to notice requirements as found in Indiana Code § 5-14-1.5-5(c)(2).
2. Nikki Shoultz does not work for Barnes & Thornburg. Nikki is Envirolink's attorney and she works for Bose McKinney & Evans LLP in Indianapolis. Barnes & Thornburg was brought up because, as you pointed out, the County already has a relationship with that firm and there are attorneys that could serve as the "outside counsel" that was discussed being retained (the whole purpose of the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement). Also, Nikki is not going to be the person that prepares the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement.
3. No, Stew Cline did not bring in Envirolink and, to the best of my knowledge, he has never had any dealings with Envirolink.
4. You state that the "Interlocal Agreement would be between the commissioners on behalf of the DCRSD". The Interlocal Cooperation Agreement would be between Dearborn County and the DCRSD for the benefit of the DCRSD as the Agreement would allow the County to provide the DCRSD with funds to retain outside counsel. The Agreement would need to be approved by the Commissioners, the County Council, and the DCRSD Board in order for it to go into effect. The DCRSD would be the client of the outside counsel, the County would just be paying the bill with funds that have already been allocated to the Commissioners for professional services.
5. Finally, all that was approved last night was getting a draft Interlocal Cooperation Agreement drawn up to be considered by the County and the DCRSD. Your notes say "Approved to start step one of the process to look into selling DCRSD" and that is not what occurred. I would point out, just as I did multiple times last night, that ALL options are currently on the table (including the option of not doing anything official with Envirolink at all). There has been no decision to sell the DCRSD and the DCRSD has not even been asked to make that decision at this time. The outside counsel retained by the DCRSD would work with the DCRSD Board to evaluate all options and the opportunity presented by Envirolink (or any other company if one were to express interest) is just one of those options.
Sorry for the lengthy email, but I just wanted to make sure that these errors/questions were fully addressed. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Andy
Andrew Baudendistel
12:30 PM (8 hours ago)
to me, Jim, Rick, Art, Sue, Elizabeth, Allen, Tim, Connie
Christine,
As you know, I have never done this before, but given the nature of the discussion that took place last night, I wanted to reach out with a couple of corrections/clarifications to the notes that you took because I do not want the discussion to be mischaracterized:
1. Commissioner Thatcher has been regularly attending the DCRSD meetings. Commissioner Probst has not, but he can obviously attend any meeting that he likes. In this instance, he did not tell Commissioner Thatcher or anyone else that he planned to attend the meeting. The Commissioners did not sit next to each other nor did they interact with one another during the meeting. Therefore, last night would constitute a "chance gathering", and not a "meeting", as found in Indiana Code § 5-14-1.5-2(c)(1). Even if not a "chance gathering", it would more than likely fall under the "administrative functions" exception to notice requirements as found in Indiana Code § 5-14-1.5-5(c)(2).
2. Nikki Shoultz does not work for Barnes & Thornburg. Nikki is Envirolink's attorney and she works for Bose McKinney & Evans LLP in Indianapolis. Barnes & Thornburg was brought up because, as you pointed out, the County already has a relationship with that firm and there are attorneys that could serve as the "outside counsel" that was discussed being retained (the whole purpose of the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement). Also, Nikki is not going to be the person that prepares the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement.
3. No, Stew Cline did not bring in Envirolink and, to the best of my knowledge, he has never had any dealings with Envirolink.
4. You state that the "Interlocal Agreement would be between the commissioners on behalf of the DCRSD". The Interlocal Cooperation Agreement would be between Dearborn County and the DCRSD for the benefit of the DCRSD as the Agreement would allow the County to provide the DCRSD with funds to retain outside counsel. The Agreement would need to be approved by the Commissioners, the County Council, and the DCRSD Board in order for it to go into effect. The DCRSD would be the client of the outside counsel, the County would just be paying the bill with funds that have already been allocated to the Commissioners for professional services.
5. Finally, all that was approved last night was getting a draft Interlocal Cooperation Agreement drawn up to be considered by the County and the DCRSD. Your notes say "Approved to start step one of the process to look into selling DCRSD" and that is not what occurred. I would point out, just as I did multiple times last night, that ALL options are currently on the table (including the option of not doing anything official with Envirolink at all). There has been no decision to sell the DCRSD and the DCRSD has not even been asked to make that decision at this time. The outside counsel retained by the DCRSD would work with the DCRSD Board to evaluate all options and the opportunity presented by Envirolink (or any other company if one were to express interest) is just one of those options.
Sorry for the lengthy email, but I just wanted to make sure that these errors/questions were fully addressed. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Andy
