27 July 2004 County Council Notes

County Council

Present: Bill Ullrich, Acting Chairman, Mark Mitter, Dennis Kraus, Bo Lansing, and Aaron Negangard. Cary Pickens, Auditor, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator, also present.

1. Bob Gravogel – Harrison Soccer Ass’n located in West Harrison, IN with about 45% of their kids from Dearborn County requested money for a $16-21,000 playground to serve the needs of families attending the games. After a lengthy description of their history and program, Negangard motioned and Mitter 2nd to grant $10,500 out of youth services. Passed.

2. Mike Kraemer of Pinnacle Advisory Group reported on the current status of the medical benefits program. The county has about twice the normal rate of “shock claims.” Med Ben had some possible solutions to help cut this cost. Instituting a wellness programs with voluntary individualized care plans is one possibility.
The other is starting HRAs- Health reimbursement accounts for employees opting out of the family plan because a spouse already has it. This would give them some tax-free money to pay for their out of pocket medical expenses, such as copays, deductibles, eye care etc. This could save $7,000 per employee in county costs, while giving an additional benefit to the employee. [NOTE: Some of these HRA plans are a “use it or lose it” type plan. If you don’t use or submit the expenses for reimbursement from the account, it stays in the administrator’s account as “profit.” It was not clear from the discussion, what the details of this plan would be.]
 
3. Mike Hankins- Sewer Board Chairman came accompanied by Rodney Dennerline, Brett Fehrman, Vera Benning (advisory board chair), Lisa Lehner (attorney), and Joe Tierney (GRW consultant).
Requested $357,600 in a “forgivable loan” to cover them to the construction phase of the sewer district. They have applied for a rural development grant and also trying for a dept. of commerce grant. These will be used to pay back part of this loan. [NOTE:Included in this estimate are legal fees for possible condemnation proceedings for about 30 properties (10% of houses). IN law allows for group filings of these condemnations.]
Kraus motioned and Negangard 2nd to TABLE this until budget hearings pending a contract for a LOAN of this money. TABLED.

4. Mike Davis- Highway Dept.- Updated Council on road repairs and on equipment repairs. Chuck- from the county garage gave a summary with examples of parts and costs of some of the vehicle repairs. It was decided to try to standardize vehicles so as to get parts they can keep in stock for rapid repairs. This will be phased in over the next several years as equipment is replaced. Gov’t gets a 35% discount on trucks.
Negangard motioned and Kraus 2nd to:
Deny for now with the intent to readvertize for the Cum Cap Fund for $1,003 for OSHA tank and $5,500 for furnace replacement.
PAY out of 203 account $45,000 for maintenance and repairs to the year’s end, $5,000 for Lexington Rd. slip repair,
TABLE $4,400 for GIS training until August.
All agreed.
Davis gave council a heads up on the Guilford deck replacement and also the triple whipple bridge.
The Phase 2 Road paving list was passed out and discussed. Lorie and Mike both detailed the process that was used to prioritize the roads and justify each as being placed on the list. Three foremen drove the roads TOGETHER to further clarify their status on the list. Negangard asked about whether the commissioners were all in agreement on this. He was told the vote was 2-0, Karen Shell was absent, but had indicated agreement throughout the process. Vera had stated that she likes money equally divided, but that she would vote for the list, and did.
Kraus motioned and Mitter 2nd to approve.
Negangard motioned and Krause2nd to delete the $$ estimates until after bids have arrived.

5. Lorie Howard- Administrator – requested $28,161 to finish out social security for the year, and $3,000 for employee physicals.
Negangard motioned and Kraus 2nd to approve both out of county general and deny it from Riverboat Revenue. Approved.

6. Sheriff Department- presented by Bill Ullrich- requested $20,000 to repair older vehicles. Negangard motioned and Mitter 2nd to approve from Riverboat revenue, but deny from county general. Approved.
 
7. Courthouse- copier- $8,000. Kraus motioned and Lansing 2nd to deny from cum cap. DENIED.
 
8. CMHC – requires $96,912 because the state didn’t set their levies properly. Kraus motioned and Lansing 2nd. Approved with Negangard NAY. (Didn’t want to vote on something he didn’t understand)
 
9. Minutes approved. Lansing abstained, because he was absent last month.
BUDGET HEARINGS at the end of AUGUST.

Meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

 

26 July Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

Plan Commission:

Present: Mark Mitter, Chairman, Mike Hall, Nick Held, Dan Batta, and Roger Woodfill.
Absent: Patrick de Maynadier, Dave Schmidtgoesling, Tarry Feiss, and Rick Pope.
Also present: Travis Miller, Planning Director, Mark McCormack, Enforcement Officer, and Arnie McGill, Attorney.

Meeting began 10 minutes late waiting for a simple quorum to be present (5 members). Minutes were not approved because a quorum of members present at the last meeting was not available.

1. Old business tabled from last meeting:
Lonestar subdivision- 1 lot on SR62 Clay Township with Mary Ridner applicant- was approved with a variance to access SR62 because all other options were exhausted and a 10 ft variance on sight distance. Batta motioned and Woodfill 2nd. All ayes.

2. New business: Request for zone change Ag to Residential and a variance for house location by Steve and Carol Hapanowicz on North Dearborn Road adjoining Harley Springs Subdivision in Logan Township. Presented by Dennis Kraus, Jr. Applicant asked to be tabled when it became clear that there were not 5 votes to approve. (Woodfill was opposed for several reasons) Applicant will pursue other means of accessing North Dearborn Road for next meeting. Batta motioned and Held 2nd to TABLE till next meeting at applicant’s request.

3. Changes to the Subdivision ordinance clarifying language were approved Article 3 Section 305 M to go on to commissioners.

4. Amendments to subdivision ordinance from commissioners back to Plan Commission were approved. Held motioned and Batta 2nd. All ayes. This goes into effect now, because they approved what the commissioners sent back.

Administrative:
Enforcement reports were given out by Mark McCormack.
Ethics talk by Greg Dale on Aug 24th 5:30 – 8 PM was announced for those wishing to attend.
Correspondence from Vicki Reiter and congressman she contacted were presented regarding late meetings and making decisions when tired.
Members were reminded of the Aug 28 Advisory Board meeting to finalize the master plan before the public hearing. Advisory Board meets at Tate St. adult Center 7-9 this Wednesday.

Travis Miller also requested approval to pursue a grant application for GIS funding from special projects for the budget hearings. SIRDP has rural grant money available for creative solutions for economic development in rural areas. Digital parcel mapping ($300,000) and topographical mapping ($150,000) are being requested. It would require a 25% match from the county. Letters of support are being sought for the grant and include assessor, auditor, 911, farm bureau, redevelopment commissions, other municipalities, etc. All these departments can access and use the data ultimately. This is not something extra so much as it is positioning the county for what is needed in the near future. Plan Commission gave their blessing to go on to council with the request at the budget hearings. Application is due by August 31st.

Meeting adjourned 9:40 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

 

22 July 2004 County Commissioner Meeting Notes

Present: Dan Batta, Acting Chairman, and Vera Benning. Karen Shell arrived at 11:30 after checking out a D-1 citizen complaint. Cary Pickens, Auditor, Lisa Lehner, County Attorney, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator, also present.

1. Transportation Dept.- Mike Davis – reported that highway crews were called out for storm damage issues last night in the Sparta area. The usual mowing, brush cutting, and maintenance issues are being handled in each district. They are getting some salt damage to oil pans and so they are being replaced with coated ones as needed.
The road-paving list has been summarized and justified using data from the Transportation Assessment study and then driving the actual roads to see what was the current condition. Batta asked that Mike Davis be sure to include the specific surface details, lengths, and sections of each road to be paved when he goes to Council for release of the money. Vera Benning stated that she wants equal dollars to go to each district, but she would vote for this set of roads. Ok’d to go to Council.
The Guilford Bridge on Main Street and SR1 needs to be repaired. The structure is intact but the decking is crumbling. Probable cost is $129,000 if they can close it for a month. To do it in 2 stages and keep the road open costs another $50,000. Painting is $40,000. Council will be advised of the cost estimates.
Triple Whipple still being pursued for repairs.
Whites Hill will start in August.
Chris Ogg from Schneider Consulting gave an update on the TEA applications and the George St. Bridge repairs as well as the bike path to be added to the side. James Barker Associates is assessing the capacity of the bridge for Aurora to be sure it can handle the bike path.

2. Planning and Zoning – Travis Miller- grammatical and clarification changes were added to the ordinance changes requested. Commissioners voted to send this back to the Plan Commission and if they approve of all the changes, it passes without having to come back to commissioners.
Travis Miller also explained the road classification process to Commissioner Benning.

3. Richard Lattire – discussed the problem with a curve on the lower end of Kaiser Drive and the need for guardrail. Several cars have left the road at that area due to slippery conditions and the road itself. Commissioners will have Mike Davis check it out.

4. County Administrator – Lorie Howard- gave a report on the courthouse dept.’s assessment of the problems with Siemens work. Eric Hartman concurred with these details. Discussion on whether or not a suit was needed was held. Decided to hold executive session July 29 at 11:30 AM. Statute of limitations is running out on this issue and Siemens has been unresponsive to letters requesting repairs. Joe Pesch is no longer with the company- apparently Gary Melke is. Cary Pickens is to check out if there is any money left in the bank account from this project and how much was repaid on the overpayment that Siemens repaid to county general and not to the bank.
Security for the adm. Building and courthouse has been proposed. Lorie will get memo to each dept. to see what they think will work best. $11,000 for thumbprints, $16,000 for cameras, and $1400 for panic buttons. An additional $9,000 would cover the courthouse.
Drug Plan for personnel policy will be a stand-alone document for Aug 2 vote.
Lisa Lehner completed a Memo of Understanding with Solid Waste on the leased container trailers. This was signed and approved.
OKI agreement for July 04 –June 05 was signed for $15,789.
Ken Ingram was reappointed to the Hospital Board.
Norman Gellert was reappointed to the Library Board.
 
5. County Attorney – Lisa Lehner – finishing the Harrassment Policy.
GASBY ordinance prepared and signed to be in compliance with state law on County Inventory and Asset Evaluation.
Still working on the ROW with Irwins for the bridge on Shortridge Road.
Lisa checked O’Mara’s bonding and commissioners signed off on Phase 1 paving to proceed.
Lisa contacted IDEM regarding the clean air act rulings on Lawrenceburg and clarifying the details of AEP’s current status. Lorie Howard is to follow up on this with Mark Geisler- one of the county’s lobbyists. Lorie will try to get the state implementation plan to see what they are saying will be done to be in compliance with the EPA.
 
6. County Auditor – Cary Pickens- signed off on minutes and claims.

7. Connie Sizemore presented complaints regarding dust issues with the Sugar Ridge subdivision construction. Karen Shell had checked it out and has IDEM sending a letter to be sure the excavators spray water to keep the dust down. Also some Health Dept. issues with mosquitoes in the holding ponds.
Driveway distance to the entrance was also remeasured to be 150 ft.

8. Jim Bloomfield had questions regarding the ROW for sewer district work. After several minutes of discussion he was referred to the sewer board. Lisa answered some of his questions at this time.

Meeting adjourned 12:30 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

6 July 2004 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

6 July 2004 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

Present: Dan Batta and Vera Benning, acting president. Absent: Karen Shell
Also present: Cary Pickens, auditor, Lisa Lehner, attorney, and Lorie Howard, county administrator.

1. Planning and Zoning: Travis Miller – gave a short update on the abandonment of the CSX rail lines and answered potential ownership questions regarding liabilities and the need for uses that can revert to the railroad should they need it back. Trails are the most frequent uses, apparently. The park board has also been advised of this potential.
Commissioners want to know how many trestles we would own. Travis stated they could use 10-15,000 in special projects and that Council would need to approve it for this proposal.

2. Veterans – Bill Ewbank- reported that he passed his reserve office training again and that they are still having problems with the van drivers and the need for national standards for volunteer drivers for the veterans.

3. Emergency Management – Bill Black – reported that Dearborn County has been included in the disaster declaration 1520 for storm and flood damage between May 27 and June 25.
Test of the emergency system went well.
He is still working on the mutual aid agreement with the tri-state area. Lisa advised that they need to remember the statute on interlocal agreements when setting this up.
The grant for the 800 system and some GIS is not here yet.

4. Transportation- Mike Davis- Council approved $8,000 to study the Tripple Whipple Bridge repairs after being advised by John Graf of Barth and Associates that they would have to clean it up if it fell into the Creek - and it would be more expensive.
He is going to get with Jewell DuBonis- one of the county’s lobbyists- to help push the TEA grants to help pay for the bike path along the George St. Bridge.
Wilson Creek is still closed for slip repairs etc.
Report included tire and hydraulic repairs, brush cutting and culvert replacements that are proceeding in each district.

5. County Administrator – Lorie Howard – set the date as Thurs July 15 at 1PM to have executive session to interview for county engineer.
RQAW received the signed contract to study the jail expansion from Sheriff Lusby.
Lorie is renegotiating the Harrison EMS contract for the end of this year.
Still working on the impaired workers policy.
Questions involving the security in the administration building surfaced- looking for a way to improve this. [NOTE: County may be able to use a system similar to the schools with cameras etc. particularly in light of the openness of the building during meetings etc.]
Anti-harassment policy for personnel is being written.
Lorie is developing a property policy governing how vehicles, etc. are bought, sold, and transferred.
Commissioners scrapped two vehicles for auction ( 96 Chevy Caprice- canine vehicle and a 96 Jeep Cherokee with 178,000 miles needing rotors replaced) and transferred or retained 4 others.

6. County Attorney – Lisa Lehner- advised commissioners of the impending 90-day deadline to approve or deny the zoning code ordinance changes according to IC 36-7-4-607. This was tabled till the next meeting when Karen Shell could be available. (rescheduled from July 19 to July 22 9:30 AM)
Lisa is trying to keep the Siemens HVAC issue alive. If the statute of limitations runs out before the HVAC is fixed suitably, they county won’t be able to sue. [NOTE: This has been an issue for over a year. Vera Benning reported that the judges have NO PROBLEM AT ALL with the HVAC. They don’t know what the issue is. This makes little sense in light of previous history of those problems. Perhaps a check of each department or office in the Courthouse is in order to see if the HVAC problems are adequately resolved.]
The new software can accommodate the GASB rule so that every department can tag their inventory. Cary Pickens stated this was the case and also noted that it was another UNFUNDED mandate from the state.
Lisa is researching the drainage board at her hourly rate. Commissioners instructed her to limit her scope to the legals of how it is set up. They want Lorie to do the legwork, as their paid employee, thus a cheaper rate.
Lisa advised that they need to think about next year’s holiday schedule so that the courts can set up their calendar.

7. County Auditor – Cary Pickens- signed claims. Held minutes till Karen Shell returns.

8. Joan Seitz – Assessor appeared to ask permission to use commissioner room for overflow on assessment hearings. Approved.

9. Vera Benning – Piper Landing Road and strip mall area questions surrounding its acceptance as a road. There is a condo association and detention ponds etc. there. Commissioners are going to get info from the Planning files from Travis Miller before deciding this.
Vera Benning discussed issues surrounding not getting minutes from their administrative focus meetings and being concerned about decisions made during these meetings. [NOTE: These meetings were NOT to be for major decisions, but for administrative ones.]
Vera Benning elaborated on the acceptance of the roads into the county inventory from Sunrise Estates, Dan Fugate’s subdivision. This was apparently done at the administrative focus meeting and not at a regular commissioner’s meeting.
She stated, “Dan (Batta) was upset and that it was a very unpleasant experience for me.” She further stated that she has issues with these meetings being held in the Transportation Department, out of the public eye. [NOTE: This seemed odd and when I researched it further after the meeting, there were only 2 commissioners at that meeting also- Dan Batta and Vera Benning. There apparently was no agenda, but Fugate was there to get his subdivision roads approved. Questions were related to the actual proof for the highway dept. that the roads were ready to be accepted. Bonds must have lapsed etc.]
At this point I questioned the commissioners about the purpose of the meetings and also reminded them that the minutes were the official legal record of any decisions. If minutes do not exist- it’s as if it didn’t happen.
Vera Benning became quite upset at this point. She terminated my time at the podium.
Lisa Lehner, however, stated that she would check into it.
Before leaving the podium I stated that I was questioning the procedure only- NOT the Sunrise Estates issue specifically.

10. Commissioner Meeting for July 19 at 7 PM is changed to July 22 at 9:30 AM due to a seminar conflict.

Adjourned 11:20 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

28 June 2004 Dearborn County Plan Commission Notes

Dearborn County Plan Commission meeting- 28 June 2004
Present: Mark Mitter, Chairman, Dave Schmidtgoesling, Dan Batta, Tarry Feiss, Rick Pope, Nick Held, and Mike Hall. Also present: Travis Miller, Plan Director and Mark McCormack, Enforcement Officer and Arnie McGill, Attorney.
Absent: Patrick deMaynadier and Roger Woodfill.

1. Lonestar Estates- 1 lot subdivision on 4.503 acres in Clay Township on SR 62 owned by Mary Ridner and Carl Clift was tabled after much discussion. Key issues seem to be piecemeal development without an overall plan and curb cuts on a state road. This was the 5th or 6th split from a parent parcel of land over the last few years.

2. Fox Hole Estates - 2 lot subdivision on 16.036 acres in Kelso Township on North Dearborn and McCann Roads, owned by Roger Fox and presented with Carol Morman. Mike Hall abstained- surveyor for the land.
Batta motioned and Rick Pope 2nd to approve with variance requested. Approved.

3. Weldon's Acres- 2 lot subdivision on 15.029 acres in Manchester Township on Schaefer Road and North Manchester Road owned by Delmar Weldon. Mike Hall abstained again as surveyor and Carol Morman presented. Rick Pope motioned and Tarry Feiss 2nd to approve. Approved.

4. Carlee Acres - 10 lot AGRICULTURAL subdivision on 70.295 acres in Manchester Township on Burns Road and SR48 owned by Tom Kent. Burns Rd. is the Old SR48. Kent's plans include an INDOT approved realignment of Burns Rd. so that it meets SR 48 at a proper 90 degree angle. Variances were granted for the ponds on the property and a geotech expert will be on site to supervise using the pond fill and dam areas for the new subdivision roadway. Kent explained in detail the need for each variance as part of the overall design of the Agricultural subdivision.
Neighbor in attendance showed support. Covenants show a clear agricultural purpose for the lots. Rick Pope motioned and Tarry Feiss 2nd to approve. Approval included a 75 ft. variance of SR48, one lot being less than 5 acres, 100 ft allowance for the road segment to Carlee, Lot #10 MUST BE SOLD PRIOR TO THE SALE OF 5 and 6 so as not to be landlocked. It may be combined with 5 or 6 or sold to an adjoiner. All tech and staff requests will be met and a geotech expert will supervise the pond/road construction. Approved.

Administrative:
Enforcement report passed out.
Master Plan Draft passed out for review. Also a copy of slide presentation from HomeBuilders dinner meeting.

Meetings planned:

July 12- Working session on master plan
July 28 - Advisory Board meets and goes over the final draft of the plan before the Public Hearing.
August 2 Working session for Plan Commission to go over Advisory Board issues and comments.
August 18th PUBLIC HEARING ON THE MASTER PLAN
August 30th Plan Commission may continue public hearing if necessary- final meeting before certifying plan to the commissioners.
Sept 20th - County Commissioners get the Master plan to consider for approval.Meeting adjourned 10:30 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

22 June 2004 County Council Meeting Notes

22 June 2004 County Council Meeting Notes

Present: Charlie Fehrman, President, Mark Mitter, Aaron Negangard, Bill Ullrich, Tom Cheek, and Dennis Kraus. Absent: Bo Lansing. Cary Pickens, Auditor, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator, also present.

1. Judge Jim Humphrey – Requested additional funds for pauper attorney funds. They had requested $64,000 and another $15,000 for related pauper expenses and the fund was down to $5,100 and $1700 respectively. Conservative estimate was that they would need another $50,000. Negangard motioned and Mitter 2nd. Passed.
Humphrey also noted that there is a state mandated change in court computer software for 2005 or 2006. State will pay for software, but they may need to upgrade the hardware to handle it. Plan for it in 2005 budget.

2. Kathy Nevels- Family Connections- Child Abuse prevention program and prenatal substance abuse and smoking cessation programs. Want to be in our budget for 2005 for $4,000. All offices except for Versailles are closing and their staff is working out of their homes and cars during the bulk of the week now. She will submit their budget to Cary Pickens for budget hearings. They cover 129 families out of 6 counties.

3. Lifetime Resources- Karen Anderson requested to be on 2005 budget for $5,000 and another $5,000 for Catch-a –Ride. Cary Pickens told her that they’d been given and extra $5,000 in 2004 and needed to refund that to the county. He’d questioned it back in February 2004 and it still wasn’t settled. They will submit their budget for consideration also.

4. Heart House- Craig Beckley- requested $5,000 for 2005 budget consideration. Gave a similar report to the one he gave commissioners Monday night. He did go into further detail about the rules of Heart House and how the residents there nicknamed him “warden”.
Tom Cheek asked about cleaning up the grounds around the facility and eliminating the outside burning of trash and junk cars. They are working on those issues. Also Beckley reported that they are using a grant to build a lock and store on site so that will provide some income for the facility. He also gave details on the fees that the residents pay for their programs and will submit a budget to Cary Pickens for consideration in the 2005 county budget.

5. Girl Scouts – Nancy Cross presenting for Becky Mitter. Mark Mitter abstains due to his wife’s’ involvement in the Girl Scout program. They requested $3,000 from the Youth Fund for 2005 budget to help fund their Day Camp program, specifically for equipment needed to run it. Kraus motioned, Negangard 2nd. Passed. Mitter abstained.

6. County Administrator – Lorie Howard – Needed approval to spend the $3200 from County General for Indy Shred to perform records destruction under the supervision of the clerk and the judge. Negangard motioned, Cheek 2nd. Passed.
Tabled from last month- the money requested to correct and error on the payments to Harrison EMS for $32,254 was passed with Ullrich motioning and Mitter 2nd.
Lorie advertised for $32,000 for consideration next month as an additional for shortfall on Social security.
The jail expansion BID – only one- came in from RQAW. Their original bid was for $46,000 with a rebate potentially if they got the job for the construction and this one was for $23,700. She noted that competition worked here- even though others did not bid in the end. Negangard motioned and Cheek 2nd. Passed - to allow Lusby to proceed if the technical review boards evaluation approves the proposal form RQAW. The money is already in the sheriff’s budget.
When asked why the others dropped out of the bidding- Lorie reported that they cited not enough face time in our county and that the expense of the proposal would not be worth it, if there was already another bidder with a track history here. (i.e. RQAW)
Lorie has a draft of the 2005 budget for commissioners and noted that she is moving some items to dept. budgets from the commissioner’s budget. (vehicles and copiers)
She and Charlie met with Med Ben and Pinnacle to project health care costs for next year. They are considering some creative ways to keep coverage but reduce costs through incentives.
The personnel policy is nearing its final draft for review.
Lorie will give copies of resumes for the professional engineer position to council for review.

7. Transportation Department- Mike Davis- requested and additional for $81,732 for vehicle insurance from Fund 146 Contingency money. Cheek motioned, Mitter 2nd. Passed.
Request for $10,000 to finish out the uniform allowances and supplies for 2004. Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd. Passed.
FYI- $60,000 budgeted for line striping so far.
Triple Whipple Bridge- history given by John Graf- engineer. 80/20 project and 16% of the 20% is Dearborn County. The cost total in 1994 was estimated at $843,000. In 1998 it was over a million to repair. If it falls in the river- we have to pay to extract it. It will be cheaper to repair than to demolish. Requesting $8,000 for engineering review from Cum Bridge Fund or Special Projects- 203. Cheek motioned and Mitter 2nd to use 204 Fund. Passed. Ultimately Dearborn County's share will probably be around $150,000 on this project. It will become incorporated into the bike trail also.
O’Mara was $99,000 lower than Rohe and will do Phase 1 road paving list. Council OK’d.
This leaves $1.1 million for Phase 2 work out of 147 head tax money. Significant discussion here regarding the derivation of this list on Phase 2 roads. Negangard was under the impression that since Vera Benning wasn’t at the meeting it looked like the other two commissioners railroaded her out of her money. Some comments about politics and lame ducks were further discussed. I (Christine Mueller) spoke at this point to explain the history of the road money and district expenses over the past few years. We further discussed the nearly $2million that D-2 has been shorted in the past and the foremen being told to do work in D-3 without the approval of at least 2 commissioners. Legality of that is questionable. [Note: Foremen should be able to do work based on communications from commissioners – but perhaps that communication should be coming from Davis directly and not a single commissioner. Davis should only be acting on legally voted work. This would prevent further money squabbles.]
Council decided to send the memo commending commissioners on the phase 1 work based on the transportation assessment study data. They further RESPECTFULLY requested that Commissioners review and re-evaluate the Phase 2 list in light of the same data. Cheek motioned, Mitter 2nd. Passed.
They voted to keep Phase 1 going, but to deny any release of 147 money for phase 2 pending reevaluation by the transportation assessment plan. Ullrich motioned, Cheek 2nd. Passed.

8. Charlie Fehrman reported that trailers will be used for the jail overload at $6/day cost rather than housing work release prisoners out of county.

9. Minutes approved.
Meeting adjourned 10 PM.

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

Who Will Pay for the Cost of Development?

Mr. Freemon' posting of June 4, 2004, is correct; but, does not go nearly far enough. The cost of $6,500 per pupil is correct; however, the average household has 2.3 children in school at an annual cost of approximately $15,000. This does not include any capital cost requirements for new school facilities to house the added students.

In addition, new hosing will add to the County's cost for police, fire departments, emergency life and rescue services. Some of these are presently volunteer; but, as the housing increases these will increasingly have to become funded out of taxes to provide more full time personnel.

Also, with each new house add two plus vehicles on the county roads, causing an increase in road maintenance and as subdivisions are added the roads in those subdivisions will be added to the County roads for maintenance.

Sewers will become another expense.

Also, while not paid for by taxes, other utilities will need to expand and while these are currently provided by private companies, the cost of the expansion will be covered by the public in the form of increased rates.

Each new house will add significantly more to the taxpayer cost and increase taxes, unless the cost of the house is well beyond the range of most prospective home owners.

The push for the development of Dearborn County will probably become stronger, since Butler, Hamilton and Clermont Counties in Ohio and Campbell, Kenton and eastern Boone Counties in Northern Kentucky are already significantly developed and Warren County in Ohio, currently experiencing the problems of burgeoning development (lagging utilities, increased public service costs, increased traffic, etc.) are declaring moratoriums on building. The next areas include western Boone County in Kentucky and Franklin and Dearborn Counties in Indiana. As we all know, Dearborn is the most readily accessible of the three areas.

We can look forward to Dearborn County to become the next County with the problems of development and the associated increase in taxes, traffic, etc.

Ralph Thompson, Jr., PE

21 June 2004 Dearborn County Commissioner Meeting Notes

Present: Karen Shell, President, Dan Batta, and Vera Benning. Also present: Cary Pickens, Auditor, Lisa Lehner, County Attorney, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator.

[Note: I arrived after the road discussion]

1. Transportation Director- Mike Davis presented the Phase two road paving list that was discussed at the 4PM working meeting. Commissioners approved the list to go to Council for their approval prior to beginning. The list was weighted in favor of D-2 and D-1 because of the differences in their road money expenses over the past few years. The list included Sand Run, DeHill, Renier, East, Sneakville, Autumn Way, Gibson, Gabbard, and Sykes in D-1. In D-2 there were Legion, Asche, St. Peters, Martha Drive, Bess, Earl, Eugene, Shangri-La Blue Creek, and North Dearborn. D-3 had Old 350, Rice, and Akes.
[NOTE: This list went to Council on 22 June 2004 and they sent it back for review, wanting to see it looked at in relation to the Transportation Assessment Study- see notes under Council Meeting]

2. Regional Sewer District update included a request by Doug Baer and Mike Hankins to be considered in the 2005 budget. Commissioners seemed to think that they could perhaps consider staffing in the budget, but not capital improvements. Taxpayers were not supposed to have to subsidize growth, but commissioners felt that they should also help provide the necessary services for the safety and welfare of the public. Commissioners supported the concept of getting loans from the Lawrenceburg Bond bank. Sewer Board approved to go to Council to request $100,000 of the $420,000 they will ultimately need. Lisa Lehner reported that at the first easement meeting- they obtained about 60 properties ROW and approximately 120 people attended.

3. Heart House- Craig Beckley gave a report on the first 27 months of Heart House. 330 people were served, 80 from Dearborn County. This added up to nearly 6,000 night stays and saved the county nearly $200,000 as opposed to a hotel at $35/night. He noted that in this business there were more failures than successes, but that the successes made it worthwhile. They asked for $5,000 in the commissioner’s budget. Benning motioned, Batta 2nd. OK’d.

4. Emergency Management – Bill Black- Commissioner’s signed and Emergency Management Proclamation. Black reported that they have had grants of over $400,000 coming in this year to help out including $189,000 for Homeland security.

5. Lorie Howard- County Administrator reported. She and Charlie Fehrman met with Kramer of Pinnacle Advisory and noted that medical costs for the county are budgeted at $1.7 million and they are projected to be at $1.8 million this year. Currently we are still under budget.
They are moving some items out of the commissioner budget and putting them back into the dept. budgets- examples were vehicles, tires, copiers, etc. Budget due July 1.
Personnel Policy revisions are still going on, as is the Drug and workplace Safety Plans.
Bids on the Courthouse expansion were due by 4 PM Tues. for Council review. They anticipate 3-5 bids including RQAW, which was at $46,000 initially with a rebate on the actual construction management if they got that job as well.
6. Lisa Lehner reported that the coroner suit issue had received an opinion from the judge. Other suits regarding accidents on county roads were submitted to the insurance company for help with defense payment.
The Plan Commission ordinance for revising the Zone codes was prepared, but they will sign it in July prior to the 90 day deadline.
Lisa is looking into a Drainage Board and will seek Jennifer Hughes help from Soil and Water Board.

7. Claims and Minutes were approved.

8. Vera Benning wanted to know if Commissioner’s approved of her handling the sewer board issues so far. Commissioners stated that they had set the board up and trusted that they would do the right things.

9. Karen Shell stated that Moore’s Hill needed a letter of support to go to Council to obtain funding for Carnegie Hall repairs. OK’d.

Meeting adjourned 9:05 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

7 June 2004 Commissioner Meeting Notes

Present: Karen Shell, President, Vera Benning, and Dan Batta. Cary Pickens, Auditor, Lisa Lehner, Attorney, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator

1. Veteran’s Office- Bill Ewbank stated that the driver’s van program may be ‘dead in the water” due to drivers possible having to have near CDL certification. He’s still trying to get further information on this.

2. Animal Control – Cheryl Lohmiller reported that a new full timer was hired- Becky Foster. Two people were going out on calls now due to a dog bite that Cheryl received last month. She wants back up for potentially dangerous animal collections.
Mark Seiler did a survey for the expansion of the shelter and consulting with County Farm Board to be sure it fits their plans also. John Maxwell’s company has been out to see what type of building might be built there for the shelter. [NOTE: This probably has to go out for bid]
233 people visited the shelter last month.

3. Emergency Management – Bill Black reported that the FEMA certification class is completed and others are interested for the next class. Lisa Lehner is working with him on the Hazmat First Responders agreement. Commissioners have a disk and proclamation to be signed after they review it.

4. Highway Dept.- Mike Davis- gave the 2003 annual report to commissioners and it was signed to go on to INDOT etc.
Davis reported that there was a fair amount of work in D-3 to be done after last week’s storm damage. Also Bridge 16 in D-3 is being replaced.
There have been a rash of flat tires on county equipment lately.
They have a new engineer working on White’s Hill to work out a way to shorten the project and accommodate the problem of ROW that cannot be obtained.
Inspections on Sugar Ridge continue as excavating goes on. They will need to close Stateline just below HVL to get the sewer access also. Signs will be posted warning of this a few days in advance.
Zimmer Tractor will be selling them a new brush cutter (rotary style) to replace the scissors type one- this will cost about $10,000 and should save man-hours in clean up and removal from the old scissors style cutter.
Sunrise Estate is seeking road acceptance into the county and apparently have addressed the hwy dept. concerns. Commissioners will check this out further.

5. United Consulting- Jeff Larasen reported that the $40,000 to do 200 small structure inventory for the county hwy dept. is needing nearly $26,000 more to finish the project. There are about 120-150 more small structures than they thought. Extras go at $175 each approximately. July 12th is the estimated completion date. A draft plan will be submitted at the Thurs. meeting on the first 200 structures and they will also demonstrate HOW this report can be utilized to prioritize the maintenance of these small overpasses, culverts and bridges. (4-19 ft in span). [Note: Does Council need to be approached for more money?]

6. Planning and Zoning – Travis Miller presented the technical cleanup on the roadway sections of the ordinances. The plan is to make the language match up to the transportation study classification system. Jamison Road was added as an arterial.
They also addressed how the private streets would be handled in the county. Currently a private street can be 16-18 ft wide with a 50 ft. ROW and chip seal for 6 houses or less. Proposed is to make it 20 ft and asphalt for the same number of homes. The thought is that in the future- these streets may end up as public streets and need to match up to county specs.
Batta stated that in rural areas the private street might be a better road than the one it is accessing!
Lisa Lehner wanted to know who decides the roadway classification and the design. Travis stated that the hwy engineer and planning director can recommend but that the Plan Commission decides, by law.
Lisa and Travis reminded the commissioners that this was certified to them on April 30th and they have 90 days from then to act or it will be in effect automatically.
Vera wanted to know how it could be repealed. Lisa said the commissioners could send a request to the Plan Commission to review that, have a hearing, and then come back to the commissioners again with a recommendation for their approval.
Dan wanted to know how they would know what collectors might turn into arterials in 20 years.
I spoke at public comment time reminding them that the Plan Commission has typically required minimal access to collector roads with combined drives and unified accesses from the subdivisions they review, in anticipation of this potential issue.
Tabled this for further review.

7. Lifetime Resources – Karen Anderson gave report and requested to go to Council for $10,000 for both Lifetime resources and Catch – a – Ride combined. OK’d.
Julie Schaefer said they have 90 days to get Transit worked into the County Emergency Disaster plans. She was referred to Bill Black for that.

8. County Administrator- Lorie Howard- Requested $3200 to go to Council to fund records destruction- OK’d.
The Jail Expansion Board is on target to award a contract by July 2 for the planning phase.
She and Lisa, Cary, and Dennis Dunlap will present a final draft to dept. heads for the personnel policy in July. They may look into an EAP program (Employee Assistance program for alcohol and drug abuse so that an affected county employee may get help and retain his/her job. Grants possible.

9. County Auditor – Cary Pickens- Minutes and claims approved.
$1,000 signed for brucellossis and TB for cattle as mandated by law.
Paving bids were opened by Lorie Howard and Rohe was $273,132.40. O’Mara was $172,793.02. They will be reviewed in detail and decided at the June 21st meeting.

10. Vera Benning wanted to know if the buildings would be closed for Reagan’s funeral. Commissioners decided to have a memorial service at noon that day instead. Judge Humphrey will be asked to preside.

11. At Karen Shell’s request, Dan Batta motioned to have him replace her on the Plan Commission Board. Vera did not second it. Karen Shell 2nded and it passed 2-1.

Meeting adjourned at 11:30 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

What do you know about those you have elected?

This is a wonderful idea having homes representing 30% of an individuals income. Lovely subdivisions will be a joy to behold. The only problem is that these homes will not produce enough tax to pay for the schooling of the children. It costs about 6500 dollars a year
to school one child in Dearborn County.

The state, which pays a large part of the school costs, is near bankruptcy. Local property taxes will have to be raised. The state wants to raise the state income tax. Our seniors who are living on small fixed income pensions or simply Social Security will be taxed
off of their property. The developers will snap up those properties for more development.

It seems that we will be electing county commissioners that have a personal interest in development. Watch what happens to Dearborn County.


Alan Freemond Sr.

25 May 2004 Council Meeting

Present: Charlie Fehrman, Chairman, Bill Ullrich, Bo Lansing, Tom Cheek, Mark Mitter, and Dennis Kraus. Absent: Aaron Negangard and Cary Pickens, Auditor. (Helen covering minutes for Pickens)

1. Lorie Howard- County Administrator- absent due to illness. Her items were: $60 inadvertently left off when OKI was paid. Cheek motioned, Kraus 2nd. Passed
Harrison EMS contractual amounts for county coverage - $34,000. Cheek motioned, Mitter 2nd to Table for more clarification.

2. Library Capital Projects – Sally Stegner and Mary Alice Horton- Resolution signed for the annual review of their 3-year plan to show continued county support. Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd - signed resolution.

3. RSVP- Mary Lewis, program director, and Jack Kennedy, treasurer – primary funding sources for RSVP are Cities, County, Grants, and Federal Funding. Requesting $6,000. They presented their budget and gave short presentation of all the programs they help. RSVP volunteers donated 56,000 hours to the community last year.
Cheek motioned, Lansing 2nd - $6,000 approved.

4. Gladys Russell Park – Steve Walker – Culmination of several years attempts to get water to the park. Now need $27,500 extra to accommodate a second plan because of ROW difficulties with one citizen. North Dearborn Water to upgrade their piping to accommodate the park needs. Kraus motioned. Ullrich 2nd - $27,500 granted out of fund 126 Park Board funds. Verification of the original denial of ROW and documentation of services rendered from the water company are required before payment. (Give to auditor)

5. Aurora Farmer’s Fair – George Feustel – Requested $9,000 from Youth funds. Cheek motioned, Kraus 2nd – FAILED. Eliminated the uneducational elements and granted $3,500 for Grandpa Cratchit (sp?) event. Mitter motioned, Cheek 2nd. OK’d.

6. HVL Parking lot for sports complex – Craig Lysne and Bob Will- Cut the request to $15,000 for paving of a second lot. Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd, OK’d.

7. 911 Communications- Charlie Ashley - Grant $101,000 from 911 fund, grant $7500 for equipment repair, grant $12,000 for phones, and table the $2500 for dishes to add to the tower until results of Lorie Howard’s negotiations with tower company are completed. Ullrich motioned, Cheek 2nd, OK’d.

8. Highway Dept.- Mike Davis- updated Council on roadwork.
Requested 203 Fund- $36,000 for East Laughery slip repair in house. Cheek motioned, Mitter 2nd, OK’d.
Tabled from last month- requested $40,000 from cum bridge. Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd. Kraus NAY- Passed.
Insurance requested out of highway budget- $81,000 per half year. (property and equipment ins) Tabled till June.
Equipment repairs- $7500 granted- Cheek motioned, Lansing 2nd. OK’d. (Kraus – nay)
$10,000 Truck repairs. Lansing motioned, Mitter 2nd, OK’d.
$5,000 for tires, $2,000 for hardware and tools, $400 drug testing, $1500 cell phones (7). Cheek motioned, Mitter 2nd. OK’d.
Uniforms tabled until they get details on contractual arrangement.
Davis- FYI told them Triple Whipple is being revived with Rising Sun possibly. It’s county’s bridge so expenses would fall in county hands.

9. Jail- Dave Lusby- $80,000 for medical for inmates and $100,000 for meals. Kraus motioned, Cheek, 2nd. OK’d.

10. Building Dept.- Jim Smith presenting for Al Werner - $10,000 for part time help coverage for Don Townsend. Ullrich motioned, Lansing 2nd. OK’d with Kraus abstaining because he missed part of the discussion.

12. Prerogative of the Chair-
Solid Waste Bins will not be lease to own arrangement- IDEM would not allow that- they will still honor the loan payback. Loan signed for UCB Bank. (from April)
Loan signed for Welfare Office with UCB also. (from April)
Gov’t Financial Services contract for $6,500 with Frank Cummings signed. Kraus motioned, Lansing 2nd. Signed.
Budget hearings- dept. heads will have to be there for their budget hearings.
Minutes approved with minor correction. Negangard’s Senator Byrd comment had been eliminated. Cheek – in jest- said he wanted it included.
Mitter (who is also Plan Commission Chairman) informed the council that a new attorney for the Rollander Development was present Monday at the Plan Commission, indicating that the Health Board must have spoken with their attorney about deciding who he was working for. [Note: Richard Butler, previously Rollander’s attorney and Health Board attorney had sued the county for Rollander]

Meeting adjourned at 9:45 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

24 May 2004 Plan Commission Meeting Summary

Present members were: Mike Hall, Nick Held, Patrick de Maynadier, Karen Shell, Tarry Feiss, Roger Woodfill, and Dave Schmidtgoesling. Absent: Rick Pope

Two subdivisions were denied at the 24 May 2004 Plan Commission meeting. Each took over 2 hours of discussion at the public hearing.

The 26-lot Golf View Acres Subdivision (29 acres) on Soaphill Road in Manchester Township submitted by Rollander Enterprises was denied. Several attempts to pass it with various conditions failed. This was tabled from April's meeting and still had another 2+ hours discussion at this meeting.

Fox Hole Estates (7 lots - 38.644 acres) on North Dearborn Rd in Kelso) with owner Everett Fox Jr. was tabled by the applicant until June.

The 187-lot (69.369 acres) Heritage Ridge Subdivision by Welsh Development owned by B&Z Development in Miller Township on Stateline Road was denied.
[NOTE:Jeff Hayes- form Planning Director of Dearborn County who revised our zoning ordinances - presented for the applicant.]
Sewer issues were the problem the first time this property was presented several years ago. Road issues with Stateline predominated the discussion this time, as did the single access point for 187 lots. Other issues included drainage and sewer capacity questions and requested variances. Most of the opponents to the subdivision were from the adjoining Hidden Valley Lake community and submitted 268 petitions opposing the development citing negative impacts on their community. High density seemed to be the issue for them.
[NOTE: Sugar Ridge Planned Unit Development with 315 units is across the street from this property now. The impact to Stateline from Sugar Ridge will be significant. Adding another 187 units would further increase this impact of development. Stateline is not slated for further road work this year.]
Denial was unanimous.

Meeting adjourned at 12:30 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

Notes from 17 May 2004 Commissioner Meeting

Present: Vera Benning, Acting President, and Dan Batta. Absent: Karen Shell
Present also: Cary Pickens, Auditor, Lisa Lehner, County Attorney, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator.

This meeting resembled a working meeting.

The main items of interest included:

1. Discussion concerning the inspections of road paving and how they were being accomplished. Mike Davis, Hwy Director, replied that there were bonds in place and if anything went wrong in a year it would be fixed under warranty. Implication seemed to be that there was no need to inspect as long as the bond was in place. This seemed to contradict the plan earlier that he was going to see to it that inspections of the work would be done by the Hwy Dept. There were also questions regarding the density gauges that HC Nutting Co. would be using to check the roadwork. The county had owned one of these in years past, but it seems there is no one certified (engineering wise) to use it.
A lengthy discussion on a $0.39 O-ring problem with some of the county’s caterpillar equipment finally concluded when it was determined that the problem was fixed!!

2. Lorie Howard is incorporating more specific language into the paving bid templates so that when they are converted to contracts they will serve the county’s needs better.

3. Owner of a landlocked piece of property is seeking an easement and neighbor involved wants the county to get the easement rather than just a private agreement with the landowner. The two landowners are Ullrich and Knopf (sp?)

4. Vera Benning wanted to table the item on destruction of old trial records from the courthouse until she heard from Judge Humphrey. Lusby and Pennington were in charge of the records and the Records Destruction Committee met concerning these. There was concern that there wouldn’t be adequate supervision at the actual shredding to be certain nothing needed was shredded. They need to get extra appropriations to shred them. (approximately $3200 –3300)

5. Bid documents for jail expansion strategy and architectural design are being written up under the supervision of the county administrator. (Lorie Howard) The team of individuals from the courthouse and community corrections staff are helping design these documents.

Meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
LAwrenceburg Township

3 May 2004 Commissioners Meeting Notes

Present: Karen Shell, President, Vera Benning, and Dan Batta, Cary Pickens, Auditor, and Lisa Lehner, Attorney.
Lorie Howard, County Administrator was on vacation.

1. Economic Development Initiative – Bill Ritzmann- Gave a presentation outline the background and history of the group. They wish to form a public-private partnership for the purpose of promoting economic development in Dearborn County. Their projected annual budget is $250 to 300,000.
They have committed pledges from over thirty businesses for $135,000 a year for three years. The list includes banks, surveyors, realtors, the hospital, IVY Tech, homebuilders and construction related companies, Perfect North Slopes, telecommunication companies, road paving companies, electrical companies, engineering companies, computer companies, WSCH, developers, and a law office [Note: Wood Lamping, and Lehner Law Office- and Lisa Lehner ALSO functions as the County’s attorney. This could present some ethical issues and conflict of interest, if Lisa has to advise the commissioners regarding their agreements with the initiative and the money going from the county to that entity.]
They have committed public funding of $100,000 a year for three years from Lawrenceburg. This brings the annual total to $235,000. To meet a $300,000 annual budget requires an additional $65,000 to date. They intend to include all cities, towns and villages in the public sector.
Ritzmann asked the county to contribute the $25,000 that they have already earmarked from the Economic Development budget and also use the money they had in the chamber and the Visitor and Tourism Bureau earmarked for economic development, thus using no new money. [NOTE: It was unclear here if the $25,000 was the entire county share per year or if there was more under the chamber and CVTB budgets. It would seem that the other towns and cities should have something left to contribute if they want to be part of the initiative.]Discussion from the commissioners included:
Dan Batta: The bottom line is that progress requires change but that change isn’t always progress. Concerned that everyone will want THEIR proposal pushed. More details are needed so that everyone understands what it is that you will be doing. You need to create this entity so that it is safe to express your opinions. When you have a marketing effort like this you have to have something to market. I think you will be coming back to us for that- for infrastructure or other needs to get ready for businesses to come in. In order to promote something, we have to have something to promote. This will be the challenge.
Ritzmann – We understand and accept that challenge.
Karen Shell - Taxpayers need help – we can’t stay a bedroom community forever. The person you hire will have to know what to do- they will have the answers. It should be someone from outside the county so that it is not political.
Vera Benning – We need to make a motion today to show approval to amend the contracts with CVTB, Chamber, and the Economic Redevelopment Commission to transfer that money to this initiative.

Lisa Lehner restated Benning’s motion for the record and Dan Batta 2nded it. Motion passed.
Dan Batta- You need to make sure that the private dollars that are donated are for the community and not used as leverage to get their own way.

2. Animal Control- Cheryl Lohmiller – gave brief report on the shelter’s adoptions and current status of repairs to the trailer. Currently there are 57 dogs and 40 cats at the shelter.

3. Emergency Management- Bill Black – Starting the new Certification program with 14 people tomorrow night. They received a $50,000 check for the 800 MgHz system. Passed out the GIS information sheet and has $47,000 for a new flyover of the county that will cover 100% of the costs. Only 30 counties in the state have 100% coverage of these costs. He is communicating with Planning, assessors , Highway, and the Soil and Water district to coordinate needs to get the right pictures.
There was some discussion over the moving of recycle bins to heir lot- EMS doesn’t want there to be any dumping there. He will check with BJ Ault to see if it’s a temporary need due to L-bg’s construction.

4. Transportation- Mike Davis – Finishing up the slip on Pinhook Rd. this week. White’s Hill realignment – will work around the one property that has ROW issues because it’s in court till the fall. June 2 was to be start date for the project and closed to local traffic. Commissioners pushed to make someone ACCOUNTABLE for the work during this project. Davis decided that Tim Moore will be supervising all the work and HC Nutting will report to him. Per Cary Pickens- council earmarked $1.2 million for this project. There was a later problem brought out- Mark Seiler came in with the bad news- LMS won’t have their bond for 45-60 days, thus delaying their startup time. [Note: Bonds are supposed to be part of the bid process- so if their bid was accepted, it should mean a bond was in place.]
A meeting Wednesday night from 6:30-8:30 at the North Dearborn Library will cover the public inputr for the realignment of North Dearborn Rd. from McCann to Dover.
The slips on Wilson Creek and East Laughery are getting too severe to let go. He is trying to get funding from Council to fix these. More funding issues with the Triple Whipple Bridge and the Ohio Cty portions.
INDOT plans to redo the intersection with Georgetown and SR1 and also the Bridge near Salt Fork. Davis wants to coordinate with state work on Georgetown to fix the little bridge and the hill to HVL.

5. YES Home – Cathy Piche and Susan Craig – application approved for the county to be the pass through on a $30,000 grant for IHFA to get a feasibility study done on the uses besides just transitional apartments for the first floor. Karen Shell was authorized by the commissioners to sign off on this when it is ready.

6. Septic waste- Dan Goodman- has a septic tank cleaning company and nowhere in the county to dump the waste. SDRSD (Dennis Feichtner) said they can’t dump county waste there because the county doesn’t pay into the district as a user. Commissioners were of the opinion that it would be the responsibility of the septic owners to pay the $50 fee or whatever SDRSD assessed for the dumping. Goodman will check with the County Sewer Board.

7. County Att’y- Lisa Lehner- introduced Elaine Korb as the new law clerk in their office.

8. County Auditor – Cary Pickens- Minutes approved and claims paid.

9. County Commissioners – Karen Shell- Travis Miller requested an old Sheriff’s vehicle to use for the Planning Dept. Approved by commissioners.
The county engineer ad includes the concept that the engineer must be a PE with IN residency and and IN license in order to qualify for the $20,000 stipend from the state.

10. Public Comment – Chris Mueller- reported to the commissioners that the GIS issue and the transportation assessment information needed attention. Council funded the study, they funded the dedicated computer for the information, they funded the GPS equipment for the highway department to keep information up to date. BUT they did not approve a GIS intern to enter the data this summer. This means that the information stops at last June. Karen Shell will speak with Charlie Fehrman regarding this.

Meeting adjourned 11:15 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

27 April 2004 County Council Meeting Notes

Members present: Charlie Fehrman, Chairman, Bo Lansing, Tom Cheek, Bill Ullrich, Mark Mitter. Arrived at 8:10 PM- Aaron Negangard.
Cary Pickens, Auditor also present.

[Note: Item #6 contains info regarding questions surrounding a possible ethical conflict for the Health Board’s Attorney.]

1. Dave Lusby- Sheriff – presented the proposal by RQAW to conduct a study to plan for the jail expansion. Expansion to include courthouse offices also. RQAW’s $43,500 fee will be refunded to the county if the county selects them to do the design work for the jail once the study is completed. Council questioned the possible conflict here and Charlie Fehrman asked if another company was selected to do the design, would they want to use the criteria from RQAW’s study. $300,000 is currently in the jail fund now.
Tom Cheek asked if this was duplicating info from Crowe Cizek’s (sp?) study on the capital improvement plan. Charlie Fehrman asked about storage needs. Dave Lusby informed them that RQAW was original jail designer and that they had contacted the county to do this. He said Lisa Lehner said it is legal to not get bids for services. Tom Cheek said- “It’s legal, but is it prudent?” Dave Lusby stated that a year has gone by and there has been no progress- getting too crowded, etc. He also told then they’d be coming in again for additionals of $80,000 for medical and $60,000 for meals, after they advertise.
Kraus motioned, Cheek 2nd, to request competitive RFPs with a 45 day time limit to get them. Ullrich abstained. Passed.

2. Randy Hillenbrand – Family Services and Bill Ritzmann, UCB proposed a loan from UCB against the county’s $2.9 million on deposit there for the $1.5 million that Family Services needs because of taxes not being collected yet. The loan is short term at 1.5% till about August. Lisa Lehner had prepared a resolution for this proposal that Bill Ritzmann gave to the council.
Lansing motioned, Kraus 2nd to approve the $1.5 million loan at 1.5%. Passed.

3. Travis Miller- Planning and Zoning presented 4 items:

1. Attorney fees of $9,000 for the year won’t be enough. Requested $12,000. There are lawsuits, pending that might go higher. Kraus asked if enforcement officer was driving the county looking for violations. Miller stated no- it was primarily complaint based enforcement.
Kraus motioned and Cheek 2nd – to allow $6,000 now and table $6,000 for later for att’y fees. Passed.

2. Mileage for enforcement officer when he has to use his own vehicle. $600.
Cheek motioned, Ullrich 2nd for $600 for mileage. Passed.

3. Request for additional to increase salary for enforcement officer to $35,000 for 04 and to keep it at that level for 05 budget. (This would mean $3350 for balance of the year plus $500 SS and PERF) Rationale was that that was the median salary for that position in Indiana and also that Council had said he could request it after 6 months. Discussion heavy on NOT increasing salaries mid year. This was stressed - that it was not about performance- only about competitive wage. Will revisit at budget.
Mitter motioned, Ullrich 2nd to increase $3350 plus PERF this year and maintain at $35,000 for o5 budget. Cheek, Kraus, Negangard, and Fehrman voted Nay. FAILED.

4. Part time intern position $12850 at $12/hour. Info on the superb job and large amount of labor obtained in this fashion for a good price was supported by other council members on the master plan. I gave info on Purdue students experience with college intern jobs supporting the $12/hour for junior and senior level interns.
Kraus motioned, Ullrich 2nd to approve $12850 Passed.
Mitter motioned, Ullrich 2nd to amend the salary ordinance to allow up to $12 per hour for college interns. Negangard Nay. Passed.

4. Benevolent Fund – Kim Tucker – Miss Indiana project- absent.
Terry Luhrsen – South Dearborn Pee Wee Football – requesting $15,000 for a scoreboard. They serve 150 – 200 kids. Negangard said there is a disproportionate amount of money going to South Dearborn and Aurora in this fund and that it is going for parks we don’t own. Also stated we are giving more than Aurora city is. Was concerned that the role of government was being distorted. Fund raisers should be handling these needs. Referred to Robert Bird in his discussion with Cheek on this (a reference to gov’t pork projects) [Note: Later in the evening Negangard apologized to Cheek for his comments and for being unprofessional in the heat of the argument. Cheek said he understood and accepted it.]
Cheek motioned, Lansing 2nd to approve $5,000 to Pee Wee Football in Aurora. Mitter and Negangard Nay. Passed.

5. BJ Ault- Solid Waste- updated the council on the recycling center news and produced the promissory note that they requested last month for their $150,000 loan at 0% interest and 2% interest if default.
Kraus motioned, Lansing 2nd to approve with the loan from UCB to be increased to cover this so as not to use county funds that might be needed. Passed. Papers signed at 0% -The 1.5% rate will not apply to Solid Waste- the county will absorb this ????
Requested again- Tax levy increase for solid waste at .03 rate not to exceed $520,000. Solid Waste has not been asking for the possible 5% they could get each year- and have been fiscally responsible.
Kraus motioned, Lansing 2nd to approve the rate increase resolution. Negangard Nay. Passed.

6. Doug Baer and Rodney Dennerline- Health Department – brought in Xerox company rep to explain the multi purpose copier, fax, scanner, printer they wish to purchase eventually. Costs and maintenance were discussed.
Tabled by Ullrich and Cheek motions and council agreed.
Overtime expenses due to sewer board start up. Requested $40,000. They’d asked for $50,000 at budget and got $10,000 then.
Kraus motioned and Cheek 2nd to approve $10,000 now and table the rest. Passed.

Mitter asked Baer and Dennerline if they were aware of the Health Board Attorney’s suits against the county planning department. Dennerline stated that he was aware of Richard Butler’s actions and “told him it was stupid.” He wasn’t sure if the other board members were aware of it. Dennerline also stated that he’d “ talked to his att’y son who told him it was legal, but it was extremely unethical!” Dennerline thinks he should be working for someone else if he wants to sue the county.
The Health Board is not condoning this type of system (mound) at Soaphill. Fehrman stated that he was concerned about it in light of the increased legal fees being requested by the planning department for this and stated that if your board is in agreement, then Butler needs to choose who he wants to work for. Dennerline will bring this up at the Health Board.

7. Lorie Howard – County Administrator-
YES Home mound system has failed on both mounds. Dils has been working on it and will do the repair. They have to excavate and remove the contaminants and replace pipes. Filters will be installed so that it will hopefully last another 20 years.
Ullrich motioned and Kraus 2nd to approve $15,000 out of Riverboat Fund 146 and tabled the other $15,000. Passed.
Computer services for the Adm. Bldg. Have been evaluated by the tech committee and the pricing committee and then consensus was reached. The tech differences were varied, pricing was similar. They need $25,000 for the rest of the year. There is $3800 left in the account. Commissioners will award bid at their next meeting.
Kraus motioned, Mitter 2nd to approve $21200 to complete the money needed for services for 04. Passed.
Negangard commended Lorie and stated he met with her throughout the process.
Lorie Howard reported that she’d met with Kramer of Pinnacle and that we were on target with the budget on health care. She’s updated on the HIPAA requirements and is considering taking our big cases to MED Ben to let the employees work through lifestyle and drug benefits to help cut costs.
Howard has been looking for space for 911 because they want to move out of the building on the hill due to expense. They are trying to be sure they can lease additional space on the tower anyway.
She has developed a bid/contract template with Mike Davis to streamline the bidding process.
They are proceeding with a job description for a highway engineer and council is invited to the 10AM executive session on Thursday to discuss this.
FX- the company that manages the county website has updated it and Davis has a highway site also.
Seitz insurance files are not updated. All dept. heads are reviewing inventory to be sure insurance is covering appropriately and fees reflect correctly insured items.
Council minutes will be posted on the web in approved form- not draft version.

8. Mike Davis- Hwy Dept. Director- passed out info on the GIS system and what it could do. Asking for $26,000 for small structures inventory by United last meeting and needs a total of $66,000 for this eventually.
$182,000 needed to pay for gravel and salt in 04.
Ullrich motioned and Cheek 2nd to approve $182,000 out of contingency fund for gravel and salt. Passed.
Feelers have been sent to colleges looking for interns to enter the GIS data that has accrued since last summer to keep the Transportation Assessment Study up to date and accurate. Kraus is opposed to this. Final discussion on this GIS and United’s inventory was that Negangard was concerned that privacy was being invaded with all the GIS info.
Mitter motioned and Cheek 2nd to approve $5,000 for GIS intern. 3 Nays and it required 5 for a salary ordinance and so failed.
Union Ridge Rd. slip used $11,000 out of $12,000 requested.
Kraus motioned and Cheek 2nd to approve $11,000. Passed. $40,000 contract for small structures inventory from United was unfounded apparently. Discussion ensued- Vera Benning reminded them it was signed by all three commissioners because they were of the understanding from the former Hwy. Director that it was funded. Grants were also mentioned.
Concern that the work was done in good faith and a vendor needed to be paid.
Ullrich motioned and Lansing 2nd to pay $40,000. Negangard, Kraus, Mitter, Nays. Passed.
Road list for 2004 Paving and Chip and seal was approved for $787,700 total. This includes fixing Schantz because of a mistake in gravel being added to a road that was chip/seal. Kraus discussed Ester Ridge improvements and Angie Batta was there to represent Schantz Rd. and her son who is asthmatic.
Ullrich motioned and Mitter 2nd to approve $628,000 from the 147 account and $160,000 from the 203 account to finish the 2004 Road paving and chip/seal list. Passed.
Triple Whipple bridge back up for discussion per Mike davis and the White’s Hill work is ready to start in June. They are still working around one ROW issue.

9. EMS Funds were finished out giving $10,000 to Dillsboro Fire Dept. and $5365 to Hogan Fire Dept.
Ullrich motioned Cheek 2nd. Passed

10. Judge Michael Witte called and left a message for Charlie Fehrman which was played into the meeting tape. He requested paying his court reporter out as a 100 level item rather than as self employed so that she’d get her taxes withheld. [Note: This also means the county is paying the SS share as they do for regular employees.]
Cheek motioned and Ullrich 2nd to move the pay to the 100 level per Judge Witte’s request. Passed.

11. $74,000 in the Benevolent Fund was earmarked for Community services.

Minutes approved with Cheek and Ullrich’s motion and Kraus and Lansing abstaining.

Cheek and Kraus motioned to adjourn at 11:35 PM.

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

26 April 2004 Plan Commission Meeting Notes

Notes from April 26, 2004 Plan Commission Meeting

Plan Commission members present: Mark Mitter, Chairman, Rick Pope, Tarry Feiss, Mike Hall, Nick Held, Dave Schmidtgoesling, and Roger Woodfill. Absent: Karen Shell and Patrick deMaynadier. Attorney Arnie McGill present as was Travis Miller, Planning Director and Mark McCormack, Enforcement Officer.

Soaphill Road Subdivision- 25 lots from Rollander Enterprises - was tabled after nearly two hours of testimony and discussion. Mike Hall removed himself from the board for this because he was the surveyor for the development. Attorney for Rollander was Richard Butler who is also the attorney for the County Health Dept. [Note: Because there are issues surrounding the type of sewage treatment being sought on this land and because the Health Dept. has indicated that they will require a 2nd leach site, it appears that there may be some ethical conflicts for the attorney. This was brought up by one of the residents in the area.]

Approximately 35 residents attended.
Issues to be resolved for the next meeting include but are not limited to: roadway width, evaluation of intersections at both ends of Soaphill Road, traffic counts with regard to the seasonal activity of Elk Run Golf Course, conflicting info on the traffic counts from the developer’s previous study two years ago and the current counts, fire hydrants, water line pressure and line size, septic considerations and the future connectivity to a sewer line.

The developer presented plans for a fitness trail at the meeting- this was not included in the application. The trail appears to access the 10.7 + acres reserved for leach fields and the greenspace area. It should be noted that the 10.7+ acres has a little less than half of it as a reasonably flat area for leach fields. According to the topographical map that area is surrounded on 3 sides by fairly steep slopes, so that the leach fields will run off to the surrounding properties and creeks. It should also be noted that the 25 homes in this development will send all their septic tank effluent thru a pump and high pressure lines to this field of about 5 acres.

Sewer Board was approached about providing oversight. They cited several reasons why they couldn’t- timing as well as it not being in the current geographical area they service at this time. The board is still getting the original district set up- and don’t want to add to it till they get this part right. [Note: see minutes of the previous sewer board meeting on this site for details.]

Applicant’s attorney- Richard Butler, presented his letter from two years ago restating why he thought the board had to accept the subdivision. He also stated that IDEM has the authority over the septic issues and that, in his opinion, the Plan Commission has no authority to deny based on septic issues.

Item tabled and will come back in May for consideration with more facts at that time. [Note: It was apparent that the applicant was not ready at this meeting- if all items are not in place the Planning Department should not schedule a hearing.]

Several technical items concerning roads and results of the transportation assessment study were discussed for two hours and approved for review and approval by the commissioners at their June meeting. These will update the code books.

The Plan Commission scheduled a working session May 12th to begin the review of the draft master plan. Copies were passed to members for their review prior to that meeting.

Meeting adjourned 11 PM.

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

20 April 2004 Sewer Board Working Meeting

The sewer board had 100% attendance. Present were: Mike Hankins, Chair, Pat Hanlon, Brett Fehrman, Greg Vollmer, Pat Holland, Barry Pruss, and Rodney Dennerline. Also present were Lisa Lehner, Attorney, Joe Tierney, GRW consultant, and Vera Benning, Special Advisor.

1. Minor changes were made to the wording of the easement document requiring restoration of property after maintenance and repairs to the sewer equipment and lines. Approved by vote.

2. Mike Hankins conducted a detailed item-by-item review of the FAQ sheet to be given to homeowners prior to the May 19th meeting.
Approximately 15 homes are greater than 400 feet from the line per Joe Tierney. The board opted to keep the language the same as the state law regarding the 300 ft. from the property line rule. If a home is greater than 500 feet from the line- there may be other options to consider.
The sewer board will have to pay prevailing wages because federal dollars are being used to subsidize the district. Homeowners will not have to follow those rules for their part of the construction from the shut off and grinder pump to the home. The service agreement will include an abuse clause in the event that homeowners do damage to the pumps. Grinders will have a standard 50 ft. cord and the outside electric service is a 220 line. There will be a gravity connection from the house to the pump in most cases. Homeowners will have to locate their lines and tell the district where to locate the grinder pump.
At the suggestion of Brett Fehrman, the board decided that connection fees of $800 would be waived if the easements are signed and the land is donated by June 25th. A federal document will be given out to homeowners advising them that they are entitled to payment for easements. Survey costs and legal fees will likely eat up those payments, and the district costs would be passed on to all the sewer customers. The $800 cost will be recouped in $2-3 monthly fees on the sewer bills rather than an up-front outlay of expense to hook-up for the customer. This only applies to those who meet the June 25th deadline.
There are 25 homes that have new septic systems less than 5 years old. They have the option to wait 3 years to hook up, HOWEVER they will incur all the expense of hook-up fees, pumps, etc. If a homeowner will be there long term it is economically smarter to hook up for “free” now.
Dennerline motioned and Holland seconded to approve the FAQ revisions. Approved by vote.

3. Doug Baer updated the board on the status of the funding sought from Lawrenceburg. It was decided that they would submit the application for $100,000 to the Lawrenceburg Municipal fund managed by the Community Foundation before July 1. Dennerline will make a personal contact with Mayor Cunningham regarding this request also.
Seitz Insurance blanket bonded everyone except the Treasurer and Doug Baer who handle district money. They will get separate bonds. Doug is checking to be sure the advisory committee members are covered as well.
They have a federal tax ID number now and no worker’s comp, because they have no employees yet.

4. Doug Baer brought up two subdivision requests, the Old Gabbard Property on US 50 needing service by Fall 2005 and also the Soaphill Road project from Rollander Enterprises that is going before the Planning Commission April 26th.
Discussion on Gabbard property included the following comments:
Mike Hankins – Likes to focus on doing one thing right first before moving on. The primary focus is to get service to the 300 homes the district has taken on right now.
Pat Hanlon- this will affect the grants and funding because low-income status would change.
Lisa Lehner – We are still waiting on IDEM’s response to the grants.
Joe Tierney – We’re looking at 2006 before these people will be on sewer lines. Gabbard wants to start in 2005.
Lisa Lehner – Sewer districts are not in the development business. They exist for safety issues.
Rodney Dennerline – The developers will provide all their own lines and pumps and pay to join plus pay for plant expansion of plant capacity. No further discussion till May 4th meeting.

Discussion on the Soaphill property included the following comments:
Doug Baer- It is a mound system on Lot 14 and the POA will have private ownership of the “utility.” I told them we might take it over later, down the road. IDEM is in charge of it. They are no longer using a drip irrigation system for this- it is a mound system.
Rodney Dennerline – It is NOT in our district! I don’t like the POA owning it – problems.
Mike Hankins – That’s a bad location for a subdivision.
Pat Hanlon – I don’t think it’s irrational to put one there though.
Greg Vollmer – A package plant would be better if the sewer board were to ever take it over.
Rodney Dennerline- we’re opening a Pandora’s box – we’re not up and running – and we would end up with a whole bunch of these.
Pat Hanlon – I’d like to see our sewer board take over the whole county eventually, so we’d approach things in a responsible, engineered way.
Rodney Dennerline – The purpose was to take over the whole county eventually. We can’t give an answer now- we’re not ready! If we say yes and if we fold, he sues us.
Doug Baer- I’m going to require a secondary site for this mound field.
Lisa Lehner - We’re not prepared to offer him anything now. This is partly by IDEM’s order.
Mike Hankins – I’m strongly against this. He hasn’t been “kissed by everyone else yet” – Planning and Zoning hasn’t kissed it yet, so we aren’t either.
Doug Baer- I have to give him an answer tomorrow.
Consensus was that they wouldn’t (couldn’t) provide service.
5. Vera Benning- Advisory Committee- report – Meeting for homeowners to get easements will be May 19th 7:30 PM at the Starlight Reception Hall on US 50. Invitation letters and FAQ sheets will be mailed out. Hankins and Lisa Lehner will review the letter. They will also include a short description of who and what the advisory committee is. Audio-visual aids and pump demonstrations plus maps of the lines will be available that night for viewing. Holland motioned and Dennerline seconded to approve this. Approved by vote.

6. Doug Baer suggested a “last chance” meeting for June 22 at 7:30 PM at the Reception Hall also. This was approved by consensus.

7. Joe Tierney will mail the rural development grant applications now. This has to proceed before the DOC grants. (Board thought he’d done that from last meeting.)
Joe also passed out answers to the capacity questions from last meeting for the board to review.

8. Pat Hanlon reported that he’d contacted Bruns at the Seymour office and Mark Brunner from INDOT to be certain the district could use the US 50 ROW. Drawings will be submitted to INDOT for line placement.

9. Brett Fehrman will hand deliver the list of questions to the Mayor Hastings of Aurora- they “lost” the last one.

Meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller Lawrenceburg Township

Highlights of the 19 April 2004 County Commissioner Meeting

Present: Karen Shell, Vera Benning, and Dan Batta. Also Lisa Lehner, Attorney, Cary Pickens, Auditor, and Lorie Howard, County Administrator.
Denise Freitag, Register Publications also covered the meeting.

1. Bill Black reported on the status of the grants that Emergency Management is seeking.
2. Mike Davis – Transportation Director - reported on the three district’s roadwork status.
3. Ester Ridge Road residents filled the room (approximately 40+) and with their spokespersons (Bruce Smith, Joe Grote, and Diane Sullivan) expressed the desire to have their entire road paved rather than mostly chip sealed, as is currently planned. They cited drainage issues, safety of the kids and school bus route, health concerns with the dust, and wear and tear on vehicles. They also stated that they did not want it paved for development but just for the needs of the families who are there. The chip seal 3 years ago did not hold up. They also stated that gambling dollars were promised to go to paving all the roads in the county.
Karen Shell stated that she’d been out to se the entire road. She wants a good base and drainage with culverts put in. She wanted them to know that there were three grades of chip seal- and they would be using a better grade than the last time. They would probably widen the road in areas as well.
Dennis Kraus, Sr. told the commissioners that the ROW already has been dedicated so that widening should not require extra easements or ROW acquisition.
Dan Batta stated that commissioners failed the residents on that road and this needs to be addressed. Dollars were spent fastest in some districts so that others didn’t get theirs in time.
Vera Benning stated that she wants to stick to the plan and that maybe this could be added to the second draw in July or August. They need to get approval from Council.
No vote was taken, but commissioners seemed to indicate that they were going to stick to the plan so far and consider paving the rest of Ester Ridge when they see how the improvements in the site hold up after a year or so.
4. Angie Batta appeared with Ben Batta for Schantz Road, which is the connector to East Central for Ester Ridge. Gravel was put over the top of their chip-sealed road and now the dust is causing problems for her asthmatic son.
Commissioners discussed and then agreed to amend the road list to ask Council to approve chip-sealing Schantz again for an estimated $30-50,000. Dust control can no longer be done- the EPA shut that down.
[Note: it appears that someone is graveling and grading roads in the county without supervision or a plan. This road and Hogan Creek were both “changed” by highway workers this spring and residents are complaining about them.]
5. Locust Road- Priscilla Probst discussed notification requirements for vacating alleys with the commissioners. Lisa Lehner cited IC 8-1-8-1 as being the guide. She recommended consulting Senator Nugent if they wanted the laws changed to require newspaper notifications and not just adjoining property owners. [Note: Commissioners did not vacate this alley and the applicant removed his request last month.]
6. Planning and Zoning- Lorie Howard represented Travis Miller. The changes to the wording for chairman and vice chairman were approved for the zoning codebook to match up with state law language.
7. Lorie Howard – County Administrator reported on signing the IHFA agreement, attending the MED BEN seminar on HIPPA rules, that Dr. Scudder will be the county privacy officer, and that she is gathering info on the jail expansion plans. She viewed the Hillsboro, OH GIS system, one of the best in the area, and Highway Dept. is trying to get a GIS intern for the summer to update and keep our GIS info current. Computer proposals were reviewed and she will go to council to get funding approved, before committing to selecting a company. She is also working on forms to consolidate proposals so that they can become agreements if accepted. Lisa Lehner is also involved with this.
8. Cary Pickens introduced the new and improved claims forms with different account numbers to match the state’s codes. They have a cheat sheet to convert old fund numbers to new ones until everyone gets used to it. Minutes were held over for Dan Batta to review before approval.
9. Vera Benning added that the Housing Assessment Study meetings are being held and invited the commissioners to attend if they would like to.
Adjourned at 9:15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

Meet the Candidate Night

The Manchester Area Civic Association is sponsoring a 2004 Dearborn County Primary Candidates Night. Thursday, April 22, at 7:00 p.m. at the Zion Lutheran Church of Manchester. The meeting will take place in the basement. The church is located on State Road 48 just past Manchester Market.

All opposed Dearborn County Candidates running in the primary have been invited to meet the citizens of Dearborn County to answer our questions.

Candidates expected to attend so far are:

Commissioner District 1

Karen Shell vs. Jeff Hughes

Commissioner District 2

Richard Fox vs. Mark Hall

County Council

Bill Ullrich and Mark Mitter

Treasurer

Amanda Pickens vs. Gayle Pennington

Surveyor

Dennis Kraus vs. Roger Woodfill

School Board Candidates

District 1
Mark Manford vs. Tim Whiteford

District 2
Terry Luhrsen

District 3
Karen Loveland


ARISTOTLE --
"If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost."

THOMAS JEFFERSON --
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government."

6 April 2004 sewer Board Meeting Highlights

Highlights from 6 April 2004 Sewer Board Meeting

Members present: Brett Fehrman, Pat Holland, Pat Hanlon (Acting Chairman), Barry Pruss, Rodney Dennerline, Greg Vollmer. Absent: Mike Hankins, Chairman, who arrived near the end of the meeting.
Att’y Lisa Lehner, Doug Baer, and Vera Benning, Special Advisor, also present.
Minutes of 4 meetings approved.

Special Speaker, Connie Stevens, postponed until May meeting.

Old Business:
1. Joe Tierney- GRW- provided clarification of project cost differences in various areas in an attempt to explain why Cole Lane’s cost differed so much from Stewart Lane and the main area. He stated that with 40 mobile homes on Cole Lane that already were connected to a central system, there was no need for individual grinders for each home. The entire system would be attached to the main. They only have to upgrade the main pumping system. [Note: Does this also apply to the other trailer courts in this district?]
Pat Hanlon wants the figures to be put on the back page to clarify.
Greg Vollmer wanted to be sure all 40 were considered in the effluent treatment figures though. Tierney said yes.
Greg Vollmer wanted them to consider gravity fed for parts of the area- some looked suitable for this - like High Ridge.
2. Lisa Lehner and Joe Tierney presented a reworded easement, which changed the language from plural to singular to reassure owners that only their system was being granted easement rights. References to adjoining properties were eliminated and returning land to proper grade with seed and fertilizer was added.
Pat Hanlon presented several other possible low cost options, but most were ruled out for practical considerations and long-term potential costs. Board seems to desire standardization so that they can easily repair and replace units as needed.
Brett Fehrman wondered if the owner’s own att’y could draft an easement. Lisa Lehner replied that it would have to satisfy the board’s engineering.
3. Advisory Committee- Vera Benning- Committee further discussed easements. They plan to have an easement gathering for all residents in the district at the reception hall on US 50. Space was donated free as well as refreshments, by the owner who lives in the district. Dave Emsweiler will take the easement to his company att’y to get a second opinion, so as to have more back up for the new version possibly.
Much discussion centering on the committee members feeling like they needed more concrete facts to take with them to the residents when requesting the easements. They may use a script so as to standardize what everyone is told and reduce liability issues for the board. Ed Yelton suggested that they use pictures and diagrams to illustrate.
Lisa Lehner stressed that title searches had been done and it was imperative to get the easements ASAP before that work was obsolete. Costs would increase if they have to do that again as land changes hands etc.
Board voted to move forward with the Rural Development grant application with the understanding that the scope of the work could change or be modified later if necessary. They also voted to move forward with the Advisory Board members to get easements as quickly as possible.
Joe Tierney will get Mike Hankins to sign the application and send it to Rural Development.
Joe and Lisa will attend the next advisory committee meeting to assist with the easement plans.
Tierney stated that they would have to see how things play out with Aurora and Dillsboro to determine if the county will have to build it’s own plant. [Note: Building a plant seems to be a recurring theme with Tierney and GRW]
4. Doug Baer- reported that the Lawrenceburg Bond Bank and Community Grant program, info was in their gray folder and they can discuss it at the next meeting after they have time to review the material. “We are slowly running out of funds,” per Doug. He also noted that Lawrenceburg has $100,000 in the Municipal Development Fund that they can apply for by July for 2005.
5. Doug Baer – Insurance is with Seitz Ins. Co. They also have Workers Comp to consider if they hire clerical staff. Binding and liability is purchased and the papers will be forthcoming for Mike Hankins to sign. Lisa will review them first.
6. Doug Baer- Regional Sewer District space in the large closet in the Health Dept. has been OK’d by the Commissioners this week. He will rehab it with a desk, phone, and computer wiring.
7. Joe Tierney – Letters to Aurora and Dillsboro. No decision yet from Randy Turner or Scott Fortner.
8. Pat Hanlon – Petitions against the district were reviewed. Most were concerned with cost issues. “We’re beyond these now.” Per Pat Hanlon.

NEW BUSINESS:
1. Sewer 101 postponed for another meeting possibly due to lateness of the hour.
2. Rural Development and DOC (Dept of Commerce) grants covered under old business.
3. Preliminary engineering report was questioned: Answers- Only High Ridge and Walston Trailer Court were on private plants. Only minor commercial facilities were in this district and on US 50. Flow rates for 4,6,and 8- inch lines will be given at the next meeting by GRW. Doug Baer will make some calls to determine what happens to the abandoned plant and lagoon at High Ridge- i.e. clean-up issues. Doug Baer thought that IDEM might release Superfund money to take care of it. Pat Hanlon gave a history of High Ridge’s sewer woes and the plant owner’s lawsuits and bankruptcy issues. IDEM had apparently proposed another permit on the failed plant in 1999 and the Health Dept. told them no way – they’d have to be “crazier than a pet coon.” Per Hanlon.
4. More clarification of pump costs and Tierney detailed piping details at the board’s requests.
Pay back of 40 years is figured in the study and Pat Holland suggested that they get a long term commitment from whoever they send the sewage to so as to be set and not have to change pipes etc. at some future date. He also suggested that they get expansion set up also so as to accommodate future growth anticipated in that area with several properties up for sale.
Tierney is hoping to make improvements so that Aurora will accept Cole Lane.
Doug Baer informed the board that they were proceeding slowly with out of compliance businesses that are trying to cooperate so that they can solve their problems with this sewer district. That’s why it was imperative that the district move forward in a timely manner.
Questions concerning Rodney Dennerline’s trailer park on Cole Lane – Rodney told the board that it was a non- grinder system with a 4” line from the trailer park to Aurora. The bills were about $50 per month for the residents of the trailer park.
Tierney stated that they were going to put modular units to help at the plant and extra pump stations to help with expansion near the sites for growth possibilities.
Doug Baer stated that no more septic permits were being issued in that area. He also stated that when a new development comes in- it won’t be approved by him on tech review for the Plan Commission unless they have sewage OK’d. That puts the Sewer Board in the driver’s seat.
5.Lisa Lehner gave a brief talk on the Open Door Law and that it applied to both the board and the advisory committee. She illustrated it with examples. Dennerline commented that newspapers were responsible for this law. And that the ”penalty is just that you have to have another meeting.”
6. Working sessions – the board decided to use the second meeting each month as a working session- open to the public- BUT no public comment during these sessions.
Meeting adjourned 10:30 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township