VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

APRIL 15, 2008

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 15^th day of April, 2008 at 5:03 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Jeff Korb presiding.

President Korb: I would like to call to order the April 15, 2008 Board of County Commissioners of Vanderburgh County to order, room 301, at five, make it 5:03 p.m. That’s not bad for how we normally do that. Introductions going to my right, Marissa?

Marissa Nichoalds: Marissa Nichoalds, Superintendent of County Buildings.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Ted Ziemer, County Attorney.

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Korb: Jeff Korb, County Commissioner.

Commissioner Tornatta: Troy Tornatta, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary. For the record, both Auditor, Bill Fluty, and Chief Deputy Auditor, Joe Gries, won’t be here today. They are participating in a TIF training session in Orange County, followed by an AIC legislative wrap-up session on property tax reforms in Hamilton County tomorrow.

President Korb: That’s great. We have a guest sitting behind us. Mr. Edge, you get to introduce yourself and tell us why you’re here. Speak into the microphone please.

Preston Edge: I’m Preston Edge, and I’m from Memorial High School. I’m involved in the Teen Advisory Council of Evansville. We’re supposed to come to these meetings, or to three meetings of either the County Commissioners, City Council, or School Board and shadow to see like what goes on at these kind of meetings.

President Korb: Great. Good. Thank you. Welcome. Join with me now please in the Pledge of Allegiance.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Korb: The first action item for tonight is the permission to award contracts. The first one we have is for Burdette Park, VC-07-2008. Debbie? Debbie Spalding is with us, and she is going to discuss that. If you would, just say your name for the record please.

Debbie Spalding: Sure, Debbie Spalding with the Purchasing Department. I would like your permission to award Burdette Park shirts to the low bidder. We sent out bids to 12 different companies. We heard back from three companies, and the low bid this year was from Southwest Grafix for a total bid of $5,548.60. You have the bid tabulation in front of you.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Debbie Spalding: Okay. The next item was the Burdette Park food. We did send bid documents out to six different companies. We heard from three different companies. Those companies bid on certain items, not all items. So, the majority of the food we would recommend would be awarded to CRS One Source. The bread items to Earthgrains, and most of the candy and chips to Fischer Candy Company.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Debbie Spalding: Then, the last item that I have, the moving of the election equipment. We sent out quotes to six different companies. You have those in front of you. They were sent out to Belmont Moving, Geiger Moving, Kinder Moving, PD&S Agent, and Shetler Moving. The low bid was provided by Shetler Moving for $8,000. This includes both the spring and the fall elections, moving the election equipment to 106 different locations.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Debbie Spalding: Thank you.

President Korb: Thank you very much, Debbie. Appreciate that.

President Korb: The next item is second and final reading of CO.04-08-009, for the county fair housing ordinance. We are asking for public comment at this point on this ordinance. Seeing none. I’ll call for a roll call vote. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Don’t we have to vote on it first?

Commissioner Tornatta: Uh-huh.

Commissioner Nix: I make a motion that we approve.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Korb votes yes.

President Korb: Contracts, agreements and leases. Mr. Ziemer, you’re on.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, I’ve e-mailed you about all of these. Are you going to take them as a group, or do you want to discuss each separate contract?

Commissioner Nix: I’m fine with the wholesale.

President Korb: I’m fine with taking them as a group.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, I’ll start by making a motion to accept the contracts, leases and agreements on Alternative Concepts LLC, number two, the right-of-way encroachment with the City of Evansville for bus seating benches; number three wage addendum amendment of the collective bargaining agreement; number four–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me. On that one I would like you to do that one separately.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, we’ll take that one, we’ll take number three out, going to number four, agreement with INDOT for use of federal funds; five agreement of Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates, Incorporated for construction inspection services; six, agreement with Purdue University Cooperative Extension services; and, seven mail machine service agreement with Southwestern Business Machines, Incorporated. I make that in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. Calling the question, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: You have before you a motion regarding the collective bargaining agreement, if somebody wants to make the motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: I make a motion for the wage addendum amendment of the collective bargaining agreement.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I think we ought to read it into the record, because it’s pretty specific.

Commissioner Tornatta: I move that the collective bargaining agreements between Vanderburgh County and the Teamsters dated 2/27/07, effective as of 1/1/06 for certain county employees, and dated 8/16/05, effective as of 1/1/106 for confinement officers and civilians be amended by adding a new department and certain new employment classifications as set forth on the three documents of amendments before the Commissioners at this meeting, with such amendments to be subject to the appropriation by the Vanderburgh County Council of funds to support the increased costs to the county due to such amendments, and with such amendments to be effective as June 2, 2008.

Commissioner Nix: Is that in the form of a motion?

Commissioner Tornatta: It is.

Commissioner Nix: I second that.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

President Korb: Department head reports. Ladies and gentlemen, do we have any department heads? Mr. Stoll? John Stoll is coming forth, and he is the department head for the County Engineer’s Office.

John Stoll: I’ve got a few things here for this evening’s meeting. The first is a notice to bidders for the rehab of the bridge on Allen’s Lane. This is about half way between Mesker Park and St. Joe Avenue. I would like your approval on the notice to bidders, and approval to advertise.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Next, I have a notice to bidders that I would like you to approve for advertising for the Cross Pointe Boulevard project. This is for the reconstruction and new construction of Cross Pointe between Virginia and Morgan Avenue.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: The next notice to bidders is for our concrete street patching contract. This would take care of repairs in Westwood Hills Subdivision, and also repairs on Spring Valley Road east of Green River. I plan to split this up into two contracts. This will be the first one, and we’ll follow up again with probably another contract in July. But, I would like your approval to proceed with advertising on this for now.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Next, I need your approval to make a right-of-way purchase offer for the University Parkway project. This is on property owned by the Mueller’s. The appraisal amount is $123,300. This site is needed in order to take care of environmental mitigation issues.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Then, next, I’ve got a street acceptance request for Preston Oaks Subdivision. The streets have been completed according to plan, so I would request that they be accepted for maintenance.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Then, next, I have a change order on the Bohannon Estates project. This is a final change order that basically it’s just a paperwork matter. This does not change any of the previous contract amounts that you’ve dealt with in regard to the final bond issue on the project. This is for a total increase of $5,821.74.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: The last item I have is an updated purchase offer for parcel four on University Parkway. This parcel is owned by Colleen Mueller. The offer amount is $138,150. This appraisal has been updated to reflect the elimination of one driveway access on University Parkway. It’s also been updated to reflect any mineral rights on the property. The offer amount remains at $138,150.

President Korb: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. Call the question, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: That’s all I have.

President Korb: Thanks, John.

John Stoll: Thanks.

President Korb: Appreciate it. It’s good to see you.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Mr. President? If we could–

President Korb: Yes?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –perhaps I could give my report now. We’ve got three–

President Korb: Absolutely.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –contracts–

President Korb: Sure.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –and we have some people here that won’t have to stay after we do this.

President Korb: That’s fine. Great.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Thank you.

President Korb: You’re welcome.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The first item deals with the cumulative fund balance that the county accumulates with Anthem, our health insurance carrier. We did this last year, and now this year the Anthem fund balance is $693,083.50. You have before you an election to draw down $485,158.46 of that, which would be the maximum amount that you can withdraw. If you determine to do that, we’ll need to sign that withdrawal option. Secondly, you have before you a schedule of financial variables, which essentially provides a maximum of ten percent of the discount that may be charged by Blue Cross Blue Shield plans outside the Indiana service area, and keeps the discount access fee below, at or below $2,000 per claim. This is recommended by our insurance agent of record, Old National Bank Insurance, and we find both the documents satisfactory for execution from a legal perspective.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none. I call the question, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Commissioner Nix: I guess, just for the record, we probably ought to get a memo to Council, because I don’t know if they were copied on that insurance issue.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No.

Commissioner Nix: We probably need to give something to them, so they have a heads up.

Commissioner Tornatta: Will we need a roll call on that?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: On the first insurance issue?

President Korb: Works for me. Mr. Ziemer, do you have anything else?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The second matter, yes, has to do with a request by the Catholic Diocese of Evansville to issue, through the auspices of the county, the County Economic Development Commission, and the Vanderburgh County Council, exempt, bank qualified bonds in the amount of $1,000,000. The total available for that in the county for 2008 is currently $1,104,101. If we go forward with this, there would leave only $104,101 for the remainder of 2008. Though I’m unaware of any activity that’s on the horizon that would use any of that money. So, it’s up to the Commissioners.

Commissioner Nix: I understand that this was done in 1998?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: It was done in 1998, and again in 1999. Those are about to be paid off.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: We don’t, the county doesn’t obligate itself for anything. All the county does is, through the offices of the Economic Development Commission, agrees to sign off on the bonds as tax exempt, bank qualified bonds. The total obligation to pay the bonds is out of the Catholic Diocese of Evansville. They’re simply using the county as a vehicle, because the Catholic Diocese of Evansville does not have any bonding authority of its own.

President Korb: Great. Thanks for clarifying that, Mr. Ziemer. Discussion?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: What you would be doing, if you vote yes on this, is authorizing the process to go forward. There will, later, the first step on this will be action by the Vanderburgh County Economic Development Commission to authorize the issuance of the bonds. Then, action by the Vanderburgh County Council approving the issuance of the bonds, and, then, finally, a resolution which would have to be adopted by the Vanderburgh County Commissioners approving the bonds. Then, the Commissioners would sign off on the bond documents themselves.

Commissioner Nix: I make a motion that we approve.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, I call the question, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Finally, I think finally, yes. We have a contract, well, I guess, two matters yet that you don’t have. One is, came in very late this afternoon, but since the lifesaving classes using USI’s pool by Burdette are going to start....hmmm?

Commissioner Nix: Is it Burdette’s pool?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, it’s USI’s pool by Burdette for lifesaving classes. Our next meeting is not until May 13^th, I think the classes are to start on May 16^th. So, if we could get this approved. It authorizes Burdette to use the pool, subject to liability, which we have, and we have sufficient insurance to cover that. There’s no charge to the County for that. We recommend that you authorize execution of that agreement.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing one, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Finally–

President Korb: The motion passes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Thank you.

President Korb: You’re welcome.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Finally, also very late this afternoon we received, I guess it was on the, actually it’s on the consent agenda, but I had not given you an opinion on it, and I have since e-mailed you an opinion. This is for a copy machine for the Sheriff. You won’t vote on that now, it is on the consent agenda, but I just wanted to bring it to your attention. It’s a service agreement under which Van Ausdall Farrar will service the copiers of the Sheriff’s Office. There’s no time limit for the agreement, but it runs until they do 5,877,894 copies. I don’t know how long that takes. Apparently, not too long. In any event, the agreement is satisfactory for execution.

Commissioner Nix: The Sheriff can put out a lot of paper.

President Korb: That’s scary.

Commissioner Nix: Motion to approve. Well, we don’t need a motion at this time.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, no, that’s on the consent agenda. Thank you.

President Korb: Great. Anything else, Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Nothing.

President Korb: Great. Thank you so much.

President Korb: Board appointments we have for tonight–

Commissioner Nix: Any other department heads?

President Korb: Sorry?

Commissioner Nix: Do we have any other department heads?

President Korb: Do we have any other department heads? Anything else, Mr. Nix? Okay. You’re killing me here. Board appointments, HVAC, we’re going to nominate, and, hopefully, approve tonight, Jeff Schneider and John Dillingham; Legal Aid is Mark Lutz; Community Corrections is Robert Hays, Gerald Summers, and Mark Lutz; EMA is Tom Barrett and Keith Kahre; MWBE is Frankye Calloway, Darrell Ragland, and Caroline Walters; Workforce Investment Board is Andy Goebel; and Common Wage is Tom Goodman. I need a motion, gentlemen.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

President Korb: Sheriff Williams, we are ready for you to come forward, please, to discuss some new business. Ladies and gentlemen in the audience, and also watching on t.v., where we are going right now is, as many of you know, a month or so ago we declared a State of Emergency in the County, and that was because of high water and flooding. Since I sign off on the document, I will be the first one to tell you I had no idea exactly what all that entailed, what a State of Emergency really means. Does that mean you can’t get on the roads? Does that mean you can’t go to work the next day? Does that mean it’s a legal holiday? Who knew? I didn’t know. So, what we’ve done is we’ve asked the Sheriff to come forward, and he has graciously decided to accept this, which we really appreciate, is to create a very simple system so that everyone understands, much like Homeland Security, Sheriff, if we go Code Red, that means everybody is off the streets, period. More or less like a curfew. Code Orange, Code Yellow, Code however you want to make it, I don’t care. But, we are asking you, as Commissioners, to work with Mr. Greer, and also the city, to come up with a cohesive plan that makes sense for our community.

Commissioner Nix: Sheriff, before you start, if I had known you were here, I wouldn’t have said anything about that paper. So, just forgive me for that.

Eric Williams: That’s alright. I didn’t just dream that number up either. That’s what is left on the current agreement. It was just the number when we did it. So, I would have come up with a more obscure number.

President Korb: Are you done, Commissioner Nix? Okay, you’re killing me here. Okay.

Eric Williams: If I might comment.

President Korb: Please.

Eric Williams: I think this came from a comment I made at an EMA executive meeting a few weeks ago. But, I think there’s some lack of understanding on the part of a lot of people, or some miscommunication on what a State of Emergency should mean, and what it does mean. I don’t mean that to be insultive to anybody, but what I had asked is that we get the Commissioners, the Mayor’s office, the Police Chief, my office, the Fire Departments, the School Corporation, anybody that has any issue with that together to sit down and design an emergency plan. How do you call an emergency? When do you declare an emergency? Who has the authority to do that? What does it exactly mean? So, that we can properly educate the public.

President Korb: Right.

Eric Williams: We found different circumstances where an emergency had been declared, and we encountered people that were trying to decide whether or not they were allowed to go to work or not, or whether or not they were allowed to get on the street to go get prescription medications. That was not the intent of your emergency when you declared it. We knew that, but the public didn’t in a lot of cases.

President Korb: Just for the record, I don’t decide, or whoever sits in this chair as President does not decide if it’s a State of Emergency. That decision is made by either you or Sherman Greer, who is in charge of our Emergency Management Agency.

Eric Williams: Right, and that’s what I want to spell out. I think between the city, the county and every entity, we ought to have a protocol in place that we all understand, we all know exactly what it means, and how you initiate the declaration of emergency. I think there’s also a difference between a paper emergency and an emergency that’s notified to the public.

President Korb: Right.

Eric Williams: Because there are reasons why you would want to declare an emergency for financial reasons from the Federal government that may not warrant you notifying the public that it’s been done. Just to alleviate confusion. That was my goal, and that’s what I want to have accomplished.

President Korb: The concern that I had, the main one was, especially on that night, because flooding was rampant, was that people, we had signs out, but we were out of road signs, I mean, we were 70 plus roads under water, were driving around the barriers at their own risk and peril, putting themselves in harms way. Is there a way that we could address this in what you’re talking about as well, or not?

Eric Williams: I think we can at least broach that topic. I know the city has some ordinances in place to deal with that, and I know there’s an ordinance sample floating around in the county to deal with some of that, so that there is some teeth in being able to enforce some of those things.

President Korb: Okay.

Eric Williams: Addressing who can close roads, when they can be closed, who can open roads, and what we can do to people that choose to violate those, and under what circumstances they can be violated. So, yeah, we can absolutely address that. That would probably come in the form of an ordinance.

President Korb: Timetable for this? Is this something we can do within the next two or three months?

Eric Williams: Yeah, I think we can. Really, it will depend on getting all the players at the same table, at the same time–

President Korb: Okay.

Eric Williams: –to discuss all the issues, and make sure that everybody is on the same page with us. But, provided that happens, there’s no reason that can’t happen fairly quickly.

President Korb: That’s great. Would you mind keeping us updated then, as a body?

Eric Williams: I’ll report back to you and let you know, because you’ll have to take the final action.

President Korb: If not, we’ll just cut back on your copies that you can use on your copy machine, and that will be Commissioner Nix that does that.

Eric Williams: Great.

President Korb: Thanks. Any other questions for the Sheriff? Sheriff, thanks for coming.

Eric Williams: Thank you.

President Korb: Thank you. The other thing that we as a group of County Commissioners wish to address tonight is the fact that it was brought up by one of our constituents, and this is primarily affecting county employees. There is no one from the Auditor’s office, as they are all out of town at a convention. The way that we take out taxes before health insurance. The way it’s set up right now, the default system goes for health care and eye and dental insurance for all county employees, not city employees, but county employees, is currently at post-tax. The way it works in the real world, the way it works in the business world is those types of expenses come out pre-tax. The whole purpose is so that you are not taxed on your contributions for health care, and for dental and for eye. We are getting ready, and Mr. Ziemer is going to be looking at that with the Auditor’s office for final approval. What will happen then is going forward all new employees, if it meets with Mr. Ziemer’s prerequisites and what he desires to see to be legally factual and true, is that going forward all new employees will have their health, dental, and eye care taken out at pre-tax levels, which will mean they won’t be taxed on that. Then, the option, that will be the default, the option, if someone wishes to as a county employee, to check the box, they want to have it taken out post-tax, they’re welcome to do that. When I asked the Auditor’s office the question why that has not changed, and kind of gone along with the times, literally it was the fact that this is the way it’s been done all of these years, and this was in place prior to pre-tax type of abilities on the part of the government. It wasn’t even recognized then. All we’re trying to do is just take a business approach to business here in the county. So, we’ll have more on that information for you later. Old business, gentlemen, do we have anything?

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, I’ve got some new business.

President Korb: Sure.

Commissioner Tornatta: We, in the past, had talked about an ordinance concerning off road vehicles. I think that’s in the packet. One of the things that we probably need to address in our county. This is from Posey County. It’s just, at what level we would like to see these off road vehicles be able to travel up and down the roads. Whether it be gravel or any type of county road, and then, in doing that, these people are also doing us a favor, whether it’s mowing grass, spraying weeds, taking care of their land through some type of vehicle. So, I think we probably ought to address this at some point. We’ve had several citizens that have called in and said that they would really like to have a little bit of a lax on that because they are getting tickets now in the bottoms. Well, I don’t know if it’s that big of an issue down there that we need to have the, it’s not the county law enforcement, but it’s the federal law enforcement that’s ticketing these people.

President Korb: Huh, really?

Commissioner Tornatta: So, we might look at this in another meeting or two.

President Korb: Sure.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right now, with it being summertime where we’re going to have people that are doing what they normally do, which is spraying and picking up trash and doing that type of thing, we probably ought to at least address it.

President Korb: Do you want to bring that up with the Sheriff and see what his thoughts are on that?

Commissioner Tornatta: We can. I talked to the Sheriff, and, essentially, he doesn’t have any problem with it, and his deputies don’t, but it’s not, it’s the–

President Korb: State guys?

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, yeah, it’s DNR.

President Korb: Oh.

Commissioner Tornatta: DNR’s a federal.

President Korb: An entity of its own.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right. But, we can have an ordinance, and, Ted, if I’m wrong, but, I think would supercede then what the, they wouldn’t be able to give tickets for that reason. But, the guy said from DNR, he said, I gotta do it because that’s what the law is, as we have it.

President Korb: So, federal doesn’t trump local?

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, it would trump local unless there’s an ordinance for local.

President Korb: Okay.

Commissioner Tornatta: So, with the people, but, Ted, did you get a chance to read the ordinance? That’s okay. Maybe what we can do is look into it before the next meeting and be able to come up with something.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Sure, I’ll be glad to take a look at it.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

President Korb: That would be great.

Commissioner Tornatta: Then, just for, whether it’s old business or new business, we will have the USI Courthouse group in here on May 6^th at whatever our pleasure is going to be to–

Madelyn Grayson: We don’t have a meeting on May 6^th. It’s election day.

Commissioner Tornatta: Oh, then it won’t be May 6^th.

President Korb: It’s the 13^th, isn’t it?

Commissioner Tornatta: We’ll have them in May 13^th.

President Korb: Okay.

Commissioner Tornatta: They’ll go over any of the their recommendations.

President Korb: Great. Any other new business?

Marissa Nichoalds: I do have one item. We had an Old Courthouse Foundation meeting today, and the Foundation Board will be holding an open house for the Old Courthouse and the Wedgewood Room on April 27^th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., and the public is invited to come and tour the Wedgewood Room and the building. There will be light refreshments provided.

President Korb: And that’s being sponsored by the Downtown Kiwanis–

Marissa Nichoalds: Kiwanis.

President Korb: –if I remember correctly?

Marissa Nichoalds: Uh-huh.

Commissioner Nix: And, we officially changed the name of the Wedgewood Room today to–

Marissa Nichoalds: The Old Courthouse Ballroom.

President Korb: Great! Really? You did that after I left?

Commissioner Nix: Yeah.

President Korb: Great idea. Super. The Wedgewood Room, well, it’s not blue anymore. Which is what you think, I mean, no, you think Wedgewood Room and you’re thinking blue, and it’s green.

Commissioner Nix: It looks grey to me.

President Korb: It does, it looks awesome. It really does. I’m sorry.

Commissioner Nix: It’s beautiful though.

President Korb: That burst of enthusiasm.

Commissioner Nix: No, no, it’s not–

President Korb: Thanks, Marissa. Anything else? Okay great. Any other new business?

President Korb: Any old business?

President Korb: Public comment about our business? No public comment. Oh, one more quick thing though, if people want to lease, we talked about this as we were killing time at our last meeting, if they want to lease the Old Courthouse Ballroom, they contact SMG, and SMG has a contract. I see Darren Stearns back there from SMG, so, we’ve got that in place if anybody out there wants to do that. A great place for wedding receptions. Do you want to do a shameless plug real quick, Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Beautiful facility, 150 people, I guess, up to 150 or so, and we would sure like to get it rented out.

President Korb: It is handicap accessible. So, anyway.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I guess, just as a–

President Korb: Shameless plug?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –technical matter, no, not at all, you’ve approved in the consent agenda today, or have you done the consent agenda?

President Korb: Not yet, we’re getting ready to.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: When you do the consent agenda, you’re going to be approving a form of lease for the Wedgewood Room, and that’s what it says.

President Korb: Oh-oh.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: So, then, you’re also authorizing SMG to sign event lease documents for the Wedgewood Room, instead of having all those come before the Commissioners. I will take it that you would authorize me to make the change, change it from Wedgewood Room to Old Courthouse Ballroom, and submit that to Darren.

President Korb: You know what, you’re looking at me like that’s my fault. I had nothing to do with that. That’s Nix and his group. Yeah, no, I didn’t have anything to do with that, Counselor.

Commissioner Tornatta: I would make a motion to accept all consent items, with the amendment of making the Wedgewood Room the Old Courthouse Ballroom.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. Great, we are finished, kind of, if–

Commissioner Nix: Rezoning?

President Korb: –well, we will, but do we adjourn the meeting yet?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

President Korb: Yeah, we do. We adjourn the meeting.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Here you go, you get to hit the gavel. Come on.

Madelyn Grayson: Before we start Rezoning can I pass around an attendance sheet and have you all sign in?

(Gavel)

President Korb: Oh, no, no, come on.

(Gavel)

President Korb: There you go. Meeting adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS

Commissioners:

Approval of the April 1, 2008 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Approval of Event Lease Agreement: Old Courthouse Ballroom.

Approval for SMG to Sign Lease Agreement as Agent for the County.

Hillcrest Washington Youth Home Fees Check.

BLA: University Parkway Phases II & III Project Update: April 2008.

Anthem Schedule of Variables & 2007 Refund Authorization.

Evansville ARC: Monthly Report: March 2008.

Department Head Meeting Notes: April 1, 2008.

Employment Changes:

DADS (2)                                  Election Office (4)                     Sheriff (4)

Scott Assessor (1)                    Prosecutor (2)                           Burdette Park (1)

County Highway (1)

Travel Requests:

Area Plan (1)                            Treasurer (1)                            Health Dept. (1)

Knight Assessor (1)                  County Assessor (4)                 Auditor (3)

Commissioners (1)                   County Council (1)

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 50: Green River-Burkhardt TIF Projects.

Sheriff Office:

Federal Annual Certification Report: 2007.

Request to Surplus two motorcycles.

Van Ausdall Farrar Copy Agreement Amendment.

Auditor:

April 2008 A/P Vouchers.

Letters of Certification of Townships over 15,000 Parcels in Vanderburgh County.

Legal Aid Society: March 2008 Statistics.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Officer

Those in Attendance:

Jeff Korb                                   Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Marissa Nichoalds                    Madelyn Grayson

Debbie Spalding                       John Stoll                                  Eric Williams

Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Jeff Korb, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

Troy Tornatta, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)