VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

APRIL 24, 2007

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 24^th day of April, 2007 at 3:30 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Cheryl Musgrave presiding.

President Musgrave: I would like to call to order the April 24, 2007 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County. It is 3:30, we will start with introductions.

Marissa Nichoalds: Marissa Nichoalds, Superintendent of County Buildings.

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

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Musgrave: Cheryl Musgrave, Commissioner.

Commissioner Tornatta: Troy Tornatta, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Bill Fluty, County Auditor. 

President Musgrave: Will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to open the bids for commercial/industrial trending and Burdette Park beverage services?

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: We move now to action items. We are pleased to welcome back Ms. B.J. Farrell–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me, Madam President, what about the soft drink bids? Do you not want to open those?

President Musgrave: We put them all in one motion.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh, I didn’t hear you say that.

President Musgrave: Okay. Ms. Farrell is here to read a proclamation for arthritis month.

B.J. Farrell: Hi, I’m B.J. Farrell. I am the Director for the Southern Indiana branch of the Arthritis Foundation. I would like to introduce some of our members who are with us here today; Mike Rupert, our board president; Mr. Gregg Utley, our board vice-president; Ms. Lee Ann Cooper, our treasurer; one of our board members, Jenny Puckett; and another board member, Brian Taylor.

President Musgrave: Welcome

B.J. Farrell: Jenny and Lee Ann are actually the chairs for the walk that’s being held this year on May 19^th, which is a Saturday, at North High School. First of all, we would like to thank the Commissioners for the time that you’re giving us today to consider the proclamation to support Arthritis Awareness Day and Arthritis Awareness Month, which is May nationwide. In the southern Indiana branch we have 18 counties that we service with over 650,000 residents, one in three have some form of doctor diagnosed arthritis. Unfortunately, people consider this an old person’s disease, however, in our community alone we have children as young as 15 months that have arthritis. We provide water programs, land based programs, literature and support groups to those who suffer from this disease, or know someone who suffers. I would like to now ask Brian Taylor, who is this year’s honoree to come to the microphone and speak with you briefly. Thank you.

Brian Taylor: Thank you very much, B.J. My name is Brian Taylor, I’m with the Arthritis Foundation, I’m a board member. I help with the support groups there. I know a young man, he, at the age of 12 was healthy, running track, playing football, and one day his knees and ankles started swelling pretty badly, walking was difficult. He went to a local doctor to find out what was wrong, they didn’t offer a solution, so, he called somebody from Riley Hospital. Soon he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 12. He went through many medications that he had taken, went through various surgeries for nodules on his lungs and sinus passages that he didn’t even know that went along with arthritis, didn’t even know that you could get arthritis at age 12. He went through a depression, in high school he had limited motion, and then by the time he got in college, he actually had to have both knees and hips replaced. He then went on, after having the replacements, to get married, have four children and lead a normal life. I know, because that person is me. That’s why I personally got involved with the Arthritis Foundation was because I really believe in it, and I know that the help that they provided, and any help that I could provide others would be invaluable, because it was invaluable to me. I appreciate that. Thanks.

President Musgrave: Do you have a proclamation, Ms. Farrell?

B.J. Farrell: I do have a proclamation. I would be very honored if one of the Commissioners would read it today. But, if not, I will do so. Do you have a copy of it, or do I need to give you a copy?

President Musgrave: Would you bring yours forward please?

B.J. Farrell: Yes.

President Musgrave: We have one in the official record, but not one at each place.

Commissioner Nix: This is a National Arthritis Month proclamation:

“Whereas, one in five adults, and over 300,000 children in America live with pain and limitations that arthritis brings; and, Whereas, in Vanderburgh County alone there are an estimated 35,000 people who have arthritis; and, Whereas, the Arthritis Foundation is the only nationwide non-profit health organization helping people take greater control of arthritis by leading efforts to prevent, control, and cure arthritis and related disease, the nation’s number one cause of disabilities; and, Whereas, the month of May brings focused efforts by the Arthritis Foundation to increase awareness of this disease, and offer greater information about the proven treatments, programs, and services available to help people with arthritis take control of this disease. Now, therefore, we the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, do hereby proclaim May 2007as National Arthritis Month, and May 19^th as Arthritis Awareness Day in Vanderburgh County, and urge that all citizens join in the support of the Arthritis Foundation to learn more about the services available to take control of this disease, and take an active role in improving their joint health in order to lead a more active, fulfilling life.”

B.J. Farrell: Thank you, and thank you once again. I did put some information at your desk. It is one of the newsletters. We send these out quarterly with different information about the programs, the fundraisers we’re having to support our mission, which is to improve lives through leadership in the prevention, control and cure of arthritis. I also gave you a brochure on the upcoming walk, and if any of you just want to get some great exercise on Saturday the 19^th, we would love to see you at North High School. Thank you again.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Nix, was that in the form of a motion?

Commissioner Nix: That is in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Thank you and good luck promoting arthritis awareness.

President Musgrave: We move now to the Survive Alive program presentation. Is Mary Williams here? Welcome, Mary. Tell us a little bit about the program, and when it will be held.

Mary Williams: Thank you. Welcome to all of you. I want to give you some information. This is a celebration that we are having. The board of directors of the Southwestern Indiana Survive Alive, Incorporated would like to invite all of you to an open house for our recently renovated fire safety project, the Survive Alive House. The open house is on Thursday, April 26^th at 9:30 at the Vanderburgh 4-H Center, just inside gate one. That’s where the Survive Alive House is located. You might want to know, “Well, what does that mean, Survive Alive?” Survive Alive program is a hands on learning experience of fire safety that was created as a joint effort by the Evansville Area Council of PTA’s and local suburban fire departments. The goal of this project is to reduce the number of fires and the number of fire related deaths and injuries that occur every year. At the Survive Alive House children and youth learn fire safety from area fire fighters by experiencing a simulated fire and proper exiting of their house. The Survive Alive House, as you can see in the pictures that Sam has given to you to look through, opened in 1992 through the efforts of PTA, suburban fire departments, the Southwestern Indiana Building Trades Council and community businesses. Since 1992, over 15,000 area children have been trained in fire safety at the Survive Alive House. We think that’s a significant accomplishment towards helping Evansville’s youth grow to be more safety conscious citizens. So, we’re celebrating. Students from schools and clubs throughout Evansville and the surrounding counties visit the Survive Alive House through field trips. We often receive thank you notes from parents and teachers expressing their belief that the experience at the Survive Alive House provided their children with skills that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. We are proud of our accomplishments, yet we have ambitious plans before us. We are working toward reaching additional community populations and expanding our training for other emergencies, such as natural disasters. We would very much like to show you our facility, and hope to see you at our open house, where you will see first hand the great work our area fire fighters are doing in educating our youth. Mr. Sam Still is with me today, he’s representing the Boonville Volunteer Fire Department, we recognize no boundaries. The other good news is that the training at the Survive Alive House is free. So, I hope that you can find some time to be with us Thursday morning, because we think safety of our youth is a great investment in our community. Thank you very much.

Commissioner Nix: What time is that again Thursday?

Mary Williams: It’s at 9:30.

Commissioner Nix: 9:30? Okay.

President Musgrave: At the 4-H Center?

Mary Williams: At the 4-H Center. Enter through gate one. If you come off of 41,it’s actually the second gate. We’re just over the hill.

President Musgrave: Thank you very much for your presentation–

Mary Williams: Okay.

President Musgrave: –and thank you for the work you’re doing to keep our young people safe.

Mary Williams: Thank you. Can we have our book back?

President Musgrave: Yes, you can have your book back.

Sam Still: Did you all get a chance to see it?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes, yes, sure did. Thank you.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you,

President Musgrave: Next on the agenda is the permission to award VC-07-2007, Burdette Park Day Camp t-shirt bid. Is Burdette Park here? Or, I’m sorry, Purchasing, and we also have the moving of election equipment.

Debbie Spalding: I’m Debbie Spalding with the Purchasing Department. Last week we opened bids for t-shirts to be done for the Burdette Park day camp program at Burdette Park. There were six bidders, you will recall, and the low bid for all items was Phoenix of Evansville. So, we would like to recommend that the award go to the low bidder of Phoenix of Evansville.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Debbie Spalding: Then, moving along to the moving of election equipment. There were four bids that were received at the last meeting, those being from Belmont, Kinder, PD&S agent of Shetler Moving. The low bid that was reported in the last meeting was from Belmont at the price of $5,376. Considering that the price was so much lower than the other bids, we did contact the low bidder and asked for some clarification to make sure that they were including both the May and November election. Belmont reported that they read the bid documents wrong, and they did not include the November election with their amount. So, we are asking that the low bid be stricken, because it was not responsive to the bid. The next low bidder is Kinder in the amount of $8,800. So, that’s who we would recommend we award to.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The bid is awarded to Kinder.

Debbie Spalding: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Anything further? Thank you.

Commissioner Nix: Thanks.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion for permission to advertise the May 2007 primary election polling places? Is there anyone here to speak to that? Mr. Utley? No? This has to be advertised in the Evansville Courier and Press, and we are also asking for permission to advertise in Our Times newspaper.

Commissioner Tornatta: I would make that in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: I would like to note that I have a form here that tells me that there are certain polling locations that have been moved. The old location was Washington Square Mall, the new location is McCullough Library. McCullough was the original polling location, it was closed during the last election due to construction, that construction is now complete. That’s ward one, precinct five. In ward two, precinct 16, the old location was Holy Spirit Church, the new location is Lodge School. Holy Spirit explains that they no longer wish to be a polling location. So, we were forced to move that one. In ward three, precinct 11, the old location was Terrace Park Baptist Church, the new location is Northeast Park Baptist Church. Again, Terrace Park no longer wished to be a polling location. In ward four, precinct four and ward four, precinct six, the old location was Stanley Hall, the new location will be Carver Ridley Rollerdome. That is because Stanley Hall is no longer open. In ward five, precinct two, the old location was Fire House Number Two, the new location will be the Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center. That is because the Technical Center has more room for the polling location, and it is handicapped accessible. So, those comprise the changes for the May primary. This complete list will be advertised April 27^th in the Courier and Press, and May 4^th in Our Times, It will also be on the website, as we had it before at vanderburghgov.org, complete with maps. Ms. Nichoalds, I want to make sure that they update the maps with the new locations, okay? So, you can print out a map, and aerial photo of it.

President Musgrave: We move now to department head reports. I understand the County Engineer, Mr. John Stoll, has a report. There you are.

John Stoll: The first item that I have is a request to approve the notice to bidders for our concrete repair contract, and also approve the advertising of that. This would be contract VC07-05-02, and it will cover work in Old State Subdivision, The Villas Subdivision, Deerfield Subdivision, Eastland Estates Subdivision, and Brookview Subdivision.

Commissioner Nix: And that follows the sequence we talked about in last week’s meeting?

John Stoll: Correct.

Commissioner Nix: I move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: Next, I would like your approval to go to the County Council to transfer $1,200 from the Koressel Road bridge account to the Schmuck Road culvert account. The Koressel bridge account, that project is finished and we no longer need any funds in that, and the $1,200 is needed in the Schmuck Road account to cover some change order costs.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: Then, next, I have an application for the county to apply to DMJM Harris Consulting. They are the consultants for Norfolk Southern Railroad, and we have to apply to Norfolk Southern for the review and approval of the plans for Cross Pointe Boulevard, because the storm sewer for Cross Pointe will discharge into railroad right-of-way. It won’t go underneath the tracks or anything, but it will touch and dump into railroad right-of-way, so, they do have to review our plans. So, I would request your approval on that application.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Commissioner Nix: Just to verify that, we talked about this earlier, this is a pass through, is that correct? There will be no mark up on this from Bernardin Lochmueller on that?

John Stoll: That’s what I was going to bring up next. There’s also a fee of $1,830 associated with this application. As it stands right now DMJM Harris is not a vendor established with Vanderburgh County, so, it’s actually easier for us to go ahead and have Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates pay that, and then we reimburse Bernardin Lochmueller. Their current design contract doesn’t have any provisions for reimbursable expenses, so, I was just going to ask for your approval to have Bernardin issue the check with the application, and then we would submit the paperwork to get a reimbursement for Bernardin Lochmueller. Like Commissioner Nix said, there’s no mark up. This would just be, they would front the money until we would get them a check here in the next couple of weeks.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: Next, I have a supplemental agreement for the University Parkway project. This is for the amount of $228,800, and this covers the balance of the design of the project between Marx Road and Diamond Avenue.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: Then, next, I have two corrections on our street inventory. The first is on Brook Meadow Circle, back when that street was accepted in Brookview Subdivision, Brook Meadow Drive was accepted as .29 miles. That should have been .13 miles of Brook Meadow Circle, and .16 miles of Brook Meadow Drive. So, I’m requesting your approval to make this correction. Basically, this just establishes a paper trail in the files that shows the correct mileages and the correct streets have been included in the county inventory.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: The other correction is for Greenfield Road in Eastland Estates Subdivision. All the other streets in that sub, in that section of that subdivision were accepted back in 1988. We could not find any record of acceptance of Greenfield, even though it’s been assumed to be accepted all this time. So, I’m requesting that you officially accept 963 linear feet of Greenfield in Eastland Estates between Greencove and Kolb Drive.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Commissioner Nix: What’s that, 19 years old?

John Stoll: Yeah.

President Musgrave: My list shows that you were going to talk to us about the INDOT Diamond Avenue detour route.

John Stoll: I haven’t had a chance to get that reviewed by the County Attorney as of yet, but, hopefully we can do that for next week.

President Musgrave: Next week? Alright.

John Stoll: That’s all I have.

President Musgrave: Alright, thank you.

John Stoll: Thanks.

President Musgrave: Are there any other department heads with any reports here today? Ms. Nichoalds, Mr. Ziemer?

President Musgrave: Was Burdette in a position to consider and award bids?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, they won’t be, for this reason, shall I go ahead with the bids?

President Musgrave: Please.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: For soft drinks at Burdette Park we have two bids, one from RC, and the bid is $21,852.72 per year. Pepsico did not submit an extended bid which we could compare to the RC bid. They have an itemized bid per unit. So, we’re unable today to even compare the bids, or I can’t even read a bid into the record, but they enumerate many different Pepsi products and sizes and so forth at all different prices. That’s the best we can do.

President Musgrave: Did you also have another?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I do. For trending services, A & S has a bid of $118,000, and Appraisal Research has a bid of $93,270.

Commissioner Tornatta: I motion to take both bids under advisement.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: And that motion includes both the Burdette Park beverages and the trending?

Commissioner Tornatta: Correct.

President Musgrave: Alright. All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motions carry.

President Musgrave: We move now to the second and final reading of the animal control ordinance. I have a sign up sheet here, I only have one person signed in to speak for, and one person signed in to speak against. Is there anyone who has not had the opportunity to sign this sheet who would like to sign now? In which case, I will call the person on top here, Lorrie Fleming. Please come up, I understand that you are going to speak in favor. Speakers we ask that you limit your comments to five minutes. Marissa will watch the clock and she’ll raise her hand when it’s time. So, go ahead and introduce yourself and put your address in for the record.

Lorrie Fleming: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Lorrie Fleming. My address is 331 Lexington Road here in Evansville. I come before you this afternoon, I was just, actually I’ve read over the ordinance and I believe you are going in the right direction to protecting not only the residents of Vanderburgh County, but also our animals of Vanderburgh County. The question I have, or would like some verifications for, and I’m not sure if you will do that this evening or in a written or phone call to myself, which either is acceptable to me, pertains to the section on animal nuisance. Particularly point five, mostly, basically pertaining to barking and that and such. Myself, I live in the city of Evansville and my dogs are inside. I believe that dogs should be inside, that’s just a personal preference. So, if I’m not home they are not allowed to run free in my backyard, leaving open the opportunity for them to bark and annoy the neighbors. Much like most of you, and everyone else in the county, my job does take me out of town frequently, or late into the evenings. So, a wonderful facility that I have found in Vanderburgh County to help me when I’m out late and can’t give them the proper exercise and keep them from becoming bored in the house and chewing up everything is located, it’s located in an industrial zoned area. I just didn’t see anything that references, I see, you know, you speak about residential area. It doesn’t omit or exclude this facility, although they are, like I said, in an industrial park, they are zoned industrial. They do not board any of their dogs outside. They are open from 7:00 in the morning until approximately 6:00 at night. They bring the dogs in, they have multiple play areas for the different sizes of dogs. Dogs get together, socialize, they will bark, they will play, much like children playing outside when the weather is nice. So, I guess, I was just looking for some clarification whether the fact that since they are in an industrial zoned location whether they would be exempt? Or, being the fact that they are an existing business would they be grandfathered in underneath this clause. Like I said, they close at 6:00, that’s pick up time, if it’s a daycare, or picking up from boarding, then they do come back at, you know, 9:00 or 10:00 at night, only to let the animals out, you know, to do their business before they put them in to bed. So, none of the animals are boarded outside, they do not have any dog runs where they are allowed to run at night. That was really the only point that I was looking for, you know, a little clarification for.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: If I could ask you a question, are they outside during the day?

Lorrie Fleming: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Now, is this industrial, or I don’t know where this area is, are they near a residential area at all?

Lorrie Fleming: They are located over off of Old Boonville Highway, it’s actually the street is MJM Industrial.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah.

Lorrie Fleming: Most everybody directly around them is–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’m not sure any change is really needed, based on what you’re saying. What item five says, I don’t have it in front of me, but I’ve practically memorized it this week, it refers to loud noises over a continuous period of time near a residential area.

Lorrie Fleming: Right.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: So, if these dogs can sit out there and bark all day, if no one can hear them.

Lorrie Fleming: Well, over in that area, I mean, and you will find, I mean, I’m lucky I don’t have any neighbors, but, I mean, maybe a quarter of a mile, I mean, they are set off, Gerhardt Tile, like I said, I’m not sure if you guys know the location I’m talking about, up Burkhardt and then on to Old Boonville Highway. So, you do have some residential homes, I would say probably a quarter of a mile away.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Presently this ordinance does not preclude the kind of activity that you are talking about. However, if those animals are making loud, continuous noise over a period of time that can be offensive to people in a residential area, then they would be subject to the ordinance as it’s now written.

Lorrie Fleming: Okay, is there something that we could look into getting a petition to exempt being–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I think the issue would be do the people in the residences who are going to be listening to the barking object?

Lorrie Fleming: They have one, of everyone around them there is one individual. I’m sure everyone has lived next to one person for whatever reason, and that was my other thing, how do you clarify whether it’s a true annoyance, or does your neighbor not like the car I have parked outside and that’s a second way? I realize that we don’t want to go through and write things so specific, you know, that’s not easily done either. But, like I said, they’ve been in business for over a year, and that was just a concern I had. You know, they have a wonderful facility, they don’t leave the dogs out, they have, I mean, they are outside with the dogs, but when you get dogs together, like I said, much like children–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, if I could ask a question. Sheriff Williams, have we ever had a complaint from this that you’re aware of?

Eric Williams: Off hand, not to my knowledge.

Lorrie Fleming: I don’t think they have complained to the police department. I think they have expressed their concerns to the actual business itself. Calling as far as saying, “Can’t you muzzle those dogs?”.

President Musgrave: But, you have the two questions then?

Lorrie Fleming: Yeah, I was just basically looking for clarification, and if this is not, you know, if this residential area, if it’s going to leave that open, if it would be possible that we could, you know, leave that.

President Musgrave: Alright.

Lorrie Fleming: I mean, you’re talking about an industrial area. I mean, they have trucks, I mean, industrial areas are known for being noisy, hence the zoning of industrial.

President Musgrave: I would like to go ahead and take your questions, just down for the record–

Lorrie Fleming: Okay.

President Musgrave: –and we’ll visit them during some discussion time afterward. Alright?

Lorrie Fleming: Thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

President Musgrave: The person who has signed up to speak in opposition is Judith, I hope that I’m saying this right, McKnight? Okay, please come forward and state your name and address for the record.

Judith McKnight: I hate talking in front of people, so, I’m going to be a little nervous. Judith McKnight, 1001 Laubscher Road, Evansville, Indiana. I am in opposition of parts of the ordinance. I listened to the minutes of the last meeting. I did not know about this ordinance, it just happens my mom read the paper and said, “Do you know they are getting ready to pass an ordinance that may affect you?”, and I go, “No, what’s going on?”, and she gave me the newspaper article and it showed that, yes, this could affect me. I own AKC registered beagles. I raise my beagles for protection, pets and hunting. I know a lot of people think hunting is bad, so, if anybody is upset about hunters, okay, I’m sorry. Dogs bark, like the last lady said. When they get together and play, they bark. My dogs bark during the daytime, my dogs bark, if they happen to be out at night and I’m at work. I work a different shift than other normal people do. This is a 24 hour world these days, so, my dogs sometimes have to be outside when I’m at work at night. There’s not really anything I can do. I don’t feel like it’s fair to put my dogs in the house at night time and keep them locked up. I would have my dogs locked up 24 hours a day with no sunshine, no playing, no nothing if I did what needs to be done. My dogs sometimes bark and wake me up, you know. I have neighbors who have dogs, their dog starts barking, my dog starts barking. The next neighbors dog starts barking on down the line, everybody barks. This is a county ordinance you guys are putting into effect. Most of us move to the county for a reason. I grew up on a farm, I’m an outside person, I love my dogs. People say, “Well, how can you hunt?”. Well, part of the reason is that I like to listen to my dogs bark. I love to see my dogs go out and do what they are meant to do, which is to chase rabbits and bark. They bark as soon as I let them loose. So, if I let them loose, I’m in violation of the ordinance, because I’m letting them loose to run after a rabbit. If I let them bark I’m in violation of an ordinance. I will go broke within three weeks, because I have a neighbor who complained, who actually more or less threatened to kill my dog if I didn’t do something. You know, that upsets me, he’s a renter, he doesn’t even own the home. I’ve lived there for ten years. I pay my taxes. I have neighbors who are upset about this. They pay their taxes. We vote. I probably voted most of you people in, you know. I think that, you know, it’s a good thing to have this, but I think you need to look at what you’re doing, and you aren’t even considering people that have farm animals. The county is a big place. Say farmer John sells his property, a developer buys it, he puts in a subdivision, across the street you’ve got farmer Don who’s over here and he’s got cows and pigs and chickens and horses and what have you. His smell escapes his property. Well, this subdivision is very upset because the smell escapes the property, and they go and they complain. How long is it going to take that farmer to go out of business at $50, $100, $500, you know? How am I going to tell my dogs to shut up, but yet when I take them out in the woods and want them to hunt, I want them to bark? You know, it’s a training issue with some of these things. If a duck hunter shoots down a duck, he sends his retriever to retrieve it, he’s violating a law. So, that’s all I’m saying. I agree, I don’t want animals mistreated. I want my dog to run in the air and play and have a good time, and it talks about that. I want my dog fed. I take all my animals to the veterinarians office, and they all have their shots. We have people that have invisible fences that allow their dogs to run free. How will you know if that dog is in an invisible fence or, you know, they’re just laying out in their front yard because they are very well behaved. I have dogs that go into heat, I keep them penned up, but that doesn’t stop the fact that I have dogs that come around my fence and bark and are a nuisance because their owners let them run free, and they smell my dog and they come to my home. They stand out there and all my dogs bark. I had the Sheriff’s come to my house approximately two weeks ago, and he says, I understand, you know, dogs, they started barking as soon as I looked over the fence. Yeah, they’re protecting my property. If you drive into my driveway, my dogs are going to bark at you. If a siren goes off, dogs are going to bark, it hurts their ears. They are going to bark. So, what you guys are doing to me is taking my freedom of having animals and saying I can’t have them. The last gentleman wants a limit put on how many animals you have. There’s nothing in here about a limit. I sent in my money to become a kennel, so that I would know that I was paying my taxes for my dogs, because I choose to not neuter them. So, I was willing to pay my taxes and do everything I’m supposed to do, but they sent my check back and said we’re not doing this any longer. Then there’s a section in here that says where the money goes. Well, to me, if we’re doing this for animals, maybe the money should go to the Humane Society and Animal Control. You know, why is it going to the general county. I see you shaking your head, but, the ordinance is supposed to help residents and animals. So, you know, I am an animal lover, but, you know, what they’re doing, what if you ride a horse down the road and he decides to stop and relieve himself? Are you going to get a ticket? Who’s going to enforce it? I mean, if a stray dog comes by and my dog barks, they call the Sheriff, the Sheriff comes and the dog is still there.

President Musgrave: Alright, you might be looking at the earliest version of this ordinance that we posted, the fine part, the distribution of the fines is no longer in this, but I think that that’s one of the only changes.

Judith McKnight: We looked this up last Thursday, and it’s $50, $100 and $500.

President Musgrave: The distribution of the fines, the increment of the fines, you’re correct, that still stands. Thank you very much for your comments. My grandfather raised beagles, and they bark. Yes, they do. He hunted with them too. I can understand exactly what you’re saying. Is there anyone else here who wishes to speak? Mr. Jeffers, are you speaking for, or are you speaking against?

Bill Jeffers: Just a point of information for the Commissioners. With regard to the dog kennel that’s located in MJM Industrial Subdivision on Boonville Highway, the dog yard, the fenced in yard is behind the facility, adjacent to the detention basin for that subdivision. The detention basin is adjacent to Crawford Brandeis Ditch, and then directly on the other side of the ditch is a residential dwelling, approximately 100 feet from the ditch. So, I would say maybe 200-300 feet separate the dog kennel, outdoor dog kennel from the physical structure of the dwelling. As you know, the water in the detention basin tends to amplify the noise. So, just for your information that’s the proximity of that the lady was speaking of earlier.

President Musgrave: Alright, I would also like to let the record reflect, and these documents will be put through in the consent agenda, some of the other comments that we’ve received by either e-mail or telephone. Stacy Harris sent some comments in favor of the animal control ordinance. Mr. Jim Trockman called, and he was, I believe, in favor of the ordinance, but was concerned that you could be fined for a barking dog while nothing is done about loud music from other residences. So, he brought up that point. Dominick Marano also breeds beagles and his concern is a lot of barking from beagles. Mr. Pitts owns horses and he pointed out several parts of this ordinance that he thought were vague, and while you might be writing it thinking of dogs, it applied to other animals, particularly, in his opinion, horses. Then, the Farm Bureau, their legal staff, Mr. Mark Thornburg out of Indianapolis went over the ordinance and made several notations on several different parts of the ordinance where he felt that it should be changed in order to make it not apply to livestock, and he brought up some of the points about manure that you also addressed. Let’s see, I think that that’s all. There were multiple e-mails and conversations from several people. If I missed anybody their printouts will be in the record, and anyone can see those if you like. Commissioners, do we have any comments or discussion?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, I have a couple of comments. My hope is that, as far as the zoning issues, that the zoning issues will be covered at the time of zoning. So, we would not be directly responsible for zoning a project, or worrying about the zoning of a project. Hopefully, that’s been, that’s already been covered. The main reason why I thought it was appropriate to bring this particular ordinance to the table was because law enforcement needs some type of teeth to enforce. Up until now, law enforcement, Animal Control, anybody that was sent out had no teeth to enforce any type of rules or consequence if somebody is not being a good citizen, being a good neighbor, trying to minimize, and in some cases a dog barking or potentially an animal that is getting into someone else’s property, or potentially damaging other people’s property. We don’t have any teeth to take care of any of those issues. And, do we need to change that?

Madelyn Grayson: Yes, I’m sorry.

(Tape change)

Commissioner Tornatta: And, in looking at a document, it is to allow that law enforcement individual, or the person that comes out there the ability to be able to pose a fine if something is habitual. And, we’ve seen it on the city side and the county side, with some of the ordinances that have come about have been because we have had habitual problems that need to be looked into. So, much like in a speeding ticket, not making their minds up for them, but much like in a speeding ticket, they can give you a warning and try and work something out with you. If they keep coming back, I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be able to propose some type of fine. So, in my opinion, that’s why this particular ordinance is here. It is not to say that I am not an animal lover, but it is to say that we need to all recognize and be good neighbors. If you’re not being one of those people, then there could be a fine that is assessed to you.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you, Commissioner Tornatta. Just a few things, just of all the e-mails that we’ve received this week, the correspondences that people have talked to, it looks like there’s about five issues that this ordinance addresses in some way, shape or form that maybe needs to be cleaned up a little bit and tightened up, I guess. One is a zoning issue, we talked about that a little bit today, the other is noise, you know, the continual barking of dogs, animals, the number of animals, and then there’s some safety concerns from some of the neighbors. If you’re out walking and a dog comes up on you, and, you know, what do you do? Do you run? Do you stop? You know, and, then, I guess, the last thing is farms. We didn’t really address that probably as well as we should. I would like to make a recommendation that we table this, and maybe get the group back together, get some more information, take this information that we have here right now and tweak this thing a little bit and bring it back to the Commission in a week or two. I don’t know if we want to set a deadline now–

President Musgrave: No.

Commissioner Nix: –for that? Or if we just want to leave it open for a few weeks until we can get this thing where most everybody is comfortable with it?

Commissioner Tornatta: I will second that motion, and I will say that I am not in any hurry, necessarily, to get this document down, but I do want to get this out there in some form so that law enforcement can make those decisions and put it in their court and have something that will have teeth so that they can do their job.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, and that was in the form of a motion.

President Musgrave: (Inaudible).

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: Before I call for the vote, I would like to say that when this matter came before us, the driving impetus was dogs that were leaving their property and threatening passers by on the street, or people next door they were actually being very aggressive. When the ordinance was brought to us it covered a great deal more than that. My inclination is, because, as you say, the county is a very big place, if the language can’t be finessed enough, and I’m sure that the legal team will definitely work on that, and I’ve asked Mr. Ziemer to have communication with the Farm Bureau attorney to see if we can’t make the language apply to what we want it to apply to, which is the threatening situation with animals. I’m inclined to do as little as possible to solve the problem, rather than to put a broad ordinance in place that creates more problems than it solves.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Commissioner Musgrave, you don’t want a barking provision in there then? I mean, that would, for example, Mr. Muensterman who was here last week, that was his concern, had nothing to do about animals running loose. I think, so, you know, we need direction. If you want it, we can design the language, if you don’t, we’ll take it out.

President Musgrave: The language would have to address the semi-agricultural focus for people who are raising dogs for hunting–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, that’s not a problem.

President Musgrave: –which is legal in Indiana. Sometimes those dogs do live in residential situations, and they will bark. So, with the direction that we can solve those problems, yes, I’m in favor of moving forward, but I’m not going to run the beagle breeders out of business.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: And, that’s, of course, up to the Commissioners. What I want to say is you can’t have it both ways. If we’re going to stop barking dogs in residential neighborhoods, then you stop barking dogs in residential neighborhoods. Unless you’re going to say, unless you’re raising beagles you can bark in residential neighborhoods. That’s where we need direction. It has nothing to do with legal finesse.

President Musgrave: Well, I would like the committee that Sheriff Williams started with to grow to include some of the folks who have brought their comments forward, and including you, take it to committee, see if you can’t work it out, and then come back to us with the product. Again, like Commissioner Tornatta, I’m not willing to put a deadline on you, but soon would be good.

Commissioner Tornatta: Could I get Major Molden up here just to ask a question?

Scott Molden: Hello, Major Scott Molden, Sheriff’s office.

Commissioner Tornatta: You have been on several of these runs, and kind of the liaison on a lot of the animal control issues, am I correct?

Scott Molden: That is correct.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, what type of, what do you see, do you see a lot of barking issues? What are the things that you see when you’ve been out on the road.

Scott Molden: Well, most of the involvement I have with the ordinance, where it is now, is over the last year, when I was doing the compliance issue, which started with abandoned vehicles, and most of those complaints, I would say, were generated from the newest subdivisions that are being built in the county. The places that the lady spoke of earlier I’m not even familiar with, as far as receiving complaints. I think what was referred to earlier is probably accurate, and that is, the Sheriff’s office, I think, uses a lot of discretion when we make those choices about whether we’re going to pursue actual fines or penalties. I think we’re very good to work with, but there are some cases right now where you may have a new subdivision, and off the top of my head I’m thinking of like off Petersburg Road north of Boonville-New Harmony. We have an area where there are a lot of homes concentrated in a small area, so, most people, because they live in the county believe they can just let their animals just run and roam freely within a subdivision, and those residents who live there, the children....you know, I’ve gotten most of my complaints that a guy is trying to walk down the street and a dog is running out after him out in the street, or relieving himself in the neighbor’s yard. They’re not really complaining about a person who leaves his dog outside for 20 minutes to relieve himself and maybe barks for that 20 minutes. Most of my complaints were the guy leaves for work at 9:00 and leaves his dog outside all night long. If we did get that complaint and we came up to the scene, our general procedure would be to, first, probably stop and listen, see if we hear that barking going on. If we don’t, then we would probably consider the run unfounded and maybe make contact with the residents, and say, “Hey, we got called out on this issue.”, and just gather all the information and investigate it like we would any complaint before we take any action. You know, I like what you said about kind of referencing it to a speeding ticket. You know, we don’t write a speeding ticket to everybody that we stop, certainly not. We would do some investigating and try to make a common sense decision.

Commissioner Tornatta: So, on any of these issues, obviously, there would be that opportunity that you could make a spot decision, and that would go with protocol on how you see things?

Scott Molden: Absolutely, absolutely. What this does is exactly what I believe you referenced, and that is, at this moment right now today we really don’t have any, what you said, teeth, you know, to take a lot of action. We have the one person who has an animal, and I’m an animal lover and believe in that very much so, but, you have this one person who is surrounded by maybe ten or twelve people who are not so happy about maybe the responsibility that person is taking with that pet and they want to have a little more accountability.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right now, if one were to go from a complaint, they would have to go to the Prosecutor’s office, is that correct?

Scott Molden: All we could do right now is just generate an incident report, and then it would be up to the Prosecutor’s office to pursue something based on that incident. We don’t have any way to write a citation or anything like that at this time.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, thank you very much.

Scott Molden: You’re welcome.

President Musgrave: Is there any further comment?

Scott Molden: I’m sorry?

President Musgrave: Oh, you’re fine. If there is no further comment, we have a motion and a second on the floor to table this ordinance. All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. So, we’ll bring it back, and, Sheriff Williams, I thank you for the effort that you have expended so far, and the meetings and discussions that you will hold from this point forward.

President Musgrave: Okay, we move back now to our agenda, which I have covered up on my desk. Here it is. Board appointments, Youth Care Center advisory board. I would like to recommend Mr. Mike Duckworth.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Is there any new business?

President Musgrave: Any old business?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, I do have just, I guess, we can call old business. We have the Vanderburgh County Rx plan that’s out, with the Health Department, and a lot of people in Vanderburgh County have done a fantabulous job of bringing that out. We have our first card that’s been given out, and the program’s actually been going a full day. This is the card that we put out. Thanks to Z. Tuley, Royce Sutton, Mike Goebel and a lot of Vanderburgh County officials, and Gary Heck for helping out with everything that’s happened and our kick off yesterday. I just would recommend and encourage anybody that needs the assistance of this card to go to any of your participating pharmacies to any of the, I believe it’s on the Health Department website, they can find a list of places to go. Old National Bank has all their locations that have these cards and take advantage.

President Musgrave: Okay, thank you. Any other old business?

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda?

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: If there’s no other business, a motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

(The meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of the April 17, 2007 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Evansville ARC: March 2007 report of activities.

Evansville ARC: Minutes from March 21, 2007 board meeting.

Thank you letter from Indiana Division of State Court Administration: Centre.

Letters/e-mails regarding animal control ordinance (8).

Department head meeting notes: April 17, 2007.

Employment Changes:

Prosecutor (2)                           Sheriff Office (3)             Health Department (1)

Burdette Park (2)                      Treasurer (2)

Travel Requests:                    Health Department (4)    County Engineer (1)

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 23: Green River-Burkhardt TIF Projects.

Auditor: Surplus request: computer.

Weights & Measures: Monthly report: 3/15-4/15/07.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Office                            Veterans Service

Those in Attendance:

Cheryl Musgrave                      Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta

Bill Fluty                                    Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Marissa Nichoalds

Madelyn Grayson                     B.J. Farrell                                Brian Taylor

Mary Williams                           Debbie Spalding                       John Stoll

Lorrie Fleming                          Judith McKnight                        Bill Jeffers

Scott Molden                            Eric Williams                             Others Unidentified

Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

Troy Tornatta, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)