VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

DECEMBER 8, 2009

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 8^th day of December, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Troy Tornatta presiding.

President Tornatta: Alright, it’s 5:00 somewhere. So, let’s get this thing started. Board of Commissioners meeting, December 8, 2009, just about 5:00 in room 301. Call to order, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Here.

President Tornatta: Where is Miranda with the Vanderburgh Humane Society? Is Miranda here? Okay, where are my Boy Scouts? Come on up, boys. Stand around that mic, if you would. Okay, does everybody know the Pledge of Allegiance?

Unidentified: I think so.

President Tornatta: Okay, can you lead us in it?

Unidentified: Yeah.

President Tornatta: Okay, good.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Tornatta: Okay, guys. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa now. Alright, I need your name and your rank, how about that? Start with you.

Jeremy Belli: Jeremy Belli, Tenderfoot.

President Tornatta: Okay, who’s next?

Eric Bell: Eric Bell, I’m a Life Scout.

President Tornatta: Alright.

Elliott Bailey: Elliott Bailey, I’m a Life Scout.

Jordan Belli: Jordan Belli, First Class.

Lane Buente: Lane Buente, Star.

Michael Kercher: Michael Kercher, Life.

President Tornatta: Alright, well, thanks for coming out and filling in in a pinch, guys. Anything going on with the Boy Scouts?

Unidentified: Camp outs.

President Tornatta: We had a successful popcorn campaign, yes?

Unidentified: Yes.

President Tornatta: Made a little bit of money?

Unidentified: Yeah.

President Tornatta: Next year more popcorn has to be sold, right?

Unidentified: Yep.

President Tornatta: Okay. Alright. Thanks guys. Thanks for being here.

(Applause)

President Tornatta: Deidra, they saved you from having to do the Pledge of Allegiance.

Deidra Conner: Awesome.

President Tornatta: Alright, great. Come on up.

Deidra Conner: Hello, my name is Deidra Conner. I am officially the President of Evansville ARC, but I’m also now a board member for the Boy Scouts Buffalo Trace Council.

President Tornatta: Congratulations!

Deidra Conner: So, I can say we had a great popcorn sales event, but buy more if it’s out there to buy. Thank you for inviting us to come today. We have a special guest who you’re going to hear from in a little bit. As I said, I’m the President of Evansville ARC, A-R-C. For those of you who do not know us, we have been around since 1954. We are a not-for-profit organization that was founded in the early 50's by a group of parents who were seeking services for their children with developmental disabilities at a time when there were not services in the local community. Basically, they were looking for a school for their kiddos at a time when there was not special education services, and those services didn’t evolve in the school system until the 1970's. So, that’s how we started. As those children grew and changed, we grew with them. So, today Evansville ARC serves over 750 individuals, on a daily basis, adults and children, and a wide variety of services to allow individuals with disabilities to live as independently as possible in the community. So, we do that from, everything from job supports, we have a manufacturing facility, we have a traditional adult day program for adults with severe and profound disabilities. We have a volunteer corp where we help individuals volunteer in more than 70 not-for-profit organizations in our community. One of the crowning points, one of the things that we’re most proud of is our Child Life Center. Partly because we started as a children’s service, but because we have what I would say is the best inclusive child care facility in the region, possibly in the state. We’re very proud of what we do. We are NAEYC accredited, which means we achieve the highest standard of quality that very few child care facilities achieve. We work closely with the EVSC to provide pre-school services to children three to five. We started out as purely therapeutic in 1954, meaning we only served children with disabilities in 1993. We evolved into an inclusive center. Fortunately for you, you don’t have to listen to me this entire time. I have Laurie Seals with me today, who is the director of our child care facility. She has great experience in early childhood education, and is an awesome director for us. So, she is going to tell you more.

Laurie Seals: It’s hard to follow that. Basically, like Deidra said, we are a unique program in that we serve children of all abilities. Approximately 42 percent of our total enrollment is made up of children that do have special needs. Those needs range from medical, developmental, behavioral, emotional. Some specific examples would be things like autism, spina bifida, Turner’s syndrome, muscular dystrophy, and even issues like life threatening food allergies. Last year our teachers provided 80,000 direct service hours to children with special needs, and a total of 180,000 hours to children of all ability levels. Just some additional demographics, 35 percent of our children are from low income families, 22 percent of our children receive tuition assistance through the voucher program. We have licensed, degreed teachers in all of our pre-school classrooms. Many of our assistant teachers are actually pursuing higher education as well for special education or early childhood ed. We have a long standing partnership with the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation in that we provide special ed services for them for children three to five years of age. We partner with other agencies such as United Way’s Early Childhood Development Coalition, the 4-C’s, and area colleges and universities to help them with teacher training and other community outreach efforts. We have a few challenges with our program, I’m sure you can imagine. Finding and retaining qualified staff is definitely a hardship for us, because early childhood, the profession as it stands is not one that’s highly paid. So, the demands of the job are not equal to the pay. Purchasing and maintaining equipment for children with special needs, this equipment is often very costly, and often times we have to make adaptations so that all children can participate fully in the program. As Deidra mentioned earlier some successes that we’ve had this year, we were re-accredited through the NAEYC, and we maintained a level four rating on the past equality program, which is the highest level. Just one thing to mention, we are one of five within a 50 mile radius of here that has these honors. We served over 165 children with and without special needs, ages six weeks to 12 years, last year, and one of the most telling statistics is that 45 percent of our children who received special ed services with us, who went into Kindergarten for this school year, either had an elimination or a reduction in services. So, it’s definitely saving funding for schools on down the line. Right now I would like to invite Tammy Burke, she’s one of our parents, to come and just tell you a little bit about her experience with the Child Life Center.

Tammy Burke: Hi, my name is Tammy Burke and I’ve got two kids that have been to the Child Life Center, and I’m very grateful for the Child Life Center. They’ve done a lot for us. My first child is Brandon Burke and he is a very loud, happy little boy that, he just bounces off the walls. He’s in Kindergarten now, but every day he asks me can I go back to the Child Life Center to go back to school. My second child is Preston, and he’s got some difficulties that we’re handling. He’s got four things going on, we’re still trying to find out what the fifth thing is. If it wasn’t for the Child Life Center and their response to recognize what was going on and to advise us to get help, we probably wouldn’t have gotten help as soon as we had. I am very thankful for every teacher there, because my child probably wouldn’t be as moved and advanced as he is now if they had not caught what was going on. Preston is two years old, almost two and a half, he’s not able to walk, talk, chew. He’s, we still don’t know why, you know, he’s not able to do those things, but thanks to the team there and all of the teachers, I mean, they sincerely work with him day in and day out. I’ll walk in at different hours throughout the day, I’ll see a teacher, you know, from a different classroom, you know, going, oh, my goodness, you’re not going to believe what he did today. I’m very grateful to every person there, and cannot tell you how much it means to me to have a place here in Evansville that I trust my child to go to. I’m very grateful. So, thank you.

President Tornatta: Thank you.

Deidra Conner: We do what we do at Evansville ARC very well, if I can say that on behalf of the agency. We do it for the people we serve, but we also do it for the family’s, because our ability to help children and adults be as independent as possible also allows their parents and their grandparents and their aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters to work and be active in the community and know that there is a place that their loved ones can go. Because of great supporters like the Vanderburgh County Commissioners, we have the ability to go over and above and be the best of the best, and I truly believe that we do that. We’re licensed by the State in terms of our child care facility, we’re regulated by Family and Social Services on the adult side, but we truly want to be the benchmark, the place that people go to to say we want to know how to do it right. Our CARF accreditation for the Child Life Center is a very rare thing. That’s one way that we do that. On the adult side, this summer we also went through our CARF accreditation, the Commission for Accreditation of Rehab Facilities, we not only were accredited but we had zero recommendations for improvement. A first for ARC, and only three percent of accredited facilities nationwide do that. We do that with our ISO registration at the manufacturing facility, and that is a hallmark of quality for manufacturing facilities. You are part of that. You allow that to happen. That partnership means so much to us. I say this every time I’m here, our successes are your successes. I mean that sincerely. We’re very appreciative of what you do for us. So, thank you. I don’t know if you have any questions for Tammy or for Laurie or for me.

President Tornatta: Anything?

Commissioner Winnecke: I would just say that your successes are the community’s successes, not ours. While we’ve been a financial partner for decades and the good work you do clearly improves the quality of life here. I applaud you, the staff and all the clients there. So, congratulations.

Deidra Conner: Thank you. I encourage anyone listening, we are available to families, whether they actually need our services or not. Part of what we do is provide guidance and support. We’re a phone call away, 428-4500. You can ask for me, personally, Deidra Conner, get on our website, evansvillearc.org. We are here as a community resource and we want to be utilized fully. So, thank you.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Deidra.

President Tornatta: Chris Walsh? Chris is our Highway Superintendent, and did something for the first time in Vanderburgh County. Chris, if you’ll kind of explain what we did.

Chris Walsh: I had a short slide show, but it went with my umbrella across the parking lot. So, I’m just going to have to wing it. I brought a couple of my drivers and I think I have one more driver out there. We did the practice session rodeo, which we hope to tie with the main state event next year. We did that out at Burdette Park a few weeks ago. I would like to thank Steve Craig and his staff for having us out there. They did a wonderful job. We started the day with some safety training, going around the trucks and then did a walk through on the actual course. BFI does a rodeo similar to what we’re trying to put on and it’s pretty big nationally. The snow plow rodeo for municipalities is pretty big as well nationally. We’re trying to tie into that, and we hope to make it a bigger show next year. Our objectives were safety training and get our drivers agility and awareness to a higher level. I think they can attest, all of these guys are veteran drivers, been on the road for many years, and they can tell you that the course was not an easy course to drive. So, we hope to grow this and hope to turn it into a nice little event in the years to come.

President Tornatta: Well, we would like to recognize some of the drivers that excelled in their areas. For outstanding driving, in second place in the 2009 snow plow rodeo Jim Brandle. Jim?

Chris Walsh: Is Jim here?

President Tornatta: Congratulations.

Commissioner Winnecke: Good job.

President Tornatta: Also, finishing second place for outstanding driving at the 2009 snow plow rodeo, Mark Bassemeier. Congratulations.

Chris Walsh: It was too close to call, so we had to have two second places.

President Tornatta: How many cones was that? Okay, and for first place in the 2009 snow plow rodeo, for outstanding driving, John Hauschild. Congratulations.

Commissioner Winnecke: Good work.

President Tornatta: John was kind of the one to beat when it all came out I heard.

Chris Walsh: Yes, and you came out and saw, and saw how difficult it was. I was hoping that everyone would buy into the idea of the competition and I think that everyone did. I think it did go a long way with some comradery within our department. What we want to do is show the community that we’re striving to be the most professional Highway Department in the state. I’ve got some terrific drivers and I’m awful proud to be with them.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Chris. Any questions? Thank you.

Chris Walsh: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Congratulations.

Jim Brandle: Thank you.

Mark Bassemeier: Thank you.

John Hauschild: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Okay.

(Applause)

President Tornatta: I mean, this course, this course left them scratching their heads when they got done. So, I mean this was a good thing.

Commissioner Winnecke: I hope that’s the hardest they have to drive their snow plows this season.

President Tornatta: Yes. Amen. Okay.

President Tornatta: Second and final reading of CO.11-09-018, amendment for fair housing ordinance. Revised ordinance to meet HUD guidelines.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I’ll move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, roll call vote.

Commissioner Melcher: Is there anybody from the audience? Okay.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: First reading of CO.12-09-019, amendment to county travel expenses ordinance. Ted?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The County Council determined that it would like to personally approve, as part of their cost cutting measures, they would like to personally approve travel requests and reimbursement for that travel beginning January 1, 2010. The county ordinance currently provides that the County Commissioners accede to those requests. Assuming that the Commissioners wish to permit Council to do that, as they would like, we’ve prepared this ordinance which would change the approving body from the County Commissioners to the County Council.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I’ll move approval as presented.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Software maintenance agreement with CourtView Justice Solutions for county court IT system. The agreement provides for the software maintenance of the courts IT system for a one year period from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2009 for a fee of $137,434, which has been appropriated by the County Council and approved expenditures by the State of Indiana.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

Commissioner Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: If there’s no problem with this can we take these two at once?

Commissioner Winnecke: I’m fine with that.

President Tornatta: Okay. Old Courthouse lease agreement with Jesika Ellis, Jenny Smith and Valda Alsop for suite 113. A rent of $297 per month for $3,564 per year. The second is an Old Courthouse lease agreement with Erin Ivie and Tricia Burns in suite 111. A one year term–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Thirteen months.

President Tornatta: –thirteen months, excuse me, $517.50 per month for $6,210 per year.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion?

Commissioner Winnecke: I would just offer that I’ve lost track, I think this is the sixth or seventh or eighth suite that we’ve leased out since we’ve entered into the agreement with the commercial division of F.C. Tucker/Emge and I think it’s been a great move for the county.

President Tornatta: And I do too.

Commissioner Melcher: I think we all agree to that one.

President Tornatta: Yeah, that’s right. Anytime we’re seeing more of these come across we appreciate it. Okay, we have a motion and a second. If there’s no discussion, roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: New business, request for extension of payment of back taxes. Owners of parcels that did not sell at the 2009 tax sale have been notified that back taxes are due in full by January 11^th. We’ve received a request for extension on payment of 1621 Florence.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Pardon me, we missed one lease. The third one is an amendment to the Quantum Health lease for suites 103, 104, 301 and 300.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Which you have there. What that’s doing is correcting a prior amendment. The prior amendment said that the lease would terminate November 30, 2008, and what the parties anticipated was November 30, 2010. This second amendment will provide for that.

Commissioner Melcher: Did you e-mail that today?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, this was sent....what’s today? The 8^th? It was sent on December 7^th.

Commissioner Winnecke: I’ll move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Back to new business. The extension, we have received a request for an extension on payment for 1621 Florence.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I would move approval, but I would be more comfortable if we set a deadline of March 1^st. I would like for this taxpayer to feel like there’s a date out there for them. So, I would move approval with a deadline of March 1^st.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Alright, real quickly, I would like to move to....Ted, do you have anything?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I do not.

President Tornatta: Okay. I would like to move to rezoning. VC-8-2008 , petitioner Majestic Place LLC. Hello.

Janet Greenwell: Good evening.

President Tornatta: Janet.

Janet Greenwell: Janet Greenwell with the Area Plan Commission. I know I don’t need to be long. We’ve all heard about Majestic Place a lot. I’ll tell you that on September 10^th Plan Commission voted, with no recommendation, with four yes and three no votes to send it forward to the Commissioners for their vote. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, so I think I will sit down and let other people speak.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Janet. Petitioner?

Les Shively: Mr. President, Commissioner Melcher, Commissioner Winnecke, the last time this matter was on your docket, I believe it was back in October following the vote by the Plan Commission. At that time the Commissioners tabled the matter, did not take any action, but instead formed a committee made up of representatives of the developer, representatives of the adjacent landowners to meet and to review and to discuss concerns and try to fine tune this particular plan. It’s my understanding that there were two meetings, and one of the major issues coming out of those meetings concerned the existing intersection at the overpass which provides access to the University of Southern Indiana, concerns about the future of University Parkway and overall traffic to be generated in that area. From these meetings, it’s my understanding that there was a request that a study be done of the entire University Parkway corridor. It’s my understanding too that the County Council has made some initial steps, if not they haven’t been completed by now, to fund such a study. So, rather than asking you to vote on this particular request, the action we are requesting on behalf of the developer/petitioner is that the Commissioners vote to send this matter back to the Area Plan Commission with the Area Plan Commission then to conduct another public hearing after the corridor study is completed and has been disseminated to the public so the public can review that study and any recommendations in that study. I would be happy to answer any questions that you have at this time.

President Tornatta: Any questions?

Commissioner Winnecke: No.

Commissioner Melcher: No.

President Tornatta: No questions at this time.

Les Shively: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Thank you. I guess, I would like to ask a couple of the people that have spoken and somebody who we’ve received a letter from, Stan Blaszczyk and David Robinson if you could please make your way to the front. Of course, we’ll listen to any remonstrator that wants to speak, but these two gentleman have, with Michael Lockard, and I’ll go down the list of names, have tried to herd the cats, so to speak, and get everybody in a, at least informed to a point to where we hope that they got as much information as possible. So, David, if you would want to start–

David Robinson: Yes.

President Tornatta: –and just tell us what you sent us.

David Robinson: Yes, thank you. We have had numerous meetings with the neighbors and numerous meetings with the three of you individually, and meetings with the developer individually and then as a group. Again, I want to thank you for those individual meetings, and thank you, Troy, for setting up this process. It has really worked well. This is really a welcome development to initiate and fund this study, because as one or more of you have said, we really have one chance to do this right, to get University Parkway right. The way that is going to be healthy not only for the westside, but for the entire county. So, we welcome this development. We’re looking forward to being a part of that. Again, thank you very much. I don’t think as a group we have any objection to it, but there may be individuals here who may have some objection to it, I doubt that, but, again, thank you very much. We look forward to working with you.

President Tornatta: Stan?

Stan Blaszczyk: I agree with Dave. I just want to say one thing here, I came across a quote, and it is by Albert Einstein. He said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Today we’re moving in the direction where we have citizens and elected officials really embracing that thought. This is a new way of doing things, I think, and I can assure you that we as a community will be there at every opportunity. We’ll be prepared, and we will be thorough. We really want to make this work for this community and this county. I think I speak for just about everybody here. Thank you.

President Tornatta: Thank you.

(Applause)

President Tornatta: Any questions? Is there anybody else that would like to say something to the request to take this back to APC until a corridor study has been done and that has been presented to the neighborhoods? Okay. Thank you guys.

David Robinson: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Do you have anything else to say?

Les Shively: No, sir.

President Tornatta: Okay, I would like a comment, if they wish, from the Commissioners, please.

Commissioner Winnecke: First of all, I would like to thank all of the parties involved; the developers, the remonstrators, the University, as well the professional staffs of the County Engineers office, the Area Plan Commission, the Metropolitan Planning Organization. What I’ve witnessed is a strong example of representative government. I applaud everyone’s patience and their perseverance. My opposition to the rezoning, as I have communicated to many people, is based upon the infrastructure and its ability, or in this case its inability to handle the large volumes of incremental traffic. All one has to do is try to drive to the University of Southern Indiana at a peak traffic time to understand just how bad the congestion is. Traffic counts performed as recently as this last spring by the MPO verified the anecdotal evidence, 6,400 cars a day use the west bound off ramp from State Road 62 to University Parkway. The MPO’s modeling for the year 2025 projects that growth to increase 58 percent just by using growth, current growth assumptions. It increases 115 percent by using a high density growth model. That’s almost 14,000 cars a day. INDOT has this information and I believe that it will ultimately help convince them to make a commitment to improve the interchange that we all know is needed. I will certainly continue to do my best to lobby for such funding. My last point really has to do with the proposed corridor study. I think it’s an excellent idea. I have two suggestions, first that we get input from many levels on defining what the scope of the study is. I think it’s important that the County Engineer start by defining the scope from his perspective, but also include input from the MPO, the APC, this office, the University and from concerned residents. Once the scope is defined and everyone understands what kind of data to expect from the study, then we should hire an appropriate consultant to do the work, and as part of that consultant’s work, I think it’s imperative that we require public hearings to be a part of that. I’ve said this before, Mr. Robinson said it, I’ll repeat it tonight, we have one chance to get it right, and as a result we’ll need input from as many interests as possible.

President Tornatta: Thank you. Steve?

Commissioner Melcher: That’s why I always let Lloyd go first. He says pretty much everything that needs to be said. I think a lot of you should also know that the Commissioners did set up a meeting with the State, and had that meeting with the State, and we were able to push more, because I want and I’m pushing for the State to take ownership of that interchange. I believe the County Commissioners years ago was wrong when they built it. They should have made the State build it up front, and they would have, but, I guess, they were waiting to see which one was going to flinch first, and the county did. So, that’s one of the problems that we have, but I think that’s something that we need to work with. We need to all understand we all work in this community together, we all live here together, so we want what’s best for all of us, the developer, and the residents and the traffic and everything that’s out there. So, with that, I think, is the committee still going to, is your committee still going to meet? The advisory–

President Tornatta: If need be.

Commissioner Melcher: Because that might be where you would be able to get your residents side that Lloyd said.

President Tornatta: Uh-huh.

Commissioner Melcher: That would already be the springboard and you’ve already got it sitting there waiting. So, I think that’s something that you should do. Thank you.

President Tornatta: Thank you.

Commissioner Melcher: I want to thank everybody for coming out in the rain tonight and going through our security this evening. So, I had to go around two entrances to get in. So, at least we know we got in.

President Tornatta: Okay. First off, I would like to thank Stan Blaszczyk for being a trailblazer in this movement. Very few would stick their necks out, as uncomfortable as this was for Stan. An engineer by trade, really this is not his forte, but he believed in the process and he came and he addressed things and he really, he impressed me with the way that he came out and took care of business in a manner. Now, the first time wasn’t beautiful, but we had talks, and he truly wanted to learn the process and learn, he did learn what it’s like sometimes to be a representative of the people. I can’t say that he’s going to jump into politics after that, but he did an outstanding job and I appreciate all that you’ve done, Stan.

(Applause)

President Tornatta: Somebody who is in front of people quite a bit, and really was a guy that helped bring all parties along, in my opinion, and sometimes threw some bones to Stan to help him with what he was not confident with, was David Robinson. David did the right things, and he seemed to do the right things all the time. I’m sure there will be a day in court that I won’t be on his side, if I were he’s well represented you all and he’s a fantastic guy that took a lot of initiative to move this process along. So, I thank David. The rest of the committee; Dewey Colter, at every meeting, including with INDOT; Fred Padget has been a champion for the westside; Michael Lockard burned more of my cell minutes than I’m willing to admit, but he has a passion for making sure that everyone is taken care of on the westside; Tammy Nasiatka was the lone lady and I’m going to tell you what, she stood in there with the boys and really made her presence known, and had we not had Tammy on there we would have missed a great component. So, I thank Tammy. Mark Rozewski, from USI, and Mark just took his knowledge that he has for city and county planning and helped break it down for us, and then gave us a lot of the aspects from USI. So, we appreciate Mark. From the development group, Joe Kiefer was not wearing his political hat at all, he was wearing his work hat. I think that’s strong to have a guy that could try and influence people politically that did not, because he did not want to cross that boundary. So, his integrity was paramount. Gene Hahn, Gene came to every meeting, and I don’t think is something that Gene’s ever done before, so this is blazing new territories for him as well. Then, you know, somebody from the development group took a lot of ribbing, Gene Pfeiffer, and Gene came to me and never once did he say anything that was inappropriate or try and coerce me in any way. He came to me as a guy that has development on his mind and an idea that he has, and although it might be ahead of its time, he has the best intent for that corridor and for his land. He’s a good man. So, I appreciate everyone understanding that Gene is a good man. For our government side, James Raben came to the meeting at the Highway Garage and really showed his true colors. He was there on the finance side, he really recognized that to get this done there needed to be some type of financing, so from the County Council and his district he pledged that he would do what he could to get that study financed, and we’re going to lean on Jim and the County Council a lot, and we appreciate his support. Thanks to the Commissioners for letting us go with this what we’re going to call a study group, because we found out we didn’t set up a committee, but we did set up a study group so we could all move back and forth with our ideas to come out with a resolution that you did on your own without the Commissioners moving you in a direction. One side made a motion, the other side agreed to that motion and you brought it to us, which is how things should be. Thanks to John Stoll and Bill Jeffers for all of their work. As the process has been delivered by Commissioner Winnecke, what I believe that we will do is work on that scope, get all who have been involved, involved. I appreciate those who have stuck with me in a time when I was not going to give you any answer from where I was coming from because I wanted those answers to come to you. It’s tough not to be able to tell people how you really feel, but I think that this group of neighbors, once they got the process, worked through the process to a “t” and they were able to come up with a decision that made sense at this time in our county. We did not wait for the storm to pass. We just learned how to dance in the rain. I appreciate all of you that danced with me. So, thank you very much, and as this goes.....yes, Stan?

Stan Blaszczyk: May I say something else?

President Tornatta: Absolutely.

Stan Blaszczyk: I just want to say I want to thank the three of you guys for coming to my house. You know, a lot of these people weren’t there in my living room, but you guys came to my house, and that’s part of this too. I never did believe when I started this that I would get you guys to even show up. You know, it’s amazing to me this process, and this is democracy in action. You know, you see all of these people, thank you so much for coming. You know, of the people, by the people and for the people, that’s what it’s all about. You guys have lead, and these people have lead, and it’s worked the way it’s supposed to. So, I just wanted to say thanks to you.

President Tornatta: And we’re not done.

Stan Blaszczyk: And we’re not done.

Commissioner Melcher: Just for the record, those were three separate events.

Stan Blaszczyk: I wasn’t trying to get you guys in trouble.

Commissioner Melcher: No, just for the record–

Commissioner Winnecke: We can do that on our own.

Commissioner Melcher: –three separate events.

Stan Blaszczyk: Yes, they were.

Commissioner Melcher: I’m glad I had my Jeep the first time I went out there, because it was dark.

Stan Blaszczyk: And, Lloyd, my son’s in the audience too.

Zach Blaszczyk: Right here.

President Tornatta: Alright, thank you. With that being said, do I have a motion?

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I’ll move that rezoning number VC-8-2008, Majestic Place LLC, be delayed, or rather be sent back to Area Plan Commission pending the outcome of a corridor study between State Road 62 and State Road 66.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second the motion.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Thank you all very much.

(Applause)

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta, just for the record, the correct rezoning number is VC-10-2008.

Commissioner Winnecke: I’m sorry. I apologize.

Madelyn Grayson: I have the petition here.

Commissioner Melcher: Yeah, I’ve got VC-10-2008.

Commissioner Winnecke: I’m sorry.

Commissioner Melcher: That’s the number, VC-10-2008. It started in 2008.

Commissioner Winnecke: We’ll just, we’ll go back and amend it here in a minute.

Commissioner Melcher: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Janet, let’s go ahead and go to the first reading.

President Tornatta: VC-1-2010, petitioner James Randall, James and Randall McCune.

Janet Greenwell: Yes, we thank you for taking it on short notice. We have made an accommodation to the public trying to get down zonings, we made exceptions to our filing deadlines so that they can get through the system a little quicker. They don’t involve quite as much work, so it’s easier. I thank you for putting it on. We would like to hear it in January, at our January 14^th hearing.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ve got a question first.

Janet Greenwell: Yes?

Commissioner Melcher: We talked about this before in the past, and maybe you and I have talked about this–

Janet Greenwell: Uh-huh.

Commissioner Melcher: –all this is due because of the banks not wanting to fund money and stuff unless they’re residential–

Janet Greenwell: This–

Commissioner Melcher: –at one time everybody went out and did these blanket industrial, and we’re trying to change it. We were talking about maybe doing some cheaper way for them also, have we ever got to that point?

Janet Greenwell: Um–

Commissioner Melcher: I know I talked to Brad about it a few times, and I said you really need to be cheaper because they’re trying to sell a house on Main Street–

Janet Greenwell: The biggest cost of a rezoning–

Commissioner Melcher: Is the advertising.

Janet Greenwell: –is the advertisement. I believe I told you last month Blaine Oliver went to the Courier Company and they did revisit their policy and we have had a couple of the petitions that have refigured their cost, and they did bring it down some. At this time the only legal way to finalize an ordinance is to have it published in the legal section of a daily newspaper. Unless there is something done at the State level where it could be done electronically, that’s the only way that I could see that it would be cheaper. We do have, Plan Commission passed a hardship, not an ordinance, just a policy, people who can’t afford to file, the filing fee, can request from our Director some leniency in the filing fees, and we have accommodated the filing deadline schedule so that we can take those particular types of zonings in late.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay.

Janet Greenwell: In this instance it was actually four weeks late. So, we’re stretching it.

Commissioner Melcher: No, I’m okay with it.

Janet Greenwell: Okay.

Commissioner Melcher: Because I understand a lot of time they’re trying to sell a house or they’re trying to buy a house and they’ve got to, and because it was zoned some way years ago. Okay.

Janet Greenwell: This is an unusual case because it’s not a legal non-conforming, but it had a covenant that was accepted when it was rezoned and the banks will not give clear title to the property–

Commissioner Melcher: No, no, I understand.

Janet Greenwell: –unless it’s rezoned.

Commissioner Melcher: And you still kind of help too, don’t you, on helping them so they don’t have to have all the words in the–

Janet Greenwell: Yes, we eliminate, we put the legals down, we eliminate all the duplications.

Commissioner Melcher: Well, and I think as long as you keep doing that, that really helps too. Thank you.

Janet Greenwell: We’re trying.

President Tornatta: Do you want to make a motion?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes, I’ll make a motion to approve it on a first reading.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion for VC-1-2010. Any questions or comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: I guess, the last one is VC-9-2009, petitioner Bryan Wright.

Janet Greenwell: Which is another down zoning. This is a C-4 zoned house at 12501 State Road 57. In order to refinance or sell they are going to have zone it down to residential and that’s what this petition is about. Plan Commission voted unanimously to approve.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I’ll move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Questions or comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: If we could go back to the mistaken identity.

Commissioner Winnecke: Yeah, I’m sorry, that was my mistake on the motion regarding Majestic Place. I read the wrong number. Mr. President, I will revise my motion and identify it as VC-10-2008, not VC-8-2008.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second the motion.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Questions, comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Okay, we’re going to go back to department head reports. Steve? Steve Craig, anything?

Steve Craig: Steve Craig, Manager of Burdette Park. I don’t have a lot of things. We’re in the process of getting ready for the busy holiday season and putting together some plans on remodeling stuff at Burdette, buildings, going through and taking care of what needs to be done. The one thing I do have, I want to pass out a Burdette rate that we had kind of went over, and I want you guys to take a look at and get back with me. We do need to get this in by next week so that we can get it into our computer system.

Commissioner Winnecke: So, Steve, as we....I’m sorry, is that alright?

President Tornatta: Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Sure.

Commissioner Winnecke: As we discussed earlier, the only changes that you are proposing now versus the changes that we had looked at previously are on the chalets, correct?

Steve Craig: Yes, sir.

Commissioner Winnecke: Okay.

President Tornatta: And that’s going to be, that’s going to try to be an upgrade of those chalets in a few different ways. So, that’s to try and just offset the cost of what that upgrade would be. So, I appreciate you going forth with that. Any other questions?

Commissioner Winnecke: No.

President Tornatta: Are there any questions of these? Or do you need to look at them?

Commissioner Winnecke: We can act on them next week, right?

Steve Craig: Yeah, yes we can have them till next week. I don’t know, it would be too late to do it on the 29^th. Or if you wanted to do them tonight you could, that’s up to you.

President Tornatta: I didn’t know if you had–

Commissioner Winnecke: I don’t have a problem with them.

Commissioner Melcher: Yeah, I won’t be here on the 29^th.

President Tornatta: I would just accept a motion, if there’s no questions.

Commissioner Winnecke: I have no questions. I’m glad we backed off some of the others, and I think the ten dollar increase for the chalets and given the improvements that we’re going to see is very reasonable. I would move approval as presented.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: How about that?

Steve Craig: Thank you very much.

Commissioner Winnecke: Thanks, Steve.

President Tornatta: Okay, thank you, Steve.

Steve Craig: You all have a good evening and be safe.

President Tornatta: Alright.

President Tornatta: Any old business of the Commission?

President Tornatta: Public comment? Doc, anything?

Ray Nicholson: Just for the record I would like to say that the immunizations for H1N1 has been going very well. However, there has been a lot of apathy among the public. I think that they’re being led to believe that this epidemic is over, and I want to point out that we’re just entering the flu season. Flu season usually traditionally runs, starts in October but it really picks up the first of December and goes all the way through to March. Usually this epidemic of H1N1 is a, comes in waves. This next wave could be coincident with seasonal activity. So, I would urge the public to get immunized. That is how you fight it. Only 17 percent of our population has been immunized. That’s not enough to stop an epidemic. If this picks up in its severity, we could be in a lot of trouble. So, I hope that the citizens will take this seriously, help themselves, help their neighbors, help their families and help the community as a whole. That’s how we’re going to do it.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Doc.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I read about this in the newspaper, are we now finished with tier one? Are we going, when you have immunizations now are they for everybody in the community? Or are we still limiting it?

Ray Nicholson: I wish we were finished with tier one, because we’ve only immunized 17 percent of tier one. However, we are going ahead and proceeding to the entire community, with the exception of nursing homes. We are going to open all the clinics to everyone, and then because only, I think, it’s like point six percent of the cases have been in nursing homes, we’re going to delay those until everybody that gets the vaccine that wants it. Then as soon as the demand goes down, then we will put it out to nursing homes also.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay.

Ray Nicholson: Or just offer it to them.

President Tornatta: Any other questions?

Commissioner Winnecke: I’m going to get mine.

Ray Nicholson: Fine, thank you. I got mine.

President Tornatta: Alright.

Commissioner Winnecke: Well, I haven’t gotten it yet, but I’m going to.

Ray Nicholson: Well, we have plenty of clinics scheduled in the coming days. The State of Indiana has offered this to selected pharmacies, and after the 20^th of December people will be able to go to a pharmacy and get it. There will be charges for those, where as the ones that we give will be free to the public.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Doc.

Commissioner Winnecke: Thanks, Doc.

Commissioner Melcher: Doc, since you’re up there, Doctor? Does the VA....up here.

President Tornatta: Here you go. Sorry.

Commissioner Melcher: Does the VA give those too?

Ray Nicholson: See, I don’t know. I would, I just don’t know.

Commissioner Melcher: I guess, I’ll find out on the 17^th.

Ray Nicholson: They would get it from a different source. We get the vaccine then we are able to–

Commissioner Melcher: Yeah, I thought you might know since you’re here.

Ray Nicholson: I don’t think we’ve given any to the VA.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay.

Ray Nicholson: I know we haven’t.

Commissioner Melcher: Alright. Thank you.

Ray Nicholson: I’ll look into that for you. Thank you.

President Tornatta: Motion to approve the consent agenda, please.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Madelyn?

Madelyn Grayson: The consent items for the December 8^th meeting are as follows; approval of the November 24, 2009 Commission meeting minutes; employment changes from the various offices; travel requests, one from Soil and Water Conservation District and one from the Health Department; County Engineer, approval of pay request number 94 for Burkhardt-Green River TIF projects in the amount of $27,454.45; County Clerk October 2009 monthly report; County Auditor November 2009 A/P vouchers; County Auditor Barrett Law lien releases, there are three for Evergreen Heights and ten for Oak Hill Barrett Law project; Weights and Measures monthly report from October 15^th to November 15, 2009; citizen concern comment cards regarding Majestic Place rezoning; Commissioners lobbyist activity report, and department head reports from Burdette Park and the County Engineer.

President Tornatta: Any questions? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: If there’s no additional public comment, motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

(The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of the November 24, 2009 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Citizen Concern Comment Cards Regarding Majestic Place Rezoning.

Lobbyist Activity Report: May 1, 2009-October 31, 2009.

Employment Changes:

Health Department (2)              County Clerk (2)                       Legal Aid (1)

Sheriff Office (1)

Travel Requests:                    Health Dept. (1)                        SWCD (1)

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 94: Green River-Burkhardt TIF Projects.

County Clerk October 2009 Monthly Report.

County Auditor:

November 2009 A/P Vouchers.

Barrett Law Lien Releases: Evergreen Heights (3) and Oak Hill (10)

Weights & Measures: Monthly Report: 10/15/09-11/15/09.

Department Head Reports:    Burdette Park                           County Engineer

Those in Attendance:

Troy Tornatta                            Stephen Melcher                      Lloyd Winnecke

Bill Fluty                                    Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Madelyn Grayson

Eric Bell                                    Elliott Bailey                              Michael Kercher

Lane Buente                             Jordan Belli                               Jeremy Belli

Deidra Conner                          Laurie Seals                             Tammy Burke

Chris Walsh                              Jim Brandle                              Mark Bassemeier

John Hauschild                         Les Shively                               Janet Greenwell

Stan Blaszczyk                         David Robinson                        Steve Craig

Ray Nicholson                          Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Troy Tornatta, President

Stephen Melcher, Vice President

Lloyd Winnecke, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)