The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 7^th day of February, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Cheryl Musgrave presiding.

President Musgrave: Good afternoon. I would like to call to order the February 7^th meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County. If you’ll please join me in the....oh, I’m sorry. I got ahead of myself. Introductions?

President Musgrave: We have the approval of the prior minutes. Is there a motion?

Gene Grigsby: Veterans Council

President Musgrave: Our first action is to welcome Mr. Gene Grigsby of the Veterans Council. Mr. Grigsby?

Gene Grigsby: Thank you, Ma’am. I’m very glad that you let me come up here and speak a little bit today. I am from the Veterans Council here in Evansville. I’m the adjutant there, and also the commandant of the Marine Corp League there. I do have a few certificates that I would like to give out, if you don’t mind.

Gene Grigsby: And plaques, so, I’ll just come forward, if that’s alright with you. This was in recognition to certify that President Cheryl Musgrave has made a generous contribution to the Council of Veterans organization of Vanderburgh County, and there’s one. This is a Marine Corp League certificate of appreciation, presented to Cheryl Musgrave.

Gene Grigsby: I’ve got some more. Here’s a plaque. I don’t know, I might as well take it out. One of them anyway.

President Musgrave: Oh, how beautiful. It says.” Freedom. A state of mind and a way of life.”

Gene Grigsby: What you did for this funeral is what it was about. It was great. Thank you very much.

President Musgrave: Thank you for coming, Mr. Grigsby. I really appreciate these, and I will hang them in my office, with pride.

President Musgrave: Next on our agenda is Torian Hofmann and Dillow to give us the yearly update on our insurance policies. We welcome Bob Dillow and Greg Hofmann.

Bob Dillow: Thank you very much. I have the pleasure of making the presentation. Greg is right to my right to catch me on any mistakes I might make while doing this. This is a good year for the insurance. Our purpose today is just to give you a brief of the overview of the primary insurance policy that renews in February of every year. The insurance will continue to be placed through Alternative Market Specialists. They’ve been the county’s insurer for approximately 20 years. Over the last three years property values have increased from 2004 at $116,895,740, to the 2006 number of $164,429,920. Largely because of just increases of cost of construction, plus, of course, the new jail. Payrolls for rating purposes have been increased three percent. The good news is, even with the operation of the new, larger jail, the increased property values, and the increased payrolls, the overall premiums, since we’ve started handling your insurance in 2004, have dropped approximately $50,000. This was done this year by a competitive bid process, as we promised to you that we would do. We found the companies that claimed to be competitive in municipal insurance, worked with those companies, got competitive bids, worked with the existing company to make sure that they were going to provide the best price for the coverage of the companies involved, and they were quite willing to do so. So, again, this is a good news report today to the county. Every year you pay an outside auditor, the gentleman’s names is Ken Bush, from Insurance Audit and Inspection, to audit us, the insurance policies and our procedures. We just today got a copy of his recent report. We’re reporting that to you to let you know that we take that report, send a copy of it to the insurance company, work very proactively to try to answer his questions and concerns. Last year one of his main topics of concern was eliminating something called uninsured motorist coverage as a redundant, unnecessary coverage for county government. That was done so, or that was done this year, and it helped reduce some of your premiums. So, Greg has been very instrumental in reading that report, and will be the person in our firm that will spearhead that process over the next few months, as we review the newest recommendations to try to see what can be accomplished in what he’s asking. We, this year, eliminated an exclusion that we found in the policy regarding domestic terrorism. The county has always had insurance coverage for foreign terrorism, but not domestic. This year that exclusion was eliminated, so, you do have full coverage this year for both domestic and foreign terrorism. Then, lastly, the claims paying organization that handles and administers all of your claims is Alternative Service Concepts. Also through a bidding process it was determined that we can continue to use them. Their deposit premium for 2005 was $72,812, in 2006 it’s $67,408. So, they dropped their deposit fees by $5,404. That’s in addition to the other monies that I already mentioned as a savings. So, again, from an insurance standpoint, even with the increased exposures in the county, this is a very good year. With that, do you have any questions?

President Musgrave: Just to clarify, I didn’t write the figures down, but I think you said we’re buying about $50 million worth of, more of insurance–

Bob Dillow: That is correct. From 2004 renewal year to 2006 it’s just a couple of hundred dollars shy of $50 million more coverage.

President Musgrave: That sounds just wonderful. Thank you for the work and the effort that you did to increase our coverage and to save us money at the same time. I do appreciate that. Is there, are there any other questions?

Commissioner Shetler: Just a comment, that I’ve worked closely with Mr. Dillow and Mr. Hofmann over the last couple of months, and they’ve done an outstanding job. In private business we aren’t seeing those kind of decreases in our insurance rates, I can assure you. So, for what they’re doing for us in the county, I think it’s exceptional. I think they are to be applauded for the efforts that they’ve put forward.

President Musgrave: Next on our agenda is region 14 public safety communications plan, but that has been moved to the February 22^nd meeting. So, we will hear that request at that time. Earthquake preparedness week proclamation. Is Mr. Greer here?

President Musgrave: I don’t know if it’s correct or not, but that’s what my notes are.

President Musgrave: Unless you would like to hold a special meeting on the 22^nd?

Sherman Greer: Just to let you know that this is earthquake awareness, or earthquake preparedness and awareness week. We used to do this in November, but as you know, this last November we were kind of busy. Now we’ve gotten on to the schedule of having earthquake awareness week with the states of Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. This way it’s not fragmented all over the place, we’re all doing the same thing about the same time of the year. So, that’s where we’re going to try to target to keep it, within the month of February. But, we would appreciate it if the County Commissioners would recognize that with a proclamation.

President Musgrave: Be happy to recognize it with a proclamation. What should people do during earthquake preparedness week?

Sherman Greer: Well, what we would like for people to do is to maybe look around their homes and try to maybe make themselves more aware of things within their homes. We’re not concerned about an earthquake just opening fissures up and people falling in to them and different things like that on the movie, Earthquake, that Charlton Heston was in years ago and everything. But, we’re concerned about and where people get hurt at home is having things that could topple over on top of them if we do have an earthquake of a 5.0 or above that could cause them problems. Also, they need to be able to walk around their houses on the outside and be able to look at those and see whether or not that there’s been any structural damage if we do have an earthquake. Now starting this year, on January the 2^nd, in the morning we had severe thunderstorms to roll through here, and at 3:45 we had an earthquake. So, what’s this year going to bring us and everything? But, still yet, we want people to be aware of their surroundings in their homes, and then put together a disaster supply kit. Not an earthquake supply kit, a disaster supply kit that can be used for any emergency or disaster situation that we may have. That’s where you have your flashlights and your batteries, your blankets, you know, all those different type things that should be kept in an area to where that if you have to leave and go with them, you’ve got them to be able to go. If you want more information about that, then you can get in touch with the American Red Cross or the Emergency Management Agency, and we can give you a list of those things that needs to go in to that disaster supply kit.

Sherman Greer: Yes, well, we have a, our number is 435-6020. The Red Cross’ number is 471-7200, and our website is through the city. Just go to the city website and county website and go down to the Emergency Management Agency.

President Musgrave: Alright, is there a motion to declare this earthquake preparedness week?

President Musgrave: I hope that your prediction regarding the lack of earthquakes is going to come true. Particularly the one with fissures. I don’t want any of those.

President Musgrave: Burdette Park, permission to award VC01-2006 and VC02-2006. Mr. Steve Craig?

Steve Craig: Steve Craig, Manager of Burdette. I would like to receive permission to award VC01-2006, pavilion restroom facility and splash park concession. The low bid on that was by ECI Construction.

Steve Craig: That probably has to do with the alternate one and three being added to it.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: It’s the base bid plus alternate one, minus alternate three.

Steve Craig: Okay, then I would like to receive permission to award VC02-2006, the Bishea building renovation. The low bidder on that was Wink Construction. The dollar amount on it was $53,350.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. When do you expect those contracts to begin and be completed?

Steve Craig: I expect them to begin immediately. The Bishea building, we would like to see it done within 60 days, because we do have rentals coming up. The other ones need to be done before this spring where we will be able to open up for the pool.

President Musgrave: Okay, we’ll look forward to cutting a ribbon, having a grand opening, or at least a tour. So, let us know when they are done.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Madam President? What you’ve done is award the bids, but you need to also have a motion to approve the contracts, and we have contracts in the file, which our office reviewed and revised, and they are satisfactory for execution.

McCarter and Associates: Extension of Consulting Services Agreement

President Musgrave: Contracts, agreements and leases. We have several contracts. Is anyone here from the County Assessor’s office? Would you like to make a motion on this contract which is to just extend the consulting services of our long term commitment.

Commissioner Nix: That’s what we were e-mailed, I guess? We got quite a few of them today.

Premis Consulting Group Contract

President Musgrave: Premis Consulting Group contract. Is there anyone here to speak to this? I see the county CIO, Matt Arvay.

Matt Arvay: Thank you. Matt Arvay, Chief Information Officer. The Premis Consulting contract is a group that I’ve identified that has experience in assisting with RFP development. The individuals that I would be working with in this development have experience in the city of Chicago and Indianapolis in Marion County. This would be for the development of the computer services RFP. The proposal is for $20,755, which would be split 50/50 between the city and county.

ISI Maintenance Agreement

Matt Arvay: The second contract is the ISI maintenance agreement. This contract is just basically a renewal of the original contract. That was a three year deal that expired at the end of last year. This new contract is a two year maintenance agreement. There was a slight increase from $19,600 to $23,160. That’s because the previous three years there was no increase, but we were able to get five additional days of on-site support, which we use every year. So, we are getting something for the maintenance increase costs. This is also a budgeted item, in the IT budget.

President Musgrave: County Commissioners, the YMCA agreement. I understand this is the annual renewal with a very slight increase for membership to county employees who choose to sign up for this service.

Mulberry Center: Employee Assistance Services Agreement

President Musgrave: The employee assistance services agreement is for mental health services. I believe we’ve had this contract with this vendor for many years.

Youth Resources Agreement

Midwest X-ray Agreement: Health Department

STOP Grant Renewal: Sheriff Department

IKON Lease Agreement: Purdue Co-Op Extension

President Musgrave: The Youth Resources agreement. I’m not sure if we can do these as a group. Commissioners, do you feel that we could do Youth Resources, Midwest X-ray, the STOP grant renewal and the IKON lease agreement as a group?

First/Final Reading of Ordinance CO.02-06-006

Amending Equal Employment Opportunity Ordinance

President Musgrave: We come now to the amendment of ordinance number 01-06-006. Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: This is just a further amendment to, wait a minute I’ve got to get down here, because you did several contracts all at the same time. I have mine in order. By the way, when you asked to do the Purdue Co-op was that included?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay. Ordinance number 2.90.015 was previously amended and failed to amend one paragraph of the ordinance that we intended to. So, this additional amendment today is correcting that. It’s designed to be approved on one reading, if you unanimously vote to waive second reading.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. The motion carries. Is there a motion to pass the ordinance?

Vision-e Grant Agreement

President Musgrave: I inadvertently skipped the Vision-e agreement. Commissioner Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: The, there’s some discussion that’s been going on for some time on Vision-e, and that is to look towards some regional development, as opposed to just Vanderburgh County in itself. There’s good prospects that this may come to fruition sometime during the next few months. If that would be the case, I’ve been assured that that money that we would contribute will be credited and go towards that regional Vision-e type program, as opposed to just staying within the Vanderburgh County operation. So, I wanted to point that out. We’re, the $150,000 that we are allocating is the same that we’ve given for the past several years to Vision-e, but if a new entity is formed, it will get credited towards that new entity.

President Musgrave: We come now to department head reports. John Stoll, County Engineer.

John Stoll: The first item that I have is a request for plan approval for the left turn lane at the Lynch Road and Cullen Avenue intersection, and also the traffic signal plan for the Lynch Road and Cullen Avenue intersection. The request for approval of the plans is subject to the developer following all applicable provisions of the settlement agreement that you had signed on January 10, 2006, and that the developer must obtain approval from the Area Plan Commission to remove his right turn only restriction from his plat approval for Heritage Park Subdivision, and that all work must be done in accordance with INDOT specifications. That’s referenced on the plans, but I just wanted to reiterate that here. Subject to those conditions, it’s requested the plans be approved.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to approve, subject to the conditions outlined by County Engineer Stoll?

John Stoll: Also, I needed to request approval to go to County Council to get an appropriation of $50,000 in account number 2030-4412, which is Old State Bridge number 1583. This is the bridge rehab project that Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates is currently designing. They’ve given us a preliminary cost estimate, and we need these additional funds in order to put the project out for bid. The plan right now is to solicit the bids in May, and then have construction done during the summer, because it will require road closure.

President Musgrave: Mr. Craig, have we covered all the items on your? Okay. Mr. Duckworth? I see no one. Mrs. Farrell?

Superintendent of County Buildings

B.J. Farrell: I do have Mike Duckworth’s late travel request, asking that they be given permission to go to Jasper, Indiana tomorrow. I would like to pass that down please.

President Musgrave: Okay, are there any other department heads I may have overlooked? I see none.

President Musgrave: We move to board appointments. SWIRDC, is there a motion to appoint Warrick County Commissioner, Carl Conner. We inadvertently appointed Randy Kron, and we need to rescind that, and re-appoint Lu Porter.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. The Board of Health, is there a motion to re-appoint Catherine Engel?

President Musgrave: New business? We come now to the request of the Daviess County Commissioner, Steve Myers, the time zone request. I didn’t particularly want to open any can of worms, but I did promise Commissioner Myers that I would bring this request to your attention. He is concerned about the Crane base and the switch to Central time that has recently been ordered, I guess, by the federal government, or the state of Indiana, or both of them. Apparently, Crane is having second thoughts about the desire to go to being in a different time zone than their counties to the north. They have a lot of employees who drive in, and they do a lot of business with other counties, and they are looking to fight the switch to the new time zone. In Commissioner Myers discussions he called the Governor’s office, and the Governor suggested that if Vanderburgh County, the Governor’s office suggested that if Vanderburgh County were to switch time zones to Eastern to be like the rest of the state, that probably the entire southwest district would then switch time zones as well, since, I guess, Vanderburgh County is the leader among the counties down here. So, he respectfully asked me, and I pass along his request to you, that we consider moving to Eastern so that the entire southwest district would hopefully move in that direction as well.

Commissioner Nix: And I don’t want to beat a dead dog here, a dead horse here either, but, you know, the bottom line is we’ve talked about this for quite some time now, and we’ve had a lot of discussion about it even before Commissioner Shetler was even on board, public meetings, and I just don’t think there’s an interest from people around here to go to New York time, if you will. I think that we live in the Midwest, and I think, for the most part, that people think that we need to stay on this time zone. Until I’m proven different, I personally feel that’s the best thing for this community. You know, I get that from, you know, from all the conversations we’ve had with people. You know, in the 14 months that I’ve been in office, I would say that 95 percent of the people that you talk to want to stay in this time zone. So, I think we need to stay there.

President Musgrave: And my reaction is, first of all, I can’t remember if this legislation is still moving, but the state legislature is considering a statewide referendum on the topic, and that if they indeed choose to do that, we ought to wait and see how that referendum turns out. But, I will say that in having to travel to Indianapolis a lot, I always welcome the season when we were on the same time. And we are never going to be on the same time with Indianapolis again, and I regret that. So, if I had my druthers, the rest of the state would join us in our time zone, because I agree with you, I like our time, but I really do not appreciate the fact that we are not all on the same time.

Commissioner Shetler: You know, I couldn’t agree more. Of course, we’re in a national business of transportation, but we have found that being in Central or Mountain time is the most cost effective for us, because we can deal with people on the east coast and only be an hour away, and people on the west coast and only be two hours off the beaten path. So, when you go to one of the extremes or the other, you’re dealing with a three hour spread. It’s difficult and costly. So, my advice would be for the rest of the state to join hands with us down here where it’s a lot more efficient. But, you know, again, traveling across the state, it is difficult. It’s challenging when you have neighboring counties that are not on the same time that we are. But, nonetheless, I would have a real difficult time considering it, for us to make that change to New York time.

President Musgrave: Well, I will let Commissioner Myers know the sentiments expressed here today, and wish him luck in his difficulties with Crane. We move now to the SIHE indemnity survey. I don’t think that this contract is ready to go yet, and I think we’ll see this next week. Basically SIHE has indicated verbally that they are willing to let the county get started on the process of drawing up the legal descriptions in order to transfer the right-of-way for the Burdette-USI bike path to the county so that construction could proceed when we get our grant. So, we’ll see that next week.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me. I mean, my information was they verbally agreed so that we could go forward. Is somebody requiring a written agreement?

President Musgrave: We’ll have to have an agreement with the engineer’s to go out on the–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh, well, I don’t have any information on that then, John, as to who they would be and so forth.

John Stoll: I got a draft agreement yesterday. You may not have seen it yet. I e-mailed it to you late yesterday, but it was just a boilerplate agreement with the standard language for the insurance. So, I suspect it was okay from your end, but the full agreement that I just received during the department head meeting earlier, so, I haven’t discussed it with any of you as of yet. So, hopefully, we’ll have it ready to go by next week.

President Musgrave: Recognition of Senate Resolution Two. We received a resolution, if you could pass that down here. The Indiana Senate followed suit with the Indiana House and has published Senate Resolution Two, which expresses memorialization of the individuals who lost their lives and to honor the individuals and communities affected by the tornado and severe storms in southwestern Indiana on November 6^th. The letter goes on to say that the members of the Indiana Senate also express our sympathy to those who lost their loved one and our appreciation for the many volunteers who were there to assist during this disaster. They offer their assistance, and the letter is signed by Richard D. Young, Jr., the minority leader of the Indiana Senate, and they gave several nice pages and copies of all the signatures. So, I wanted to recognize the Indiana Senate for taking the time to express their sympathy with the victims of the tornado on November 6^th. We have, we move now to old business. Well, is there another?

Commissioner Shetler: Yeah, I do have an item to add to the new business. That’s basically a request for Mr. Ziemer. If we could, I guess, draft an ordinance that would up the...currently the burial fees that we have for the veterans is $100. State law changed on that where you can go up to $1,000. My recommendation would be that we look at going to $250 next year, and then a $50 increase in subsequent years that would eventually get that up to something in the neighborhood closer to $500. Also, to look at anyone who is killed in the act, in action, while on duty, that they would receive the maximum of $1,000 burial. Now, I understand that there’s been a question that’s come up before in regards to the present ordinance that has to do with spouses and how that’s all dealt with. I don’t know if we have an answer to that yet, but, I guess, that’s the time we should answer, get that all taken care of.