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Board of Commissioners January 10, 2000
President Jerrel: I'd like to call
the Board of Commissioners to order. At this time I would like to introduce
you to the people before you. On the far right is Tony Greubel, Superintendent
of County Buildings; next to him is Joe Harrison, Jr., County Attorney;
Commissioner Pat Tuley; on the far left, Charlene Timmons, Recording Secretary;
Suzanne Crouch, County Auditor; Richard Mourdock, County Commissioner;
and my name is Bettye Lou Jerrel. Would you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?
President Jerrel: The first item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes. Commissioner Tuley: I'll move approval of the minutes of the January 4th meeting. President Jerrel: And I'll second
and say so ordered.
President Jerrel: The next item on the agenda we have the annual report from the Domestic & Sexual Violence Commission. Barb Miller: Good evening. President Jerrel: Thank you. Barb Miller: Detective Stefanich could not be here this evening. He presented with me last year. We...I hope you have had an opportunity to look this over. We've completed the fifth year in existence for the Commission and each year I think we have accomplished more and more. When I think about what I think our greatest accomplishment is I think it's really our mere existence. There have been a number of communities throughout Indiana as well as Kentucky who over the years have contacted us because we are gaining, I think, a very good reputation for being a community that collaborates well, that has had the opportunity to bring city and county government together as well as agencies, law enforcement, courts, prosecutor's office, to work together for a common goal and that is basically to take a stand as a community that says we will not tolerate domestic violence and we'll hold abusers accountable. The work that you see before you I could elaborate on any number of the points, but I think we have really achieved a great deal. On the enforcement end we're gathering a variety of different kinds of education or information from law enforcement officers so that we can give them the kinds of training that they need. We're also collecting input from individuals who are getting protective orders. Judge Knight came up with a survey that considering it is totally voluntary we had 100 people complete the very first month that we started doing this. This is giving us an idea of not only who is getting protective orders, but do they know about the services that are available. What are they getting protective orders for? So a lot of things that we're doing to gather information I think will give us a clearer picture of what domestic violence looks for or looks like in the community. Commissioner Tuley, I think it was you last year that asked us about how we compare with other communities and that is really hard to tell. Domestic violence is one of the most common yet least reported crimes in our country, but I think you will appreciate the section that we put in there on statistics because it will give us a base by which to compare for future years and not only can we look at this from the prosecutor standpoint, but from police officers and what we are being able to tell about their runs. Education wise we've collaborated or added a collaboration component. The individual that you appointed last year was Stan Young from the Evansville Black Coalition. Stan is a great example of just a real grass roots outreach worker that brings to the commission I think just a great energy for how we can reach hard to reach populations. So a lot of the work that the education committee has done has been to reach diverse populations not only in terms of workshops, but also in the media. I think we've picked up some different areas of interest such as the Safe Pet Program with the Humane Society. If you look at statistics there is a correlation between especially child abuse and animal abuse, so by bringing them in, you know, they just become a great player. The Safe Pet Program is a good example of a program that will offer an alternative to a family who would seek shelter if they had something to do with the family pet. I can't tell you how often that comes up that they just won't leave the dog at home. They can't find someplace to keep the cat. So this is just a couple of examples of different things that we're doing to try to not only work with community agencies, but hit diverse populations in our community. President Jerrel: Are you working on a curriculum for the schools, too, to try to integrate that? Barb Miller: Yes. President Jerrel: I've spoken with Vic a few times about what they could do in the health curriculum so I am hoping that happens. Barb Miller: We were...we provided workshops and were in the, I think, it's the enrichment workshop curriculum, yes, in the fall of `98. We decided not to go that route in `99, but to do something different with the schools and Vic will be chairing the education committee for the upcoming year. President Jerrel: Good. Barb Miller: So I think that will be an excellent opportunity. We're also going to be concentrating on work place violence. Those two areas, I think, are just scary to all of us as far as the number of violent episodes that are occurring not only in the schools, but in the work place as well. So those are two areas of emphasis for the education committee. President Jerrel: Are there any questions from the Commission? Commissioner Mourdock: Not a question, but I just noted in the letter of December...I'm sorry, November 17th, several of the local things that had happened which was that Detective Stefanich-- Barb Miller: Stefanich, uh-huh. Commissioner Mourdock: Stefanich, was recipient of the US Attorney General's Office for outstanding contribution to the rights of victims and then they also received several other different awards through the year, so that's great work. Barb Miller: That was an especially great honor. That was the first time we learned from Carol Morris, from the US Attorney General's Office, that this was the first time that they had ever given this award to a law enforcement officer who was nominated by advocates. They, I think, were just so pleased to see how much we had worked together and Darren Sroufe from the Evansville Police Department also received an outstanding award. That just says an awful lot. I think five years ago, quite honestly, you had police officers who often looked at advocates as do-gooders and advocates who thought police officers just didn't get it when it came to domestic violence and that has changed so much really just through our work on the commission. We have an opportunity to work with individuals on a day in and day out basis it has changed the attitudes and the compassion dramatically. President Jerrel: I have one question about the objective under the repeated calls, the protocol for the repeated calls reporting violence. Barb Miller: Yes. President Jerrel: Have there been any considerations to identify certain areas where you get these one call right after another and then you may have a down spell, but frequently that is when you have a bad situation develop and it's dangerous for the police as well. Barb Miller: That's a very good point. We did identify that and the south sector has a great many of the calls. In our pure advocacy program that was started three years ago which was really a commission initiative we started working with law enforcement by doing follow-up calls particularly in that area so once a week we get a listing of where those calls are coming from and representative from our agency goes with a law enforcement officer and they do follow-up calls to the victims. President Jerrel: That's excellent. Barb Miller: It is. I think it has worked very well. It's real hard to follow up and not know if you are putting people's safety in jeopardy, but that has worked quite effectively. Commissioner Tuley: I don't have a question, I just have a comment. This is a very nice report and I appreciate those statistics that you put in there. Barb Miller: Thank you very much. Thank you for appointing Christy Baker to our commission. She will be the first one that we've had from the university setting and I think that she will just provide a lot of great talent to the commission. President Jerrel: We're glad to have your recommendation. Barb Miller: Thank you. Any other questions? President Jerrel: Thank you very much. Barb Miller: I appreciate your time.
President Jerrel: The next item on the agenda, Bill Cottun. Bill Cottun: Good evening, I'm Bill Cottun, the Account Executive with Systems & Computer Technologies. We have brought a request before you for a favorable receipt of a recommendation for computer quotes. At the behest of the city attorney for the Public Board of Works we went out and quoted to three local vendors or regional vendors for pricing on three computers that we consider to be the ones that are going to be most purchased by the city/county of the next year. These computers are for office type applications. They do not...they're not good for GIS work stations or computer network servers and things like that, but good for desktop applications. Last year we had about 13 computers on our quote list and we found that we only used three computers for one hundred percent or almost one hundred percent of our purchases, so we really boiled things down to make it easier on everyone. We have recommended to continue using the services of Matrix Integration. They were the lowest bidder or lowest quote on two of the computer systems that we had. We have an excellent track record with Matrix. They supplied I believe it was 356 computers to the city/county last year. Their service has been excellent and they have been a very good vendor for the city/county to deal with. As with last year their quote also includes a lowering of any prices that are passed on to them from Compaq. They will lower the prices to the city accordingly or to the city/county accordingly. This is also a not to exceed price. If prices do go up which to be very honest I don't expect them to then they will cap these three machines at these prices. The machine...or the cost of the machines have gone down approximately 28 percent over last year's prices and we have an increase in the specifications, the servers or the processor speed has significantly increased over last year mainly because of technology advancements, not because they were just throwing in higher processors for the fun of it. The city and county is under no obligation to purchase any computers from this quote. This simply simplifies our process. We always have to get three quotes on a machine before we can purchase them. This standardizes it for one year so we don't have to go out for the next couple hundred machines that are purchased and quote each one of the individually. President Jerrel: Are there any questions? Commissioner Mourdock: Just want to clarify, Joe, you've had a chance to look this over? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes, it's fine and I am assuming the Board of Public Works acted on this last week? Bill Cottun: They did today. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Today, okay. Bill Cottun: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of the purchase agreement with Matrix Integration based on the recommendation of Mr. Cottun. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Thank you. Bill Cottun: I would like to give you one quick update relating to Y2K. The city/county made it through just fine. Through the foresight of the County Commissioners and I would also like to say through the foresight of Mayor McDonald of the previous administration the city and county aggressively addressed Y2K. They spent a lot of money, I would consider very prudently. The Commission was very involved through the Data Board in determining what should and should not be addressed. I want to thank you for passing onto me a good nights sleep on the New Year. I was not concerned. We had people on-site here and also out at Central Dispatch. They were bored to tears to be very honest, so I want to thank you for your foresight. Commissioner Mourdock: Did we have any...I realize we didn't have any true Y2K problems. You and I had some correspondence several weeks before about copycat viruses and things that were programmed, did we have any of that? Bill Cottun: We had zero attacks of any type against our system, anything passed on that was in any way related to I'll say a pseudo Y2K attack. We had absolutely none of that whatsoever. Commissioner Mourdock: Just so I have someone to share a little misery with. We have six of us in our organization that uses the same type of laptop computer and I really don't think it was Y2K truly, but I think there was a little Y2K look-alike virus and for some reason none of us can use our modems. It's a heck of a coincidence if it wasn't something set up for that, so now we've got built in modems that we're trying to restructure. The computer works fine but we can't call out. I'm glad it went well. President Jerrel: Thank you very much,
Bill.
President Jerrel: The next item on the agenda is the vacation of an easement. Would you want to review this? Commissioner Mourdock: No, no it's fine. I just read something. I should of had these on. President Jerrel: Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: Mark Miller is here for this one, too. President Jerrel: Mark, would you like to speak? Mark Miller: Thank you. This particular vacation request is made by the Evansville Clean Cities Alliance on behalf of Busler Enterprises, Incorporated for the purpose of completing and establishing a second publicly accessible refueling location for natural gas powered vehicles. Funding came from a state energy project grant to establish a location which helps build a corridor of refueling infrastructure. This location was picked back in 1996 because it allows building the corridor from Evansville east to Louisville for refueling. Also Evansville west to St. Louis and barring the construction of I-69 north to Indianapolis via Terre Haute as well as providing a location whereby we can start to collect and attract other fleets from northern Vanderburgh County and southern Gibson County. So that's why the location, but once we got things going we discovered that the easement along that county roadway is a little bit larger than normal. Instead of being a 50 foot easement it's an 85 foot easement and so there was an encroachment problem. We requested a parcel of 26 wide by initially 90 feet wide, but after checking with Ameritech they have a switch block located up near the northern end so that was trimmed back and we refiled. That's why it is only 85 feet by 26. That should clear up almost all of the encroachment problems existing with the sign island out there at Busler's as well. President Jerrel: Are there any questions anyone would like to ask Mark? Commissioner Mourdock: Again, Joe, you had a chance to review this, I presume? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes, and I have had a chance to talk to John Stoll in the past about this and this is a first reading and the final reading will be January 24th. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval on first reading of the vacation of the easement at 915 Ruffian Way as requested. Commissioner Tuley: Second. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Again, this is a public hearing if anybody else would like to comment. President Jerrel: Is there anyone before I finalize the motion that would like to speak to this issue? Seeing none, I'll say so ordered and we'll have you back for the final...have you sent it, Charlene? Charlene Timmons: Pardon? President Jerrel: The final? Charlene Timmons: Yes. President Jerrel: The 24th. Mark Miller: Thank you very much. President Jerrel: Thank you.
President Jerrel: The next item on the agenda is the Auditor for permission to advertise. Charlene Timmons: That's another vacation of an easement in Eagle Plaza Subdivision and they have requested a hearing date of January 24th for their first reading and public hearing. President Jerrel: Is there a motion to permit the advertising of the hearing? Commissioner Mourdock: Again, Joe-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: It's just permission to advertise. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, I'll move approval of the permission to advertise for the vacation of the easement on Lots 15 and 16, Eagle Plaza Sub. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: The next item is a first reading relating to the public defender ordinance. Joe. Joe Harrison, Jr.: The reason for this amendment to the public defender ordinance is to delete the previous inclusion of the statute which specifically exempted certain larger counties in the establishment of a public defender ordinance. Although many of these larger counties have in fact included such language in their ordinance and have participated or are participating in the public defender statute. What is done by this amendment is to establish the creation of the public defender commission locally by way of local home rule. That's 36.1-3-4(b) and I have deleted the previous reference to 33.9-15-3. That's the nature of the amendment just to be completely legal in case someone would want to challenge at some point down the road. We could of enacted the ordinance through the home rule statute to begin with, but we made reference to the Indiana public defender statute. What I am asking is that this be approved tonight and then the second reading would be the 24th of January and we will then publish the ordinance thereafter within 30 days of final approval. Commissioner Mourdock: So is it correct to say, Joe, this is just kind of a corrective action? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. President Jerrel: It's the first whereas. Joe Harrison, Jr.: It's the first whereas. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, right. President Jerrel: It really is the... Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, literally. I'll move approval of the amendment to the Vanderburgh County public defender ordinance as recommended by the County Attorney. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. The next item on the agenda, County Attorney-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: If I could, why don't you have a roll call vote on that if you don't mind and then we'll have it on the 24th as well. Thanks. President Jerrel: Alright. Commissioner Tuley? Commissioner Tuley: Yes. President Jerrel: Commissioner Mourdock? Commissioner Mourdock: Yes. President Jerrel: And I vote yes.
President Jerrel: County Attorney, detention. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes, the next item is the jail detention officers' collective bargaining agreement, the proposed agreement entered into which has already been approved by the Teamster Local 215. This relates to the jailers who work in the county jail. One of the major changes from the previous contract is the wage increase for the jailers. They'll be receiving under the contract 50¢ additional...50¢ an hour in 2001, an additional 50¢ per hour in 2002 and in the year 2000 an additional 50¢ per hour beginning in July of this year. That's the substantial change in the monetary consideration of this agreement. There are some other changes as well that are different from the previous one, but for the most part that is the major change. The other thing is clothing that I will mention. There is a clothing allowance increase from the previous amount I believe was $752 or $728 up to $1,000 per year, but those are the main two differences and I would ask that you all give this favorable approval and the union ratified the agreement on January 3rd and the agreement was signed by Chuck Whobrey, the Business Manager and President of Teamsters 215 on January 4th. President Jerrel: Before we call for a motion just one comment. The AIC did some research for us and this was a valid concern to bring our jailers up to at least the average, so I think it was the appropriate thing to do. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of the jail detention officers' collective bargaining agreement as submitted. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Is there anything else? Joe Harrison, Jr.: That's all I have on that. I'll bring up some other issues in my report. President Jerrel: Okay.
President Jerrel: Any individual or
group that wishes to address the board at this time?
President Jerrel: Hearing none, County Engineer. John Stoll: I've got an agreement between the county and INDOT for the reimbursement of the $8,000 that we spent for the additional work out at the Replas frontage road project. We had submitted one claim form to INDOT and they turned around and sent us this agreement that needed to be signed off on, but once this is signed we can get the $8,000 back that you had approved last summer whenever we had found that the pavement section was inadequate out there on the existing portion of that frontage road project, so I would like to recommend that this agreement be approved. Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Commissioner Mourdock: On that general subject, John, do you know or have you heard anything from Matrix? Did they get their reimbursement back from the state through Metropolitan Development? John Stoll: I know DMD had gotten some reimbursements, but I'm not sure how they were distributed back to Replas, so I can check on that and let you know. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, please do because I know it was a lesser amount than what a lot of folks thought originally, but then the bid came in less than what we thought. John Stoll: Right, I was going to say I know that the reimbursement was based on a percentage of overall cost of all work including our work, so that may have played into it, but I can check on that. The second item I've got is a change order for the Broadway bridge replacement. This is bridge 272 that was just completed last month. On the previous change order we had thought that all the overruns on the sand backfill had been taken into consideration, but the contractor had presented some additional tickets for some additional sand that was placed out at the project, so this is a change order for an increase of $2,624.90. It's recommended that this be approved. Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. John Stoll: I've also got a street acceptance request for Keystone Subdivision Section 6C. This is for 175 feet of Eastbourne Drive, 298 feet of Saybrook Drive and 273 feet of Rimridge Drive. These streets were inspected and they were built in general accordance with the approved plans and it is recommended that they be accepted for maintenance. Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. John Stoll: And I just wanted to mention the signal out at Red Bank and Lloyd that was brought up last week I never wrote the letter that you had talked about, Bettye Lou, because I found out that the plans for the signal upgrade through Gene Hahn's project do provide left turn phases for both northbound and southbound traffic, so that will be taken care of as soon as the lawsuit is settled. I've not gotten any verification that the lawsuit has been settled just yet. President Jerrel: What happens if that goes on for-- John Stoll: I was told by one person that they lawsuit had been settled, but I haven't been able to verify that yet. Commissioner Tuley: We haven't got official notice, but I believe it has been. President Jerrel: Okay. John Stoll: So as soon as I can verify that then I can let you know. President Jerrel: Okay. John Stoll: But the signal plans do include that left turn phase so that should alleviate the problem you were talking about, Pat. Commissioner Tuley: Thank you. President Jerrel: John, a couple of things that the...I know Pat and I talked a couple of times about some water and ditches and I wonder if you could send me...I think it was Tom...you sent someone out to Sarah Chambliss. John Stoll: I'm trying to remember which one that was. President Jerrel: She said you sent someone from your department. John Stoll: What was her address? President Jerrel: I have it in there. Or, Tony, you could probably get it. Tony Greubel: Oh, you're talking about Sarah Chambers? President Jerrel: Chambliss. Tony Greubel: Yeah, I have that address. John Stoll: Okay. The name doesn't ring a bell, but we've had several complaints. President Jerrel: She said that you had sent someone out and if they could just give us, you know, kind of a documentation of what they saw and what is needed. John Stoll: Okay. President Jerrel: Particularly they were talking about the drain. It's all on the easement and it relates to the developer's work that is causing the flooding. She has a garage or a pole barn that is near that. John Stoll: Is this the one you were talking about? Commissioner Tuley: No, it's a different one. President Jerrel: This is a different one. The other one was Goldman. Commissioner Tuley: Right. President Jerrel: So Goldman and Chambliss. Commissioner Tuley: Right. President Jerrel: If you could kind of...if you could give us the background on what you think maybe we could do regarding Batteiger. Commissioner Tuley: That's the Peerless one. John Stoll: Peerless-- President Jerrel: Yeah, Peerless. John Stoll: --and Huckleberry. I talked to Bill Jeffers last week about that and he's got the old 1969 contour maps. The way it looks to me there used to be a natural drain that cut across the corner of Batteiger's property and in looking at it if I can find the contour map that supports that I don't think that they did it right when they filled that ditch in and rerouted that through the county right-of-way, but in doing so I guess that's when I'll have to talk to Joe because I'm not convinced that is the county's responsibility to fix. But once I get that I can write something up on that. President Jerrel: None of these may be-- Commissioner Tuley: Yeah, and I'm not sure the one I talked to you about is either. President Jerrel: But at least if we can offer them any help or suggestions I think that's what we were trying to do. John Stoll: Okay. We've had so many of them and like I said the name Chambers doesn't ring a bell. President Jerrel: I thought it was C-h-a-m-b-l-i-s-s. John Stoll: Chambliss, okay. President Jerrel: Yeah, I think that's what I had. Pat went one place and I went the other, so if you would just, you know, just sometime next week send us...if you have anything. John Stoll: Okay. Commissioner Tuley: Have you had conversations? Apparently you knew that lady's name. John Stoll: Yes. Commissioner Tuley: Okay. John Stoll: Last year or maybe two years ago. It looks like all of West Terrace-- Commissioner Tuley: Oh, she told me because you went out and met with them and recommended pipe sizes or something and they replaced that pipe. John Stoll: It looks like at one time a pipe was put across West Terrace that took...there was no ditch pipes. It looks like somebody filled the ditches in on the south side of West Terrace, so at one point a pipe was put across the road on West Terrace to take the drainage that comes through that valley to the north side which in turn gets it on the side with her garage. Since then there have been some ditch pipes and driveway pipes added on the south side of West Terrace and it looks like it should split the flow, but given the way the back slope of that ditch has such a...the bank is so shallow it's going to be tough to keep water out of there if it is the same problem she has called you about. Commissioner Tuley: I think you guys may have just been out their recently, too. She told me two guys in a white truck-- President Jerrel: I thought I saw some familiar-- Commissioner Tuley: --were out there. Erik Bentle: Yeah, we were out there talking to her and her husband. President Jerrel: Well, maybe they thought...I don't know, sometimes they get the departments mixed up. Commissioner Tuley: No, she didn't remember the names, but she said two guys in a white truck and she said one of them had kind of beard like thing. I said it sounds like to me that the two of you were out there. John Stoll: She has got that ditch that runs along her west property line that is all out of county right-of-way and that was one of the things that she had asked us about cleaning and I told her we couldn't do that. Commissioner Tuley: No. John Stoll: We could only work within the right-of-way. Commissioner Tuley: Yeah, that was basically what I told them. There is no way that this is county right-of-way to the west. John Stoll: Right. Commissioner Tuley: But I think they're just looking for some possible solutions. John Stoll: Okay. President Jerrel: I think I had you mail one of our obstruction ordinances-- Commissioner Tuley: To them? President Jerrel: To somebody, yeah, to them. I think so. Commissioner Tuley: Let's see if we can resolve it before we go there if we can. President Jerrel: I know, but they might as well have everything. Commissioner Tuley: Oh, yeah. Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: Are you done with your others, John? John Stoll: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: I have two then. I got two calls a week ago. Is it Cross Pointe Boulevard that runs north/south? Cross Pointe Drive or whatever it is called? John Stoll: Yes, Cross Pointe Boulevard. Commissioner Mourdock: You almost need to see it, but I got two calls from people who had hit the curb unexpectedly and blew a tire or otherwise bent a rim. They were heading southbound and that concrete median...not median, but-- John Stoll: Just north of Indiana Street? Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, exactly. At the very least we need to see if we can't otherwise get some reflector out there on the curb itself or on the side because it requires people to move to the right and basically go from two lanes of traffic to one and it was odd that I had never gotten any calls about that and then two different people blew a tire on that. John Stoll: Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: So we've got some liability there. The second one, have you heard anything or how are we doing with the...I've forgotten his first name. It might be Gene Wilner out there off Inglefield Road. I know you were going to look at it. Jeffers was going to look at it. John Stoll: Yeah, I talked to Bill Jeffers sometime, I don't remember the date, but sometime last month about him getting one of his survey crews out there to see what kind of-- Commissioner Mourdock: They've been out there. I just didn't know where we were from there. John Stoll: Oh, I hadn't gotten any data back from them so I didn't know they had even been out there yet. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, if you would make a call. A week ago when we had all that rain I got in my truck and did a quick drive down through Strawberry Lane or Strawberry Hill and back through all those areas where we traditionally had problems and I am pleased to report that while the road was totally flooded in a few spots acting almost as a temporary detention basin like it was designed to I didn't see any water getting into any homes or houses or anything else. I also went down Anthony Drive. President Jerrel: Oh, I know, can you believe it? John Stoll: I did, too. Commissioner Mourdock: Anthony Drive was amazing. John Stoll: I saw some nice debris lines out in Anthony Drive, so they got a lot of water. Commissioner Tuley: He did call. Mr. Bell did call me. Commissioner Mourdock: And said? Commissioner Tuley: Well, it was on another matter. Commissioner Mourdock: Oh. Commissioner Tuley: And when he told me I said, wait a minute, it just poured down rain and you're not calling me to talk about a drainage problem? He said basically what we said from the beginning. It did not totally correct everything, but it sure made it a whole lot better than what it was. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, I was amazed when I drove down there. It was still raining pretty hard then. Commissioner Tuley: I was getting ready to check it out. Commissioner Mourdock: The water on the new bridge on Strawberry Hill, the water looked like maybe that close from going over the top of that bridge. John Stoll: I heard about similar circumstances around several different bridges and culverts where it was a foot from the top of a box culvert here and then. President Jerrel: Of course, five and a half inches in that length of time-- Commissioner Tuley: In that short time. President Jerrel: --is going to cause that to happen. Commissioner Mourdock: Oh, yeah, but what happened before, I'm not sure why there were a lot of causes, but as Bill Jeffers would say we had a lot of leaves plugging off inlets and all those kinds of things, but at least everything out there seems to be working. Did we get any calls on anything that was county derived that failed? Erik Bentle: Commercial Court, but that's a constant battle there. John Stoll: And we've got the plans for that which Clark Dietz has drawn up. Valerie is doing the final review on that so within the next few weeks we should be able to get that out for bid. I just need to get in touch with you, Bettye Lou, about what account we wanted to pay that out of, but we should get that one knocked out of here yet this year as well. Commissioner Tuley: Totally unrelated, but I've gotten two comments recently about the new bridge on Broadway. John Stoll: About the paving? Commissioner Tuley: The paving. What is the deal or the status on that? John Stoll: The paving was done late in the day to try to get it open because we were getting so many complaints about it being closed and that was part of the problem. I think temperature wise it was getting too cold for them to get it rolled out before it cooled off too much. I think the eastbound lane right as you get on the bridge probably needs some additional work. Westbound I didn't think it was that bad, but we've gotten plenty of phone calls on that as well. Valerie was out there today and she thought some of the asphalt looked like it was crumbling so we're going to get in touch with the contractor and see what kind of repairs we can get done to the asphalt, but temperature wise it is pot luck whether we'll get it done now or sometime when the temperatures stay consistent, when we can count on the temperature staying consistently high. President Jerrel: Okay. Thank you. John Stoll: Thanks. Commissioner Tuley: Thanks, John.
President Jerrel: County Highway Department. Erik Bentle: You've got my reports from last week and my work schedule for this week. One other thing I want to apologize for, I should of had this pink slip in for Dennis Dooley in last week. It completely got sidetracked. What he is wanting to do is he is requesting a six month leave of absence without pay to go to a school to become a monk, so he is not for sure whether or not he will be back as a county employee or not. It's up in the air right now. President Jerrel: Okay. I just brought this in. Here, Joe, you want to take a look at that real quick, the line that relates to that in the contract. Because he has requested his insurance and does he realize that if that is granted that he pays the employee part? Erik Bentle: Yes, it was told to him before he decided this. President Jerrel: See the line. That's the only line that references that and that's under the old contract. Joe Harrison, Jr.: It's in the new one, too. President Jerrel: Okay. Erik Bentle: Do I need to get that approved or do we need to-- President Jerrel: Yeah, you need to add...I mean, I can write it on there, but it should be with your approval. Commissioner Tuley: The pink slip is in there. President Jerrel: Yeah, with your approval without pay. That part needs to be added. Erik Bentle: The other thing I wanted to ask you about if you have made any other thoughts or decision on the County Garage picking up the Internet? President Jerrel: Bill Cottun came in today and we did a lot of talking about Internet because the city is going to move to e-mail and a number of things and so we'll...I'll get you involved with him. Erik Bentle: Okay. Alright, that's all I have. Commissioner Tuley: Evergreen? Erik Bentle: Evergreen, 8200 Pine Creek. Commissioner Tuley: Yeah. Erik Bentle: We went out there and looked at it and they are sitting in a low lying area to start with and they have put a new drainage system in there right down from his house, but right behind his property they have got a creek line that will not handle that much water. Commissioner Tuley: So it was water in the short period of time? Erik Bentle: Because they just put a new drainage system in just a half a block from his house. It should carry most of the water. I'm going to say a 36 inch pipe that they put in. Commissioner Tuley: Did you have occasion to talk to him at all? Erik Bentle: No, he wasn't home when we were out there. Commissioner Tuley: Okay. Erik Bentle: But as far as...the ditch is in poor shape that runs behind their property, but it is off county right-of-way. Commissioner Tuley: It's not ours? Erik Bentle: It's not ours, no. Commissioner Tuley: Okay, I just need to call him back. Erik Bentle: We are doing-- Commissioner Tuley: I suspected that was the case. Erik Bentle: We are doing some work around the corner down there on Heather Court replacing all them drain boxes. It won't do any good to take...I mean, it's not going to help take that much water, but it's going to correct a drain problem they have right there on that intersection. Commissioner Tuley: Alright, thanks. President Jerrel: Thank you.
President Jerrel: County Attorney. Joe Harrison, Jr.: The final portion of the Donan Engineering report regarding the SAFE House is to be completed either this week or early next week. I spoke with Donan Engineering today. The environmental part of the report has been completed although I haven't seen the report. I asked that they send it to me. It was sent, but I have not seen a copy of it and as soon as I get it I'll give a copy to you all as well and to the Sheriff, but apparently the environmental turned out fine. There weren't any problems as far as environmental concerns with the property at the SAFE House, but the structural analysis of the building code report will be hopefully submitted to us with the next week. The other union contracts, the County Highway, Burdette and Centre contract, we should have that for the 24th to be signed. I think the union is voting on that agreement tomorrow and we'll be receiving that hopefully for consideration on the 24th. On the SAFE House it may be a little longer before we consider that although we have agreed in principal to all the terms. One of the issues that is kind of hanging out there is what is going to happen with AISP/DISP, but as far as the terms of the agreement we've agreed to the terms. It's just that we may not want to sign a contract and then have to go in and change something a few days later, so it may be another month before we have to actually sign that agreement. But the agreement was with the union to continue under the existing agreement until we get that one signed. That's all I have. President Jerrel: Good job. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Thanks. With the matter that Erik was speaking about, Mr. Dooley was going to pay his portion of the insurance. President Jerrel: Right. Commissioner Tuley: Right.
President Jerrel: Superintendent of County Buildings. Tony Greubel: I'm just submitting
several blue claims for Ogden and they are already in the signature file
to reimburse them according to The Centre contract.
President Jerrel: Burdette Park. Steve Craig: The only thing I have is that I have met with Roger Lehman about the Bishea Building's restrooms bringing them up to ADA standards. We designed a floor plan to please me, but more importantly to please Roger. But we got it all worked out the way I wanted and he said that it was all legal and everything so I am now writing up bid sheets for this and I'll present them to you before...oh, we don't meet next week. Commissioner Tuley: No, two weeks. Steve Craig: I'll have them to you before two weeks, but I almost had them done today, but I didn't get them done. But I'll get them to Joe where we can put them out for bid and get on with it. President Jerrel: Do you want-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: Give permission to bid. President Jerrel: --permission to bid now and then you can go through the process with Joe approving them and get them then we could get them back quicker? Steve Craig: Yes, that's what I would like to do because that would put me back two weeks and I would rather not do that. President Jerrel: Yeah. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll so move. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Steve Craig: Thank you. And my worksheet. Other than that, thank you. Commissioner Mourdock: Thank you. Steve, I did see from the packet...I was not here last week and I know you presented some of the goals and things and started to go through that. I did see that and I appreciate your work on those. Steve Craig: Okay, thank you.
President Jerrel: We do have Soil & Water and the Ozone reports. Commissioner Mourdock: And I'll move acceptance of all the county department head reports submitted. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: How about consent items? Were there any questions about any of them? Motion to approve? Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: Any old business? Commissioner Mourdock: Just as an update this coming Friday it looks like Sheriff Ellsworth and I will be meeting with a potential consultant on the jail situation and keep that moving along. President Jerrel: Good. Commissioner Tuley: You weren't here last week. I think, did you say something about the 24th being prepared with our goals? President Jerrel: With some ideas for our goals. Commissioner Tuley: Can we push that back a week? President Jerrel: Sure. Commissioner Tuley: I've got a feeling we're going to have a pretty full plate on the 24th. President Jerrel: Okay. Well, we can do that on our first meeting and we can do it in February, the first meeting. Anything else? Commissioner Mourdock: New business
yet or old business?
President Jerrel: Under new business. Commissioner Mourdock: Under new business, Ms. Timmons said something to me at the start of this meeting about no longer issuing paper hard copy minutes and I think that's a wonderful idea. I don't know if you have anything to add, Charlene? I think it's great. What did you say, you had 31,000 copies you made last year of just our notes? Charlene Timmons: Yeah, I made 31,517 copies of minutes only. Commissioner Mourdock: Just to pick a number! Charlene Timmons: No, I didn't pick it, I researched it. Anyway, what I have proposed to do was e-mail the Commissioners and the County Attorney their copies prior to the next Monday and you will get them sooner than when you get your packet because I am usually done before Friday, so I will e-mail those to you and then as far as the department heads or the departments I make 18 copies every Tuesday morning of the minutes and everybody except for a select few have access to the Internet and they are available on the Internet and they are searchable on the Internet. They can download those and print whatever portion they want, so we're going to send out a memo saying that they can access them that way. President Jerrel: The paper bill is going down. Charlene Timmons: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: The paper bill is going down and once I get them by e-mail I'll put them on this machine as well so then as I've been able to research my own notes in the past we'll have the verbatim notes. President Jerrel: Good. Commissioner Mourdock: We'll catch some of these attorneys...I mean, we'll have accurate records there. President Jerrel: Is there a motion to adjourn? Commissioner Tuley: So moved. Commissioner Mourdock: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. The meeting was adjourned at 6:22 p.m. Employment changes: Pigeon Township Pigeon Township Trustee Property Tax Assess. Board Sheriff's Department Community Corrections Prosecutor DLEP Community Corrections DOC Grant Community Corrections Project Income County Highway County Clerk Travel requests: County Assessor Knight Assessor Pigeon Assessor Area Plan Commission Health Dept. Blue claims: Morley and Associates $11,645.00 Municipal Consultants $20,000.00 TD & O, LLC $11,810.79 Bernardin Lochmueller $17,385.00 Bernardin Lochmueller $29,250.20 Bernardin Lochmueller $ 1,185.00 Ogden $ 9,950.86 Ogden $ 1,722.29 Ogden $ 498.58 Ogden $ 8,500.00 Auditor: Accounts payable vouchers Monthly cash and expenditure reports Treasurer: Year-to-date investment report Those in attendance:
Recorded and transcribed by Charlene
Timmons.
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