VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

JANUARY 10, 2006

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 10^th day of January, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Cheryl Musgrave presiding.

President Musgrave: I would like to call to order the meeting of January 10, 2006 of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County. We’ll start with introductions to my right.

B.J. Farrell: B.J. Farrell, Superintendent of County Buildings.

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

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Musgrave: Cheryl Musgrave, County Commissioner.

Commissioner Shetler: Tom Shetler, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Bill Fluty, County Auditor.

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

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Musgrave: At this time I would like to observe a moment of silence for all the soldiers who have in the Iraqi war, at this time, particularly with the emphasis on Private Pfender, who’s funeral was held today at the Centre.

(A moment of silence was observed.)

President Musgrave: Thank you. With regard to Private Pfender, there has been an account set up at Old National Bank. It is called the Band of Brothers, or words to that effect. Mr. Pfender’s mother is setting this up in order to help other soldiers families throughout the service of their family members. So, you can make a contribution at any Old National Bank.

President Musgrave: Next on our agenda is the approval of the prior minutes. We had a Commission meeting on January 3^rd.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: We just concluded an executive session. It was to discuss pending litigation. We will require an executive session next week as well, at the same time, 1:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday next week to discuss other pending litigation.

President Musgrave: At this time we move to our action items, and we need a motion to open the bids for the County Engineer’s bid. If I could have that motion.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: If the attorney will continue on opening the bids.

President Musgrave: The County Treasurer, Z. Tuley, is next on the agenda to give her annual report.

Z. Tuley: Good afternoon. I’m Z. Tuley, the Vanderburgh County Treasurer. It’s our annual event to gather sometime after the first Monday in January to discuss the Board of Finance. I have a copy of the current, well, not current, excuse me, the year-to-date for 2005 report of all investments that I will pass out. You may note on the final page, investments are up above projections that I had made. That would have been in August of 2004 that I predicted what I would earn in 2005. So, I’m very pleased with that. The duty of the meeting of the Board of Finance today is to elect a president and a secretary. Historically speaking the Treasurer of the county has been the president of the Board of Finance, and we have appointed the Auditor to perform all secretarial duties, since he is present and takes care of that anyway. So, typically speaking that’s what we do.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Congratulations on your election.

Z. Tuley: Thank you.

Z. Tuley: I have with me today, earlier I had sent you a contract and a proposal for a company called American Financial Credit Services to do the collections for any delinquent personal property taxes, mobile home taxes, oil and state assessed that may have fallen delinquent. Once a year has passed and they have been delinquent, they are then certified to the Clerk clearing them off of the current payroll for the new billing cycle. So, I have with me today Kris Williams. Kris, would you like to come up? He would like to talk with you a little bit about this company, and what he believes he can do for Vanderburgh County, and what he’s done for other counties. I’ve sent you references that had glowing remarks for his company, what delinquent taxes they had collected. I’m going to let him tell you.

President Musgrave: Z., could you approach please?

Z. Tuley: Uh-huh.

Madelyn Grayson: Mr. Williams, I’ll need a copy of that for the record also. If you need that for your presentation, that’s fine.

Kris Williams: It’s memorized. Well, my name is Kris Williams. I’m the president and CEO of American Financial Credit Services. We’re located in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’ve been in business for 12 years. About three years ago, starting with Hamilton County, we began working with Indiana counties to collect delinquent personal property tax. There’s not a whole lot of people out there like us. The reason is, it’s tough to collect this. You get, there’s very little information to work on. You have to have a real passion about it. So, now we’re working with 16 counties. In the last three years we’ve collected over ten million dollars for Indiana counties. You know where that money goes? It goes to the townships, policemen, firemen, schools, EMS, emergency services, and local charities. So, I gave you information, that’s kind of just information about the company, but that’s not who we are. Who we are is passionate about our clients and what we can contribute. So, when we approached Z. she heard all that, and luckily she took the opportunity to call the references and find out if it was true. So, it’s very simple, we’re passionate about counties and what we can do. What we provide and what our promise is, we provide internet access to our counties so that they can see all the accounts. Sometimes that’s the only information that a lot of counties have, because they don’t have a lot of electronic capability as far as these. We don’t discount, downgrade or harass your taxpayers. That’s not who we are. We give them an opportunity to clean this up. Our goal is to get these folks back in a paying mode. That’s what we do. So, what you’ll find is, and what you would find out if you talked to our clients is, your delinquencies tend to go down over time because of what we do. So, we’re a good company run by good people who care about what they do.

President Musgrave: Let’s assume that I’m a delinquent personal property taxpayer, tell me what you would do?

Kris Williams: When we get your account in, it’s been in our system and it’s, there are two letters that go out. The first letter tells them what the statute is and where they are in the process. Then that account is given to an account representative, these are articulate, professional people, they are not collectors. They are more customer service people. We have at our disposal a way to find you, because most of the time these folks are gone. They’ve moved, they’ve sold their company. The responsibility of that person is to find out who owes the tax, where the asset is, sort through all that stuff to get down to what’s going on with the account. They’re called, they’re told what’s going on with where they are in the statute, what the possibilities are for payment, and they’re given an opportunity to clean it up without any further action. If they’re in denial and they don’t want to pay, or they don’t believe they owe, we consult with our attorney, and with your Treasurer’s approval they move forward to file a writ of execution or bring them into court to discuss it in front of a judge. So, that’s what can happen.

President Musgrave: How old are the accounts? If I’m six months delinquent am I going to get a call from you? Or is it a longer period of time?

Kris Williams: Well, your process is a year.

President Musgrave: At least one year–

Kris Williams: Yeah.

President Musgrave: –overdue in personal property, and what else was it?

Z. Tuley: State assessed, oil and mobile home.

President Musgrave: And state assessed is railroad, oil?

Z. Tuley: Right, typically a utility company. Oil are oil wells that are producing, but maybe they can’t find the owner.

President Musgrave: And mobile home is personal property/mobile homes, that is mobile homes on leased land?

Z. Tuley: Typically, yes, because if they are on owned land they are considered real estate.

President Musgrave: Okay. So, today you want us to take this under advisement and you’ll be back next week?

Z. Tuley: Yes. I would appreciate that. I have submitted the references so that you can read the same things that I got to read. I do believe that his area of expertise is going to help. My office doesn’t wield the kind of leverage that he can provide. I think that this will be very beneficial to us. He’s done a really nice job in other counties. I think it will prove to be the same here in Vanderburgh. So, I would like for you to review the contract and review the references, then if enough time has allowed for you to vote on it next week I would appreciate it.

Commissioner Nix: How are your fees based?

Z. Tuley: Oh, that’s another good one.

Kris Williams: Our service is free to the county. The Indiana statute allows us to enter a reasonable collection fee as 25 percent. Just to give you an idea what that means, our competition is charging 40 to 45 percent.

Commissioner Shetler: So, do you mean you gross it up then?

Z. Tuley: Correct. The 25 percent is charged to the delinquent offender.

Commissioner Shetler: Okay. Do you have an estimate of how much we have outstanding in delinquent taxes?

Z. Tuley: I’m looking to my numbers man. No, we don’t have a total on that.

Commissioner Nix: Just a round number?

President Musgrave: When you come back next week–

Z. Tuley: I’m not very good at guessing with numbers.

President Musgrave: –he’s indicated that he’ll have that available for us.

Z. Tuley: Oh, that’s no problem at all. We’ll get that to you right away.

Commissioner Shetler: Okay. It sounds to me like ten million dollars would buy a lot of passion though. So, I can understand your–

Kris Williams: I think that’s a result of the passion.

Z. Tuley: Okay, thank you.

Kris Williams: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Do I have a motion to take this under advisement?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: We move now to Vectren, Mr. Doug Petit. I see him coming forward. He will give us a presentation on what can be done to cope with your gas bill this winter.

Doug Petit: I have a couple hand outs here, or a hand out, I should say. Good afternoon, Commissioners. Again, I thank you for allowing us to take a couple of minutes. I will do just that, take five or ten at the most and explain a little bit about the natural gas situation that we are facing this year. I don’t think I have to explain to anyone here that it is indeed a crisis that we are facing with regard to the natural gas industry, the commodity price, and ultimately, consequently the bills that we all open up. If you’re like me, I opened mine up for the period covering most of December, and even though I know, and I knew it was coming, it was quite a shock when you see bills at all time highs. We’ve spent a lot of time, we, the company, Vectren, have spent a lot of time recognizing this was coming, trying to get out in front of it and providing our customers with an opportunity to do what they can to get themselves prepared for the winter. In fact, probably, oh, late summer, early fall we came out and said customers in this part of the state would be likely to see, and this is with normal weather, would be likely to see an increase in their bill for the winter months, which is characterized or defined by November to March, about 45 to 55 percent. That’s significant. So, what I wanted to do was spend a couple of minutes talking about why that is, a couple of minutes of what we can do, and then kind of the longer term picture. Let me step back by just saying that the natural gas commodity is what we’re talking about. It is what has increased in cost. It is just that, a commodity traded on the commodity market and the financial market and the future markets, just as is, you know, your pork bellies and your gold and other commodities. So, we have seen such a tight supply and demand balance or imbalance, whichever way you want to look at it, over the last few years caused by a number of issues, and the exacerbated by the hurricanes that we saw this summer, that has resulted in prices in the natural gas commodity going from, let’s say six years ago as a point of reference where it was trading in the two dollar range, up to we saw spikes of $15 so far this winter. That’s a significant jump. So, the, you say, well, how did we get to that point? It’s a couple of things. Frankly, it’s a result of a lot of federal government policies and lack there of. Number one, all new generation, virtually all new generation, 90 plus percent, of electricity has been created by or fueled by natural gas. That’s a result of environmental policies that have made nuclear difficult and coal difficult to build. So, we’ve said that’s fine, and then on top of that we have created this increased demand, and then we came back and said, oh, by the way, known supplies are off limits as well. So, we artificially increased the demand, we’ve maintained the supply, or decreased supply, and here we are with resulting costs. So, as you see in your packet, and I’m not going to go through all of this, you can see where we said the average bill, again with normal weather for our residential customer for November through March is going to be, on average, going from $580 for the five month period to $875 for the five month period. Again, you can see what, that’s reflected coming from the commodity price, and I think it’s important to note there are two components to your natural gas bill when you open it up. There are, there is the commodity price which is about, it’s actually north of 80 percent of the total bill. So, if your bill is $100, which I wish mine was, if it was $100 then $80, actually $82 of that right now is the cost of the commodity. I mean, let me also make sure that you understand that by law utility companies, we’re no exception, local distribution companies across the country do not make money on cost of the commodity. In other words, if we spend a dollar on the commodity, we charge at most a dollar from our customers for the commodity. In fact, we’re lucky if we get the dollar back, but that’s just, that’s fundamentally how that works, the structure.

President Musgrave: So, who is making the profit?

Doug Petit: Well, the folks that are making the money right now are the producers, Commissioner Musgrave. It’s the folks that have made the investments in the wells and are extracting it from the ground or from the Gulf. Primarily, those are the same folks that are making money at the pump as well. Primarily, it’s the same companies that have those same investments. So, it’s a good question. It is who’s making the money. So, then the second component of your bill, which as I’ve said is much less is the 18 percent or so, and in the example we’ve given here, and as what we’re actually seeing this year, is the delivery costs or the service charge, if you will. That’s essentially where the company gets compensated for the cost associated with building the system, with running the system. That’s your labor costs, your equipment costs, everything, and the opportunity to earn a return to the shareholders. All of that is caught up in that smaller portion, something less than 20 percent. So, I think it’s important to note how that works. You can see where we actually broke out a bill for you, and an average annual bill, this year, these 12 months that we’re in now, and we anticipate about $1,124, and that’s a 12 month bill again being your total bill, of that the gas cost would be $927, the cost of the service or the delivery charge is $171. We actually broke out what our profit opportunity is, and that would be $26 out of that bill. So, I don’t think there’s any, there aren’t any secrets in that. It’s a very low margin business. Now, what I wanted to do is provide you some opportunities as to how folks and your constituents can save money on their bill. I mean, that’s what I think is really the most important thing. In the short term it’s a simple answer, and that’s you have to figure out how to use less of the product, less of the commodity. There are a couple of things, I mean, obviously, you can dial back. That’s one thing you can do. We’ve also spent a lot of time teaching customers, telling customers that they need to weatherize, close up the drafts, so to speak, in the house. These are common sense things, although we all probably have areas where we can spend a couple of minutes and actually, you know, very little money, to make a difference. One of the things is a programmable thermostat. There’s an adage that’s out there that says if you reduce the temperature in your home by five degrees for eight hours a day, that you can see a resulting decrease in your bill by five percent. It’s a pretty simple calculation. Pretty simple for most people to do. You know, if you’re like the traditional American family these days that everybody’s out of the house for eight hours a day and back in. So, you know, it’s hard, if you’re going to do that, it’s hard to do it and make yourself do it everyday. So, there are these very, very inexpensive investments called programmable thermostats that you can just program it and it does that for you. So, those, that’s one great example that folks have used to try to reduce their consumption. Again, I talked about caulking windows, weather stripping, those things that keep the drafts out. Then there are more expensive opportunities that you have, and when we were buying natural gas at two dollars and passing it through at two dollars, to say, spend a lot of money investing in say insulation or new windows, those were pay backs that were way out there. So, in other words, if you spent, I’m picking a number, $2,000 to do something, it might take you 20 years to pay back, that is to receive the result in savings in your bill. At the prices we’re seeing today, those pay backs are a lot quicker. You might spend the $2,000 and you might recover it in five years now, or three or four years. So, those, and those again would be the things like high efficiency furnaces, and those kinds of things. So, that’s something that I think we’re all seeing. There are also in the bill, the energy bill that was passed by Congress back in August, they provided some incentives for homeowners, and I think all of us will and should pay attention to what those opportunities are. Some tax credits associated with investing in energy efficient, high efficient appliances. So, not only does the pay back get quicker simply by virtue of the fact that the costs of the commodity are higher, but the federal government is also going to boost your opportunity to do that. The other thing that we’ve been telling our customers and touting it very highly is that there’s an easy way to help budget your bill, and that is what we call the budget plan where we take what your estimated costs for the year would be and spread it out equally over 12 months. That’s an easy way to help manage your budget. It’s one that you can simply do by going on line, vectren.com, or calling our customer service number. I will also tell you, as you well know, there is a number of your constituents that are facing, having a very difficult time, frankly don’t have the opportunity or the where-with-all to keep natural gas flowing into their homes, and therefore their homes heated. There are opportunities and there are programs out there that folks need to be made aware of. They can access those through the community action agencies, through CAPE here in our area. There’s the federal LIHEAP program that CAPE will distribute and help and qualify customers for. There are, there’s a universal service program which Vectren has helped to create where customers can get a discount on their bill if they qualify from an income perspective. The local community action agency can point people in the right direction, as can our Vectren’s customer service folks do that. So, I’m going to end real quickly here and I’ll take any questions, we do have, besides those programs, we have a Share the Warmth program, which is, our customers are eligible for. Vectren has donated $500,000 to that. We’ve also provided an additional $200,000 that’s available for matching purposes. Then there’s a new program called Help Thy Neighbor that the administration of the state has gotten behind and helped push, and it’s funded by Vectren and other utility companies, as well as a grant from the Lilly Foundation. So, folks are doing what they can to make assistance available to customers, and we just need to make sure that folks understand that the assistance is there. Finally, from a long term perspective, I talked about the national energy policy signed in August, unfortunately, it did not do enough to address the supply issue. It was inadequate with regard to helping and giving access to natural gas supplies. Primarily we’re talking about areas in the outer continental shelf in the gulf, off the coast of Florida, and then also in the Rocky mountain region. There are opportunities to drill environmentally in a sound fashion to bring supply to the market place. We understand that supply is not the answer 100 percent, but we cannot conserve our way to a market place that will see substantial decrease in the price. So, we will continue to work with Congress to try to get this next energy bill passed that would allow us access appropriately. The other thing that we will also be pushing for is that there is room for alternative fuels. We know that, certainly as opposed to natural gas being used primarily for electricity. So, coal remains being our Nation’s most abundant natural resource. It can be done, it can be used in an environmentally friendly way, a sound way. We think that if we continue to push for that, and again we will help our customers conserve in every way possible. With that I’ll take any questions.

President Musgrave: Questions?

Commissioner Shetler: That program, is that tax deductible if you make a contribution to that?

Doug Petit: In fact, I believe it is. I’ll confirm that for you, but I believe it was set up to be such.

Commissioner Shetler: Okay, and to whom do you make the check out to?

Doug Petit: I’m going to get back to you on that.

Commissioner Shetler: Sorry.

Doug Petit: No, I believe it can be made out to Share the Warmth, and I will confirm that back with you.

Commissioner Nix: Does your website address, cover that?

Doug Petit: It does.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, so, if they would go to vectren.com–

Doug Petit: Vectren.com.

Commissioner Nix: –they could get that information?

Doug Petit: I believe that information is posted on there, yes.

President Musgrave: Is this print out also available on vectren.com?

Doug Petit: If it’s not, we’ll make it available.

President Musgrave: Thank you. That would be good.

Doug Petit: Certainly.

President Musgrave: Any other questions? Thank you for coming.

Doug Petit: Thank you very much.

President Musgrave: I realize you have nothing but bad news to share with us, but sometimes if you don’t know the bad news you can’t cope with it.

Doug Petit: Well, you’re absolutely right, Commissioner. We’ve seen it coming, unfortunately it’s here, and all we can do is let people know that it is here and what we can do to help conserve.

President Musgrave: Thank you.

Commissioner Shetler: Thank you.

President Musgrave: We move now to County Engineer, permission to award quotes. Is the County Engineer here? He is not here. Do you have the quotes?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No.

President Musgrave: Okay, why don’t we–

Madelyn Grayson: That was opened last week, the quote.

President Musgrave: The quotes were opened last week?

Madelyn Grayson: He’s wanting to award it to...here’s the information right there.

Commissioner Shetler: He’s going to see if (Inaudible).

President Musgrave: Hold on just a moment while we check on Mr. Stoll’s progress.

President Musgrave: While he’s doing that, do you have the bid openings?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I do.

President Musgrave: Do you want to read those?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes. This is for renovations to the Vanderburgh County Engineer’s office at the Vanderburgh County Old Courthouse. Deig Brothers, $70,327, alternate one, $6,436. Wink Construction, $76,883, alternate one, $8,905. Key Construction, $85,880, alternate one, $9,180. ARC Construction, $70,900, alternate one, $5,500. Lichtenberger Construction, $66,700, alternate one, $6,818. Empire Contractors, $70,875, alternate one, $10,850.

Commissioner Nix: I move we take these bids under advisement.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

VC05-12-02: County Engineer’s Office Expansion and Renovation

President Musgrave: County Engineer, permission to award quote VC05-12-03.

John Stoll: Yes, I would like to request approval to award the contract to Blankenberger Brothers for the amount of $44,188.88. They provided the low bid on the project.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Thank you, sir.

President Musgrave: We move now to the Health Department ordinance number 01-06-002 concerning the Board of Health food permits. This is the second and final reading. Is there anyone here to speak to the Health Department ordinance? If not, is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: Motion to approve second reading, second and final.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: That requires a roll call vote. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: Commission Shetler.

Commissioner Shetler: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes.

President Musgrave: We have a second ordinance 01-06-003 concerning the Board of Health. Is there anyone here to speak to that? Seeing no one, is there a motion?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: That requires a roll call vote. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes.

President Musgrave: We move on to our third ordinance of the day, 01-06-004 concerning speed limits. This will be the first and final reading. Mr. Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: First of all I would like to thank Mr. Ziemer and Mr. Stoll for their speed on getting this taken care of. It came up about three weeks ago in a highway meeting and I appreciate the fact that they’ve moved so quickly on this. So, I would like to make a motion that we approve the ordinance.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me. First you need to make a motion to waive the second reading.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: Is there any discussion? All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Roll call.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. Now, we need a motion to pass it on the final reading.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: First and final reading.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. Do you want to reiterate for the benefit of those who might not have heard last week exactly what those will do.

Commissioner Shetler: Basically it’s going to reduce the speed limits from 50 to 40 south of Boonville-New Harmony Road on Green River Road going to where it now is 45 at Heckel Road, and it will reduce the speed limit on Millersburg Road from Oak Hill to Green River Road from 45 down to 40, and on Oak Hill from Highway 57 to past the school, which is currently 45 down to 40. It makes sense because of the school being there, it makes sense because of the narrow, dark streets and stuff.

President Musgrave: When will the signs be posted? Because I assume it’s not practically in effect until these signs are posted.

Commissioner Shetler: I hope quickly.

President Musgrave: Quickly, so everybody should watch for that and know that they have been changed and it’s a matter of posting the new signs.

President Musgrave: We move now to Mr. Don Fuchs, the petition to rename Old National Drive.

Don Fuchs: Good afternoon. My name is Don Fuchs. I’m a partner with the Evansville law firm of Bamberger Foreman Oswald and Hahn. Our law firm serves as legal counsel for the Hirsch Family Limited Partnership. Here with me this afternoon is David Hirsch. David is one of the general partners. On December the 19^th of 2005 our client filed with the Commissioners a petition to rename what’s known as Old National Drive. We’re requesting that to be renamed Hirschland Road. I have filed with Madelyn a certificate of service, we sent this petition out by certified mailing we find in compliance with the Indiana statute, which requires all adjoining landowners to receive notification of this petition. I believe our certification indicates that we have good service on all parties. I would like to distribute to you, I’ve got a drawing of the area affected, which I think it will make this a lot easier to follow. To assist you in getting oriented here, and I apologize, when you get a document of this size, sometimes the smaller print gets lost. What is shaded in green is the acreage that’s owned by our client, the Hirsch Family Limited Partnership, approximately 225 to 230 acres. To the top here is the north, the south here we have East Columbia, to the west of what these lots here in green, that would be Burkhardt Road, to the north here between the green and the blue that would be Oak Grove Road to give you some orientation. What we are asking for, and what is the subject matter of our petition, is a road that is known as Old National Drive, which starts here at Oak Grove Road, and proceeds north. If you can see the lots that I have shaded in tan to the north there, you can see that road turns to the east at that point in time, and at that turn that becomes Logans Drive. So, what we are asking is a petition seeking to rename is starting at Oak Grove Road and running up to Logan Drive, which I would approximate to be 700 to 850 feet of road in length. Let me tell you how we got to this point and why we are here before you on this matter. In 2005 our client platted a one lot commercial subdivision here which is in the lower corner here, shaded, I guess, that is in brown. That’s a one lot subdivision known as William S. Hirsch Subdivision. That’s a one lot commercial subdivision. That lot was sold last week to Old National Bank. That’s approximately, gross acreage, a little over four acres, net acreage approximately two and a quarter acres. Our client has also received primary platting for what, you see these lots to the north of this lot sold to Old National Bank, this is a 30 lot subdivision, which is, again, received preliminary plat approval, and is known as William S. Hirsch Subdivision, Section Two. As part of the platting of William S. Hirsch Subdivision, Section Two we had various discussions with John Stoll, Brad Mills, and other county officials concerning the interior traffic that would be generated, and what type of roads would need to be developed in the interior of this development. We very quickly realized and we understood this is our responsibility to construct this road which would start here at East Columbia and then proceed up here to Oak Grove. This would handle the internal traffic within our development. When Morley and Associates laid that out, it was discovered at that point in time that this road lines up with Old National Drive. We preliminarily explored about if this road to the south of Oak Grove, from Columbia up to Oak Grove, that the road within our client’s development could have a different name than Old National Drive. I learned a very valuable lesson is from the folks at Central Dispatch is for emergency response, these roads have to be consistent. We quickly understood that. So, then we turned our attention to, is there is a possibility to renaming Old National Drive so that we would have a consistent road starting here at East Columbia and proceed up to Logans Drive, and what our client was requesting is Hirschland Road. Our clients were very, wanted to do something in memory of their father, William Hirsch, who in my understanding sat on the local Area Plan Commission for a number of years. So, we requested the name of Hirschland Road. Well, when we looked to the folks up here that were going to be affected by this, we found that there were five property owners that were going to be affected. What is shaded in blue is what is the Lowe’s development there. We have sent notice to Lowe’s, received no response. Let me point this out to you, is that the address for Lowe’s is Oak Grove Road. From my vantage point, I don’t see how they would anyway be adversely affected. The development that you can see, the blue here that is touching what is now known as Old National Drive, that is vacant, unimproved land. The second property owners that would be affected are those that I would say are more in this pink or mauve colored, those are five and basically two thirds lots. Those lots are owned by three gentleman; by Tom Logan, my understanding a developer out of Henderson, Kentucky; by Bob Woodward; and by Jack Rogers. I’ve had discussions with both Jack Rogers and Bob Woodward, they both indicate to me that they also speak on behalf of their partner, Tom Logan, they have indicated to me that they are not in opposition to this petition. Furthermore, just for the record, I was just advised that we have agreed to reimburse these folks for any type of promotional material that they have concerning their lots, so that they are not in anyway adversely, economically impacted in this. Next, turn your attention to the two lots shaded in brown here. Those are owned by Old National Drive. I spoke with Marco Delucio, the attorney for Old National Bank, on several occasions, most recently before coming over here. He indicated that he was not planning on being in attendance, nor was, it was his understanding that anyone here on behalf of Old National Bank would be speaking in regard to this matter. The next property owner is the tan to the northern end. That is the former site of the Evansville Hyundai dealership. That property is now owned by the Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union. I have a letter here from the president of the credit union, Michael Phipps, he is out of town, was not going to be able to be present here today, but I would like to make this as part of the record of the Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union fully supports this petition. Madelyn, that’s the original and several copies. The last party that is affected is what is shaded in a somewhat of a red color here. It’s approximately a lot and a third. The record owner of that is Simply Sizzling LLC. The principals of that are Tom and Kristian Griffin–

President Musgrave: Could I ask you to hold on just a moment while we change the tape?

(Tape change)

President Musgrave: Okay, we’re all set.

Don Fuchs: Thank you. In July of last year I met with Tom and Kristian, they were very gracious. I went out and met them at their restaurant and explained to them what were doing. They had some good questions concerning how their addresses would be impacted. I have attempted, I have assisted them in getting them some information concerning that. Further, I have, our client has agreed to reimburse these folks for their promotional materials. Again, we don’t want anyone to have an economic impact. Again, Tom Griffin is here and he may wish to come forward and speak on this. So, I believe we have sufficiently, we’ve discussed with all the property owners, and I find at this point in time that we have no one in opposition to our petition. Quite simply, folks, in conclusion let me just say why this is important. William Hirsch Subdivision, Section Two, I believe is probably some of the most commercially valuable real estate that we have on the east side of Evansville at this point in time. We believe that there are going to be other financial institutions that are going to want to locate within our development, and from a marketing standpoint we think it is very important to us to have a more generic name for the road as opposed to Old National Drive. No disrespect to Old National. That’s, we were asking for your approval to rename this.

President Musgrave: Are there any questions of Mr. Fuchs? Are there any remonstrators? Is there anyone wishing to speak regarding this petition? Seeing no one. Is there a motion?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me. I think, are you here from the Area Plan Commission to talk to this? Yes. Area Plan Commission, of course, keeps the record of all street names in the community, and they make sure there aren’t overlaps and so forth. So, Blaine is here from the Area Plan Commission to, I think, indicate their satisfaction with this.

President Musgrave: Mr. Oliver?

Blaine Oliver: Good afternoon. I’m Blaine Oliver, the assistant director at the Plan Commission. We are in support of this petition. We would like to see the continuous roadway from Columbia all the way to the north end be one name. The south end of this has already been recorded, along the one lot commercial minor that was referred to earlier. It’s been recorded as Hirschland Drive already. So, we are in support of the petition.

President Musgrave: I’ll ask again if there is anyone wishing to speak to this in any way? I see no one. Is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Thank you, sir.

Don Fuchs: Thank you for your time.

President Musgrave: We move now to the use of the Centre. We’ve had three requests to use the Centre at no charge. Two from government offices, the Evansville Police Department, and the County Auditor, and the third from the Pfender family who used the Centre today for the funeral of their son and family member, Private Pfender. I would like a motion to waive the fees for the use of the Centre, not including overtime.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: Is there any discussion? All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries for all three of those.

President Musgrave: We move to contracts, agreements, and leases. The County Assessor, TMA agreement. I believe the County Attorney has reviewed that. Have you anything to remark?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, this is an addendum to an agreement entered into earlier. It’s in response to questions raised by the State of Indiana, the State Auditor, the State Treasurer, and the Department of Finance. The amendment addresses those concerns, and it’s appropriate for execution should you decide to approve it.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Next on the agenda is the Aramark agreement for the Sheriff. I’ve had conversations with Deputy Chief Eric Williams, and he is agreeable to letting this on next week’s agenda while we have a couple of questions that I have answered. He tried to answer them before the meeting and wasn’t able to get the appropriate parties in Indianapolis to return telephone calls. So, we’ll consider this one next week.

President Musgrave: Department head reports. Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes, I have two matters. You have in your file a contract for the services of Robert Canada for the drug court. We’ve reviewed that contract and find it appropriate for execution from a legal perspective.

President Musgrave: Is there any discussion?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The second item that you have I believe in the packet is a 2006 registration statement for Barnes and Thornburg as lobbyist for the county. Later on the agenda I think you’re going to be looking at the engagement letters for Barnes and Thornburg. Whether or not you approve those engagement letters at this time, or wish further information on those, it would still be appropriate to approve the registration statement, which would require the signature of the President of the Commissioners.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: I don’t see those engagement letters on the agenda.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: They are, I think, under the consent agenda, Madam President.

President Musgrave: Were you able to touch base?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I was. I can comment on that, if you would like for me to. The engagement letter for the services for state lobbying is identical to the engagement letter for last year, except it’s $800 less, and that is because this is the short session. So, they’re charging us one month less at the $4,500 rate, and instead charging the $2,700 rate for the month of December. As in the case of last year, the state agreement provides for expenses in addition to that, but not to exceed $2,000. As to the lobbying agreement for, the federal lobbying agreement, that is increased this year by $1,500 per month. The analysis there is that last year, because this was the first year we were doing federal lobbying, we were given a discount, if you will, on the cost of the federal lobbying agreement. I think it was, I know it was $2,500 a month last year, this year it would be $4,000 a month. There is some question about whether there is sufficient money appropriated to cover $4,000 a month throughout the entire year. The agreement provides for termination on the giving of 30 days notice, and therefore we could, if you wish, approve the agreement at the $4,000 a month rate. It’s entirely possible that the services we need would be accomplished by May, in which case we could give notice that we want to terminate the agreement at the end of June. So, it would essentially be for one half of a year. If in the meantime there would be an additional appropriation, it could, of course, be continued throughout the remainder of the year at that amount. So, both engagement letters are appropriate for execution from a legal perspective, with those understandings regarding the financial perspective.

President Musgrave: Commissioners, the County Council cut our appropriation in this account from our requested $500,000 down to I believe it’s $150,000. If we approve the federal lobbyist contract today, it almost wipes that account out, and it means that when the Vision-e amount comes forward to us shortly for our annual contract, we don’t have any money to pay for that. Now, consider that the federal lobbyists last year brought us a whopping $4.6 million in additional revenue to the county, that is building a road that has been planned since before I was born almost, or maybe the year after I was born. You may want to go ahead and approve the state contract today, and consider our options for another week. Or you may decide that it is so important to continue that federal funding, and we’ll be applying for another grant probably next week from the federal government, that this outweighs any other consideration. But, I leave that decision up to you.

Commissioner Shetler: I’m just kind of questioning the logic. If because of the short session in the state, the price is going down, this being election year, I think that there’s probably going to be less days that are going to be in session at the federal level, perhaps the same logic ought to hold.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, apparently it doesn’t, because that’s the rate, and that is not going to change.

Commissioner Shetler: I have no problem with the state at the moment.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Commissioner Shetler: But, would like to sit on it for a little bit on the federal and investigate that. I think Mr. Ziemer’s recommendation might be an attractive one to look at.

President Musgrave: Is that a motion?

Commissioner Shetler: A partial year. That’s a motion for the state, yes.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: We’ll defer until next week the federal contract.

President Musgrave: Mr. Stoll, you are next on the department head reports.

John Stoll: I’ve got three items here. First, I would like to request approval to go to County Council to appropriate $1,547 in to the Burkhardt Road, Road and Street Account. That’s account number 2160-4326. This is to cover the final payment to INDOT for the Burkhardt and Morgan intersection project. We just received a final invoice based on their final audit of the project.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

John Stoll: Second, I would like to request your approval for a 30 day time extension for comments to be submitted for the Green River Road-Millersburg Road intersection project. We received a request, I shouldn’t say we, Clark Dietz received a request from an attorney representing a landowner out on the Green River and Millersburg project, and the request was that we extend the comment period for another 30 days. So, I would request that approval.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

John Stoll: The last item I have is an acceptance form for us to submit to the state for University Parkway. Even though it’s already our road, we need a piece of paper to submit to INDOT so we can get credited for the road mileage. So, I would request your approval of this as well.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

John Stoll: That’s all I have. Thanks.

President Musgrave: Do you have an appropriation request for the Old Courthouse? Or are you going to consider that next week?

John Stoll: I’ll probably have to consider that next week, because with the alternates and everything, and I wasn’t in the room whenever the bids were opened in their entirety. So, I’ll have to come up with total–

President Musgrave: Alright.

John Stoll: –and then request that later.

President Musgrave: Thank you.

John Stoll: Thanks.

President Musgrave: Are there any other department heads who have a report to make? I see none.

President Musgrave: We move now to board appointments. We have four, five listed here. Would you like me to read them all?

Commissioner Nix: Let’s do them all at the same time.

President Musgrave: Alright. The Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Frank Daugul; Parks Board, Don Walker; Old Courthouse Foundation to rescind Tim Dodd; SWIRDC, appoint Jack Rogers; Polling Place Advisory Committee, appoint Mark Foster.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: New business. At this point we need to announce the urgent need grant public hearing of January 17, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. at the Knight Township fire station on Burkhardt Road. There will be a meeting on this date and time, and it is the second of two public hearings on this issue.

President Musgrave: Under old business, I will just go ahead and announce at this time the urgent need grant public hearing of Janaury 10^th, that is tonight, at 7:00 p.m. at the Knight Township fire station. That is the first of these two public hearings. We’re required to announce those, and we are encouraging everyone to come and support the Knight Township in it’s grant application to get the money to build the fire station to replace the one that the tornado of November 6^th took out of service.

President Musgrave: Other new business is we need to schedule an executive session for next week at 1:30 p.m. I believe we already announced that. Road hearings, Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes, we’ve got three of them scheduled. I’ll announce mine, and I guess, you two will want to announce yours. District one will be on February the 15^th from 5:30 till 7:00 p.m. at Plaza Park Middle School. I guess, before you go ahead, we would encourage anyone that can’t make any of the other two, they are not necessarily for district one, it could be for district two or three, but if you could make one of the three with input, I think it’s very important that we get some public input. I’m very pleased with the turnout we had last year in two and three. I would like to see more people in district one come out. I’m pleased with what we were able to do last year with the road hearings, and, hopefully, we’ll get the same things, or maybe more, done this year.

Commissioner Shetler: In district two, February the 22^nd at 5:30 to 7:00 p.m and that will be at Scott School. Again, the road issues don’t only deal with resurfacing any other issues that might come before as far as roads or safety issues are also brought up at that time. That’s a pertinent time to do it.

President Musgrave: District three hearing, which is largely the west side, will be on January 18^th from 5:30 to 7:00 at Helfrich Park Middle School. As the other two Commissioners have pointed out, this is for your concerns regarding roads. Roads that you think need to be repaired, widened, resurfaced, and also the ditch complaints that you may have. If there’s a ditch that you think needs to be repaired or piped, this is the time to tell the Commissioners that, so then perhaps we can address it next year, and perhaps it has to go in to a more long term planning event. So, we’ve already covered the old business.

President Musgrave: It comes to public comment on our agenda. Mr. Fred Cook. Please come forward and tell us what the Commissioners can do under our official capacity to help you.

Fred Cook: Good afternoon. I’m Fred Cook with the Coalition of Inner City Neighborhoods. We came down today because of the Mr. Petit from Vectren being on the agenda, to hear what kind of solution he has to an ongoing problem. I would like to thank you all for hearing our concerns. Ever since Vectren seized control of Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Company, the people of Evansville have all witnessed the utility rates rise yearly in the fall and in the spring season. We have complained constantly to local and state officials, but our cries have fallen on deaf ears. Now that the rate increases can be contributed to the natural disasters from last year, this company somehow feels justified. But, what about the yearly increases in the past? Remember, this is the same company that reported record breaking earnings in each of their quarterly reports last year. This is the same company that charges a distribution charge for purchasing natural gas from a company that they own 61 percent of, Pro Alliance from out of Texas. Last year we seen extension cords running across streets from house to house, because low income people couldn’t afford to pay those exorbitant rates. We even witnessed people that had rented generators. Sure you have the energy assistance program, and they’ve even raised the poverty level guidelines to 200 percent, but the catch to receive this $200 discount one must enroll in the budget plan, which some consider a form of entrapment and another way of being held hostage. Meteorologists both locally and nationally have already stated that our area of the country has been experiencing above a seasonally warm winter, but we have people that have zero balances carried over from last month’s utility bill. Mr. Greg Fehn’s bill skyrocketed to $963.74 for one month. Ms. Grace Wilson, who’s here with me today, president of CCIA, who was in Indianapolis for two weeks due to an illness in her family, had no carry over balance and was charged $639.14. Her home was completely insulated two years ago with new windows and rolled insulation. I’m sure we will all here about heat related deaths and continuing crime increases that will somehow be tied to utilities, because people shouldn’t have to make a choice between paying utility bills, food, medication and rent to survive. The only good thing that will come from these rate increases is now it’s not just affecting the people and the residents that reside in the southwest side of Evansville, but also the people that live east of Highway 41 and east of 64 by-pass. With the upcoming elections, even with the proposed changing of the precincts I’m sure that a lot of elected officials that will be running for re-election will be confronted with this concern. Our coalition will be making copies of this winter’s bills to compare them with other cities that are comparable in size and population, but have a different utility company servicing them. Then we will proceed from that point. I want to thank you for hearing us out. I know there’s not a whole lot that you all can do, but we wanted to express our concerns, because that budget program, as an example, I called just to see what kind of benefits we would receive from it. Our utility bills at my house usually run between $400 and $500 during the month of January, from December to March, $400 or $500. That was before the rate increase. In the winter, in the summer months it usually runs $150. They told me in order to get on the budget plan that my budget would be $407 a month, each month for 12 months. So, how can I come out ahead, you know. All the money through these programs are going right back to Vectren. So, it’s a no win situation. But, I’m sure a lot of you all will find, be confronted with this issue during the election time, because there’s a lot of people that’s working everyday that is working for Vectren and not for themselves. Thank you.

President Musgrave: Fred, on a separate matter, is 600 Jefferson, I didn’t go by it this morning, is it still?

Fred Cook: The backhoe is still there. It’s been there for two weeks.

President Musgrave: Mary was going to call yesterday to the Building Commissioner, do you know if she was able to get that done?

Fred Cook: I haven’t talked to her since last week.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Fred Cook: But, it’s been, and I appreciate you doing what you do to have that property tore down, but it’s been–

President Musgrave: I don’t understand why the backhoe’s still there.

Fred Cook: Maybe it’s frozen in the ground.

President Musgrave: They didn’t pay their heating bill.

Commissioner Nix: It’s not that cold.

Fred Cook: Maybe they couldn’t afford no gas.

President Musgrave: Okay, well, thank you for coming. I appreciate hearing about your concerns on this.

President Musgrave: Commissioners, do you want to make a motion to approve the consent items?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: At this time I would like to take a five minute break, and then we’ll come back and see if we can conduct our last piece of business, but I would like to go see how that’s coming along. Alright, so we’re going to take a five minute break.

(The meeting was recessed at 4:40 p.m.)

(Meeting reconvened at 4:45 p.m.)

President Musgrave: We’re still in recess, but for those who are interested we are waiting for the attorney to produce some documents which will be brought in here, hopefully, by five till. We will just sit here and wait for that to happen.

(The meeting was recessed again at 4:45 p.m.)

(Meeting reconvened at 5:04 p.m.)

President Musgrave: Okay, we were in recess, and now we will reconvene. We have in front of us Allyson Breedon who’s working on a lawsuit and you have a signed agreement in front of you. Would you like to enlighten us?

Allyson Breeden: I would. Commissioners, you signed a settlement agreement several weeks ago involving pending litigation involving Warren Spurling and Broadway Summit LLC. A few minor modifications have been made to the agreement, particularly the county has agreed not to construct the median on Green River Road until Broadway Summit completes the Lynch Road improvements. The county has agreed to pay for the full cost of the median on Green River Road.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The right turn.

Allyson Breeden: That’s right, the county is allowing right turn in and right turn out at Cullen and Lynch, with a temporary barrier to be placed in the median on Lynch Avenue, on Lynch Road, excuse me. Broadway Summit has agreed to complete the construction of the improvements on Lynch Road three months after the plans are approved by the county.

President Musgrave: What will motorists notice tomorrow? Or maybe beginning tonight on Lynch?

Allyson Breeden: Motorists will notice that there will be a three tiered wood barrier on Lynch to prevent a left turn off of Lynch on to Cullen.

President Musgrave: And a left turn from Cullen on to Lynch?

Allyson Breeden: Cullen on to Lynch, correct.

President Musgrave: So, today that road, Cullen, was barricaded off beginning in the mid-afternoon, was that? Tomorrow that barricade will be down, but it will be moved to the median in the center of Lynch Road?

Allyson Breeden: Correct.

President Musgrave: And the public should know that Mr. Vincent, is he the operator? Is he the investor of Black Buggy? What is he there?

Allyson Breeden: I’m not sure.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: He’s the developer of the real estate where the Black Buggy is.

President Musgrave: And he is working on plans to put in a stop light at Cullen and Lynch, so that there will be full access there. You can turn left, right going from the appropriate directions, and that we’re looking to have that completed soon, but no later than 90 days?

Allyson Breeden: Three months.

President Musgrave: After the approval of plans, the engineering drawings for this. After, as soon as those are approved then he has 90 days, three months, to affect that. Then sometime after that the county will construct a concrete median on Green River Road, extending from Lynch to what?

Allyson Breeden: From Lynch to the property boundary of Broadway Summit.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Musgrave, the recorder has stopped recording.

President Musgrave: Do you have the internet feed on?

Madelyn Grayson: Yes.

President Musgrave: Okay, you can digitize from that then.

Allyson Breeden: From Lynch Road all the way to the property line of Broadway Summit, which is almost to the Old National Bank.

President Musgrave: Okay. Mr. Vincent, after much negotiation has signed that document and you have it for us to sign today?

Allyson Breeden: I do.

President Musgrave: Commissioners, is there a motion to approve this?

Commissioner Nix: Motion to approve as amended.

Commissioner Shetler: I’ll second. The main purpose, I think too of this is that on Green River Road, which now has full access on that intersection coming out at Davis Lant, is that correct?

Allyson Breeden: That’s correct.

Commissioner Shetler: The street that’s coming out of the Black Buggy area there on to Green River Road, where people are able to turn left out of there heading essentially south on Green River Road, or turning left in to there coming from the north, that is a pretty dangerous situation. So, the county has gained a situation there where it’s right turn in, right turn out, eventually, as well as the other things that Commissioner Musgrave outlined. So, I think this is a win-win for all of us.

Commissioner Nix: Along with this, this will work in conjunction, according to Mr. Stoll when we looked at the plans of the continuation of Green River Road north of Lynch, which would be the next phase of the widening, it will all work itself in. So, it’s part, really it’s, as Commissioner Shetler said, it’s a win-win situation.

President Musgrave: Alright, we have a motion and a second. I’ll call for the vote. All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Is there any further business to come before the Commissioners? Do I hear a motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: We are adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

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