VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

JANUARY 29, 2008

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 29^th day of January, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Jeff Korb presiding.

President Korb: It’s call to order time. It’s about two minutes after five, and, unfortunately, I am known to be a couple of minutes late. So, if you would, please, introductions on my far right.

Marissa Nichoalds: Marissa Nichoalds, Superintendent of County Buildings.

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

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Korb: Jeff Korb, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Bill Fluty, County Auditor.

President Korb: Join with me, please, in the Pledge of Allegiance.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Korb: We’ll start this evening’s meeting with action items. The first item on the agenda is the Building Authority with Mr. David Rector. So, Mr. Rector, welcome.

Dave Rector: Let me turn on the mic. A couple more weeks we won’t have to do this.

President Korb: Oh, did you get them all working?

Dave Rector: You’re going to have all new in just a couple of weeks here. Monitors–

President Korb: Yeah.

Dave Rector: –microphones–

President Korb: Easter will be here quicker, I’ll bet ya’.

Dave Rector: –I’ll take it.

President Korb: Okay.

Dave Rector: Good bet.

President Korb: Deal. A chocolate bunny, chocolate bunny.

Dave Rector: We’re here before you for the 2008 items to do at the Centre through the F&B funds. Darren Stearns and Harry Cochran from SMG are also here this evening, if you have any questions that I’m not able to answer, or if you have any questions at all. I gave these to you last week, and also forwarded an updated copy, I think, later last week too.

President Korb: On those things, Mr. Rector, we are going to go ahead and take bids on those, is that correct?

Dave Rector: Those that we have to, yes. There’s some on there that are small items, just a thousand dollars here and there.

President Korb: Right.

Dave Rector: But, any items that come over the amount that we need to bid, we will quote or bid, according....landscaping, you’ll see will be a bid item.

President Korb: Okay.

Dave Rector: The carpeting you see on there for that price won’t have to be bid because we’ll buy that on GSA, the government, state government pricing.

President Korb: Who will we have install that then?

Dave Rector: We’ll get quotes on that.

President Korb: Okay, great.

Dave Rector: The air locks we’ll get quotes on. So, a good number of those, yes, a few of them, no.

President Korb: Okay. For those that are sitting in the audience and don’t have the pleasure of seeing what we’re talking about, when he is talking about those larger items, it’s approximately $125,000 per item. So, okay, great. Thank you.

Dave Rector: Okay.

President Korb: Do we need that in the form of a motion?

Dave Rector: We need a motion.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Korb: And, since Commissioner Tornatta is on the road coming back from a conference in Indianapolis, I will second that. All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Me too, aye. All those opposed same sign. I think it passes.

Dave Rector: Thank you, gentlemen.

President Korb: Thank you, Mr. Rector.

Commissioner Nix: Thanks.

President Korb: Next on the agenda is the President of the County Council, Marsha Abell. Marsha is, I’m sorry, Mrs. Abell is with us tonight to discuss the Tax Management Association agreement. I believe, gentlemen, we have that in a folder.

Marsha Abell: Do you have the copies that I’ve given you personally, Mr. Korb? I have more, if you need them. In fact, I’ll just give them to you.

President Korb: Yes, I’ve got it. We’re good.

Commissioner Nix: That’s it.

President Korb: The same thing? Okay.

Marsha Abell: What’s your pleasure, President Korb, members of the County Commissioners? I’m not going to read to you the two page statement that I’ve prepared that I’ve handed out to you tonight.

President Korb: Bless you.

Marsha Abell: You can read that yourselves.

President Korb: Okay.

Marsha Abell: I’m sure you’re all quite capable. I would like to point out a couple of things. Tax Management Associates is a company out of Indianapolis, which was hired by contract of the Commissioners in 2006 to audit, if you will, the personal property of companies in our city, and determine whether or not they had improperly filed their personal property tax. I have gotten numerous phone calls from these companies, several of which have even given me the freedom to give out their names, if you need it. They ask that I not give it to the media, but their biggest complaint is that, first of all, a letter usually goes to their accounting company, which answers it and then sends them a bill. Most of them are companies, almost all of them that I’ve talked to are companies that do use accountants to handle their accounting activities, and consequently have to pay them to sit through this audit, if you will, of this company, Tax Management Associates. I will go over my paragraphs in here briefly without reading them in their entirety. We have paid this, this company has collected, in what they call taxes due to Vanderburgh County, according to information given to me by the County Assessor and the County Treasurer, somewhere in excess of $80,000, or $800,000. We have paid them exactly what they have collected. We have not put one penny in our General Fund. In fact, they found refunds that should have been sent out, and the county is now $244,777 in the red based on hiring this company to help us collect money to go into the General Fund. Obviously, I’m not the least bit pleased with a negative impact on our General Fund from a company that promised a positive impact on our General Fund. Whether or not their contract can be cancelled is certainly up to you and your corporate counsel, but I would ask that we contact this company, ask them to discontinue any further audits until such time as we have an opportunity to sit down with this company and see what they’re doing. I was very disillusioned at the meeting that I had with them. I found them to be a very unprofessional company. You will see in your enclosures, I’ve given you a copy of a fax that they sent to one of the accounting firms that represents one of the companies that contacted me, and the gist of, the facts that they’ve sent there is, basically, oh, yeah, and by the way if you have any other companies we can harass, let us know who they are and we’ll do them too while we’re down there. Totally, totally unprofessional. They go into these companies to have them openly open their records for them to examine. They have no confidentiality agreement, and when I asked them about it, they assured me that their employees sign a confidentiality agreement with them. I really couldn’t care less what their employees sign with them. I’m worried about them assuring our companies that the information they learn in auditing their records are not going beyond the county’s taxing unit here in this building. There is no such agreement. They even indicated they don’t have such a document, but they would be willing to talk to their president about one. I think, in lieu of the fact that they obviously are not set up to do this type business, although they’ve been, evidently, trying it for 20 years, this is not a county that needs them. They boast of their other work in Indiana. They have 15 counties in Indiana that they do work for. We have 92 counties in Indiana. That’s not what I would call a majority, by any means. The argument was made that, one thing that they can handle for us, is that when they go into a company, they at least can give us an idea of what kind of personal property that company has, and we can use it for future taxing. That’s about the most ludicrous argument I have ever heard, because you can come in my house today, and tomorrow when you come in the same thing won’t be in it that there is today. Next year, I can guarantee you, in any business in Evansville, they may have a new computer, they may have four new computers, they may have decreased business and have less computers. You can’t judge it based on a snapshot of what they see today, thinking that it’s always going to be that way. If a company had filed a personal property tax and said they had a 50,000 square foot office, and 25 employees, and only one phone line, that might be a red flag to do a personal property audit on them. But, to just go out and audit all of our good paying companies here in town that have over $50,000, which is what they told me was the minimum they go for in personal property, and audit them, to me is not just cause. Some of these, most of these companies, in fact, are small companies. Evansville doesn’t have a large abundance of large corporations that have big accounting staffs. Most of these are small companies owned by our people, and a thousand dollars, or two thousand dollars for them to have to pay to a CPA firm is a lot of money off their bottom line. For us to continue to allow this to go on, unjustified, I think is ridiculous. I would ask tonight that you would have someone contact this company, tell them to immediately discontinue making any further audits, until such time as we have an opportunity to sit down and find out exactly what they have planned, what they’re doing, and ask them to, at least, have some reason to audit someone’s records, other than the fact that they have more than $50,000 in personal property.

President Korb: Sure. First of all Councilwoman, thank you so much for preparing the document you have. You’ve spent some time with that, because it’s single spaced, and I appreciate that more than you know. Mr. Ziemer, you have a working knowledge of this contract, at least that’s my understanding, are we within our boundaries to ask this request? Just a temporary stay, until we’re able to sit down with them and just have meeting?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No. We can ask them to do that, but they’re not required to do that.

President Korb: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: We have a contract with them. The contract has a termination provision in it, if they breach the contract. I had occasion to meet with this company, and the Treasurer, and the Assessor, and the Auditor in August of this year, and there was no indication of a breach of the agreement on their part, which would permit us to go ahead with the termination. Perhaps between August and now, they have breached the agreement, but I wouldn’t know that without, again, sitting down with the company and reviewing their procedures. We can ask them, but we could not make them stop doing what they are entitled to do under their contract.

President Korb: Is this a company, Mr. Ziemer, that we’re able to call them, for the most part, and arrange a meeting fairly quickly?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I could probably arrange a meeting with them tomorrow, if I had time. I don’t.

President Korb: That’s a little too quickly. That’s okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: But, we could.

President Korb: Okay. What I would like to do then, Councilwoman Abell, since we’re not able to do that without breaching their contract, my suggestion would be to include the Auditor, Mr. Fluty, to sit in on that meeting, have you there, if you have other representatives you would like to bring, just sort of how we’ve begun to do things and ask them some hardball questions. That way there would be satisfaction on your end, on the Commissioners end, and also on the Auditor’s end, and we’ll have a lot more feedback, if that’s okay with you.

Marsha Abell: That’s fine with me. I would like to see that happen. I would like to see us create a business atmosphere in this community, not anti-business in this community.

President Korb: Sure, and I, we totally respect that. That’s something that is not a big deal. So, Mr. Ziemer, if I could, just put that on to your plate. One more thing to do, if that’s possible, before the end of February?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Hmmm, I don’t know, before, oh, before the end of February? I was thinking you said January. Absolutely, yeah. We’ll get it done in the first week of February.

President Korb: We’re going to put that on the SAT exam and we’ll see how you do with that next time. That’s great. Is that satisfactory to you, Councilwoman Abell?

Marsha Abell: As long as we get something done.

President Korb: Yeah, we will.

Marsha Abell: Okay.

President Korb: I just, I don’t want to put us in a precarious position of doing something that potentially could hold us out liable, legally. Does that make sense?

Marsha Abell: It makes sense. I would ask that the future, I would like to go on record to say that I certainly hope that the future people that think about hiring these type companies, we could have hired ten people at $50,000 a year to do what these people did–

President Korb: Sure.

Marsha Abell: –and still have another half a million dollars almost in the bank.

President Korb: I think you just bring that argument with you when we meet, but let’s make that happen, Mr. Ziemer, would you, please?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Sure. I do want to comment, and I had a conversation with Mrs. Abell today about this. When the contract, the contract was really initiated by Tammy Elkins, who was then the County Assessor. I asked that they bring in the County Treasurer and the County Auditor to review provisions of the contract. Bill Fluty, the County Auditor, went to the County Auditor’s seminar that was held and received instructions as to the correct way of contracting with these people. We received communications from the State Treasurer relative to the correct way to contract with these people. Those three office holders, I was only there as County Attorney, but those three office holders and I worked then with the contract and negotiated the contract to its present form.

President Korb: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: So, it wasn’t done lightly.

President Korb: Sure.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: They may not be, the work they’re doing apparently is not satisfactory, but that is the history of how the contract was put together.

President Korb: Sure.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’ll call them and we’ll set up a meeting.

President Korb: Great. Blame me, tell them we’ve got a rookie here and trying to understand it better, and that’s fine. Great. Thank you.

Marsha Abell: Thank you, Mr. Korb. Thank you, Commissioner.

President Korb: Thank you very much, Mrs. Abell.

President Korb: Next on the agenda we have Jacob’s Village request for endorsement for grant application. Cheryl Kuchna is joining us this evening. Cheryl, welcome.

Cheryl Kuchna: Thank you. Thank you for the time.

President Korb: You’re welcome.

Cheryl Kuchna: Jacob’s Village is a residential community on the west side that has been in service now for about three years, serving the needs of adults with developmental disabilities, and we’re at a place where we would like to move to a second phase of development that is focused on providing accessible, affordable housing for seniors. So, we are bringing tonight where we would really seek your support. First of all, we are required to have notice of the local jurisdiction that the project would operate in, and then seek their support. We’re approaching this as a tax credit project, underneath the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. Our package is due March 1^st. As part of the application requirement, we need to contact local jurisdiction, under which we operate, and seek their endorsement, or support of the project, saying that it is consistent with, a project that’s consistent with meeting local housing needs. From what we understand at both state, county, city levels, priority needs across the boards are for special needs population, like the elderly, and people with disabilities. So, we believe that this project is aimed at a target population that we locally would need to serve. So, what we have up for consideration is a 24 unit, senior, affordable, accessible, rental housing project, on our property site, within the allowances of our PUD.

President Korb: I’m sorry, a PUD, is a?

Cheryl Kuchna: Planned Unit Development.

President Korb: Thank you,

Cheryl Kuchna: It’s a zoning type–

President Korb: Okay.

Cheryl Kuchna: –that is in place. The site layout of this complex would fit within the zoning allowances. So, that would be accounted for as we go forward with the application. So, we’re here tonight to answer any questions, take advice as to what else might be needed, as far as your needs to provide an endorsement of this, and, hopefully, have that taken care of within the month of February.

Commissioner Nix: Do we have a draft of the endorsement? Or is there something–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes. It’s a document that describes the project, I e-mailed you about this earlier today, but it describes the project, and then there is a place on the back page where the Commissioners would sign, by their President, really it’s the second to last page, Bill, and you’re asked to rate this project either that you’re not in favor of it all, or that you’re low, you think it’s a low priority, a moderate priority, or a high priority, and the state will grant points, which, I assume, makes it better for you to receive the grant, or better chances–

Cheryl Kuchna: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –of receiving the grant. The higher priority you rate it, the more points they will receive towards getting their grant. When I talked to Mrs. Kuchna earlier, and suggested that she come to this meeting, I have no idea how you will decide what the priority for this is. Maybe it’s a very high priority, but I don’t know, and I’m not sure the Commissioners do, but that’s what you’re being asked to do.

President Korb: Cheryl, this, I’m sorry. Go ahead, you had a question.

Commissioner Nix: Go ahead.

President Korb: No, go ahead.

Commissioner Nix: I’m just, just getting this today, I guess, this was sent earlier today, the document, do you have a deadline you say that you’re trying to meet?

Cheryl Kuchna: The Tax Credit Application deadline is March 1^st, package due in Indianapolis.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Cheryl Kuchna: The requirement of the application was that notice be served within a window of time between December 1^st and February 7^th. So, I was getting my dates a little mixed up there. So, there’s a two month window where they require that the requesting entity serve notice to the local jurisdiction that the project operates in.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: So, we will have met that requirement–

Cheryl Kuchna: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –just by her presenting it to the Commissioners now.

Cheryl Kuchna: Correct.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: In terms of their response indicating what priority they feel this might be, you don’t need that until?

Cheryl Kuchna: Until the end of February.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The end of February.

President Korb: We meet next week, Cheryl, so I will have a meeting and we can–

Commissioner Nix: I would feel a little bit better–

Cheryl Kuchna: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: –just to look this over actually.

Cheryl Kuchna: Oh, absolutely, and if there’s other information I can provide, we’re happy to do that. I was just, in talking with you yesterday looking what else would be needed. We’re happy to source that for you.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The only thing I would suggest is, if you know, what statistics or group of statistics the Commissioners might look at to determine what the priority needs are in this community for elderly housing.

Cheryl Kuchna: I know of two that I can give you. One is a Posey County report on housing needs, about 2005, and then the City of Evansville published something in 2006. I don’t know if there’s something specific to Vanderburgh County though.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, the city is in Vanderburgh County, so, I think the city publication would at least be helpful as to the priority for something like this.

Cheryl Kuchna: Okay, I’ll get that together for you.

President Korb: Then, my question, because phase one was obviously for special needs and handicapped individuals, is this project also serving that need? Or, is this just a senior housing, senior citizen housing?

Cheryl Kuchna: Interestingly enough, special needs is an umbrella, elderly falls under special needs.

President Korb: It does? Okay.

Cheryl Kuchna: Yes. So, yes, in that sense, but this also, it would support the needs of 55 and above, elderly, if you want to think of it that way, but the other is that within the 55 and above population, there are developmentally disabled adults in this community who do need housing like that. So, it does both, actually.

President Korb: That’s my question. Is this going to be your target market for that?

Cheryl Kuchna: It will be both.

President Korb: Both are a part of it? Okay.

Cheryl Kuchna: Yes, yes. It’s an expansion of the original focus of adults with developmental disabilities.

President Korb: Okay, and then will be this be Section Eight in any way, shape or form?

Cheryl Kuchna: This is Tax Credit, which is similar, but it has it’s own set of requirements and rules for managing and compliance.

President Korb: Okay. Final question that I have is, you talked about rentable units–

Cheryl Kuchna: Yes.

President Korb: –will that be the going market rate? Will that be a discounted rate?

Cheryl Kuchna: Okay, the Tax Credit program stipulates a certain mix of rents–

President Korb: Okay.

Cheryl Kuchna: –based on how many units and the income range that they would require for placement of middle to lower income levels. So, for example, in the 24 units you’re going to have three or four units at full market rent, and then the other rentals, the rents are scaled to income levels.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: It’s probably important to point out, Mr. Korb, that an endorsement of this is not suggesting that you’re endorsing the kind of apartments that are going to be built. That’s really a zoning and subdivision issue.

President Korb: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: You’re really only being asked to endorse the priority–

Cheryl Kuchna: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –of need for this in Vanderburgh County.

Cheryl Kuchna: Just, if I could comment, contexts from last year, there were about 50 to 60 applications submitted across the state. Those applications were screened on the basis of a number of criteria, all of which score points. One of the point getters is local endorsement that what the project is doing is meaningful to that community, and it is fitting within the priorities of the housing needs that they’re trying to address. So, when all was said and done, those 50 to 60 applications were wittled down to about 25 to 30 who were actually awarded after all the scoring was completed.

President Korb: Okay, have you already appeared before the Area Planning Commission on this?

Cheryl Kuchna: Informally.

President Korb: Informally? Okay.

Cheryl Kuchna: Yeah, we would take our final plans to the subdivision review, I believe.

President Korb: Great. Well, if you don’t mind, please come back next week and we’ll have an answer for you.

Cheryl Kuchna: Thank you. Appreciate it.

President Korb: Great, thank you very much.

Cheryl Kuchna: Appreciate your time.

President Korb: Nice to see you. Yes, let’s put that on the agenda for next week.

President Korb: We have the second and the final reading of CO.01-08-002, street and traffic control signs. I’m asking for public comment. Do we have any public comment? Roger?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Blaine is here who was of great assistance in developing this ordinance.

President Korb: Great, and you worked with Mr. Pedtke on this? Is that what this is?

Roger Lehman: We have worked with several groups.

President Korb: Okay.

Roger Lehman: And have advised them of the process.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: But, this is not the sign ordinance that Mr. Pedtke was specifically interested in and worked with us on. This is a different sign ordinance.

President Korb: Gotcha. Didn’t know that. Thanks for that clarification, Mr. Ziemer.

Roger Lehman: Yeah, this ordinance basically deals with signage on the building versus the street signing in the subdivision.

President Korb: Okay.

Roger Lehman: That’s the primary difference. This ordinance also has a component that deals with standardized addressing for the information technology system for the city and county. So, I’ll just go through the sections real briefly. The first one is to require by ordinance the addressing, posting of addresses on–

President Korb: Okay, time out, stop. We’ve got the wrong ordinance.

Roger Lehman: Oh.

President Korb: There’s two ordinances. You’re discussing, we’ll let you cover this one–

Roger Lehman: I’m sorry.

President Korb: –we’ll go out of order. It’s the first reading of CO.01-08-003, the establishment of the common addressing system.

Roger Lehman: Okay.

President Korb: Now, you can talk. It’s fine. It’s not a big deal.

Roger Lehman: I think that’s what we’re talking about.

President Korb: We are, but we weren’t. Yeah, we weren’t talking about that, but we’re going to now.

Roger Lehman: Okay. I’m sorry.

President Korb: It’s alright. Bifocals, Mr. Lehman, bifocals.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: It’s the other one that Mr. Pedtke was involved in.

Roger Lehman: And, if we were going to do that first–

President Korb: No, no, no, you’re up here, do it.

Roger Lehman: Okay.

President Korb: You’re killing me, Ziemer. You’re killing me up here.

Roger Lehman: Alright. This is posting of addresses while a building is under construction. Again, this provides for temporary posting while the home or the building is being built for purposes of emergency response, and also for purposes, our selfish ones of trying to find where we’re supposed to do inspections. This is a very brief, and kind of to the point ordinance that just says it has to be posted with four inch letters, or numerals and letters on the structure, on a contrasting background, visible from the street, during the time of construction. That’s basically all it says.

President Korb: Okay.

Roger Lehman: We’ve tried, over the years, to encourage contractors to do this and plead and so on, so, now we’re actually asking to make that part of the rules. The second section is a result of many months of discussions on posting of street numbers on homes. We’ll be doing similar ordinances to all three of these with the city. The county, we’re putting them first, before the county, because the majority of the issues are in the county, on the first two. This requires that the street numbers be posted on the front of each building, house, commercial building, so on and so forth. If the structure is a certain distance away from the road, then the number has to be posted on the road within visibility of the street so that emergency vehicles, emergency response people can see this is the house, you know, if it’s not on fire, if it’s on fire you might be able to see if without the posting, but there may be, you know, emergency response for medical issues and that type of thing. Again, this has been thrown around and discussed for a long time, and we finally have reduced it to writing. Thanks to Mr. Ziemer, we got it in a form that is, hopefully, acceptable. This is a little different in that there is a penalty if you don’t comply with the rule. The first time you don’t comply, the penalty is $25. This is enforced by the Sheriff. They will notify the residents in the county. In the city it will be the Evansville Police Department, but in the county it will be the Sheriff. If it’s not corrected within that 15 day period, there’s another fine of $50. If it’s not corrected in the next 15 days, there’s a fine of a $100, and each 15 days after that will be a hundred. Obviously, the intent is not to fine people, but to get, encourage them to put the signs up on the street, or on the homes and businesses. Are there any questions about the first two? The second one is kind of, or the third one is kind of a different type of subject.

President Korb: So, you’ve outlined, I’m assuming, types of signs, size of signs, color of signs, location of signs?

Roger Lehman: Right. We have put kind of a catch all in there that allows the Sheriff to determine whether or not an alternative is acceptable, because we don’t want to eliminate people from being able to have carved stone numbers. That wouldn’t be mandatory, obviously, but we want to be sure that people are able to do, you know, things that they would like to do, but at the same time it needs to be at least as visible as would the ordinance requirement.

President Korb: Okay. Any questions, any further questions? This is the first reading, we don’t have to act on this. So, we’ll talk about this next week? A motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: I make that motion.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Roll call vote. Mr. Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Mr. Tornatta? Absent. Mr. Korb? Yes.

Roger Lehman: Thank you.

President Korb: We’re done. Thank you.

Roger Lehman: And, um–

President Korb: Roger, I’m going to interrupt you for just a minute. We’ve got a tornado warning in effect.

Roger Lehman: Okay.

President Korb: You can hear the rain, you’ve seen the power go off and on. If you’ve got someone you need to call at home, just check in, you might want to do that. When Mr. Lehman is done, we’ll take maybe a couple of minutes off here, and we won’t go anywhere, but let’s just be sure we’re all okay with this, because it’s doing more than what it was earlier.

Roger Lehman: That sounds like hail.

President Korb: Yeah, so, okay, Roger, get to the punch line.

Roger Lehman: Very quickly.

President Korb: Great.

Roger Lehman: On the addressing, it’s simply a codification of a standardized way of putting together street names and numbers, and prefixes and suffixes so that, universally, throughout city and county, in the data processing in particular, but really in all aspects, that those things are the same. So, when you do something on Cynthiana Road, is it Highway 65? Is it Big Cynthiana Road? Is it Cynthiana Road?

President Korb: Sure.

Roger Lehman: And so on. We need to get it to where it’s one thing, but you can check several things at the same time.

President Korb: Great.

Roger Lehman: So, this basically says you’ve got to do it this way, and it’s the rule. So, that’s all we’re asking.

President Korb: Super. Thank you so much.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you, Roger. Appreciate that.

President Korb: Would you call your station for us and see what’s going on?

Andy Schroeder: I would love to.

President Korb: Thanks, man. Now, is the time you can pull out your cell phones, call your family if you want to, be sure they’re okay. I’ll give you a couple of minutes to do that, then we’ll get back to business.

(The meeting was recessed for approximately five minutes.)

President Korb: Mr. Pedtke, we need to have you come up, if you would. If you’re prepared and ready to go? This is the second and final reading of CO.01-08-002. This is the street and traffic control signs, which I thought it was. Mr. Pedtke, you’re on.

Bill Pedtke: Well, thank you very much. Bill Pedtke, I represent the Southwestern Indiana Builders Association. I also sit on the Area Plan Commission where we kicked forth this, changed the subdivision ordinance for the city and the county. I believe that we took an ordinance that probably would have caused more problems than anything and did some creative thinking to it, and special thanks to Brad Mills and John Stoll for doing a lot of thinking outside the box and making this work. This will make the developers put the street signs up sooner, and that’s a safety purpose. Not just for the residents, but also for construction workers on the job. I just want to thank the Commissioners for doing a good job of letting us have some time for discussion, and bringing it back to what I think is a winner.

President Korb: Thank you. Mr. Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Appreciate your help in this. I know Blaine Oliver, he had some involvement in this also.

Bill Pedtke: Brad’s whole office, and especially Blaine.

Commissioner Nix: Yeah, and I think it’s just another way of how, when everybody sits downs and gets things worked out–

Bill Pedtke: Right.

Commissioner Nix: –we can work it where everybody, maybe not everybody’s extremely happy, but it was somewhat of a compromise, but appreciate your help on it.

Bill Pedtke: The only one’s upset is Ted.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Because I had to draft the darn thing.

Bill Pedtke: We worked it out so quickly, he couldn’t bill for so many hours.

President Korb: Brad, thank you and your staff–

Bill Pedtke: Thank you very much.

President Korb: –and Mr. Pedtke, thank you. Let’s go ahead and do this a roll call vote. Any public comment first of all? Anybody else have any comments about this? I see none. So, as a result of that, roll call vote. Mr., well–

Commissioner Nix: Move approval of CO.01-08-002.

President Korb: I second that motion. Roll call vote. Mr. Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Mr. Korb votes yes. It passes.

President Korb: A late addition to the agenda tonight is Z. Tuley. Z., come on up. You’re so late I don’t even know why you’re here. Welcome.

Z. Tuley: Hi. I’m Z. Tuley. I’m the Vanderburgh County Treasurer, and it is my annual duty to come before you guys and establish the Board of Finance. Thank you, Madelyn. I almost blew this. She was my helpful reminder. What we typically do, according to Indiana Code, we are to establish a President and Secretary for the Board of Finance. The Commissioners serve as part of that board. Historically speaking we have voted for myself to be the President, and the Auditor’s office to be the Secretary. Historically speaking that’s the way it’s been for years. Unless you want to change something up.

President Korb: I don’t. Do we have to nominate you? Or is that just a done deal?

Z. Tuley: I think it’s just something that you put in the form of a motion, and you just say okay.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. You’re in charge again.

Z. Tuley: Okay. One of the things that I wanted to give you is the–

President Korb: Now she gives us this, after we vote. What’s up with that? Come on. Geez Louise! All these numbers.

Z. Tuley: This is the exciting part.

President Korb: This is exciting? You’re killing me, Z. You’re killing me.

Z. Tuley: This is the fun part of my job. This is the exciting part.

President Korb: Okay.

Z. Tuley: The General Fund, in interest earnings this year, I earned $3,509,634.89. I am thrilled to death, and then I find out that the Feds just cut the rate. So, darn it.

So, anyway, funds, individual funds, like Roads and Streets and so on and so forth, I invest a lot of those separately, so that any interest earned goes right back into that fund to support that fund for future purposes.

President Korb: Typically buying CD’s, treasuries, what are you doing with that?

Z. Tuley: Mostly CD’s.

President Korb: Okay.

Z. Tuley: Mostly repos, if it’s a shorter term.

President Korb: Okay.

Z. Tuley: I don’t like dealing in treasuries.

President Korb: Don’t blame you.

Z. Tuley: I examined all of that, but I’m not real happy with all that. This seems to be more than adequate.

President Korb: Good for you.

Z. Tuley: So, with the funds I earned $744,946.94, for a total interest earning last year, $4,254,581.83.

President Korb: Is that number on the sheet you just gave to us?

Z. Tuley: Yes. It’s at the very back. You will find the total on the very back of what I just gave you, under the column that says, “actual earned”, I believe.

Commissioner Nix: Retirement principal.

Z. Tuley: Not retirement principal.

Commissioner Nix: No, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

Z. Tuley: Actual earned, which is like two columns over from the rate.

Commissioner Nix: Gotcha.

Z. Tuley: We have an estimated, and sometimes there’s pennies and rounding, and–

President Korb: Yeah, there you go.

Z. Tuley: Sometimes we estimate, and we thought we were getting a 360, but we were getting a 365. So, that will change. You know how that goes. I’m going to keep mine real brief. I would have liked to have reported how much the delinquent tax collector that we have a contract with has done for 2007. I am ill prepared due to the fact that I almost forgot this. I apologize.

President Korb: Come back.

Z. Tuley: I’m happy to come back–

President Korb: Yeah.

Z. Tuley: –and bring that figure. I think that you will be very pleased. Unlike the TMA contract, this contract that I have, the offender is the one that pays this collector’s fee.

President Korb: Okay.

Z. Tuley: The TMA contract, it’s money that they find, it’s placed in a fund, and once that taxpayer has paid, then the TMA people get their pay out of that fund. So, the delinquent offender pays in, and then it turns around and goes out. With this, we don’t have that.

President Korb: Okay.

Z. Tuley: This is totally separate. The delinquent offender is charged the whole fee.

President Korb: Great.

Z. Tuley: It’s a win-win. I would have liked to have reported on bankruptcy filings too, and I would like to bring that to you. In years past, since the rules have changed, we have a lot of reduction in that area.

President Korb: Good.

Z. Tuley: So, we are thrilled to report that as well, but I will get you those numbers.

President Korb: Do you want me to have Madelyn call you to remind you?

Z. Tuley: Oh, I hope not.

President Korb: Sorry.

Z. Tuley: I certainly apologize.

President Korb: I couldn’t resist. You’re too easy.

Z. Tuley: I didn’t wear orange, so, I can’t be a target. I didn’t wear red either.

President Korb: Great.

Z. Tuley: Well, okay. But, one thing I would like to add real quick.

President Korb: Sure.

Z. Tuley: I would love to be involved in the TMA meetings. I’m the ones that’s reporting the numbers–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I will see that you’re at the meeting, as you were last time.

Z. Tuley: Thank you. I appreciate that. I concur mostly with everything Marsha said.

President Korb: Oh, really? Interesting, okay, great. Thanks. Thanks for that feedback.

Z. Tuley: And, I’m happy to provide additional information if you need it.

President Korb: Super. That’s how good government is supposed to work. So, good, thanks. And, whenever you want to come back, just let Marissa know, and we’ll put you on the agenda.

Z. Tuley: In a timely fashion.

President Korb: You’ve got a month. If not, Madelyn’s calling you.

Z. Tuley: I know. Okay.

President Korb: Are you done?

Z. Tuley: Thanks. Yes.

President Korb: See ya’ later.

Z. Tuley: Okay.

President Korb: Have a great night.

Z. Tuley: Thank you.

President Korb: Contracts, agreements and leases. Do we want to do these all at one time? Or do you want me to go down them one at a time? All at one time works with me. I need a motion.

Commissioner Nix: Well, we want to read them.

President Korb: Go through them real quick?

Commissioner Nix: Yeah, let’s do that.

President Korb: The first one is County Commissioners with Bernardin and Lochmueller, engineering services for phases two and three of Burdette Park and the USI bicycle, pedestrian and nature trail. The second one is–

Commissioner Nix: Hold on a minute. John’s coming up.

President Korb: Oops. Sorry, John.

John Stoll: I didn’t have that review of that contract finished as of yet. So, we’ll have to bring that to an upcoming meeting. I know the County Attorney’s reviewed it and approved it, but I’m still reviewing the scope of work, and trying to find out funding sources for that. So, it’s not quite ready yet.

President Korb: So, you don’t want us, you want us to take that out of the voting?

John Stoll: Right, the Bernardin Lochmueller bike path contract needs to be postponed.

President Korb: And, you are John Stoll, County Engineer?

John Stoll: Correct.

President Korb: Good. Thanks. So, we’ll take that, scratch that one. The next one is County Commissioners, Windemere Farms encroachment agreement. The third item is AIDS Resource Group, the Old Courthouse lease agreement. Is that a renewal, Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes, it is.

President Korb: Okay, great. Let’s see, County Engineer, Air Trak vehicle locator system agreement. Item six, is the HIPPA business associate agreement between Mulberry Center and the Vanderburgh County Health Department. Discussion? Questions?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Same sign. Motion passes.

President Korb: Department head reports. Do we have any department heads?

John Stoll: I have three things. First is a change order on the Bromm Road culvert replacement project. This is for an increase of $9,102.22. The two main reasons for the increases were additional gabions required for the stabilization of the shoulder alongside of the project. Then we had additional asphalt patching. The contractor on that was CCC of Evansville.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Same, opposed same sign. Motion passes.

John Stoll: Then, next, I have the cover sheet for the Green River Road-Millersburg Road intersection plans. That project is proceeding to final plans. The consultant, Clark Dietz, is doing the maintenance traffic plan in hopes of submitting everything to INDOT soon. As long as we can get two more right-of-way parcels secured and a utility agreement hammered out, we’re looking tentatively at a May or July INDOT bid letting.

President Korb: Great.

John Stoll: So, just need your signatures on the cover sheet.

President Korb: Congratulations.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. Opposed same sign. Motion passes.

John Stoll: The last item I have is a letter of support for USI to do some research regarding the IDEM storm water requirements. I was approached by Professor Rashid of the University of Southern Indiana, he had been in discussion with the City of Evansville, and then he contacted me, and then he contacted Warrick County. He’s interested in doing some research to determine what would be appropriate best management practices for the counties and for the city to comply with the IDEM storm water regulations. Given the fact this is an unfunded mandate, anything that, any assistance we can get at no charge would be great. He was going to do the research and then share it with us, and then we might be able to implement his recommendations. In order to get approval for his research, he was just looking for letters of recommendation, and that’s what I had e-mailed a draft of to you last Thursday or Friday.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: That’s all I have.

President Korb: Thank you, Mr. Stoll.

John Stoll: Thanks.

President Korb: Appreciate it. It’s nice to see you.

President Korb: Board appointments, the Mayor’s–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me. I have two contracts that were not on the agenda.

President Korb: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The first one is a HIPPA business associate agreement between Mulberry Center and the county on behalf of the Department of Health. This is a standard form of agreement required under the HIPPA act, and you’ll recall that last, I believe it was our last meeting you approved a contract between the Vanderburgh County Department of Health and the Mulberry Center for services to be provided by Mulberry Center, and then when an agency like that does business with another, it’s required now, under HIPPA to have a business associate agreement under which they agree to a number of regulations regarding confidentiality of patient records. This agreement is standard for agreements of its type, and it’s satisfactory for execution from a legal perspective.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. Opposed same sign.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.:

(Tape change)

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The other agreement is between the county, on behalf of the Purdue Co-Op Extension Service and, just a second, the Business Equipment Distributors for maintenance of the printing machine used by Purdue Co-Op. This is about the fourth year in a row we’ve had an agreement like this with Business Equipment. It’s identical to all the prior years, except each year the per copy charge goes up. This year the per copy charge will be .00475 cents per copy, compared to .0042 cents per copy last year. It is satisfactory for execution.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: That’s all.

President Korb: Thank you, Mr. Ziemer. Appreciate that.

President Korb: Now, board appointments?

Commissioner Nix: I would like to appoint Commissioner Tornatta to the Mayor’s Educational Roundtable.

President Korb: And, I second that. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. All those opposed same sign. That will teach Troy to miss a meeting.

President Korb: New business, do we have any.....I just love to get him giggling. It’s so much fun. New business, do we have any new business? Mr. Ziemer, since you’ve been the king of surprises tonight.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, new business.

President Korb: Okay, there you go.

President Korb: Old business, rezoning of VC-15-2007, 12700 Old State Road. Welcome back.

Chris Wischer: Thank you. Excuse me.

President Korb: State your name for the record, please.

Chris Wischer: Chris Wischer, Bamberger, Foreman, Oswald and Hahn. Here tonight on behalf of Habermel Investments LLC. John Habermel’s in the audience with me. As we go, he can answer any questions that I can’t, I’m sure. To be, kind of briefly recap where we were two weeks ago. We were here on a petition to rezone the property in the white outline at 12700 Old State Road, the corner of Boonville-New Harmony and Old State Road. Yeah, that’s a good map. The, as you can see from the map it’s completely surrounded to the north and to the west with C-4 property, which, the final leg of that was done in November. When we were here two weeks ago, the issue came up as to access to this real estate. Oh, thank you. I think the issue, as I understood it, was whether or not the access to this property could then be utilized in some future case as a direct access to the greater Schnuck’s development, which is what we understand the remainder of the property to be zoned for. I think that, in some instances came about from my statements about the potential use of this property, which I need to say for the record, was clearly hypothetical on my part. There’s, at this time, no interest been expressed on either side about that happening, about any combination of this property with the Schnuck’s property. I’m not even sure Schnuck’s owns it at this point. It’s my client’s intention to utilize this property as a single lot. In that event, what we’ve done is we’ve come up with a private covenant that we believe addresses the concerns. I know my client has spoken with each Commissioner individually to gauge their concerns, and I’ll submit this. What you have before you is a private covenant that my client would agree to execute, in the event that this rezoning ordinance is approved. Paragrah one is the access paragraph. As you can see from the map, right now there’s actually two curb cuts on the property. It’s the recommendation of the County Engineer and others that there be one access, and that it be, my understanding is, as far north, probably in this area.

President Korb: Right.

Chris Wischer: We’ve committed in this paragraph to that there would only be one access along that property line, to make it clear that that’s our intention, or my client’s intention. Further, that the access to this property would be exclusively for the purposes of access to this property. I’ve had several conversations with John Stoll, we believe that once folks are on this property, it makes sense not to have them dump back onto the road, and have the possibility, if it ever works out, if, you know, moving from here to there. This wouldn’t necessarily preclude that, but what it would preclude is this access being used as a direct access for the rest of the property. If it can be used for this property and the uses by the occupants of this property. That’s the intention. Just clear for the record. Additionally, the covenant would be enforceable by the County Commissioners, and the covenant could be modified by agreement of the property owner, and a majority of the County Commissioners. So, if, once the property is developed, if there becomes some other intention for the property, this thing isn’t necessarily set in stone. We could conceivably come back and ask again that it be expanded or changed. But, at this point, I think we’ve attempted to be clear, as to what this access would be for.

Commissioner Nix: I guess, I’m the one that raised the flag last week, or two weeks ago. I guess, the concern, when the other parcel was rezoned was that there not be more than one access on Old State. What I didn’t want to see happen was that the development take over this parcel, and then there would be another entrance into the larger development there.

Chris Wischer: Right.

Commissioner Nix: So, that was the concern I had. But, if, in fact, there’s a common roadway, or a drive between the two, I don’t necessarily have a problem with that.

Chris Wischer: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: I just did not want to see two accesses off of Old State. That was one of the concerns that the, in the rezoning that we heard before.

Chris Wischer: Right. I think that there’s no intention for this access to become some second access. I know there were statements made about their being one access by the Schnuck’s folks in their rezoning. This is certainly in no way intended to circumvent that commitment.

President Korb: I guess, my question is, in the event, I know that you’ve said, right now, there’s not a deal in the offing between you all and Schnuck’s.

Chris Wischer: Right.

President Korb: If that develops, is that language in here that does not become a double access for them?

Chris Wischer: Well, I think what they would, it’s exclusive for this real estate. What, the way I intended that to be, was, I mean, it’s possible that Schnuck’s could acquire the real estate. And, again, possible in the sense of, you know, within the realm of possibility, but, again, there’s no intention there, at this point. And, if so, it would have to be, they could not convert it to a main entrance, or a primary entrance, or even a secondary entrance for the development. It would have to be used for access to that lot. So, if they decided....one reason that we opted not to commit to eliminating it if they own it is, what if they own it with the intent of creating and using it as a separate out lot, as we have it. We don’t want to foreclose that possibility. It could be acquired and then sold as an outlot. As long as it continues as an outlot the access would be there for that property. So, my reading of it is, it would prohibit them using it as a direct ingress/egress from this road to their property.

President Korb: Okay. Mr. Nix, does that satisfy you?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Okay, great. Any other questions?

Chris Wischer: I think that’s in line with their commitment. So, that shouldn’t have been an issue with them anyway.

President Korb: Mr. Ziemer, does this look okay for you?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes.

President Korb: Okay, great. Do we need this in the form of a motion? Any other public comment about this? Seeing none.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

President Korb: Second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. Opposed same sign. It passes. Congratulations.

Chris Wischer: Thank you. We’ll execute and record this.

President Korb: Ah, roll call vote. Okay. Mr. Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Mr. Korb? Yes. The motion passes.

Chris Wischer: Thank you.

President Korb: You’re welcome.

Madelyn Grayson: I will need a copy of the private covenant.

President Korb: There you go.

President Korb: Public comment? I know we have at least one public commenter tonight, and that’s Mr. Shrode. About anything that we’re doing. Mr. Shrode, please step to the microphone and state your name.

Willard Shrode: My name is Willard Shrode. I’m a retired attorney. I practiced law in Evansville for 55 years. Thank God I’m out of the practice now. I have not even bothered to renew my license. I’m here mainly as an historian. I represented Bob Hamilton 35 or 36 years ago in getting his golf course on the county poor farm property. I think three facts need to be made known that have not been published. I don’t think it was intentional, but people haven’t lived as long as I have that remember back 35 years. Number one, the, where the golf course is now, that was the worst eyesore in Vanderburgh County. It has oil sludges, there had been oil wells there, they had never been plugged, and it had pooled the water, half oil, half water. Every time it rained the oil came up and it poured over into Little Pigeon Creek. That’s number one. Number two, the, typically we had, in establishing that, the first difficulty was to enact a State law which would let the county poor farm lease property for a golf course. Out of 150 members, there were only three dissents, but we were one of the last two acts passed in the legislature that year, thanks to Dick Folz who was Lieutenant Governor and Bob Orr who was the sponsor of the bill. But, that’s how difficult that is. The trips we took to Indianapolis to try to get that through. Another thing, we had to have the property rezoned, and that was fought every bit of the way. Thanks to then Mayor Frank McDonald, he finally appeared before the City Council, at the final appeal, he said, “We need that golf course. Let’s get it. What are we arguing about?”, and it went through just smooth as silk after that on the rezoning. The third thing was we had to have the approval of the, I call them the clean air board. We worked on that for a year. They refused to, we walked them out where the oil and water was pouring in Little Pigeon Creek. They didn’t do a thing. After a year, when one day we got it approved. I won’t take your time, but if any of you want to call me, that’s an interesting story of how we got that through, legally. The (Inaudible) thing was, that we then had to go to Indianapolis and acquire a small business loan, which Bob eventually did, for $170,000, for $700,000. That loan was through Citizens Bank, now Fifth Third. Every penny of that was paid back. The cost of these items was considerable, and Mr., your County Attorney here, Mr. Ziemer, can tell you, when these are contested, none of them are easy. Are they, Ted?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: That’s right.

Willard Shrode: Then the, we had to make a contract with the County Commissioners, and that had to be negotiated, and the Press was against it, and the Courier was for it, and that was endless. But, we finally got that through. Then, all of this was done without one cent cost to the county, to the taxpayer. In addition to that, the Hamilton’s operated that golf course for 34 years. How much did it cost the taxpayers? Zero, not one red cent. They paid rent of $4,600 a year for 34 years. Now, that amounts to what, $140,000 or $150,000. In addition, the charitable foundation made gifts for partial scholarships, and gifts to the universities, small gifts for their profit. As a charitable foundation they made no profit. The Hamilton’s didn’t draw one penny from that, and they operated the golf course. In addition, Hamilton built a club house for a restaurant, and a pro shop, and he paid for that again. It didn’t cost the county or the taxpayer one red cent. After 34 years, they’re turning that back to the county, the poor farm owns that. I think that, of all my practice in Vanderburgh County, I was tickled to death to turn it over to some other lawyer after we accomplished that. The time and the effort that I spent on that you wouldn’t believe, and that Bob went through. I don’t see how he ever stood it. But, they’ve operated that, and it hasn’t cost the city one, or the taxpayer one cent. They provided a much needed facility. It’s different now. How many golf courses are there in the area? Now there are five, six, seven in the area. In those days, there was only the city courses and the Country Club, and then you had to get up real early to make a reservation for the weekend to play golf. It was a much needed facility. Now, it can be turned over, maybe 18 holes of golf, maybe a soccer field, that’s up to the infinite wisdom of you County Commissioners to determine how that property should now be operated. But, I thought it would be remiss if you and the taxpayers weren’t notified when all the news goes out about what we’re going to do about the golf course. What a boon it was to the taxpayer to get that golf course constructed and operated without any cost to the taxpayer. I’ve lived here 83 years, except when I went to college and law school and was in the service in World War II in the South Pacific, but I don’t know any other contribution to the taxpayers of this amount of money. Because that course, if it cost over a million then, it’s two or three times worth that now. At least double, I would say. I think that the public and the taxpayers and you Commissioners ought to be made aware of those three facts. Thank you very much.

President Korb: Thank you, Mr. Shrode. Appreciate that very much.

(Applause)

President Korb: Hamilton’s has been a hot button issue. I know that Commissioner Nix and I have received a ton of e-mail on that, and we’re going to, obviously, have to do something relatively soon to preserve the greens, if that’s, indeed, what we want to do. I’m just going to be honest with you all, and the folks watching on t.v., we don’t know. We don’t have plan B. That’s the honest truth. So, we’re going to work feverishly towards that. It would be great if the Hamilton’s could have stayed on, and I’m sure that was their desire as well. So, we’ll continue to work with regards to that, and move quickly, and certainly be as transparent to the public as we can with that, and as fair with the Hamilton’s as we possibly can with that too. We see that as being a priority. Any other public comment about anything else going on in the county? Seeing none. Whoa, yes, sir.

Mike Sitzman: Yeah, I’m just (Inaudible).

President Korb: Please.

Mike Sitzman: Mike Sitzman, and my interest is in Hamilton’s. I’m part of the Men’s Club there. My only request is, in the way of a comment is that you would at least keep the people openly informed as to when you’re going to do things, when you’re going to hear things, so that we can attend these meetings. We brought a bunch of people down here tonight, we didn’t know what was on the agenda. Obviously, this thing came up very quickly, and I understand why there wasn’t anything on there. First of all, you said you didn’t have anything, and, secondly, if you did have, it would be short notice. Obviously, those things will be published for those of us that have interest so we can be here and attend and give our comment, correct?

President Korb: Absolutely.

Mike Sitzman: Okay.

President Korb: Anytime you want to come to a Commissioners meeting, we always have public comment at the end. But, we absolutely, positively want to be transparent with you all, because you don’t have a vested interest in it, a financial interest, but you have a personal interest in it. We recognize that.

Mike Sitzman: And we have one for the community too.

President Korb: Absolutely.

Mike Sitzman: We think that, you know, all the stuff you see in the newspaper about building baseball fields and all that sort of thing, that’s great, but that’s for people coming in out of town. We have a facility we would like to keep for the people who live here, pay taxes, and continue to support our policies and politicians, the whole bit, you know, the whole nine yards.

President Korb: Sure.

Mike Sitzman: So, that’s really our interest. As you said, we don’t have a vested interest, we have another interest, you know, in those–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: If I could just ask one question?

Mike Sitzman: Sure.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Just for my information. Would it be the tenor of the group here that they want to see it continued to be used as golf course?

Mike Sitzman: Absolutely.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Is that, okay.

Mike Sitzman: Absolutely. There’s no question. (Applause).

President Korb: Yeah.

Mike Sitzman: We understand that there’s maybe some complications with 36 holes. That’s what we would like to have, but you don’t always get what you want to have. I understand that, but we think that there ought to be some kind of a compromise made in terms of keeping that a golf facility for the public. Because, a lot of things that Mr. Shrode said, I really think the county owes something back to the Hamilton’s to try to really do that sort of thing because of all the investment that they put into it. It’s not cost the county a thing. So, maybe we can turn it around, and you guys can come up with a plan to make this thing work.

President Korb: Well, I think initially, and I can’t speak for Commissioner Nix, do you want to say something about that, Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: No, other than just the fact that it’s been a short period of time since we found out that the Hamilton’s, you read the paper two weeks ago, I guess, this Thursday that, you know, that they didn’t have an interest in carrying it on a