VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

JULY 11, 2006

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 11^th day of July, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Cheryl Musgrave presiding.

President Musgrave: Good afternoon. I would like to call to order the July 11, 2006 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County. We will start with introductions.

Marissa Nichoalds: Marissa Nichoalds, Superintendent of County Buildings.

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

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Musgrave: Cheryl Musgrave, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Bill Fluty, County Auditor.

President Musgrave: We will now do the Pledge of Allegiance. Please join me.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to approve the minutes of June 27^th?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Musgrave: I’ll second. All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: Aye. The motion carries.

President Musgrave: We have several action items today. Permission to open bids for VC06-06-05, Aabel’s Park sanitary sewer. Is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Musgrave: I’ll second. All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: Aye. We’ll proceed to open those bids and have a report a little later on in the meeting.

President Musgrave: Permission to advertise for bids. Debbie Spalding is here from Purchasing. Is there anything that you would like to say? This is VC-14-2006.

Debra Spalding: Just, I’m Debra Spalding, Purchasing Director for the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County. I’m here today with my first request to seek bids for tandem trucks for the County Highway Department.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: Aye. The motion carries.

President Musgrave: We move now to the public hearing/first reading of vacation ordinance CO.V-07-06-001, for vacation of the drainage easement at 7145 East Virginia Street. Is there anyone here to address this? And, are you here to address this, sir?

Matt Lutz: Yes, I am.

President Musgrave: Please state your name and address for the record.

Matt Lutz: My name is Matt Lutz with the law firm of Shively and Associates. Our address is 414 Citadel Circle, Evansville, IN 47715. I’ve provided Mr. Ziemer today with the actual boundary description of the easement to be vacated, as well as an executed easement to be granted to the county–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Did you give me that? I didn’t see it.

Matt Lutz: I’m sorry. I gave that to Mrs. Grayson.

Madelyn Grayson: He gave it to me.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay.

Matt Lutz: The reason we’re requesting to move the drainage easement is to make way for a 19,000 square foot building that will be worth approximately three million dollars.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Let’s see, Matt, the legal description you gave us, you’ve given to Ms. Grayson, and she’s going to attach that to the petition. Our copy did not have a copy of that attached, and that takes care of that. You have, you’ve provided me with an easement, and I made some modifications, and you’ve had that executed by your client, and you’ve given Ms. Grayson a copy of the easement. This will be the replacement easement, should this one be vacated.

Matt Lutz: Yes, sir.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: And, you’ve provided, you do have a copy of the ordinance, and you gave me a copy of the ordinance today, which would be adopted at the next hearing, if it’s approved on first reading today. You sent out all of the necessary notices to abutting landowners, and you heard from, got green cards back from all of them but two, but those were sent copies and I did see copies of the white cards for those. That those were sent out.

Matt Lutz: Yes, sir.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: So, we don’t have any objection from a legal perspective.

President Musgrave: We have received notice from the Surveyor, Bill Jeffers, and the Sheriff, Brad Ellsworth, that they have reviewed this application, and that they have no objections to it either. Does this require a roll call vote?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: It does. This is first reading today, on this hearing.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to approve the first reading?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I guess, pardon me, do you want to see if there’s anybody in the audience?

President Musgrave: I’m sorry, is there anyone here to speak to the vacation of the drainage easement at 7145 East Virginia? I see no one. I will call for a motion.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Musgrave: I’ll second. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. The motion carries. Thank you.

Matt Lutz: Thank you.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Next is an ordinance CO.07-06-013, an ordinance amending Title 15 of the Code of Ordinances of Vanderburgh County. It’s the first and final reading. This is to correct an error in the section of the ordinance regarding mobile homes that was brought to our attention. I would like to waive the first reading at this time. Is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Musgrave: I’ll second. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. I would like a motion to approve the final reading.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Musgrave: And I will second. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. That approves CO.07-06-013.

President Musgrave: We move now to department head reports. That’s you, Mr. Stoll.

John Stoll: Ted has a question for me.

President Musgrave: Okay, are there any other department heads? My notes show that there are no other reports. Marissa, were there any reports from any other department heads?

Marissa Nichoalds: None today, no.

President Musgrave: Okay, then we will wait for Mr. Stoll.

John Stoll: I have a few items this afternoon. The first is a termination letter for the office cleaning agreement for the County Engineering Department. The agreement requires 30 days advance written notice to terminate. I would request your approval to sign off on the termination letter.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Musgrave: I’ll second. All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: Aye. The motion carries.

John Stoll: Next, I have a street acceptance request for Section Two of St. Charles Cove Subdivision. This is for 357 feet of Heard Street, 214 feet of Heard Court, and 175 feet of Juniper Court. I would request that the Commissioners accept those streets for maintenance.

President Musgrave: Would you go ahead and do the Lynch Road final acceptance as well?

John Stoll: Sure. We received that acceptance form from Bernardin Lochmueller, and that’s one of the forms that needs to be submitted to the state in conjunction with closing out the project.

President Musgrave: If there’s a motion to approve both?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: Aye. The motion carries. Let the record show that I seconded that motion as well.

John Stoll: Next, I have a change order on the Newman Road culvert replacement project. This was contract number VC05-12-01. This is for an increase of $6,736.73. The primary reasons for the increases were due to some additional gabions, some additional backfill behind those gabions.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes.

John Stoll: The last thing, I just wanted to bring to your attention that there is a public information meeting set for the University Parkway project. This meeting will be held at West Terrace School at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17th.

Commissioner Nix: Mr. Stoll?

John Stoll: That’s all I had, unless you had any questions on anything.

Commissioner Nix: Yeah, Mr. Stoll? On this public information hearing for the University Parkway, who all’s been notified?

John Stoll: The consultant is notifying the affected property owners.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, have any of the neighborhood associations been notified also? West Side, or?

John Stoll: I can contact West Side.

Commissioner Nix: I wonder if we ought to do that? Maybe have West Side and I don’t know if there’s anybody else that would–

President Musgrave: Linda Kleeck is President of the West Side Improvement this year, would probably be able to let you know if there’s anyone else who should be notified. But, I think that they would appreciate notice of that.

John Stoll: We’re going to send out a media notification as well.

Commissioner Nix: And maybe somebody from USI?

John Stoll: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: I thought maybe that might not hurt.

President Musgrave: She works at USI.

Commissioner Nix: Oh, she does? Okay, two birds with one stone.

President Musgrave: Did we have an agreement for the use of the room at Oaklyn?

Commissioner Nix: No, we haven’t done that yet.

President Musgrave: Not yet?

John Stoll: The County Attorney is still working on that.

President Musgrave: Still working on it?

John Stoll: Yes.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’ve examined the agreement, and it has an open liability clause. I want that limited to the torte liability cap of Vanderburgh County. Steve Barber, the attorney for the library, and I are working on that. It will be ready for next week.

President Musgrave: Okay.

President Musgrave: Are you ready to open the bids?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes, I am. For Aabel’s Park Subdivision, the sewer project. Summit Corporation bid $403,171.65; Blankenberger Construction bid $449,200; BMB bid $252,442.30; Deig Brothers bid $464,365.

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

President Musgrave: I’ll second. All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. If there are no other department head reports, we can move now to new business.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Could I ask, excuse me, one question? I’m sorry. Mr. Stoll, did you provide the letter terminating the–

John Stoll: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay, you did that. Thank you.

President Musgrave: Just so the record is clear, terminating what?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The Jani Clean–

President Musgrave: Okay, thank you.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –cleaning contract.

President Musgrave: Alright.

Commissioner Nix: It could have been anything, right?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: He read my mind, and we knew what we were talking about.

President Musgrave: Okay.

President Musgrave: Is there any new business? Seeing none.

President Musgrave: We’ll move to old business. Mr. Ziemer, I had asked a question at our last meeting about what California had done, and perhaps why they had declared secondhand smoke a “toxic air pollutant”, and I believe between you and the Health Department there’s been some research done. Perhaps you can tell us what that is?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes, we’re not finished just yet, but what the State of California did was declare that Environmental Tobacco Smoke, which they call ETS is a “toxic air contaminant”, which they call TAC. They did that acting under the provisions of the Children’s Environmental Health Protection Act and Safety Code, which was enacted by the United States Congress. California did this through an agency called CARB, C-A-R-B, which is the California Air Resources Board, and that board is, I think we would equate it to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, or IDEM. Both of those departments primarily deal with outdoor air quality, as opposed to indoor air quality, which Environmental Tobacco Smoke is mainly considered an indoor contaminant. One of the things we don’t know yet, but we think that the measure initially came through the California Department of Health. It’s not called the Department of Health, it’s the California Department of Health Services, and I have spoken to Ken Ritter of the Clean Air Department of IDEM, just today, and he indicated, currently IDEM has not got anything on it’s book relevant to any action concerning Environmental Tobacco Smoke. But, he wasn’t surprised at that since that is an indoor contaminant, as opposed to an outdoor one. He said he didn’t want to make that his last word that there was nothing on the books, but he is not aware of anything, he’s going to call me back. He did suggest to me that I should talk to a lady named Janet McCabe, which I haven’t done yet, but I couldn’t reach her. But, she was formerly with IDEM, and she now heads up an agency called Indiana Kids Environment, or the acronym IKE, I-K-E, and he thought that she might be able to give me a line connecting what California did versus what, if anything, is going on in Indiana in this regard. California, now that they have made this declaration, are kind of in a position of knowing what do we do next? It’s going to involve a study, which is expected to be concluded in late 2007, which may lead to the Department of Health Services in California adopting further regulations somehow limiting Environmental Tobacco Smoke, but it’s unknown what action that might be and what form the regulations might take.

President Musgrave: Basically, California is taking the initial steps to go somewhere that it’s not entirely clear where they’re going with regard to–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: That’s correct, but they have certainly recognized that Environmental Tobacco Smoke, based on all medical research is believed to be at least one of the principle causes of infant death syndrome.

Commissioner Nix: SIDS.

President Musgrave: Sudden Infant Death.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: What?

Commissioner Nix: SIDS.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: SIDS. So, they see some research connection between that. So, you know, perhaps on the right track.

President Musgrave: Thank you for looking into that.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay.

President Musgrave: I gather some people became convinced that the question of what did California do meant that the Commissioners were going to do something along those lines. Well, it’s not clear what California’s doing, and it might not be clear for many, many years.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: It’s not the first time it hasn’t been clear what California’s done.

President Musgrave: I know that on our agenda today in the documents that we keep on file with the Auditor, we’re putting in a number of e-mails that we’ve received from the general public asking us to take further action on the smoking ordinance. I can state for myself that I don’t have any plans to take any further action at this time. I think the Commissioners took very strong action. I join with those though who wish that the City’s ordinance had mirrored the Commissioners ordinance exactly. I know Mr. Shetler is not able to be with us today, and I would, of course, defer to Mr. Shetler as he guided us through this process. So, I await any further desires from his–

Commissioner Nix: And, hopefully, the City, in time, will get on board with this. It’s our wishes, or it’s my wish, I should say, and I am not to speak for the other two Commissioners, but, I think, it’s important that we move ahead with this, and do whatever we can do to get the City on board with it.

President Musgrave: Okay, is there any other old business?

President Musgrave: Is there any public comment on an item over which the Commissioners have any authority? I see none.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

President Musgrave: I’ll second. All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: Aye. Is there a motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

President Musgrave: Second. All those in favor?

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Musgrave: Aye.

(The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Employment Changes:

Sheriff Office (2)                       Burdette Park (4)            County Highway (2)

Superior Court (2)                     Health Dept. (2)              VCCC (1)

County Clerk (1)                       Surveyor (1) 

Travel Requests:

County Clerk (2)                       Health Dept. (4)              Commissioners (3)

Treasurer (1)                            Auditor (1)

Auditor: A/P Vouchers-July 2006.

Commissioners:

Letter to INDOT in support of relocation of SR57.

Weed liens.

Taxpayer comments on Mobile Home Ordinance.

Taxpayer comments on Smoking Ordinance.

State Board of Animal Health Contract for Bovine Brucellosis and Tuberculosis.

Council Call: Veterans Service.

Vision-e: Monthly report-June 2006.

Purchasing: Monthly report-May 2006.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Officer                           Veterans Service

Those in Attendance:

Cheryl Musgrave                      Bill Nix                                      Bill Fluty

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Marissa Nichoalds                    Madelyn Grayson

Debra Spalding                         Matt Lutz                                   John Stoll

Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)