VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

JUNE 12, 2007

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 12^th day of June, 2007 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 Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County meeting for June 12, 2007. It is approximately 3:30. 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, Commissioner.

Commissioner Tornatta: Troy Tornatta, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Bill Fluty, County Auditor. 

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

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Musgrave: Our first item of business is to welcome Professor Robert Dion of UE and Diane Clements to give us an update on a board to which the Commission appoints members, that is the Human Relations Commission. Welcome.

Robert Dion: Thank you very much. Do I need to speak to you this way? Can you hear me?

President Musgrave: You do need to use the microphone.

Robert Dion: Okay, I turn something on?

President Musgrave: It’s on.

Robert Dion: Okay, fair enough. My first time to the County Commissioners, so, I hope this goes well. We thank you very much for the invitation. As you said, my name is Dr. Robert Dion from the University of Evansville. For four years I’ve been the chairperson of the Vanderburgh County-Evansville City Human Relations Commission. I’m joined today by the very able Executive Director of that Commission, Diane Clements. I defer to her all detailed questions, all hard questions, but, I’m just here to say thank you so much for the invitation, the opportunity to share what we do. We are a genuinely county-city organization. This was created about 59 years ago. We’re very proud of that in this community. It was created first as a city body, but it’s exactly 25 years ago that our jurisdiction was extended to the county. So, that’s a milestone, I think, 25 years of enforcement against complaints of discrimination, not just within the city limits, but all the way to the boundaries of Vanderburgh County. Our main task, everyday, is to investigate complaints of discrimination consistent with federal and state civil rights laws. We’ve got an ordinance that can be visited by going to vanderburghgov, so, any citizen can read about the range of our reach. Some of our cases are referred to the Indiana Civil Rights Commission. Some of our cases are referred to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But, it’s a good thing, I think, it’s a very good thing. It speaks positively about this community that we have a local body who’s sole task is to take care of and to manage complaints of discrimination. This seems like a very mundane thing to say, but imagine some poor person who’s had difficulty in the work place, or in seeking public accommodation who wants to pursue a complaint, but finds him or herself presented with the chance of going to Chicago or going to Indianapolis to complain about it. That’s not a very attractive prospect. But, in this community we have a fully staffed office down on the second floor from here, with very able people, thoughtful, impartial, hard working investigators who will look into it and follow up and make it possible for citizens of this community to respond to and follow up on complaints of discrimination. I said I wasn’t going to say that much, and I guess I got excited. If you don’t mind, I would like to say a couple of quick things, and then step aside and let the director say a few words. One of the things that’s happened in the last few years was a change of leadership when Diane Clements came in four years ago. I’m very proud to say that all sorts of good things are happening. So, it’s sensible, I think, for you all to ask to hear what’s going on, because good things are happening down on the second floor. We’ve made some staff changes, we’ve got some exciting new people in the office, we’ve computerized, we’ve streamlined, we’ve made it better and easier to track cases, we’ve cleaned out what I think was a regrettable backlog of cases. We did so well that the EEOC gave us an award, gave us recognition of cleaning out what were dozens and dozens of cases that had been sitting around. That’s not a good thing. So, we’re getting on top of things. We’ve got exciting new staff. We’ve revived the practice of having an annual dinner. For the past three years we’ve had a remarkable turnout downtown, remarkable speakers, noteworthy, first class speakers who’ve come and talked about the challenges of the 21^st century and the lessons of the past. This year we’re especially excited about having a really exceptional speaker who’s committed to come. The number one leading civil rights advocate in America, bar none, and he’ll be our keynote speaker on September 14^th, that’s a Friday night. Friday night you may have other obligations, but let me take this opportunity to extend a sincere invitation. It will be worthwhile. There will be hundreds of people there, and I think it will be a good thing for the community. So, we’ve revived the dinner. We’ve maintained and encouraged good relations with the consortium of other human relations commissions around the state. In fact, Diane and I and another staff member are going later this month to the state wide meeting in Ft. Wayne. We have a high, and I think well respected state wide profile, because people hear about what we’re doing and they respect and honor what we’re doing down here in this part of the state. We have very good relations with the EEOC, improving relations, obviously, when they give you an award, that’s a good thing. We have very good relations, on-going relations with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. So, the federal government, the state government, the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, under the new leader named by Governor Daniels, all sorts of good things are happening, locally, and we’re respected locally, I think, and across the state and even in our relations with the federal government. So, we thank you very much for the opportunity to brag on our accomplishments thus far, and to open the door to any suggestions, now or otherwise about things that we can do maybe to work together to encourage, not just growth for this community, but growth for all of this community. Because we want, as we move this community forward, we want all people to benefit. In our ordinance it says that our main task is to promote equality of opportunity for all citizens. We’ve got 11 citizen commissioners who are very conscientious and very dedicated, and who take that very seriously. As we move forward we have to make room for everybody. It’s good for everybody when everybody succeeds.

President Musgrave: I did not catch the name of the speaker who will be at the dinner.

Robert Dion: Sure, sure enough. I hesitated to say so, because I’m live on camera, but so far he’s committed to coming, and as we know in this community sometimes you have a banquet and you’ve got a high profile speaker who’s an advisor to the President and he backs out at the last minute, and you get what you can. So, but, if you don’t mind, I’ll be happy to say, it’s Wade Henderson.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Robert Dion: Wade Henderson is the Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. All of the civil rights organizations in America, and all of those organizations that have an interest in civil rights, groups like the United Methodist Church, for example, which is not a civil rights organization, but has a feeling of profound support for civil rights, all of them are members of a consortium in Washington called the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the man who sits on top of all of that is Wade Henderson, a dynamic, young, exciting speaker who’s committed to come here September 14^th.

President Musgrave: September 14^th, do you know the time and a location?

Robert Dion: Typically it’s 7:00, 7:30. It will be in the Courier & Press.

President Musgrave: And what will the cost, about the cost for that be?

Robert Dion: The past three years has always been $25 a ticket.

President Musgrave: So, it will be around $25. We’ll give the board latitude to raise it if need be.

Robert Dion: Sure. Any questions for me? Or, would you like to hear from the Executive Director?

President Musgrave: Why don’t we go ahead and hear from her, and if there are questions we can ask them of you both.

Robert Dion: Thanks very much.

President Musgrave: Welcome, Ms. Clements.

Diane Clements: Thank you. As you can see, we have great leadership. It makes our job really easy, because we can worry about being just worker bees, which is what we do on a day-to-day basis in terms of processing and being the enforcement agent for civil rights laws in our region. The lion’s share of the complaints that we take in at the Human Relations Commission are employment. We’re currently processing approximately 152 employment complaints, 12 in the area of housing, and ten in the area of public accommodations, which is a total of approximately 174 complaints. We have three investigators on staff. We also have one secretary, and, of course, myself as Director. But, as Dr. Dion just said, we certainly appreciate your support. We do know that we are providing a great service in our community, so, the work that we do, it truly is a love for all of us that do this on a day-to-day basis. So, thank you again. Dr. Dion did talk about the annual dinner. This is the premier event for the Human Relations Commission, and we certainly hope that you would join us this year. We’re excited about Wade Henderson. He’s a dynamic speaker. I think that you’re in for a treat. One of the things that we have done, we’ve applied for substantial equivalence with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. We started that process at the end of 2004, and it continues. HUD continues to ask that we make changes in terms of our policies in fair housing, and we’re trying to do that so that we can obtain that status of being substantially equivalent to the federal law. So, we’ll continue to update you on that, but that will allow us to do some great things in terms of housing. We will stand to receive a capacity building grant from HUD once that process has been completed. Dr. Dion also informed you that we are now a contracted FEPA agency with the EEOC. Four years ago, or three years ago that wasn’t the case, we did have to clear out a backlog of cases. Once we did that, we did prove to HUD that we could process cases in the manner that they would like for us to. So, we are now a contracted FEPA agency. That, of course, is a great accomplishment. One of the things that I did when I first came here, is I looked around at some of the agencies state-wide to see what components that they had in place, and I tried to make sure that Evansville had those same components. That was being a paid contracted FEPA agency, and also having a contract with HUD. So, those are the things that I’ve worked diligently on for the last three years, and it is coming to fruition on both fronts. Another thing that we do is we assist DMD on an analysis of impediments to fair housing choice study. We completed that at the end of 2006, and we were up for update just a few months later. We did complete the update with HUD, and the analysis of impediments to fair housing choices is one of the requirements for CDBG funding, so, we were quite pleased that HUD did also give us a commendation for completing that update as well. Part of that, we decided to include fair housing in the traveling city hall program, we did that on April 24^th, we provided somewhat of a housing fair, provided information on financial literacy, credit management, down payment assistance, foreclosure prevention, and information for first time home buyers. We hope that we’ll continue to provide that in forums that are already existing for community members to come out and get information. One of the things that we would like to do in the future is do more outreach to companies and agencies so that we can prevent complaints. We think that providing information to managers will serve, have the effect of preventing complaints from happening. I think that once managers particularly are educated on what is allowable in the work place, so that they can in turn educate other staff, that we will have a decrease in the numbers of complaints that are filed. We think that we’ll be serving the community well by doing that. So, we have, I just came back from an EEOC conference, and there were many questions about that. A lot of agencies would like to do more outreach, but we’re just so busy with the enforcement side that we’re just hard pressed to try and do more initiatives in terms of outreach. So, one of the tasks for EEOC is to look at how can agencies do more outreach and find time to get out and educate organizations and businesses? So, that’s something that’s on the radar screen for EEOC, and that’s something that we plan to incorporate as soon as possible. So, those are just some of the things that we consider accomplishments. If you have any questions for me, I would be glad to try and answer them.

Commissioner Nix: I do have one. You’d mentioned something around 170 or 175 complaints currently, as we speak?

Diane Clements: Yes, uh-huh.

Commissioner Nix: What’s the duration from the time you hear about something till the time it’s resolved? Is there an average time that that takes? I’m sure it’s all over the place, but is there an average?

Diane Clements: Well, we do like to process cases in the most expedient manner possible, of course.

Commissioner Nix: Sure.

Diane Clements: But, we do have to delay closing cases, sometimes companies put us on hold in terms of getting their position statements back to us. Some of our clients we may lose contact with them for a while, or, so, we do shoot for one year. From the time that they come into the office we would like to have rendered a determination on that case within one year. We think that that’s acceptable. Of course, sooner is optimal, but we do want to not keep a case open longer than one year.

President Musgrave: Ms. Clements, you had mentioned your desire for more outreach. Please use this meeting as an opportunity to come forward and inform the public of special programs or initiatives that you have coming your way. You are a city-county agency, and you have every opportunity and right to be here. Other departments do this, so, we welcome you. But, while you’re here now, what is your web address and your telephone number?

Diane Clements: Well, we’re evansvillegov.org. Of course, we don’t have an address that will take us directly to our website, but if you go on the city’s site and, you know, scroll down to Human Relations Commission it will take you directly to us. Our number is 436-4927. Again, that’s 436-4927.

President Musgrave: Any other questions, Commissioners? Thank you very much for coming.

Diane Clements: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Thank you, Dr. Dion, and I’m sorry I mispronounced your name earlier. Good luck to you and the Commissioners.

President Musgrave: We move now to permission to award APA-005-2007 for surfacing materials. Do I have Ms. Spalding here? Welcome.

Debbie Spalding: Thank you. You have in front of you a bid tabulation from the bids that were opened at the last meeting. Traditionally, I understand that this contract has been awarded to more than one company, depending on where the project is that they’re looking for obtaining the surfacing materials for. So, in front of you you have the results of those bids, and our recommendation, based upon my discussion with Mike Duckworth and Ted Ziemer, would be to award to all four companies at the prices that are given. Just to let you know, E&B Paving is located in Chandler, so, county projects on the far east side, I’m assuming might go to E&B Paving. J.H. Rudolph is located on Green River Road. Gohmann Asphalt is in Haubstadt, so, projects that would be further north, I’m assuming possibly would get their materials from Gohmann Asphalt. Then, Jerry David is located on Hogue Road on the west side.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Thank you, Ms. Spalding.

President Musgrave: We are here to ask permission to advertise the Old Courthouse Wedgewood Room renovations. Commissioner Nix, I know you’re on that committee, do you have any update?

Commissioner Nix: Yes. We’ve hired the services of Veazey Parrott Durkin and Shoulders. I don’t know if Durkin’s still, I think it’s all four of them, and Ratio out of Indianapolis to do some design work for the Wedgewood Room and the Old Courthouse. The board, I guess the idea behind this is to complete this project and have a showplace for possible donors down the road. After we get this done it will be something we can rent out. They will be coming back to the board to a sub-committee over the next couple of weeks with plans and specifications, and at that time would like to put it out on the street for bid, and get some contractors involved and get the work completed. Upon completion then we would like to have the public, we’ll probably have some kind of a public grand opening, if you will, have the public come in and see this. Basically, what this would be would be what the rest of the Old Courthouse would be upon completion, but it’s going to take a lot of money and time to do that. This is the start of that.

President Musgrave: Okay. So, is that in the form of a motion?

Commissioner Nix: That is in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: Is Mr. James Conrad here? I do not see him. He was asking for permission to close Ridgeway Road from Audubon Drive halfway up Ridgeway Road on July 3^rd from 5:00 p.m. to midnight. But, I understand that we did not have the certificate of liability insurance. You have not received that either?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No.

President Musgrave: Well, why don’t we just go ahead and table this for this week and give him more time to get that to us.

President Musgrave: Department head reports, Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Thank you. I have two items, last year the Commissioners approved a vacation ordinance number V.07-06-001. Les Shively, who was the attorney for the petitioner learned, after the ordinance had been recorded, that there was a typographical error in one of the calls in the legal description was called twice. For that reason he wanted to file a correction, a correction vacation ordinance to simply correct the error. Through conferring with me, we’ve come up with a form of a correction ordinance, it’s identical to the original ordinance, but it contains, it contains a finding indicating that there was an error in the legal description, and this is correcting that error. I recommend, if you wish, that that be approved by the Commissioners.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Do we need to do a roll call vote since that is an ordinance?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, because we’re not adopting an ordinance, we’re simply correcting it. I think that’s fine.

President Musgrave: Alright. We move now to engineer, John Stoll.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh, I’m sorry. I do have another one.

President Musgrave: Oh. Hold on, Mr. Stoll.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: This is for Mr. Stoll. John received a request from IDEM that, not really a request, an indication that the county is required to adopt an ordinance regarding illicit discharges into the storm water collection system maintained by the county. John, there were indications from IDEM as to what they would like to see in that ordinance, and in addition to that John reviewed similar ordinances in several other counties and put together some, a preliminary draft of the ordinance, which I reviewed, I made changes to, and then put it in ordinance form. You have it before you today for first reading. It does prescribe certain penalties for failure to comply, and, therefore it will require two readings.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to adopt the ordinance, I’m sorry, is that the illicit discharge ordinance?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes.

Commissioner Tornatta: First reading?

President Musgrave: On the first reading, or, no, we’re just going to vote to accept it on the first reading. There will be a second reading at our meeting.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Exactly.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. We’ll hear anyone who has anything to discuss on that next week. While I still have your attention, Mr. Ziemer–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: You always have my attention, Ms. Musgrave.

President Musgrave: Thank you, Mr. Ziemer. How is the animal control ordinance coming? I know that you’ve been working diligently with the Sheriff and the rest of the committee on that.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’m not sure diligently is the word. We had a meeting of the committee. There were numerous people there to make a presentation. The meeting was chaired by the Sheriff. He is in the process of putting together his view of what the ordinance should read like based upon all the various comments we’ve received. Then he’s going to submit it to me. Or, and the alternative, he and I are going to get together and do that. But, neither of those things has happened yet.

President Musgrave: I would like to encourage you to set a date for that. I know that the public is quite anxious that we get something in place. Perhaps we could have that done maybe by the end of August, if nothing stands in the way of that.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Mike, are you going to have a presentation for the Commissioners? Or should I go into this other agreement now?

Mike Duckworth: Either way is fine.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I mean, are you–

Commissioner Nix: You can take care of it.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The County Garage, or the County Highway Superintendent wishes to do some additional construction at the County Garage in the form of a new training facility, an additional restroom, and an off site salt barn. For that he has obtained some quotes, and he has a quote from Steve Hahn, a professional engineer, to provide the engineering and consulting services for those facilities. I’ve reviewed the agreement and find it satisfactory for execution from a legal perspective. I have a certificate of insurance naming the county as an additional insured to cover Mr. Hahn should the Commissioners determine to enter into this agreement.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Mr. Ziemer, does that conclude your report?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes, yes.

President Musgrave: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Mr. Stoll? Sir, are you Mr. Conrad?

Unidentified: No.

President Musgrave: No? Okay, thank you.

John Stoll: I have one item and that’s a change order on the Kuebler Road bridge rehab project. That was contract number VC07-03-01. The change order is for an increase of $1,940.71. We have sufficient funds in the account to cover the change order. That just covers increases and decreases, minor increases and decreases over 13 different items in the contract.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: That’s all I have.

President Musgrave: That’s all you have? Thank you. Are there any other department heads with reports today? I see Mr. Duckworth from the Highway.

Mike Duckworth: Thank you, Mike Duckworth, County Highway. Just one additional request, and that is we are entertaining looking at a camera system for the underground pipes that would alleviate us from guesswork as to where the depressions and cave ins are, which would save a lot of time and effort and work, and possibly tearing up right-of-way and folks yards and those kinds of things. We’re asking for permission to seek bids on that at this time.

Commissioner Nix: Before we move with that, or, I have asked Mr. Duckworth to check with the city, they’ve got a system that’s similar to this, and maybe we could do a little bit of horse trading, if you will.

Mike Duckworth: I’ll just have to see how much use they have, how often they use it.

Commissioner Nix: Right.

Mike Duckworth: I know it’s with, the Water Department has one, I don’t know about the Sewer Department.

Commissioner Nix: But, I would like for you to look at that–

Mike Duckworth: Yeah–

Commissioner Nix: –I’m okay with taking bids, but I just think we need to look at that. If they’re only using theirs once a month, we could work something out with them. Some kind of interlocal agreement or something.

Mike Duckworth: Sure.

Commissioner Nix: I move approval that we at least take bids on this.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: I want to make sure that you’ll be working with Purchasing on any and all appropriate requirements when you do this bid taking.

Mike Duckworth: Uh-huh.

President Musgrave: Okay. All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: The next item on our agenda is an e-mailed compliment that we received for the Highway Department workers. As compliments do not come across our desk everyday for departments, I’m going to take the trouble to read them into the record when we do get them. So, this is from Mr. Ed, and I’m probably mispronouncing the last name, and I apologize for that, Brunck, on Petersburg Road. Mr. Brunck called to compliment the County Highway, especially Scott Wischer and his crew. Mr. Brunck called the County Highway today, and this was on Tuesday, June 5^th regarding a tree that was hanging in the street and presented a potential hazard. He said that Scott and his crew were there in less than 45 minutes, and had the problem taken care of immediately. He said he wanted to let the Commissioners know that he thinks the County Highway does a great job.

Mike Duckworth: Well, that was very nice of him to do that. I must preface that by saying that he is not related to any of us in any way. Yeah, we get some compliments and some complaints, but we try to work through all of them, and that was very nice of him to do that. I know the crew would appreciate that.

President Musgrave: Well, thank them for all of us.

Commissioner Nix: Yes, please do, Mike.

Mike Duckworth: Thank you.

President Musgrave: The next item of new business that we have is another NACo, which is the National Association of Counties program. As you know we’ve implemented already the insurance, not an insurance card that allows folks to sve money on prescription drugs that are not covered by an insurance plan, or if they don’t have one. But, this one is called the 2007 County ENERGY STAR Change a Light Campaign. It’s a two phase program, and it seeks to encourage people to change from this kind of a light bulb, to this kind of a light bulb. The first phase of this campaign will run from July 1^st to September 13^th of this year, and it will allow county employees to go to the NACo website and log on and fill out a short form and then print out a coupon for $3 off one of these new kinds of light bulbs through NACo’s partner, which is Office Depot. Then, from October 4^th through November 30^th, the entire county will have the opportunity to do the same thing. So, I’m asking your permission to get a memo out to all the county employees now, and then when the time is right, to get a little campaign going for public awareness. Now, they give us some nice facts about these, they say that this uses 1/3 of the energy of a standard incandescent light. This is a standard incandescent light. That they last ten times longer. That they save an average of $30 or more in energy costs over the lifetime of this bulb, and it prevents 450 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions over the lifetime of the bulb. So, those are all positive things. I know that this NACo program is in cooperation with the National Department of Energy. So, we’re getting a lot of encouragement for people to go ahead and switch out light bulbs to this style. Office Depot is committed to giving $3 coupons.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: What about the wattage, is it the same?

President Musgrave: I can barely read that, but I’m pretty sure that it is. We’ll let someone with glasses–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Does that come in different wattages then?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh.

Commissioner Nix: This would be a 13 watt, and that’s probably a 40 or 60. This is a 60, so–

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, it comes in the wattage.

Commissioner Nix: The same amount of light for–

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Commissioner Nix: Quite a savings.

President Musgrave: And, they look really cool.

Commissioner Nix: Of course, if they’re under a shade, hopefully, you won’t see it.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to allow us to take the appropriate notification steps?

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Thank you. Is there any other new business?

President Musgrave: I think this is the right time to talk about the two board appointments that surfaced in between the time the final agenda was written. This one, I apologize, it sat on my desk for a week, the City Department of Urban Forestry is putting together a task force to respond to the threat that Emerald Ash Borer present to city and the county, and they are asking us for an appointee to this board. Steve Craig at Burdette Park would like to be the nominee, and with Gerry Grannon, also from the park, as his alternate.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Commissioner Tornatta: Just to add to that, those who don’t know about the Ash Borer situation, it did start up, I believe it started in Michigan, if I’m not mistaken, and it’s moving down through transportation modes, trees and whatever, and Ash trees are the vehicle of choice for these particular bugs. They will kill every Ash tree in an area. The problem with that is it will definitely take the amount of trees clearing out of a whole unit of areas, which would make it, you either have to replace those at some point, or you’re going to have trees that fall down and affect other environmental places, whether it’s a group of trees or if you have a nature center or something of that nature. So, it’s very important and very significant, and I know the Governor’s done some things to try and get people activated into the mode that this could be a very devastating issue. So, although it seems like it’s kind of sprung upon us, it could be very serious.

President Musgrave: I want to make sure the record reflects that that term is for one year, so that we can revisit it about this time again next year. Then, the Mayor sent a letter. He is forming a Stadium Advisory Board, and he has asked the Commission to appoint a member. I’ve talked to Mr. Nix, and Mr. Nix is willing to do that, again for a one year term. For those times that you don’t go, I would be happy to serve as your alternate. Is there a motion for that?

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

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

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. The letter, which I’m sorry I did not bring with me today, discusses the stadium and how it’s a, I think it’s like a 50 year old facility is what it’s called there, suggesting that it may need more repairs than are economically feasible or advisable, and this committee will look into how to approach that problem, repair it, replace it. So, we’re happy to have you as our appointee onto that, Mr. Nix.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Is there any old business?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, I’ve got a couple of things that, first off, you brought up the NACo, the National Association of Counties, which we’re a part of in Vanderburgh County. We did do the prescription drug card, in about two weeks, well, about a week and a half we should have the numbers back for May, okay? But, April, in seven days, and I don’t think we mentioned this last time, the participants saved over $10,000 in a seven day period. It was roughly about $9, almost $10 a person. There were 756 cards handed out and utilized. So, it’s really great guns. In fact, we are a community that they are watching, because we have moved into that cart so well, and everything’s been flawless. They have just made mention that our preparation has been very, it was done in such a way that they want to try and model some of that. So, that’s a good thing. My second thing is, we approved the Greenway passage, and maybe the setup of the Greenway passage. I think the County Council has had a little bit of a different course that they would like to look at. We probably need to, at some point, appoint somebody to have a talk with somebody on the Council, starting maybe with the President, and see where we can’t go to get that Greenway passage board on the road again.

President Musgrave: I did speak with the Mayor about this last week, and he was intending to call the President of County Council. The requests that came out of Council were essentially requests that the city agreed to. So, pending the outcome of that conversation, perhaps then there will be something to negotiate and plan for. I know that Mr. Ziemer has been in contact regularly with the Mayor’s attorney, I think that’s Mr. Winternheimer in this case?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: That’s right.

President Musgrave: So, I encourage County Council to keep in touch, call me. I know that they’ve sent some e-mails to you. So, yes, that may come back to us, and I’m looking for a successful resolution of that.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, alright.

President Musgrave: Alright, consent items, we have a list here. Are there any changes, or is there a motion to accept them?

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to accept the consent items.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

(The meeting was adjourned at 4:06 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of June 5, 2007 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Approval of June 12, 2007 Executive Session Summary Minutes.

IBAP Gatekeeper: Monthly Report & Client Thank You Note.

Department Head Meeting Notes: June 5, 2007.

Employment Changes:

Recorder (1)                             Auditor (2)                       Burdette Park (1)

Sheriff Office (1)                       Co-Op Ext. (1)                Commissioners (1)

County Highway (1)

Travel Requests:

Commissioners (1)                   Health Dept. (2)              Knight Assessor (1)

Center Assessor (1)                 Perry Assessor (1)

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 28: Burkhardt-Green River TIF Projects.

Purchasing: Monthly Report: April 2007.

Computer Services: Key Government Finance disbursement (phone system).

Treasurer: Monthly Report: April 2007.

Surplus Letters:

Building Authority: Miscellaneous Items from Old Jail Kitchen.

Superior Court: telephones.

Auditor: A/P Vouchers: June 2007.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Officer                           Supt. Of Bldgs.                         Veterans Services

Those in Attendance:

Cheryl Musgrave                      Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta

Bill Fluty                                    Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Marissa Nichoalds

Madelyn Grayson                     Robert Dion                              Diane Clements

Debbie Spalding                       John Stoll                                  Mike Duckworth

Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

Troy Tornatta, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)