VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

JUNE 21, 2005

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 21^st day of June, 2005 at 3:30 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Suzanne Crouch presiding.

President Crouch: Good afternoon. Welcome to the Vanderburgh County Commission meeting for June 21, 2005, the first day of summer. Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Crouch: We’ll start with introductions to my far right.

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

Commissioner Musgrave: Commissioner, Cheryl Musgrave.

Commissioner Nix: Commissioner, Bill Nix.

President Crouch: Commissioner, Suzanne Crouch.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Auditor, Bill Fluty.

President Crouch: Our first item on the agenda is approval of prior minutes.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval of the June 14^th Commission meeting minutes.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

President Crouch: Action items, first is ordinance vacate a platted public right-of-way easement.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval on second reading, if I have that protocol right.

President Crouch: Final reading.

Commissioner Musgrave: And final reading.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: Roll call vote, Commissioner Musgrave?

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes.

President Crouch: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Crouch: And I vote yes. That passes.

President Crouch: Next is an ordinance for non-profit street solicitations, second and final reading.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval of the second and final reading.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: Is there anyone here to speak to this ordinance? Seeing none. All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered. Commissioner Musgrave?

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes.

President Crouch: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Crouch: And I vote yes.

President Crouch: Next, an ordinance concerning registration of apprentices. This is the second and final reading.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval of the amended ordinance concerning registration of apprentices.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: Is there anyone here to speak to this ordinance? Seeing none. Commissioner Musgrave?

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes.

President Crouch: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Crouch: And I vote yes. It passes.

President Crouch: Next, ordinance to repeal the Old Courthouse Management Advisory Board. This is the first reading. If the Commissioners remember, a month and a half or two months ago we spoke about perhaps the need to look at the organization of the Old Courthouse Foundation Board, and the Old Courthouse Management Advisory Board. If you recall, the foundation board was created in 2001, and replace the Conrad Baker Foundation. That’s when the Conrad Baker Foundation turned back over the operation of the Old Courthouse to the County Commissioners. In 2003, the Advisory Management Board was created in order to look at the renovations and the restoration and the future use of the Old Courthouse. When we took over in January, it appeared that neither board was real active, and Dennis Au, the Historic Preservation Officer, had many conversations with me, and with the County Attorney, and it seemed that rather than have two boards doing nothing, it would be better to have one board that perhaps had a little more authority to do what really needs to be done there. As you well know, we’ve put seven, eight million dollars in to that fine facility. Commissioner Nix, I think, kind of guesstimated that we probably need to put–

Commissioner Nix: Another five to six, probably another five to six million dollars in renovations. But, the building’s in real good shape. We’ve got a new roof on it now. We’ve got a new heating and cooling system, new electrical system. So, this would finish it off to where we could really make it a useable area then for the county.

President Crouch: And what we kind of looked at doing is trying to pattern after Allen County, because they had a foundation board that was very active in terms of looking at the future use of their courthouse, and in making recommendations to the County Commissioners. But, they also were very active in fund-raising. In fact, there was a real partnership, private-public partnership, in the renovation of their old courthouse, which we would like to see for the next leg of this project. Anyway, I will ask Mr. Ziemer to comment on the meeting that you attended with the advisory foundation board, because they had to make changes to the bi-laws and the articles, and it’s your show now.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Right. Based on recommendations of various members of the Commissioners and Dennis Au, the Historic Preservation Officer, I drafted, you have to keep in mind that the Old Courthouse Foundation is a separate corporation, it is not created by statute as was the Old Courthouse Management Advisory Board. So, it was up to that board of directors to determine how they wanted their articles of incorporation and their bi-laws to be amended to provide for, essentially, the renovation, restoration, operation, maintenance and fund-raising for the Old Courthouse. I met with them on two occasions, and then finally developed a set of articles of incorporation and bi-laws, which we met about this past Monday. Prior to that, I e-mailed copies of those documents to each member of the Old Courthouse Foundation, and the board approved the articles of incorporation and the bi-laws as they were presented to them. The articles have been mailed to the Indiana Secretary of State for filing. There will be four, I think, additional appointments to that board as a result of this amendment.

President Crouch: And those will be Commissioner appointments. So, the board will grow from 11 to 15, but the requirement is, is that those appointments that we make need to be people that are very comfortable in fund-raising. So, all the old board members will continue on the committee, but we will have an opportunity to maybe introduce some new members that perhaps can assist in fund-raising, in helping with the future financing of that project.

Commissioner Musgrave: Are we going to ask for people to apply for the four positions?

President Crouch: Well, I certainly think that would be appropriate.

Commissioner Musgrave: I would love to have it. Do you need a motion to approve the ordinance?

President Crouch: On first reading.

Commissioner Musgrave: On first reading. So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: Is there anyone here to speak to this ordinance? Seeing none. Roll call vote. Commissioner Musgrave?

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes.

President Crouch: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Crouch: And I vote yes. That passes on first reading. The second and final reading will be next Tuesday.

President Crouch: Next item on our agenda, ordinance to amend subdivision control.

Commissioner Musgrave: No. I must have an old copy of the agenda. Move to approve the ordinance to amend subdivision control ordinance, on the first reading.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: This is one which you had spoken to.

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes, this came through the Area Plan Commission.

President Crouch: And what does this ordinance do?

Commissioner Musgrave: There, Blaine Oliver from the Area Plan Commission is here to address that question. If we could call him forward.

Blaine Oliver: Good afternoon. Blaine Oliver, Assistant Director of Area Plan Commission.

President Crouch: Good afternoon.

Blaine Oliver: What was the question? I’m sorry.

President Crouch: What specifically does this, in a nutshell–

Blaine Oliver: In a nutshell?

President Crouch: Uh-huh.

Blaine Oliver: Sure. Basically, there were some complaints from the private sector about our subdivision ordinance, that the effective period of a subdivision, once it’s approved by the Area Plan Commission, was not long enough. Our current ordinance only allows for an 18 month period for the subdivision to be effective. Basically, the ordinance in front of you extends that period for five years. There was a committee formed, that committee made recommendations to the Plan Commission. A draft of the ordinance was prepared. The Plan Commission approved the draft, and then approved the final ordinance. And the ordinance was passed by the City Council last night, the exact same ordinance that you have in front of you.

Commissioner Musgrave: I think I made a motion.

President Crouch: And, I think you–

Commissioner Nix: I will second it.

President Crouch: –seconded?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Crouch: Anyone here, anyone else to speak to this ordinance? All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered. Commissioner Musgrave?

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes.

President Crouch: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Crouch: And, I vote yes. Thank you, Mr. Oliver.

Blaine Oliver: Thank you.

President Crouch: Second and final reading will be next week.

President Crouch: Contract, agreements and leases, we have two. One the Assessor, Appraisal Research Corporation contract, and the Sheriff’s Sonitrol contract. Do you want to take those together?

Commissioner Musgrave: Well, I see several assessors in the audience. I want to make sure nobody has anything to say about it.

President Crouch: They probably don’t if we approve it.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval of the contracts for the Assessor and for the Sheriff.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

President Crouch: Next item, County Commissioners, permission to advertise tax sale, or tax certificate sale.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval to advertise the tax certificate sale.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: And that date will be?

Commissioner Musgrave: It’s October 14^th at 10:00 a.m. in this room. We’ve formed a partnership with the Sheriff’s office. He is assigning staff to help us conduct that sale in virtually the same way that the Sheriff’s sales are conducted. We will, in our ad, have a web address, so that people interested in the property can go to this website and look up the properties, see an aerial photo, the property information that the Assessor’s office has, and an additional feature, the Department of Metropolitan Development is making available their code enforcement data. So, you will be able to check and see if any of this property has outstanding code enforcement orders on it. So, we’re trying to make as much information about the property available, so that the buyer can still beware when they approach purchasing some of this property. Just so that the public knows, this property, all the property on this list has gone through tax sale twice and has not sold. There are a couple of decisions that we’ll be bringing to you. I believe that, Ms. Daniel, do we need to make the decision on the minimum bid today? Then, let’s separate those out.

President Crouch: Alright.

Commissioner Musgrave: Permission to advertise first.

President Crouch: So, we have a first and a second. All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Commissioner Musgrave: Ms. Daniel, would you like to address the minimum bid, and tell us what the law requires in that respect.

Kathryn Daniel: I will. Kathryn Daniel from the offices of the County Attorney. Under the statutes that relate to the sale of certificates, one of the requirements in the notice is that the Commissioners establish a minimum bid for each of these properties. The minimum bid can be less than the amount for which the property was offered at sale, at the last tax sale. Which is the total of all the taxes and assessments and penalties that currently exist on the property. So, you all can establish a bid less than that amount, but establish a minimum bid for the property that will be that amount plus the cost of conducting the sale, which will be the cost of notice. That’s what the buyers will have to pay to acquire these certificates.

Commissioner Musgrave: I have asked Ms. Daniel to draw up the costs that a buyer would be expected to pay. That would be the cost to advertise, attorney fees, and so forth. She has informed me that she can get some sort of order on that amount.

Kathryn Daniel: Under statute you’re allowed to petition the court to establish the customary fees, in Vanderburgh County, per se. So, that will just be a petition that we’ll have to present to a judge and ask them to establish what attorney’s fees, and the cost would be. Then, that will be the amount that’s established in purchasing these properties.

Commissioner Musgrave: So, my recommendation is that these properties need to be moved off the list of not being owned by someone responsible. They’ve been through two tax sales. They haven’t sold at all. I would like to suggest that we put a minimum bid of a dollar, plus the cost that Ms. Daniel will get the order from. That doesn’t mean that properties will sell for a dollar. It means, you have to bid at least a dollar to get the bidding going.

President Crouch: Then you would incur the other costs?

Commissioner Musgrave: That’s correct.

Commissioner Nix: How many parcels are we talking about?

Commissioner Musgrave: Well, I knew somebody was going to ask me that, but I–

Commissioner Nix: I think I read that somewhere, but I don’t remember how many.

Commissioner Musgrave: We have a rather lengthy list of properties that has been shortened. So, I think we’re looking, probably about 60 at this point. It’s right around there. As soon as we’ve established the minimum bid, I have some more news to tell you. So, do you want me to go into that now?

President Crouch: No, let’s go ahead and make our motion.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay.

President Crouch: And that’s a motion?

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes, it is a motion.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay, Ms. Daniel and I and several members of the Department of Metropolitan Development, including the head of the department, Mr. Greg Lamar, and Mr. Bill Fluty, the County Auditor, we’ve had two or three meetings now where we have gone over the list of eligible properties for the tax certificate sale. The Department of Metropolitan Development have asked us to set aside a rather large number of those properties, and consider deeding those properties, after a certain process that they would have to go through and pay for, directly to them. They, I expect the director to be delivering us a letter, for perhaps next week’s agenda, asking us to do that. What they hope to do, and as a long time resident of the inner city, I’m very excited by this. Many of us are aware that properties in the inner city get bought by one slum lord after another. Sometimes the slum lords change corporation names in order to be able to turn the property over and avoid certain obligations of ownership. They cause a great deal of deterioration. From what I understand, the Department of Metropolitan Development, under the leadership of the Mayor, is looking to go ahead and take ownership of these properties, and break that cycle, and put these properties into redevelopment. What their exact plans are for each and every property I don’t know. But, I know that they are looking at properties in the focus area, which they call their Front Door Pride area, and in the industrial park that you saw in the newspaper where they’re taking a whole area and redeveloping the whole area. So, they’re going to ask you next week to allow them to purchase those from us. I’ve asked them to go ahead and pay for all the costs, and they seem to be agreeable, at this point. I’m very excited that the department has stepped up to end this cycle of abusive ownership in the inner city. I wish them all the luck in the world in that. Mr. Fluty, have I forgotten to mention any important part of our meeting?

Bill Fluty: I think you’ve covered it.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay.

President Crouch: Well, thank you. I know you’ve been working very hard on this. It will be positive not only for the city, but for the county to get these on the tax rolls, and have them be productive properties again.

Commissioner Musgrave: Well, I’m also happy that we can form a partnership with the city to effect change in the inner city. I think that’s pretty...a good deal.

President Crouch: And, did we have a–

Commissioner Musgrave: We’re waiting for the letter.

President Crouch: We’re waiting for next week?

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes. So, the permission to advertise today is the permission to advertise, and Ms. Daniel and I are finalizing the list of properties that will be on that list.

President Crouch: Okay. Very good. Thank you.

President Crouch: County Assessor, use of Centre, waiver of fees. In the past we have waived the fees for government entities, but not the overtime.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Musgrave: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

President Crouch: County Engineer, permission to advertise.

Patrick Seib: Good afternoon. Patrick Seib, Assistant County Engineer. I would like to request approval to advertise a notice to bidders for contract VC05-06-02, repair and repaving of Cross Point Boulevard and East Virginia Street.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Musgrave: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Patrick Seib: Thank you.

President Crouch: Is that all? Do you want to go ahead comment while you’re up here on any other items you have?

Patrick Seib: Yeah, if you want me to go ahead and give my report now.

President Crouch: Sure.

Patrick Seib: Another item that I have is, per a memorandum that I have from Rick Bennitt, he’s with Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates, they’re requesting an additional, up to an additional $180 for the appraisal fee on parcel number four, and that’s for the Green River Road extension right-of-way acquisition. This money would cover the location of the field bed on this parcel.

Commissioner Nix: We need that in a motion?

President Crouch: Motion?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Musgrave: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Patrick Seib: The next item that I have is regarding Oak Hill and St. George intersection project. We ran into some roof drains that tied into some old storm sewers. As the contractor is coming through to replace it with new storm sewer, they’ve submitted a quote to tie in these additional roof drains for an additional $497.12 each. I would request approval for this price.

Commissioner Nix: And that was three? Three drains?

Patrick Seib: That’s three that we know of so far.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Patrick Seib: This price is also good for any additional ones that we may come up with in the future.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Musgrave: Does your motion include these and any others that they find?

Commissioner Nix: No, just these three. He’ll bring, when you have other one’s you can bring those to us then?

Patrick Seib: No, that this price also includes additional.

Commissioner Nix: That’s fine. Yeah, that’s fine.

Commissioner Musgrave: Alright, second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Patrick Seib: The only other item that I had is dealing with a culvert underneath Old State Road near the Brookview Subdivision. We’ve had complaints from some homeowners out there about some scour that’s occurring. They also have some problems in the ditch on their own property. I got with Mike Wathen from our office, and we came up with a plan for what we see that the county can do on our right-of-way. But, I’m under the impression that the homeowners are also going to be hiring a consulting engineer to study their ditch and see what they can do. This is something that we could go out right now and implement, but I would suggest that we wait until we get the results back from their consultant and try and coordinate our activities with what the consultant requests.

President Crouch: And a motion to approve moving forward?

Commissioner Nix: I would say, at this time, I don’t know that need to really take any action, because we’re going to go with Mr. Roth, and then whoever the homeowner, the landowner’s recommend as far as their engineering. At some time we would need to do a little bit of work out there, I would think.

President Crouch: Okay, that’s just an update. Thank you. Anything else?

Patrick Seib: Not unless you have any other questions.

President Crouch: Thank you very much, Mr. Seib.

Patrick Seib: Thank you.

President Crouch: Next, Purchasing, permission to advertise.

Phil Lawrence: Good afternoon, Commissioners. I see Ted’s up there, he’s waiting on me to talk, so that we can work out what we’ve got to work out. Ain’t that right? Thank you, sir. I would like to have permission to advertise APA-013-2006, this is the annual tire and tube bid; APA-041-2006, road salt annual salt bid; and VC-027-2006, transportation for elderly and handicapped bid. Ted and I will get together and, I’ve got the specs on my computer, I just need to see what you did the last time, and we’ll send those out this week. I would like your approval to advertise.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval.

Commissioner Nix: Second. Although, I don’t want to see any salt right now.

President Crouch: I don’t either.

President Crouch: Those first two are joint city-county?

Phil Lawrence: Yes.

President Crouch: Okay.

Phil Lawrence: So, I’ll be at Public Works for those too, Thursday.

President Crouch: Alright. All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Phil Lawrence: Thank you.

President Crouch: Thank you, Mr. Lawrence.

President Crouch: Then you have, well, do you have anything else for us?

Phil Lawrence: I sure do. What did I put on that agenda? You don’t remember either?

B.J. Farrell: Just those three. Is there something I missed?

Phil Lawrence: I didn’t think I put it on the agenda. It was permission to waive fees for a trade show that’s coming in August. I think I was going to have that asked next week. So, that you could have a chance to peruse it and I’ve got their 501(c)3 and all that good stuff.

President Crouch: So, you’ll have it–

Phil Lawrence: But, we did have a meeting last night that went very well. Commissioner Musgrave, Commissioner Crouch was there, there was 110 people there, minority and women contractors. The Mayor was there, it was very, very well attended function. The state of Indiana was here giving, Tony Kirkland from the Governor’s office was there, gave us very good information. I’ve got nothing but praise from all sectors about how informative and wonderful, I ain’t supposed to say all that, but, that it went very well. We’re having another one June, July 28^th for city-county department heads to meet with the minority-women business owners. I’m going to ask some of the construction companies to also involve themselves, and then again in August. So, we’ll have something every month, trying to keep things rolling so we can keep the program moving and growing. That’s it.

President Crouch: It was a nice event. Thank you for you hard work.

Phil Lawrence: Thank you.

President Crouch: Next item on our agenda, department heads. I don’t see too many left. I do have Superintendent of County Buildings.

B.J. Farrell: I have three items for the Commissioners this week. One, I received an e-mail from the County Clerk’s office, they renewed their lease with the Xerox, and in renewing that lease they were given two new printers, but in order to have those they need to give them two old printers. They have two old printers that do not work, cannot be repaired, and I’m asking that we surplus those two printers to Xerox in exchange for the two new ones.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

B.J. Farrell: The second item that I have is we did contact Hands On Discovery, they will be going to the Old Courthouse tomorrow looking at the items that we have left, selecting what they would like to have. After we get that list I will ask you to declare those surplus to them, and then anything remaining, we will make a decision as to whether we want to keep it for the next sale, or is it totally to be scraped.

Commissioner Musgrave: Would you mind a motion just allowing you to go ahead and surplus anything to them that they want?

B.J. Farrell: Yes, please.

Commissioner Musgrave: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered. Then, you’ll submit a list for consent items detailing what they did take.

B.J. Farrell: I’ll submit that next week. The last thing that I have is, I had received some information from Sherman Greer, Director of EMA, a request that some of the unspent Homeland Security dollars be returned. Since he is here in the audience today, I will let him elaborate on that, instead of myself. Thank you.

Sherman Greer: I don’t always dress like this. It’s that time of the year. I appreciate your support. I can see that you’ve got our buttons and everything. I’m here to give you some information. The state of Indiana, Department of Homeland Security, has requested that we return the funds that we haven’t spent out of the ‘04 grant. The ‘04 grant performance date was November of this year. We have not spent $476,902.12. That doesn’t mean that we do not have plans to spend that money, we just haven’t spent it as of yet. So, I’m here today to ask you, or give me guidelines. I’m going to Indianapolis tomorrow for our Homeland Security meeting. Give me guidelines on where and what you want us to do at this time.

Commissioner Musgrave: Why do they want us to return the money?

Sherman Greer: It’s not really clear why they want us to return the money. From what I understand, it was in the newspaper, the Indianapolis Star, that Governor Daniels can’t account for about $23 million of Homeland Security funds. I think it’s because of the way the money was disbursed in the last administration. He wants to try to get a handle on it himself, I guess. I don’t see why, how he’s going to get a better handle on it by returning it all in. But, that’s my own opinion.

President Crouch: Couldn’t you have the counties give them an accounting, give the state an accounting of how much they have?

Sherman Greer: I wish he would, because we had given him that. I mean, as far as our ‘03 grant, you know, of over $500,000, we can account down to $2.07 on one grant, and .72 on another. I think we’ve done a fantastic job of keeping account of our funds that we’ve received from them, and how it’s been spent.

Commissioner Musgrave: So, are they suggesting that we have misspent money? Or are they suggesting something else?

Sherman Greer: No, they haven’t suggested that we’ve misspent money. I think they’re suggesting that they just feel that it wasn’t properly done in the first place, the funding, the Homeland Security funding was not properly dispersed in the first place.

Commissioner Nix: And this is state-wide. It isn’t just Vanderburgh County.

Sherman Greer: It’s state-wide. Not just Evansville-Vanderburgh County. It’s state-wide.

President Crouch: So, what happens if we don’t give the money back?

Sherman Greer: I don’t know. I really don’t know. I won’t know until tomorrow when I go up there at this meeting, because I don’t think I’m going to be the only one there that’s asking these questions. I think we’re all, all emergency managers are going to be asking the questions. Right now, with the performance date being in November, and the way that we were on track to spend our money, we would have had this money all spent a month before that time. But, now it’s going to throw us back a couple of months. By the time they get the money in, and reimburse us one way or the other, or tell us how they want us to spend it. They’re going to have to at least extend our performance date on it.

President Crouch: I’m sorry, go ahead.

Commissioner Musgrave: What sorts of things do you spend this money on?

Sherman Greer: Well, we spent it, out of the ‘04 grant already, we’ve purchased the security system for the water filtration plant; we went in also on with the Evansville Fire Department to get a new fire truck for hazardous materials; we’ve gotten EvaPar generators, we bought generators for the fire stations, the suburban fire stations. We’ve bought generators for them so that they would have continuous power. The Levee Authority we’ve spent some money with them to get some radios that can be used down, that are water safety and everything else, you know. Those are just some of the things that we spent out of the ‘04 grant. The monies that we spend out of there, we have a task force that we put together after 9/11, we call the Terrorism Task Force. That’s made up of the county departments and the city departments, and we decide how that funding is going to be spent.

President Crouch: What is the deadline for submitting the money back to the state?

Sherman Greer: June the 10^th.

President Crouch: Well, I don’t know what one more day will hurt.

Sherman Greer: Yeah, they wanted it back in by the, they gave us an extension on that to the 21^st, which is today, and then the meeting is tomorrow.

Commissioner Musgrave: I would like to know more about why they want the money back, and how they plan to redisperse it, or whether they plan to redisperse it. I know you’re going to go to a meeting tomorrow, and it’s in Indianapolis, and I will, I’m scheduled to be in Indianapolis the next two days. If you need me to come over and have discussions with somebody, I would be happy to leave the conference to go ahead and do that. So, I would like to make a motion to defer this until at least next week while we get a little bit more information.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered. Thank you, and have a safe trip.

Sherman Greer: I will, and I need your cell phone number. I thought I had it.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay, and you’re dressed that way, just so the record’s clear because this is Thunder week.

Sherman Greer: Thunder week.

Commissioner Musgrave: And EMA has a pretty big role down there on the riverfront?

Sherman Greer: Well, I’m the president of the Freedom Festival this year again. We also do all the communications. I have done all the communications for years down there. Yeah, we’ve got a pretty big role down there this year.

Commissioner Nix: Button sales I understand are up?

Sherman Greer: Buttons sales are really going good.

Commissioner Musgrave: But, we still need more people to buy them.

Sherman Greer: Oh, yeah.

Commissioner Nix: You still have plenty of buttons, right?

Sherman Greer: Yes. That’s right. Thank you.

President Crouch: Good luck.

President Crouch: County Attorney.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Nothing.

President Crouch: I don’t believe we have any board appointments today. Perhaps next week.

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes.

President Crouch: On the Old Courthouse Foundation.

Commissioner Musgrave: We’re going to have some fund-raisers at the Old Courthouse.

President Crouch: Yes, we are. Absolutely.

President Crouch: New business. Minority/Women Business Enterprise letter. This kind of goes along with last night’s event. There’s currently, in 2002 the city and county joined together and they created the Minority/Women Business Enterprise ordinance, and what this does is those minority and women businesses that register with the city and county through this board end up being certified to do county business. One part of the ordinance says that county department heads and offices should utilize these businesses as much as possible. So, what we would like to do, with the Commissioners approval and permission, would be to send out an e-mail to all our department heads and offices and attach the list of minority and women businesses, and ask them to please consider them for quotes and for bids on any projects, not just for advertised projects, but for any of those purchases that we make on a regular basis.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay. Move approval of the letter.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered. Any other new business?

Commissioner Musgrave: Yes, I do have one piece of new business. I would like to ask the Commissioners approval to ask the attorney to research Indiana law and Attorney General opinion’s if there are any regarding the county personnel policy. It has come to my attention that some elected officials are allowing their employees to take their birthdays off in addition to the regular, is it 11--

President Crouch: Fourteen holidays, nine sick days, four personal days.

Commissioner Musgrave: Fourteen holidays? Yeah, fourteen holidays, that’s for somebody that’s been here a year or two, right? And it can go up to six weeks, if you’ve been here for more than 20 years. So, the substantial amount of county time already off. So, that’s my question to you, Mr. Ziemer, if you could research that.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I would be happy to do that.

Commissioner Musgrave: Alright, thank you. I’m particularly interested in whether doing something like that outside the personnel policy qualifies as ghost employment. That is my motion.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

President Crouch: Old business. District meetings.

Commissioner Nix: Finally.

President Crouch: I think we’ve got our–

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Crouch: Mr. Nix, do you want to start. You get to go first.

Commissioner Nix: Yes. I’ve scheduled the first district meeting for district one, August the 15^th at 7:30 p.m. at the Northeast Park Baptist Church. Like I say, it’s at 1215 North Boeke Road. We will have department heads there, and, basically just general discussion about anything that anybody wants to talk about in district one. If, I guess, district two and three people want to show up, that would be fine too.

President Crouch: And, district two will be August 29^th , or 30^th, I’m sorry. August 30^th at the 4-H Center. I believe that’s from 5:30 to 7:00. Again, I believe we’ll have the same format probably.

Commissioner Musgrave: I chose November 29^th, I believe. That’s the fifth Tuesday in November, and normally we don’t have Commission meetings the fifth Tuesday. Your’s is also on the fifth Tuesday.

President Crouch: Correct.

Commissioner Musgrave: So, will we have the entire department head and agenda? Or will it just be for public comment? I was thinking more just for public comment on my meeting.

President Crouch: Have the department heads there available.

Commissioner Musgrave: Available to answer questions, but not have a full agenda the way we have here.

President Crouch: Oh, right.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay.

President Crouch: It wouldn’t be a meeting, it would just be a–

Commissioner Musgrave: Public comment, and, okay.

President Crouch: Right.

Commissioner Nix: And where would that meeting be?

Commissioner Musgrave: I’m sorry. It is at the O’Day Discovery Lodge at Burdette. Mine starts at the regular time at 3:30 in the afternoon. So, yours is at 7:30 at night, and, Suzanne?

President Crouch: 5:30.

Commissioner Musgrave: So, we have a variety of times available. I would welcome anybody from any of the districts to come to my meeting. You don’t have to be from district three.

President Crouch: Very good. Thank you, and we’ll be ready for you, Mr. Nix. Next item of old business, Evansville Plating Works. Commissioner Musgrave, or Attorney Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Pardon me, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I did have one item that was under my agenda. I said I had no report. We had an agreement to be entered into, or suggested to be entered into between the Sheriff’s office and Sonitrol, which I have e-mailed the Commissioners about, and that agreement is in your folders.

President Crouch: I think we did that on the agenda.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh, that one was done. Okay.

President Crouch: We did approve it.

Commissioner Nix: Yeah.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay, good.

Commissioner Nix: Yeah, it’s already been done.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay, great. Thank you.

President Crouch: Okay. Evansville Plating Works.

Commissioner Musgrave: On the Plating Works there are several issues, I have Ms. Kathryn Daniel here to discuss the several matters on there, if you would like to go over them. Do you have the agenda?

Kathryn Daniel: I saw it. I think first was just the withdrawal of the rezoning petition. We had initially filed a rezoning petition on the county’s behalf which requested to change zoning from M-4, which is light industrial, to C-4 which is commercial. After doing so, we met with some realtor to discuss the property. It was, they are of the opinion that there would be a better market if it were left at the light industrial zoning, as it is currently. It’s not something that a purchaser couldn’t change in the future, but we just decided at this point not to go through with that rezoning. So, I drafted a letter for your signatures that will be submitted to Area Plan just requesting that petition be withdrawn.

President Crouch: Motion?

Commissioner Musgrave: Motion to withdraw the application for rezoning of the Evansville Plating Works.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Commissioner Musgrave: Let’s see–

Kathryn Daniel: I think next on the agenda there are two petitions that you should have, hopefully, in front of you. But, one is to vacate an alleyway which runs through the Plating Works property, the other is to vacate the portion of Division Street that cuts across the southeast corner of the property. Utilities have been notified, and they’ve sent their responses as to any easements that they want to retain in the alley or that portion of Division Street. The petition is now complete, and it’s ready to be filed as soon as your signatures are obtained.

Commissioner Musgrave: This would afford us to have most of a block available for sale. So, move approval of the petitions for vacation of the street and alley.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Commissioner Musgrave: We need to do the permission to advertise the sale of the Plating Works as well.

Kathryn Daniel: Oh, okay. Again, in order to see this property, it’s property that the county has actually taken title to, we’ll have to advertise that we will begin accepting bids. We have not yet established what date that will be. Commissioner Musgrave and I are going to meet with the realtors again to get the dates established, but we will need to publish notice of the sale.

Commissioner Musgrave: We do have the appraisal on the property, and is it appropriate to say that we can accept a bid that’s 90% of the appraisal if we want to, but if it’s less than 90%, don’t we have to readvertise at that point?

Kathryn Daniel: Yes.

Commissioner Musgrave: Would it be appropriate to say what the appraisal amount was? In case people wanted to start thinking about it?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Certainly.

Commissioner Musgrave: The appraisal came in at $225,000, I believe, for the parcel as it exists with the vacation of the street and the alley. There is a billboard on the property that we need to discuss. It’s not on the agenda, but we do need to discuss reserving an easement for that, and we’ll go into that in a minute. So, if anybody out there is thinking about offering $225,000 or more for the property, get the checkbook ready and we’ll go ahead and take that.

Kathryn Daniel: I also noticed the last time that I got on the Assessor’s website that the tax codes had been consolidated. So, there are only two tax codes on the property now. It still lists all the individual tax codes for the separate parcels. If you type those in though, it will come up as not found. I don’t have the tax codes on there. There’s one for the–

Commissioner Musgrave: Right.

Kathryn Daniel: –upper section of the block, and one for the other, but just so if anybody looks at the property, they know that they’ve been consolidated into two tax codes.

Commissioner Musgrave: Let’s discuss the billboard. Would you describe a little of the history of the billboard?

Kathryn Daniel: There was a lease agreement that Evansville Plating Works entered into with Lamar Advertising. There’s some question as to whether that lease was breached by Lamar. That’s something that we’re kind of looking into and discussing with them on the payment history of that. But, the lease technically expired in ‘94 is what the title search revealed on the property, but they are still using the billboard, and it currently has advertising on it. So, that’s something that I think the Commissioners might want to address and maybe renegotiate a new contract. That being said, Commissioner Musgrave wants to retain an easement on the property where the billboard is located, retain an easement in favor of the county when the property is sold. That way the county will continue to receive income off of the billboard lease. That is if we can reach a new agreement with Lamar.

Commissioner Musgrave: That’s something that I think we need a decision from you. I’ve been told that a lease of a billboard like this is in the neighborhood of between $500 and $1,500 a month. Now, we could sell the property, and allow the buyer of the property to realize that income, making the sale of the property that much more attractive. Or Ms. Daniel informs me that we could reserve an easement for the income stream of that. But, that’s a decision that we should make, and it’s entirely up to you.

Kathryn Daniel: You would, technically, you would be reserving an easement for Vanderburgh County, and then you would be leasing your easement or your right to that easement.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay.

Kathryn Daniel: That’s, just so you know, that’s, the current lease payments are not that high.

Commissioner Musgrave: It’s zero, I think.

Kathryn Daniel: Well, the lease was entered into, I think, in 1987, and it was a year to year lease for $1,980 per year. So, there’s a lot of ground, I guess, cover if we’re going to reach an agreement with them. There’s a lot of room there in the middle.

Commissioner Musgrave: We could always ask them to remove the sign too.

Kathryn Daniel: Yeah, and that would be your other option.

Commissioner Nix: Does the county own any other billboards that you know of? I was just curious. That’s probably a question that couldn’t be answered today.

Commissioner Musgrave: I don’t know. This recommendation to reserve the easement came from the appraisers.

Commissioner Nix: I just don’t know if we want to get in the business of billboards, the county.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: I’m just not big on that at all.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, and as you say, it came from the appraisers, but it would seem to me that, obviously, it’s a balancing act. If you’re going to retain an easement, then you’re not selling as much as you intended to sell, and I don’t know what you might lose in terms of the purchase price.

Commissioner Musgrave: The appraisal was for the land without the value of the billboard.

President Crouch: Excuse me, can we change the tape?

Commissioner Musgrave: Certainly.

(Tape change)

Commissioner Musgrave: So, if you want to make a decision today, we can make a decision today. Or, if not, we can make one later.

Commissioner Nix: I would like to look at it a little bit closer before we decide.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay.

President Crouch: That’s fine.

Commissioner Nix: Let’s table it.

President Crouch: Do we need to advertise, or do a motion for permission to advertise? Or are we going to wait for the date?

Commissioner Musgrave: I would like to go ahead and do it, and allow Kathryn and I to fill in the date when we, if you would just make the motion for us to go ahead and reach a date.

President Crouch: Have we done that before?

Commissioner Musgrave: No?

President Crouch: No, we’ve always set dates. That’s the only thing.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay, we can’t set a date today. We’ve been unable to reach the realtor, and to agree upon that.

President Crouch: Want to bring it back next week?

Commissioner Musgrave: Now, there is one thing we could do today, I think, unless you want to wrap this up with the other. The billboard is there, the owner of the billboard is using it, and there is no lease of any kind. Do you want to enter into a negotiation for a lease that could then be sold with the property? Or do you just wan to let it go?

Commissioner Nix: I guess, that would depend on how long it’s going to take to sell the property.

Commissioner Musgrave: To sell the property.

Commissioner Nix: Right. I mean, we could spend a lot of money with legal issues to get that resolved, when if the property’s going to sell in a month or two, I don’t see that we really gain anything from that. Now, if it’s six months or a year, I think it might be different.

Commissioner Musgrave: I’ve got my crystal ball. I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Commissioner Nix: Why don’t we, if we could maybe take a look at this–

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: –you all are going to meet again in the next few days, and maybe have something for next week?

Kathryn Daniel: Our schedules are conflicting.

Commissioner Musgrave: We’re going to meet electronically.

Kathryn Daniel: But, we will at some point.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay. Alright, so we’ll table, a motion to table this all until next week. We’ll think about it, buying/selling billboards, and the date for the sale.

Commissioner Nix: Was that a motion?

Commissioner Musgrave: That’s a motion.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered. Public comment.

B.J. Farrell: Can I ask Kathryn one question, please? I have the document to sign for the vacation of the alley, but I don’t have one for the vacation of the street. Was it a separate document that you had ready for signature?

Kathryn Daniel: It is. I have both of them with me. I’ll give you another set.

B.J. Farrell: Great. Thank you so much.

President Crouch: This is the opportunity for the public to comment to Commissioners about any issue that the Commissioners have authority over. Seeing none.

President Crouch: I just would like to thank the County Auditor for allowing his employee, the Recording Secretary, to help us with our, kind of our little live chat. I think we’re getting to the place where maybe we can, you know, do it on our own, but it was nice to have her expertise there. So, I appreciate it.

President Crouch: Consent items.

Commissioner Musgrave: Motion to approve the consent items. They weren’t amended this week, were they?

Commissioner Nix: They should be as submitted.

Commissioner Musgrave: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered.

Commissioner Musgrave: Motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Crouch: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Crouch: So ordered. And, please note that there is no rezoning meeting. Rezonings, there were none. So, that meeting at 5:00 will not actually take place. We’ll post a notice on the door, and we’ll post a notice at our office, but there shouldn’t be anyone here since there aren’t any rezonings. Thank you.

(The meeting was adjourned at 4:17 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

         Employment Changes:

         Circuit Court (1)              Perry Assessor (1)                    VCCC (1)

         Superior Court (1)           County Clerk (2)                       Burdette Park (3)

         Health Department (2)    County Highway (1) * pulled from consents

         Travel Requests:

         Health Department (3)    County Assessor (1)       County Highway (1)

         Commissioners:

         Jail Construction Payment Requisition No. 62: $2,760

         Energy Systems Group Application No. 12: $89,172

         Department Head Meeting Minutes: 6/21/2005

         Burdette Park: Contract with Terry Tunks.

         Auditor:

         Approval of Lien Release for Tax Code 02-060-02-153-056 (Oak Hill Rd)

         Department Head Reports:

         Burdette Park                 County Engineer             County Highway

         Supt. Of Bldgs.               SWCD                            Veterans Service

         CIO                                 Ozone (no report filed)

         Those in Attendance:

         Suzanne Crouch             Cheryl Musgrave            Bill Nix

         Bill Fluty                          Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          B.J. Farrell

         Madelyn Grayson           Blaine Oliver                   Kathryn Daniel

         Patrick Seib                    Phil Lawrence                 Sherman Greer

         Others Unidentified         Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Suzanne M. Crouch, President

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, Vice President

Bill Nix, Member

Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.