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Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners March 01, 1999
President Jerrel: I'd like to call
the Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners' meeting to order. At this
time I would like to introduce to you the people up front. On my far right
is Tony Greubel, our Superintendent of County Buildings; next to him, Joe
Harrison, Jr., County Attorney; Pat Tuley, County Commissioner, to my right;
my far left, Charlene Timmons, our Recording Secretary; Suzanne Crouch,
County Auditor; Richard Mourdock, County Commissioner; and my name is Bettye
Lou Jerrel. I would like to ask you to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
President Jerrel: The first action item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of the minutes of February 22nd. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: The next item on the agenda is the certification of the Executive Session. We discussed personnel matters and litigation. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of the summary minutes. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: The first item, action item, that we're going to deal with now is the proclamation of the Board of Commissioners for the LifeFlight Appreciation. We do have some members here and I would ask them to come forward. Would you like to introduce yourself? (Inaudible comments made away from microphone.) President Jerrel: Would you mind going to the mike? William Dukes: My name is William Dukes, I'm a flight paramedic with Welborn Baptist Hospital LifeFlight. Russ Vick: My name is Russ Vick and I'm an RN. Jim Croce: My name is Jim Croce, I'm a pilot. President Jerrel: Are these...would you like to come up and introduce yourselves also? Okay. At this time we do have a proclamation and I would ask that it be read into the minutes. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, I'll be glad to do that. Some of you don't know of this event, so you'll have to forgive the whereas here. This is a proclamation of the Board of Commissioners for LifeFlight Appreciation. Sherman Greer: I'm Sherman Greer, Emergency Management Director for Evansville and Vanderburgh County. As everyone knows February 6 is more or less a date that we never forget around here. Number one because February 6, 1992 is when we had the C-130 crash. Also for myself a personal tragedy is four years to that date my mother passed away on February 6, so today being here to honor these young men and honor the LifeFlight program on a upbeat type of situation to where that we've saved a life really honors me to present to the LifeFlight crew that flew the mission this Certificate of Appreciation from the Emergency Management Agency signed by Frank McDonald, Bettye Lou Jerrel and Sherman Greer from the Emergency Management Agency. Thank you. They=re good at saving lives, but they don't want to talk! Jim Croce: Thank you all very much. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, well, thank you. Just for the record I would move that the proclamation which I read a moment ago be entered into the record. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Thank
you very, very much. We appreciate it.
President Jerrel: Okay, moving on. Jerry Bryan, Purchasing Director. Jerry Bryan: Okay, tonight I have two awards. The first award is for Burdette Park for their hats, etc. and we had three bidders: Gus Doerner, SouthWest and Imagination and the Advisory Board at Burdette recommended that Gus Doerner be the low, responsible and responsive bidder and they were $4,329 which was the low bid and I recommend that they be awarded the business. President Jerrel: Is there a motion? Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval as recommended. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Jerry Bryan: The second item of business is the annual paper bid, APA022-99. This has already been approved by the Board of Public Works as we use about $100,000 worth of paper in our office for the two copiers that we have and we will use the five bidders that we had and then we'll go to the low bid price as in the shaded areas. we'll jump around taking the low price on that, Bettye. President Jerrel: Okay. Jerry Bryan: And I recommend that the award be as given here. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval as recommended. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Jerry Bryan: Thank you. President Jerrel: Thank you.
President Jerrel: Next we have with us a group that we've been participating with, but we haven't really had an opportunity to have them come before us and we have two very fine people, would you like to come up and introduce yourselves, David and Barb? Barb Miller: Good evening. My name is Barb Miller, and I'm the Executive Director of the Albion Fellows Bacon Center and also the incoming President of the Evansville-Vanderburgh Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence. With me this evening is Detective Dave Stefanich who is the Domestic Violence Case Coordinator and also a Detective with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Department. We are here to present the 1998 annual report which you have received. You received that last week and I don't really want to go into great detail in terms of anything other than specific questions that you might have, but Dave is going to tell you a little bit about the work that went on in the Enforcement Committee. He co-chaired that committee and I'll turn that over to him at this point. Dave Stefanich: Just briefly I was going to comment on a few things that we've done as part of the Enforcement Committee. Who makes up the Enforcement Committee is Vanderburgh County Superior Court Judge Doug Knight; Candice Perry; Julia...her name is not here, but from Albion Fellows Bacon Center. President Jerrel: Julia Carver. Dave Stefanich: Jill Hendricks with the Vanderburgh County Probation Office; myself; and Lt. Bert Weisheit from the Evansville Police Department; and Martha Posey from the Prosecutor's Office. Our goals this year...what we try to do is get things set up for the court system, was one of our first goals to try to get all the domestic violence court cases set up so that they=re all done on one day so that the Prosecutor's Office and the judges could become more familiar with the cases that are reoccurring and that has been set up through the Prosecutor's Office. That was one of our first objectives. We also are working with the judges to try to revise some existing policies and procedures when we issue...or judges issue an enforcement...by law enforcement protective orders. We=re trying to streamline that and make that a little more effective and kind of clear up some of the problems that the police officers have been having with enforcing that. Also, this year we've put together a program where people that have been sentenced for domestic violence offenses get sentenced to the Domestic Abuse Intervention Program. A lot of times we've been finding problems with people that are indigent and cannot pay for those, so we worked out a deal with the Safe House and Charles Locke is going to take care of that between them and whoever...the program, the Domestic Abuse Intervention Program so that they can work the people...the people that are indigent can work from the Safe House or through the Safe House and pay for those counseling sessions that they are ordered to attend by the judge. Briefly, that is kind of what we've been working on so far this year and have made pretty good success with...or had pretty good success with those things so far. I don't know, does anybody have any questions on those? Just trying to skim over these real quick. Commissioner Mourdock: I have just one, Dave, or, Barb, either one. I'm just curious, in looking at some of the goals that you have in the report, and I like it when you state the goal as far as what you want to do, do you have any feel for how we are as a community with our statistics in this area versus other communities? Barb Miller: As far as the incidents of domestic violence or-- Commissioner Mourdock: Right, incidents. Barb Miller: Well, I think as far as runs go it seems like law enforcement runs are an average of eight to twelve a day. Dave Stefanich: Between the city and the county that would probably be fairly safe, eight to ten runs a day. I think overall in comparing what Evansville-Vanderburgh County has as compared to a lot of other agencies one part that was in the report that I didn't mention that we were asked to come up...the Sheriff Department was asked to come up to Indianapolis when they had National Victim Rights Week and present our domestic violence program up to Indianapolis and it received overwhelming support from people in the state and a lot of people have contacted us and want to set up similar type of programs, so I think Vanderburgh County and Evansville are quite a bit ahead of a lot of agencies or other cities, county governments, as far as trying to address domestic violence. Commissioner Mourdock: I might just encourage you to look at it from the statistical point of view. I would always like to know where we are versus where the rest of the world is. I say that not literally, of course. I know one of the things I've learned from the Jail Committee is that we don't always mirror national crime statistics and it would be interesting to see in this area how we do compared to the rest of the country. Barb Miller: One of the things that we=re trying to do is, you know, look at the different statistics that we keep, not only in service agencies, but in law enforcement, Prosecutor's Office, the DAIP program and see if we can give the community a clearer picture of what is going on. I think that is one thing that we've recognized is that we all keep statistics in a variety of different numbers, but it is extremely hard in family violence cases to really get a clear picture of how somebody flows through the system. Batterers are a good example. It's very hard when you have people who can go through the system more than once, when you have victims who want to press charges and then take that back and they don't want to press charges now and we see them time and time again, so it is, it's very difficult, I think, to get a clear picture of how severe the problem really is. One thing that we have concentrated on is in education because I think the more you educate the more you make people realize that they=re not alone and this is not an isolated problem, you=re not only giving them, I think, the courage in a lot of cases to speak out and come forward and get help, but you know you=re letting them know that this is a community that cares and I think that is one of the most positive benefits to having the Commission is you have all kinds of different entities working together to recognize that it is a major community health problem and the only way we=re going to really make a dent in that problem is to work together. I think one of the most flattering things that we have recognized is that we get calls from other areas of the state and other shelters because we do have such a great reputation for working together asking how they can get something similar to this started in their area. President Jerrel: I might just remind the Commission, Vic Chamness, who followed me at the School Corporation when I retired, is the Commissioners' representative and Barb and I had a chance to meet the other day and that is a perfect opportunity to include this in the in service booklets that all the teachers participate in and it gives us a chance to start early with some educational efforts, so I compliment both of you and Vic is a good guy to work with. Barb Miller: We=re pleased, very much so. One thing that we would like to ask is we are looking for varied representation on the Commission and there is a slot available that the Commissioners are to elect an individual. This was vacated by Beth Campbell. Her term was up at the end of the year and we have an individual that we would like you to consider for appointment and that is Stan Young. Stan is an outreach worker with the Evansville Black Coalition. He is from Evansville. He has also worked at the CK Newsome Center for a number of years and he was the unanimous choice of the Commission members for a recommendation to you because we felt like he would be a great person to really have his hands in the community and really work with families who have violence occurring within the families and that he would be a great addition. Commissioner Mourdock: And we do have the paperwork at our fingertips on that, so I will nominate Mr. Stan Young to be our rep to the Domestic & Sexual Violence Committee. Commissioner Tuley: I'll second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Thank you very much. Come back any time and please share with us the information as you gather it. Barb Miller: Thank you. Commissioner Mourdock: Before we leave the topic, one quick question, Bettye Lou, you mentioned about your...Mr. Chamness who followed you and that was an in service, did you mean that was an in service with the School Corporation? President Jerrel: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: So they get the word out through the school system? President Jerrel: Yes, and the teachers are also...well, the teachers themselves are trained to assist and be...awareness is very important for teachers. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. I was wondering if it ought to not be something we should somehow make available to people in this building, county employees. President Jerrel: Probably. We need to explore that. Maybe we can sit down and talk about how we can do that. Barb Miller: I=d be happy to do that, thank you. Appreciate your interest. Dave Stefanich: Thank you. Commissioner Tuley: Thank you.
President Jerrel: Okay, the next item on the agenda is the County Assessor. In your packet you have two appointments recommended. One is a Republican and one is a Democrat according to the law. They...Susan Curtis has her Level II license, correct? Cheryl Musgrave: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: I guess...you want to say something, Cheryl, or do you want me to just go through it? Cheryl Musgrave: I'm here to answer questions if you have any. Commissioner Tuley: The only question I've got...I'm sorry, Richard, I didn't realize you were getting ready to speak. She has her Level II, does George have his Level II or who is the other one. Cheryl Musgrave: The Council, County Council is required to appoint another Level II. Commissioner Tuley: Okay. Cheryl Musgrave: I've asked that they...I suggested one to them and I am also a Level II, so that will make three of us on the Board. All these suggestions meet every curlicue of the law. we've worked very hard to make sure that they do. Commissioner Tuley: So by virtue of you being County Assessor, then you can also be one of the four appointees? Joe Harrison, Jr.: She is one of the five members. Cheryl Musgrave: I'm one of the five. Commissioner Tuley: One of the five? Okay, I'm sorry. You=re just saying for the record you already have your Level II as well? Cheryl Musgrave: Correct. Commissioner Tuley: I'm sorry, I misunderstood what you were saying. Cheryl Musgrave: Sorry. Commissioner Tuley: I thought you were being appointed as one of the four. Cheryl Musgrave: No. Commissioner Tuley: Okay, so two of the four that have to be appointed must be Level II? Cheryl Musgrave: Correct. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Right. Commissioner Tuley: Which with the two that you have recommended to us and the two you've recommended to Council you have fulfilled that? Cheryl Musgrave: Correct. Commissioner Tuley: Okay, and then the other thing you said the political affiliation and I think the only other thing was at least two of them must be property owners and I think you explained to me the other day that they are. Cheryl Musgrave: The two Commissioner appointees must be property owners and both of the individuals-- Commissioner Tuley: Both of these are? Cheryl Musgrave: --that I have suggested are. Commissioner Tuley: Okay, I'm sorry. Commissioner Mourdock: I will move then that we appoint Mr. George Koch and Ms. Susan Curtis to the Vanderburgh County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: The next item on the agenda, Mr. Harris Howerton is not here, but it's the first reading on the Establishment of the Correction Fund ordinance which must be in place before they can obtain the funding. Commissioner Mourdock: And, Joe, you have reviewed this, I presume? This is just the normal yearly ordinance? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes, it would be first reading. we'll have final reading next week and then it has got to be published after. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, I guess pursuant then to IC 11-12-6 I move on first reading the establishment of the Community Correction Fund Ordinance as submitted to us. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: The next item on the agenda is a request by Gale Brocksmith from CAPE for surplus computers. we've not done this before and we decided to put it on the agenda and see what our attorney had to say. Joe Harrison, Jr.: The statute has been changed a little bit. As a matter of fact, that is what I was looking at. President Jerrel: Do you want us to come back to that in a minute? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yeah, that would
be great. Give me another minute.
President Jerrel: Let's move on. Mr. Hofmann has requested an extension on raze order on a structure located at 11800 Petersburg Road. Carl Hofmann: Good evening. I'm Carl Hofmann, this is my wife Jane. we've received a raze order from Mr. Lehman, the Building Commissioner. It was like a month deadline and we've got quite a few possessions in the buildings that are there with it being a commercial piece of property. I realize the corner has gone to great disrepair. One building has to be razed 100 percent because the roof is coming in. The other, the store building, and the other what we used to have as an arcade building, the arcade building is in good shape relative to all the other structures. What we=re asking for is an extension to get the green building, which is the one that is falling in, get it removed, get the corner cleaned up and either get the store building razed or bring it up to whatever code that would be possible until we can make a final judgement on what we want to do with the property. If you=re not familiar with where it is at it's west across from the Hornet's Nest on the southwest corner. Commissioner Mourdock: The only question I would have, Mr. Hofmann, is I don't see in any of the documentation your specific request for a date. You were looking at the letter, the letter that was sent to you was on February 1st which gave you until March 3rd, so obviously that was based on a 30 day time. Are you requesting another 30 days so that we would be looking at the first week of April? Carl Hofmann: Okay, the letter that I received it said that I had to file for a hearing by the 11th or 12th of February which I did, this hearing. I work third shift, my wife works days. The letter that I had written to Mr. Lehman I said possibly by the 1st of July, reason being like in December and January we had the ice and bitter cold. It has been raining. I don't have access to backhoes, dump trucks and this kind of thing. I've got to get things lined up to be able to do that, plus also the possessions that are in the building I need to get moved somewhere else. Like I said in my letter to Mr. Lehman, I asked until the 1st of July that way it would go into the spring with the warmer weather and hopefully it wouldn't be so wet. We could get in and do this, get the property cleaned up. I'm not trying to put the Commission off or to disrespect the County Commissioners or the Commission, I just want the additional time to make as a good as compliance as I can. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Commissioner Tuley: The only question I have really is for Roger. I would just like for Roger to give us some history here if you could. Roger Lehman: we've dealt...Roger Lehman, Building Commissioner. we've dealt with this property over the past several years mainly on weed complaints and trash and debris and those types of things. We did send a letter in October saying that the rear building must be razed, the weeds removed, and a cistern to be covered and the main building immediately repaired or razed. This was October the 6th when we sent that letter. Getting basically little response to that, then we issued the letter that Mr. Hofmann referred to February 1st telling him that the building needed to be removed or he needed to request a hearing. I do have some pictures here that were taken on January 28th, if you all would like to look, they=re on both sides of the page. The building on that day at least was not secure which is a problem as far as fire and also as far as traffic nuisance to kids and that type of thing. I don't have a big problem with giving the Hofmanns a little time to get it cleaned out. I think there should be no...there really isn't much there to repair or save. The building has not been maintained for...I don't know, when was the last time that was occupied? Jane Hofmann: Four years. Roger Lehman: Four years ago? Yeah, to me it appears that there has been nothing done in a maintenance standpoint for at least four years and I don't believe it was in great condition then, so I would very strongly say the buildings need to be razed. I would not object to another 30 days or at the outside 60 days to accomplish that, but I think we need to come to closure on this if we could because it has been an ongoing problem. President Jerrel: I have a question. If we grant an extension I would want to know that something is happening so that we don't end up with whatever the next date is this same kind of request that you haven't been able to make arrangements because the only thing that is...this is an invitation for kids or someone to get into it and it can cause, I mean, a lot of trouble for you in terms of lawsuits, so it needs to have some sort of action or it will be a bigger problem than just what it is now. Is it possible that...and I don't want to put any work on your department, but you have their phone and we need a report as to the status of what has happened like I would say within 30 days there ought to be some movement and it ought to be documented and then I don't know what the pleasure of the Commissioners is in terms of how far out you want to go. Roger Lehman: There is a lot of construction out that way so we are in the area very frequently, so we can make a-- President Jerrel: I think we need to see that something is being hauled away, the trash is being removed. Commissioner Tuley: I think the only thing, and the attorney has kind of said something to me about, what I want to make sure or what we should make sure of what we have is an order to raze the building and that is your intent. Is it all the buildings? The out buildings and everything else, so there is no misunderstanding-- Commissioner Mourdock: But I'm not sure that is what Mr. Hofmann said. Commissioner Tuley: I know, that's what I want to make sure before we vote we all understand we have a raze order here and we have a request for-- Roger Lehman: I'm only aware of two buildings. If there is a third one on-- Carl Hofmann: There are three. Roger Lehman: Only two of the dilapidated buildings. I guess the other one must be in pretty good shape because we didn't take pictures of it. Commissioner Tuley: I just want...whatever we decide to do everybody walks out of here knowing that we all agree we=re talking about the same thing. President Jerrel: Is it the unattached building? Carl Hofmann: We have three pieces...three buildings on the property. The one closest to the corner was the store and where we lived, the house part. Right behind there is a green building and then behind it another 40 feet is a 22 x 24 building that is used as an arcade building years ago and now it is kind of storage. It's in pretty good shape, you know. Commissioner Mourdock: So just to follow up with Pat's point, I mean, are we all agreeing on the two buildings that are to be knocked down? Carl Hofmann: I know the one has to be. The other one I would like to see if it is salvageable, what would need to be done, what the cost would be to do it. If the cost is prohibitive, you know, I'm a limited man. I can't-- President Jerrel: Do you...Mr. Hofmann, 60 days ought to be plenty of time to find out whether it is prohibitive or not and you can get moving. I mean, I think that would be more than reasonable. Is that satisfactory with you? Commissioner Tuley: Yeah, I've got two...I've got Joe talking to me and I've got this. Okay, 30...say it over, what you guys just said. President Jerrel: Sixty days and he should have...he should know whether that one building could be restored of the three and there should be movement and we should have something happening out there. Commissioner Mourdock: I'm still not sure we=re on the same wave here. President Jerrel: Uh-huh. Commissioner Mourdock: You=re saying the one building out of the three might be restored. If I understand Mr. Hofmann there are two buildings that we=re saying need to be razed and there is three on the property. Carl Hofmann: Correct. Commissioner Mourdock: Two that need to be razed and you=re saying that one of those you think you can save. Jane Hofmann: Well, the one, the store site, has historical value to it. If you completely take it down there is nothing left. Commissioner Mourdock: So that is the one you=re suggesting might not be razed? Jane Hofmann: We would like to see if there is something that we could do to it to save the historical value. Commissioner Tuley: What have you done since October? Jane Hofmann: Personally we've just been trying to get some of the personal stuff out. President Jerrel: Are any of these pictures the historical building? Roger Lehman: The bottom one. President Jerrel: This one? Roger Lehman: Yes. Carl Hofmann: The property on our abstract goes back to the mid to late 1800's. President Jerrel: Well, I think we need to be...we=re not being definitive and that's what we need to be is definitive and say what we=re...yes, sir. Roger Lehman: Can I make a suggestion? Why don't we require the green building be gone in 30 days which would show good faith and everything and between the 30 and 60 days they would have to come up with a repair plan with a documented contractor and costs and everything and the ability to do it and if they don't at the end of the 60 days the raze order will be effective for the corner building also. President Jerrel: And you'll be able to keep track of that because you=re out there. Carl Hofmann: Would that be immediate at the end of the 60 days? An immediate raze order? You know, just do it then or...? Roger Lehman: Well, you would have some kind of-- Commissioner Tuley: Well, there has got to be some kind of closure. I mean, yeah, I think what he is saying is at the end of the 60 days you may not have all that work done, but at least you will have shown the things that he just pointed out, that you have a plan, that you have a contractor and you've shown the financial ability to do that plan. At the end of that sixty days if you don't somewhere along the line there has got to be some guidelines established that we=re going to have to do something. Roger Lehman: Well, basically our two options are the county would raze it and place a lien on the property. I suspect at that location that would be recoverable probably not without too much trouble. Or the Hofmanns could come with a proposal to raze that building within a reasonable period of time which I would say shouldn't exceed two or three weeks. Commissioner Tuley: After the 60 days. Carl Hofmann: Do you have a cost estimate? Roger Lehman: On razing? Carl Hofmann: Yes. Roger Lehman: No, not yet. After this hearing we will. Just off the cuff I=d say you=re talking around $7,000 if there is not a basement. Yeah, probably around that for both of them. Carl Hofmann: Now part of that structure, the store, is concrete blocks which is not subject to the wear and tear like the wood siding and stuff is which could be used in consummating another business or a building, you know. Roger Lehman: I think you could make that part of your plan between the 30 and 60 days and then they look at that at that time. Commissioner Mourdock: Let me read back what I understand right now to see if we all agree on this. What we=re saying is within 30 days the green building will be gone and if the second building isn't under repair or a planned repair within the next 30 days then it would be razed within another 30 days. Commissioner Tuley: The only thing I want to ask you to add to that is with the plans we include the things Roger pointed out such as construction bids, contractors, signed and/or a proof of ability to carry out that plan. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Roger Lehman: Since it is a commercial location Mr. Hofmann wouldn't as a homeowner be able to do the repairs himself, it would have to be a licensed contractor. The other thing I would like you to add to that if you could would be to maintain the building sealed so that it is not accessible to anybody at any time. Commissioner Tuley: As long as we=re still in the discussion side of it, with your motion on the floor, in one of the raze orders it mentions flammable materials. Have those been taken out yet or are there any flammable materials in there? Roger Lehman: Well, it is basically all combustible. Commissioner Mourdock: The building itself. Commissioner Tuley: I mean, there is no gasoline or anything like that in there? Carl Hofmann: No, no, not at all. Roger Lehman: Just paper, and wood, cardboard. Commissioner Tuley: Alright. President Jerrel: Okay, we have the motion on the floor. Commissioner Tuley: With the amendment, you agree to that? President Jerrel: With the amendments added. Commissioner Mourdock: I didn't know I made a motion, but-- Commissioner Tuley: Oh, I thought you did, I'm sorry. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, I didn't. I read it back. Let me just read it to be sure we understand it here. I move then that within 30 days the green building will be razed and if the second building isn't under repair or planned repair with a planned repair defined as a funding program in place and a presentation of the written plans to this Board, then that building would be razed within another 30 days. Carl Hofmann: As far as repairs, where do I get (inaudible) what would bring it up to code? That's what I need to know because I have to-- Commissioner Mourdock: You need to get with Roger on that. Roger Lehman: What we would like to do is once you get it cleaned out is to call and we'll come out and if you want to have a contractor or two there at the time so we can point out things. If we point them out to you and then you tell the contractor we=re going to end up meeting them again, so I would like to get it all taken care of at one time. We would be more than happy to do that. But you need to get the contractor, I can't get the contractors for you. You need to make those arrangements. Commissioner Tuley: Let's have the plan presented for approval through Roger and have Roger recommend to us. I don't want to review those plans. Commissioner Mourdock: Right, right. Okay, I'll amend the motion to include that. President Jerrel: Okay. Commissioner Tuley: I'll second the motion. President Jerrel: And I'll say so ordered. Okay, and then we'll...you and Roger will get together and, Roger, I'm going to give you back-- Suzanne Crouch: I think Charlene wants that. President Jerrel: You want that? Okay, and then you can give it back to Roger. Roger Lehman: Can you make a copy of them and give them back to me? Okay. President Jerrel: Okay, thank you
very much.
President Jerrel: The next item on the agenda is the Old State Barrett Law project. Joe Harrison, Jr.: What's on the agenda this evening is the final resolution of the Board of Commissioners modifying the Old State Road sanitary sewer Barrett Law project assessment roll that was submitted and filed with the Board on February 8, 1999. That particular assessment roll listed 26 lots to be benefitted by the sewer that has been installed on Old State Road. However, the property with an address of 8515 Old State Road is not to be benefitted by the sewer project and that has been confirmed also by the County Engineer through the engineer that was in Andy Easley's Office who was working in connection with the contractor on the project. So there is only 25 lot or tract owners to be benefitted by the project. The total project cost was $115,000 so you divide that by the 25 and you come up with $4,600. The final resolution, if you'll bear with me for one second I'll read it into the record and then, Mr. Mattingly, probably has a comment or two he may want to make. Now I will continue on the reading of this based upon the assumption that this Board has not acted, but I will continue on. This is a public hearing with respect to the assessment roll issue at this time. President Jerrel: And at this time anyone that wishes to speak so it's your turn, Mr. Mattingly. William Mattingly: Thank you. Thank you for remembering my name. I don't know if that is good or bad. I think your number is still wrong as far as 26 people, not to do with the 8515, but there was number two manhole was intentionally moved to a location of a proposed subdivision site of Jerry Lamb. This manhole was moved approximately 65 feet and the bottom of that manhole had an intentional Y put in it for the proposed easement of this Wexford Estates. I feel that he should be included in the amount of people that have to pay for this sewer. I got a cost estimate on putting in a hot manhole for a live sewer which was $4,000. I feel that should come off the top of this plus you should add 26 people to this list because that manhole was intentionally moved for that purpose. It was our money buying this sewer and somewhere down the line somebody saw fit to do this to their benefit. I have the plans here if you would like to look at them. Does anybody want to look at them? President Jerrel: Yeah, I would like to look at them. William Mattingly: This is manhole number two right here, manhole number two was moved to this point here with an intentional Y put in it. This proposed easement for Mr. Lamb's subdivision on Old State Road, which you guys approved this. President Jerrel: On another-- William Mattingly: At another time. President Jerrel: Yeah. Who did the...Mr. Easley. Is Mr. Easley here? Commissioner Mourdock: John Stoll is here. President Jerrel: John, do you know anything about the movement? John Stoll: At one time it was proposed that some modifications be made to help serve Mr. Lamb's property and Mr. Leroy Walther sent us a letter saying he wanted no changes made to the elevations, so we made no changes to accommodate Mr. Lamb's development. If the manhole was moved...I don't have the as built, so I haven't seen that, but if the manhole was moved I would assume there was a reason construction-wise. President Jerrel: Do you have any information to add to this? Leroy Walther: No, I don't. The only thing, like John said, I did have a letter issued to the engineer and to John not to make any deviations to the sewer line as it was put in. I know nothing of any deviations. Commissioner Mourdock: Just for the record, that was Mr. Walther. President Jerrel: Okay, so you don't know of any and you don't know of any. You both said there weren't to be any, but you=re saying there were some made? William Mattingly: There is definitely. Commissioner Mourdock: But I think we=re speaking of two different things. John Stoll: Well, I know there were changes made because of conflicts with other utilities. They had to get the things...the manholes in line to fit where it would fit to miss the water lines and gas lines and things of that nature, so I'm not saying there were no changes from the plans, but it wasn't specifically done to accommodate Mr. Lamb's proposed development. William Mattingly: The bottom of that manhole had to be. It's intentional. It's a precast bottom you buy to put in the bottom. The Y is lined up exactly with this easement, exactly in front of it so that would stop him from having to put in a hot manhole at a price of $4,000 to put a hot manhole in on a live sewer line if he developed this and to move it 65 feet regardless of utilities I think that is quite much. There was no utilities over there other-- John Stoll: Like I said, I am not aware of that change and the engineer nor the contractor said anything to me about moving that. Commissioner Mourdock: Let me play-- William Mattingly: I questioned Mr. Easley and he said he would get back with me and it has been four weeks and he never has called back. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, let me play what if for a minute. I have to confess, I don't fully understand everything I'm hearing here. It's not tying together for me. If, in fact, that manhole was moved and if, in fact, the manhole is changed so that it would serve...what are you calling it? William Mattingly: Wexford Estates. Commissioner Mourdock: Wexford Estates, does that in any way affect what we have done with the Old State Road Barrett Law project? Is there any way that having access from those lots to that point would cause us to have that many more people to whom this should be charged. Joe Harrison, Jr.: There was a defined area that would be served by this project and all the resolutions and procedures have been followed to this point with respect to those boundaries. We can't extend the boundaries for the project, it's beyond that time. As far as this issue is concerned, if there is an issue at this point-- William Mattingly: There is an issue, it was done intentionally. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, at this point the sewer was accepted by the county for a day or two and now the city has it and I think you need to address this with the City of Evansville. All modifications, if there were any modifications made to the project the city had to approve of those modifications, is that true? John Stoll: They accepted the sewer, so they approve. William Mattingly: Do they inspect the sewer or what? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes. John Stoll: Their inspectors were out there. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes, the City of Evansville. President Jerrel: We don't do sewers, they do them. Joe Harrison, Jr.: As far as the specific issue you=re referring to I believe now that there was a request and that was denied to-- William Mattingly: But it was done anyway. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, again, no one is aware of that being done. William Mattingly: Andy Easley is. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, what I'm telling you is that the County Engineer and Mr. Walther, speaking on behalf of the homeowners out there, specifically said that can't be done. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, but now we=re back to my what if. What if it was done are we in effect giving-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: No. Commissioner Mourdock: Are we in effect giving a free ride to those people in the subdivision who would in the future participate...or not participate, get the benefit of but not participating in the cost. Joe Harrison, Jr.: No, because-- William Mattingly: You=re giving the developer a free ride for putting in a manhole at that point. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Again, the boundaries were defined by this project, so it was only those particular boundaries served by this project. You know, there is no prohibition against the City of Evansville permitting anyone to tap into any sewer anywhere in this county. The county is not in the sewer business, the city is. So I guarantee you there will be others out there at some point tapping into this sewer and they=re going to pay a fee to the city. I don't know what it is going to be, but they=re going to pay a hefty fee and you all may not like it, but that is what is going to happen. It's going to happen out on Old State Road...I'm sorry, on Oak Hill Road when that sewer is put in. It's going, you know, there are going to be others that are going to tap in to all sewers and, again, that is the city to decide whether or not they want to do it or not. William Mattingly: You=re not getting my point though. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well-- William Mattingly: Somebody called in a favor or something and this manhole was moved to that point. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, again, there was no modification-- President Jerrel: This Board did not have anything to do with that. Joe Harrison, Jr.: --by the county. William Mattingly: I don't know where else to go. President Jerrel: I know you don't. William Mattingly: That's why I'm here. President Jerrel: Okay-- Commissioner Tuley: Okay, the way I understand-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: The way I understood it there was an elevation problem based on the letter we got, too. William Mattingly: There was an elevation problem for the sewer. Mr. Lamb wanted it deeper so he would not have to cross a creek. John Stoll: Right, which we never approved that. William Mattingly: Right, right. I agree with you there. Leroy knows that. John Stoll: Right. William Mattingly: They would of had to go back and redesign the sewer and come back and nobody wanted to wait that long to get the sewer. But when they moved the manhole 65 feet north to accommodate that easement to Wexford Estates I think that man should be one of the 26 people. John Stoll: Well, he is being assessed on one lot on that side of the road. William Mattingly: Yeah, but it can't do what it needs to do there because it is way up here. In fact, (inaudible comments away from mike). Joe Harrison, Jr.: He does own one lot though out there. Leroy Walther: Yes, he owns one lot. President Jerrel: Okay, so what you=re recommending Mr. Mattingly find out what the Evansville Sewer Department did? John Stoll: I can get in touch with Easley, the contractor, the Sewer Department, everybody, and find out what the status is. President Jerrel: Find out what occurred. John Stoll: I guess from the perspective of the free ride like Joe said, no matter what somebody is going to get a free ride just like Keystone put in a lift station on Oak Hill Road and now that whole Oak Hill Road Barrett Law sewer project is tapping into that lift station, so it is going to be a continuous process and somebody will get a free ride once these sewers go in the ground. We can't stop that really. Joe Harrison, Jr.: I didn't realize that Mr. Lamb does, in fact, own a lot out there. I did not realize that. Commissioner Mourdock: But he is one of the 25? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes, yes, I'm sorry. John Stoll: I will contact the engineer and the contractor to find out why that manhole was moved and see what the status was. William Mattingly: And why the Y was put in at that location. I still feel he should have to pay for one of us...be one of us and have to pay for this. John Stoll: I'll check on that and find out what I can. William Mattingly: Because a favor was done by somebody (inaudible). We paid for this sewer, you know. We=re paying for this sewer and you shouldn't...he should have to pay his part of the fee. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Mr. Walther, do you know which...which lot does Mr. Lamb own? I don't have that on this sheet. Commissioner Tuley: I don't have one either. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Has that been sold? Leroy Walther: Yes. It's 8127 Old State Road. Commissioner Mourdock: Number 17. Joe Harrison, Jr.: The Mintons? Leroy Walther: It was Minton and Mr. Lamb bought it. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Mr. Lamb did buy it from the Mintons? Leroy Walther: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: I misread that. If it is actually 8127, then it is Engelbrecht, Number 14. President Jerrel: There is two of them here at 8127. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yeah, next to 8127 is different. Commissioner Mourdock: The one says next to 8127. Joe Harrison, Jr.: So it's 8127, which one is that, 14? Commissioner Mourdock: Fourteen. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Marilyn Engelbrecht. William Mattingly: I don't have Engelbrecht on there. Commissioner Mourdock: You don't have Engelbrecht on the list, Number 14? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yeah, it's on here. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Charlene, whenever you checked this...that was in the last couple of weeks when we double-checked all the property owners? Leroy Walther: 8127, it now belongs to Jerry Lamb. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, that's not the right one. We=re talking about 8127. Leroy Walther: Okay, that lot belongs to a...next to 8127 belongs to Gary Rust. No. William Mattingly: That's the right address. Apparently Mr. Lamb has sold it. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yeah, he sold it to Marilyn Engelbrecht. William Mattingly: He bought it after our sewers were...after we came through here-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: But she is going to get assessed for it. William Mattingly: Right, well...I don't know who-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: She owns it now. William Mattingly: I figure it will go back to Minton. Joe Harrison, Jr.: No. Leroy Walther: Which one did she own now? Joe Harrison, Jr.: 8127, it's Number 14, Marilyn Engelbrecht, 8127 Old State Road. William Mattingly: 8127, right there. It's 15 on this one. Leroy Walther: Yeah, 15 on this. William Mattingly: But she'll be one of the 25 now? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes. William Mattingly: I'm still saying at the time since he doesn't own it that he should of had to pay. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, if he would of owned it today he would have to pay the assessment. William Mattingly: Okay. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, it's whoever owns the property. Leroy Walther: Has the one that purchased the property now planned the subdivision? Joe Harrison, Jr.: No, there is no subdivision there. Leroy Walther: No, see that is what Lamb had proposed or he's got plans. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, there is nothing on file. Leroy Walther: There is nothing on file. William Mattingly: We were just wondering why our money was being used to put in a manhole for somebody else to reap profit. Commissioner Tuley: Let's just talk about that. The original cost was estimated at $115,000. William Mattingly: Right. Commissioner Tuley: John did not or no one presented us with any kind of change orders, correct? So the $115,000 was $115,000 before and after the manhole went in, correct? That's a question, it's not a statement it's a question. John Stoll: Right, there were no changes to the cost. Commissioner Mourdock: So moving the manhole...you could have moved it from one end to the other and it didn't affect the cost. John Stoll: No. Commissioner Tuley: If there was money paid it may have gone directly to whoever put it in from the city. President Jerrel: From the Sewer Department. Commissioner Tuley: From the Sewer Department or something. Leroy Walther: Mr. Biggerstaff was strictly opposed to any changes in that. There was talk originally about him paying for a change, but he said he would not accept anything like that. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, if the Sewer Department moved it the Sewer Department has to deal with how the system works and functions and I suspect they try to put in such manholes so that it provides for the best long-term planning and if they moved it, and I don't know that they did, but, you know, I'm hearing you say they did, if they moved it it was their decision to move it. If it would have affected the cost as Pat is saying we would have heard about it and would of had to approve it and that didn't come back to us. William Mattingly: That's fine. That's not the point that I'm arguing about. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, I understand what your point is, Mr. Mattingly, and I understand your argument a little bit, but I don't know that we=re, as a Board, tonight able or capable of solving the problem that you=re presenting which is that someone down the road is going to get the benefit of this at seemingly a cheaper price or have already because the manhole was moved to suit them. William Mattingly: Okay, that's all I need to know. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Leroy Walther: I have two questions. Do you have an idea what the interest rate will be on the bond? Joe Harrison, Jr.: I think it's going to be 6.75, but I will send out a notice. All of the...assuming the Commissioners approve this, all of the individuals to be benefitted by the project will get a letter in the mail within the next week setting forth the interest rate and there is also a bank fee of, I think, 12 percent also assessed for those who want to finance, who want to go through the financing. Those who want to pay up front simply have to pay the $4,600 amount within 30 days. Those who choose to finance-- Leroy Walther: By what day? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, it would be 30 days from the date the notice is sent out, so if it is sent out within the next week you'll have 30 days from that date to pay it in full. If you choose to go on the finance plan you'll have, again, 30 days to respond accordingly, sign the agreement relating to the finance plan and the first payment will be due in November, not in May, but in November and then each November thereafter is when the payment would be made. Leroy Walther: Okay. Joe Harrison, Jr.: So we=re talking about four thousand...it looks like $460 a year plus interest plus the bank fee. Leroy Walther: Okay, now that 12 percent will be added onto the 6.75? Joe Harrison, Jr.: No, it would be added onto the $4,600. Let's just say it was one percent, which it's going to be higher than that, it would be $46. Leroy Walther: Would that be one time or each year then? Joe Harrison, Jr.: No, it is my understanding it would be one time. Leroy Walther: One time, okay. Joe Harrison, Jr.: I think it's going to be 12. Leroy Walther: One and a half, and that would be a one time deal? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes. Leroy Walther: Now-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: Again, this will be in the letter from the Auditor's Office. The bank will give me the exact...the banks. It's National City, Citizens and Old National would be the three that would buy the bonds. They will be giving me the information within the next few days, but this is the preliminary discussions is what I've just stated to you. Leroy Walther: Now what if someone starts to finance it and say five years down the line they want to pay it off. Is there any penalty or anything on that? Joe Harrison, Jr.: There is no penalty, no. They would have to pay, you know, what the outstanding balance is. Leroy Walther: Right. Joe Harrison, Jr.: But there is no prepayment penalty. Leroy Walther: Okay, thank you. President Jerrel: Okay, we do need to accept the final resolution. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes, and I would vote on it, please. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of the final resolution of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County modifying the Old State Road sanitary sewer Barrett Law project assessment roll. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: I'll say so ordered.
President Jerrel: Okay, we need to establish a hearing officer for a poor relief appeal that we've been presented. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of the...I'll move approval of a hearing for a poor relief request pursuant to the request of the Knight Township Trustee. President Jerrel: And appoint Joe Harrison, Jr. Commissioner Mourdock: And appoint Joe Harrison, Jr. to handle that hearing. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: Okay, alright we'll go back to Cape now. I believe Mr. Staab is here and wants to speak to that. Martin Staab: My name is Martin Staab and some of you know me, some of you don't. I do a lot of volunteer work in the town here and Cape is setting up a computer lab for people that are disadvantaged, elderly, to try to get them back on the work rolls. We need...right now we=re in need of 13 computers. We need them right now. We=re so full, we have already a waiting list for people that want to learn and want to participate in this so-- President Jerrel: Do you have instructors, Mr. Staab? Martin Staab: They have some. What they=re going to do is some of the people that are being trained will be the instructors and we have some already. We have some Vista volunteers, we have some...I say we because that is my first love, Cape. I was with them 10 years. That's essentially what we=re asking for, computers, monitors, the whole thing. They don't have to be new. They can be old. They don't have to be new as long as they=re only going to be used for learning instruments. They don't have to be new or late models or anything else. They can be just...you can just take everything out of them like what doesn't belong in there you can take out. I myself know nothing about computers, so my son, he is a computer nerd, I have a 17 year old son and he is a computer nerd. Well, that's really all I have to say except that I'm asking this Board to give me some of the surplus computers you have for Cape. If you so choose I'll help Bennie move them myself and I'll take them over to Cape. That's about all I have. Joe Harrison, Jr.: That's fine as long as there is a declaration...if the Board wants to do it as long as there is a declaration by the Board that these items have been declared surplus already, I'm assuming, and that they be declared worthless. It is my understanding according to Tony, he may want to talk about it, that if these items were auctioned they would be lucky to bring 50 bucks or so for each one. So as long as there is a declaration by the Board that these items are, in fact, worthless they may be transferred to a non profit. Martin Staab: Of course what you=re saying, worthless, you mean...what do you mean by worthless? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, worthless is a statutory term. Martin Staab: Let's hear that term. Commissioner Mourdock: Without monetary value. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Without monetary value. Martin Staab: Oh, okay. That doesn't mean the computers don't work, right? Commissioner Mourdock: Right, yeah. Martin Staab: Okay. Joe Harrison, Jr.: It just means that there are not many buyers out there for them. Martin Staab: Okay, that is what I am interested in. Commissioner Mourdock: As politicians we've all been referred as worthless, we=re familiar with the term. Martin Staab: Including myself, too, so that's alright. I understand. Commissioner Mourdock: Do we have in the letter I have in the packet from Cape, it does not have a specific list of equipment on it. Is there such a list at this time or...? Martin Staab: I don't think so. We need the computers, monitors. We need at least 13 to start, computers, monitors, mouses, whatever you've got available in the line of computers. Whatever you have. Tony Greubel: Bennie and I could take Mr. Staab and show him the computers that we've already declared surplus that we have in the basement and at the County Highway Garage. President Jerrel: Could you also, Tony, I just think it is good business to include the serial numbers of those that are declared worthless. Martin Staab: Good idea, good idea. Tony Greubel: Yeah, we'll do that. President Jerrel: Or without monetary...so that if we ever had an issue where we need to show that we've got them that we need to know the numbers. Tony Greubel: If you do agree to donate them I'll write down the serial numbers and submit that at the following meeting after we give them to Mr. Staab or to Cape. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes, I would prefer that if you consider this that you don't act tonight, that you have a request with a list and then make the approval at that time. Commissioner Mourdock: There you go. Martin Staab: Get back with me. Here is my business card. It's says Gale Brocksmith, but she is so busy over there just get back with me. Commissioner Tuley: Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, that sounds like the best approach. President Jerrel: Thank you. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move that the Superintendent of County Buildings compile a listing by serial number of what we have as excess...or out of service computers that are otherwise deemed worthless. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: And I'll say so ordered. we'll do that by next week, Mr. Staab. Martin Staab: Okay, will someone get hold of me? President Jerrel: Yes, Tony will call you. Commissioner Mourdock: Tony will. Martin Staab: Will you call me, please? Okay, thank you very much. President Jerrel: You=re welcome. Commissioner Mourdock: Thank you.
President Jerrel: I would like to...we have an item on there for anyone that wishes to address the Board. Is there anyone that wishes to address the Board? John Blair: Hello, I'm John Blair representing Valley Watch tonight. I just wanted to kind of bring you up-to-date on some issues that we've discussed in the past. One of them is that as you=re probably aware we've asked...that's one way of putting it, I guess...the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to redo the air quality analysis on the ConAgra plant and what we've accomplished there I'm not sure because if you talk to IDEM's staff they say something, if you talk to Mr. Hamilton he says something else. It may have something to do with running for office or something, I'm not really sure. John Hamilton has announced kind of that he is seeking the congressional seat down here in the 8th District, so maybe that explains some of his reticence on being straight. But in any case, it is my understanding at this point that they=re going to redo this computer model, but they=re going to redo it with a resolution that it won't mean anything if they redo it unless the results are dramatic and I'm not sure exactly what dramatic means in Mr. Hamilton's eyes because if you up the thing by 500 percent that is only five parts per billion and that is significant in a number of ways and I just want to inform you about how that becomes significant and how the word dramatic may have some impact on all this analysis. We sit right now with the fourth highest reading which is what the determination of attainment or non attainment comes on of about 95 parts per billion over an eight hour average. If you add to that five parts per billion that would make it 100 parts per billion. The standard is 80 parts per billion, but because of the allowance for rounding you have to be more than 85 parts per billion. Obviously, this is pretty complex isn't it, although you did a pretty good job on figuring that 12 times 46 is 69 a while ago! Anyway, what it boils down to is that IDEM determined in the study the first time they did it that 937 tons per year would result in an increase in Vanderburgh County ozone of one part per billion, so if you use a little reverse logic of that that means if we=re going to reduce by 10 parts per billion, then that would be 9370 tons that we would have to reduce a year which is taking most of our cars and most of our industry out of the pictures. So, obviously, there may be a flaw in the way they did it to determine there was only one part per billion, but I am just trying to give you some indication about what dramatic means. You know, if he is wanting...if he wants it to go up to 100 parts per billion in order to make it significant and to reassess the permit by doing the model correctly, and frankly, are you all aware of what has taken place as far as making the determination about whether it was done correctly? President Jerrel: Yes. John Blair: We filed a Freedom of Information Request and it is really clear that they have no confidence in their figures from that Freedom of Information Request. So if they do it I would suggest that anything maybe over 200 percent over what they found would be a significant, dramatic increase which would cause us a great deal of consternation. So I wanted to make you aware of that. Commissioner Mourdock: Excuse me, John, do you think that is a reasonable number, 200 percent? Are you just using that as an example or do you think that truly ought to be a defining number? John Blair: I think that...you know, I'm a little hesitant to say here on a tape recorder, being in litigation like Mr. Hamilton dodges, I'm a little reluctant to try to lay a case out like that because I'm not sure about anything except we=re going to have one helluva time getting back into attainment no matter what happens let alone whether ConAgra is built or not, you know. So one part per billion could well translate into a million dollars that we have to spend here in Vanderburgh County, you know. So if we have to get down 10 parts per billion which we do to get in compliance, you know, that could well cause us as individuals or taxpayers or however the bill is paid to go up into the literal millions and millions of dollars, perhaps each year millions of dollars to get back into attainment. So, for instance, just to make that clear IDEM was down and the Regional Steering Committee a couple of weeks ago and was pitching what is called enhanced inspection maintenance of automobiles and they estimated that it would cost Vanderburgh County $1.9 million a year to have enhanced inspection and maintenance and that would reduce our emission by 550 tons a year. Okay, which is about two-thirds of what ConAgra is going to be putting into our air. So that almost...the way I look at that, that almost amounts to a direct subsidy to ConAgra of $1.9 million from Vanderburgh County taxpayers. That's kind of a dangerous situation for us to be in, but anyway that's kind of worming its way through the bureaucracy now and I'm not sure exactly what is going to go on. As you=re aware, we made a demand on IDEM last week and what we got out of that was, yes, the model the will be redone and we intend, and I think Chem Query, I've been in contact with Howard Dunn, and Chem Query intends to, you know, help them determine what parameters should be used in order to do the model correctly. Now there is some question about whether or not this is an appropriate model or just what model is appropriate and this is how inexact all this science is. But in any case that brings me to another thing that I was here back some time ago and that is to discuss the situation with Koch Label. Commissioner Mourdock: Before we go to that can I go back for a second? John Blair: Sure, go ahead now. Commissioner Mourdock: On the run of the model, the new model or models, have you heard from Hamilton or did they make any statement as to when those runs are expected to be complete? John Blair: You know what I think has happened, I think that they have already run them. I think that they...you know, I think they probably ran them back in September when Chem Query asked them to do that and they agreed to do it and what they probably found was that how could we possibly permit this plant if we had used proper data, but they had already permitted it and they=re committed to it and, you know, these big bureaucracies tend to compound their mistakes instead of admitting them and I think that is what has happened. That's my spin on it. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, let me rephrase the question. Did he then state what date they would be reporting whatever this new model run would show? John Blair: No, no that's kind of up in the air. Right now Valley Watch's appeal at the Federal Environmental Appeals Board has the thing stayed. It's just sort of sitting there in limbo. I'm waiting to find out whether I'm going to be allowed to respond to IDEM and ConAgra's response to my petition which was filed clear back last September and they filed their response in November and I haven't been allowed by the judges yet to write a response to their response, so as a result I have a motion to be able to do that in which case I'm going to lay out several things that are in the e-mails and also about the proper way to do this model and indicate to the Environmental Appeals Board the history of this model and what it has done. I filed another Freedom of Information Request which I am not sure that has been answered because what they sent me had nothing to do with the model, so I don't know if that was their response to my request or not. They haven't given me any indication that it is not, but they haven't given me any indication that it was. The person that sent it to me wasn't a Freedom of Information Officer and so forth, but he said it was in response to the request, so I don't know. I think that we=re probably talking about, you know, having some wiggle room here as far as time, but I think that everybody wants to get on with it, so we=re probably talking, you know, some time in the next month and a half or six weeks or so that this would happen. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, at the risk of using that phrase from inside the beltway about we need to put this affair behind us I would move that the President of this Board send a letter to IDEM requesting that they expedite the issuance of their report on the new modeling and have a report issued in no less...ah, let's say by April 15th. John Blair: Could I ask you to put something else in there? Commissioner Mourdock: You can ask. John Blair: That would be to have some independent oversight from the local scientific community or something such as that because that is really fundamental because had it not been for Chem Query we would have never known about the flaws in the model to begin with, so running it again without some kind of oversight very well may just put us back in the same position we=re in as far as determining that impact. As you recall, we didn't come here to you guys, but we did come to the County Council, the City Council and the Evansville EPA and ask specifically for this independent analysis to be done. We didn't do that with you guys until, unfortunately, two days before the permit was issued. I would...you know, that would really give them some impetuous to accept local input about what should be done as far as the model from the expertise that is here in the community. Commissioner Mourdock: The only problem I have in doing that, John, is we=re going to quickly get into an argument of whose experts. Let's face it, we can get experts from either side to do the oversight, either side meaning those with some bias one way or the other. I certainly don't have any problem in saying that in the letter that I would like to see their documentation at the issuance of the new model as to how it was balanced from both sides, so something like that. John Blair: Sounds fair enough at this point. President Jerrel: Okay, that's a motion. Is there a second? Commissioner Tuley: Yes, second. President Jerrel: Okay, and I'll wait until I get the minutes and we'll work out...so we make sure we've got all this down. I tried to write my notes, but we'll make sure we've got it. Commissioner Mourdock: E-mail me a draft and I'll be glad-- President Jerrel: Okay, I will. John Blair: Secondly, and this-- President Jerrel: Let me finish. John Blair: Oh, sure. President Jerrel: Did you second? Commissioner Tuley: I seconded. President Jerrel: And I say so ordered. Okay. John Blair: Koch Label has been closed now since...working on three months. It closed December 4th and, you know, I know people over on West Franklin Street that have indicated to me that it's the first time they have been able to breath since they moved to Evansville. Clearly this was a big polluter and we=re going to have benefits of cleaner air as a result of that closing. It unfortunate that's the way clean air sometimes is gotten through the closing of plants, but in any case we=re going to have those benefits and as you know I have been here before I think we kind of all had a sense of how good it would be if we had control over those. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, and why don't we have Joe give you a quick report because Joe did send a letter-- John Blair: I read Janet McCabe's. I think Tony sent that to me. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. John Blair: I read Janet McCabe's response and I...it was vague and capricious-- Commissioner Mourdock: Constructively ambiguous. John Blair: Yeah, so presently there is a bill that has legs in the Legislature. It's House Bill 1561, I believe, that is an emissions trading bill. It's a...talk about vague, there are no caps, there are no goals, there is no nothing in it except that you can trade emissions. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Who can trade? John Blair: Anybody that has...that is presently emitting, apparently. I mean, it's only a two page bill and it sets out an entire program, so, you know, it's going through the Legislature. IDEM has said that it's not a good bill, but it passed out of committee 14 to 1. Dennis Avery was the only person to vote against it. So whatever happens this has feet and I don't know where it is going to go, but it is going to create a bureaucratic morass, without question if it passes. There is that bill. There is also...I've done some research and there is also something called ERMS, I can't remember what the acronym stands for in Illinois, particularly in northeastern Illinois, Chicago area, where they are doing some kind of emissions trading and it was the first in the nation to finally get under state rule making and that sort of thing and I'm not sure exactly what the results have been, but one of the fundamental things with any trading program you have to have a cap. You have to say we=re not going to go above this level ever and we=re actually going to make an effort to reduce down to this level and that's the way the sulfur dioxide trading program worked and, you know, we were going to reduce sulfur dioxide by 50 percent and if people reduced more than their 50 percent share then they had credits to sale and that has been done somewhat. Under this 1561 it's all up in the air. But in any case, the word on the street indicates that somebody is very interested in Koch's emissions. I wonder who that could be? I'm still not convinced that pollution is a right once you=re given a permit that is a right. It's a privilege, it's granted by the community in which you are polluting much as it is not a right to drive a car, but a privilege. You know, the same kind of scenario. That's the way I would look at this. This was a plant that was permitted by the Evansville EPA, albeit on the part of the state, on behalf of the state, but the Evansville EPA was the one that granted the permit. It seems a little illogical to me that a state governing body could just strip that out of the city's purview and put it into another county's domain. I think that may be what is in the offing. I think that what we were talking about back when we talking about seizing those...seizing, I don't know that is a proper word, but, you know, they are seizing automobiles from drunks now in New York, so taking those credits and using them for ourselves to assure our future economic development, now is the time to really start getting into that seriously because in one, two, three months there may be no issue here as far as those 905 or 14 tons that Koch Label put out. So, you know, I'm asking that maybe you pick up your efforts a little more to check on this and let me just make my case as to why. Let's make the scenario that if ConAgra gets these credits, 900 and some odd tons, Vanderburgh County is still in non attainment or going to be. We are still going to be biting the bullet trying to reduce our emissions by 10 parts per million or 10 parts per billion over the next however many years it is going to take to do that. We=re still going to have to be investing large sums of individual money as well as corporate money to make the reductions necessary to get back into compliance of the clean air laws. At the same time as long as these things keep getting permitted and they are allowed to buy credits from us where we could have taken this opportunity and instead they get that where the balance is going to be essentially a zero sum we don't get any benefit and we continue to have to bite the bullet from an economic development standpoint where we won't be able to have any kind of manufacturing industry that will raise the level at all except 25 tons a year or less type of industries. The industrial park that is out here on the northeastern edge of the county will be an office park, not a manufacturing park. There is any number of problems that this will create if we don't have control of those credits. So it seems to me that now is the time to act before this ozone season and that sort of thing. Frankly, I am at a loss as to ask you what to act on, but now is the time. I think I mentioned to you that Patty Yount was willing to sit down with us and I know Greg Kissel and maybe an official formation of a committee or something like that to look into this, how we can utilize these credits for ourselves. Now there is another thing that I would really like to throw out. I'm having an attorney in Indianapolis look into the use of Solid Waste Management money that might be able to be used to buy these credits if they are for sale on the market or a combination. I understand that one of the reasons Koch, if they have credits to sale and decide to put them on the market, one of the reasons that they would do that is to acquire cash necessary to clean up the site over here. Well, that is something that would be very much within the purview of the Solid Waste Management Board. So, you know, maybe a combination of these things. Maybe the next action would be to contact Koch Label at their offices in Michigan and see if we can't start some kind of dialogue where the community they moved out of could benefit from that move. I don't know, I'm really at a loss here because it is so unusual. Commissioner Mourdock: I think this issue came up or this part of the issue came up before. The current permits that they have have a termination date. Do we know what the date of that is? Joe Harrison, Jr.: I don't. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, I think they have a fairly short life on them as presently permitted albeit if they were still in business here it would be a very reasonable thing to see those turned over and reissued. I mean, I don't know of anybody that has ever lost them on a renewal basis, but it would seem to me that's a key part of the discussion to see if that's a long-term asset or it's a short-term asset. Joe, I know the brief discussion you and I had after the letter came back from Janet McCabe was that whatever it was she said she didn't say we couldn't do it. I think that was kind of a summary of your thoughts and I would be curious to hear any other thoughts you have as far as how this whole thing could play out. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, the only thing I can think of is that, you know, it's a permit that they have to emit the amount of emissions there. That's an asset of the company. I don't know the status of the company, but that is an asset of the company. President Jerrel: In a bankruptcy? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Again, I don't know what the status of all that is. It seems that what you=re asking the state apparently would have some blessing of any transfer of that permit whether it would go to someone that wants to go to that same site or to someone else that wants to buy the permit for emission purposes here or another county. For all I know, maybe it has got to be used in this county. I don't know that answer. Commissioner Mourdock: That permit would be site specific to that location. Joe Harrison, Jr.: That's right, but I would think it was issued by the Evansville EPA, isn't that what you said? John Blair: Yes. Joe Harrison, Jr.: So they have no jurisdiction over Warrick County or some other county, so you know, I'm not too sure that can be transferred. Maybe it could, you never know about the state, but-- John Blair: In the absence of statutory authority I don't know what might happen. Joe Harrison, Jr.: But, again, I'm just thinking if the permit was-- President Jerrel: Can you follow up just a little bit on that and let's see if we can get...we didn't get enough information before to know if we even had a leg to stand on. Joe Harrison, Jr.: The other thing is that if this Board or the city is opposed to any transfer at some point, if there is a purchase request for that permit, I'm sure the city or this Board could make their feelings known to some other state body what they felt about that potential transfer in order to maybe set up a record for future impact of that transfer. Do you see what I am getting at? John Blair: Absolutely, that sounds like a good idea. Tape change Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. John Blair: By the way, you notice I am standing and not sitting. It was characterized as a sit in! President Jerrel: Okay, so did we arrive...so we have an action plan. We=re going to do the letter. You=re going to see if you can get something more definitive from Janet McCabe and find out the status of Koch Label. Joe Harrison, Jr.: And the issuance of that permit whether it can be sold to anyone outside of the jurisdiction of the authority that issued that permit. That would be nice to know. John Blair: I think that also maybe one of the three of you should probably contact, on behalf of the Commissioners, Koch Label to let them know that you=re interested in acquiring these in some way, shape or form if they=re available. Commissioner Mourdock: That would be, I think, step two from what Joe is proposing. Let's see what the applicability would be as far as the life of it, how it might be transferred, how it might be used beyond their facility if, in fact, we see that those things are possible then the next step would be to do what you=re saying which is to see. You mentioned Patty Yount and I would be glad maybe, Joe, you and I can get with her. I don't know if she comes down this way very often or not, but-- John Blair: She is reasonably available by phone. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, maybe we can do something by conference call. Again, let's get those first two things solved and then that would be step three if, in fact, there is some interest there. You know, the question that I have in my mind through this whole thing though is as I have seen emissions traded and emissions assigned some value for credit purposes it...and you may know other examples, John, but it is always a business is out there, they have some permit to emit let's say 1,000 tons. They put something in place that reduces from 1,000 to 800 and they get credit for that 200 that they can then do something else with with some third party. In this case I hear what you=re saying, John, to say let's get those emissions, but in a sense I think what you=re saying is by having those credits we=re setting a limit on what future emissions might be for the county so that we don't go over today's number. We would use those to dole it out perhaps, but not go over the current sum. John Blair: I think what I suggested the first time I appeared before you was maybe a two to one ratio of reducing the emissions by two parts and banking the other part for...the other one two to one for future industrial growth that we could give out to people who we thought were going to be good corporate citizens but needed to be able to use them. The net benefit to that would be substantially cleaner air as well as being able to have some fostering of economic growth. Commissioner Mourdock: And that raises the issue to me are the specific Koch emissions under that permit almost irrelevant in that if the county were to say this is our number henceforth we might still be able to make up our system as far as what would be allowed, what would be emitted? John Blair: Well, you know my read on that, and I have to go back to what they did to us on lower reid vapor pressure gasoline. I think that they want to have control at IDEM over that state implementation plan and that is really where that action takes place. If they...you know, they said their rhetoric has been that we want to make this a community based effort, but you know I'm not so sure that is a factual statement. Commissioner Mourdock: And I don't disagree with you on that one because the lower reid vapor pressure gasoline example is one that I personally would still like to see us...of course, it has changed now, but I would have like to have seen us gone ahead and implemented it at that point just so we can turn around and get sued by the EPA for taking steps to have cleaner air. I mean, that's what would have happened and I would have loved to of been on this side of that case. I mean, it's crazy. John Blair: It might not be too late, Richard. You know, you can still insert that in the ordinance. I don't have anything further to say. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. John Blair: But, you know, this thing is coming down. I can sense it and I think that, you know, we ought to be accelerating our efforts to get that job done. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Commissioner Tuley: I've only got one point of clarification or question to get a point of clarification. John, were you suggesting or in your earlier conversation I think because you eluded to it just a second ago that let's just say that they were permitted to put out 900...whatever units you want to use per year, that when they sold, and if they had the right to sell those off that maybe they could sell two-thirds of it that could be actually bought by someone else and we could obtain one-third for us so that we are reducing? John Blair: That would be a possibility too, I would assume. You could buy...you know, they=re going to be sold in a market system, I assume, of some sort. Commissioner Tuley: Or we could buy them all and just set a local standard, so to speak, that says we won't give out more than two-thirds and keep the other one-third for future development or needs or whatever. Is that what you=re advocating? I mean as part of just the discussion. John Blair: I don't...you know, I don't think-- Commissioner Tuley: Because at some point we want to reduce it somehow. I mean, if you get 900 over here we don't want to just grant 900 to somebody else. John Blair: Right. Commissioner Tuley: Why would we not want to reduce that down a little bit and say 700 or 600 or whatever and bank some of it. I mean, the whole goal is not to maintain. John Blair: That's exactly right. I certainly wouldn't advocate...I would probably, my instincts tell me that I would advocate, you know, just using them all as a reduction, but I think that from a practical sense where Vanderburgh County has...you know, if you look at the data Vanderburgh County is not the problem, you know. The sources around us are the problem. Therefore we've had to pay all the price thus far. It looks to me like we=re going to continue to have to pay the price more than everyone else. So, you know, that's why I'm here probably more than in the city because it is a Vanderburgh County issue more than anything. So, you know, just to protect our own interest and be able to increase our own tax base and do those things necessary that...I mean, our traffic just by itself is going to raise that ozone level significantly because of what we have with traffic now just from the growth that has taken place. Commissioner Mourdock: Let me ask you this question, John. you've mentioned the industrial park on the northeast side of the county. For the sake of argument do you believe if we had a 937 ton emitter at that location that the Vanderburgh County monitors would show any higher effect on ozone? John Blair: Probably not. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, I agree. I mean, it comes back to where it is being generated. John Blair: But you know what is really interesting if you look at Joanne's analysis of what we have to do next year, you know, it's real clear. She has Henderson on there and Henderson is so much lower than we are or than Posey County is and the largest figures are Boonville and Tecumseh. You know, those are the monitors that record the highest values consistently on each and every day, so I think that it's real clear that we create some of the problem, but there are sources that are southwest of us are really major contributors. And, of course, where is ConAgra going to locate? Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. John Blair: Okay, thanks very much. Commissioner Mourdock: Thanks, John. President Jerrel: Thank you.
President Jerrel: Okay, quickly now we'll do department heads that have waited. County Engineer. John Stoll: That plan that you have in front of you is the signal plan for the St. Joe and Allen signal. Dave Savage called me today asking about the possibility of making some striping changes on the east leg of that intersection. Basically, what he proposed was narrowing down the left turn lane and the shared through and right turn lane to about 10 feet in order to make the westbound lane wider. I'll show you why. Right now as trucks especially come to make this turn their back wheels are dragging across this radius here. This radius isn't large enough so by narrowing these two lanes we'll be able to pick up more room here in conjunction with the signal project. This would be a maximum of $1,500 to remove the existing stripes and relocate them. I'm just wanting verbal approval on whether or not to proceed with that. I think it would be a good idea to go ahead and do it. President Jerrel: Is there a motion? Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. John Stoll: I'll bring the actual dollar figures with the change order whenever we do get it taken care of. That's all I have. Commissioner Mourdock: One quick point for you. When Pat and I were at the Westside Improvement Association the question came up regarding a large hole where Schutte Road crosses 62 and apparently there is a question whether or not it's keeping traffic from using kind of a...it's blocking traffic and the question was is it on the state's right-of-way or ours? Would you check and if it is ours let Erik know and if it's the states get them going. Apparently it is obstructing how people turn out there. John Stoll: Did they say which direction it is causing the problems on the turn? Commissioner Tuley: To keep you from going east, I believe, off Schutte. Commissioner Mourdock: I think that's right. Commissioner Tuley: Because you=re going north up Schutte and then trying to go east. They said that the kids, the college kids there-- John Stoll: The right turn. Commissioner Tuley: --will not go over there because there is a huge hole there. Commissioner Mourdock: If you'll check that out. Commissioner Tuley: John, I have...it's an update question because someone called me and I told them I honestly didn't know where we were or what the status was, Lynch Road from the intersection of Burkhardt where you can sit there and throw a rock over to 164, do you-- John Stoll: The right-of-way is being purchased now. Commissioner Tuley: Okay. John Stoll: So the next step would be once the right-of-way is secured then we could try and figure out a funding plan to get the thing built. Rose has done some preliminary checking and INDOT says that we potentially could borrow ahead on future year's allocations of federal aid money to build it, but we don't have a clear funding plan set in stone as of yet. Commissioner Tuley: Okay, so if someone wanted to take these crystal balls that crack on us and cloud over and different things, is it realistic to think that, and I'm throwing this out, five years or ten years? Is there any way that you can predict when that may or may not happen? John Stoll: If the funding could be worked out we'll have the right-of-way, so as soon as the right-of-way is purchased as soon as we get a funding plan it could go for bid anytime thereafter. Commissioner Tuley: Basically right away, I presume? John Stoll: By the end of the year even, right. Commissioner Tuley: And putting the funding in place. John Stoll: Right. I mean, if we had some funding set aside and ready to go from local as well as from the state we could get it as soon as at the end of this year and maybe substantially longer time frame than that. It just kind of-- Commissioner Tuley: Like everything else, it hinges on money. John Stoll: Right. Commissioner Tuley: Amazing, isn't it! Commissioner Mourdock: Always comes back to that. President Jerrel: Well, you know I gave you guys a little bit of a plan and John and I have talked about the money and I met with Curt Wortman today because I want to make sure we have Council onboard because I want to go either April 15th or May 15th and make a request for some funding to begin on these very projects. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. President Jerrel: Okay. Commissioner Tuley: Thanks.
President Jerrel: County Garage. Erik Bentle: I'm going to make this quick. Commissioner Mourdock: A man after our own heart! Erik Bentle: I think everybody got our weekly report. President Jerrel: Right. Erik Bentle: The first thing on the list is a request for a press release for the county crews. Our goal is to do 27 miles of county road ditching this year. Right now we=re having trouble coming up with enough mileage there to get our goal, so we want to put a press release out for residents of Vanderburgh County to call in if they have any ditch work to be done. The second thing I have there is our wash station that we've been trying to get in place for several months now has finally been finished. The guys that have worked on it did a fabulous job. Here are a couple of pictures of it where they finished it yesterday...or Friday, I mean. The last thing I have is next week, I believe it is, we=re having our disaster week. President Jerrel: Right, we=re not going to have a disaster, but we=re going to do our in service. Erik Bentle: But we've got our disaster/tornado plan together for the Garage and we=re going to run a simulated drill out there so if you want to attend that will be fine. President Jerrel: Monday 6:30 to 7:00 a.m. Thank you. Commissioner Tuley: Hang on, hang on, Erik. President Jerrel: Wait a minute. Commissioner Tuley: Does he need any of the highway-- President Jerrel: Oh, Road School. Commissioner Tuley: Any of you guys going to-- President Jerrel: Going to the Road School? Commissioner Tuley: --the Road School? Erik Bentle: I'm planning on it, yes. Commissioner Tuley: Have you got this to make the-- Erik Bentle: Yes, I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but I've got it, yeah. I'll let you know one way or the other. President Jerrel: Yeah.
President Jerrel: Okay, do you mind if I do Burdette Park? Okay, Gary. Thank you for sitting patiently. Gary Hohman: Madam Chairman, we have...Gary Hohman from Burdette Park. We have nothing to add to the packet. I understand Mrs. Jerrel does have some information that she would like to-- President Jerrel: I have tried to breathe...I told you if I went to Indianapolis I was going to give CPR to our O=Day Discovery Lodge and I hope that we've...Tony and I have been in a whirlwind of letter writing today, so we=re after the Senate in the hopes that we can get them to review and accept this. I even used the argument with them we may have riverboat money, but we also have a huge urban bridge that the state was going to pay for 80/20 and backed out on us and so we=re asking in any way that we can, so we hope we can...and Tony has got letters ready to go to our representatives and also to the Finance Committee. Gary Hohman: As I mentioned we have from our standpoint have inquired about and have determined that there is some possibility of some additional funding outside of the realm of what we have been talking of in the past. We will see further into this. President Jerrel: Yeah, Gary has...they have found some other foundations that are interested in this kind of project. Commissioner Mourdock: Good. President Jerrel: So we=re going to move onto that, too. In your packet there is a...I would like for you, so we can give them some answers tomorrow, take a look at the heating and air conditioning bids that they have and Gary is going to send down the bumper so we can get all that going for next week. Gary Hohman: What information are you needing additional? President Jerrel: We need to know, since...is this one company specific that we=re going to order this from and if it is what are we going to order so it can be written up in the form of a purchase order and then my goal was to find a funding source and if we couldn't find it then we would have to go for an appropriation. Commissioner Mourdock: Were all those comments that you just made specific to this? The heating and air conditioning? President Jerrel: No, this is the bumper boats. Commissioner Mourdock: Oh, okay. I'm confused. This heating and air conditioning, is this something that is ready to be recommended with a low bidder? President Jerrel: Well, he has asked us to look at these and select-- Gary Hohman: To review the bids and-- Commissioner Mourdock: Is Jerry involved with this, Jerry Bryan? President Jerrel: No, he has not been. I don't believe Jerry Bryan in the Purchasing Department...this is something you all have independently done? Gary Hohman: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: Shouldn't Jerry be involved with this? Joe Harrison, Jr.: No, that's okay. President Jerrel: It's a service. Joe Harrison, Jr.: These were quotes and they've got a copy of the information that was sent out to the various contractors. It's under $25,000. Commissioner Mourdock: Is there any reason for us to do anything other than to accept the lowest bid on this then? Joe Harrison, Jr.: The only thing I've got to make sure is that there is funding in place for these services for the year. Gary Hohman: Right, yes. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, so that's really what you=re going to check between this week and next week? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes. Gary Hohman: The reasoning behind this advertising at this particular point is our existing-- Joe Harrison, Jr.: Agreement was up. Gary Hohman: --servicer changed his hourly rate and by virtue of that we have to advertise. President Jerrel: Would you want to pass that down to Tony and Joe so they can keep track of that and we can get that done next week. Oh, okay. Joe Harrison, Jr.: But as far as this is concerned they can act tonight. Assuming there is funding in place you can select a new vendor for this service. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, I would move then that we accept Moose Lewis= hourly and after hour rates for heating and air conditioning work at Burdette subject to the verification of proper funding. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Commissioner Mourdock: I have one other Burdette Park item. I received a letter from the Lincoln Senior Citizens Center and it is very short, but: President Jerrel: --Advisory Board. Commissioner Mourdock: Advisory Board. Gary Hohman: Yes, sir. I believe, Mr. Mourdock, that this has been directed by the Advisory Board and rejected their request just due to the confinement of the Commissioners as far as cutting back on any freebie type rentals. Commissioner Tuley: If we start making exceptions we=re going to run into problems. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, well, I just-- Commissioner Tuley: No, I know you=re not asking for that. Commissioner Mourdock: Right, yeah. I mean-- Gary Hohman: It has been address by the Advisory Board. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, how about if I give this to you then and if you would maybe you could have the Advisory Board put a letter together. Gary Hohman: Okay, if I'm not mistaken there has been a rejection notice already sent to them. Commissioner Mourdock: For this year or last year? Gary Hohman: If I'm not mistaken we did this request about two months ago from a Lincoln-- President Jerrel: Could you check on it and maybe we can...maybe Tony can talk to you and you all can think of something. If it was just a rejection notice maybe we could do a letter to kind of say that this is a policy and we've been sticking with it. Okay, thank you very much. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Gary Hohman: Thank you. Commissioner Mourdock: Oh, one other one that was in the file here, the note from Joyce on the computer program update and the fact that Lieberman was trying to find somebody with information on the Access software. Gary Hohman: We=re as of late this afternoon we are still having problems. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, if you need someone other than Lieberman & Associates I know there is a company in town called Pinnacle that they have several people who are Access specialists because we've used them. I don't know. President Jerrel: ARC used them, too. They were very good. Commissioner Mourdock: Used...? President Jerrel: Pinnacle. Commissioner Tuley: The question that I have if we look into other people, have we paid them in full for these services? Commissioner Mourdock: Good point. President Jerrel: A pretty good chunk of money. Commissioner Tuley: Because we have not...I'm not real happy about this at all. President Jerrel: Uh-huh. We paid them a pretty good chunk of money. Gary Hohman: The amount of headaches that this system has caused, it has canceled numerous reservations since I've been there. It has double booked-- Commissioner Mourdock: Sounds like a case where we need the County Attorney to send one of those mean and vicious letters. Commissioner Tuley: I tried a couple months ago, maybe even before you got here, Gary, so it may have been several months ago because I met with Joyce about some of the problems she was having and I called over there and they assured me...and this has, my God, I think a letter from him might really be appropriate. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Why don't I call you, Gary, and we can talk. President Jerrel: But let's direct...after you call him let's get a letter out because I know this has been dragging on too long and that cost a lot of money. Gary Hohman: I know one of their main individuals has just recently left and they are having a difficult time. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, it if is simply Access software it's not like...that's right off the rack. I mean, there are people out there that know how to deal with Access. Gary Hohman: Okay, thank you.
President Jerrel: Let's have a motion to accept the reports that we have, the Garage, Burdette, Soil & Water and Ozone. Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: County Attorney. Joe Harrison, Jr.: I don't have anything.
President Jerrel: Superintendent of County Buildings. Tony Greubel: I don't have anything.
President Jerrel: I have under...is there any...let's go to consent. Commissioner Tuley: Consent, yeah. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of consent items as filed. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered.
President Jerrel: You have your scheduled
meetings.
President Jerrel: Is there anything under old business? Commissioner Mourdock: Under scheduled meetings just FYI, I will be here next week the 8th, but I will not be in town for the meeting on the 15th. President Jerrel: Okay. Commissioner Tuley: Is that road hearing, public hearing for roads, the 15th? Commissioner Mourdock: I think that sounds right. Commissioner Tuley: Okay. That's a good night not to be here! President Jerrel: Okay, alright anything else? Commissioner Mourdock: Old business...I don't know if I listed it under old business or new. Just two quick things, Pat and I attended the Westside Improvement meeting which, Bettye Lou, we talked about. I was hoping that was going to be about several items we have on our priority list and it turned out to be anything but. I don't know that we got much done. Under also old business I met with EUTS today, the County Engineer and APC on the Green River Road study and we=re making some good progress on that, so within a couple weeks I expect they'll present a plan similar to what we've looked at in the past. That's it. Commissioner Tuley: New business only.
President Jerrel: Okay, new business. Commissioner Tuley: Charlene, you guys received in your office and I don't know if you have...I think you've got the information on a request for a petition for a vacation. Do you have the information in front of you as to the name of the road or whatever? Charlene Timmons: There are four of them. Commissioner Tuley: There is four of them? Charlene Timmons: Yeah. Commissioner Tuley: While she is looking those up what I am going to ask the Commission to do is ask the Auditor's Office to have published on the 5th, which is Friday, the notice that needs to go into the newspaper with a recommended public hearing date on the 15th of March with the second and final hearing on the 22nd. It will be for the roads that she is about to pull out. Okay, there are four parts to this she explained. One would be the Jones Road, which I understand is just a 35 foot wide road in which I believe he is only asking for 15 foot on his side because I think there is a property owner to the north who uses that as access to their property. What's listed on this list as number four would be the vacation packet for University Drive, the original University Drive that was to go west...continue west from Red Bank back to what is now Fairfield Apartments...Fairfield Inn, where they have asked for a vacation of that. Okay, University Drive. Okay, this one would be vacation of public right-of-way University Drive located in Expressway Commercial Subdivision, Sections 1A and 1B and the final would be vacation of public right-of-way for a portion of the five foot public utility easement line adjacent to and north of the platted right-of-way University Drive located in Expressway Commercial Subdivision, Sections 1A and 1B. All I'm asking tonight is if we could just go ahead and have the Auditor's Office fax the legal notice to the newspaper so it could be published on the 5th meeting the 10 day notice requirement so by the hearing could be held on 15th, a public hearing would be on the 15th and the final hearing would be on the 22nd. President Jerrel: Is there a second to that? Commissioner Mourdock: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. Commissioner Tuley: Thank you. President Jerrel: Is that all? Commissioner Tuley: That's it. President Jerrel: I've got a couple of things. One, I would like permission to sign a letter to Ogden granting them the right to act as our agent until such time as our contract is completed and it should be...the negotiations and the final contract should be ready some time before the month is over, so they would be acting as our agent only until such time as that contract, but no later than the 31st of March. Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. You've got the legislative letters I've written. You know, we need to do some more so we'll get those written this week for you. Richard, take a look at that multi-county grant. Both of you take a look. Commissioner Tuley: Richard, you=re not going to be here the 15th, so obviously you won't be in town, I assume, on the 16th then? Commissioner Mourdock: That's correct. I'll be-- Commissioner Tuley: Are you thinking about going up there for that Commissioners' agenda day? President Jerrel: I hadn't thought. Commissioner Tuley: Hadn't thought that far out? President Jerrel: Yeah. Commissioner Tuley: I'll get a request tomorrow. President Jerrel: I looked at it and I put it up there and put a note because you know how I talked about it, but that is as far as I got. Commissioner Tuley: Get our request for approval in. President Jerrel: Right, is there a motion to adjourn? Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. Commissioner Tuley: Second. President Jerrel: So ordered. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m. Those in attendance:
Vanderburgh County
Bettye Lou Jerrel, President Richard E. Mourdock, Vice President Patrick Tuley, Member Recorded and transcribed by Charlene
Timmons.
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