VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

MARCH 4, 2008

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 4^th day of March, 2008 at 5:04 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Jeff Korb presiding.

President Korb: I would like to call to order the March 4^th Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County meeting. It’s open to the public. If you would please, introductions to the right, to the left. Marissa?

Marissa Nichoalds: Marissa Nichoalds, Superintendent of County Buildings.

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

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Korb: Jeff Korb, County Commissioner.

Commissioner Tornatta: Troy Tornatta, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Bill Fluty, County Auditor.

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

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Korb: Action items, the first item we have is the Centre 2007 year end review. Darren and Todd, come on up.

Todd Denk: Good afternoon. My name is Todd Denk, and I am the General Manager of SMG. With me today I have Darren Stearns, the Assistant General Manager, as well as Sandie Aaron, our Regional Vice President. Today I want to talk a little bit about 2007, just give you an overview of the year. For 2007 we saw a total of 234 events throughout the year, resulting in 388 event related days. It was an increase of ten events, and 11 event related days over 2006. Of those events throughout 2007, 12 were Broadway performances, two comedy performances, 13 concerts, 12 trade shows, four children’s shows, four conventions, and various other meetings, banquets and receptions. Revenue for 2007 at the Centre, excuse me, revenue for 2007 totaled over $2.2 million for the year, a seven percent increase over 2006, and a 20 percent increase in the budgeted revenue for 2007. Overall, the 2007 fiscal year for the Centre was $118,000 under budget. With the events in ‘07 we saw over 150,000 people come through the doors, up 15 percent from the 2006 total of just under 128,000 people. Every event that we have we sent event surveys to the users of the facility to report back on their experience with the facility. We saw roughly 55 percent return on those reports, averaging a 4.53 out of a five being excellent scale. Although we received many positive surveys, we did have two in particular that came back not so favorable. With those we feel like we responded quickly to resolve the issues with the clients, as well as put things in place to prevent those from happening again in the future. With the help of Commissioner Korb, we feel like our relationship with CVB has kind of moved further ahead, with more open communication, and talking with them, and really looking forward, on our end, to continue that relationship in working toward the common goal of bringing entertainment and conventions and meetings to the facility. In 2007 there were many capital improvement projects that were completed. Some of them include the remodeling of the basement dressing rooms, ballroom carpeting, lighting in the exhibit hall, (inaudible) replacement and window blinds for the building. I would like to extend a thanks to the Building Authority and Dave Rector for his assistance in those projects and getting them complete. The SMG staff also went through a pretty extensive customer service training program in 2007, focusing on how we can better service our customers coming through the front and back doors, to make the event successful, and make people feel welcome to the facility. In conclusion, the Centre staff and SMG continue to try to provide excellent customer service to our clients, as well the community, and we would like to thank the Commissioners for the continued support that we get. If there are any questions at this time, we would be happy to answer them.

Commissioner Tornatta: Todd, just one quick question. I’ve heard some people talk about the receivables. Maybe being timely in the sending out of the bills and what have you?

Todd Denk: Right.

Commissioner Tornatta: How are you going to rectify that?

Todd Denk: Right now we’re working real closely with the department that’s responsible for sending those out, and just really staying on top of that, creating time lines and setting goals for those. Right now we’re looking at a 48 turn around time, 48 hour turn around period, to get those out in a timely fashion. There’s some instances that we run into where, if we’re needing information from the event to kind of complete our end of the paperwork, we run into some obstacles there, but we’re working really hard on our end to make sure we meet those deadlines.

President Korb: I want to thank you. It’s a great report. I wish all of them were this positive. How do things look for 2008, in your opinion?

Todd Denk: Feel pretty good about 2008. Got a couple of sold out performances. Essentially sold out performances this Friday for Rodney Carrington. The Broadway series is doing well. It looks to keep continuing doing well. Chicago in a couple of weeks, part of that. Moving out, part of that program, meetings and conventions, we’ve got an Alcoa safety meeting coming up soon, a big bingo, Easter service with Memorial Baptist. There’s quite a few events, it’s looking pretty positive. The traffic that we’re getting, the phone calls we’re getting daily from promoters as far as booking the auditorium has been really good over the last couple of weeks. I feel real positive about moving forward into 2008.

President Korb: Great, and you’re feeling better about the relationship between CVB?

Todd Denk: Absolutely.

President Korb: Good.

Todd Denk: Marilee and I have sat down and talked on a couple of occasions, and just kind of come to an agreement that some of the stuff may hurt, but let’s get it out there and get it fixed and move forward.

President Korb: Great. Good deal.

Todd Denk: Okay.

President Korb: Any other questions? Thanks, Todd. Thanks, Darren.

Todd Denk: Thank you.

President Korb: Thanks, Sandie, for coming up. It’s nice to see you.

President Korb: The next action item is a proclamation for severe weather awareness week. Sherman Greer is here to present that. Sherman? I didn’t see you without the orange, yellow jacket on.

Sherman Greer: I didn’t want to blind you. This is severe weather awareness week for the State of Indiana. Tomorrow we’ll be testing our weather service system, to where that they’ll be setting off the weather radios within people’s homes between 9:00 and 9:30 tomorrow morning, and then again between 5:00 and 5:30 tomorrow evening. So, we want everyone within Evansville-Vanderburgh County and the tri-state area to prepare themselves for any type of severe weather that we may have, since we’re entering into severe weather awareness between the months of March and June. In all reality, in this area it seems like severe weather awareness is year round, here lately. So, we just want everyone to be aware of their surroundings, and prepare themselves and have a plan within their own homes. Do you have the proclamation? You may read the proclamation.

President Korb: Go ahead.

Commissioner Tornatta:

“Severe Weather Awareness Week, March 2-8, 2008. Whereas, Indiana’s vulnerable to severe storms throughout the year; and, Whereas, spring in Indiana brings with it the likely occurrence of severe thunderstorms and tornados; and, Whereas, tornados may develop unexpectedly from any severe thunderstorm; and, Whereas, the months of March through June present the highest risk of severe thunderstorms and tornados to strike Vanderburgh County; and, Whereas, Vanderburgh County is located within the nation’s tornado belt, becoming a prime target of devastating tornado outbreaks and other types of severe weather; and, Whereas, anchor strapping will be installed on 2,800 mobile homes starting this Severe Weather week; and, Whereas, nothing can be done for a home directly hit by a tornado, this mitigation grant will reduce the impact of damage; and, Whereas, a State-wide tornado warning exercise will be held on March 5, 2008 for the purpose of testing communication systems, equipment and procedures; and, Whereas, during this week the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency, in cooperation with the National Weather Service, Indiana State Police, Indiana Department of Education, the American Red Cross, the Indiana Broadcasters Association, and the amateur radio community will be conducting a Severe Weather Preparedness Campaign is emphasizing its safety procedures involving tornado activity. Now, therefore, we, the Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, do hereby proclaim March 2-8, 2008 as “Severe Weather Awareness Week” in Vanderburgh County, and encourage all citizens to become aware of tornado danger signs and to learn how to safeguard the lives of their families, friends and citizenry in the event of a severe weather activity in our area.”

I make that in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Sherman Greer: Thank you, Commissioners.

President Korb: Thank you, Sherman. Appreciate it.

Commissioner Tornatta: Sherman? I have a question, if I could? There was a topic brought up on one of the stations about the weather sirens that we have out there.

Sherman Greer: Wail or fail.

Commissioner Tornatta: Pardon?

Sherman Greer: Wail or fail.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, wail or fail. Can you address that at this time? Just kind of give us an idea?

Sherman Greer: Well, one of the points that we were trying to make also is for people to understand that the tornado sirens are designed to tell people outside to go inside, turn on your radio, turn on your television and listen for further instructions. Very few people, unless they live real close to one, right under one are going to be able to hear the siren as it goes off. The siren itself is a pre-warning. So, we’re going to try to let those sirens wail long before the storm even gets here. But, then again, once the storm gets here, those sirens are still going off, but with the thunder and the lightning and the wind blowing and everything else, some people may not hear them. So, you know, people just have to understand that it’s just one mechanism of the warning devices that we have. Sirens tell the people outside that are outside to go inside. Once you get inside your weather radio should be going off, there again, and then the news media has their meteorologists on television giving you as much information as they possibly can. So, there’s a lot of mechanisms there that’s going off, the weather sirens on the outside, inside with the television and the radio, and then your weather radios that you would have within your homes.

Commissioner Tornatta: But, that’s tested every week, is it not?

Sherman Greer: It’s tested every Friday.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Sherman Greer: We test it every Friday.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah.

Sherman Greer: We test it every Friday, unless there’s impending weather, you know, if the weather looks bad we don’t want to alarm people that we’re having a thunderstorm or something of that sort. The National Weather Service, now, the guidelines that we use to set the sirens off is the National Weather Service. Unless the National Weather Service gives us that warning, the sirens are turned on at Central Dispatch, where they have 24 hour operations. Then, once we get that message that there is severe storms within our area, and there’s a warning, then they set the sirens off.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay. Then, tandem with that, on the 911 Board we are talking about the reverse notification system in conjunction with the sirens. So, we’ve got some of that in process, not on the outside of the house, but inside the house.

Sherman Greer: Yeah, and, you know, the National Weather Service is working toward, right now, also being able to, more or less, pinpoint the areas to where those sirens need to be set off. Maybe on the southeast side there’s nothing that’s going to be happening on that side, but the northwest side there may be a storm going through there. So, we’ll be able to set the sirens off in those areas. The sirens can be set off independently, or in zones. We have the long, steady blast is for severe weather. The wail up and down is for, well, originally, when they first started with the siren system and everything, was for nuclear attack. We’re not worried about, as much about a nuclear attack, maybe we should be, but we’re not worried that much about it as of now. So, we use that for hazardous materials. If hazardous materials incident that happens within that area, we can set that siren off there in that area, and the same mechanism, go inside, turn on your radio, turn on your television and listen for further instructions either to shelter in place, or to evacuate the area. We give the instructions on how to do that.

Commissioner Tornatta: Thank you.

Sherman Greer: Thank you.

President Korb: Anything else for Mr. Greer? Great. Thanks, Sherman. Appreciate it.

Sherman Greer: Thank you.

President Korb: The next item on the action item list is the first reading of CO.03-08-005, commonly called the healthcare co-payments for the jail inmates. Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, I previously e-mailed the Commissioners about this. The Indiana Code permits inclusion of language in the local ordinance, with provision of a co-payment calculated for every 30 day allotment of each prescribed medication, or other health care services. So, this ordinance would provide for a co-payment of $15. It’s satisfactory for execution from a legal perspective.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: With all first readings, we have a roll call vote. So, Commissioner Nix? Is that right?

Commissioner Nix: Approve it first.

President Korb: Oh, we have to....all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. Now, roll call vote. No?

Commissioner Tornatta: Uh-huh.

President Korb: Mr. Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Mr. Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

President Korb: Mr. Korb votes yes.

President Korb: Next is the first reading for CO.03-08-006, the Sheriff mortgage foreclosure sales project.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: This is an ordinance requested by the Sheriff’s office. The Sheriff has duties provided for in the statute for conducting mortgage foreclosure sales. He believes that he can do this more expeditiously and with better expenditure of the time of his deputies if he contracts out that particular function, subject to the terms of the state statute. This ordinance would provide for that. It would establish an administrative fee, which is also provided for by the state statute of $100, which would be paid to the contractor for each mortgage foreclosure sale conducted pursuant to judgement of sale. In addition, there would be an administrative fee of $25 per certified judgement as an additional administrative fee.

President Korb: Any questions for Mr. Ziemer?

Commissioner Nix: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion carries.

Commissioner Tornatta: Roll call.

President Korb: Roll call vote. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Korb votes yes.

President Korb: Next is the first reading of CO.03-08-007, and it’s amending chapter 2.40, the dental clinic fees.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The state statute again has provided for certain increases in fees of the Health Department. In addition there is authorization for charging for vital record searches, which has been a problem for the department when people are seeking genealogical information. This ordinance specifies what will constitute a search and what the charge will be for that search. It also provides for changes in certain of the fees for the dental clinic and the provision for payment of those fees.

President Korb: Any discussion? I need a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. Roll call vote. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Korb votes yes.

President Korb: The next item is the contract, agreement and leases section.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: This is supplemental agreement number three to the original agreement of June 7, 2005 for work by Bernardin Lochmueller Associates on University Parkway. It provides for additional services to be accomplished by BLA and provides for an additional fee for those services.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The agreement with Simplex Grinnell for the old service at the Old Courthouse.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: That’s an agreement for the security system in the Old Courthouse. We’ve seen this before. There were provisions in the agreement, specifically regarding indemnity in the place of bringing lawsuits under the agreement being Massachusetts instead of Indiana. I objected to those provisions and notified Simplex of that. They advised me that it was a form agreement and they would not change it. So, I suggested to the Commissioners that they contract with somebody else. Then Simplex came back and said they would be happy to sign an addendum which would agree to these changes. The addendum is here, and if you sign the main agreement, together with the addendum, and after that has been signed by Simplex, it’s satisfactory.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you, Counselor. Motion to approve.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Is Mr. Lehman with us here yet this evening? There he is. He just walked in.

Commissioner Tornatta: Good.

President Korb: Great timing. Next is the mobile home tie down agreement. Roger Lehman will be here to discuss this with us.

Roger Lehman: Good evening. Roger Lehman, Building Commissioner. We have three contractors that have submitted proposals for doing the tie downs, and I have submitted those for review. Mr. Ziemer is okay with them?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes. The Commissioners had previously approved the form of those agreements, and then you and I agreed to certain administerial changes, and those were made, which did not affect the substance of the agreements. You also advised all bidders that those changes were being made.

Roger Lehman: Right.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: So, I’m satisfied that the form you had signed by these contractors is satisfactory for execution by the Commissioners.

Roger Lehman: So, we would ask that the Commissioners sign those and we’ll get to work.

President Korb: Great.

Commissioner Tornatta: Excuse me. Roger, on the process, when, how are you going to rotate those contractors?

Roger Lehman: Well, right now we accepted proposals from anybody who was licensed in the state. We have enough work to keep 20 contractors busy for a year probably.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Roger Lehman: So, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. We, what I’m doing, what I did in Eastbrook was broke it into four basic sections that were relatively equal amounts of work. We got three bidders on it. So, we’ll have these three take three of the four.

Commissioner Tornatta: Then they’re all meeting the lowest bid?

Roger Lehman: Yes.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Roger Lehman: And if anybody else comes in and matches the lowest bid, then we’ll take them in too and give them the fourth part. If we don’t get somebody to bid on the fourth part, a new contractor, we’ll offer it back to the other three that are doing the first three parts. Then each mobile home park, we’re kind of doing that, breaking them down into kind of manageable chunks.

Commissioner Tornatta: I guess, and this is just to clarify, once they get their part done, let’s say a contractor moves through a little bit quicker than another one–

Roger Lehman: Right.

Commissioner Tornatta: –or maybe doesn’t have to go through, I mean, we’re going to start on that next section?

Roger Lehman: Yes.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Roger Lehman: And the only limitation we have on them is that we’re not going to issue more than $75,000 worth of contracts to any one contractor.

Commissioner Tornatta: Have you gotten in all those requests? Then, how are they stacking up versus, we had talked one time about getting the first ones done just to get them up to snuff, and then possibly reimbursing some of the ones that have already–

Roger Lehman: Right, and we do have a list, or an accumulation of all the ones who submitted the information to us. We haven’t gotten it into a formal list yet, but now that we’ve got this process going, we’re going to look at those. My thinking at this point will be that we’ll reimburse them, the average amount of what it’s costing us to do these other ones.

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s fair.

Roger Lehman: That seemed to be fair.

Commissioner Nix: Roger, along with that, in other words, anybody that requests that, as long as they’ve had it done by a licensed contractor, they will be reimbursed that amount then? Is that correct?

Roger Lehman: As long as it wasn’t a new location.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Roger Lehman: I mean, it’s an existing home that hasn’t been moved–

Commissioner Nix: Right.

Roger Lehman: –all they did was bring it up to snuff.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Roger Lehman: Those are the ones (inaudible).

Commissioner Nix: And the process for doing that is through your office?

Roger Lehman: Yes.

Commissioner Nix: Is there a specific person or a specific, somebody that needs to be addressed to that?

Roger Lehman: Well, we’ve, hopefully, got everybody that is in that condition.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, so you think–

Roger Lehman: We’ve probably got 40 or 50, yeah.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Commissioner Tornatta: Roger, one more thing, they would submit their bills correctly?

Roger Lehman: Yes.

Commissioner Tornatta: I mean, we wouldn’t just hand them–

Roger Lehman: No, no, no. They’re submitting a bill with a contractors name–

Commissioner Tornatta: Because we would pay off that bill up to the amount that you’re paying for the rest?

Roger Lehman: Correct.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, thank you.

President Korb: Any other questions for Mr. Lehman? Roger, thank you.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Roger Lehman: We appreciate it, and we’ll pick those up tomorrow.

Commissioner Tornatta: Thanks for your work, Roger.

President Korb: I would like to invite Matt Arvay up to the microphone, please. We’re going to talk about Computer Services for a bit. Matt?

Matt Arvay: Good evening. The first item that I have on the agenda is a long distance agreement or contract with AT&T. This would reduce the per minute charge from six cents a minute that the county is currently paying, to .361 cents a minute. It’s a three year contract.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Matt Arvay: The second item I have is a general service agreement with Berbee Information Networks, Incorporated. This is a group that, this would provide me some flexibility with a group that has historically done some work for me. They helped implement the phone system, they do networking work, things of that nature. It just provides me some flexibility, if we have something that needs, if we need some assistance in the interim between Commission meetings.

Commissioner Nix: I had talked to Matt here a few weeks ago, and the idea behind this is that, like he says, if something comes up we don’t have to meet. I think it’s a blanket P.O. for up to $5,000.

Matt Arvay: It’s up to $5,000, and it’s only for this fiscal year.

Commissioner Nix: I think it’s just a good idea to have that available. If there is something that needs attention, he can take care of it then.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Matt Arvay: The last item I have is a DS3 contract with AT&T. This is basically for communications to offsite locations that need business systems, like e-mail, internet, data storage, security, things of that nature. This new 36 month contract will be, there will an identical one passed on the city side, so those two together will be $2,240 a month, which will be a reduction down from over the $4,000 a month we’re paying now. So, totally, for the year, we’ll save over $22,000 by signing this new contract, while keeping the current services we provide today.

President Korb: Any questions?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. That’s it? Thanks, Matt.

Matt Arvay: Thank you.

President Korb: Appreciate it.

President Korb: The next item is department head reports. Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I have two matters that aren’t on the agenda. I hope I’ve got two. Yeah. One is a settlement agreement with respect to condemnation of property for the Green River Road improvements. This was an eminent domain proceeding against James R. and Karen R. Martin, husband and wife, with regard to certain property required of them on Green River Road. The county has agreed to settle with them for $36,000, and in return for a settlement agreement and a confidentiality agreement, and they are willing to do that. I have the settlement agreement to be signed by the Commissioners today.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. You say you had a second item, Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes, I do have a second item. We have three agreements which are presented to us by Tim VanCleave and the Vanderburgh Superior and Circuit Courts. The three agreements together would provide for placing certain court records on the internet, so that they would be available free to certain governmental entities, and for a charge to others. The total cost of these agreements is $2,500 annually, with the other fees being paid by Maximus and Doxpop, which is a organization that engages in this kind of business. There are numerous requirements for performance on the part of the county, since it will be signing these agreements. As in the case of any agreement signed by the Commissioners, you won’t personally be meeting these requirements, it will be up to Matt Arvay and Tim VanCleave, as our IT people involved with this, to see that these requirements are met. There are some specific requirements of the Vanderburgh County Clerk, which she will not have any problem complying with. So, we recommend these as being satisfactory for execution from a legal perspective.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Is that all you got, Mr. Ziemer?

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

President Korb: Great.

President Korb: John Stoll, County Engineer.

John Stoll: First of all I’ve got a sidewalk waiver request for Harbour’s Edge Subdivision. This was submitted by Cash Waggner and Associates on behalf of the developer. Harbour’s Edge has privately maintained streets. So, I got a hold of the homeowner’s association president there to ask their input in regard to this sidewalk waiver request. I spoke to Mr. Jack Cunningham, and he said that their association would not have a problem with granting this waiver. So, since it was their streets, and they don’t have a problem with it, I would recommend approval of the sidewalk waiver.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Next I have the cover sheet for the Oak Hill Road-Bergdolt Road intersection project plans. This needs the Commissioners signatures. Right now we’re working on trying to get a bid letting for July. It will be on an INDOT bid letting, so we don’t exactly call the shots on when it will go out for construction. But, that’s what we’re shooting for now. I just need your signatures on the cover sheet so I can get it back to the consultant.

Commissioner Tornatta: That is the improvement to the Bergdolt-Oak Hill Road intersection?

John Stoll: Right.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

John Stoll: The turn lane is going to be added on Oak Hill, plus the traffic signal.

Commissioner Tornatta: Good deal.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Then, next, I have a notice of intent permit application that has to be filed for the Green River-Millersburg intersection project. This has to be filed with IDEM in regard to the erosion control plans, and it needs the Commissioners signatures as well.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: On that same subject, I need your approval to authorize running the legal ad to advertise this notice of intent to disturb the land at this project site.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Then, next, also on the Green River-Millersburg project, I need your authorization to have me sign off on the water quality certification permit application that will also be submitted to IDEM. In this case the consultant set it up for my signature rather than yours, so I’m just asking for your approval to sign off on it on behalf of the county.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Then, the last item I have is three amended purchase offers on the right-of-way for University Parkway. The first offer is for parcel one, it’s owned by Anna Herschelman, and the amended amount is $143,800. The second one is parcel three, owned by the Mildred R. Mueller Revocable Trust, the amended offer amount is $78,900. The third offer is parcel four, Colleen Mueller, and the amended offer amount is $138,150. All of these appraisals were amended to reflect mineral rights that also had to be purchased. The mineral rights were not included in the original appraisals. We needed to get those included so we could make an appropriate offer, and then we’ll have an offer on the table that can go to condemnation, if necessary. So, I request your approval to make all three of these amended offers.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: That’s all I have.

President Korb: Great. Thanks, John.

John Stoll: Thanks.

President Korb: Appreciate it.

President Korb: Next is the public hearing regarding the preliminary assessment roll for the Bohannon Estates Barrett Law project.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: At your meeting on, let me get this here, at your meeting on February 22^nd, you, no, excuse me, February 19, 2008, the Commissioners approved the preliminary assessment roll, ordered public notice to be given for a public hearing on the preliminary assessment roll. Today is the day for the public hearing on the preliminary assessment roll. Following the hearing, if the Commissioners decide to approve this, you would adopt a resolution finally approving the preliminary assessment roll, and a second resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds to provide funds to pay the contractor and the engineer, etcetera. That’s what the hearing is about. So, I don’t know if there’s anybody here that wants to address the Commissioners.

President Korb: Anybody in the audience from Bohannon Estates? I see none.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: You have two resolutions before you. My recommendation would be that you adopt each one separately by resolution number. The first one being CO.R-03-08-002, and the second one being CO.R-03-08-003.

Commissioner Nix: So, we need to do these individually then? I make a motion that we approve CO.R-03-08-002, confirming the preliminary assessment roll.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes, roll call.

President Korb: Roll call vote. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Korb votes yes.

Commissioner Nix: I move we approve CO.R-03-08-003, a resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds for the project.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. Roll call vote. Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

President Korb: Commissioner Korb votes yes.

Commissioner Nix: Congratulations, Mr. Stoll.

President Korb: Yeah, congratulations, Mr. Stoll.

President Korb: The next item on the agenda is the Hamilton’s Golf Course discussion. Boy, how do we start this? This has been a roller coaster ride for all of us. Believe it or not, we don’t really know how this is going to go down. We’re just going to present the facts, discuss it amongst ourselves. I think it’s very safe to say that all three of us Commissioners were very committed to keeping this a golf course, with a minimum of 18 holes, or however many we could find. But, technically all we were really interested in finding was an entity or a business group that would be willing to come in and take over the remaining balance of the lease that was vacated by the Hamilton family. At that point in time we had two area businessmen, operators stepped forward, who currently do manage golf courses. One is the Roland Brinker family, and also Ray Wright of Cambridge Golf Course on the far north side out by Highway 41.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me, there was a third one, Mary Hukill–

President Korb: Sorry.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –sent various e-mails about that, but never made a firm presentation.

President Korb: Correct. In defense of Ms. Hukill, we did get back with her several times, and she sent several very nice e-mails, but there was nothing substantive in terms of financial commitment to the process. Then we kind of got turned up on our heads by the Airport Authority. They had expressed an interest in just having the county deed the land, and they would maintain it as a golf course, which was a proposal that really we hadn’t anticipated. Come to find out that local airports throughout the United States purchase property such as this to protect their glide and flight paths. For those that do not know, the blue course, which is supposedly the nicest of the three courses, red, white and blue, at Hamilton’s, is right in the middle of the glide path for small, private planes that take off and land at the airport. So, they had a genuine concern. As we went through all of that, the three of us discussed the pros and the cons, and what I would like to do now is invite each of the Commissioners, we can take turns if you want, one at a time, or we can just all jump in.

Commissioner Nix: Could I suggest that we get maybe the interested parties to speak first?

President Korb: Absolutely. Do we have anybody from the Brinker family here this evening? We do not. Anybody with Ray Wright?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me. I will say that doesn’t display any lack of interest on the part–

President Korb: No.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –of the Brinker family. They were not invited to be here this evening. So, it would just be totally voluntary.

President Korb: Sure. Yes, sir?

Tom Howard: Ray Wright.

President Korb: Come on up. You don’t look like Ray Wright.

Tom Howard: (Inaudible. Not at mic.)

President Korb: You’re not under oath, so you can tell us that lie, if you want to.

Tom Howard: Hi, my name is Tom Howard. I am partnering up with Ray Wright on this project. You hit it exactly on the head when you said that it was a roller coaster ride. Where everyday we’re looking at it and saying, “How are things going?”. We feel that the Air Board proposal is something that needs to be looked at also. We would like to propose from ourselves though, as you’ve seen in our proposal, we are willing to take this property over. We have no intention to build on this property whatsoever. We will keep it at 27 holes minimum, nine holes will be for junior golf, inner city children, a good place for anybody to learn. I think there’s still a need in Evansville for people to be able to come out, learn to play golf, and have a course that would be in fine condition, something that would be equal to any course that they could play, municipal course, like Fendrich or Helfrich. That’s our main proposal. A lot of that will depend on what you’re looking at for anything further than that. There is some improvement that needs to be done. We would look more to have a long term lease. We have the financial backing to do this, as I’m sure other entities do also. We’re willing to do whatever it would take with the Commission to bring this to an end, and take over and open up this course so we can get play started.

President Korb: Tom, were you looking at wanting to purchase the property, or just continue long term leases?

Tom Howard: We originally went into this as a long term lease.

President Korb: Okay.

Tom Howard: And that would be up more to–

President Korb: Us?

Tom Howard: –yes.

President Korb: Okay.

Tom Howard: We could purchase, if needed, and put in the contract that we will not build on that course.

President Korb: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Just a comment. You know this, I mean, I’ve told you this on the phone, and Mr. Wright, and I’ve told Mr. Brinker, everybody knows this, but I want to be sure that everybody knows it publicly. The Commissioners could not lease this property to you, or to the Brinker’s, or to anybody today. We have to go through a bidding process, and have specifications for what we’re bidding on. Then following that, take the best bid. Then, we could only lease it for three years maximum time, unless we received from the Vanderburgh County Council, which we could probably get. But, all we can do at this time, in terms of a private developer, would be arrange for an assignment of the current lease, from the Hamilton’s to the developer. That lease runs until May 1, 2009. We are permitted to let them assign them to any private developer, and then to let, and we would consent to that assignment. The private developer would then operate during that year and approximately three months, until May 1, 2009. During that period of time, the county would work out specifications, having in mind what the private developer wishes. We would put all of that in the specifications, and then it would be advertised for bids, and, of course, the best bid to accomplish that goal would be what the county has to go with. So, I just wanted to be sure that was on the record.

Tom Howard: That’s fine.

Commissioner Tornatta: And, it would be the best bid, most responsible bid?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Responsible and responsive, yes.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right, so, not necessarily the lowest bid at that point?

President Korb: Right.

Tom Howard: The only request would be that something be set forth for capital improvements. Some sort of recoup of the capital improvements (inaudible).

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: And, on that score, and, again, we can’t promise anything until we go through a bid process, but, I think what was considered was the possibility of advising the private developer, if it was you and Ray, or if it was the Brinker’s, that if there were capital expenditures during the period of the remaining period of the Hamilton lease, we would provide in the bid specifications that those improvements be made. If you were the successful bidder, you would have already spent the money, and you wouldn’t get anything back. If somebody else became the successful bidder, they would have to reimburse you for the capital improvements you made during that period. The only caveat there would be the county would have to have some kind of understanding, and a cap, perhaps, on you couldn’t just go in and spend a million dollars thinking you’re going to get reimbursed by somebody. There would have to be maybe a cap on what kind of capital improvements you would make during the initial year and three months.

Tom Howard: That’s correct. That would be something that would be, the most pressing issues would be the building, the roof, repair anything in that position. Other than that, the course, as far as planting grass, I think that would just be something we would have to look at and make that determination as we go.

President Korb: How quickly can you have the course open and ready for play?

Tom Howard: It can be immediate.

President Korb: Okay. Did I hear you correctly or incorrectly when you said that you would have an interest, potentially, in working with the Air Board as a potential person to help run the golf course, if they go that direction, or if we go that direction?

Tom Howard: That would depend on what they’re looking for.

President Korb: Okay.

Tom Howard: If they’re looking to sub-lease out, of course. If they’re looking to just place a manager to take care of an operation for them, we would have to see what they’re looking for at that time.

President Korb: Sure. Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Howard?

Commissioner Nix: I guess, just to clarify that, that would be something that they would have to take care of? It wouldn’t revert back to the Commissioners. It would be through the Air Board.

Tom Howard: That is correct.

Commissioner Nix: Is that the way you see it? Okay. Thank you.

Commissioner Tornatta: Have you had any conversation on whether you can get the name Hamilton, if you were to take that over? Then, the equipment that is there might not be there, would you have a line that you would be able to get the equipment on site?

Tom Howard: We have the equipment. We have additional equipment at Cambridge–

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Tom Howard: –which would be enough to cover until we could carry forward. As far as the Hamilton’s name–

Commissioner Tornatta: Is that an issue for you?

Tom Howard: It would not be with us.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Tom Howard: We would maintain that it should remain Hamilton’s.

Commissioner Tornatta: If it were not available, is that a problem?

Tom Howard: No, it would not be a problem.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

President Korb: Anything else? Mr. Howard, anything else you would like to say to us?

Tom Howard: It’s been a roller coaster ride. I do appreciate the time that’s been spent on this. We’ll continue on.

President Korb: Great. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank Mr. Wright too, would you please?

Tom Howard: Well, he apologizes for not being here, but–

President Korb: He’s away. Right. Good, good for him. Mr. Wallace, I see you from the Airport Authority. Would you please come up and join us?

Paul Wallace: Good evening. As you indicated I’m Paul Wallace. I’m counselor for the Evansville-Vanderburgh Airport Authority District. We’ll just call it the airport from this point on.

President Korb: Okay.

Paul Wallace: It’s shorter. As you know, but for everyone else, we became aware that the golf course operation, as it has been in the past was not going to continue. The airport has a great concern about its neighbors. It has a great concern that no additional noise sensitive activity, such as residential construction occur adjacent to the airport. The airport operates and plans in ten, 20, 30 year periods. When we became aware that a 220 acre parcel might be available, and that there were those considering acquiring it for residential use, we became very interested, very quickly. Airports throughout the country do operate golf courses. When I say operate them, they own the land they are on, and sometimes they operate them directly. Most often they lease out the operation to others. We are able to step in immediately and make some immediate capital improvements, and intend to, and as you know made specific proposals with regard to acquisition, with regard to what we would do and invest. We’ve made specific proposals with regard to what our minimum standards for operations will be, and we’ve shown you a draft lease that we would use as the basis in working with a long term operator. I think we are unique in that regard, in that we are able to step in immediately. We also have a track record as property owners. You can see how well they operate the airport here. We do it without any taxes from the public with regard to operation of the airport, and we have indicated more than willingness to work with Tom Howard and Mr. Wright, with the Brinker’s, or with anyone else who indicates an interest. Our interest is having this be a golf course or some other non, be a golf course, frankly, for as long as there is an airport there. We anticipate there is going to be an airport there through several more generations of the public. We also offer stability and the ability, you know, both the ability to step in immediately, with specific, written commitments that we’ve made, and the long term stability of the airport to know that it’s going to remain non-residential, recreational use property for many, many years. We acquire property around the airport, as its available. We, a couple of years ago acquired a hundred acres up to the northeast of the airport. This is something, frankly, that air boards in the past, ten, 20 years ago, perhaps, should have been more aggressive in doing, but this Air Board recognizes that the FAA and the State of Indiana both want us to do this sort of activity. The area, the approximately southern one half of the current 220 acre site is in what the State of Indiana designates as a noise sensitive area, and we are empowered to come in and do what is necessary to protect that. The Air Board has indicated its willingness to do that. We’re happy to do it this way, where we can satisfy the community’s needs to keep the existing golf course and to protect the airport’s interest at the same time. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

President Korb: A quick question, actually a couple of quick questions. The first one is, I’m a taxpayer, what’s this going to cost me to have the Airport Authority run this facility? Am I going to, will any of my tax dollars go towards this?

Paul Wallace: We anticipate initially that we will take approximately $200,000 and immediately invest it in the operating, a working capital fund, if you will, a cash account, to begin the immediate operation of reopening immediately of Hamilton Golf Course. We anticipate that we will recover that money over the first several years, and that there will be no other taxpayer funds. That’s our intention.

President Korb: Okay.

Paul Wallace: Okay. We also, will be moving forward with FAA funding for noise sensitive area protection. Right now one can’t apply for those because the FAA appropriations bill has been just a continuing resolution. In other words, they’ve taken a two year old thing and just keep rolling it over year to year as they sort out some issues at the national level. But, and we anticipate that at some point, if necessary, we could use those funds. The FAA is very supportive of this type of activity. However, we anticipate that in the long run, this will not cost the taxpayers any money.

President Korb: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: What funds could be used from the FAA (inaudible) issues?

Paul Wallace: Potentially what’s called Part 150 and 153 funds. Depending upon, we would have to do a noise, I can’t remember the technical term, I’m not an engineer, but there’s a noise imprint, I think there’s a different term they use, but a noise imprint area you do for studies. This property is affected by the east-west runway, what we call 927, and it’s also affected by the 1836 the north-south runway. By the way, I may be unusual here, I’m a pilot and a golfer, so I have loyalties on both sides of this. I want it to be a golf course, and I want to be able to fly over it. One eight and three six, and when you do what are called pattern work or down wind and up wind, cross wind, it all just depends on how far you go up, and airplanes fly over this frequently. But, we know it’s already been designated as a noise sensitive area on the east-west runway, that can help us use it to maintain it in a non-residential purpose such as a golf course, and anything else we might need to do on that property. Or even acquire additional property, if necessary.

President Korb: A couple of weeks ago we had a hearing with the Area Planning Commission that we’re looking at rezoning air for property that the airport would own. Would this agricultural, I’m assuming that’s what it’s zoned right now, would you want to include that in the air designation? Or would you just leave it as agricultural?

Paul Wallace: Our intention right now is to leave it just as it is.

President Korb: Okay.

Paul Wallace: Again, understand, just for anyone who’s listening, the air rezoning doesn’t change anything.

President Korb: Right.

Paul Wallace: It doesn’t change any uses, it just changes, we have 147 parcels that have been acquired since 1928 when the airport opened, and when they were acquired they kept, almost all of them kept their original zonings. So, we have every zoning in the book at the airport. It makes it difficult to do planning. It makes it more expensive when we do our federally required ten year plans, because we have 147 parcels. Before, when I was a board member at the airport, and now as their counselor, I suggested we do some things to simplify, and one of them was to get a survey of the airport so that we had a boundary description. They hadn’t had that in some time. We have that now. One of them was to have a unified zoning, so that everyone knew what the zoning was, and when we made a request to change a use or do something out there, the procedures were much clearer. So, we’re accomplishing a lot of long range things. This came up as a surprise. We had just assumed it would be Hamilton’s Golf Course forever.

President Korb: We did too.

Paul Wallace: Yeah.

President Korb: At least for another year and three months.

Paul Wallace: My point is I think we all assumed that. So, we’re here tonight to say we would like to keep it as Hamilton’s Golf Course. We had spoken with Mr. Hamilton, he has indicated he would be more than willing to be our manager/operator on behalf of the airport with the airport footing the bill for this year, while we get deeply and closely familiar with the property. Our anticipation would be, because of the need to move immediately, and I do mean immediately, and I think Mr. Ziemer was referring to that when he was talking about the bidding procedures, the development, the specifications, we don’t have to do that. We can go in tomorrow and start opening it up, get our people, and we have people over there with backhoes and the ability to go in and clean out drainage problems and do things immediately and get this course open, I think, as fast or faster than anyone else can. Maintenance requirements are critical right now, we are told by Mr. Hamilton and others. Basically, March 1 you need to start doing things with the greens, and they need to be done immediately. So, as we’ve told you in our conversations, our hope is to have Mr. Hamilton operate that this year. Whether that will be the whole summer or not will primarily be his decision, but he’s indicated a more than willingness to help us. What we intend to do as we learn this year is help refine the minimum standards we’ve already given you, and use those to talk to Mr. Howard and Mr. Wright and Mr. Brinker, and we’ve also gotten telephone calls, I can tell you, from several other people, depending on whether they have to put in money or not, is kind of the first question they ask, and whether or not we’re going to have it be an employee of the airport or lessee/operator type. But, we anticipate that this fall we would then have a meeting with those who are interested and select someone to operate it, hopefully, for the next 20 years. Mr. Hamilton has indicated a lack of interest in doing it for 20 more years, and, so, I think this is a situation where Mr. Hamilton can feel comfortable that the golf course has been protected. I think we can all feel comfortable, and all the golfers, including myself, can feel comfortable that we’ll be open immediately, that the golf course will be well protected this year, and that we’ll be able to look at a long term plan that keeps Hamilton Golf Course, Hamilton Golf Course. It’s not meant to be the highest end golf course. It’s meant to be what it is, but it should be a quality, city golf course level like Hamilton, or like Fendrich and Helfrich in terms of the conditions. It should have grass in the fairways. It should have irrigation. It should have cart paths. The concession stand needs to be repaired, immediately. We can do that, immediately. We anticipate that there will be no change in pricing or anything else, that it will just stay the way it is, with improvements over this year, and then a long term plan will be put together. We’re excited about it. A number of the people at the airport, the staff are golfers, and they play Hamilton’s, it’s right there. They have an interest in it, and want to see it maintained both to protect the airport and its air space, but also to protect it as a golf course that they’ve used and played. I think the other thing that needs to be said is that both your consultants, and I have a copy of the consultant report, have indicated that there’s probably nine holes too many. That the red course is difficult to maintain down the flood zone. We haven’t made any decision to close it, but we’ve read the report and we assume the consultant has some idea of what they’re speaking of. We’ve also, as we’ve told you, spoken with the Convention and Visitors Bureau about, perhaps, putting ball diamonds at the east side, the flood plain, the flood prone plain area of the course, and we’re waiting to hear back from them. They’re working with their architects trying to see what they can fit in. But, we think that’s another win-win situation. It stays a recreational use. It’s airport compatible, if the lighting is done correctly. It also provides an opportunity to share some investment out there. The parking lot, a concession stand/restaurant, etcetera, there needs to be a new one built. If we build it in connection with the CVB, if that works out. This is just something they’re looking at, there’s no promises made. These are all things that could work out where it’s a very compatible use. One’s a day use, one is a day and evening use, but we see every reason to believe they can fit it, that they can be there, and they can be yet another benefit to the community, and a better use of this property.

President Korb: So, there could be some lighting configurations that you would be okay with, so it wouldn’t blind the pilots at night coming in for a landing?

Paul Wallace: Yeah, we’re very, I can tell you Mr. Nix is concerned about that. I am very concerned about that. The Commissioners, or the Airport Authority is very concerned about that. But, we’ve seen it done, again, if you fly in some other airports, St. Louis is one, if you fly in from the west and approach that airport, there are a number of ball diamonds there, but, again, they have special lighting, the lighting is aimed down and not out like it is at, you’ll see the common baseball stadiums have the big banks of lights, they just use taller poles, and then the lighted down shading, certain brands or types of lights, again, I’m not an engineer, so I have to take what the engineers tell me and shake my head yes.

President Korb: Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Wallace?

Paul Wallace: Thank you.

President Korb: Thanks. Gentlemen? Troy?

Commissioner Tornatta: You know, I think we sat through all the hearings and information, there were a lot of people that, obviously, were emphatic that we keep the course open. I think it has not fallen on deaf ears. We all want to see the course open. With that being said, then we have to figure what’s happened over the past 30 years, what the condition of the course is, and, in my opinion, the only thing that makes me nervous about the course being run under the same management is to look at the course as it is now, and to look at the condition of the clubhouse as it is now. When I look at Mr. Wright, I look at a guy that has a great golf course and great maintenance. When I look at Mr. Brinker, I look at guy that’s got a great golf course with great maintenance. When I look at the airport, I look at a great airport, and a great airport that has great maintenance, but I don’t know about a great golf course. And, that bothers me. Although someone could say that we have all the equipment and all the technology, that still bothers me. There’s 41, a highway in between, the airport will never be able to build over there. They say it’s not build over on that side, my concern is with 41 in the middle, I don’t know, it doesn’t pass the smell test for me. I know tractor trailers are louder than the airplanes that go over Hamilton’s Golf Course. So, to me, that’s not a noise factor. They say non-residential and recreational use, you know, it is my intention for that to be a golf course. A recreational use, I’m not real sold on. I think there might be other places where we can have recreational baseball fields or soccer fields. Let’s put soccer fields where there’s soccer fields. Let’s put baseball fields where there’s baseball fields. If we’re going to do that, let’s make sure that there’s ample lodging and we have the whole process thought out, instead of putting all these events over all of the community. We have no idea that there will be FAA solid funds that will go toward this piece of land. It’s speculative, and we don’t have an idea that at some point that this will not come back on the taxpayers shoulders. In my opinion, as I’ve looked at Tom Howard’s agreement that he’s brought in, who has a golf store, obviously, there’s a benefit for him to have a golf store in this location. Mr. Ray Wright’s track record that he’s just presented, or that he’s exhibited in Cambridge Golf Course, has been very strong. Both these entities together are a pretty nice package. Mr. Brinker brings his course management experience, and with some know how, with a greenskeeper that came from Hamilton’s Golf Course, who knows the inside and out of that golf course, who is prepared to put in an individual as a greenskeeper, with experience, that is paid at a very high salary for a greenskeeper. The, as I look at it, the packages that are out there, from a private standpoint, offers tax base to our community. It also offers the potential if they wanted to buy it and upgrade the course to a level, even at a shorter course, it would be a level of play that is much better than it is right now. If they wanted to do that and buy it, that would give Vanderburgh County the opportunity to not only have the option of selling that course to a private person, that would keep it a golf course, but it would also give us a large sum of money to be able to get much more needed projects done in our community that we’re requiring money for at this time. We pass this off to the Airport Authority, in my opinion, we have speculative ideas of what could be done, but they have not put any hard numbers, we would have to pass it over, it would then go the Airport Authority forever, and the county would have no option to do anything, and with us only having two spots on that board, it would totally put everything over to a different deciding group. That would take it out of the interest of the county. It’s my fiduciary duty as a County Commissioner to take care of all county properties, and this would not be one that I would be giving it over to somebody to take care of my problems. I’m not interested in doing that. So, as my personal opinion, I would want to look at the Brinker group or the Wright group to take over this project for the amount of time that’s left in the project. If it turns that they do not want to renew or up on their contract, then at that point we can address the Airport Authority.

President Korb: Mr. Nix?

Commissioner Nix: I’ll keep my comments short. I appreciate everything the Brinker family has done, and the Wright family and the Air Board, all the work that they’ve put into this. I know that this has been a quick thing for us to try to get to the bottom of. I’ll tell ya, after six weeks of this, I don’t think I’ll ever play golf. I’ve heard golf up to here. Anyway, I like all three proposals. I think they are good for the game of golf. Once again, I think both the Wright and Brinker proposals are great proposals, but I think there’s some points that I see that the Air Board can bring to this that the other two can’t. The Brinker family, in the long run, would like to purchase the property, they want to see it purchased. Mr. Wright would like to see some type of, he wants to make a financial commitment, short term commitment with some reimbursement if things don’t work out. I understand that, being any good businessman you have to look at things that way. The positive things I think the Air Board brings is there is another use for the red course, possibly, sometime down the road, whether that be through CVB or some other group. We are getting a financial commitment from them with no recourse back to the county, other than what comes out of the airport coffers. If they don’t hold up their agreement, this would revert back to the county. So, the Commissioners would get this property back. So, they have the standards that they’ve got to live by. We’ve been told all along, except for one or two people in all these hearings, the two or three hearings that we’ve had, we want a golf course, we want a good golf course to play. We don’t want a Taj Mahal, we just a good, average golf course. The Air Board is committing to 27 holes of golf, they are committing that it will stay a golf course. This seems to fit best with what we’ve heard, since we’ve started all of this. It just seems like the best fit. You know, I look at, sure, the purchase price of the property, what we could get out of that, and tax revenue if parcels are sold, but, I think in the long run there are still other parcels of property to build homes, and if people are going to build homes, they’re going to build them somewhere else. They don’t necessarily need to build them here. So, that’s my two cents worth.

President Korb: Mr. Wallace, real quickly, could you address the issue that Commissioner Tornatta did bring up about the Air Board? Is that a concern for you that because the Commissioners only have a two vote and the city, with the Mayor’s appointments, has three votes? Have you had any dialogue at all with the Mayor? Anything that would enlighten us with the fact that he thinks this is okay with him, a good use of the property and the land?

Paul Wallace: I’m not here to speak for the Mayor, obviously.

President Korb: Sure.

Paul Wallace: But, I did discuss the concept when it first came out–

President Korb: Okay.

Paul Wallace: –and I can tell you the Mayor’s first question was, “What do you want with a golf course?”. But, we explained to him our land use requirements, and our space requirements, etcetera, and showed him that I thought that long term it was a good deal for the taxpayers and a good deal for the golfers. The problem, of course, on the taxpayers side is that if this is sold and if someone starts building homes over there, which is the current zoning, we will have to use our power of eminent domain and buy the property back. The taxpayers that are benefitting will be the same taxpayers that would be paying the taxes to fund the eminent domain.

President Korb: To pay for the bond to buy that?

Paul Wallace: Exactly. So, the taxpayers would not benefit, in the long run, if somebody builds houses.

Commissioner Tornatta: That would be to the direction, from the direction of the Mayor and/or the County Commissioners.

Paul Wallace: Well, the Air Board is the one that, it has its own separate power to invoke eminent domain. The members are appointed by the city and the county, yes, sir.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right, but the push would probably come from one of those two entities.

Paul Wallace: That’s possible, but it may come from the Air Board itself. The point I wanted to make is this, is that if someone is prepared to sign a 20 year lease, or to purchase the property and put a covenant on there that they will not do any residential construction, then we’re fine with that. We’re stepping in solely to protect the airport and keep it from being a residential use or a non-compatible use. That’s our interest and that’s why we are here. This is part of our long range, this is our job. I appreciate when any Commissioner says what his task is to do, and he feels his responsibility is. Our responsibility at the Air Board is to protect the airport from non-compatible adjacent uses, and that’s what we will do. Now, if somebody can stand up today, but that’s the problem is that no one else can stand up today and say what they’re going to do for the next 20 years but the airport.

Commissioner Tornatta: With all due respect, I just want to make mention that we still have a year and three months on a contract that it states that that kind of process will not happen. If we were to keep the Hamilton’s in that position, it’s satisfying the same contract. So, in my opinion, we have a year and three months with a privateer to work through those options and see where the cards fall on running it after that year and three months.

Paul Wallace: Yeah, I understand. I’m not here to argue–

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, and, I mean–

Paul Wallace: –with you or against anyone else here.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah.

Paul Wallace: I mean, we think the Wright’s and Mr. Howard and the Brinker’s are wonderful people. We look forward to working with those same people. So, the only point we were trying to make is that we are the only people that can step in, right now, operate it right now, and make the promise for 20 years. Not a three year lease, not a short term commitment. We can make the long term commitment you need to keep this a golf course for 20 or more years. We have the ability to sign long term leases with operators. Not three year leases. Under our operating statutes we can sign 40 and 50 year leases. So, we have some abilities that allow us to deal with this, we think, in a superior fashion to make sure there’s long term stability for Hamiltion Golf Course, and that’s all we’re trying to do. We really don’t want to compete with anybody, or argue with anybody, that wasn’t our purpose.

Commissioner Tornatta: And I understand, I understand your job, the position of the Air Board, and, trust me, that’s not, but to me you’re a, your board would be a last case scenario. You would be a, and it’s, without, you know, no disrespect to the board, I think that with a privateer to run through this course in the last year and three months and see if it could be done under different management. If it could not, maybe then, at that point, that they would understand that we need to pass it on to the Air Board.

Paul Wallace: I understand your point.

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s absolutely no disrespect to that board, who I know has stepped up in a big way to try and make something happen. Sorry, Mr. Korb.

President Korb: That’s okay.

Paul Wallace: And, that’s what we’ve tried to do, is step up and make sure that the taxpayers are protected, the golf course is protected, and the airport is protected. That’s our only purpose.

Commissioner Tornatta: We have heard nonstop that we want a golf course. I don’t think anybody up here wants to go away from that. It’s just the way that that gets done. I’m sorry, excuse me.

President Korb: So, back to my basic question, are you, as general counsel for the Air Board, concerned about turnover of the Air Board members?

Paul Wallace: No, I’m not.

President Korb: Okay.

Paul Wallace: First of all, I was a former member–

President Korb: Okay.

Paul Wallace: –and maybe I’ll be a member again someday, if I’m lucky. It was an honor to do that, and I enjoyed it, and hope to do it again in the future when I’m not the counsel.

President Korb: Okay.

Paul Wallace: But, we operate under, again, a set of rules and a set of statutes, both at the state level on noise sensitive areas and airports, and our governing statutes are primarily state. But, we have an overlay of federal, and, again, the policy of the Air Board and of the FAA, by necessity, with an airport tends to be very long term.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Paul Wallace: When we, for example, this community 15, 20 years ago thought about maybe setting up a new airport, a new location. We discussed that. But, the decision was made, no, we were going to stay where we are, we built the new terminal. It’s turned out to be a huge success financially and aesthetically. It shows again the quality of the planning that’s done out there. A lot of this planning, most of it was done long before I was involved. So, I’m not bragging on me or us, I’m just saying it’s been consistent over the last generation, which has included a lot of different board members.

President Korb: Right.

Paul Wallace: It’s included other counsel that have been their counsel out there, and I think he would tell you, as I am today, that there is a consistency of purpose out there that we can anticipate will stay there for a long, long time.

Commissioner Nix: Paul, correct me if I’m wrong, but the bottom line is you’re looking for someone to basically take this and, maybe, I’ll call it a sublease and operate this for some long period of time, in the end that’s kind of what you’re looking for? Am I correct?

Paul Wallace: Yes, sir.

Commissioner Nix: So, it’s not necessarily that the Air Board is going to run it. Once you sign a lease, that lease would be binding for the duration of time, of that time?

Paul Wallace: Yes.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Paul Wallace: Again, we can lease for long periods of time, more so than the county can.

Commissioner Nix: Right.

Paul Wallace: We don’t have to go to any other board or anything to get that approved. We are asking Mr. Hamilton to stay not because we want to keep someone who’s failed to operate it well there, merely to provide, this course needs to open, it needs to reopen immediately, and it’s to provide short term continuity. But, we will have our own people, and I say our own people, not just our immediate staff, but we look to consultants, we use others also, and we will look to, we’re not going to maintain it the way it’s been maintained. That is not the purpose of having them there. It’s to provide the continuity to find out where the equipment is located, etcetera, and to start immediately on getting it open. But, that’s why we’re just looking at this year only, and that is just to provide short term while we put together a long term plan, which is what we do well.

President Korb: That’s all I have for you, Mr. Wallace. Thank you.

Paul Wallace: Thank you.

President Korb: My few comments are just what I’ve learned here tonight, again, and what we’ve talked about. The one thing I like about the airport stuff, again, is that they start making improvements immediately. They can do that. They realize they’re going to have that property for an extended length of time, and really and truly it’s never been a financial cash cow for the county, it’s been we’ve taken in $4,600 a year. Some people thought we got 50 cents a round, or a dollar a round, the county never experienced that. What Commissioner Tornatta is talking about with regards to we could potentially sell it for $2.4 million, I respect that, and that makes total sense to me, but my concern is the only person who’s willing to do that is the Brinker family and they’re wanting to develop housing on the blue course. Since I’m not an avid golfer, I’ve heard that that would totally destroy the ambiance of the course and probably kill off golfers who have to play just on the red and the white course. But, with the airport taking the position today, and that’s what we’re talking about, we’re not talking about them taking over the lease. We would just deed them the property. There’s no exchange of funds, but in exchange the Airport Authority is saying, we’re making a financial commitment long term that starts as soon as possible, which I think is what that course desperately needs, and to potentially bring its rounds back up. What I do like is the fact that, I mean, the invisible dollars to our community coming in are from visitors. Potentially, if they take part of that course, if it’s feasible, and turn it over to the CVB and they are allowed to do the softball diamonds, that could be a potential revenue stream for our community of between a quarter of a million to a couple of million dollars a year, depending on how many tournaments they schedule. So, I don’t know, and, please, I know that there’s probably a lot of reporters sitting here going, yeah, you guys have already made your mind up. The answer is, no. I mean, we are still, as you can see, kind of conflicted by it. I’ll just ask for a last round of any comments you all want to make before we bring this to a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: My one point about, we don’t want to talk about failed individuals. Everybody that’s had a success has had a failure. However, I’m uneasy with a person that breached a contract with the county coming in, under a different entity, and running that golf course. That’s one. As far as the money that would come in, if we were going through, I don’t know what process we would go through, the Airport Authority, if that was chosen, but I would expect them to put into that course the amount of money that we thought we would get from a privateer. If it’s putting that money in, and it’s $2.4 million, then I would like to see $2.4 million put into that golf course to compensate for the money that we wouldn’t get, or in lieu of monies that we would get to spend somewhere else. So, as part of that process I hope that in the negotiation, if they were the ones chosen, that that would be looked into.

President Korb: I need a motion of some sort. I think the motions need to be, basically, we either choose to assign this property, is this correct, Mr. Ziemer, to the Airport Authority, and/or we ask the Brinker family and/or Ray Wright and Mr. Howard to assume the remaining balance of the lease?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: That’s just about correct. With regard to the airport, in order to deed this property to the airport, which we could do without consideration, under special law, both the airport and the county need to adopt concurrent resolutions that are essentially identical. So, if the person making the motion wants to, for example, go with the airport, they would make a motion to adopt the sample resolution that I have provided for the Commissioners. If adopted, you wouldn’t need to take any more motions, because that would dispose of it. Or, you could move to assign the existing lease, which runs until May 1, 2009 to any private developer that you want to assign it to. I’ve also provided you with a sample form of assignment. That would involve an assignment to the developer, the developer agreeing to assume the position of the Hamilton’s as lessee, to agree to perform all of the duties and obligations that that lease provides for through May 1, 2009. If they’re doing it through a corporation to personally guarantee that the corporation will, have the principals personally guarantee that the corporation will perform those duties and obligations through that period of time, and then the Commissioners would consent to that assignment. That allows us to turn it over to a private developer for a period through May 1, 2009. At the end of that period, or prior to the end of that period, if that is what occurred, then, I think, the process would be to develop specifications for how the county wants this property treated beyond May 1, 2009. The county could keep in mind when planning those specifications, the individual wishes expressed by one developer or another, and put all of that in the bid specifications, and then advertise for bids, and take bids. The lowest responsible and responsive bid would be the bid that the county has to accept. You have to understand that at the end of the period, May 1, 2009, which is the most we can offer any private developer at this time, they would have the option to decide not to do anything else, in which case the county, the property would be right back where it is today, and we would be looking at it again.

Commissioner Nix: Wouldn’t that be the highest bid and not the lowest?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah.

Commissioner Nix: I’m sorry.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: You’re absolutely right, and thank you for your correcting me. I always think of bidding that you accept the lowest bid. In this case we would accept the most responsible and responsive bid, which would be who offers the county the most to accomplish this.

President Korb: Okay, guys.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, from what I’ve heard, and I’ve switched my vote today, and it’s only because of the amount of time that it’s been out there, I would make a motion to let the Ray Wright group take control of Hamilton’s Golf Course for the year and three months.

President Korb: Is there a second? There is not. So, the motion does not get off the ground.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: It dies for lack of a second.

President Korb: Mr. Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yeah, I would like to make a motion to adopt the sample resolution to the Air Board.

President Korb: I’ll second that. All those in favor of the motion say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. Opposed same sign.

Commissioner Tornatta: Aye.

President Korb: Two yes, one no. The motion passes. I am hopeful that in five or ten years from now we are having a great conversation about how Hamilton’s Golf Course is a great golf course to play. It’s important, I want to thank the public for their patience with this. More importantly for the respect that they’ve paid to the course. We’ve not had one ounce of vandalism out there. That’s a huge deal. So, anyway, we want to thank you all for coming. That’s it on Hamilton’s Golf Course. We still have more meeting to do. Mr. Wallace, thank you very much. Mr. Howard, thank you very much. To the Brinker family who’s not here, thank you very much. Good luck with the media there, Mr. Wallace.

President Korb: New business. I’ve got new business. I would like to say thank you to Sohn Auction House. We had our auction of 130 properties on Friday the 29^th. You know what, we sold every one of them, 100 percent. So, that doesn’t mean they’ll all close, but we had a great, great outpouring. So, thank you to the community for that, and thank you to Sohn Auction and Realty.

Commissioner Tornatta: Thank the staff too.

President Korb: The staff, Marissa and Kristin did a great job with that. Awesome. Mr. Fluty, is this the first time this has happened?

Bill Fluty: We actually handled it differently before, but we did sell all of them in a different manner, got down to a few properties.

President Korb: But, you didn’t sell them all?

Bill Fluty: Not all of them.

President Korb: We sold all of them this time, buddy.

Bill Fluty: This is a first.

President Korb: Yeah, okay. You can go ahead and say, hey, you all did good.

Bill Fluty: Yes, you did great.

President Korb: Thank you, though, Kristin and Marissa you did a super job.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, I think it’s important to point out that the sale price was $103,000, which is pretty significant in itself.

President Korb: Money we wouldn’t have gotten, plus the properties go back on the tax rolls.

Commissioner Nix: And the County Attorney too.

Commissioner Tornatta: Thank the County Attorney and his staff for getting all those ready to process. That was a big job.

President Korb: Next, we have old business. Any other new business?

Commissioner Tornatta: Hold on.

President Korb: Sure.

Commissioner Nix: We have a place for public comment.

Commissioner Tornatta: Can you hold on one second? We’ll be right with you, if that’s okay? Old business, I would want to say that I met with the USI group, the entrepreneurs group, and they did give me a list. Here, I’ll let the Commissioners look through this, but they’re compiling now, and we had a little direction change, and we’re going through how they’re going to come about, but they’re giving some good ideas and some good background on the project. Whether they come up with something that’s going to be productive is only for them to see–

President Korb: But, it’s a great exercise, for them and for us.

Commissioner Tornatta: They’re having a great time with it, and they’re really serious about the project, taking it serious. So, I mean, I think it’s a good opportunity.

Commissioner Nix: To follow up with that, Commissioner, we had an Old Courthouse meeting today at noon at the Old Courthouse, and that exact item was brought up and we were looking forward to seeing something from them, hopefully, soon. The Wedgewood Room is probably 85 percent complete. I think we’ve got a rental in there on the 29^th of March. It’s, I believe, a wedding that’s going to be in there on the 29^th, a reception. Beautiful facility, and we’re going to have an open house and a gala and stuff sometime in April and May. So, we want to, I’ll report back when we get the dates.

Commissioner Tornatta: She’s going to make copies of that and get that to the airport. The airport? To the Commissioners.

Commissioner Nix: It’s a beautiful facility.

Commissioner Tornatta: The Courthouse group.

Commissioner Nix: It’s a beautiful facility, and it will be for rent starting late March, early April. So, just to get that out to the public.

President Korb: Great. Also, for the record, we have rescheduled all the road hearings, which were postponed thanks to inclement weather. District two, which is represented by Commissioner Tornatta, on the north side of Evansville is rescheduled for Wednesday, March the 19^th at 6:00 p.m. at Oak Hill Middle School. Again that’s March the 19^th at Oak Hill Middle School. District one, which is represented by Commissioner Nix is rescheduled for Wednesday, April the 2^nd at 6:00 p.m. at Plaza Park Middle School. That’s April the 2^nd at Plaza Park at 6:00. My district, district three, will be Wednesday, March the 12^th at 6:00 p.m. at Helfrich Park Middle School.

President Korb: Now public comment. You may come forward.

Eldon Maasberg: My name is Eldon Maasberg. I live on 147 Lutterbach Road.

President Korb: Okay.

Eldon Maasberg: And, I went to that meeting you cancelled on me. Not knowing it. So, I decided to come here instead. I haven’t had any rock on Lutterbach Road for ages. Also, at Maasberg, I mean, not Maasberg, at Armstrong Road and Baseline John Stoll’s put in a new culvert back I’m going to say about ten, maybe 15 years ago, and I told them when they done it, they had to put black top over it. When they re-blacktopped Armstrong Road, when they re-blacktopped Baseline, I told them to put blacktop over it. The rock keeps washing away. You got a ditch there over top of the culvert that deep and if they don’t put blacktop on it to keep the water from when it floods over the road, washing the rock away, you’ll never be able to hold it. We’re going in and out with big semis, long semis, and to get out you gotta, the corners are just not wide enough to even make the corners.

Commissioner Nix: Mr. Maasberg? We’ll take that information, Marissa is taking that down right now, and I’ll give that to Mike Duckworth. I think that’s probably where we need to go with that first.

Eldon Maasberg: Well, I had made all intentions to be at the meeting.

Commissioner Nix: And we apologize for–

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, and understand that that wasn’t just my decision, that was a decision passed on to me because of the weather. Of course, every Tuesday it seemed to rain or snow right before these events. So, I was prepared to go and was ready to go, and in the morning I got the call that we had probably better postpone it because of weather. Mike Duckworth should be there, but because of his crew being out all night on the roads, he had to be supervising them. So, some of that’s played into it. We apologize.

Eldon Maasberg: There was another man with me that, I mean, well, with me, he happened to be there looking for the meeting same as I was.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right.

Eldon Maasberg: We stopped at the concession stand, and the girls were having a basketball game, and nobody there seemed to know it. Finally, this gal that was running the concession stand went to the principal, and that’s the only reason, we would still probably be looking around for the meeting.

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, most of that should be posted.

Eldon Maasberg: There was no sign anywhere at the doors showing that the meeting had been cancelled.

Commissioner Nix: The media didn’t do a very good job of getting that notice out, I don’t guess.

Eldon Maasberg: Well, I was probably gone to work by that time. I didn’t–

President Korb: That’s alright.

Commissioner Tornatta: Will you please try and come out to that meeting? Seriously, that’s how things are going to get done, and barring another foot snow, we’ll try and, we’ll have that meeting.

Eldon Maasberg: Well, there was another man there too. He was, I think he said he lived on Peck Road. He wanted something done to Peck Road.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, well, just make sure you come out to that meeting.

Eldon Maasberg: Alright.

President Korb: Okay, great. Thanks a lot, appreciate it.

President Korb: Consent items?

Commissioner Tornatta: I would like to approve all the consent items with taking out the appropriations letter.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. Seeing that there’s no other business to appear before this group of Commissioners–

Commissioner Tornatta: Hold on. You guys would probably want to approve that letter.

Commissioner Nix: Do we have to vote on that. I mean, that letter (Inaudible).

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I haven’t seen the letter, but I was advised by Commissioner Tornatta that a letter was sent to Senator Lugar and Congressman Ellsworth, and somebody else, I guess.

Commissioner Nix: Bayh.

President Korb: Senator Bayh.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Who?

President Korb: Senator Bayh.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Senator Bayh, somebody else. I, as I say, I haven’t seen it. I know that these issues were discussed in a conference call in the department head meeting. I don’t know, perhaps, who signed the letter? Did you sign it, Jeff?

President Korb: I don’t know, did I sign it, Marissa? Marissa says I did.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I guess, at the time you signed it, you thought that there was a consensus based on the discussions at the department head meeting. I was there, and I felt that there was some consensus reached. But, the appropriate action, I think, would be if you could do one of two things. You can take a vote on ratifying that letter. Take it out of the consent agenda, the meeting’s not over with, and if there’s a motion you can ratify the sending of that letter, or you can vote all over again and send the letter over again. It’s just whatever you decide to do.

Commissioner Nix: I guess, we had voted to take it off the consent items.

Commissioner Tornatta: We took it out of the list of consent items. Now it sets aside–

Commissioner Nix: Right, right.

Commissioner Tornatta: –if you want to send it as is, that’s fine, you can vote on that, but I wanted to set it aside.

Commissioner Nix: I make that motion to send the letter as is.

President Korb: You don’t have a second? I have a second. All those in favor say aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye.

President Korb: Aye. Opposed same sign.

Commissioner Tornatta: Aye.

President Korb: The motion passes. Anything else, gentlemen? The meeting is adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 6:35 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of the February 19, 2008 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Approval of the February 26, 2008 Executive Session Summary Minutes.

FY ‘09 Appropriation Letters to Lugar, Bayh & Ellsworth.

Waive of Centre Fees/ Not OT: 2008 Economic Summit: November 20-21.

Evansville ARC Report of Activities: January 2008.

Employment Changes:

County Highway (1)                  Health Department (1)              Prosecutor (2)

Circuit Court (3)                        County Assessor (1)                 Public Defender (1)

Sheriff’s Office (3)                    VCCC (1)                                  Superior Court (1)

Travel Requests:

Health Department (9)              County Engineer (1)                 Treasurer (1)

Commissioners (1)

Weights & Measures: Monthly Report: January 2008.

Treasurer: Year-to-Date Report: January 2008.

Auditor: Surplus Letter: Various computer equipment.

County Clerk Monthly Report: January 2008.

Pigeon Township Trustee: 2008 Poor Relief Standards.

Purchasing: Monthly Report: January 2008.

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 47: Burkhardt-Green River TIF Projects.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Officer

Those in Attendance:

Jeff Korb                                   Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta

Bill Fluty                                    Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Marissa Nichoalds

Madelyn Grayson                     Darren Stearns                         Todd Denk

Sherman Greer                         John Stoll                                  Roger Lehman

Matt Arvay                                Tom Howard                             Paul Wallace

Eldon Maasberg                       Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Jeff Korb, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

Troy Tornatta, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)