VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

MARCH 21, 2006

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 21^st day of March, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Cheryl Musgrave presiding.

President Musgrave: Good afternoon. I would like to call to order the March 21, 2006 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County. We will begin with introductions to my right, Ms. Farrell?

B.J. Farrell: B.J. Farrell, Superintendent of County Buildings.

Kathryn Schymik: Kathryn Schymik from the office of the County Attorney.

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Musgrave: Cheryl Musgrave, County Commissioner.

Commissioner Shetler: Tom Shetler, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Bill Fluty, County Auditor.

President Musgrave: If you will please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Musgrave: We have the approval of prior minutes. We had a meeting on March 14^th.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: And I would like to note that we had an Executive Session today at 2:00 p.m. Commissioners Nix and Musgrave attended that, and it was to discuss pending litigation.

President Musgrave: First item on the agenda is Mike Duckworth, County Highway Superintendent. Mr. Duckworth? While he’s coming to the podium, I noticed that we have several students here. Are you all with North?

Unidentified: Yes.

President Musgrave: Welcome. Is this your government class requirement?

Unidentified: Yes.

Commissioner Nix: We couldn’t figure out why you’re all here. Go Huskies, hey?

President Musgrave: Thank you for coming.

Commissioner Nix: Is North the only school that requires that? I’m just curious.

President Musgrave: Is North the only school that requires this?

Commissioner Nix: We get a lot of North people here.

Unidentified: Probably so.

President Musgrave: Who’s your teacher?

Unidentified: Mr. Scheller.

President Musgrave: Well, tell Mr. Scheller that we think he’s doing a heck of a job.

Commissioner Nix: Welcome.

Commissioner Shetler: I think there’s some disagreement out there.

Mike Duckworth: Good afternoon. My name is Mike Duckworth. I’m the Superintendent of the County Highway Department. I have a couple of items that I need to go over with you. First and foremost, I’m here today to present to you, and I’ve already provided documentation to each of the members and Mr. Fluty and Madelyn regarding the potential amounts of money that we’ll be receiving from FEMA for the tornado clean-up. We have some existing balances that our vendors understand that when we receive those proceeds that they will be paid, as well as some reimbursements to some of the accounts that we had anticipated that we would have to do. So, I’m submitting that today in anticipation that we’ll be receiving those funds very shortly. I wanted to kind of work ahead of things. The only other comment that I have toward that has to do with insurance proceeds. The last I had heard we had received $72,000, but we were supposed to have the remaining part of that to equal $100,000 in by March 15^th. I would ask Mr. Ziemer’s group to check on that, because I think they were handling that.

President Musgrave: Later in today’s meeting, there will be an announcement that we have received the remainder of that money.

Mike Duckworth: Okay, with that proceed, if my figures are correct, and I believe they are, we’ll be reimbursed to the amount of $357,852.38. That included all the clean-up to that, the overtime, and the use of equipment, as well as the payment of the contractors that we had at that location. So, I’ve submitted that to you. Mr. Fluty has it. When those funds are in, I’ll be back with the final report for you, and we’ll go to the Council or do whatever is necessary.

Mike Duckworth: Today, the other matter that I have before you is an initial report for the 2006 paving season. Of course, we are trying to get through the last spurt of winter, at this point in time. There’s flurries out there today, and we hope that that’s all we get, not like Indianapolis, but with snow removal and the weather being on the roadways, it causes deterioration. My crews have taken information, as the Commissioners have, during the road hearings that we handled in February and March. We’ve taken information from telephone calls and e-mails, and we have, I think you have a copy before you, but for the audience, we have before you a listing of those roadways as a preliminary report. They represent approximately 33 miles of road. Last year we did just little over 32 miles. The previous year it was 29 miles of roadway. For your information, the county has in excess of 750 miles of roadway, including the many, many subdivisions that we have, that are not paved with asphalt, but concrete streets. So, we have quite an ordeal in front of us. Just, basically, to go through this real quick with you, they are separated into north, east and west districts. Our supervisors have driven these areas, and, Laura, if I could get you to click on one of them to show folks how they can go on their website, the www.vanderburghgov.org, website, and they can pull this up. But, if you can just pull one of these roadways up. If you click on the N1, N2 where they are named on the left, a picture of the road and the deterioration of that road should come up. Here we go. You’re going to have to turn it. Some of them you have to turn in the little box there. Yeah. As you can see, these are some of the types of roadways that we’re looking at that have allogated to the point where they’re getting pretty bad. These are the kinds of streets that we’re looking at repaving. So, with the help of the County Engineer’s Department, and in looking at these roadways, we’ve developed these, I think, 12 areas in the north, two in the east, and eight in the west. In addition to that, there is one stretch of shoulder work on New Harmony Road that we’ll be doing. We have about seven or eight areas that the whole road wasn’t deteriorated, but certain parts of it. So, we’ll be doing a major patch work in that area. In addition to that, I would tell you that our department has bought two pieces of equipment that will not only help us repair roads, on a temporary basis, but will help us to hopefully save some of them. One is called, it’s basically called a “hot box”. What it does is it keeps your asphalt over a number of days. Instead of at the end of the day, when you’ve got some left, you don’t know what to do with it, so, you have to dump it. This will keep the waste down, so that we can use it from day to day. It holds about four tons. So, that will help us in our patching area, and in our efficiency. As well as a new crack sealer. Our idea there is to start with our best roads, seal up some of those cracks that are starting now to preserve them, and then, hopefully, they will last longer and have a longer life to them. So, I present this to you today to look through. I would ask you to take this under advisement for the next couple of weeks. During that time we’ll receive other calls, and depending upon the budget, depending upon what we have here, we have enough in our budget, we believe, to do all of this work, but, of course, as we get in to our pothole blitz, the first two weeks of April, we will surely find more problems out there, and we will monitor that, and, hopefully, at the end of this season be able to complete the process.

President Musgrave: Have you established firmly the dates for the pothole blitz?

Mike Duckworth: Starting April 3^rd, the first two weeks of April. I believe, after talking to Mr. Ziemer of the city, they are going to conduct theirs at the same time.

President Musgrave: Alright, we will not have a meeting next week, and you may want to tell Mr. Scheller that there will be no Commission meeting next week while everybody’s on vacation from the School Corp. I know that’s school vacation time too. So, he can’t sentence anybody to come down and watch our meeting.

Commissioner Nix: Sentence.

President Musgrave: I’m sorry, assign anyone to come down. So, pothole blitz starting April 3^rd.

Mike Duckworth: Yes.

President Musgrave: Call in your potholes now. Those are the ones in the county. If you call us by mistake, we’ll go ahead and note that down and refer it over to the city.

Mike Duckworth: Exactly. One last thing, because we think it’s important for our group to continue the training and education, next week, while everybody’s on spring break enjoying themselves, myself and two supervisors will be attending the Purdue road school, which is training about the work that we do. I would tell you that Sherman Greer and myself will be doing a presentation on the tornado relief, so that other communities can not make the same mistakes we made, and, hopefully, learn from the experience that we went through.

Commissioner Nix: Let me make sure I’m clear on it. You’re going to bring this back to us in two weeks for approval then? Are you saying two or three weeks? Did we agree on that?

Mike Duckworth: That’s up to you. If you want to make adjustments, you know, you can contact me, we can make adjustments, add to, subtract from, whatever the case may be.

Commissioner Nix: I think three would be fine.

Mike Duckworth: If you want to extend it to three weeks, that would be fine.

Commissioner Nix: When would you anticipate starting paving? Just so we kind of get a, we can back ourselves into this then.

Mike Duckworth: Toward, well, toward the middle to late April.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, that gives us enough time then.

Commissioner Shetler: Mike, on most of these you’re doing what, an inch and a half or two inch overlay?

Mike Duckworth: Depending upon the condition of the roadway, how much overlay, or how much has been there. I mean, we’ve got a saw where we can cut. We’ve got, you know, and replace areas that are too high to their curbs. We also have an agreement with John that if we get into an area that needs to be completely milled out, that we could contract that milling out. So, it just depends upon the area that we get into.

Commissioner Shetler: So, in other words, you try to taper to go into the shoulder of the road and stuff?

Mike Duckworth: To the ditches, yes.

Commissioner Shetler: Right.

Mike Duckworth: We will do, we will send tree crews out to make sure that the trees are moved away from the highway. We will send crews out to cut the shoulders of the road, so that there’s proper drainage. We will then pave the road, like you say, crown them, so that we have proper drainage. As well, after that, we will come back through and make sure that there’s a nice, rock shoulder on the road, so that we don’t have drop-offs, as well as striping when necessary.

Commissioner Shetler: Yeah, that’s my biggest concern, because you get the drop off on those county roads that are narrow anyway, and that creates a pretty–

Mike Duckworth: During the pothole blitz, if people know of areas like that, you know, we can send crews out to fix those as well.

Commissioner Shetler: Okay.

President Musgrave: What is the number to call?

Mike Duckworth: 435-5777.

President Musgrave: Okay, and I know they can call 24 hours a day, and a leave a message after hours.

Mike Duckworth: If it’s an emergency situation they can call 911, and a supervisor will be dispatched. If it’s a general business situation and after hours of operation, after 4:00, they can leave a message and we’ll get right back to them the next day.

President Musgrave: We want them to call 435-5777 during normal business hours, and don’t call 911 during those business hours.

Mike Duckworth: Not unless it’s an emergency of some type.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Mike Duckworth: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Alright, thank you.

President Musgrave: Next on our agenda is the permission to open the bids for VC-07-2006, Burdette Park t-shirts.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: We’ll proceed to open those, and we’ll read them out later during the attorney’s report.

President Musgrave: Vision-e update. We have Mr. Jim Holderead here for a short presentation regarding the activities of Vision-e in the last several months. Thank you.

Jim Holderead: Thank you. We want to thank you for the financial support you give Vision-e, and we’re here to give you a brief update on what we’ve been doing in the economic development world over the past few months, since Ken Robinson left. The mission of Vision-e is to create new jobs, expand the economic base of the region, and to improve the quality of life of the entire region by attracting new businesses and retaining and expanding existing businesses. Business attraction involves advertising and marketing. Our marketing activities have involved a placement of several ads in vertical publications, which are aimed primarily at corporate real estate executives, and corporate real estate brokers that are involved in the site location process. We also have a website up, it’s www.vision-e.org, if you want to check it out. We have noticed over the past few months an increase in the number of visitors we’ve been getting, and that correlates with the increase in the activity in the economic development inquiries. We do also have a partnership arrangement with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and we receive a number of prospect inquiries through the IEDC Insights lead mechanism. We also do direct mail, and we keep in regular contact with selected corporations. The advertising leads over the past few months have been disappointing. Everyone is in the electronic mode now, and so, the ad leads have dwindled, and the direct responses to our website, and other electronic means have increased. So, we’re getting much more activity, direct contacts through the e-mails and the website activity. We’re also getting telephone calls as a result of their interest in the area. We have had a bit of a problem, since we’re somewhat understaffed, in turning things around rapidly. They demand rapid turn around. The information packages that we prepare often have to be sent electronically. They don’t want it tomorrow, they want it right now. Fed Ex isn’t fast enough for them anymore. So, that’s been a challenge in a small staffed organization. We’ve received a number of large requests for information. By large, these RFI’s as we refer to them have, oh, 25 pages. I think the last one we did turned out to be 33 pages of content after we completed the answers to all the questions. The largest one we’ve done in the past few months was 63 pages after we completed all the contents. There are some good things that are happening as a result of this activity. We’ve had several visitors to the area. There was a project that we worked on back in December. We had a visit from a German company that is looking at the area. That project is still pending. They have not made a location decision. They’re still studying the information that we gave them. We have an Ag research project that is getting close to a decision. Those gentlemen have made two visits to the area. We’ve been working in support of the Port of Indiana at Mt. Vernon on a large steel project. That is presently on hold, although, I think that it still looks good. The port has had an awful lot of steel business, and that’s an excellent location for this project. We’ve been working with a wood products company that contacted us looking for a building in southern Indiana. We have looked at properties here in the surrounding counties. That project is looking very good. Ms. Musgrave, you mentioned the Ethanol projects as a special interest. We got one more today, that is in addition to the two that we’ve been working, and I was talking with Phil Wilsbacher, the director of the port out at Mt. Vernon, and he’s working with two additional projects. So, we’ve got five looking at the area now. We’ve been working with a consultant that’s doing a site study for a drug related project. That has been continuing over the past few months, and I think that they’re getting close to a location decision. One of the bad news things about what’s happened is we have found that the inventory of buildings and sites has been going down dramatically. We don’t have any large buildings on the inventory right now, and the large sites are dwindling. So, we need to encourage developers to get out there and do things for us, because the absorption of sites and buildings has been pretty good over the past few months. We have also been working with a food ingredients project that’s looking very promising. We have a corporate back office project that is pending. So, we’ve been busy handling out of town prospects. We’ve also been handling some prospects, or some inquiries from local companies, and we’ve been assisting them with their searches for sites and buildings. In addition to the real estate questions, we have served as an information resource office for the area, and we have lots of inquiries about business questions. We get calls from appraisers, we get calls from bank examiners, we get calls from all kinds of business people that are looking for information, and we try to be responsive to those calls. Today we had a visitor that just walked in saying that he’s interested in establishing a business here. So, we do a lot of that too, and we try to keep our data bases up to date so we can be responsive to their inquiries. That’s all I have in my report. Do you have any questions?

Commissioner Shetler: A comment, and that is, obviously, you’re doing something right. I think the state of Indiana last year had 10,000 new jobs, 2,500 of those from the Vanderburgh County area. So, I think that’s speaking highly of the job that you’re doing, and the entire Vision-e board. So, I think you’re to be applauded for that.

Jim Holderead: Thank you very much.

President Musgrave: Thank you for coming, Jim. Appreciate the report.

President Musgrave: We now are pleased to welcome Amy Brown of Canoe Evansville. Amy will present a program on canoeing opportunities.

Amy Brown: I’m actually with the Wesselman Nature Society. I just happen to manage their program which they have named Canoe Evansville. Sorry, I’ll have to–

President Musgrave: Stop.

Amy Brown: Alright.

President Musgrave: Bend the microphone that way. There you go.

Amy Brown: There we go. Thank you very much for the opportunity to tell you more about our program. Like I said, I am Amy Brown, and I have been the program manager, this will be my second season, going into my second season with this program. I’ll tell you a little, let’s see, Wesselman Nature Society, as you know, is a parent organization for the Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve, Howell Wetlands, and their newest program, which is Canoe Evansville. They manage the first two programs, Wesselman Woods and Howell Wetlands in conjunction and partnering with the City of Evansville. The newest program, Canoe Evansville, was started in August of 2003. The Nature Society’s mission is to enhance our natural resources and the education of these in our community area, as well as protecting them. The program was started in 2003 when the director of Wesselman Woods wrote a grant and was approved a grant and wholehearted support from the Rotary Club and the Alcoa Foundation. The vision was allowing people to understand our natural waterways. They would then want to protect those natural waterways and habitats as well as learning about the effects of urbanization on water. They have certified the program manger, myself, as a naturalist. I’m also a certified interpretive guide with Project Wet and protecting our watersheds through earth forests. I am also a canoe instructor. We have an Americorp volunteer that’s a watershed coordinator. So, we have all been trained to work with these types of programs, along with getting a grant from our natural resources department. You guys know the significance of Pigeon Creek. I work with a lot of school groups and a lot of organizations that don’t quite understand what’s going on down there. They think it’s just a drainage ditch. It’s not. It incorporates a large area, 41 miles in length, 48 percent of the watershed is farmed, five percent is considered urban, 21 percent is still remaining forest, it’s not a huge amount, but we see that as a very important part for us to help teach people about. Here you can see the watershed, I’m taking this out of GIS that we’re allowed to see these things, but it shows that it’s almost half of Vanderburgh County is in the Pigeon Creek watershed. So, what we do, where we build and what green space we inhabit all affects this watershed. Also, one very important thing is the fact that it is a wildlife corridor. There’s a direct wildlife corridor to Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve. So, without Pigeon Creek being protected, and possibly even restored in some areas, we will, it decreases wild diversity to Wesselman Woods. So, it’s important for us to teach people about this and their affects again on the Pigeon Creek. Even last year we had several tons of spoiled concrete that was dumped right on the creek, and that, in effect, killed off a lot of trees in the area, you know, in the encompassing area. But, we are down there being able to tell people about it when it happens, telling officials when it happens, and therefore the companies or people are then responsible for those actions. Preservation through exploration, from a scientific standpoint Pigeon Creek does act like a healthy waterway. We find indicators, which like benthic macro invertebrates, that we test for that show that, you know, there are things there that say, this is, these aren’t here unless it’s a healthy waterway. So, other than, you know, sometimes after a major rain event, the Pigeon Creek is still decreased a lot in it’s pollutants. So, that’s a very good thing to show. So, getting people out on it to, again, show them how significant that is. But, we do ongoing testing, we work with other local organizations to do that, and we test for ecoli and macro invertebrates, and then other larger species do so, like our wood ducks. We also train other people to be able to do this as well. So, we train volunteers for Riverwatch, Hoosier Riverwatch. We work with the Soil and Water Conservation District, the Greenway, Earth Forest, U of E, United Way, Ohio Valley Paddlers, Bosse Environmental Club has helped us a lot, we’ve been working with them and many other organizations. Last fall’s United Way, you may have read about, we brought out 460 pounds of non-recyclable metal, or 460 pounds of recyclable metal, a dump truck full of non-recyclables and ten tires, and that was in about a three hour period with a fairly small group. We do these clean-ups though on a very regular basis. So, we’re constantly organizing groups to do this. Last year alone, our program used Wesselman Nature Society to get out to a large number of people just through events. So, like some of you participated in the Wabash Heritage Paddlefest, were able to get out on some of our other local waterways and see their resources as well. I think we hit about 3,050 is what we’re averaging people through these organizations. There was 300 just at that one event. So, what is it about Pigeon Creek that you may not recognize is a lot of the peacefulness about it. When you go down there people don’t realize it’s like an oasis in the middle of the city and county. But, and I’m going to try to get through this for you as quickly as possible. We offer 23 Pigeon Creek canoe tour programs, seven Hovey Lake, which is a natural oxbow and we’re very lucky to have that in our area as well, three Wabash River canoe trips, and five other waterways like Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area, which we use for our moonlight paddles. Wesselman Nature Society also does some instruction. We use this more as a fundraiser to an extent, but it does allow people to learn how to be able to get out into nature and explore it safely. A couple of people from this group that were here actually came from Indianapolis to participate in our programs, and we’ve also had people from Tennessee and other areas come just to participate in this program. The couple from Tennessee actually have come on three, have come up for three different of our programs. We also teach scouts, and while teaching them to canoe appropriately, most of what we put into them is instilling these, responsibility, and understanding of nature. So, that is our most important focus. We develop new trips, programs like wildflower tours, birdwatching, moonlight paddles, which we’ve had 100 percent repeat participation on those, people really like them, adaptive paddling, so, we’ve worked with ARC on some of our programs, and others, we’re doing a bat program as well this coming season. This is one of our moonlight paddles. Also, there’s an osprey nest there that we visit. This is Hovey Lake, it’s like paddling through a forest in some parts. We’ve also worked with the FOP Youth Camp this past summer. We hope to do so again. The FOP partnered with us and paid for these children to be able to go. We do believe that this is a lifelong skill. It’s something that gets people out. You should have seen these kids. More than half of them had never even been to a lake before. We got them out there and they’re like, are there fish in there? You know, and they just started asking all these questions. Many of them at first, like wouldn’t go out. Then little by little when they saw their friends out there, they all got out on the water, and this was just such a new experience for them. It was just, you could see the walls breaking down between, you know, between concrete and nature. You know, making them realize that they themselves could do this, and seeing the kids together, you know, working together to have to speak to one another, and really work things out to be able to get the boat to move to where it needs to go. Then from there, once they get past that, being able to show them, okay, go over and look at this and look at that, and do you see the algae and what that is for? You know, all the little things, but you break down those barriers a little at a time, and this is a lifelong thing. They learn it while they’re young, but they’ll do it all the way through retirement, you know, possibly, and teach their kids to do it. It’s a family activity. Over 51 million people canoed in the year 2004. I got that from the Professional Paddlesports Association. That’s as many people that used motorboats. So, as you can see, this is an activity that is for just about anyone. You can also see that it brings a lot of people, it can bring a lot of people in to use our natural resources in our area. It’s why ecotours are so big now. Lousiville has an excellent program that we’re trying to somewhat kind of copy in a way. Their metro parks and civic organizations, their school corporation and their local sewage department have all gotten together to build an environmental education program that uses canoeing. So, they do that throughout their whole system. All their schools use this to learn about environmental education. Their Mayor actually bought the canoes for them. So, it was, it’s really neat to see all these different communities using the program. We actually have one volunteer that’s 90 years old. It is an organization, or it is a program that will enhance our community. So, our program helps us explore waterways, which most people don’t even know exist, in ways. We provide education and classes and public volunteers and involvement. So, this is what is considered experiential education. It doesn’t want to work now. So, anyway, this tells you a little bit about the Canoe Evansville program and where it’s gone since last year, and what we plan to do in the future.

President Musgrave: Now, if somebody wanted to contact you, do you have a phone number, website?

Amy Brown: They contact Wesselman Woods, they call the Nature Center, which is 479-0771, extension 5#, which is about the canoe programs. The website is www.wesselmannaturesociety.org, and they can learn all about Wesselman’s programs. All of the Wesselman Nature Society programs are wonderful and really expanding right now.

President Musgrave: Do you have brochures for this?

Amy Brown: I do. I can–

President Musgrave: I would like to see one. Are they available down at the Pagoda as well?

Amy Brown: Yes, they are. They are available at the Pagoda, and there is a number of places, the zoo has them, and there’s quite a few places you can go to get them. Our programs start in April and they go through November. We’re booking programs now for the general public and for scouts and school programs.

President Musgrave: Well, thank you very much. Do you have any questions?

Amy Brown: Do you have questions about our program?

President Musgrave: Learned a great deal about it, and you obviously have a great deal of passion and enthusiasm for it.

Amy Brown: Well, thank you.

President Musgrave: Thank you for coming.

Amy Brown: It’s a fantastic program.

President Musgrave: County Engineer, ah, there you are, permission to award VC06-03-01, New Harmony Road embankment repair.

John Stoll: I would like to request that you award this contract to CCC of Evansville for the amount of $48,484.36. They provided the low bid on the project.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

President Musgrave: Second. All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: Thanks.

Commissioner Shetler: John, while you’re here, I received a letter, I was going to do this underneath new business, but you may want to get rolling here, but from a Mr. Mark Deputy, and it’s about the private road that they would like to petition to have accepted by the county standards. There are some commitments that they are willing to make as a neighborhood association to bring it into line, or compliance with most of the regulations that we require. I thought perhaps you could look this over, as County Engineer, and then come back with a recommendation in the next couple, three weeks and let us know. There are outlines and things there. You might even get in touch with Mr. Deputy and perhaps, I don’t know if it’s necessary to work out or negotiate or to talk about some of those things and stuff like that, that maybe we can get to some kind of point here where it gets close. Because I know it’s something they’ve been working on for 20 years.

John Stoll: Okay. Sure.

President Musgrave: Mr. Stoll, do you want to go ahead and make your report while you’re at the microphone?

John Stoll: I didn’t have anything else to report.

President Musgrave: Nothing to report. Thank you.

President Musgrave: Permission to advertise, Purchasing. Is Purchasing still here? Thank you. This will be for VC9903-2006, Burdette Park food bids.

Phil Lawrence: Yes, Madam Chairman, Commissioner Shetler, I would like your permission to advertise. The advertisement dates will be March 24^th, March 31^st, and opened here April 11^th.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

President Musgrave: Second. All those in favor? Aye.

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. I look forward to a successful–

Phil Lawrence: The t-shirts bids?

President Musgrave: Do you want to go ahead and open those?

Kathryn Schymik: We can go ahead and do that. I’ve opened the bids. Siegel’s Uniforms submitted a bid of $5,257.40; Southwest Graphics and Apparel submitted a bid of $4,417.50; Phoenix of Evansville, $3,969.37; and Chips, Inc., $4,425.65.

Phil Lawrence: Great.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to take under advisement?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

President Musgrave: Second. All those in favor? Aye.

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Phil Lawrence: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Thank you, sir.

President Musgrave: Ms. Schymik, I believe you have the quit claim deeds and sales disclosures for 105 Madison, 600 Jefferson and 743 E. Chandler?

Kathryn Schymik: Madelyn actually has those for your signatures following the meeting today, but the Redevelopment Commission, that’s the Evansville Redevelopment Commission did pass their resolution this morning accepting those properties. So, at the end of today’s meeting if the Commissioners will execute the deeds and sales disclosure forms, then we will deliver those back to the Redevelopment Commission and they will be responsible for recording those documents.

President Musgrave: Did we, do we need a motion to execute those today? I think we do. Is there a motion?

Commissioner Shetler: I’ll move that.

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

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Thank you for that. This is part of our ongoing cooperative project with the City of Evansville where we, when we can, deed over properties in the specified inner city area, to the city, for redevelopment. This is causing, this was an outgrowth of some of the difficulties of managing properties that constantly needed visits by the Health Department, Code Enforcement, were serious drains on the resources of city government. So, we entered into a relationship whereby the county instead of selling these properties at tax sales or Commissioners sales, instead worked with the city to transfer ownership to the city, so that they could be positively redeveloped. I would like to thank you for your work on that. I know that there are a number of details that always need to be resolved before anything can move forward.

President Musgrave: We have now a resolution for a sale of a piece of property to an abutting property owner. The tax code i.d. of the property is 09-730-17-150-011, county resolution 03-06-010. This is for the sale of the vacant lot, behind the house with an address of 1836 North Colony. This is a piece of property that the County Commissioners own, and the neighboring landowner would like to buy it. It’s my understanding that we need to pass the resolution today in order to make that happen. So, a motion and a second and a vote.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

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

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: We’ll move forward with that.

President Musgrave: We have another piece of property, no, that’s the same piece of property. Permission to advertise the sale of the property. So, we need to advertise this for the property behind 1836 North Colony, the tax code as I just read it.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

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

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: We move on now to contracts, agreements and leases. I understand that the KRONOS maintenance agreement is an annual contract with the County Auditor’s office. If there are any questions? If not, is there a motion?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

President Musgrave: I will second. All those in favor? Aye.

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: We come now to department head reports, Burdette Park? I understand that Gary is here today.

Gary Hohman: Yes, thank you, Gary Hohman, Assistant Manager at Burdette Park. I’m here today to seek permission for bids for the construction of the spray park that will be adjacent to the Burdette Park aquatic center. We’re asking that these bids be returned on April the 4^th, opened and reviewed following that, and then awarded on the 11^th. All of these bids and specifications have been approved by Mr. Lawrence and also Roger Lehman and the Building Commission. So, they are ready to go, and we’re chomping at the bit to get it started.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Commissioner Shetler: Gary, what kind of time line to we have on this?

Gary Hohman: We’re looking for construction to be completed May the 28^th, the same day that the pool is to open.

Commissioner Shetler: Okay, so that’s going to be, sounds like it’s pretty tight.

Gary Hohman: According to all of the material suppliers and the contractors that we’ve dealt with dealing with this project, it is conceivable that it can be done within this time frame.

Commissioner Shetler: How many days of construction are they allowing?

Gary Hohman: We’ve got from the, proceed to start would be immediately following the 11^th, awarding of the contract. The materials for the spray park have already been ordered, you awarded them to be purchased previously. They’re looking at a possibly two to three week total construction of the project.

Commissioner Shetler: Okay. Alright, thank you.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion? Do you want to go ahead and make the motion?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

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

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: If we’ll hold while they change the tape.

(Tape change)

Gary Hohman: That’s all I have, Madam Chairman. Thank you.

President Musgrave: Thank you. Thank you for coming. April 4^th will be a very busy bid opening day.

Kathryn Schymik: It will be for Ted.

President Musgrave: I understand we took care of the County Engineer. Ms. Farrell?

B.J. Farrell: Back in September of 2005 the Commissioners did grant Mr. Craig’s request to surplus some bumper boats and the parts. I have talked to Wolfe’s Auto Auction, they are willing to have those bumper boats in their auction on the 30^th of this month and sell them for whatever price we could get for them. I would ask the Commissioners approval to do that, as that would be much more convenient than trying to store them on the lawn at the Old Courthouse and sell them at the county sale on April the 8^th.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

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

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: So, this is your big opportunity to go to Wolfe’s Auto Auction on what date, do you know?

B.J. Farrell: The 30^th.

President Musgrave: April 30^th, or March?

B.J. Farrell: March 30^th.

President Musgrave: Wow, and buy one of the vintage bumper boats from Burdette Park. Boy, you can almost say that three times fast. Do we also have another agreement?

B.J. Farrell: Yes, and I have asked the County Attorney representative, Kathryn Daniels, Schymik, I’m sorry, you’ve gotten married, to review the Ivy Tech agreement that was sent to us utilizing their facility for a polling place. She has reviewed that document, it is satisfactory, and I ask the Commissioners to sign it.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

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

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: That was on the polling place list that we passed last week?

B.J. Farrell: Yes, it was. This is the agreement that they send out for someone to use their facility.

President Musgrave: Alright. My records show no other reports, except possibly County Attorney.

Kathryn Schymik: No report.

President Musgrave: Nothing to report.

President Musgrave: New business? We covered the road item under, is there any other new business?

President Musgrave: Old business? The veterans hospital support letter. Commissioner Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: Yes, we’ve been working on a letter that, basically, to go along with what was sent out last week by Mark Acker on the, supporting the use of Welborn Hospital facility and/or any other facility that the Senator might find, this is going to Senator Lugar, that might find reasonable in the Vanderburgh County area. The main emphasis is, is that we want to point out to the Senator that we would like to have a facility located in Vanderburgh County, and we feel that the Welborn facility is a natural, because that’s what it was built for. It would be nice to keep that what it was intended for, to be utilized to it’s max. In addition to that, it is an urban setting that we would not want any deterioration to take place in that particular environment. So, we’ve sent a companion letter along to the Senator asking that, one, Vanderburgh County be used as a site for the Veterans Administration hospital, and, two, that Welborn be considered.

President Musgrave: Would you also like to send that to, I think the letter last week went to both Senators and perhaps the Veterans Service, would you like to send copies to them as well?

Commissioner Shetler: Yes.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Commissioner Shetler: I was remiss in not mentioning that we should send it to all concerned. Thank you.

President Musgrave: Okay. Do you want to make the motion?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

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

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Any other old business? Public comment, Mr.–

B.J. Farrell: I’m sorry. I wasn’t quick enough with that switch. The insurance checks that we have received.

President Musgrave: Oh.

B.J. Farrell: I do have insurance checks received, and Tom Simpson today did come to our office and confirm that $19,013.63 may be placed back on the Tubes & Tires line item within the County Highway budget.

President Musgrave: Alright, so this is the remaining insurance money that was collected by Westbrook Corporation for the debris removal that the Highway Department, we contracted with them to remove the mobile homes and other debris that was a result of the tornado. So, this completes their contractual obligations in turning over a total of $100,000 to the county. So, today’s action will deposit the remainder with the Auditor, and the Auditor will put a certain amount of that, the amount read off by Ms. Farrell directly into the line item for the damaged tubes and tires, the damage incurred by the Highway Department on-site. The rest will go into the Cash Management Account, is that correct?

Bill Fluty: Yes.

President Musgrave: Okay.

B.J. Farrell: There is a spreadsheet attached with that dollar figure that Mr. Simpson reviewed earlier today.

President Musgrave: Alright, thank you very much.

President Musgrave: Now, public comment. Mr. Bob Koressell asked to come forward. Is he still here today?

Bill Fluty: He talked with Mike.

President Musgrave: Oh, he spoke with Mike Duckworth before the meeting? Okay. Is there anyone else who would like to comment to the Commissioners? I see no one.

Unidentified: I do.

President Musgrave: Oh, I didn’t see you. Please come forward. State your name and address for the record please.

Brian Whitledge: My name is Brian Whitledge, 6001 North Green River Road. I was kind of waiting, I thought people behind me, I got here kind of late, and I thought they wanted to go first. I’ve just got a couple of questions. I know there’s a phase three of Green River Road expansion project, widening project, and that’s going to directly affect me and Plainview Acres. Plainview Acres is the subdivision which is north of Pigeon Creek on the east side of Green River Road. Sugar Mill, or not Sugar Mill Creek, I’m trying to think, Keystone Subdivision is directly across the road that runs all the way to Oak Hill Road, okay. Then there’s two or three subdivisions north of Millersburg Road on Green River Road, and all of these new subdivisions have and enjoy sewage. Everybody that’s on the east side of the road does not enjoy that. All the way up to roughly Kansas Road. The new soccer complex and all those new expansions and projects that are up through there. I know that the road is going to be widened. I’m not sure when the slated, scheduled time is for that. I know phase two is supposed to start next year, with phase three roughly in 2008. I’m not sure. But, I was wondering, what do we have to do to get sewers in that area? How do we start the ball rolling? If anybody has any information for me, or where I can get this information.

Commissioner Shetler: Well, that is primarily a city function through the Utility Department, Water and Sewer. Basically, you would probably need to petition through them, and it’s a matter of really private owners paying for that on their own. It’s a tap in fee, plus if you have to run trunk lines to your properties and etcetera like that.

Brian Whitledge: Right. Lift stations have to be, we’ve researched it vaguely, not extensively. Lift stations were installed for Keystone, but they are not compatible for the existing neighborhoods, which is roughly 42 houses. The biggest thing is, when they widen that road, it’s still not maybe installed, so, then you’re asking for further damage and construction, you know, going back through. But, if it is a city matter, you know, since we’re in the county, I just thought it would be a county matter. I know the sewage and water is run by the city–

President Musgrave: Right.

Brian Whitledge: –so, is there a City Council meeting that I may need to attend to address this?

Commissioner Shetler: I’m not sure going directly to the City Council, it would probably be more appropriately the Utility Board, but Bill Jeffers, our County Surveyor, has a comment on it.

Brian Whitledge: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: I was talking to Bruce Biggerstaff, the developer of Keystone Estates, last Tuesday evening, and asked him about the sewer situation for Irene and Bassett Roads, is that your–

Brian Whitledge: I’m right smack dab between them.

Bill Jeffers: –right. The homes to the east of Green River Road on Irene and Bassett, and he told me that the sewer has been extended, the trunk line has been extended, and the pump station is there. Now, whether the capacity is there, I do not know, that would have to be addressed by the Sewer Department, as you have said, Commissioner Shetler, but the taps would have to be extended under Green River Road to the east. To the best of my understanding, Mr. Biggerstaff indicated that would be the responsibility of the homeowners on the east side paying for that extension or working through the Sewer Board to acquire it. But, the trunk line’s there and it does have capacity, I think the pump station does as well.

President Musgrave: County Engineer, John Stoll would also like to make a remark.

John Stoll: Typically, when they do put a lift station in, they do size it to accommodate as large of an area as possible. So, given the fact that they put one in in conjunction with Keystone, I would think that it would have the capacity to serve anything within that drainage basin. That, there again, like Bill Jeffers said, that’s something that the Sewer Department would have to verify, but I suspect that it would be, that it would have the capacity, and, typically, in regard to any projects, sewer projects that the county’s been involved in, it’s been Barrett Law projects initiated by the property owners who wish to get the sewer services. In that situation, the residents get together and come up with the plans and everything, and then the county facilitates the bidding and oversees the construction. But, in turn, the costs are turned around and assessed back to the individual property owners who get the sewer.

President Musgrave: Now, you were discussing the time line for the project, and it’s good news and bad news. The time line has been moved forward considerably, and if you would like to go ahead and explain the time line for Green River Road as it stands pending the completion of all the financing.

John Stoll: If the local funds through the TIF bond can all be used rather than any federal funds, then we could go to construction in phase two next year. It would probably be a two year construction project. Even if the project did proceed, any sewer lines, if the sewer lines were installed in advance, they could always be bored back underneath the road without having to go out and cut the brand new pavement.

Commissioner Shetler: But, I would say, it would probably be less expensive to do it today, as opposed to doing it three years from now. Wouldn’t you? I mean, as an engineer–

John Stoll: If they were, it depends on how they did it. I mean, open cutting Green River Road would be a major headache because it would shut down the road for any laterals or trunk lines that were extended–

Commissioner Shetler: I’m not sure we would grant that kind of permission anyway.

John Stoll: Right, so, it might have to be bored right now, if the project proceeded right now. You would just have a wider area, wider pavement that would have to be bored underneath in the future condition rather than what exists right now.

Commissioner Shetler: Now, in a cost for the neighbors, would it be extending the trunk line, plus the standard tap in fee? Or would there be more involved than that?

John Stoll: As far as I know that would be it. Any sewer line extension, any laterals, any tap in fees.

Commissioner Shetler: Now, does the tap in fee, I know it was pretty standard for years, and I think they raised it last year. Did they?

John Stoll: They did, and I don’t recall what it is off the top of my head.

Commissioner Shetler: Was that something that, I don’t know, that they were going to raise it over a period of years as well? Or was it just that last year was it?

John Stoll: I’m not sure. We’re not involved enough in sewer projects–

Commissioner Shetler: Right.

John Stoll: –that I remember exactly how their fee structure worked.

Commissioner Shetler: I guess, what I’m trying to emphasize here is that the quicker the better for you guys to keep the price down as much as possible. But, you know, we’re willing to work, you know, the County Engineer has indicated here that we’re willing to work with you all and do what we can, as far as any kind of funding mechanisms that may be available to you out there.

Brian Whitledge: The organization of the neighborhood, we did it in ‘91 when we got water installed, and I know it’s a big, and I actually was the organizer for that group then. I will be for this group also for this project. It’s very, it’s crucial, I think, for the, like couldn’t have been a better night to have the Canoe Evansville people here, because they’re canoeing on Pigeon Creek, it’s the most polluted waterway in Vanderburgh County. It’s the most beautiful. It’s the only one that runs through, but it’s also the most polluted. There’s a lot of culprits up in my area that are contributing to this. I know the Little Bluegrass Creek is also another troubled area, and that’s where eventually all this affluent that is in the area will go. It travels right to Pigeon. Well, I just didn’t know how to actually get started on this.

President Musgrave: I would go to the Utility Board.

Brian Whitledge: The Utility Board?

President Musgrave: I think they meet twice a month, don’t they, John? I don’t know when their next meeting is. So, you might want to stop in the Water Department, although I think they are closing in four minutes. No? They stay open until 5:00? Alright.

Brian Whitledge: The Water Department?

President Musgrave: Down on the first floor, across from the information desk.

Brian Whitledge: Okay.

President Musgrave: They’ll let you know, they can give you information as to how to proceed.

Brian Whitledge: Okay.

President Musgrave: Okay? Good luck to you.

Brian Whitledge: Thank you very much.

President Musgrave: Let us know when you get more along in the Barrett Law project, because I think you’ll have to come back to us.

Brian Whitledge: Okay.

President Musgrave: Alright.

Brian Whitledge: It will be a pleasure.

President Musgrave: Thank you. Any other comment? I see none this time.

President Musgrave: We have consent items, are there any amendments to the consent agenda? Is there a motion to approve?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

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

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: Motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

President Musgrave: Second. All those in favor? Aye.

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: Thank you for coming from North High School. Good luck to you.

(The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Employment Changes:

Prosecutor (1)                           Sheriff’s Office (7)                    VCCC (4)

Center Assessor (1)                 Health Department (1)              County Clerk (2)

County Highway (1)

Travel Requests:

Auditor (1)                                 Health Department (3)

Superior Court/Adult Probation: Surplus letter-filing cabinets.

Burdette Park: Surplus letter-vehicle.

Auditor: Surplus letter-printers.

Commissioners:

Right-of-Way Maintenance and Indemnification Agreements-Spurling/Vincent.

Evansville ARC monthly report-February 2006.

Department Head Meeting Notes- March 14, 2006

Treasurer: Monthly report-February 2006.

Weights & Measure: Monthly report-February 2006.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Officer                           Supt. Of Bldgs.                         Veterans Service

CIO

Those in Attendance:

Cheryl Musgrave                      Bill Nix (left at 3:45)                  Tom Shetler, Jr.

Bill Fluty                                    Kathryn Schymik                      B.J. Farrell

Madelyn Grayson                     Mike Duckworth                        Phil Lawrence

Jim Holderead                          Amy Brown                               Gary Hohman

Brian Whitledge                        John Stoll                                  Bill Jeffers

Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

Tom Shetler, Jr., Member

Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.