VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

MAY 10, 2011

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 10^th day of May, 2011 at 5:02 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Lloyd Winnecke presiding.

President Winnecke: Good evening. I would like to call the May 10, 2011 Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners meeting to order. We’ll begin with attendance roll call, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Here.

President Winnecke: Would you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Winnecke: At this time I would entertain a motion to open bids for VC11-05-01, concrete repair for various roads.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Abell: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Okay.

President Winnecke: Before we get to our action items, what I would like to do is ask Sherman Greer, the head of our Emergency Management Agency, and Mike Duckworth from the County Highway Department to come up and give an update on where we stand with flooding at this time.

Mike Duckworth: President Winnecke, Commissioners, Mike Duckworth, County Highway Superintendent. My part of this, I would just tell you that we’ve–

President Winnecke: Is your mic on?

Mike Duckworth: I believe it is.

President Winnecke: Okay.

Mike Duckworth: We’ve been working in several phases of our recovery from all these different weather events. First of all, as you all know, we’ve had straight line winds that have come through the community, and caused a great deal of tree damage and trees down and those kinds of things, which resulted in a lot of power outages. We got through that and we had the torrential rains and now the flooding. As the waters are receding, tonight I can tell you that all northeast, northwestern county roads are now open. We do have quite a bit of work left from mud and silt and a great deal of creek smell, if you will, that has been, you know, brought into these neighborhoods. So, that’s kind of where we’re working now. We have 25 roadways on the Old Henderson Road area in the bottoms, Waterworks Road area, South Weinbach, South Green River Road, those areas are still pretty well under water, and as the water recedes we anticipate quite a bit of damage and work to those areas. In addition, we are starting our assessment of our bridges, and the areas around those bridges. Not only do we have a great deal of mud, but we’ve got, you know, weeds now that are growing. So, I would just report to you that we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We know that county residents have a great deal of debris, and with the Commissioners permission, we would ask to allow our staff time, on our regular hours, Monday through Thursday, from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to be available to pick up tree branches and debris and those kinds of things from these neighbors. We’ll put crews together to respond to their calls. If the residents would call, county residents, those that live outside the city limits, would call 435-5777, we’ll take a work order, we will put those according to their location and try to be as efficient as we can with utilizing our gas and our vehicles. So, that’s kind of our plan right now. As water recedes in the Old Henderson Road and lower bottom areas, we’re going to be scraping and collecting mud and silt off the road and trying to work with Sherman and some of the volunteer fire departments to spray these roads down, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

President Winnecke: Mike, would you describe for folks in the audience and the folks watching at home the parameters for roadside pick up?

Mike Duckworth: Well, what we would like to see is, and, of course, no couches, no wet carpets and those kinds of things. You know, the weight of those on our vehicles as we take them to the dump is going to be pretty expensive. So, we don’t really have money budgeted for that, but limbs, I’m going to say six, anything six foot long or shorter. If it’s a small tree and they can get it out to the curb, we have equipment that will pick it up and mulch it or chop it up with our chain saws and we’ll get rid of it for them, but, that’s kind of the overall parameters. If it’s something too big that we can’t get, we’ll try to get back to them, but we’re not going to go into people’s backyards and off the right of way and those kinds of things, at this time.

President Winnecke: And, again, would you, 435-5777–

Mike Duckworth: That’s right.

President Winnecke: –Marissa, would you see that that gets on our website, and let’s put out a news release to folks so they, to the public so they know that that service is available. Any questions of Mike?

Commissioner Abell: Mr. Duckworth, I know we have an area where you’re going to be taking the tree limbs and things. If someone has a truckload of those, you don’t want them to bring them out?

Mike Duckworth: No, we have secured a couple of places that we really don’t want to advertise, because we’re transporting that to an area in the river bottoms where we have a burn permit that we’ve gone through IDEM and we’ll be, actually that permit is good for year, we’ll be burning there in a controlled burn. So, if we tell them where we’re doing that, we’ll end up with the couches and the trampolines and all of that stuff as well, and we’re not in a position to handle that just yet.

Commissioner Abell: But, of course, I think we should make note for everyone, those couches and everything can be picked up at the heavy trash pick up day.

Mike Duckworth: Yes, that’s right, that’s right.

Commissioner Abell: Or, does the county participate in that? No.

Mike Duckworth: Well, if they have a friend in the city, I guess, it could be picked up then.

President Winnecke: Sherman? I know one of the things that people will be worried about in the coming days, if they’re not already, is the disposal of sandbags. Can you review up what people need to know about that?

Sherman Greer: Well, first of all, since the sandbags have been put on their property, it’s their responsibility to get rid of the sandbags. We’ve had some calls already that people want us to come out and pick them up, and we just don’t do that. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has some guidelines on what it is that you can and cannot do with the sandbags. These sandbags have safety and regulation guidelines for citizens to use for disposal of sandbags. You want to use caution, you know, that you don’t slip and fall when you’re working with these sandbags, because you can get contaminated from them. All of these sandbags, once they’ve met, and that river water has hit them and everything, I mean, there’s a lot of things in that river coming down from wherever it’s picked it up and everything, coming down the river. So, you should wear gloves and boots and protect yourself and your feet. You should also, if you’re going to use, or if you’re going to use sand or sand from, to plant your flowers, for blocking pavement, pavement blocking and sidewalks and things like that, you should use clean sand for those. Don’t use the sand for mortar or anything like that. You don’t want to use this sand because it’s contaminated. Never, ever use this sand for sandboxes for children to play in, because it’s very much contaminated at this time. Never dispose of the sand in a wetland or flood plain or any sensitive area like that. The best thing to do is to get a hold of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, or, to get a list of solid waste disposal sites would be the best thing to do to get rid of the sand. They have a website, it’s www.idem.IN.gov/5047. You need to get in touch, look that up on the website, and they’ll give you that information. So, and I’ve got some of these handouts for anybody in the audience that wants to take one of these with you, I will put them in back back here.

President Winnecke: Marissa, that’s probably another website, another piece of information we could put on our website.

Sherman Greer: Other than that, the only thing we’re doing right now, we’re into this, as Mike said, the phase of doing our assessments and debris clean up. As you know, I think all three of you have been in on one of these disasters or not that we’ve had before and everything. If we’re going to contract with someone, those contracts have to have all of the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed. If FEMA’s coming in here, if we get a Presidential declaration out of that, those things have to be all above board or whatever. So, if you need any, if we need any assistance on that, get with Adam, get with myself and Adam and we’ll give you some of the guidelines that they require for those contracts. Other than that, so far, the invoices that I’ve received are very minimal, I know, for the port-a-johns that we had out there and the solid, I mean, Allied Waste, and a couple of other ones that I’ve gotten so far that’s not amounted to that much. Most of the things, the thing that I cannot mention enough is the thanks to Mr. Mulzer, Mulzer Sand and Gravel, they gave away tons and tons of salt, of sand to everybody up and down the Ohio River. So, we really appreciate that, and a lot of the trucking companies that hauled the sand for us in the State of Indiana, INDOT that hauled the sand for us in. We still have about 8,000 sandbags sitting out at the Whirlpool parking lot, and we’re going to work on getting those inside by the end of this week, we hope. We may have to, I need a couple forklifts is what I need, and some flat beds. I’m going to get with Mike on that and see what we can come up with on that.

President Winnecke: Sherman, where do we stand on, just, we’re under still a State of Emergency, which helps us determine the level of damage the community has endured. Do you see the need to extend that another seven days?

Sherman Greer: I think we should, because we are into the recovery phase. I’ve already had the Mayor’s office to sign it. I’m glad you brought that up, I’ve got, I need your three signatures tonight before I leave here so that I can file that tomorrow, and that will give us seven more days. Twenty one days is the maximum that you’re on, that locks us in.

President Winnecke: Then, do you anticipate us being able to come up with a final damage threshold within that last seven day period?

Sherman Greer: Not really, not really.

President Winnecke: So, what happens after that?

Sherman Greer: Well, we still, we’ll work on it and give them a preliminary number. That preliminary number will stand until we get the, if we get the declaration and they send the Feds in here at that time, from FEMA, then we start sharpening our pencil and coming up with an exact number, a close number and everything.

President Winnecke: Okay.

Sherman Greer: But, we want everything reported.

President Winnecke: Right.

Sherman Greer: If anyone is going to discredit it or throw it out and everything, let it be the Feds.

President Winnecke: Right.

Sherman Greer: We’ll report it, and we’re not going to be embarrassed if they say you can’t claim that. Nothing beats a trial but a failure, you know.

President Winnecke: Mike?

Mike Duckworth: I was going to add to that the fact that we’re still under water in a lot of areas. In this last flood episode we had situations where the speed of the water actually peeled part of the pavement from its base. I don’t know if we’re going to run into those kinds of things or not, but that could be a very expensive situation. So, in echoing what Sherman said, we need as much time to do this assessment, we’re going to have to be working with John Stoll’s office to do assessment of any damages to our bridges and those kinds of things so that we have as much accurate information to provide to FEMA so that we can meet that threshold and get reimbursed for the overtime and for the use of our equipment and all of those things as well.

Sherman Greer: That all depends upon whether or not we get a declaration out of this. I mean, you look at what’s happened in Alabama, you look at what’s happening on the Mississippi River right now, I wonder where we fall within that pecking order as of right now. But, still yet, if we don’t get the numbers, we’re not going to get anything. So, we need to get the numbers together and have all of the department heads, city and county both, counting all of their man hours, all of their equipment use, type of equipment used and everything else, that’s what builds the numbers.

President Winnecke: Any other questions of Mike or Sherman?

Madelyn Grayson: Sherman, do you have the State of Emergency paperwork with you for them to sign tonight?

Sherman Greer: Yes, it’s down in my truck. I’ll bring it up here and they can sign it after. Okay?

President Winnecke: Okay, thank you, Sherman. Thanks, Mike.

Sherman Greer: Anything else?

President Winnecke: I know there are some folks here from the Elmridge Drive area that expressed a desire to speak at our Drainage Board, which typically follows, well, it does follow the Commissioners meeting. I thought, so you don’t have to stay around till 6:00 or 6:30, that we would go ahead and fold you into this discussion now. So, I don’t know, I know the....you guys got here first, so you can, and we’ll just come up in an orderly fashion after that. Just state your name and address, and we’ll get everyone heard during this portion, so you can move on.

Kevin Wilson: Yeah, my name is Kevin Wilson. I live at 3736 Elmridge Drive, along with my wife, Julie.

Joe Sims: I’m Joe Sims. I live at 3636 Elmridge Drive.

President Winnecke: Go ahead.

Kevin Wilson: Okay, the first thing I want to know is about FEMA. Now, he said we’re still waiting to see if we get money from them. Now, will I be able to get reimbursed for the money that I had to spend for sandbagging and pumps and various things that I had to buy?

President Winnecke: Sherman? Sherman, excuse me, he’s asking a question that I think we need your technical advice on.

Kevin Wilson: I was talking about FEMA, with all the pumps that I had to rent and buy, and gas I had to spend, and drainage pipes.

President Winnecke: How do private residents–

Sherman Greer: Private residents, you can turn that in, and you could recoup it off of a small business administrative loan. I don’t think, I really, honest to God don’t think you’re going to get it.

Kevin Wilson: You don’t think I’ll get any?

Sherman Greer: Any of it, no.

Kevin Wilson: That’s nice.

President Winnecke: But, is it appropriate for residents to accumulate that data and submit it to you?

Sherman Greer: It’s always, just like I said, if anyone is going to turn, let them turn it down, or let them tell you what it is, what else it is that you need with that to make that fit within the Robert T. Stafford Act where that you would be able to get some reimbursement from it. These things change year after year after year. So, you know, turn it in when you meet with them, and say, you know, this is what I spent on gas, this is what I spent on pumps and all of this.

Kevin Wilson: I have all of the receipts. So, who do I meet with though?

Sherman Greer: You will, when, if we get a Presidential declaration out of this–

Kevin Wilson: Right.

Sherman Greer: – they will set up–

Kevin Wilson: We’re waiting on them?

Sherman Greer: Yes. They will set up a place to where everyone can come to them.

Kevin Wilson: Okay.

Sherman Greer: What they’ve done in the past is done that at my office, to where you can sit there and you can talk to them face to face–

Kevin Wilson: Okay.

Sherman Greer: –about what it is that you’ve got. Okay?

Kevin Wilson: Okay.

Sherman Greer: Alright.

Kevin Wilson: Okay, then the second thing that I have, as far as the sandbags. Now, I’ve got 3,000 sandbags at my house. Now, you’re saying that we’re responsible for getting rid of it ourselves. Now, they’re not going to have the County Highway Department come out and pick up sandbags? Or, do I have to spend money to have like Allied Waste bring me out an open top dumpster that I can throw them in? I mean, how do I get rid of them? I’ve got a few people that want some. They’ve taken like 600 bags, so that still leaves me 2,400 bags.

President Winnecke: Well, historically the....Mike, did you want to chime in there?

Mike Duckworth: I would just say to that, I understand that a lot of these folks have a lot of bags. For them to incur the cost of dumping fees is not any different than the county incurring that. What I’m looking to do, is once the water recedes in the bottoms area is look for erosion to the bank and to get the approval from IDEM as to maybe we might be able to use some of those, you know, for erosion control. Because there are some areas that we were looking at, well, in my previous tenure in this position, that was getting pretty close to the road, and we need to do some erosion control. That would be a perfect place for this, but I don’t have, I don’t have the clearance from IDEM to do that, or Corps of Engineers to do that just yet, and that will come along with the assessment of damages. So, we’re probably a week or so away from me knowing whether or not our department can handle that phase of it. I just don’t have an answer for you today.

President Winnecke: Sherman?

Sherman Greer: The sand itself can be dumped someplace, but it has to be covered by clean soil, okay. So, they can do that, and use that that way and then put soil over the top of it, it would be okay.

Mike Duckworth: Again, I just have to see the situation.

Sherman Greer: But, we will have to get, as he said, we’ll have to get with IDEM on that to make sure that we keep ourselves out of trouble.

Kevin Wilson: So, my solution is nothing yet then? Can Allied take them away and then dump them in the dump or not?

Mike Duckworth: Allied can take them, but they will charge you for that.

Kevin Wilson: I understand that, but, I mean, if I called them and said bring me an open top dumpster, I can get rid of them and they’ll haul it and then charge me whatever it costs?

Mike Duckworth: There may be an environmental fee to that, because of–

Kevin Wilson: Oh, I’m sure there will be.

Mike Duckworth: –(Inaudible) and all that kind of stuff, but, yeah, Allied or (Inaudible) or any of those companies could do that for you.

Kevin Wilson: Okay. Alright.

President Winnecke: Mike, what are the possibilities, if any, of incorporating sandbags into the, sort of, the debris pick up?

Mike Duckworth: Well, of course, they’re heavy and they charge you by weight.

President Winnecke: Right.

Mike Duckworth: So, it’s going to be an exhaustive cost. I can get with Todd Chamberlain with Allied and see if they’ll give us a special rate for that. I just haven’t gotten to that point yet. I would be more than happy to do that. I was on Elmridge today, I was on Voight today, I was on, and there’s quite a bit of sandbags. I mean, you know, we were putting them out there to stop the water–

President Winnecke: Right.

Mike Duckworth: –and now that the water is down, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for these folks to ask for us to help. It’s just figuring out what the cost is going to be. You know, if it’s something that we can do on county time, where it doesn’t cost us overtime, if it doesn’t affect, you know, a big dumping fee or something like that, I have absolutely no problem, we’ll make time to help these folks, but when you start incurring costs then we have to look at our budgetary constraints.

President Winnecke: Why don’t you get with Allied and figure out what kind of charge, diminished charge we could, hopefully, --

Mike Duckworth: Okay.

President Winnecke: –negotiate on behalf of the county, whereby we could assist county residents in helping dispose of some of these bags.

Mike Duckworth: I would be glad to. I would be glad to.

President Winnecke: Then report back to us at your....we’ll need a report before the next meeting, so, I would say via e-mail.

Mike Duckworth: I’m going to be out on Elmridge on a regular basis, and I’ll be in telephone contact with you, and if it’s something that seems feasible and we can work it out, then I’ll be out and tell those folks that we’ll send crews out to pick them up.

President Winnecke: Good.

Mike Duckworth: Okay?

President Winnecke: Okay, thanks.

Kevin Wilson: Okay, and the last thing that I have here is some photographs of, I’ve got mine numbered and yours numbered also. I have a question, I just would like an answer from somebody. Now, picture one, at the end of Elmridge, you turn on to Congress and then you turn left on Rosebud, you go down to Kenmore and take a right, then you come to this utility road that’s at the end of the cul-de-sac, and that’s the picture of it. The water is probably about a foot and a half lower than what it actually got up to on this picture, but you’ll see. Okay, then the next picture it shows you where the water got, the water line is, where the debris is and all of that. Which, like I say, it was about a foot over the road, maybe a foot and a half. Then, the next picture, number three, this is on the Elmridge Subdivision side of that utility road. As you see it’s full of water. Then, picture four, which is the road to the, I guess, it’s the sewer pump house or something. I’m not for sure what it is, but it didn’t get wet at all. Do you understand what I’m saying now? That road takes you right to that pump house, but it got wet not one time. Then, the next picture, picture number five, that shows you where the water line was, just above the bottom of the fence you can see right there it was probably a foot, foot and a half from getting in that door on that house, that pump house. Then, picture number six, that is the creek side of that utility road. That’s where our rain water and everything washes down to the creek, through that area right there. There’s a little lake there, that’s no big thing there. Then, picture seven is the subdivision at the end of Kenmore, which, as you can see, where the utility road comes over, it’s already been leveed up, it’s high. They’re sitting on high ground there, which you can see the water was pretty much four or five foot from even getting close to the top of that hill. It’s like that all the way around that neighborhood. Then, the next picture shows the water with that levee that made for those houses in that subdivision right there. Like I said, you can see the dark brown line there where the water got up to, so, it’s receded, like I said, a foot, foot and a half. And, picture nine, now this is from Lynch Road looking at that pump house, and the next picture is the same thing, still Lynch Road looking at the pump house. The next one is the same. Then, the last picture shows how high the water got actually compared to that neighborhood there. Now, my question is, when I’m standing on Lynch Road and I’m looking at that pump house, why can they not dam that up right there? All that is is a big gully, that’s why our neighborhood floods. That’s the reason right there. They can’t dam that up from that pump house over to Lynch Road and put a pump on our side, the neighborhood side, which would be for storm water, rain, whatever, and pump that over the levee to where it would run down to the creek? Granted, you would have to raise the utility road or put a barrier up in front of it, around that, but, my question is why can’t you fix that? Because it really shouldn’t be much but dirt and a little concrete, and that’s it, and a pump. It would solve our whole problem. Unless the river got up to like 50, 51 feet–

President Winnecke: Right.

Kevin Wilson: If it does that, then everybody in the neighborhood is going to be flooded.

President Winnecke: Right. Who owns the, who has the right-of-way to the utility road?

Kevin Wilson: I have no idea. All I do, I see trucks come out there every now and then, they’re checking something, that’s all I ever see.

Joe Sims: I would say, Lloyd, wouldn’t the county have that?

President Winnecke: John, do you know off the top of your head?

John Stoll: I’ll go check.

President Winnecke: Okay. We’ll get an answer to that. I assume, but, I don’t know. To answer your question, I don’t know, off the top of my head. The Surveyor and the Engineer have each been out to this area in the last–

Kevin Wilson: Right.

President Winnecke: –several days, and they’re comparing information from this flood situation to the last, and, I think, when the water recedes...we’ve asked them for a recommendation on what, how we can proceed to go forward.

Kevin Wilson: In 2008, I’ve lived in my house since 1990, so, I’ve been there 21 years. In ‘97 it flooded, but it just got up to inside my garage, on my floor about five foot, which is the first time I even knew anything about it flooding back there. So, it went down pretty quick, but 2008 and this year have almost been identical as far as water height, because it got up to my front door. So, I mean, we’ve got to find a problem–

President Winnecke: Right.

Kevin Wilson: –or fix the problem somehow, because I can’t, I’m getting older not younger. The sandbagging is killing me. So, thank God for my friends and family that came by and our neighbors and everybody else, or I would have flooded.

President Winnecke: Well, we’ve had this very lengthy discussions with the County Surveyor’s office and the Engineer’s office and once the water recedes–

Kevin Wilson: Right.

President Winnecke: –completely, you know, we’re working on it, and that’s all I can say tonight.

Kevin Wilson: I know. Oh, I know nothing’s going to be done tonight.

President Winnecke: Suffice it to say–

Kevin Wilson: I mean, I understand that.

President Winnecke: – we hear you.

Kevin Wilson: Like I said, if you just dam that gully up, the water will not back up into Elmridge.

President Winnecke: The other thing that is important to know for everyone, our County Attorney and our, the county’s lobbyist is working on a federal grant too, that would allow us to clear out Pigeon Creek, some of the blockages in that–

Kevin Wilson: Right, yeah, Marsha, I talked to Marsha, she said, she told that to me.

President Winnecke: –we are hopeful, but, you know, obviously, there are no guarantees, but we think that would help.

Kevin Wilson: Oh, it would help, I’m sure.

President Winnecke: A lot, because we need to clear out Pigeon Creek.

Kevin Wilson: Because you can see trees down in the creek–

President Winnecke: Right.

Kevin Wilson: –and you know that they’re just grabbing stuff, over time.

Joe Sims: I would just like to say, and, we’ve been there for about 18 years, Lloyd, so, I would like to thank Sherm for his input and help, also Mr. Duckworth and Marsha Abell being out there helping us, and, also Eric, Sheriff Williams. If it wasn’t for the people from the halfway house coming out and helping, it would have been a long ordeal for all of that day. So, we appreciate that, but we also, personally for me, being around for 30 plus years, and knowing of everyone here, I would hope that at some point that we can look as one in this community, because I want to be able to vote for the Mayor. So, I hope that , the next Mayor that comes along, gets that taken care of, hopefully.

President Winnecke: Sherman?

Sherman Greer: I’ve got another point also, we’re in the process of having our mitigation, our new mitigation plan done, and I’ve encouraged these gentleman to come to our mitigation meetings, those open meetings that we have for that. We can look at that and then be able to maybe get a mitigation grant to help us along with the other grants that we’re getting. This is a problem. This is a big problem here. This is one that we’ve come face to face with. So, we need to be able to have them to come to those mitigation meetings that we have when they’re publicized. We’re starting up in June again, and once those meetings start to happen, you know, we need people to come and say, okay, on the northeast side I had this, and on the southeast side I had that.

President Winnecke: How can you best communicate the dates and times of those meetings?

Sherman Greer: We are, it will be in the newspaper, it will be on television, it will be publicized very well.

President Winnecke: It might be helpful for those residents to give Sherman e-mail–

Sherman Greer: Oh, I know these people.

President Winnecke: Okay.

Sherman Greer: His son lives across the street from me.

President Winnecke: Anyone that you don’t know, maybe get their e-mail information–

Sherman Greer: Right.

President Winnecke: –so you could–

Sherman Greer: Right.

President Winnecke: That would be helpful for them.

Sherman Greer: But, when we have that, we need the input from the public and everything–

President Winnecke: Right.

Sherman Greer: – that’s what gets these things, these mitigation grants.

President Winnecke: Right.

Sherman Greer: We’re working on another grant, that’s fine, but the mitigation grants, there’s a lot of money out there for that.

President Winnecke: Great. Thank you. Sure, Kevin?

Kevin Wilson: Well, where I work, luckily I had vacation time, which we were maybe going to the lake and to go see her sister which is in Florida, but, I had to cancel those two weeks for this. I had to sit there for two weeks, because you had to pump water out that oozed in under my bags and stuff, because that’s the way it was.

President Winnecke: Right.

Kevin Wilson: So, I just want you all to know that it’s a pain. Like I said before, I’m not getting younger. I can’t do this every year, because it’s nerve racking, I mean, it really is. I had no sleep for basically almost four days, before my wife had some friends she works with, they came over and watched our pump so we could go to bed and get some sleep. So, thank God for friends.

President Winnecke: Absolutely. Thank you. Who else from the Elmridge area, or anyone else would like to get up to speak to the flooding? Don’t be shy. It’s okay. Just state your name for the record, if you would please.

Allen Kincheloe: Allen and Donna Kincheloe at 3802 Elmridge Drive. We have pictures also, I know Kevin probably got some of them of our house. We’re right across the ditch from him. It’s not a, you know, coming down here it’s not a blame game. We just want to try to–

President Winnecke: No, we need to try and fix it.

Allen Kincheloe: Yeah.

President Winnecke: I understand that.

Allen Kincheloe: Try and fix it, and then, like he said, it’s just tiresome doing it, and we did it three years ago, and don’t know what you can do, but we appreciate anything. Kevin had a good idea about damming that up over there. I don’t know if that’s possible, but we appreciate any help you can give us. I know my wife’s got to have something to say.

Donna Kincheloe: All I know is that I’ve been a nurse for 30 years, and we’ve had friends and our neighborhood is a marvelous neighborhood, Sherman Greer and what the community has already done for us, we are very, very grateful, but, again, the saddest thing is we are aging, and we can’t continue to ask our dear friends and our church members and our kids to come and try to save our home. I really don’t want to move. If moving is something I’m going to have to do, I know that our property value is no longer what it should be. I also know that we are fortunate that we don’t have a mortgage, so we aren’t required to have flood insurance. We asked about flood insurance, $2,000 to $5,000 a year to have a flood insurance policy because the back side of our house and the front part of our house is zoned A, which means the flow from the back and the front, and it’s from an overflow of water which no one can ever, you can’t stop water. It’s going to take the path of least resistance, but it is costly. In 2008, Allen and I went to Colonial, was it Colonial or Combs? Well, whoever, and we had a flower bed built up with great big boulders and impervious kind of fabric to prevent this again. $3,000 we spent on our own to try to keep the water from our house, and all of our landscape is gone. So, yes, it is costly and it’s sad and it’s scary. Not that the water is ever going to get in our house, it doesn’t even matter, we ache for the people that it does. Our neighbors across the street have a terrible problem, and have a new set of neighbors that had gone to Florida and come back and never new, they had just purchased the home and never knew, and that’s an issue, you know, that they have to face that their realtor didn’t divulge truth. That’s a sad thing, but we just want to know that if you can, and we know money is tight for everyone, it’s tight for us, and if you can do something for us, if you need me to write a grant, I will be happy to do that. I just graduated Sunday, Nurse Educator, Masters Degree, and I love to write, we will help and that’s the thing, I guess you need to know most about the people of Elmridge, there isn’t a family that wouldn’t do what we can to help each other. We will help you be successful in saving our neighborhood and our homes. We’re workers.

President Winnecke: Right.

Donna Kincheloe: We’ll be out there.

Madelyn Grayson: Can you state your name for the record, Ma’am?

Donna Kincheloe: I surely will. My name is Donna Kincheloe. I would be happy to help you in any way.

Allen Kincheloe: The Taylor’s across from us, they sit the lowest in the ditch, and they didn’t get to be here tonight because they had a vacation planned and they couldn’t get their reservations cancelled, it was going to cost them a few thousand dollars to cancel. So, that’s where they’re at, but they probably needed to take it.

President Winnecke: Right, appreciate it.

Donna Kincheloe: Yeah, they needed it, but we are good people, and we do love our community, and we do love what you’ve already done for us. Don’t ever think, and I love Sherman Greer and Kim, and Joey.

Commissioner Abell: If you, Mr, Winnecke–

President Winnecke: Sure.

Commissioner Abell: – one of the things, I’ve been sort of working with some people on this grant, and one of the things that would certainly help us a great deal, there is some grant money that they are sitting on in Indianapolis.

Donna Kincheloe: Okay.

Commissioner Abell: And, we have State Representatives and we have State Senators, and they’re elected people that represent you also, as do the three of us, and we could certainly use some assistance in writing letters to those people–

Donna Kincheloe: Yes.

Commissioner Abell: –explaining to them that we are in dire straits down here and actually need some help. Lieutenant Governor, Becky Skillman, is in charge of the Commerce Department, she actually heads up sort of some of the granting division. It would be well put for you to send her a letter also. Any support like that that we can get–

Donna Kincheloe: Exactly.

Commissioner Abell: –just helps reinforce to them why we’ve got a lobbyist that’s sitting in their offices asking them to help us with these grants. So, anything like that would be a big assistance.

Donna Kincheloe: Marsha, if you can get to us a list of the addresses of the people and who to contact, we will definitely do that.

Commissioner Abell: We can do that. Marissa, could you, I tell you, we could even put that up on our website, I suppose.

Commissioner Melcher: Yeah, that’s what I was just asking.

Donna Kincheloe: That would be great.

Commissioner Melcher: I think we could put them on the website and then everybody could see it.

Donna Kincheloe: That will be wonderful, because we can. We can write, and it would be a wonderful thing to be able to help you help us.

President Winnecke: Right.

Allen Kincheloe: Thank you for your time.

Donna Kincheloe: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Thanks for coming out tonight. Anyone else? Okay, thanks for coming out.

President Winnecke: We’ll move on to the rest of the business of the Commissioners. We’ll move to the action items. I would entertain a motion for the second and final reading of CO.04-11-004. This is to amend the Health Department fee schedule. This is, as you’ll recall, an annual change in the Health Department fee ordinance to keep pace with the ordinary and customary increases in the cost of providing services and health procedures to the public.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll make the motion.

Commissioner Abell: I’ll second.

President Winnecke: There’s a motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Mrs. Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes, I have a question. Mr. Heck, if you would like to come to the microphone.

Gary Heck: Gary Heck, Vanderburgh County Health Department.

Commissioner Abell: I brought up last meeting, and I will bring up again this meeting, and I will continue to bring it up, the possibility of having a fee schedule for Vanderburgh County residents, and a separate fee schedule for non-Vanderburgh County residents.

Gary Heck: Yes, I had a conversation–

Commissioner Abell: Since Vanderburgh County residents pay taxes and they are already paying part of the Health Department’s expenses.

Gary Heck: I understand, and we had a conversation with the County Attorney, and it’s an agenda item on the next Board of Health meeting, which will be the second Thursday in June. We meet at 7:30 at the Health Department, 7:30 a.m.

Commissioner Abell: So, if we approve this, we can amend it?

Gary Heck: Oh, we can, you can amend fee ordinance, or ordinances at any time.

Commissioner Abell: Oh, I knew we could, I’m just asking you if you will entertain listening to us?

Gary Heck: Oh, no, you, I come hear often asking you to change our fee ordinances, and I will certainly do so again.

President Winnecke: Any other discussion or questions? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Gary Heck: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Thanks, Gary.

President Winnecke: Next, under contracts, agreements and leases, first, with the Sheriff’s Department, this is grant agreement EDES#D25-12-058. This is the annual Community Corrections grant. The annual grant from the Indiana Department of Corrections to the county for the benefit of the Sheriff’s Department. The grant is $1,265,129, and the grant conditions are identical to those for last year. The term of the grant runs from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. I would entertain a motion to approve.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Abell: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Next, from our office the lease of additional Old Courthouse space to Whole Truth Ministries, Incorporated. This is to lease additional office space in suites 103 and 104 for $575 per month for use as a photography studio. The term of the new lease would be the same as the original three years, running from May 2011 to April 30, 2014, with two options to renew for additional three year terms. I would entertain a motion to approve.

Commissioner Abell: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Next, under Burdette Park, a rental agreement with All Blown Up Inflatables. This agreement is for DJ services on July 21, 2011. Additionally, we have an addendum to this contract amending section 11 of the contract to limit the county’s liability under the indemnity provision. I would entertain a motion to approve.

Commissioner Abell: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Finally, under Burdette Park, Youth Baseball contract with Charles H. Stuart, Jr. This is a new lease and is substantially the same, has the same terms and conditions as the prior lease that we had with River City Baseball. Is for a term of one year for rental of $1,000. Mr. Stuart will be responsible, under the terms, for scheduling, maintenance, security and utilities. He will control concession sales, advertising and admissions. The county will be responsible for trash disposal in connection with the lease properties. I would entertain a motion to approve.

Commissioner Abell: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion. Hearing none, roll call vote please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Next, department head reports. Dr. Nicholson?

Ray Nicholson: I’m Dr. Ray Nicholson, the Health Department, with the Health Department. I would like to tell you about a lead poisoning awareness children’s health fair this weekend. It’s on Saturday, May the 14^th, this weekend, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the C.K. Newsome Center. This is mostly about lead. It’s a very important topic. We have cases of lease poisoning come up all the time in the Health Department. Any house that was built before 1978 is a possibility to be contaminated with lead. However, there are other many sources, there’s no more lead gasoline, but there is a lot of ceramics that has lead on it, there’s a lot of houses that have lead that seal pipes with lead, and there’s just a lot of lead around. Especially in toys also, and in some cosmetics. So, it’s not necessarily just an old house. The point I want to make is that lead cannot be detected by a physician. If you have a child six years or under, they are very subject to lead poisoning, and there’s no way you can tell just looking at them. A parent can’t tell, the doctor can’t tell, no clinic can tell. They have to be tested. If they are full of lead, they are at great risk to grow up very handicapped in that they lose a lot of intellect. Children that should be A and B students are suddenly D and F students, and that’s the only symptom that they have. There’s no, it like really handicaps them through the rest of their life, not to be able to graduate from high school or to get a job or anything like that. So, we’re urging anyone, all people with children six or under to come out, join the fair, we will test them on the spot for lead poisoning and we’ll go from there. If they have any toys that you suspect might have lead, you can test the toys. They have to have one flat surface for us to do that. So, it’s free, and it will be sort of, kind of a party. There will be snacks and the grand prize is a new bike for people. Do you have any questions?

President Winnecke: This Saturday at the Newsome Center?

Ray Nicholson: Yeah, 10:00 to 2:00.

President Winnecke: Okay, great. Any questions? Thanks, Doctor.

Ray Nicholson: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Appreciate it.

President Winnecke: John?

John Stoll: The first item I have is to request approval to go to County Council to transfer $50,000 from the Mann Road Culvert Account to the Fickas Road Culvert Account. The Mann Road project is finished and there was some surplus funds that we had in that account, and the money would be used to address the settlement issues on the approaches to the Fickas Road culvert project.

President Winnecke: I would entertain a motion to approve.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Abell: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

John Stoll: Then, next I have the cover sheet for the Baseline and 41 intersection project. It needs your signatures. It basically, the project itself covers the turn lanes that the county will be adding at Baseline and 41 as a part of the needed improvements for the new high school. So, hopefully, in the next couple of meetings I can bring a notice to bidders, but for the time being I just need your signatures on the cover sheet.

President Winnecke: I would entertain, so, we have to approve...what are we doing here?

John Stoll: I just need your signatures.

President Winnecke: Okay, just the signatures. Okay, great. Anything else?

John Stoll: And, the last item I’ve got a road acceptance form for the University Parkway project. This covers the section from Upper Mt. Vernon to Marx that was just opened. It’s just a formality. It gives us a paper trail to submit to INDOT for our annual road mileage submittals at the end of 2011.

President Winnecke: I would entertain a motion to approve.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Abell: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

John Stoll: A quick update on that driveway back to the sewer pump station. It looks like there are two properties that are affected by, there must be an easement across for this driveway for the pump station. At the far south end it’s actually the Lynch Road right-of-way owned by the County Commissioners. So, two parcels affected right now, depending on the limits of it fill could be placed out there to elevate it. It may affect additional parcels, but as it stands right now it’s just an easement on two properties.

President Winnecke: Okay, thank you.

Commissioner Abell: John, could I ask you a question?

John Stoll: Sure.

Commissioner Abell: And, I know you haven’t looked at that, and I’m not going to try...I’m just trying to get a little information for myself. If we were to do something to that, would we just be pushing the water off somewhere else? Or would that really help?

John Stoll: That would be a question that probably would take a lot of work to determine the answer to, because I’m not exactly sure where the floodway limits are for Pigeon Creek. If it’s in the floodway you would definitely be getting DNR construction in floodway permits, which would require an extensive amount of hydraulic modeling to make sure that it didn’t push water off on someone else.

Commissioner Abell: Okay.

John Stoll: If it’s preventing it from flowing back into the Elmridge neighborhood, it will go somewhere else, it’s just a matter of where that somewhere would be. So, it would definitely have to be looked at in great detail to figure out, make sure that it’s not just transferring the problem from one place to another.

Commissioner Abell: Okay, thank you.

President Winnecke: John, here’s a softball for ya, Green River Road.

John Stoll: I forgot about that one. As it stands now, they are telling me that the project should be done by Friday, the 20^th. So, hopefully, we don’t get another, inundated by rain again and mess up the schedules, but that’s what they’re telling me right now. They’re paving, they were paving at Lynch Road today. Everything looks like it will be a go for the 20^th.

President Winnecke: The last time we scheduled a ribbon cutting it started--

Commissioner Melcher: That started it.

President Winnecke: -- a deluge. So, maybe we’ll want to be careful about scheduling a ribbon cutting, but keep us posted so that we can possibly–

John Stoll: Sure.

President Winnecke: –schedule something.

John Stoll: I’ll check with the inspectors again tomorrow and make sure it’s still on that schedule.

President Winnecke: Thanks, John.

Commissioner Melcher: And the weather forecasts.

John Stoll: Pardon?

Commissioner Melcher: And the weather forecasts.

John Stoll: Yeah, really. Thanks.

President Winnecke: Thanks.

President Winnecke: Steve?

Steve Craig: Steve Craig, Manager of Burdette Park. Our damage at Burdette, we’re just finding out what it is. Water got off the road today. We’ve had extensive erosion along the banks of our main lake. Had about a foot of water in our utility barn, our pole barn that we use for our workshop. Our back pavilion had eight inches of water on it, it was within six inches of coming in the main office. We had a bunch of sandbags ready to do it, but the forecast came up a little bit short. The whole front of the park, the landscaping and that is just totally gone, so, we’ll start all over. I’ve been in contact with Mike Duckworth and the Perry Township Fire Department and we’re going to start hosing some of the roads and the lots down. There’s probably a couple three inches of mud. It took so long for the water to get out that it’s really leaving a heavy mud cover. We’re going to start working on that probably Thursday to get the roads and the parking lots clear. Other than that we’re still trying to do the stuff you would normally do to get the park ready.

President Winnecke: Steve, tell us, I know you could use a few more lifeguards for the upcoming season. Where do you stand on hiring?

Steve Craig: Most of our positions in the park we’ve got them filled up, but lifeguarding we are short this year. We could use probably ten to 15 more kids to apply. We’ll give them all plenty of time to work and that, but anybody that’s got their lifesaving, come on out, fill an application in, we’re still looking for lifeguards.

President Winnecke: Great. Thanks. Any questions of Steve? Great.

Steve Craig: Thank you very much.

President Winnecke: Thanks, Steve.

President Winnecke: Board appointments, we do need to make a board appointment to the Coalition to End Homelessness. It needs to be a County Commissioner.

Commissioner Abell: Oh, gee.

Commissioner Melcher: Where do we look?

President Winnecke: I’m not looking at the County Attorney. Commissioner Melcher, is that something, you’ve served on that before, haven’t you?

Commissioner Melcher: Well, sure. Who hasn’t. Is there somebody who hasn’t?

President Winnecke: It’s a very important–

Commissioner Melcher: Right.

Commissioner Melcher: The last time I agreed to something like this I ended up having to stick around until 7:00 at night and do some phone conference, hour long (Inaudible).

Commissioner Melcher: Well, if that’s our appointment, I’ll do it.

President Winnecke: Okay, that would be great. They meet monthly.

Commissioner Melcher: Tomorrow, right?

President Winnecke: No. Marissa has, or Kristin, actually Kristin has the information. I appreciate that.

Commissioner Abell: Mr. Melcher, I’ll take the next one.

President Winnecke: In all seriousness, Luzada Hayes and that group do a fabulous job on behalf of our community.

President Winnecke: Under new business, the Great American Clean Up is sort of on-going. I think it would be nice if our office coordinated with Keep Evansville Beautiful and had a monthly hour long clean up effort, where we would actually take an hour as Commissioners and we would get some volunteers to the office to go out and clean up an hour, pick up trash for an hour. I think it would be a great way to help participate in the Great American Clean Up.

Commissioner Abell: (Inaudible).

President Winnecke: We could do it as early as this Saturday, if we think we can get volunteers. If we can’t get volunteers we can put it off a Saturday. That’s no big deal. I think KEB would be appreciative of any of our efforts. Do we want to wait till the 21^st maybe, just to give us time to get additional–

Commissioner Melcher: Does it have to be a Saturday? What about a Sunday afternoon or something?

President Winnecke: I just thought maybe Scouts or, you know, people who might be looking for service hours it might be easier to get them on a Saturday morning for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, whatever.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay.

Commissioner Abell: I can do it this Saturday if we’ve got time (Inaudible).

President Winnecke: Steve, what’s your–

Commissioner Melcher: My Saturdays are pretty much booked up. My Sundays are all open. I already know that, that’s why I said...just plan it and we’ll see what happens.

President Winnecke: Okay. Marissa, let’s see if we can start it this Saturday. Ann Ennis at Keep Evansville Beautiful, I’m sure has locations that she probably feels need to be policed, and we can get some volunteers.

Commissioner Abell: I think it would be a nice gesture to have all of our department heads help us on the first Saturday that we do this.

President Winnecke: That would be nice.

Commissioner Abell: Department heads. Did they leave?

President Winnecke: They became very quiet.

Commissioner Melcher: They slid under the chair.

President Winnecke: Before we move on to old business, I was reminded that we need to talk about the bids that we opened for the concrete repair.

Kathryn Schymik: Two bids were received. The first was from JBI Construction in the amount of $223,100. The second was from Rivertown Construction, $235,415.

President Winnecke: At this time I would make a motion to take those under advisement.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Abell: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Okay, old business. Commissioner Melcher asked that we put an item on there regarding the rejection threshold.

Commissioner Melcher: Yes, and I didn’t know Ted wasn’t going to be here. Are you current on that? Okay, that’s good.

Kathryn Schymik: Well, wait let’s hear your question first.

Commissioner Melcher: Basically we’ve been getting e-mails and everything back, and I would like to see us vote on a threshold rejection resolution. I just thought we would do it, I wanted to do it different than the way it happened last time. In January 2010 we had a little bit of discussion and then all of a sudden the resolution showed up and we voted on it. I would like to talk about it first and give the public time to talk about it also if they would like. I don’t think it says anything that we can’t do it. It can’t say that we can. I think that’s what we have attorneys for, and I kind of wanted to hear from Ted, his explanation about it, but I do think we need to...and I don’t know where the vote is going to go, because I haven’t had this discussion with any of them, but I would like to see us do that. I know we’ve got plenty of time. I think we’ve got until January 11^th or something. I think we’ve got another, this phase is another year, and I think Ted sent an e-mail saying that it’s going to put us back, if we had to start all over, that’s what him and Hamilton recommended. I don’t think that would be a problem because we’ve already got the committee in place, and I think we could move that part of it quicker and we could continue with our workshops. I don’t think the committee is going to come back with a different one. So, I don’t see where that would even slow it down hardly at all. I know we’re trying to push for the 30^th of June, so that’s the reason why. I understand, Commissioner Winnecke, you’re not going to be here at the next meeting?

President Winnecke: Correct.

Commissioner Melcher: So, I thought, well, I would like to see us have the threshold rejection resolution at maybe our first meeting in June that we could vote on or discuss it a little bit more, there might be some people in the public that want to talk about it too. I’m wanting to do any of that.

President Winnecke: Yeah, I would just tell you that based on my interpretation of the e-mail from the County Attorney that if either of the legislative bodies votes to change that element of the plan, then the entire process starts over. So, we would not be in a position, we would have no plan from which to make modifications during the workshop process. I, as I envisioned the workshop process, we’re going to be, we’ve had one meeting so far, very candid and lively discussions about what modifications could be made. We’ll circle all the way through the plan, then come back and make modifications that were discussed during the workshops, and then we can reconvene the public hearing June 30^th, and we can move on from there. But, I think if we follow the track of changing the rejection threshold element of the plan, we really run the risk of this not being able to go to a referendum in November of ‘12.

Commissioner Melcher: Well, I didn’t, I guess I didn’t read it that way. I mean, they can read it anyway they want to read it, but I just thought that that’s something that we need to really look at. I think the State has this wrong. Looking back on it, I think since we’re the guinea pigs, we’re the first ones trying to do this in the State, that that rejection or a simple majority should come from the committee. We maybe should of had a resolution to start the process, and we shouldn’t of did that right off the bat. But, that’s the way the State law said we had to do it. I think the State really needs to look at this before some other communities down the road get involved in this problem. I think what ought to happen is once they get a committee, they committee needs to come back with their plan, and they say if it’s going to be a threshold or whatever. Then the two bodies, the City Council and the Commissioners could decide to take their recommendation or not. I think that would have been the fairest way of doing it. You would have had a lot of public hearings on it. A lot of people would have known up front. But, we kind of did it right away, the very first meeting of the year, and my plan was the very first meeting of the year was to hear it that night, if you remember, and come back the second, two weeks later at our next meeting and pass the resolution, because we didn’t even have a resolution with us that night and then all of a sudden one showed up. I voted for it, because I said I know how to count and I want the people to have the right to vote on it. I don’t know why, if we would pass another one, how that would stop the whole process, because if the City Council doesn’t pass it, it’s not going anywhere anyway. Or, if it gets voted down from us, it’s not going anywhere. So, that was, that’s what I would like to see happen.

Kathryn Schymik: Ted and I have researched this issue and looked at it. I agree, it’s partly maybe a fault on the part of the legislature and just the way that this is drafted, but, unfortunately, the enabling statutes do require that the first step in the process is that the legislative body has to adopt a resolution that sets forth whether or not it’s going to be a threshold vote. When you, as you work through the statute and the process for reorganization, it doesn’t contemplate any ability to go back and amend the original resolution that started the process. It doesn’t say that you can’t, but given the importance of this issue and not wanting to open it up for any attack, you know, at a future date or down the road, it’s our interpretation that that means that that resolution is the first step. If you’re going to change that resolution then you have to make a final decision on the current status of the resolution, on the current plan, conclude that process and start all over. So, until you get back to the point where we are today, by walking through the process again under a new resolution, you wouldn’t have any recommendation or proposal from the committee to continue to act on. Now, to your point that the committee may propose the same plan, that’s true, but you would have to wait until you got back to that point of adopting a resolution, holding the required public hearings, having the committee set forth a plan to then pick up from the point we are now. So, it certainly is going to cause, I think, a delay, you know, there’s not another safe interpretation of the statute that wouldn’t potentially open it up to some attack down the road, and that’s what we want to avoid, given the importance of this issue.

Commissioner Melcher: But, everything is always...anybody could open (Tape Flip) you know, Darmstadt could do it, even though they refused to be part of it. Somebody could file a lawsuit against it. I’m going to look into it more, but I really, I’m not going to support it without the threshold resolution. So, I’ll just say that up front, everybody knows that. I’m not changing my mind. I think the State had it wrong when they did it. I don’t know if it’s time to get the State to see what they could do about changing it for the future for anybody else, or give us a special deal where we could change ours without starting this thing over.

President Winnecke: Okay, next, public comment. Any comment from the public on any issue.

President Winnecke: At this time, I would consider a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Abell: Second.

President Winnecke: There’s a motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Madelyn, will do that thing you do so well.

Madelyn Grayson: Sure. The consent items for the May 10^th meeting are as follows; approval of the April 26, 2011 Commission meeting minutes; employment changes, there are five for Burdette Park ; the Auditor has the April 2011 A/P vouchers and a drainage obstruction lien release; Voters Registration has a request to surplus two typewriters; the Engineer has pay request number 127 for $285,520.96 for TIF projects; the Commissioners have a letter to INDOT regarding traffic signal at U.S. 41 and Ruffian Lane; the Public Defender has a request for reimbursement to the Indiana Public Defender Commission; Burdette Park yearly comparison through April 11, 2011; Legal Aid Society non-city/county/United Way funds report of March 31, 2011; the American Medical Response 2010 third quarter report of income and expenses reimbursement in the amount of $2,260; and there are department head reports from the County Engineer and Burdette Park.

President Winnecke: Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Abell?

Commissioner Abell: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Any other business to come before the Commissioners? I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Abell: Second.

President Winnecke: We are adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 6:05 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of the April 26, 2011 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Letter to INDOT: Traffic Signal at U.S. 41 and Ruffian Lane.

AMR Third Quarter 2010 Report of Income and Expenses & Reimbursement.

Employment Changes:

Burdette Park (6)                      Prosecutor (1)                           Superior Court (1)

Circuit Court (2)

Auditor:

April 2011 A/P Vouchers.

Drainage Obstruction Lien Release: Phillips.

Surplus Requests: Voters Registration: 2 typewriters.

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 127: Green River-Burkhardt TIF Projects.

Public Defender: Request for Reimbursement: IN Public Defender Comm.

Burdette Park:  Yearly Comparison through April 11, 2011.

Legal Aid Society: Non-City/County/United Way Funds Report: 3/31/2011.

Department Head Reports:              County Engineer             Burdette Park

Those in Attendance:

Lloyd Winnecke                        Marsha Abell                            Stephen Melcher

Joe Gries                                  Kathryn Schymik                      Marissa Nichoalds

Madelyn Grayson                     Sherman Greer                         Mike Duckworth

Kevin Wilson                             Joe Sims                                   Allen Kincheloe

Donna Kincheloe                      Ray Nicholson                          John Stoll

Steve Craig                               Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Lloyd Winnecke, President

Marsha Abell, Vice President

Stephen Melcher, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)