VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

MAY 19, 2009

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 19^th day of May, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Troy Tornatta presiding.

President Tornatta: Alright, we’re going to start the Board of Commissioners meeting, May 19, 2009 in room 301. Call to order attendance, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Here.

President Tornatta: Angie? Angie Richards Cooley is here to talk with us, but if you’ll honor us with leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Tornatta: Good afternoon, Angie.

Angie Richards Cooley: Good afternoon. How are you?

President Tornatta: Great.

Angie Richards Cooley: Good. Thank you for letting me come today and speak a little bit about an upcoming event for St. Vincent’s Daycare. I am Angie Richards Cooley, I’m the Development Director there. St. Vincent’s Daycare, for folks who may not be aware, is located at First Avenue and Delaware Street, here in Evansville. It’s the oldest and largest daycare in Evansville, and the second largest in Indiana. It was founded in 1918 by the Ladies of Charity to meet the daycare needs for women who entered the workforce to fill the ranks of employment as their husbands went off to serve in World War I. The cost of daycare back then was ten cents a day. The need was so great that they very quickly turned to the Daughters of Charity for help, and the Daughters of Charity are still our sponsor agency, helping us financially with our $2.5 million budget each year. We currently serve up to 232 children per day, from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 50 weeks per year. Ninety percent of the children we serve live in poverty, 75 percent of them come from families headed by a single, working adult. We turn no one away, we have a social worker on staff, full time, who helps coordinate community based services and therapies to get all of our kiddos ready to enter kindergarten. St. Vincent’s Daycare supplements about $50 per week, per child to keep the children at our center, mainly because the tuition voucher reimbursement in Indiana is not keeping pace with the cost of care, and because Indiana just does not, at this time, adequately fund early childhood education and childcare. So, in the past six months St. Vincent’s Daycare has started an aggressive fundraising plan, and that is where our major event for this year comes into play. It’s called Dancing with our Stars Evansville Style. It will be held, Saturday, June 13^th at St. Mary’s Manor, at 6:00 p.m. cocktails begin, at 7:00 there’s dinner, and shortly after is some fabulous entertainment. It’s $60 per person, $100 per couple, and here’s how it goes, we’ve got ten experienced professional dancers from the local area paired with ten local stars, including some very familiar faces here today. Lloyd Winnecke and Troy Tornatta are a couple of our dancers. We’re very excited–

Commissioner Winnecke: We’re not dancing together though, just for the record.

Angie Richards Cooley: No, no, no, no. No, but although Troy’s partner is a little concerned at the height difference involved. Because she is actually just an inch taller than I am, an he is like a foot and a half taller than I am. So, there’s a big difference there in dancers. But, the other dancers involved in the event are Sister Brenda Fritz, who is our Executive Director at St. Vincent’s Daycare; Erika Taylor, the JLE President and a member of GAGE; Daniela Vidal from OLA; Heather Kent, she’s a community volunteer and mom of triplets; Jackie Monroe from Fox 7; Scott Wylie, an attorney and restaurant owner; Jack Schriber, community champion, supporter of the arts, retired from the EVSC, what else doesn’t he do? Also, we have Sean Bennett, a former semi-pro football player. They’ll be dancing a variety of styles, including the jitterbug, a waltz, mambo, swing, a tango, including a PG-13 Catholic version of the tango, and something involving a dancer dressed as Carmen Miranda and all the fun that goes along with that. So, it’s going to be a fun, exciting night. Attendees that night will vote on the winner, the champion, by purchasing vote tickets, and all of the money, of course, will benefit the children and the programs at St. Vincent’s Daycare center. You can always call or e-mail for tickets. My phone number is 424-4780, or you can just e-mail me at stvincentsdaycare@insightbb.com.

President Tornatta: Angie, thank you very much.

Angie Richards Cooley: Thank you for letting me speak this evening. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys dance.

President Tornatta: Yes, sir.

Commissioner Winnecke: So, how are those rehearsals going?

President Tornatta: Yeah, well, we need more rehearsals.

Commissioner Winnecke: Oh, okay.

President Tornatta: Anyway. Thank you, Angie.

President Tornatta: Action items, permission to award Burdette Park food, VC-9903-2009. Steve, if, do we need to go over anything with the awards? You had the recommendations? I know they’re in several categories.

Steve Craig: Yeah, it’s several pages long.

President Tornatta: Yeah, we’re going to enter that into the record with this motion.

Steve Craig: Right. What I was wanting to ask was just to approve it as put on here. The grey areas was the ones that we were accepting. I don’t know.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: Who has a copy of that, Steve?

Steve Craig: Debbie. Do you have the copy, Madelyn?

Madelyn Grayson: Debbie Spalding brought this down to the Auditor’s office. I didn’t realize the Commissioners didn’t have a copy. I mean, I can read the three vendors into the record, if you would like.

Commissioner Winnecke: That would be great. I mean, I would like to know what we’re voting on here.

Madelyn Grayson: It looks like there’s several categories awarded to CRS One Source; several to Earthgrains, and the others go to Fischer Candy Company. There’s quite a few categories here.

Commissioner Winnecke: So, the highlighted are the ones that you’re recommending? Is that–

Steve Craig: Yes, sir.

President Tornatta: If you want to look at that, we can come back to that bid.

Commissioner Winnecke: Yeah, okay. That’s great.

President Tornatta: Okay.

President Tornatta: Permission for Cooperative Purchasing Organization to seek quotes on can liners. We need a motion.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Questions or comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Resolution 2009 Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program award. Resolution and agreement that serves to split Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program award in the amount of $436,143. As per the agreement between the city and the county, the funds will be split $388,019 to the city, and $48,124 to the county.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Comment? Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Burdette Park, agreement with Evapar for preventative maintenance to the Discovery Lodge generator. Contract between Evapar to provide maintenance services to the generator at the Discovery Lodge. It’s for one year, for an annual cost of $565, which will cover two inspections during the contract period which runs from May 2009 to May 2010.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Right, Big Brothers Big Sisters Old Courthouse event agreement. The rental for the event is $750, including the use of the Old Courthouse ballroom.

Commissioner Winnecke: I’ll move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

David Miller: I have that lease here for your signature at the appropriate time.

President Tornatta: Okay.

President Tornatta: Well, since you said that, David, anything on your desk?

David Miller: Everything seems to be going okay. We’ve got plenty of work to do over there.

President Tornatta: Okay. Alright.

President Tornatta: John Stoll, County Engineer report.

John Stoll: I’ve got three storm sewer requests this evening. The first is for Eagle Ridge Subdivision. It’s 721 feet of pipe to be accepted. The developer has paid the two dollar a foot fee of $1,442. So, it’s recommended the streets, I mean, the pipes be accepted for maintenance.

Commissioner Melcher: Want to just do all of them?

President Tornatta: Do you just want to run through those?

John Stoll: Okay. The second one is Liberty Estates, Section One. This is 924 feet of pipe, and the acceptance fee is $1,848. Then the final one is Asbury Pointe, Section Two, that has 504 feet of pipe, and the acceptance fee is $1,008. All these pipes are located outside of street rights-of-way.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

John Stoll: Then the other two items are time extension requests for on-going bridge repair contracts. The first one is on Mohr Road. Both contracts are with Deig Brothers. The first one is a time extension request to June the 12^th, and this is because of all the bad weather, all the rain, they haven’t been able to get the work done. So, I recommend approval.

President Tornatta: And you recommend approval on that?

John Stoll: Yes.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Melcher: What about the other one?

President Tornatta: We’ll do them separately.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay, I’ll move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

John Stoll: The other one is for the Sensmeier Road bridge repair contract. This time extension would complete this project on June 26^th. It’s also recommended that this also be approved.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. I do have a comment. Is there any, is it just rain related? I mean, there’s no issue with having these two projects and getting both of them done on time after this extension?

John Stoll: No, they’re really small projects. It’s just the water’s been too high in general for them to get out there. They actually finally got started on the Mohr Road project today. If things held, they might have gotten done by the end of this week, but just to be sure, so they won’t have to come back for another time extension, that’s why the requested it to the 12^th.

President Tornatta: Okay.

John Stoll: There’s not a conflict between two projects.

President Tornatta: Okay, any other comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

John Stoll: That’s all I have, unless you’ve got any questions on anything.

President Tornatta: Okay.

John Stoll: Thanks.

President Tornatta: Thank you, John.

President Tornatta: Alright, I did have a request here for Burdette Park passes for county employees. As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s great. I like seeing the people in the building be able to get out there and enjoy. It’s a perk that I think that we can give them. It’s, I believe, six passes, is what we’ve done in the past, but, whatever it is, I’m in favor of it.

Commissioner Melcher: So, we’ve done this in the past.

President Tornatta: Yes.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Any other comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Alright, any new business? Any other new business?

Commissioner Winnecke: I’m sorry, what did you ask?

President Tornatta: Any other new business?

Commissioner Winnecke: No, but I have some old business.

President Tornatta: Okay. Let me take care of some new business here. Sheriff?

Eric Williams: Sorry for my late request. I just wanted to give you a little bit of information about the status of the jail population. We monitor the trends very closely in the jail, and while this is not an alarming thing, or anything that was unexpected, it is a little bit interesting to look at. If you’ll notice my report is from last month and for this month current. You’ll notice that everyday our census this month we were over capacity. Those numbers have become a little bit more significant. As you look at that report, the most telling number is not so much the total number, but if you look at the individual cells where they are over capacity, I think this is just something that you need to be aware of that we’re in the very early months, early part of the summer months when we normally see our surge, and it’s a little early to be seeing this. I think this is going to be a topic of discussion at the next Criminal Justice Planning Commission, and I don’t have the date or time for you, but one of the things that we’ve done with that Commission is we are shifting from a 4:00 meeting to a noon meeting during the week so that we can get more representation from the courts and some other people there. But, I wanted to give you this report, this is the report that you can get off our internet site once a month, but we’ve made it now, all this entire month being over capacity, and I thought you ought to know about it.

President Tornatta: Sheriff, okay, you do have the male and female.

Eric Williams: It’s broken down by housing unit, and then within each housing unit male and female. If you quickly look at it you can tell that B2 is primarily the female housing unit. Each of those housing units have a 64 person capacity and anytime it hits above 64 it shows up in red. So, it’s pretty quick, you’re very quickly able to go through there and look at our over capacity days.

President Tornatta: Anything else?

Eric Williams: Any questions?

President Tornatta: Any comments or questions?

Eric Williams: Just thought you ought to be aware of it.

President Tornatta: Thank you very much. Commissioner Mosbey, I see you back there. Do you want to talk in Drainage Board? Okay. Commissioner Mosbey is with us from Warrick County, the Warrick County Commissioner.

President Tornatta: Alright, any public comment? Yeah, Rick.

Rick Davis: Hi, Rick Davis, Vanderburgh County Treasurer. I’m just coming today to do another public service announcement for everyone watching at home. If you watched the news last night or read the paper this morning, we received approval from the Department of Local Government Finance for a due date on the spring installment of property taxes. So, everyone at home, the due date will be June 16^th. That, if you count last night’s news article on television, that’s a 29 day notice, which I, you know, we would like to do a little better, but I think that’s pretty fair, especially since we’ve given people advance notice to start budgeting for a mid-June deadline over a month ago. For everyone at home, that’s also a 46 day break, considering they’re normally due May 11^th. So, June 16^th is the deadline. Just everyone mark your calendar and please get your property taxes in by that date. You should expect a bill in the mail sometime around the end of this month or June 1^st at the latest.

President Tornatta: Rick, will we get back on a schedule of May payments again?

Rick Davis: I sure hope so. I’ve already sent a letter to State Representative Pat Bauer. I’ve asked him to cordially quit tinkering with the process. There are some legislative things that are happening, and, in my opinion, it’s been reactive rather than proactive property tax legislation. I had a quote in the paper Sunday, it’s like an indecisive chef constantly adding and subtracting ingredients to a pie long after it should be in the oven and baking. It affects Treasurer’s greatly. It affects Auditor Fluty greatly. If, I’m going to do my best to talk to Representatives and tell them this is a very reliable, dependable source of revenue for government entities to operate on, and if they continue to keep tinkering with this well into the legislative session, that makes it difficult for Treasurer’s to bill in a timely manner, to give the public adequate time to brace themselves for the bill, and for the county to disperse the monies that are collected by July 1 so government entities like the libraries, and the school corporation, the city and the county can operate without having to borrow money. So, I’ve definitely made the legislators aware of that. I’ll do my, I’m a rookie, this is my first few months in office, but from the rest of this year and the beginning of next year for sure, I will definitely try to make sure they continue to keep property taxpayers in mind with short billing notices when they’re messing with property tax legislation.

President Tornatta: Any other questions? I know you and Z. have both been advocates State-wide on a lot of these things. So, I think it’s in good hands.

Rick Davis: Thank you. One more thing, our website we had tried very hard to get that on-line today. It’s out of my hands, I’m not an IT developer by any means. Our software developer, Manatron, has been working very hard all day long to get the website up and going. We had hoped it would be available today. They are telling me that it should be available the first thing in the morning tomorrow. At that time, people will be able to pay their bills on-line. There was an article in today’s paper about the due date. Our phones were ringing off the hook today, and we had a lot of people come down and they’re already paying their property taxes right now.

President Tornatta: We’re assessing a ten percent fee?

Rick Davis: If you pay within 30, or if you pay by the deadline, which is June 16^th, there is no fee.

President Tornatta: No.

Rick Davis: Oh, on the website?

President Tornatta: Yeah.

Rick Davis: Under $40 there is a three dollar fee. If it’s over a $40 amount, it’s a 2.75 percent flat fee.

President Tornatta: So, we’re not charging anymore than the credit card amount?

Rick Davis: No, and that actually goes to a provider called Collect Max. If your bill is $1,200, the county will get the full $1,200. We do not give any of that to the payment provider, Collect Max.

President Tornatta: Right.

Rick Davis: But, Collect Max charges the customer on the other end of the computer, if it’s over $40 a 2.75 percent fee.

President Tornatta: Which is–

Rick Davis: It’s less than it was last year actually.

President Tornatta: Right, but I mean a 2.7 is a competitive fee.

Rick Davis: Yes, absolutely.

President Tornatta: Okay, because I believe in the past to do anything government -wise, it’s been ten percent of the bill, which really throws us into a position where no one wants to use that system.

Rick Davis: Right.

President Tornatta: We would like, I would like for people to use the system. I mean, I think it’s great.

Rick Davis: When you factor in the time to come down here–

President Tornatta: Right.

Rick Davis: –the possibility of getting a parking ticket, gas over two dollars a gallon, 2.75 percent on an average bill is not that much. I think it’s very reasonable.

President Tornatta: Do we, did we negotiate that, or is that a state policy now?

Rick Davis: It was negotiated with Collect Max, the site. They were our provider before.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Rick Davis: And since we went to Manatron, the fee actually went down.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Rick Davis: I have been told it’s because Manatron has so many counties that, you know, how you buy in bulk, well, we’ve gone into a bulk situation with our provider for credit card billing, and it drove the price down.

President Tornatta: Okay, so, but other than that, everybody else will still be going to the same, they’ll be going to the website, we get our money no matter if they pay whatever credit card fees, we don’t get any bill backs?

Rick Davis: Correct.

President Tornatta: Straight up? Okay.

Rick Davis: Absolutely.

President Tornatta: Super.

Rick Davis: Wonderful. Thank you for your time and allowing me to come here and get the word out again. June 16^th.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Rick.

Rick Davis: Thank you very much.

President Tornatta: June 16^th, the summer/spring property tax bills are due. Alright, any other public comment? Alright, Madelyn, if you could read the consent...I’m sorry, Chris?

Commissioner Winnecke: A couple of old business items. One of them is the paving list.

President Tornatta: Chris, if you could just address the paving list, please. Sorry about that.

Chris Walsh: Did everyone get a copy this this afternoon, of the paving list?

President Tornatta: Yes.

Chris Walsh: I’ve prepped several roads and I’m ready to go. I’m just waiting to get your approval on the paving list.

Commissioner Winnecke: Yeah, I was appreciative. It looks like we got a little more mileage out of, from the last list that we had seen. So, I appreciate your efforts there.

Chris Walsh: So there’s no confusion, on the second page, I probably should have left that off, that sub-list, that is hoping that if the price was to change and I have some extra money, that’s where we’re going to go. But, the first page is the actual paving list.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: Do we need a motion?

President Tornatta: Yeah, we need a motion.

Commissioner Winnecke: I’ll move approval of the 2009 proposed paving list as presented by the County Highway Superintendent.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. We’d, obviously, like to get this on our website, once it’s approved we will put it on within 24 hours.

Chris Walsh: Okay.

President Tornatta: Any other comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Chris Walsh: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Chris. Alright, okay. If we can, let’s go back to the Burdette Park food.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I would, I think it’s good for the record, and for folks watching at home that after just a quick perusal it appears that the low bidders are the vendors to whom these contracts will be awarded in every case that I’ve found in a quick review. I would move that we accept the 2009 Burdette Park concession food summaries as presented by the Park Manager.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Any other comments? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Thank you, Steve.

Steve Craig: Thank you. Come out and enjoy some of our food. It is good.

President Tornatta: We’ll do that. Alright. Okay, any other business, old business?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes. Mr. President, at our last meeting we chatted a while, or a brief period about the county’s lack of policy regarding working from home. At your suggestion, and I think it was a good one, I did reach out to the elected office holders and Mr. Ziemer and Mr. Miller, actually both, have reached out to other parts of the state to find out what’s going on. I have a number of comments, most office holders, I think, did respond, I thought it would be interesting just to read a few brief highlights, if you would. I think the, they run across, I’m not going to name the officeholder, unless you ask.

President Tornatta: That’s okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: But, I thought I would just read a few of those. This person writes, “It’s my assertion that it may benefit the office at certain times to allow specific employees to work from home remotely, or in other non-traditional means.” Later in the e-mail this person writes, “I personally do not believe working non-traditionally should be a routine option that is allowed purely to accommodate an employee’s individual needs, sickness or other related issues, but rather an option to accommodate the work needing to be accomplished and to do so more efficiently and effectively.” Another person writes, “ I can’t think of any circumstances where someone would need to work at home on court time.” Obviously from the judiciary. “But there may be individual cases with other officeholders that might justify something like that temporarily. I would think to do something like that on a permanent basis would violate the public’s right to generally observe and keep track of what public employee’s do for their salaries. Maybe a good policy would be to make a general rule that could be waived.” Lastly, “ I do not think working from home is feasible or acceptable concerning the county’s line of work. I believe it would not behoove the county to set a precedent on working from home.” Mr. Miller sent along a policy from the Indiana Department of Child Services, it’s an administrative policy effective March 1, 2008, which details pretty stringently what that office allows or does not allow. Basically, extenuating circumstances such as extremely long commutes, regular regional travel patterns, employee medical conditions and departmental constraints, such as lack of office space will be factored into “telework” decisions. “Telework” is their code for working at home. “Telework” is available voluntarily on a limited basis to permanent employees who meet or exceed performance measures during their most recent evaluation. Employees who are currently on work improvement plan are not eligible for “telework”. It goes on. It’s three pages long. I don’t know that our policy needs to be three pages long, but after a lot more thought and reading some of the input from our officeholders, but I do think it’s a good idea that this county amend its personnel policy and put in place easy to understand guidelines for officeholders as to what is allowed and not allowed. I think it would be helpful if we directed the County Attorney this evening to begin drafting an amendment to our personnel policy that creates some distinct guidelines based on, I’m fine with using the Department of Child Services as a guideline. So, I think we should go in that direction.

President Tornatta: Okay, and then who would these individuals, an officeholder that had an instance, who would the clearance come from, the Commissioners?

Commissioner Winnecke: Well, I think we could do it any number of ways, but I think that’s one way. We could create a policy whereby, you know, there might be a temporary, or for a brief period of time, a window where employees could work from home, but any extended period of time would have to be approved by the Board of Commissioners. I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Several of the officeholders have expressed concern about not making an amendment too stringent.

President Tornatta: Right.

Commissioner Winnecke: I think that’s important. I think, you know, if Mr. Miller’s office could come up with a draft of something, I don’t know that we’d approve it necessarily at the next two meetings.

President Tornatta: Right.

Commissioner Winnecke: We might have to work on it a little bit.

President Tornatta: Right. Yeah, I mean, I want to have the officeholders held accountable, but at the same time they have to have some type of guidelines to go by. We’ve proven that there are no true guidelines to go by in this instance. So, I am also in favor of that. If you want to classify that as a motion, we need to–

Commissioner Winnecke: I don’t know, Mr. Miller might need a little more direction than the sort of vague comments that I’ve given him.

President Tornatta: I think the intent is that we would take a guidelines much like the one that you referenced, turn that in to a working document that would bounce around and then at some point get the favor of the Commissioners to the point we would bring it back to this Board for a vote.

Commissioner Melcher: I would also like to see it be e-mailed to the officeholders so they get a chance to look at it too.

President Tornatta: Absolutely. I think that’s fine. I mean, we all have to abide by this and I think to make a change when we don’t run their offices, I’m not in favor of. So, I want to make sure that whatever we do, and as you said, this might be a multi-channeled facet and we might be working on it for a few months to get it right, but these are the by-laws that we have to go by on a day in and day out basis and they’ve got to be right.

David Miller: First, I would like to give credit to Gary Heck who was the fellow who dug up the DCS policy and transmitted it to me. When I read it today, it did strike me as something that could be used to be sort of a guide to what the county might do. However, the county and its various officeholders have different circumstances than DCS, and we’ll try to take all of that into account and put together a recommendation and get it out for comment to everybody however you direct. Whether you want it to come to you first, or to you and the officeholders, however you want it done, we’ll do it.

Commissioner Winnecke: I think, initially, it ought to go to us.

President Tornatta: Right.

Commissioner Winnecke: Then once we think we have landed on something, then I think we should get some feedback, and if it’s not workable, then we would go back.

President Tornatta: Retool. I agree.

David Miller: That’s fine. We’ll get on it.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: One last comment, along these lines, I haven’t gone through the personnel policy page by page yet–

President Tornatta: Right.

Commissioner Winnecke: –but on this one specific issue, but my suspicion is there’s probably not an updated computer use policy in our personnel policy. Specifically how an employee or an officeholder gets access to the VPN or the virtual private network. The VPN as I’ve learned is essentially the vehicle by which an employee can access the office specific software, the department specific software from home. There’s a relatively short list of county employees who have that access now. But, that’s something, and I’m not suggesting that it’s inappropriate that they have it.

President Tornatta: Right.

Commissioner Winnecke: I just think it’s probably something else we need to look at in the coming months in terms of updating our personnel policy.

President Tornatta: Is there any want to just go through the policy? When’s the last time we’ve had an updated policy?

Commissioner Winnecke: I don’t know the answer to that. I suspect it’s been amended over the years.

President Tornatta: I mean, is there any reason to review the entire policy with a group of six or seven to address any issues that have not been addressed? Or have we been updating it in a timely manner.

Bill Fluty: You might help me, Madelyn, but it’s been–

Madelyn Grayson: I think the last time the entire personnel policy was reviewed was like 2003.

Bill Fluty: I believe that’s correct, under David and Catherine, looked through it, actually held similar meetings with officeholders and department heads, looking at some of the things we were doing and looked at some of the accruals. So, there was, not a major change, but just looking at it. So, that’s six years. So, with that said, there may be some things there that need to be addressed.

President Tornatta: Okay. Alright, first off on the table we have direction to the attorney to come up with something. Do we have a second on that?

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Any other comment? Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: If we can, maybe we can start to look at the rest of the policies in the book, and see if there are anything that we, if there’s anything in there that blatantly needs to be addressed, and, if so, we can look at our next Board meetings to bring something to light.

Madelyn Grayson: Actually, you probably need to reference the on-line version, because there have been updates that have not been reflected in the printed handbook.

President Tornatta: Okay. Okay. Sounds good. Any other business?

Gary Heck: I’ve got a point to make, if I may.

President Tornatta: Absolutely.

Gary Heck: Gary Heck, Health Department. The ordinance for the personnel handbook is 2.90. That’s the ordinance number and it’s on the Auditor’s website. That’s the first thing. Secondly, the VPN connection that Commissioner Winnecke was talking about has to be on a county, or an enterprise owned computer. So, it has to be a county computer that would be allowed to be taken home. I know the Health Department has a policy that a certain number of ours leave the building every night, just as a precaution, so that we have the ability to set up an office should something happen to our office, the next day when we come back in, if it’s not there for some reason, we can still be able to conduct county business. So, I know that that’s an important part too. Also, just to let you know that at your next meeting, on June the 2^nd, will be Mr. Elder’s 60^th anniversary. I had talked to Commissioner Tornatta about this previously to make sure that you all were aware of it, so that should you decide to do something it would be an appropriate time. He has announced his retirement for later this year.

President Tornatta: Thank you.

Gary Heck: Thanks.

President Tornatta: Alright, Madelyn, if you could read the consent items please.

Madelyn Grayson: The consent items for the...I’m sorry.

President Tornatta: Yeah, um, if you want to make a motion on the consents.

Commissioner Winnecke: Yeah, I just didn’t want to get too far ahead.

President Tornatta: You can do that right now.

Commissioner Winnecke: (Inaudible. Mic. Not on.)

President Tornatta: Yeah, I will take a motion on consent items.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I would recommend that we consider the consent items as presented, exclusive of travel requests.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Any comment? Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Alright, and, I guess, there’s, in red.

Commissioner Winnecke: Oh, I’m sorry. I would also make a motion to amend the consent items to include the request to redeem 805 S. Werner, tax number I.D. 10-170-18-172-025.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Any comment? Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Then, okay, on travel requests. Okay. Do you have a motion on travel requests?

Commissioner Melcher: I can make a motion to approve the travel requests.

President Tornatta: Second. Any discussion? Do you have any discussion?

Commissioner Winnecke: Well, there’s one in particular that I don’t understand the need for, and, to be honest with you, I haven’t had time to research the others, so, I intend to vote against all of them at this time.

President Tornatta: Okay. A motion and a second. Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: No.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 2-1. Commissioner Winnecke opposed.)

President Tornatta: And, if you would please read the consent items as listed.

Madelyn Grayson: Alright, the consent items for the May 19^th meeting are as follows;

approval of the May 5, 2009 Commission meeting minutes; employment changes from the various offices; travel requests, there’s one from the Health Department, one from the County Assessor, one from the County Treasurer, two for the County Engineer; the County Engineer has pay request number 79 for the Burkhardt-Green River TIF projects in the amount of $98,214.02; the County Coroner has a request to surplus a 1993 Chevy Suburban; the County Auditor has a request to release a set of microfilm and CD records of archived Commission minutes to Central Library; the County Auditor has a request to surplus four office chairs and one scanner; the County Auditor has the May 2009 A/P vouchers; the County Commissioners have a letter to Congressman Ellsworth regarding transportation projects; County Commissioners have a request to redeem 210 Waggoner; the County Commissioners have Burdette passes for Building Authority personnel; Burdette Park has a comparison between 2008 and 2009 through April; the IBAP Gatekeeper April 30, 2009 report; Weights and Measures monthly report from 4/15 to 5/15/09; and department head reports from Burdette, County Engineer, County Highway and the Ozone Officer, and then the additional request to redeem 805 S. Werner, as the motion was made.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Madelyn. If there are no other comments. Motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

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

All Commissioners: Aye.

(The meeting was adjourned at 5:42 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of the May 5, 2009 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Letter to Congressman Ellsworth regarding Transportation Projects.

Request to Redeem 210 Waggoner. (Tax ID 11-150-22-062-015)

Request to Redeem 805 S. Werner (Tax ID 10-170-18-172-025)

IBAP Gatekeeper Report: April 30, 2009.

Employment Changes:

Health Department (3)              Burdette Park (7)            County Highway (1)

Prosecutor (4)                           Sheriff Office (1)             VCCC (3)

County Clerk (1)                       Co-Op Ext. (2)                Circuit Court (1)

Travel Requests:

County Engineer (2)                 County Assessor (1)       Health Dept. (1)

Treasurer (1)

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 79: Green River-Burkhardt TIF Projects.

County Coroner: Request to Surplus 1993 Chevy Suburban.

County Auditor:

Request to Release Set of Microfilm and CD Records of Archived Commission

Minutes to Central Library.

Request to Surplus Four Office Chairs and One Scanner.

May 2009 A/P Vouchers.

Burdette Park: Yearly Comparison April 2008 through April 2009.

Weights & Measures: Monthly Report: 4/15-5/15/2009.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer             County Highway

Ozone Officer

Those in Attendance:

Troy Tornatta                            Stephen Melcher                      Lloyd Winnecke

Bill Fluty                                    David Miller                               Madelyn Grayson

Angie Richards-Cooley             Steve Craig                               John Stoll

Eric Williams                             Chris Walsh                              Gary Heck

Rick Davis                                Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Troy Tornatta, President

Stephen Melcher, Vice President

Lloyd Winnecke, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)