VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 17^th day of November, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Troy Tornatta presiding.

President Tornatta: Good evening. Welcome to the Board of Commissioners meeting, November 17, 2009. It is straight up 5:00, in room 301. Roll call, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Here.

President Tornatta: Alright, Jamie Morris and friends, if you will come up and honor us by leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Jamie Morris: Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to our country.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Tornatta: Jamie?

Jamie Morris: Yes?

President Tornatta: Who are your guests?

Jamie Morris: These are two of our, my proudest members of the Boys and Girls Club of Evansville. Again, my name is Jamie Morris, I’m the Resource Development Director at the Boys and Girls Club. My girls are both members there, have a great time, they both had assistance doing their homework earlier today already, which is one of our trademarks at the Boys and Girls Club right now. Every kid that comes in the building after school, the first thing they do is they receive assistance with their homework, you know, education is critical in terms of helping the thousands of kids we serve get to the next level in life and achieve their dreams that they have. Right now, this evening though, on behalf of the Boys and Girls Club, I’m here really more than anything else to just say thank you to the county, to the entire, our entire community. This past year has been filled with a great deal of change for our organization as we moved to our new facility at Bellemeade Park, and certainly we are very pleased to report that the immediate impact that we’ve had has been well worth the move, well worth the toil of the change, the expense of the change, and, again, certainly we want to say thank you. This is a special week for us, we’re celebrating our 52^nd anniversary of serving the children of our community. Again, two of these little monkeys next to me here are two of them that receive the benefit of our organization, but, you know, again, we truly do thank our entire community for the tremendous support you’ve shown for our organization. Thank you very much.

President Tornatta: Now, Jamie, you have a dinner and auction, and when does that come up?

Jamie Morris: That is actually this Thursday evening, and it is the official celebration of our 52^nd anniversary. Again, another thing that we’re just very proud about is that we sold out through sponsorships.

President Tornatta: Super.

Jamie Morris: So, you know, it’s a great testament to the support that the community shows for our organization when you don’t have to send an invitation.

President Tornatta: That’s good.

Jamie Morris: Yeah, again, thank you all very much.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Jamie.

President Tornatta: Before we move on, Lloyd, if you will introduce our special guest.

Commissioner Winnecke: Absolutely. We have Kristina Solagado, a junior at Memorial High School who is here. Kristina, welcome.

Kristina Solagado: Thank you.

Commissioner Winnecke: Hope you enjoy the meeting.

President Tornatta: Alright. Hopefully shorter than most, but anyway.

President Tornatta: I do want to break out of our normal Commissioner set up here to recognize somebody who has been near and dear to Vanderburgh County, has served on the Board of Commissioners for 16 years, a four term Commissioner. Richard “Rick” Borries passed away on Friday. He was 66 years old and a consummate educator, a consummate steward of public service. So, if you will join me in a moment of silence.

(A moment of silence was observed.)

President Tornatta: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Alright, action items for tonight, road race request from Swift Athletics. A request to hold a 10 and 20 mile race near Burdette Park on December 20, 2009. Come on up. Good evening.

Rebecca Paxton: Good evening. I’m Rebecca Paxton, and my husband and I own Swift Athletics. We want to put on a 10 and 20 mile race called Run This Way to benefit the parents of galactosemic children. Our daughter, the baby in the back, who I’m sure you will hear her in a second, she has the disorder. It’s a genetic condition where they can’t break down galactose. We actually live in one of the best states, Indiana, it’s tested on their newborn screening. So, a pro to living in Indiana.

President Tornatta: Super. We have checked everything with the Sheriff and we have all of the paperwork in place.

Rebecca Paxton: Okay.

President Tornatta: I will announce it once again, it’s a 10 and 20 mile race. It’s near Burdette Park on December 20, 2009.

Rebecca Paxton: Yes.

President Tornatta: Any other information that you can give us for anybody who’s watching?

Rebecca Paxton: The applications are online at swiftathletics.com, and they can come into the store. It’s also on the Greater Evansville Runners and Walkers Club website.

President Tornatta: And Swift is S-w-i-f-t?

Rebecca Paxton: Yes it is.

President Tornatta: Okay. Any questions?

Commissioner Winnecke: I just have a quick question, and I have no problem with approving this tonight, but I’m curious how you will communicate to the neighbors about the road closures and what not.

Rebecca Paxton: I have a letter that’s ready to go out once it was approved. I have a gentleman in the Sheriff’s office who said he would help me find out the addresses of those people and then send it out. If they have any questions or concerns they can contact us at the store.

Commissioner Winnecke: Super. Thanks.

Commissioner Melcher: I guess, the only question I have was the security part and the road closures. So, the Sheriff’s okay with everything, and the Sheriff’s Department is actually going to do it, not the National Guard?

Rebecca Paxton: It will be, yeah, it will be the Sheriff.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay, I feel better with the Sheriff’s Department doing it.

President Tornatta: Okay. If there are no other questions, I will ask for a motion.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, 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 and good luck.

Rebecca Paxton: Excellent. Thank you so much.

President Tornatta: Alright.

Rebecca Paxton: We’ll let you know how it goes.

President Tornatta: Sounds great.

Rebecca Paxton: Thanks.

President Tornatta: Okay.

President Tornatta: County Treasurer, in-house printing, Rick Davis to discuss.

Rick Davis: I have a Power Point presentation with this proposal and it will take just a second to load it up. Okay. Thank you for having me here this evening. My name is Rick Davis, I’m the Vanderburgh County Treasurer. I took office in January, and I’m in my eleventh month. One of the duties of the Treasurer is to bill property taxes. We collect taxes and then the funds that we collect are distributed to the governing bodies in the county; the School Corporation, the city, the county, the Levee Authority, the libraries, etcetera. I wanted to go over the way the billing works first of all. I will try to go through this as quickly as possible. The basics, property taxes are due twice a year in May and November. In order to save on postage we send both the May and November, spring and fall, coupon together at the same time, so we only have to bill once instead of twice. State law requires a minimum of 15 days notice, postmarked between the postmark and the due date. Once upon a time the Treasurer’s office gave 30 to 45 days notice, recently, due to changes in state law and mandates from the state, that number has been whittled down to anywhere from 15 to 18 days over the last three or four years. Next year we should improve upon that, at least that’s what the Department of Local Government Finance has said. Ideally we would be mailing bills in March. The deadline in ‘08 was June 6^th, and ‘09 was June 16^th due to circumstances mostly out of our control. The DLGF took time to approve some of the bills around the state. Actually, although June 6^th was late, I believe we were the first county, the previous Treasurer was the first county to bill last year. This year we were, I think, 12^th. 2010 is being hailed the year of no excuses by the DLGF Commissioner. He wants everybody in the state to bill on time. The reason why, if we do not bill in a timely manner and disperse what we’ve collected by July 1, governing bodies have to borrow money to keep the lights on and make payroll. In order to do that, you know, borrowing money, no one wins under that circumstance. So, we, Vanderburgh County has been very lucky the last couple of years, we’ve been able to disperse by the July 1 date, and the county’s not had to borrow money, nor have any of the other governing bodies. We do expect, as of now, to be billing on time next year. We would like to start printing the bills in-house. This is something that was done about 18 years ago, within two decades. It was done manually. It was very laborious. We have 100,000 parcels in Vanderburgh County. I could see why this service was bid out over the last few years, because with our old system it was very cumbersome. But, we spent, and when I say we I mean the county, around $500,000 for a new property tax billing system that went online February 6^th of this year. The new property tax billing system has made it a lot easier for us to be able to print bills in-house. The 2009 bill costs Vanderburgh County taxpayers $46,300. That’s not counting postage. That’s just the bill itself. Only one vendor bid on this project last year. That vendor was from South Carolina. They have a local office here, yes, but the bills were actually printed in South Carolina. I think this is something that we can do in-house with our folks here in Vanderburgh County, and not something that needs to be done three or four states away. Also, I don’t think one vendor is very healthy. The bills generated $177 million in revenue for local government entities for ‘08 pay ‘09. Some, I mentioned earlier that we have 100,000 parcels in Vanderburgh County. Some people own more than one. As a matter of fact a lot of people own more than one. We would like to put a proposal together where we have the ability to group bills, meaning that there will be a software that looks for an address and if it sees that Troy Tornatta owns four properties, all four properties are grouped together and put in one envelope, saving on postage. The bill itself, I’ll show you how it looked this year. It came on a color envelope with some very good information explaining to folks that if they’ve recently purchased their home the name on this envelope may not be theirs, but to make sure the bill gets to the appropriate person. That’s because people buy and sell property year round, and once we hit the print button and in between that time frame and the time it comes in the mail somebody may have moved into a home that wasn’t there two weeks prior. The front page has the remittance coupons, spring and fall, with some information about where they can pay. There is a TS-1 form, which basically tells whether or not your taxes went up. This year it was three years data. Next year it’s only going to be two. This page right here is mandated by the state, the DLGF, we have no control over how this is presented. Finally, the last page showed all the different ways of paying. It included a form for people to fill out their credit card information if they wanted to pay by mail through a credit card. It also has a debit option where we can withdraw their taxes straight from their bank account. All those are very popular features with our taxpayers. The, next year there is a new form, for the next three years there will be a homestead exemption form. Basically the state wants to weed out people who may own several homes in one county, or several homes throughout the state and they’re getting a homestead exemption on all of those homes. Those forms will be filled out by the taxpayer and mailed back, and the Auditor will verify that they only have one homestead mortgage. To tell you how the DLGF likes to do things, they even mandate that we do it on rose colored paper next year, which is a little more expensive than plain paper. On the back of the current bills that we have the ability to print out, and I’ve given you examples, is a change of address form. This is something that doesn’t have to be printed at the last moment. It could be printed well in advance. On the back of the TS-1 form is information on how to read the form, and, again, this is information that could be printed well in advance. It does not have to be done at the last moment. I’ve given you an example of what the homestead credit form appears to be on the rose colored paper. Altogether, we’re dealing with around 800,000 impressions. When I mean an impression, the front of the TS-1 form, the back of the TS-1 form, etcetera. 600,000 of these impressions can be done in advance, meaning from January through March. They are not going to be crunch time printing. The TS-1 form and the remittance coupons are really the only crunch time printing that we’ll have. That’s about 100,000 of each, 200,000 impressions. The outside vendor that we hired to do the work required two work weeks to print, fold and insert the bills for printing. In order for us to accomplish that goal we would need printers that would average 83 impressions per minute. We have been preliminarily proposed a printer from a local company, actually two printers for $20,000 total, at 100 pages per minute combined, which exceeds the 83 we would need. We still have around $18,400 left over from this year’s budget, and I might add we made two printings this year. Not only did we print in the spring, we printed an adjusted fall bill that we did in-house, I might add. Anyone who had a homestead credit received another bill the first of October with a condensed version of our bill. I confirmed with Old National Bank today that they had zero problems with this form going through their readers. So we, I’ve already put in a request for the County Council, and I’ll be going to their December 3^rd meeting to pay for these printers. Recently the Board of Public Works and the City of Evansville entered into an agreement with Xerox. It was within the last week, so Computer Services is going through the propert purchasing channels. We may even be able to beat that. I will have all of those facts and figures for the Council by December, I think it’s December 2^nd actually, I said 3^rd. The remittance coupons require a special ink, Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, MICR, for Old National Bank to process our payments in an orderly time. The preliminary proposal for the printers include eight toners per machine, they would do 1.2 million prints for regular toner, and 580,000 prints for MICR. One full year of insurance is covered for each printer, that includes service, parts and labor. After one year, in order to have a service agreement, it would cost .015 per print, that’s $12,000 a year. That’s, I would not recommend that we do that. We could buy a new printer for $10,000, obviously, why would be spend $12,000 for everything else. The toner costs in year three plus would be $244 a piece for 72,000 prints. For us to do the job that would be $678 total. For regular toner it would $834 total. The folder and inserter and the software, this is where the complicated machinery comes into play. The preliminary bid we’ve received, and I’m asking today for a Request for Proposal, so what I’ve done is a feasibility study to make sure that we could do this for around the amount of money that’s been budgeted to do the job. It came in at $56,708. The supplies, all of the envelopes, paper came in around $9,000. The maintenance fee for this equipment was $6,000 a year beginning year two, and I do recommend that. This is equipment that is very complex. You just don’t go down to Best Buy and buy one. The first year cost for everything is $85,000 and change. The second year printing cost, including equipment maintenance and printing supplies, is around $16,500. That compares to the $46,300 we spent this year. I might add we also have some other quality control measures that can be done. If it does come down to crunch time, I can have our staff come in on a second shift, or a Saturday or a Sunday and give them comp time to get the job done in an orderly manner and a timely and efficient manner. If it’s in South Carolina done by another company, I can’t do that. Our 2010 bill printing budget is $65,000. If we are successful buying the printers the first week of December, that leaves around $66,000 to pay for the equipment needed. The savings over a five year period is $80,000 versus our current outsourcing vendor. I also sought a local person who could do the job, all of it, and they came in at $39,320. That’s not counting postage. So, our in-house savings compared to having a local vendor do this is still $45,000. I don’t think $1,000 is going to keep the Council from saving this kind of money. I estimated, without having done this feasibility, that it would cost around $50,000 to buy this equipment. It came in at $56,000. So, I was very close. I have one additional caveat to this proposal, last week I received two weeks notice that an employee from my office is transferring to the County Auditor’s office. We are going to eliminate that position within the next two weeks. In 2010 this eliminated position was to pay $38,372 in salaries and benefits. Due to the efficiencies of the software that went online February 6^th, we will transfer her current duties to another employee in the office. I’m also going to have that same employee be in charge of this printing project. Due to consolidated duties of the current workload and additional duties of the proposed print job I am going to take the new, revised position to the Job Study, it will likely mean an increase in pay for the employee, but, again, we’re eliminating a position and benefits. So, we’re still coming out way ahead. One of the, I talked to, or I sent an e-mail to Commissioner Tornatta, and he was concerned about whether or not we would be able to handle the foot traffic in the office with the eliminated position and the extra duties. We installed a drop box in front of the Civic Center this year, and I would like to thank the Sheet Metal Workers and the Cement Masons for doing that. They donated that box for the county taxpayers. In the spring we had 860 envelopes dropped off the last two days of the deadline. In the fall that was 491. So, that’s 1,351 people that were at the Civic Center grounds that we did not have to wait on because they dropped their bills off in the drop box. Overall since it went in, we’ve had nearly 2,000 envelopes dropped into the drop box, and many of them contain more than one bill. So, due to the consolidated duties, whoops, I’ll go back to the foot traffic, it backed up on me. We have Old National Bank locations, 18 of them, in five counties and two states collecting property tax bills. We take payments, we allow people to pay over the phone. There’s an online payment system, which includes a 2.75% fee, which I think that discourages a lot of people, especially when they have a $1,600 bill. I’m drawing up a plan right now where we have an e-check capability next year where people can go online and pay their check online for only 50 cents a piece. It’s not through yet, but I’m expecting that to be done within the next few weeks. With gas being the price it is, and stamps being 44 cents, it’s almost worth it to go online for everyone to pay for just 50 cents. So, I think, I’m going to heavily promote that next year, in addition to the drop box, and Old National Bank, which will seriously cut down on traffic coming through the building. I hate to say this, unfortunately, I think the enhanced Civic Center security next year is going to cut down on our foot traffic. I think a lot of people when they get to the door and they see that they have to take off their belt and get scanned and stand in line, I don’t know how long that’s going to take, I think they would just as soon drive through the drop box, drop it off and go, rather than deal with all of that. We have room in our office to print the bills, and ironically it’s going to be printed right where they were when they were doing them manually 20 years ago. Once the equipment is decided upon, I’m going to have the Building Authority make sure that we have the proper electrical circuitry in the room. When we printed our in-house bills, at one point we were printing about 122 pages a minute on our desktop printers. They’re not made for that type of bulk, excessive printing in just one or two days. It only took us two days to do around 40,000 bills. So, the problem we had was we blew a fuse. We had so many printers going and using so much electricity, the lights went out. So, I will definitely have the Building Authority check our circuitry and make sure we’re in line for this new equipment. We also already have the drops and the computer equipment necessary to print the bills. So, that is my proposal. I hereby respectfully request that you guys join me on board with this project. I spent a lot of time and effort in this, and I would love to put this to a Request for Proposal, and get the equipment bid out, and try to get a vendor in place by the first of the year in order to start printing in March. I would be glad to take any questions you have.

President Tornatta: Questions?

Commissioner Winnecke: I have some. Rick, first of all I think this is a great idea. I have conceptually no problems with it. Just help me with the math a little bit. Our costs primarily are four, for year one, primarily four line items; two printers, at about $20,000, is that right?

Rick Davis: Yes, but with this Xerox signing in with the city and the county, I think that’s going to drop considerably.

Commissioner Winnecke: Okay.

Rick Davis: Computer Services is going through the proper purchasing channels to make sure that that happens.

Commissioner Winnecke: Okay, and then we have about $56,700 on the folder, inserter–

Rick Davis: And the software.

Commissioner Winnecke: –and the software.

Rick Davis: Right.

Commissioner Winnecke: Then, another approximately $9,000 in supplies and maintenance.

Rick Davis: Exactly.

Commissioner Winnecke: That comes up to $85,600?

Rick Davis: That’s correct.

Commissioner Winnecke: Okay.

Rick Davis: And that counts the $20,000 for the printers, which puts us, if you take the $20,000 away from the $85,000, right at the $65,000 budget that the Council set. I’m, again, if they see the savings that we’re going to reap over five years, I don’t think they’ll mind going less than $1,000 over budget to get this project going.

Commissioner Winnecke: I came up with a slightly different number, but I’m just doing my math on the fly. But, we’re close enough that, the bottom line is, I think in the big picture this makes a lot of sense.

Rick Davis: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: I think the overall efficiencies that you’re looking at, big picture wise, are going to be really beneficial to the county.

Rick Davis: Thank you. I did want to show you the software too. I gave you a slip of paper, it’s highlighted. This will basically group this bill with this TS-1 form, and it’s a sequence, a set of sequences. We have received, we need a little clearance here on this column, white space, we’ve received permission from the Department of Local Government Finance to move the 2009 and 2010 tables where 2007 and 2008 are showing on your current remittance coupon.

President Tornatta: Okay, Rick, okay, first off, have we been able to address any way of sending, or will the DLGF let us send anything online if somebody signs up for a program? So, if they want their tax bill online, can they get that?

Rick Davis: Beginning next year, people do have the ability to receive a bill by e-mail. We have gone through so many upgrades with our computer system over the last year, and this would not only affect me, it also affects the Assessor and also affects the Auditor. We’re trying to get it to where our software vendor, Manatron, receives that information electronically, the taxpayer puts in the return e-mail address so they can verify, you know, we don’t want Rick Davis to go online and as a joke say Troy Tornatta wants his tax bills sent to Ted Ziemer.

President Tornatta: Uh-huh.

Rick Davis: So, we have to verify that. Ted would be happy to pay your bill, Troy, I’m sure.

President Tornatta: Tell me how that works.

Rick Davis: We want to depend on Manatron, our current software vendor to do this process, where it would probably entail someone going online and verifying, you know, my name is Rick Davis, I am verifying that I want my bill sent electronically. They’ll send an e-mail back to my home address, I will go to a link and verify that I received it, and then, or they receive a postcard in the mail. But, this is something that we’re really depending upon Manatron to do, because we do want some security features in there to make sure people aren’t going online and playing havoc with other people’s property tax bills. I was hoping to do that next year, where people get the bills e-mailed, but Manatron has been busy on other projects, they’ve been helping other counties come across the finish line and bill properly for this year. Some counties billed two years in this year alone. So, I think next year Manatron will work more heavily on that, and possibly in 2011 I hope to have an e-mail system set up. Right now we’re very dependent on Manatron for 2010, and I just don’t see it happening for 2010. It’s a new law that’s just going to take effect January 1. A lot of times with our state laws it’s like Detroit you don’t want to take the first model off the line. Sometimes it’s better to let other counties iron out all of the wrinkles the first year, and then you take advantage of their guinea pig pilot program the first year.

President Tornatta: Okay, then my second kind of thought for this Board, and maybe if we could work with you to just go through this. I mean, good presentation, exactly what we need to see, a business plan coming through here, but I don’t want to move so fast that we don’t have all the questions answered through the process.

Rick Davis: Okay, what are your questions?

President Tornatta: Well–

Rick Davis: I would be glad to answer them.

President Tornatta: –my thought is, we get a chance to look at this and just kind of digest where these numbers are coming from and make sure. Lloyd has a few numbers, I mean, I think everything looks good, you know, as all plans can be in place and ready to roll, just to throw it up against the wall a couple of times, see how it’s affected. Throw questions to you, ask you questions, maybe talk to the Auditor, make sure that everyone is in line, see if there’s any gaffes in there, any places that we need to fill before we go and make that type of purchase. This is a great first start. I think this gives us a lot of information to digest. We have a meeting on the 24^th, if we can get some of those, you know, just digest this, if we think that it’s ready to go, I mean, I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t–

Rick Davis: Okay.

President Tornatta: –be ready to go at that time.

Rick Davis: If it’s just a week I’m not against that at all, because the equipment, when we order it, it takes a solid eight weeks for it to be made, delivered and set up. So, if we order January, February there are our first two months out of the way, we want to be printing in March.

President Tornatta: Well, I would, and I would say, I would get this to the County Council tomorrow, if their packets aren’t–

Rick Davis: I’m scheduled–

President Tornatta: –out, maybe you can get it in their packets so they can look at this. It’s great, it spells out what you’re trying to do, but it allows them to get a chance to look at it so they can see if they have any issue or if they have any questions and able to work that out.

Rick Davis: Regarding the figures, we just had our property tax billing last week, and I’ve fielded several quotes, and we’ve worked with number ten envelopes compared to six by nine envelopes, compared to nine by twelve. So, somewhere along the lines, you know, one line item might have gotten left in or taken out or forgotten to be substituted. So, I apologize if the numbers weren’t exactly right on the penny, but we’ve been manipulating all of the supplies. This is a very complex thing, not only with the printers and the software, the toner, envelopes, paper, perforated paper, rose colored paper, mixing and matching, taking in and trying to get it under budget, possibly something may have been added twice or omitted.

President Tornatta: I think what we normally do, even when we have a vendor we open up their bids and we have a clear, somebody that has clearly underbid everyone, and we still take it under advisement and look through the process and just make sure that there are more than one set of eyes on it. I think, you know, if everything holds up, the numbers look real good, we, I would just like a chance for us to digest that, let the County Council do the same.

Rick Davis: Okay. Again, I am appearing, they meet the first week of December. My main goal is to have it out as a Request for Proposal and showing that we can meet, you know, right at the budget, so that they feel comfortable purchasing a printer with funds left over that we did not use this year. So, that’s kind of why we’re in the hurry, we have to encumber that cost in December in order to use monies left over this year for the project. So, that was one of our main goals and why I was a little worried about you wanting to take a little more time, but if it’s only a week, I have no problem with that at all.

President Tornatta: Do you, are you, you’re going to talk to them at the end of the month?

Rick Davis: I was planning on going the first week of December, but I can go the last meeting of the month as well.

President Tornatta: They have their, they more or less have their explanation round the last of November.

Rick Davis: I would be glad to go, yes.

President Tornatta: Yeah, I would hit them then, and then they would vote on that, if there was vote it would be the first part of December. However, there’s going to be, they couldn’t vote on anything, but there will be a meeting like on December 16^th, 17^th, probably the 16^th, as well, that would be a Personnel and Finance, I believe. But, they would be meeting together, so if there was something they needed. Now, encumbering money, Bill, would be as easy as letting them know that you would potentially be encumbering the money and we can encumber it regardless of whether they were in favor of this project or not?

Bill Fluty: Well, he would have to have a contract in place.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Fluty: Or a P.O. in place, which we would know who he is going to spend the money with–

President Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Fluty: –would be the two ways he could do that.

President Tornatta: So, even if you had a P.O. in place, at some point then that could be taken care of at a later date, even in December if people had more questions or if there was some type of issue, but that can all be handled. Okay? Any other questions?

Rick Davis: Yeah, if you have any questions I’ll be glad to answer them now, or you can send me an e-mail, give me a call, schedule an appointment, I would be glad to meet with you. I’ll look over these numbers again, and if I see where a mistake was made, I’ll send you a revised.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: Appreciate it, thank you very much.

President Tornatta: Thank you, Rick.

Rick Davis: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Okay, second and final reading of CO.11-09-017, an ordinance amending chapter 2.40 of code of ordinances for dental procedures and fees.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, 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: Permission to advertise annual pipe bid. Is Debbie here?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: She isn’t. She asked me to stand in for her. This–

Madelyn Grayson: Ted, your mic’s not on.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: This annual pipe bid, the advertising dates, if permission is granted, would be November 23^rd and November 30^th, with the bid opening to be December 15, 2009 and an award date anticipated at December 29, 2009.

President Tornatta: What do we do if we don’t, the 29^th was known as the emergency meeting in December. So, I guess, my question is, could they be discussed and opened on the 15^th?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, the opening is December the 15^th, then ordinarily they would be taken under advisement–

President Tornatta: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –to review, and then, which is why the award date was set for December 29^th. That award could be anytime after December, is there another meeting after December 15^th?

President Tornatta: Only the 29^th, but that was if there was any issue that–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: What are the two meeting dates that we’ve got set now?

President Tornatta: It would be the 1^st, 15^th, and 29^th. Is that correct, or the 8^th?

Commissioner Melcher: It’s the 8^th.

Madelyn Grayson: It’s the 8^th.

President Tornatta: The 8^th, the 15^th, and the 29^th.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Eighth, 15^th and 29^th. I would think it would be unusual to be able to award on the same date that you open, but, you know, maybe it’s going to be very clear cut, but we couldn’t know that until we received the bids.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Melcher: We could wait until then.

President Tornatta: Until when?

Commissioner Melcher: The 15^th, until we open them.

President Tornatta: That’s what he’s saying, to open them, it’s approving them on that date that we wouldn’t know about. Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: Can we approve them in January, you’re looking to not meet on the 29^th, I assume.

President Tornatta: Well, no, all I’m saying is it was tentatively planned, because normally–

Commissioner Winnecke: Right.

President Tornatta: –this place is–

Commissioner Winnecke: Right.

President Tornatta: –a skeleton crew.

Commissioner Winnecke: But, legally, if we can approve them in our first meeting in January, could we do that?

President Tornatta: Is there any problem?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, no, unless they need the service prior to that. John, is that a problem? I mean, if we need the pipe before that time.

President Tornatta: I don’t think we’ve bid this in over a year.

John Stoll: I was going to say I believe the current bid is already expired. So, I just asked Chris if he would be buying any pipe in that time frame, he didn’t think so. Any contracts that we would work on we could hold off on any pipe purchases until January, so I don’t see a problem carrying it over until January.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: What’s the first meeting in January? Do you know that?

Madelyn Grayson: The 5^th.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Marissa?

Madelyn Grayson: January 5^th.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: January 5^th?

President Tornatta: Yep.

Commissioner Melcher: We’ll just do it then.

President Tornatta: Okay.

John Stoll: I was going to say, typically, with multiple vendors and multiple different kinds of pipe, I don’t think you could get it reviewed and awarded on the same evening that you open it. So, it would be best to carry it forward to January.

President Tornatta: I need a motion.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, 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: Resolution CO.R-11-09-011 approving an amendment to the plan for the Burkhardt Road economic development area. Ted, if you just want to go over the redevelopment, or actually–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: On October the 9^th the Vanderburgh County Redevelopment Commission adopted a resolution to amend the economic development plan for the Burkhardt Road economic development area by including some additional projects. That was then sent to the Area Plan Commission for review and a determination that that fit within the plan for Vanderburgh County. The Area Plan Commission met on November the 12^th and did adopt a resolution finding that the proposed amendment did fit within the plan for Vanderburgh County and approving the resolution adopted by the Vanderburgh County Redevelopment Commission on October 9^th. Two things need to happen now, one, the resolution adopted by the Vanderburgh County Economic Development Commission needs to be approved by the Vanderburgh County Commissioners, and you have a resolution before you today which, if you adopt it, will approve that resolution that was adopted on October the 9^th. Secondly, today you would be asked to give permission to publish notice for a public hearing of the Vanderburgh County Economic Development Commission on December 2, 2009 for a public hearing prior to final adoption of the amendment.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I would move that we approve resolution CO.R-11-09-011, and include in that motion the permission to advertise the next public hearing of the County Redevelopment Commission.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? 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: Okay, contracts, agreements and leases, Superior Court grant to Superior Court Juvenile Division and provider agreement between county and Youth First. The contract for projected and maximum compensation of $470,348 for Youth First, Incorporated, which would be paid in monthly installments based on details off the invoice monthly by Youth First to the Superior Court Juvenile Division.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? 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: Health Department, oxygen administration training agreement with the American Red Cross. The agreement is to be entered into between the Southwestern Indiana chapter of the American Red Cross to Vanderburgh County on behalf of the Health Department for oxygen administration training. The course will be offered on January 15, 2010, and the cost will be $20 per student, minimum of eight, and eight dollars per person for pocket oxygen masks. The Health Department has sufficient funds to take care of these fees.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? 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, Commissioners permission to award contract to ARC construction for the plaster work in the Old Courthouse. That is work to be done as described in appropriate documents in article nine of the agreement. The work will commence November 17^th, which should be sometime after this goes down until March 1, 2009.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I’ll move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, 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: Agreement with Markham Security Specialists, Incorporated for courier service for the County Clerk, County Treasurer and County Recorder’s offices for a period of November 1, 2009 to October 31, 2010 at $20 per carry.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, 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: Old Courthouse office space lease renewal for AIDS Research Group. The renewal of the lease for the AIDS group for the space in the Old Courthouse for a period of 11/1/09 through 10/31/10. The annual rental is $12,063.32 payable monthly, which is a three percent increase.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? 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: Sit-Co lease of the bell tower space in the Old Courthouse, renewal of the lease with Sit-Co LLC for the space in the bell tower of the Old Courthouse for a period of 11/27/09 through 11/26/12. The annual rental is $4,326 payable monthly, at $360.50, which is a three percent increase. The lease is otherwise identical to the prior years three year lease.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I’ll move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? 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: Old Courthouse lease agreement with David Miller and Toby Ellis for band rehearsal space. I didn’t know David played.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Different David.

President Tornatta: Oh, sorry. Lease agreement to be entered between the county and David Miller and Toby Ellis. Lisa Daugherty is here to discuss if we need to talk about it. The band practice area is for lease in suite 108 for $297 per month for an annual rental of $3,564. The lease is for one year from 12/1/09 till 11/30/10. There is a specific time that they’re allowed to beat the drums and bang the cymbals, but all of that is discussed in the provisions of the contract and has been sent to all of the Commissioners. Any questions of Lisa?

Commissioner Melcher: No, I’ll move for approval.

President Tornatta: Aha, second. Discussion? 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: Alright, consent to sample county owned properties for lead and arsenic levels contamination. Consent for EPA to take soil samples and test lead and arsenic on some of the parcels currently owned by the county by virtue of the county receipt of tax deeds.

Commissioner Winnecke: Move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? 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: County Engineer, consulting agreement between the county and Bernardin Lochmueller for work on the University Parkway.

Commissioner Melcher: Move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? We’ve obviously had this sent to us via e-mail.

John Stoll: Yes, it’s just to cover the construction inspection for the next phase of the project.

President Tornatta: It’s not to exceed?

John Stoll: $898,100.

President Tornatta: Sounds good. 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: Stay.

President Tornatta: Alright, you did have something under there about BLA, we took care of that. Street plan approval?

John Stoll: Yes, I’ve got a request for street plan approval for section four of Deerfield Subdivision. This is an extension of the existing streets in Deerfield, which is on the south side of Mount Pleasant between 41 and Old State. I would recommend approval of the plans, subject to the developer would still have to provide the street signs and stop signs once we provide him with the final specs on the making of those signs, which I hope to bring to you sometime in December. So, subject to him providing that, I would recommend that the street plan be approved.

Commissioner Winnecke: I’ll move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? If not, 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)

John Stoll: That’s all I have.

President Tornatta: And we do, on Monday we’re going to have an unveiling of the Baseline bridge?

John Stoll: Yes, Monday at 1:00 Baseline bridge will be open to traffic, after the ribbon cutting.

President Tornatta: I was going to say.

John Stoll: Not prior to.

President Tornatta: Not quite 1:00, but right after the ribbon cutting we will have a ribbon pushing–

John Stoll: That hasn’t stopped some people from using it already from what I’ve been told.

President Tornatta: It will be very interesting for those who want to attend out there, 1:00 will be the ribbon ceremony. We will have a special memento or a special acknowledgment out there. So–

Commissioner Winnecke: Are we going to vote on that?

President Tornatta: Uh.

Commissioner Winnecke: I don’t know. To name the bridge.

President Tornatta: Yeah, I’ll get back to you on that.

Commissioner Winnecke: Do we need to vote on naming the bridge?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: There’s a procedure for naming streets. I don’t know. I’m sorry I would have to research that. I don’t know what we do to name bridges. It would be the first bridge that we ever tried to name since I’ve been around.

John Stoll: I was going to say the only thing I’ve dealt with in the past was installation of plaques on the bridge with county officials and the contractors and the designers, but the bridge wasn’t named.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’m going to suggest that if the Commissioners want to name the bridge, you can name it. I mean, I haven’t researched that, but I can’t think of any reason why you can’t.

President Tornatta: Well, it’s named. It’s just not to give that out until it’s time.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, that’s fine.

President Tornatta: I guess, that’s not a good answer.

Commissioner Melcher: He just said it’s fine.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah.

Commissioner Melcher: That’s our attorney.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, you’re not going to get in any trouble for doing that.

Commissioner Melcher: That answers the question.

President Tornatta: Well–

Commissioner Winnecke: You know, it seems to me that we ought to do this. I mean, I don’t know that by withholding that we’re going to generate–

President Tornatta: Well, and we’re going to have it covered until that point, but, I mean–

Commissioner Winnecke: I think the right thing to do, to me it seems like is to vote on what we’re proposing–

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: –so we, you know, it’s not that big of a deal.

President Tornatta: Well, that’s fine. It was to keep a little suspense. To be honest with you, this was something brought up to Lloyd, given to John, John brought it back to me, I took it to Steve–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: And no decision was made outside this public meeting.

President Tornatta: Absolutely, but–

Commissioner Melcher: I was going to say that.

President Tornatta: –yeah, okay, so you caught me. But, it was all in the way of honoring a guy that has meant a lot in one way or the other to the county. Lloyd and I were able to serve with him. We would like to, the motion would be to throw it out there and name this the Curt Wortman Memorial Bridge.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion?

Commissioner Winnecke: He did serve on the County Council from 1979 until 2006.

President Tornatta: Yeah, and he actually passed away in office. So, Curt was the sometimes the lone zero vote, but he was good guy nonetheless and that’s his neighborhood. So, we did want to honor him with that designation. So, if there is no discussion, 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: No more surprises.

John Stoll: That’s all I had.

President Tornatta: Thank you, John, 1:00.

President Tornatta: Okay, Dave Rector. This is under new business, Dave you have some type of repairs at the Centre?

Dave Rector: I do. That’s a sample there for you.

Commissioner Winnecke: I hope this is the old and not the new.

Dave Rector: That is the old.

President Tornatta: I would recommend that goes into the public record.

Dave Rector: What you have there is a sample of a piece of the caulking that is coming out from between the panels at the Centre. Obviously it needs repair. Unfortunately that is a very small section of a lot of it. We do have some leakage inside that’s damaging the drywall. So, I’m here to request spending some F&B money to make those repairs. I’m estimating that it will be, by the time we cut all the caulk, re-caulk it, put in backer rod, repair the cap and the drywall and painting and all on the inside, $8,000 to $10,000.

Commissioner Winnecke: Dave, what time line would that be?

Dave Rector: Well, obviously, we need to get on it quickly because it is damaged now and leaking now. We’ve tried intermittent repairs over the last year, and finally we just got up there on a JLG and got to the top and started looking and you can see what we started finding. It’s just deteriorating.

Commissioner Winnecke: So, do we need approval of a not to exceed amount?

Dave Rector: Yeah, why don’t we do $10,000. Obviously, I’ll have time sheets and cut sheets to show what we spent.

Commissioner Winnecke: I would approve that we make the said repairs with not to exceed $10,000.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? 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)

Dave Rector: Thank you, gentlemen.

President Tornatta: Okay, thank you, Dave.

President Tornatta: Under old business, the Coroner’s office landscaping invoice for the County Commissioners in the amount of $7,000 paid out of the Commissioners Infrastructure line.

Commissioner Winnecke: Move approval.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Did want to say that we appreciate Annie getting out there and getting this handled. It does dress up the area and makes it more presentable for those families that go over there. 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: Next we’re going to talk about approval of the Civic Center security plan. This plan was actually delivered in our last meeting. We had an opportunity to talk to the Sheriff. It was approved on an 8-1 basis by the City Council for approval. It is before this Board today before implementation. If it’s passed, potentially, and, Dave, I don’t know would it be the first of next week? Sorry, I let you go.

Dave Rector: Actually, we have everything in place, ready to go, except for moving the security station that we’ve talked about that’s in the juvenile hallway. The monitors and making the connections with Thanksgiving week being next week, and then labor is double time over the holidays, we’ve talked with the Sheriff and we would like to make 12/7 the start date to go live, if this goes through.

Commissioner Melcher: So, that’s a Monday?

Dave Rector: That’s a Monday, Pearl Harbor Day.

Commissioner Melcher: So, you’re going to move it over the weekend?

Dave Rector: We would move it over the weekend.

President Tornatta: Okay. Are there any questions or comments about the plan, or do we have a motion?

Commissioner Winnecke: I would, if it’s alright I would like to make a couple of comments.

President Tornatta: Sure.

Commissioner Winnecke: First, I would like to commend the committee for its hard work. I know you did spend a lot of time on it. I especially appreciate the fact that the Sheriff and the Police Chief were instrumental in drafting the proposal and endorse its implementation. Knowing that our community’s top two security experts approve this plan gives me greater comfort. That being said, I still believe we should have, we should provide a more comprehensive security plan for this campus, but it’s obvious to me that from a practical standpoint we’re not in a position to do that at this time. It appears to me that the building has enough shortcomings that it would make a more extensive security plan just really unworkable at this time. Because of the size of the equipment, the way the entrances are structured, and just the way the building is designed, I think it’s going to be common for folks who visit this building, once this is implemented, to be out in the elements. While security is I don’t ever think about convenience, I think we should be cognizant of the shortcomings of this building. So, I’m going to vote yes tonight, because we have a plan in place and its been endorsed by the Sheriff and the Police Chief and because we have a plan that’s ready to implement. I think if I vote no tonight or a no vote out of this body, I think we would just go even longer with the current security level, and I think we all agree that it is inadequate for today’s world. I do have two suggestions to go along with my yes vote tonight. That is one for the committee to continue its work by examining the current entrances to the building, coming back and making recommendations on how structural changes can be made that would accommodate a more stringent security plan going forward, as well as the required personnel additions that would undoubtedly be required. Then, second, from the vote on the security plan, I think it’s important for this body to amend the county’s personnel policy so that the Sheriff’s office would be required to screen all prospective new employees going forward on a background check. As we’ve learned recently, it’s kind of a hodge podge, office by office, but I think for consistency’s sake it would be nice if going forward new employees had a screening by the Sheriff’s office.

Commissioner Melcher: I would like to say something too. I, pretty much everything I was going to say Lloyd just said it. So, I don’t want to repeat everything. I do believe we do need to look at looking at background checks. I know the city does. I thought the county did. So, I think that, for all new hires I was going to go with that. I think Eric and the Police Chief and all that did a great job. I’m still not convinced that we need this, but, obviously that’s the way it’s going to go this evening. I kind of wish we were voting on it another way, do we want it or we don’t want it. That’s kind of the way I would go. I also would agree with Lloyd, after looking back on it and talking to a lot of people and if you look in our audience tonight, there’s not a lot of people here for it or against it, or at least going to speak. But, I was thinking, I guess it’s a step in the right direction. I too was going to recommend that the committee stay together and maybe meet quarterly, if nothing else, just to see how we can continue to upgrade this, because maybe there’s going to be a time when you notice what just happened at Fort Hood when a Major could get on and start having some problems. So, he, you know he went through Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain, just became Major, two ranks out General and he did that. I think that’s something that we need to be kind of looking at, but I agree, and I do think we need to build something out front. I think that’s going to be another cost, but if we’re going to have people standing out there in the weather, they need to do that. We need to build something, not just a tent, but something more down the line. So, I do want to thank everybody that’s been on the committee, even though I disagree with a lot of it, but I also know that if we’re going to do it, we need to do it right, and I do trust the Sheriff a whole bunch. I really think, Eric, you’re the best Sheriff that I’ve worked under since I’ve been involved, bar none. You’ve got everything on the ball, you’re more electronic, technical than anybody I’ve ever known. So, I think you’re doing everything that you believe is necessary.

President Tornatta: Thank you. Good points from both sides. I do see the committee staying in place. I think that’s one thing we talked about. I do see this being a fluid committee. This will not be a set in concrete committee. We have issues of 800 plus individuals in this building that we need to address, and I think that we will take any problem, much like we do in county business, city business, and we will bring it before the committee in this case, and the Commissioners if need be to address the issues at hand. That was talked about in the committee and I think that’s a good plan. As far as background checks, I think they’re recommended, but I think we need to know, on the background checks, are we exempting anybody if a check comes back at a level, how are we going to handle that particular person? So, I think things should be open, and we’re going to have time to put that in the manual. The handbook will be updated, and we talked about the handbook being updated, but it will be at a time when we have more issues revolving around security addressed. So, please be patient, we do have that in the foremost of our mind, our Surveyor brought that up to us and it was a great point. So, we’re taking all of these points in, and they will be talked about. We’re creating the list as we speak. So, if there are no other questions I at least need a motion.

Commissioner Melcher: Does Eric have any?

President Tornatta: Well, let’s have a motion first and then we’ll take public comment.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. Chairman, I would move that this body approve the Civic Center security plan as presented.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? From the audience? Sheriff?

Eric Williams: Sheriff Eric Williams. Thank you for the kind words. A lot of effort went into this by the committee. By no means does anybody on the committee think this is a perfect plan. I take your comments very seriously. I do intend to have the committee continue to meet on a regular basis. By our sheer design and how we set the committee up it’s going to have to as we address the needs of people with different access levels and those kinds of things. So, we’re going to continue to meet to address those. I think we’ll have to look at some of those structural issues. We’ll find out some things as this goes into work and we know what works and what doesn’t. If all goes well, we’ll implement this December 7^th. I’ll continue to report back on a regular basis how it’s going, what we’re seeing, what we’re finding. I would mention to you, just since we’re in a public forum, the City Council when they made their recommendation they added an amendment looking at some kind of random detection or a random way to screen certain city and county employees as they came through. We’ve looked at that, we’re not finding a real good solution for that, but we’ll continue to look at that as an option. If that gives some people some peace of mind as we’re going through it. Again, I appreciate your support on this. This is a work in progress, but we’ve done a good job over in the courts, I’ve got a great staff of people, we’ve got good people in place, and I think they’ll continue to perform at that level. So, and, as you see comments, as the people that are coming in and out of the building, please forward them on to us right away so that we can address them quickly as opposed to waiting for a meeting to address problems that may come up, because there will be problems. Thank you.

President Tornatta: Thank you. Dave?

Dave Rector: The idea of a cover or some kind of weather protection at the entrances has been discussed, and I’ve started to look at what we might do. I would like to do something that’s aesthetically pleasing and blends with our building and not just put a tarp out there or a canvas. So, I’ll work on that and come back to you on it and kind of let you know what we come up with and how much it might cost, but we are cognizant that we need to do something for protection.

President Tornatta: Once again, I think it’s imperative that we keep in mind we don’t know the levels that we’re going to see at each of the entrances. They might be heavier in one spot that we didn’t think of and lighter in another. So, I think we need to be very fluid on how to address these issues. Then, once we identify them then we need to get on the ball and get them handled.

Dave Rector: Keep in mind too, right now we have everybody in the building badged, but we have a number of employees that aren’t in the building that initially will be going through screening that once we get them badged, and the security committee agrees, they’ll be a little more fluid and reduce that qeueing up. So, you’re exactly right, Commissioner, you know, we need some time to see how that’s going to flow.

President Tornatta: I appreciate your staff getting those badges done and making everything as easy as possible on us.

Dave Rector: Thank you.

Commissioner Winnecke: Can’t say much for the pictures.

President Tornatta: Yeah, the picture taker was horrible.

Dave Rector: Blame the photographer.

Commissioner Melcher: He’s not in here.

President Tornatta: Okay, any other comments? If not, roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: I guess I want to just say, one more time, that my vote tonight is because we’re going to have an on-going process of what we’re going to be looking at for the future, because I really think if we really want full security and we need to lock it down then we need to do that. So, I vote yes.

President Tornatta: And, I vote yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Thank you very much.

President Tornatta: Any public comment? Seeing none.

President Tornatta: Madelyn, if you will, oh, if I could have a motion on the consent items.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I’ll move that we approve the consent items as presented.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: We do have one about which I e-mailed you which is the request of Pedcor Investments for the Commissioners to rate their project known as Phase II of the Delaware Trace Apartments. There’s one through five, with one being the lowest and five being the highest as to the extent that the project contributes to the economic and housing needs in Vanderburgh County. A simple yes vote on the consent agenda would not assign a number to that. So, I would suggest that you pull that one out, assign a number, and then vote on it separately.

Commissioner Winnecke: I’ll amend my motion to remove the Pedcor Investments notification.

Commissioner Melcher: I got that e-mail, so I’ll second that.

President Tornatta: Okay, a motion and a second. Madelyn, if you will read the consents.

Madelyn Grayson: Alright, the consent items for the November 17^th meeting are as follows; approval of the prior minutes, the November 3^rd Commission meeting minutes and department head meeting notes, and the November 5^th special meeting summary minutes; there are employment changes from the various offices; two travel requests from the Health Department; the County Treasurer has the October 31, 2009 year-to-date report; the County Treasurer has a request for waiver of fees, not overtime for the Centre for January 25-29 for IAAO course; Superior Court has a request to surplus two copiers; Area Plan Commission has a request to surplus various office equipment; the Building Authority permission to surplus used restroom partition for corrections; the County Clerk September 2009 monthly report; the County Treasurer September 2009 monthly report; Burdette Park yearly comparison from January to October from 2008 to 2009; the Commissioners Majestic Place citizen letters: the County Engineer approve pay request number 92 for the TIF account in the amount of $5,000; the ICJI grant proposal form; Burdette Park annual day camp donation letter; and department head reports from Burdette Park and the County Engineer.

President Tornatta: Any discussion? 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: Okay, and dealing with Pedcor Investments proposed development government notification. Steve?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes, is this going to be a Section 42?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yes.

Commissioner Melcher: Alright, I’ve done a Section 42 grant, and I’ve also been involved on the City Council in a lot of Section 42's, if you don’t give them the top number they won’t even score enough points to even get awarded. There’s usually tax abatement too, are they asking for tax abatement?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Not that I’m aware of.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay, usually on tax abatement it’s the same thing, what they do is when they go up there they’re going to be competing with everybody in the state and they’re only going to award so many dollars on the Section 42. So, if we want this, then we have to score it a five, give them a five. If they don’t get the five they won’t even get close to the points.

President Tornatta: I would take a recommendation.

Commissioner Melcher: Then the recommendation would be five points, if you want them to do the job.

Commissioner Winnecke: Is that a motion?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? For those of you on the City Council, prior on the City Council–

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

President Tornatta: –it’s tax phase in. 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: I’m just badgering you, Steve.

Commissioner Melcher: I’m just telling you what the state calls it.

President Tornatta: Alright. Motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

(The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of the November 3, 2009 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Approval of the November 3, 2009 Department Head Meeting Notes.

Approval of the November 5, 2009 Special Commission Meeting Summary Minutes.

Pedcor Investments Proposed Development Government Notification.

Majestic Place Citizen Letters.

Employment Changes:

Health Department (1)              Co-Op Ext. (1)                Sheriff Office (3)

Auditor (2)                                 Prosecutor (1)                 Circuit Court (1)

VCCC (2)                                  County Assessor (1)

Travel Requests:                    Health Department (2)

Treasurer:

Year-to-Date Investment Report through October 31, 2009.

September 2009 Monthly Report.

County Assessor: Waiver of Centre Fee/Not OT: IAAO Course.

Surplus Requests:

Superior Court: (1) Xerox desktop copier and (1) Xerox digital copier.

Area Plan: various office equipment.

Building Authority: restroom partitions to corrections.

Burdette Park:

Yearly Comparison: January-October from 2008 to 2009.

Annual Day Camp Donation Letter.

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 92: Green River-Burkhardt TIF Projects.

Superior Court: ICJI Grant Proposal Form.

Department Head Reports:    Burdette Park                 County Engineer

Those in Attendance:

Troy Tornatta                            Stephen Melcher                      Lloyd Winnecke

Bill Fluty                                    Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Madelyn Grayson

Jamie Morris                             Kristina Solagado                     Rebecca Paxton

Rick Davis                                John Stoll                                  Dave Rector

Eric Williams                             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.)