VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

OCTOBER 7, 2008

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 7^th day of October, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Jeff Korb presiding.

President Korb: It’s 5:00, let’s get our meeting started. If you would please, we’re going to start with, I’m going to call the October 7, 2008 Board of Commissioners meeting to order, and we’ll start with introductions to my right. Marissa?

Marissa Nichoalds: Marissa Nichoalds, Superintendent of County Buildings.

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

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Korb: Jeff Korb, County Commissioner.

Commissioner Tornatta: Troy Tornatta, County Commissioner.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Bill Fluty: Bill Fluty, County Auditor.

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

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Korb: This is kind of an exciting night for us. This is something that Mr. Ziemer loves to do. We are opening bids. Permission to open bids, please, for North Green River Road, Baseline Road, Burdette Park drainage, Burdette Park rock creek dam, and the Burdette Park lake dredging.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Mr. Ziemer?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: (Inaudible. Mic. not on.)

President Korb: Yeah, we will. Just making myself a note.

President Korb: Alright, action items, request to close road for the Bob’s Gym run. A request to close a small section of Mt. Pleasant Road and Baumgart Road for about 45 minutes on Saturday, November the 1^st. Tony Maier with Bob’s Gym has submitted the required certificate of liability insurance. The Commissioners have approved this request for the past two years.

Commissioner Nix: Is there anyone here?

President Korb: Anyone from Bob’s Gym here? Bob, it’s the real Bob.

Bob Swallows: So, what do you think?

President Korb: I think, well, tell us who you are, and what you’re doing here?

Bob Swallows: Bob Swallows from Bob’s Gym.

President Korb: Good to see you.

Bob Swallows: I’m actually here for the second action item, just happen to be here for the first.

President Korb: Good for you.

Bob Swallows: So, we just look forward to doing the same run again. We don’t take up much time. We just take part of Baumgart Road for about 45 minutes.

President Korb: Great. Is this to benefit any special group?

Bob Swallows: The Boys and Girls Club.

President Korb: Gotcha. Okay.

Bob Swallows: Yeah.

President Korb: It does not say that. That’s good to know. Super. Questions for Mr. Swallows?

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Congratulations, Bob.

Bob Swallows: Thank you.

President Korb: Just stay right there.

Bob Swallows: I’ll just stay here.

President Korb: Yeah.

President Korb: The next action item is Bob’s Gym fitness package proposal. Melanie Hobbs is potentially here, and Bob Swallows, will be here to present this proposal. Hi, Melanie.

Melanie Hobbs: Hello.

President Korb: Just read your name into the record please.

Melanie Hobbs: Melanie Hobbs.

President Korb: Great. Thank you very much.

Melanie Hobbs: With respect to everyone’s time tonight, I would like to briefly, I’ve distributed hard copies. I believe most of you have maybe looked over this, but what we would like to do is have a partnership, if you will, with the County and their employees and their families. The take on this, basically, is wellness works. We all see in the news and different things about employee retention, motivation, health issues, absenteeism, all of that can fall back on a wellness program. We would like to be a part of your wellness program at Bob’s Gym. Briefly, what I have went over, on the first page I’ve summarized some features and benefits of Bob’s Gym. So, if you guys have any questions about that, but there are a lot of things that we can offer, especially the three convenient locations around the tri-state area. We are actually staffed 24/7. I believe we’re the only ones staffed 24/7. So, we have someone at our front counter at all times, for safety issues, that is very important. We also have a lot of different exercise, group exercise, and we also, what we take very seriously is the success of our members. When you sign up with us we offer orientations and fitness assessment for those that join. What that does is it sets them up again for success. We don’t want them to sign up at a gym, say here’s your gym, good luck to you, because we all know that that doesn’t work. So, our personal trainers, they are certified, and we want to be able to start our members out right with that. We also have a very thorough follow-up program, as well, to help our members. The third page does summarize the partnership that we are proposing, via payroll deduction. Our locked in rates–

President Korb: How long is that for, Melanie, please?

Melanie Hobbs: The locked in rates?

President Korb: The locked in rates. Is that an annual guarantee?

Bob Swallows: It’s a lifetime guarantee. Once you sign up, your rates won’t ever go up.

President Korb: Like ever?

Bob Swallows: Ever.

President Korb: Okay.

Bob Swallows: Ever, yeah.

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s Bob talking.

President Korb: That’s why we wanted Bob to come to the meeting.

Bob Swallows: We’ve held true to that, well, when we, we started that when we moved to the Rosenberger location on the west side in 2000.

President Korb: Okay.

Bob Swallows: And no one has had their rates increased.

President Korb: Wow! That’s pretty good. Alright.

Melanie Hobbs: We also have an enrollment fee, normally, for every member, but we always, on-site, any opportunities that we have to promote this with the county employees and their families, we will waive that fee, of course.

President Korb: So, I should put down waived fee?

Melanie Hobbs: Yes.

President Korb: Okay. Alright.

Melanie Hobbs: The next page, our commitments from Bob’s Gym to the county. That is something that we, basically, we’re promoting a healthier lifestyle for our county employees and their families, and everyone around us.

President Korb: Do you work that in conjunction with Anthem and Welborn Health Plans? How does that work, or does it work?

Bob Swallows: Right now we’re currently trying to get a program set up with Deaconess, which will launch on January 1^st.

President Korb: Okay.

Bob Swallows: We would be doing events with them.

President Korb: Okay.

Melanie Hobbs: I had listed some of the other community events that Bob’s Gym is involved in as well. Then, we also, the next page, we have our three different locations, again staffed 24/7. Also listed are the corporate discounted rates. That would apply–

Bob Swallows: Yeah, the rates offered to the county would be approximately 15 percent off our standard rates. It’s what we do with the city currently, the same arrangement. It’s worked really well with them. We have right around 250–

Melanie Hobbs: Yeah, we currently have 250.

Bob Swallows: –city employees, as of now, and we just started this about a year ago with them.

President Korb: And registration, would you want us to come there, to a location to register, or do you want to have a day here at the–

Bob Swallows: You can always register at our locations.

President Korb: Okay.

Bob Swallows: But, we do find that we’re successful in getting people started if we can start with some event on site.

President Korb: Sure. Okay.

Bob Swallows: We’re open to either one.

Melanie Hobbs: Yeah, that doesn’t take out of their work time, and we would be more than happy to set up multiple events, registration times, if needed.

President Korb: Okay.

Melanie Hobbs: That would be fine.

President Korb: Great.

Melanie Hobbs: And the back page is just contact information. We have general managers at each facility that oversees the events that go on at each location, and they’re kind of a “go to” person to answer any questions for ya.

President Korb: Questions?

Commissioner Nix: I guess, just one, to Mr. Fluty, do you have, does this give you heartburn at all? Or, do you have any feelings one way or another about this? Because, ultimately, it’s going to fall back on your department to get all of this set up and to track it. Do you have a feeling about it one way or another?

Bill Fluty: No, really, as the Commissioners, a benefit to the employees, if you see this as fitting, we’ll do the payroll deduction and participate in the trading of paperwork for the employees that do sign up. We actually do have open enrollment coming up with insurance, so, that’s possibly a place to do that. I just want to remind you that there are limited deductions we can make, and there are quite a few health or fitness organizations in town. So, try to pick the best that fits the need for the most of our employees is what I would hope you would do.

Bob Swallows: I would say, if I could add, you know, things have run very smoothly with the city, and I think it’s very important that, exclusivity is not what I’m asking for myself. I can’t ask that, but I will say that we, everything has gone very smoothly in our billing. We’re very easy to work with, and we’ve made it very smooth for the accountants in the city.

Bill Fluty: I did check with the city, and that is a true statement.

President Korb: Okay. Well, I think that gives us an extra option that’s open 24 hours a day, which helps our second shift people. So, any other questions, Commissioners?

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, I think we kind of brought this up, I know this has been before, at least me, and maybe the Commissioners, I’ve tried to get it before the County Council, and I think one of the things that we need to think about is, we have a line item in, is it the Commissioners budget or the County Council’s budget?

Bill Fluty: It’s in the Commissioners budget. It’s $20,000, labeled YMCA.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right, and that’s labeled YMCA, and, you know, I think that at one point it was advantageous to get the YMCA with a program to try and move people across the street to get fit, and what not. With the advent of gyms popping up in different places, your place has grown three or four fold, other places have grown, we need to also think about does that change that line item to a fitness account? Then we’re putting in $12 per individual–

Bill Fluty: Eleven.

Commissioner Tornatta: –is that, eleven? Eleven per individual. The city is putting in 14 per individual, you know, I think we need to address some of these issues before we move too far down the line, because if somebody else came before us, unless we do a bid process and say everybody has to be at this rate, or we all have to be at this certain point, I think we need to address some underlying issues which are budgetary items as well. What are we going to donate? If there are going to be more people participating in this program, is $20,000 going to be enough? Because I believe we’re broaching $20,000 at this point, or close to it.

Bill Fluty: In the past we’ve spent, I think we’ve spent $19,000 plus. Just a reminder that that is actually YMCA, and it has been budgeted for this year as YMCA, and it is also budgeted for next year for YMCA. So, they’re not asking for that tonight, they’re just asking for payroll deduction. So, you would have to work with Council to actually change the dynamics of, if you wanted to supplement some other gyms, as we speak.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, and just to mention that the YMCA is a not-for-profit organization, and Bob’s is not. I don’t know that that makes a big difference, but it is a difference, and Bill Fluty is correct that all they’re seeking tonight is to be put on our payroll deduction plan. These other matters could be taken up at a later date.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, well, it’s a fairness to employees that I want to make sure that we’re looking at. If somebody has Bob’s Gym in their backyard, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t get eleven dollars toward their membership, as opposed to going somewhere else and pushing somewhere else. I like all the places, I mean, I have a relationship with you and with YMCA and what have you, but I think that we need to, at some point, just address some of those issues and see where we step out. Oh, one other thing, I’m sorry, we also need to look at overlap, because I think the YMCA has some type of health maintenance plan that they want to bring to us. We’re going to find out that our insurance provider has a maintenance plan, and Bob’s has a maintenance plan. If we’re going to do this, we probably need to get those groups together and start to talk about what they can do, in tandem, to make that a smoother process. Thanks.

President Korb: Okay, any other questions? I need a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Congratulations.

Bob Swallows: Thank you.

President Korb: Thank you very much.

Melanie Hobbs: Thank you very much.

President Korb: You’re welcome. How are we doing over there?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: We’re doing fine.

President Korb: Okay.

President Korb: Public hearing please on the property tax billing system recommendation. Do I see anybody in the audience? Z. Tuley, in the back, do you wish to come and address this, speak to this? What we have before us, did you all get a copy of this?

Bill Fluty: Ted, would you explain the process to them?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: A committee consisting of the Auditor and four designated individuals by the Auditor, the Treasurer and four designated individuals by the Treasurer, and the Chief Information Officer for the county, for a total of eleven people on the committee, reviewed the responses to the requests for proposal, which was prepared and sent out in accordance with the Indiana law regarding public-private partnerships. When the requests were received, I believe there were requests received from three entities. Following the review of those and the application of a grid process, which was established by the committee, and set forth in the specifications for the, in the request for proposal indicating what weight would be given to various factors, for example, so much for cost, so much for timely response, so much for this, so much for that, much of it is technical. After that, based on the grids, it was narrowed down to two vendors, one was Manatron and one was Nikish. Then the committee invited Manatron representatives to come on the 18^th of September to meet with the entire committee to answer questions of the committee and the County Attorney relative to various responses of theirs to their requests for proposal, and given an opportunity to give the committee their last, best and final price for the services they would provide. On September 19^th, the same thing was done for Nikish. The Manatron proposal, the response to the request for proposal of Manatron was, help me on that, do you have that, the original? I think, was that the $370,000?

Bill Fluty: Yes, I think it was.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay, then during the, it was $370,580, during the interview on September the 18^th, Manatron indicated that almost certainly, within two or three years of beginning with them there would be an upgrade required, well, not required, but strongly recommended, and that would cost about $150,000. That would then, in effect, raise Manatron’s bid from $370,000 to $520,000. That’s the way the committee viewed that. Nikish, on September the 19^th, their original bid had been?

Bill Fluty: $1,090,000.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: $1,090,000, that’s their response to the request for proposal. After the questioning session and comments by them and everyone else, on September the 19^th they gave as their best and final price for the project, $832,400. So, they dropped from $1,090,000 down to $832,400. At that point the, Manatron and Nikish went home, and the committee decided to meet again, as a committee, and to take votes at that meeting on the recommendation that the committee would make to the Board of Commissioners, as required by law, for the Board of Commissioners to pick the successful vendor. Six people on the committee voted for Manatron and their bid, in effect, of $520,000, and five people on the committee voted for Nikish and their revised response of $832,400. The notice was then published, as required by law in the Evansville Courier and Press, indicating that there would be a public hearing on these bids, or these responses at this meeting tonight. This is the public hearing, and the recommendation of the committee was set forth, as required by law, in the published notice, and that recommendation is for Manatron for an effective bid of $520,000.

President Korb: Discussion?

Commissioner Tornatta: Ted, was there, now you said their initial bid was $370,580?

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

Commissioner Tornatta: Did they have a bond associated with that? Or, I mean, how can they bump up $150,000 if it was a four or five year contract and that was their bid?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: We gave them the opportunity to do that. They didn’t bump up, what they did was come to the answering session and indicated that they believed about two years out, I think they actually said in 2011, which is about two years out, there would be a substantial upgrade of Manatron software. I don’t pretend to understand the technicalities of this, but I do understand the legalities of it. They indicated that when that upgrade occurs, the cost of the upgrade would be $150,000. We don’t have to elect to have the upgrade. So, we could have Manatron come in here for $370,000 and elect not to have the upgrade in two years, in which case it will be $370,000. They as much as told us at the hearing, not the hearing, at the questioning session on September the 18^th that given the size and complexity and so forth of the Vanderburgh County tax billing system, they would strongly recommend that Vanderburgh County take the upgrade when it occurred. So, the committee viewed that as saying, hey, Manatron’s bid is really $370,000 plus an upgrade in two years of $150,000, for a total of $520,000. We gave them the opportunity to give us their best and lowest price. They went up, if you will. Nikish went down, however, it’s still five, well, I don’t know, four hundred and some thousand dollars higher than Manatron.

Bill Fluty: Just a note that they did give us a ten year guarantee that we can stay on MVP, which is their system for the $370,000.

Commissioner Nix: Manatron?

Bill Fluty: That’s correct.

Commissioner Nix: Without the upgrade?

Bill Fluty: Without the upgrade.

Commissioner Tornatta: Who would discuss the upgrade in the crowd?

Z. Tuley: Z. Tuley, Vanderburgh County Treasurer. As I understand, when Manatron comes out with this newer version, what they’ve got put together right now has been out there for about ten years now. When they put together this newer version, I’m not sure of all of the technical stuff either, I have a vision as to what’s going to happen, but it’s going to be a different kind of system. It’s going to move to a web based type search engine. I can tell you right now, a web based search that works like Google, or whatever, the response time is a lot quicker. When we get a phone call and the taxpayers are asking questions, if we can get them pulled up in two seconds, that’s really needed, and it’s very, very important. We can move on to the next taxpayer if we’re not having to spend a lot of time. The taxpayers can look at their bills for a long period of time before they establish their property tax ID. The ID just got longer, and it takes a while to be able to communicate with whoever you have on the phone. So, response time, and that also assists with the mail, it also assists with the processing, it also assists with Auditor corrections. The faster that thing can run, the more it’s needed.

President Korb: Even with the improvements though, we’re looking at a savings of going with Manatron of $312,000, plus or minus a couple of dollars. So, what you’re saying is, if I’m understanding you correctly, Z., is that we’re buying an older version, but the upgraded version will certainly put us in a whole different realm, and that’s something you approve of?

Z. Tuley: The whole different realm is something I absolutely approve of.

President Korb: Okay, and have they given you any sort of time table, time frame of when this upgrade is going to happen?

Z. Tuley: It’s my understanding they’re expected to roll it out by 2011, or 2010, somewhere in there. I think it was 2011.

President Korb: Okay. So, it’s not going to happen within a year or two?

Z. Tuley: No.

President Korb: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: Z., is it–

Z. Tuley: And it will be kind of an all new system that the staff and so forth is going to learn. We’re going to have to learn.

Commissioner Nix: Is this something you can live with, Manatron, for a couple of years, until this upgrade?

Z. Tuley: If I was remaining Treasurer, I’m one of the five that voted for the other package.

Commissioner Nix: I suspected that from the information we’ve been reading.

Z. Tuley: The other package already contains that web based thing. It’s just really needed to go there. I just think it’s a better product.

Commissioner Nix: Do you think, in the end, Manatron and Nikish will be the same when this upgrade takes place?

Z. Tuley: I don’t know. That would have yet to be seen. Then there’s also service, customer service, response time.

Commissioner Tornatta: Which you don’t favor Manatron in that capacity?

Z. Tuley: I do not.

Commissioner Tornatta: Which, I just went to a conference and heard not so many good things about Manatron.

Z. Tuley: And it’s been said for years. It’s nothing new. It’s been said for years amongst a whole bunch of different counties. I can say that there was three recent purchases that I’m aware of, Tippecanoe just purchased Manatron, Marion county did not, and Allen County did not. Those are the ones that come off the top of my head.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, we need this system now, right?

Z. Tuley: Yes. We actually needed it back in January of ‘08, but that’s okay.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right, and how are we getting by now?

Z. Tuley: A lot of manual work. A whole lot of manual work has to be done to get us to where we’re at. With more technology, then it will move faster. We can be prepared quicker. It will be more accurate, because there won’t be the human intervention, you know, having to do everything on paper. Both systems, the Manatron system and the Nikish system both had more in computer type generating for TIF programs and all of this stuff. It gets real complicated and real drawn out if you’re having to do it on paper.

Commissioner Tornatta: Because, I guess my question is, what would the price be of either system in two years? When they, all of a sudden, you know, Manatron if they just come out with a web based and not with this other system, is that going to be a cheaper system just to go with that system as it is? Because it seems like we’re buying the band-aid system before we get the right system.

Z. Tuley: You’re buying a full system, it’s just not as swift as the technology out there that is available.

Commissioner Tornatta: It seems like we have that right now.

Z. Tuley: Oh, no, we have much worse right now. Sorry.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me, I ought to mention one thing–

Z. Tuley: We have an old COBOL.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –which is relatively important, I think, in this discussion. Any contract which is signed by the Commissioners is not a valid contract until it has been signed by the Department of Local Government Finance. The Department of Local Government Finance has said that they will not sign any contract unless it is with a vendor who has been certified by the Department of Local Government Finance. Manatron expects to be certified by October 15^th of this year. Nikish is in the early part, I’m being as fair as I can about that.

Z. Tuley: You’re accurate.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Nikish is in the very early part of the certification process, they could, it’s possible that they would not be certified by DLGF until very late in 2008, if, and possibly, not at all in 2008. I have spoken to DLGF at length about this, and the attorney handling this at DLGF, they are of a mind to allow contracts to be signed with vendors who are not certified, so long as the vendors will agree that there will be either, one, no charges under the contract until they are certified, or, two, any charges paid under the contract if they end up not being certified will be refunded to the county. This was explained to Nikish and they rejected both of those alternatives. What Manatron has done, who does expect to be certified on, by October 15^th, I don’t know when they’ll get certified, but that’s what they indicated, and I do know that they have completed all of the meetings with Crowe Chizek who is doing the certifications process. But, they have agreed in their contract with Tippecanoe County, for example, they’re not certified yet and DLGF has signed that contract, and that contract indicates that there will be no charges to the county, at Tippecanoe, until they become certified. So, that’s just another factor to take into account when you’re doing this.

Z. Tuley: And that is correct.

Commissioner Nix: Z., another question I have, let’s just say that we went with Nikish and three or four months goes by and DLGF doesn’t do anything, we’re into something now that we’ve got to back out of and start over again, would that be part of the process?

Z. Tuley: That’s the way I would think.

Commissioner Nix: That’s a big, big step, isn’t it?

Z. Tuley: Yes. It’s a big step backwards if that would be the case.

Commissioner Nix: I mean–

Z. Tuley: It would put us in more than just a bind. It would put us in a position that, dozens of other counties are going to be in if their vendors are not certified as well. Manatron is in the forefront, clearly in the forefront of being certified. The DLGF’s efforts, as explained to me, has been that they will make sure that every vendor completes what the DLGF requires. It’s not that they’re going to sit there and say, well, you didn’t pass, you’re out, we’re not certifying you. It’s their intent to get them to that point.

Commissioner Nix: But, whether or not they pass is up to the vendor themselves?

Z. Tuley: Right, then the vendor themselves will have to go back to the chalkboard and fix it if it’s wrong.

President Korb: From what I’m reading here, Nikish is not willing to reimburse us for that expense.

Z. Tuley: That is correct.

President Korb: From where I’m sitting from, I’m looking at–

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, I wouldn’t pay them.

President Korb: –an initial $312,000 savings up front, and what the audience can’t see on television or sitting here today, maintenance costs for Manatron annually, year one, is $67,000, Nikish is $100,000. Year two is $70,000 versus, so it’s basically a $30,000 a year annual savings. Your indication, or you’re telling us that Manatron is basically on the cutting edge or the forefront of this–

Z. Tuley: Of being certified, yes.

President Korb: Yes, even though it’s not real strong at this point. And, Nikish is dealing in two counties, and Manatron is dealing in 50 counties at this point in time.

Z. Tuley: That is correct.

President Korb: Six employees for Nikish, 375 employees for–

Z. Tuley: On the money situation with Manatron–

President Korb: Uh-huh.

Z. Tuley: –as Ted is going to, and he has been, this has been discussed with him, he is going to do his best to make sure that that contract is very, very tight. Manatron also has a reputation, and I have included documentation in your packets, where a county that just brought them on, has incurred multiple expenditures, don’t know what they’re for, because the Auditor didn’t provide that to me what it’s for, but they have paid out an additional $94,000 to Manatron in their first year.

President Korb: Mr. Ziemer, can you tighten that up for us?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Of course.

Z. Tuley: Yes.

Bill Fluty: Hold on, I would like to comment on that. That county that you’re referencing that they expended more money.

Z. Tuley: Yes.

Bill Fluty: Honestly, if we’re in a contract with Manatron, we are going to pay only for what that contract allows. Any other costs that they would bill us, there would have to be some agreement, or meeting of the minds, that it was over and above the contract. We would only pay those if that’s the case. I would believe that any other county would just do the same as we are. As tight as dollars are across the counties, you would only pay for, you wouldn’t go outside your contract and pay those things.

Commissioner Nix: I would like, if you’re through, Z.

Z. Tuley: Sure.

Commissioner Nix: Matt, maybe just to give your two cents into this, please.

Matt Arvay: Matt Arvay, CIO. I’ll try to comment on some of your questions, Troy. I may not remember them all, just bring them back up. But, from a technology standpoint, the difference is a client server architecture versus a dotnet. I’m not a programmer by trade, but what Manatron has come in and said was, for a guaranteed price over, I believe, three years, that if we want to go there, or “x” amount of years.

Bill Fluty: Ten years.

Matt Arvay: Ten years, I’m sorry, that if we want to go there, they will have a fixed price of $150,000. If we want–

Bill Fluty: Let me just stop you there.

Matt Arvay: Okay.

Bill Fluty: It cannot go over $150,000. It can be less. The contract is actually going to state, and they are going to have to climb to those costs. If it comes in at $60,000, that’s all we will pay for the upgrade. They’ll have to document their costs. This is just to move the data from, not a licensing fee, this is just to move the data from MVP, into their new system, which I’m sure they’ll have some expertise on.

Matt Arvay: Basically, from one environment to the next.

Bill Fluty: We don’t have to make that decision for ten years.

Matt Arvay: Right.

Bill Fluty: Obviously, if it is a more robust system, we can move that. There were some comments that were, on MVP, that we weren’t buying, that we were buying something that was older. That’s not the case. This system is working in 50 counties, and you can see Manatron has presence in over 80 counties. So, this is just a new upgrade to their current system. That’s what that is. Not any reflection on the MVP that’s there. It’s just a new version, that will be out in ‘11 or ‘12. Obviously, we’ll probably let the bugs get out of that, and decide at that point, and come back for more funding if we believe we want to move to that.

Matt Arvay: Then again–

Bill Fluty: We just want to be up front with you that there is this new package coming down the road so that you would know that.

Commissioner Tornatta: Are we certified now with what we are doing?

Bill Fluty: I’ll answer that. This says tax billing, but this actually affects our office, both the Auditor and the Treasurer, so we’re working on it in combination on this. The system we have right now is an old COBOL. We went through, we started last January with weekly meetings to decide on some issues that we had to go forward with. Then after legislation with the circuit breaker, which actually puts a different classification on assessed valuation, which is a different breakdown, which will have to come from the Assessor to our office, throwing it in different buckets to take the 1 ½ percent, the 2 ½ percent, and the 3 ½ percent to calculate tax bills. Our current system doesn’t, can’t handle that and we would have to go through the same steps that a Manatron or a Nikish would have to go through. We spent the time to see if we could, through programming, move our system to that. Somewhere in May and June we felt that the dollars didn’t warrant us trying to spend money on an older system that we’ve had for 30 years. So, that moved us in a new direction. A new direction was to look at new systems. That’s when the RFP process started, and that’s where we are today.

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s great information.

Matt Arvay: That’s a great summary.

President Korb: Are the costs associated with moving what we currently have into the new system reflected here in these numbers we’re looking at?

Bill Fluty: That is correct.

President Korb: Okay.

Matt Arvay: Any other questions? Bill said it very well.

Commissioner Nix: Matt, I just, which way did you vote? I would like to know.

Matt Arvay: I voted for Manatron.

President Korb: Further questions for Z. , or Matt or Bill?

Commissioner Tornatta: Is this something, being that we do have a meeting on the 21^st, if they say they’re going to be certified by the 14^th–

Commissioner Nix: The 15^th.

Commissioner Tornatta: The 15^th of this month.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: That’s not engraved in stone. They indicated that they expected to be certified by the 15^th of October.

Bill Fluty: What I would like to ask you to do, this is the public hearing part of the law, as Ted has mentioned. I would like you to approve us to go forward, a motion to approve to go forward with Manatron. Actually, there are some issues that have to be resolved and a contract would actually come back to you for the final approval with Manatron.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Fluty: So, you have another, it’s not over until that is signed.

Commissioner Tornatta: Alright, so, then we would approve the contract, or not? Or is this approving it?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: This is not approving a contract. This is approving a vendor, subject to agreement of the terms of a contract.

Commissioner Tornatta: I would be interested in having in that contract that they would not accept any money until, like one of the other counties have done. They wouldn’t accept any money until–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: And, they are fully willing to do that.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, yeah.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, I make a motion to accept the moving forward of Manatron.

Commissioner Nix: Second. Let me just say, Z., I feel your pain in this, because I know, I’ve read through all this and had some time, and I understand where you’re coming from, but, I think under, what we, especially with what we’ve heard today, I think it’s probably the best move for the county.

Z. Tuley: I understand.

Commissioner Nix: I second the motion.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Mr. President, I’m ready with the bids, if you are.

President Korb: Drum roll, please. Which one do you want to start with?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’ll start with the Green River Road project. I’ll tell you that the Engineer’s estimate for that project was thirty thousand–

Commissioner Nix: Whoa, whoa whoa.

Commissioner Tornatta: Maybe–

President Korb: Start over.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh, excuse me, thirty million.

Commissioner Nix: Slide over a zero.

Commissioner Tornatta: Great job, John. We saved a lot of money on that one.

President Korb: Yeah, I just about had the big one up here. Can you be serious, Ted?

Commissioner Tornatta: We’re going to put a ten by ten patch of concrete there.

President Korb: Come on.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Alright, let’s take another pause before I say that. Okay, alright, the Engineer’s estimate was $30,038,665. The bids, Walsh Construction, twenty six thousand–

Commissioner Nix: Once again–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Twenty six million–

President Korb: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: $26,965,749.69.

President Korb: I want to dicker with them on the sixty nine cents, but, the next one please.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Deduct, deduct $2,814,810.58 if you close Green River Road. Blankenberger Construction, $26,128,495.40.

President Korb: I’m sorry, one more time, please?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: $26,128,495.40. Deduct, $3,062,175.26 if you close Green River Road. Ragle, Inc., $27,142,802.77. Deduct, $3,253,230.06. Moving on, or do you want to, I guess, act on that?

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to take under advisement.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Wow! That’s pretty great. Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

VC08-09-01: N. Green River Road: Phases I, II & III: Lynch to Millersburg

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The next bid is on the Baseline Road bridge. The Engineer’s estimate for this was $3,469,000. The first bid is Blankenberger, $3,042,343. Phillips Construction, $3,703,118.43. Deig Construction, $3,842,117.33. Gohmann Construction, $3,998,500. Ragle Construction, $3,318,234.

Commissioner Nix: Could you read that last one again, please?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Ragle, $3,318,234.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to take under advisement.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

VC08-09-02: Baseline Road Bridge No. 203

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The next bid is for Burdette drainage. Deig Brothers Construction, and this is what it is, $9,719.75. CCC Construction, $13,787.58. We’re going to have bids for rock check and lake drainage, do you want to accept each of these separately, or go through all of them?

Commissioner Nix: All of them is fine with me.

President Korb: All of them is fine, absolutely.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Alright, for Burdette rock drainage, Deig Brothers, $6,850. CCC, $10,083.02. Burdette lake drainage, Deig Brothers, $12,800. CCC, $26,109.02.

Commissioner Nix: Motion to take those under advisement.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Wow! That is great news for Vanderburgh County. It is just incredible news. Wonderful.

Commissioner Tornatta: Can I, in the bid process–

President Korb: Sure.

Commissioner Tornatta: –did we back down to 30 percent?

Commissioner Nix: John would have to answer that.

Commissioner Tornatta: John, we did? Okay. That’s fine.

Commissioner Nix: I know we talked about it.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, it’s a primary–

Commissioner Nix: Contractor.

Commissioner Tornatta: –contractor’s set up where they have to do at least 30 percent of the work themselves, before they contract out. So, or while contracting out, whatever the case.

President Korb: Okay.

Commissioner Tornatta: John, great job.

President Korb: Yeah, super.

Commissioner Nix: Good job, John.

President Korb: Thank you, wherever you are sitting out there.

Commissioner Nix: He’s probably slid out from underneath the chair.

President Korb: He’s probably out there talking to the press. Good, better him than me.

President Korb: Let’s talk about the Vanderburgh County burn ban. We have held off on this until we had a meeting. Not a huge deal, but it is kind of a huge deal. Gentleman, we need to put a burn ban into effect.

Commissioner Nix: Now that it’s rained.

President Korb: Well, okay.

Commissioner Tornatta: It’s done this every time.

President Korb: Yeah, I know.

Commissioner Tornatta: It’s done this every time. It will take about two and a half inches of rain–

Commissioner Nix: I know it takes a meeting every time. I wonder if there’s something we could put into some verbiage that we could, whenever there’s a ban, that we wouldn’t necessarily have to meet, because I know it gets confusing, people think between city and county it’s different, but is there something we could do so that when this is implemented by Dona or somebody at the EPA that it would be an automatic city and county thing? Or, is this something that we would have to vote on every time to do?

Commissioner Tornatta: We could create an ordinance.

Commissioner Nix: Write an ordinance to do something like that.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, right, and say, you know, but you would have to have a set standard. It wouldn’t be what Dona says, it would be some report from somebody indicating so many days of no rain–

Commissioner Tornatta: Right.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –in which case automatically a burning ban would go into effect.

Commissioner Tornatta: Can you look into it? What I would recommend is to have the ordinance changed to show that the President of the County Commission could execute a burn ban by signature.

Commissioner Nix: That would simplify things, and, I think, be a whole lot clearer to the public.

Commissioner Tornatta: Because he could talk to the Mayor at that point–

Commissioner Nix: Right.

Commissioner Tornatta: –and whoever needed to be talked to to get that effectively done.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Alright, I don’t know, you’re going to have to tell me. I don’t know anything about dry weather and EPA and all the rest of it. Who’s going to be the person that’s going to make the decision, I mean, state the facts to authorize the President–

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, either Dona Bergman or Alexandrovich would...pardon, oh, sorry, and the suburban fire chiefs. They let the Commissioners office know, let the Mayor’s office know that there is an opportunity that they would need to have a burn ban because–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, if you would have the, have Marissa get the information for me–

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –as to who makes these kinds of decisions–

Commissioner Nix: When that–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: -- I’ll be glad to prepare an ordinance.

Commissioner Tornatta: I think it’s, I’m sorry, it’s in the ordinance now. So, everything is in the ordinance now, we might just have to change it to an executive meeting, just to have the President sign it. I think everything is in the ordinance.

Commissioner Nix: We get a notice from them that there should be a ban in place, and the next time we meet, there shouldn’t be a lag in there and it should happen immediately.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’ll look at it.

Commissioner Tornatta: 8.12.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: 8.12?

Commissioner Tornatta: Ordinance.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh, I’ll look at it.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve the burn ban.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

Commissioner Tornatta: Brr, brr. Sorry.

Commissioner Nix: No, that’s okay. I’m laughing because it’s raining.

President Korb: I understand. You know, it’s always something. All those in....discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign.

Commissioner Tornatta: We also would want to implement the discontinuation of the burn ban with the same process.

President Korb: All those in favor say....did we say that? We did that already?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah.

President Korb: We have a proclamation here today for the Legal Aid Society.

“Whereas, the Legal Aid Society was incorporated on October 17, 1958 by a group of twelve concerned community members; and, Whereas, since 1973 the Legal Aid Society has been a joint department of the City of Evansville and the County of Vanderburgh, has received the majority of its funding from the City and the County; and, Whereas, the Legal Aid Society received full funding from the Community Chest, later called the United Fund, until 1973, and has received partial funding from what is currently called United Way since 1973, thus receiving United Way funding for over 50 years; and, Whereas, since 1958, the Legal Aid Society has provided legal advice and representation to over 32,900 low income clients who reside in Vanderburgh County and have cases in Vanderburgh County at no cost to those clients; and, Whereas, the Legal Aid Society partners and collaborates with governmental and social service agencies to find and address the root causes of poverty; and, Whereas, the citizens of Vanderburgh County and the City of Evansville reap great benefit from the presence of the Legal Aid Society, which gives meaning to the phrase, “equal access to justice for all”; and, Whereas, the efforts and the service of the board and staff of the Legal Aid Society have resulted in the Society’s ability to provide a much needed service in this community for over 50 years; Now, therefore, we, the Mayor of the City of Evansville and the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County, do hereby proclaim the day of October 17, 2008 as “Legal Aid Society Day”, in recognition and honor of the service provided by the board and staff of the Legal Aid Society of Evansville for the benefit of low income residents of Vanderburgh County who have civil legal problems in Vanderburgh County and cannot afford to pay a private attorney. We urge the people of the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County to show their thanks to the Legal Aid Society for its fine work and dedication, learn more about the Society by viewing its website at www.vanderburghgov.org/LAS, and generously contribute their time and money to the Legal Aid Society of Evansville, IN. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hand and caused the great seals of the City of Evansville and the County of Vanderburgh to be affixed this 17^th day of October, 2008.”

Congratulations to the Legal Aid Society.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

President Korb: The next item on the agenda is the demolition of the old county jail in the Civic Center. Mr. Rector?

Dave Rector: Good evening, gentlemen. Dave Rector, Building Authority. I think we’ve all discussed and cussed this a number of times. Mr. Ziemer has e-mailed all of you with a suggestion of how we might be able to fund this and get the bid awarded in the time frame we need to, before the 60 days expire and save the county a good deal of money by doing that. Unless you have any questions, I think Mr. Ziemer has addressed it well.

President Korb: Any questions for Mr. Rector?

Commissioner Tornatta: Did we talk about the amount? I mean, as long as we’ve got the amount.

President Korb: The amount that we’re talking about is $446–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: There’s a precise motion to be made, because it’s got some stipulations in it.

President Korb: Sure.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: So, if you would follow that, please, then the record will correctly reflect what we’re doing.

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s what I was getting at.

President Korb: That works.

Commissioner Tornatta: I move that the Commissioners authorize the use of $446,048 of the funds in the joint Commissioner-Building Authority account to fund the low bid contract for the demolition of the old jail between the Building Authority and Precision Piping and Mechanical, Incorporated, PPMI, subject to the concurrence and such use of such funds by the Building Authority and the agreement by the Building Authority to as soon as reasonably possible, borrow the funds necessary to fund the PPMI contract, and then with such borrowed funds repay the $446,048 back into the joint Commissioner-Building Authority account.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Congratulations, Mr. Rector.

Dave Rector: Thank you, gentlemen.

President Korb: Thank you.

Dave Rector: For your information, our board is meeting tomorrow at 2:30 in a special meeting to award the contract and to consider your request to do that funding.

President Korb: Great.

Commissioner Nix: Dave, appreciate all your work on this.

President Korb: Yeah, really.

Commissioner Nix: I know this has been a long time coming.

Dave Rector: It’s a good thing for the county.

Commissioner Nix: Yes it is.

Commissioner Tornatta: Your special meeting, does that have to, that just has that one event you can talk about? Or, can you talk about other things?

Dave Rector: We noticed it for two things. One, for this funding, and, two, to award the contract.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

President Korb: Great, thank you.

Dave Rector: Okay, thanks.

President Korb: The next item is to request to close the road for West Terrace elementary school PTA for the 4K walk. Is there anybody here from West Terrace school this evening? Come on up.

Gretchen Rutledge: Gretchen Rutledge with West Terrace PTA.

President Korb: Hello.

Gretchen Rutledge: Hi.

Commissioner Tornatta: And she’s got everything worked out with Sheriff Williams.

Gretchen Rutledge: I’ve talked to Sheriff Williams several times. We’re going to do a rolling barricade, as opposed to closing the roads, but we’re still going to have some barricades and parents set up at different streets just to still make sure that it’s safe for the kids. But, other than that, Eric Williams was, he thought that it would be just fine. We have plenty of volunteers. We’re not concerned about it.

President Korb: Gretchen, this event is when?

Gretchen Rutledge: November 1^st.

President Korb: Okay.

Gretchen Rutledge: From one to three.

Commissioner Nix: Is the insurance in place?

Gretchen Rutledge: Yes.

Commissioner Nix: It is?

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Congratulations. Have fun.

Gretchen Rutledge: Thank you very much.

President Korb: You’re welcome.

President Korb: The next item is the request to name a community dental operatory, which is the same thing as an operating room, in memory of Dr. Bruce Raibley. Anybody from the Health Department here wish to address this for us? Gary?

Gary Heck: Gary Heck, Vanderburgh County Health Department. This is to just request, as you stated, what would be to name one of our four operatory, or our treatment rooms, in honor of Dr. Bruce Raibley, for his service to the community. In his obituary he had a clause that the memorial contributions could go to either the Community Dental Clinic or to the IU School of Dentistry. We have received some contributions. We know there’s some others in the community that would love to see this happen, and we believe we could probably get even more contributions for the Dental Clinic should this happen. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to make this request, and also to honor the doctor for his life of commitment to his patients and to the dental profession. He practiced dentistry on Green River Road for 35 years. He was well respected by his peers and represented them at the local level, the state level and the national level.

Commissioner Tornatta: And he was awarded, I don’t know if you have that information, but as I was reading about this, because, you know, people want to remember significant people in their lives, and this should be a great honor. This was a guy that, I guess, exemplified that in our community. He was a spirit leader in the dentistry side with IU Medical and with some pretty prestigious awards, and he was able to bring that all back home and honor our county. So, I think this is a great opportunity.

President Korb: We have three such rooms over there, don’t we, Gary?

Gary Heck: There’s actually four operatories, and this would be one of them, just one of the treatment rooms.

President Korb: Okay, great. Gentlemen?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Congratulations.

Gary Heck: Thank you.

President Korb: You’re very welcome.

President Korb: Permission to advertise the November 4, 2008 General Election polling places in the Evansville Courier & Press and the Our Times newspapers. As I understand it, there is one minor change in the polling places, C-3, C-15 & S-4 will still vote at the 4-H Fairgrounds, but there will be a change to the building. These three ward-precincts will now vote in the auditorium instead of the expo hall and office.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is for towing services. Does anybody have any information on this? Nope? Okay. I need a motion to do an RFP for this.

Commissioner Nix: Is that what the–

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, I don’t know what this is.

Madelyn Grayson: Debbie Spalding is just asking for permission to advertise for bids for towing services.

President Korb: Right, so it’s basically a request for proposal?

Madelyn Grayson: Then she’ll come back with the information at a later date, the bids.

Commissioner Tornatta: There is more than one service, is that what the discussion is?

Madelyn Grayson: This is just going to be a legal ad that is going to go in The Courier, and then we’ll see what responses we get back, and open them at a public meeting.

President Korb: Right, my understanding is that we have at least two people that are interested.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, because I know we had talked about that before.

President Korb: Yep.

Commissioner Tornatta: They weren’t qualified–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, it’s not just a matter of interest, there are certain qualifications–

Commissioner Tornatta: Right.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –regarding available space–

Commissioner Tornatta: Correct.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –correct zoning and so forth. The last time we did this contract, only one entity met those requirements. I do understand that now perhaps there are two–

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –and maybe more.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

President Korb: So, all this is is a request for proposal to put in the newspaper.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

President Korb: The next item is, and I’m smiling a little bit about this, contracts, agreements and leases, with the Auditor, and, Bill, I’m going to have you address this, please, with Humana retiree supplemental agreement. The premium for 2009 has gone from zero dollars per month, and if I remember correctly I asked the Humana guy at this time how can you do this for zero? He said, oh, we can, and now it’s been increased to $29 per month. Ha-ha, starting in 2009, according to Humana to reflect an increase based on the 2009 Medicare adjustments to county rates. David Quandt with Humana has informed us that the $29 per month rate is guaranteed for one year, through December 31, 2009. Bill?

Bill Fluty: We did ask Gary Burdsall who did come before us, and he could not make it tonight. I think you all remember that we were offering that for zero. It actually is for the retirees. Our role was only to provide Humana with a list of people that retired, and they actually went back to some people that had retired before. It was zero, now it’s $29, over $300 a year plus. So, it would really be up to that retiree if they want to continue with Humana with this new cost. I was hopeful somebody would be here, because I think you all have quite a few questions, because it was a short period ago when it was just zero.

Commissioner Tornatta: I say we table it.

Commissioner Nix: How many retirees do we have that took advantage of this?

Bill Fluty: Then again, they’re not signed up with us.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right.

Commissioner Nix: But, I mean, you haven’t been given that information?

Bill Fluty: No, I did not.

Commissioner Tornatta: I make a motion that we table.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion?

Bill Fluty: We will get him here for the next meeting.

Commissioner Nix: He needs to come see us.

Bill Fluty: Yeah, that’s what I told him.

President Korb: I’m not barking about the $29 a month. To me that is still extremely reasonable, but, I mean, he stood there, he was adamant about that. He gave us the caveat that it potentially could go up. So, but, I’m like these two gentlemen, I think we need to have him here to answer some questions. So, all those in favor, discussion? Hearing none, we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion is passed. That is tabled. The next item of business is the extension of the lease with the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Building Authority. This is basically extending the lease that we currently have. For those of you watching at home, we basically rent, we, not basically, we do rent our space from the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Building Authority. So, it’s a rental basis. Mr. Rector, welcome back.

Dave Rector: Thank you.

President Korb: Give us the 10,000 foot overview, please.

Dave Rector: Dave Rector, Building Authority. This is exactly that, just an extension of the current lease that’s been in place for almost 40 years. It expires at the end of next year. The year prior to that you have to make a decision whether we want to extend the lease, or you get the building, the management, the people, the debt, everything else. Mr. Ziemer has prepared an extension of that lease, if you’ll all so approve that. We hope that you do, and that we would continue just under the same operation that we have for the last 40 years.

President Korb: Discussion?

Commissioner Tornatta: Bill, could you better explain this? When we say that we’re leasing, it sounds like a more of an ownership thing. This is more of a partnership thing with the Building Authority, as opposed to an ownership thing where we’re charged rent.

Dave Rector: It really is. There’s three Building Authorities in the state; Indianapolis, Marion County has one; New Albany, and then Evansville-Vanderburgh County. The Building Authority is set up by a state statute, we’re an entity of our own. It was a method of bonding and funding for government agencies to do that. Our philosophy is we work in concert with the Commissioners and the Mayor on all aspects of the building. Although we own the building, you’re housed here, and the lease is not you’re renting it from us, really what the lease is is just nothing more than paying our costs, our budget to operate the building.

Commissioner Tornatta: Or repaying any bonds.

Dave Rector: Or repaying any bonds.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right, and we couldn’t do that under the bond cap, if I’m not mistaken, but if we set up a Building Authority, then you can do that, as we did with the jail.

Dave Rector: And the Centre.

Commissioner Tornatta: And the Centre.

Dave Rector: Yes.

Commissioner Tornatta: So, we’re essentially paying back those bonds through the Building Authority, plus any additional expenses.

Dave Rector: Correct.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The bonds on the Civic Center are paid back.

Commissioner Tornatta: Understand.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: We’re just doing maintenance now.

Commissioner Tornatta: But, this is a channel, an avenue to be able to do some of these things that we might not otherwise have been able to do.

Dave Rector: It is. Yes.

President Korb: Additional questions?

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion?

Commissioner Tornatta: It’s for a 20 year lease.

President Korb: Correct. All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Rector.

Dave Rector: Thank you, gentlemen. We look forward to the next 20 years.

Commissioner Nix: I’m not going to be around here.

President Korb: I won’t either. The next item on our contracts, agreements and leases is with the mobile/manufactured home tie down/anchoring agreement between the county and James Acker. Is Mr. Acker here this evening?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: It would be Mr. Lehman, if he was here. This is a totally standard contract. We’ve entered into about 18 of these with various contractors. The idea is to have as many contractors as we can, because there are so many mobile homes these tie downs are needed for, and we, so, we want to have numerous contractors doing the work. They’re identical in every respect with every other one that we’ve done, and the Building Commissioner recommends that you approve this.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is a depository agreement with Old National Bank. It’s a two year depository agreement with ONB for the period beginning of January 1 of ‘09 through December 31, 2010. Since this is a service it does not need to be bid out. Gentlemen, discussion?

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is the Xerox renewal agreement for the County Engineering office. Looking for a renewal agreement for the period of 11/1/08 through 10/31/09, an annual cost of $240.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is the Health Department bio-terrorism prep and response supplemental grant agreement. This grant begins the year commencing 8/10/08, and terminating 8/9/09. The amount is for $10,000.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. Also with the Health Department, Lieberman Technology in the FIRMS enhancement application. This covers a food inspection regulatory management system to facilitate the tracking by the Vanderburgh County Department of Health of food inspections, food permits, receipting of fees, and generation of printable food permits.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is also with the Health Department, the 2009 STD grant agreement. The grant agreement is for $70,000 to be entered into between the Commissioners of Vanderburgh County on behalf of the Vanderburgh County Health Department and the State Department of Health for the period of January 1 of ‘09 through December 31^st of ‘09. The purpose of this grant is for sexually transmitted disease intervention.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion. Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is also with the Health Department, agreement with Sprint. An agreement between the Commissioners on behalf of the Vanderburgh County Board of Health and Sprint for the acquisition of 18 phones for $547.59, plus applicable fees. Discussion? Or, need a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is with the Vanderburgh County Day Reporting Drug Court, agreement for professional services with Regene Newman. The agreement is to be entered into between the Vanderburgh County Day Reporting Drug Court and acting by and through the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County and Regene Newman for professional services.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is Vectren reimbursement agreement for the Green River Road and Hirsch Road projects. This agreement is for a gas regulator station at Green River Road and Hirsch Road and is for an estimated $191,306.13.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is the AT&T reimbursement agreement and resolution for work in connection with the Baseline Road bridge. It’s a reimbursement agreement for work to be done, performed by AT&T on the Baseline Road bridge project. I need a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is County Engineer, Green River Road contract with Earth Exploration–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Excuse me. Pardon me, Mr. President, as part of the, at least the e-mail that was sent to you regarding the AT&T reimbursement agreement, there’s a separate issue, which is the adoption of a resolution regarding the elimination of at-grade railroad crossing and construction of bridge on Baseline Road. To ensure that the railroad will be responsible for payment of five percent of the cost of that construction, on the chance that they don’t voluntarily agree to this, we must adopt a resolution in the form that you have been provided with, and on the adoption of that resolution and providing a copy of that resolution to the railroad, if 30 days after that they will be required to pay their five percent of the construction cost.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The next item is–

Commissioner Tornatta: Do we need to take a roll call vote on that?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Not on a resolution.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

President Korb: Okay. The next item is the County Engineer, the Green River Road contract with Earth Exploration. This is an agreement to be entered into between Earth Exploration, Inc. and the county for certain required geo-technical engineering services in connection with the Green River Road improvement project.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. The final item on contracts, agreements and leases is with the County Engineer’s office. This is an agreement with David Savage for construction inspection for the flashing light at Red Bank and Upper Mt. Vernon Road. Mr. Savage has submitted a letter of agreement to do the work for the indicated fee of $2,000.

Commissioner Tornatta: He’s done a great job. Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Love Dave Savage. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. All this during Fall Festival week. Go figure.

President Korb: Department head reports, John Stoll. John? Happy County Engineer. For those of you watching, when we opened the bids tonight for Green River Road and Baseline Road, those are projects that have been going on for three years. So, this is a culmination of John’s hard work.

Commissioner Tornatta: Or more.

President Korb: Or more, and, anyway, John, congratulations. Thank you for your diligence. You’ve done a tremendous job.

John Stoll: Thanks.

President Korb: And thank you to the contractors.

Commissioner Tornatta: Thank you for over estimating.

President Korb: Yeah, yeah, thank you for making us all look good. Green River Road gets to stay open. Thank you.

John Stoll: Thank American Structurepoint, DLZ and Bernardin for over estimating.

President Korb: There you go. Okay, John.

John Stoll: First I have a street acceptance request for section two of Asbury Pointe Subdivision. This is for acceptance of 296 feet of Kingsley Court, 312 feet of Atkins Lane, 991 feet of Mattison Court, and 157 feet of Cookman Way.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Then, next, I have the construction inspection agreements with Commonwealth Engineers for the Oak Hill and Bergdolt intersection project. This is, this was an agreement that I brought before you a few weeks ago. It has since been reviewed by INDOT. INDOT has given us the okay to proceed with you approving the agreement and signing it. It’s in the amount of $98,312.50.

Commissioner Tornatta: Wow! That’s higher than what we once thought, was it not?

John Stoll: There’s been so many numbers bouncing back and forth, I can’t remember.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, I thought it was around $76,000, $78,000.

John Stoll: The bid was $780,000, so this is right at the 12 ½ percent cap–

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

John Stoll: –that INDOT maxes things out at, so.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay. Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Back to what you said, Troy, if I was using a ten percent estimate, you’re right, it would have been around $76,000 to $78,000. So, it probably is higher than some numbers we discussed at one point. The next item I have is a change order on the Cross Pointe Boulevard construction project. This change order is for a net decrease of $59,770. The reason for the decrease is due to the deletion of items that were going to be constructed across the Hirsch-Martin property, but those have since been eliminated by the developer. The items he was going to have to construct as part of the project were things such as brick pavers and crosswalks and street light bases. Also, in this change order, though, there is, it does include an increase associated with the railroad work. Back when we bid the project out, originally, we didn’t have final approval from Norfolk Southern, we have since gotten that approval, and the cost of the work on the railroad property is $68,812.70. However, the overall difference is a net deduction of $59,770. So, I would request your approval of the change order.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Next, I have a storm sewer acceptance request for section two of Carrington Meadows Subdivision. This consists of 2,162 feet of storm sewers located outside of street rights-of-way. The developer will pay the two dollar per foot acceptance fee, which would result in a payment of $4,324.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Next, is a storm sewer acceptance request for section three of Carrington Meadows. This is for 1,030 linear feet of storm sewer outside of street rights-of-way. The fee that will be paid in conjunction with this acceptance will be $2,060.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: Then, the last item I have is a street, or a sidewalk waiver request for Waterford Place, Section Two. This is the subdivision located out, it’s bounded by Columbia Street, Tutor Lane and Vogel Road. There are no other sidewalks out in that vicinity. So, I would request approval of the sidewalk waiver.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

John Stoll: That’s all I have.

President Korb: Great. Thanks, John. Again, congratulations.

Commissioner Nix: Congratulations.

President Korb: You bet.

Commissioner Nix: Tough job.

John Stoll: So far, so good.

Commissioner Nix: Yeah. The construction will go easy compared to the rest of it.

Commissioner Tornatta: No change orders.

John Stoll: I don’t know, with the luck we’ve had with Pigeon Creek bridges, I’m still a little bit leery of it.

President Korb: Mr. Ziemer, do you have anything for us?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I do. In connection with the Cross Pointe Boulevard project, as you will recall, the right-of-way for the extension of Cross Pointe Boulevard was donated by Hirsch-Martin. Part of the dedication of that right-of-way provided that the commencement date of the project would be a certain date, and the termination date of the project would be another certain date. The original dates for that, for the starting point went by, and we entered into a first amended and restated just to change that date. That date went by as well. Now, we are again asking you to accept a second amended and restated perpetual easement which indicates the starting date for the project will be June 30, 2008, which has passed and it has started. The completion date will be July 31, 2009, which will be met. Hirsch-Martin has signed the second amended and restated perpetual easement, and all I ask of the Commissioners is that they accept that easement.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: On the chance that you might do that, I have given a copy of that easement, ready for recording, to Mr. Stoll, and he’ll proceed to get it recorded. The second thing in connection with Cross Pointe, there are some, as the construction is going on there, there are certain improvements that it’s more convenient, that are needed by the developer, but it’s more convenient to have those improvements made by the county as part of its contract for the project, and then to be reimbursed by the developer for the cost of those improvements, which we call developer improvements. Of course, we were extremely cautious in viewing this so that not one penny of county money and yours to the benefit of the developer. The improvements will be made to facilitate the project. We have Bernardin Lochmueller’s indication of what the cost of those improvements will be, and as the improvements are done by the county’s contractor, we will bill Hirsch-Martin and be reimbursed for those costs as we proceed, and we ask that you approve that reimbursement agreement.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Finally.

Commissioner Tornatta: Hold on.

President Korb: Discussion?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh, I’m sorry.

President Korb: Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I don’t mean to go faster than the Commissioners.

President Korb: I know, it’s–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Finally, we have, it’s just that I was supposed to go listen to the debate and have dinner and a martini, and I was trying to get finished here. We have two subgrants, which were delivered to me late last week from Sherman Greer for receipt–

Commissioner Tornatta: I make a motion to go with Ted.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: What?

Commissioner Tornatta: I make a motion to go with you.

President Korb: Second.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: For receipt of two different grants, one is a grant for $282,169.85, for portable radios, together with batteries, vehicle chargers, and extra high capacity batteries. A second grant from the Indiana Department of Homeland Improvement for $458,065.15 for more radios, and yet more batteries, vehicle chargers and extra high capacity batteries. Each grant is for a three year term, and they are both subject to the usual terms and provisions of grants issued by the various agencies of the state of Indiana. We’re relying, that is our office is relying on Sherman Greer to be satisfied with the substantive provisions of these grant agreements, since his office will be responsible for meeting those provisions, on behalf of the Commissioners, as the sub-grant recipient. Therefore, otherwise though, we find them satisfactory for execution from a legal perspective.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

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

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: That is it.

President Korb: Any new business to come before the Commissioners this evening? Any old....oops.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, very briefly, we need to touch on our insurance that we’ll be seeing, should be seeing here pretty soon.

President Korb: Health insurance?

Commissioner Tornatta: Health insurance.

Commissioner Nix: For the county employees?

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s right.

President Korb: County employees only.

Commissioner Tornatta: Thank you. Thank you. What we’re going to plan to do is by noon on Friday, we would like to have a plan in place and on our website, Marissa. I think we’ve kind of discussed this a little bit, but we would like to have something in place. ONB is going to be delivering to Marissa the proposal that they’re going to recommend. It very well could be one plan, but the one plan will be explained in great detail. Never fear, we have looked out for both plans that we are looking to implement, but whether one plan or the other, it will, it should be of no change to how you do business with the medical field. So, I’m pretty excited about what we’re seeing. It could be a multi-year situation, which would help us in budgeting year per year. If we get some compliance with, and all work together as county employees, this could be a very good plan for this county. We do have reimbursements backed into it for being good stewards of those dollars. So, I mean, I think, we’re finally getting to a point to where we’re getting some distinct costs and getting our hands around the costs of our county medical. So, hopefully, we can continue this, and there’s a lot of other programs that go with this, which we hope to explain as we go along, and then bring it before this board on the 21^st to have a vote.

Commissioner Nix: I guess, along with that, could we do an all county e-mail to send out, I guess? Not a lot of people watch the meetings, county employees, but we could send something out to everyone that has an e-mail account. Just basically attaching that to our website, or something like that. Okay? So, everyone that has an e-mail account can get that.

Commissioner Tornatta: Jane Laib, if I’m not mistaken, normally will handle, in the Auditor’s office, all these issues. However, she won’t be back until Monday, I believe.

Bill Fluty: That’s correct.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, so, even though we’re going to have it Friday, we’re going to let you stew over it for a little bit, and check it out, those kinds of employees can check that out, and at that point, on Monday, not everybody calling at 8:00, but if you have any questions for Jane she would be happy to answer those questions.

President Korb: Much like we did the blood drive, e-mail blast.

Commissioner Nix: I guess, the other, if there’s a way we could get some paper out too to some of the departments and employees that don’t have, they could post it somewhere on a bulletin board. The County Highway, not a lot of our employees have computers out there, access to, I mean, at the office, I’m sure a lot of them do at home, but some way to get the word out to as many employees as we possibly can.

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s it. Thank you.

President Korb: Great. You’re welcome. Thank you.

President Korb: Old business to appear before the Commissioners this evening?

Commissioner Tornatta: Mr. Reis?

Dave Reis: Yes.

President Korb: Do you have something you want to come before us with?

Dave Reis: You were supposed to make a–

Commissioner Tornatta: Mr. Ziemer, I think what he wants is the answer on what we had come up with once we went down there and met with the O’Hara’s and met with Mr. Reis and his business partner about how we’re going to proceed in his area.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, it’s somewhat flexible, but what the county is going to consider is, with the blessing of the Department of Homeland Security in the State of Indiana, issuing special use permits, which would have a life of one year, for use of perhaps various portions of the county property in that area. For example, perhaps the county lot next to you, you might be given a special use permit to use that strip of land, subject to your meeting the requirements for the special use permit, which are, for example, that you’ll place nothing on the property except camping facilities and perhaps a–

Commissioner Tornatta: Agricultural.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: –agricultural use, and a trailer which has wheels and can be moved, and, in fact, will be moved entirely off the property, on its own wheels, at least once every six months for a period of 24 hours, and if there is any violation of the specific uses granted under the use permit, it would be terminated immediately upon any such violation. That same kind of permit is contemplated to be perhaps given to the O’Hara’s for their, the county property adjacent to their property. It’s especially needful in their case, because that’s the only way they have access to get items that they have on the rear of their property out to Old Henderson Road without going over somebody else’s property, since there is no county road located along the rear of the various properties. We’ve also determined that there is no county road off the rear of those properties, and unless in the various chains of title to the various individual owners there was a reservation or a restriction or a dedication of private roadway off the rear of those properties, then there is no roadway. So that you aren’t authorized to come over to the county property adjacent to your property, unless you have a special use permit to do that, nor will anybody else be authorized to do that. No one will be authorized to come across the rear of your property where that roadway exists, and you can block the way off on either side of your property, as long as no one has a right to it based on the title. The county is not going to do title searches, and it’s up to the neighbors to know themselves what the status of the title is to their respective properties. I think that’s about where we are.

Dave Reis: I’m Dave Reis. The first thing I would like to address is, you all know about the variances in my property line and your property line, where they don’t meet by 22 foot. Can we get something done where we can fix the property line so we know exactly that, you know, this is my property, and this is the county property? You know, if we have to, basically, it’s going to have to be surveyed again, and then we’re going to have to come into some kind of agreement that the line goes directly, you know, this way, or directly this way. Right now–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: We have no authority, nor are we going to have any authority to give any of that property away in there that is county property.

Dave Reis: Well, we don’t want to give away. We just want to know where mine stops and yours starts.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, you would have to hire a surveyor.

Dave Reis: So, once we hire a surveyor, then we can proceed? In other words, in other words, I don’t mind hiring a surveyor, but I’ve got to have, you know–

Commissioner Tornatta: You have the burden of proof.

Dave Reis: Okay, but right now–

Commissioner Tornatta: We don’t (Inaudible) the surveyor that we have marked those lines. You would have the burden of proof then to come back–

Dave Reis: Right.

Commissioner Tornatta: –to us and say that’s not right, and then we would then research that and see if, in fact (Inaudible)--

Dave Reis: Yeah, well, you see, right now there’s 22 foot that we don’t know who’s, you know, if it’s my ground or your ground.

Commissioner Tornatta: No, I don’t, I think we think it’s our ground.

Dave Reis: Well, and I think it’s my ground, but, in the title search, or in what we found is the land doesn’t come back together. In other words, there’s 22 foot where it should connect, and it doesn’t.

President Korb: Well, if you have that question, you are more than welcome to hire your own surveyor, but until then we’re going to go by what the county documents show.

Dave Reis: That’s what the county documents show. That’s what we, that’s part of the problem that we’ve been having. That’s exactly what the county–

President Korb: That’s a very small part of it.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, that is really not much of the problem that we’ve been having.

President Korb: You know, Mr. Ziemer, the only thing that I would ask and request that is in addition to what you’ve just discussed is , I think, that the trailer absolutely needs to be titled and it needs to be licensed, because the trailer that was on there that we had removed was neither titled nor was it licensed. I also have some genuine concern about anymore stripping of trees, because clearly somebody has cleared our county land of all the trees that were there. I totally disagree with Mr. Reis when he said they were all saplings. When you look at the woods, that is clearly not the case on the side of the county land.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, under the grant of special use, if it’s granted, and you meet the requirements, it’s for agricultural and camping. So, it’s not for stripping saplings or anything else. So, the county property will stay, as it is, except you would have the right to camp on it and grow something on it, if you wanted to.

Commissioner Tornatta: Mow it.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Mow it, and keep it up. Mr. Jeffers, I remember you discussing this 22 feet, is there a way that we can somehow resolve this? It seems like a small part of the overall problem.

Bill Jeffers: Yeah, I agree it’s a small issue. There’s a little, triangular piece that’s 22 feet on one side, and whatever on the other, very small, seven feet on the other side. Whatever, it’s a little triangle. I’m working off a document that I consider to be a legally performed land survey by Andy Easley. It contains all the notations that are required by law, and it’s certified by Andy Easley, before he passed. So, I’m considering that to be a document that the county is operating from. We have found sufficient monuments in the field to replicate that survey. I’m satisfied with it, and I hope you are. So, my comment would be that if the other party, Mr. Reis, is not satisfied, he can, as has been expressed, hire another registered land surveyor to perform an alternate survey. If we agree with the alternate survey, end of report. If you don’t agree with it, then it goes to court and the judge assigns a third, impartial surveyor from another county to come in and perform a survey that both parties must abide by with no question. So, that’s the process. I think it’s very simple.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: What is the effect of the 22 feet triangle, or whatever it is? What’s it depriving you of, Mr. Reis? Or what is it benefitting the county?

Bill Jeffers: It kind of cuts over into the area that he’s using as, there’s a very short recorded easement, a very short strip of recorded easement that allows Mr. Reis to access from Henderson Road, up along the old paved private lane, and then there’s a short distance from the end of that recorded strip, around kind of a curve to the north that he’s using for a driveway, and that portion of his driveway goes through no man’s land. He also has a dumpster set at that location. So, that’s what he would be deprived of, if we go by the current survey that Andy Easley’s office provided.

Commissioner Tornatta: But, then, if he was granted–

Bill Jeffers: But, if he were granted the strip of ground–

Commissioner Tornatta: No, no.

Bill Jeffers: –the use of the strip of ground.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Bill Jeffers: The use of it through what you described.

Commissioner Tornatta: The use permit.

Bill Jeffers: Then, that goes away.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Right, yeah.

Commissioner Tornatta: There would be one buffer lot between anybody who wanted to purchase a lot that had a primary residence in that area.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, in other words–

Bill Jeffers: So, long as there’s–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: There would be a lot that the county would not give a special use over, which would separate the O’Hara’s and their special use property, from the Reis’ and their special use property.

Commissioner Tornatta: The Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Right.

Bill Jeffers: Then that particular lot should probably be planted in dense trees and let them grow up. But, be that as....attempted humor. But, anyway, the only sticking point that I would see is that you would have to agree that his dumpster was a legitimate use under your agreement.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, whether it’s–

Bill Jeffers: Some of it would not have to be for–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: For agricultural purposes.

Bill Jeffers: That, and it wouldn’t have to be moved every six months for a period of 24 hours.

President Korb: You know, really, at the end of the day, all we’re after here is harmony at that end of the road, so we don’t have continued Sheriff’s runs down there. I think that if there is a little bit of leeway that we can offer with regards to the dumpster and other things, and a licensed trailer, you know, Dave, this is all about we’ll work with you, but you’re going to have to work with us as well, or we’ll just have to bring down the hammer.

Commissioner Tornatta: I don’t think, I don’t think there’s any leeway. I think we need to write it exactly how we want it–

President Korb: Yup.

Commissioner Tornatta: –and if it’s not run like that, then it’s going to be pulled, and it’s going to go to, the county’s going to take their land, and it’s going to be quarantined, we’re going to do the same inspections we’re going to do regardless, there’s going to be that fee for those services, there’s going to be a fee for law enforcement services, at that particular location on those lots, and if no one wants to play by our rules, then there will be no issuance of this special use permit, or it would be denied immediately.

President Korb: Game over.

Commissioner Tornatta: Yeah, so, I’ve been down there twice.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’ve been there once.

Commissioner Tornatta: You got to go down there once–

President Korb: I went once.

Commissioner Tornatta: –we’ve all been down there. The Sheriff’s Department has been down there 54 times.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Most recently, I think, just this week.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right.

Commissioner Nix: In the last day or two.

Commissioner Tornatta: So–

President Korb: Really?

Commissioner Tornatta: –I guess, all I’m asking is that we’re going to write this contract, for a special use, it’s going to be approved by Homeland Security, which they’re really tightening down on it, as we’ve talked about. There will be no deviance in that. We’re past that point. We offered that first, now we no longer have that on the table. It will be by code, in this special use permit, and once we, once you sign that, if you want to partake in that special use permit, you may, but then we have to go by the code. If that’s breached, then we will pull it immediately, and one will have to be on their sole property that is their primary residence.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: One thing I did omit to say, you will have to get a certificate of insurance for the county, to insure the county from any liability that would incur on the county’s property that you’re given the right to use.

Dave Reis: Okay, so, we can, okay, we can discuss that later. Since you have decided 100 percent that that was not a roadway back there, and the Sheriff’s Department did come back , on private property then, and took a shed, or an old trailer, whatever you want to call it–

President Korb: An old, untitled, unlicensed trailer, that appeared to be abandoned.

Dave Reis: Yeah, on private property.

Commissioner Tornatta: That doesn’t matter.

President Korb: That’s his authority.

Commissioner Tornatta: That doesn’t matter.

Dave Reis: Well, I’m just saying that it was on private property. I can’t, if they want a receipt or something that shows, you know, that I own it. I don’t have a receipt for that old trailer, you know. I expect, or I’m hoping that, Ted, you could talk to somebody, since you are the County Attorney, and we could either get that resolved, get that trailer back, you know.

President Korb: Again, I think the burden of proof of ownership on that trailer is yours, not the county’s.

Dave Reis: Even though you came on private property?

President Korb: We have an ordinance and that allows the Sheriff to do exactly that type of thing. That is within his jurisdiction.

Dave Reis: If it’s done right and if the paperwork’s done right.

President Korb: If you want to challenge that, we’re happy to go to the mat with you on that, and that’s where I’m coming from on this.

Dave Reis: Yes, I will challenge that. There’s some more things that I would like to bring up about this situation. That’s fine that we enter into a lease agreement and all that, but there’s still a pile of asbestos shingles on the county property that is still going into the water system down there. Nothing has been done about that. There are still–

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Have we seen that?

Commissioner Tornatta: I’ve been down there twice.

President Korb: I haven’t seen it.

Commissioner Tornatta: Listen, I mean, that’s, we’re not going to deal with this. I mean, David, I’ve been down there, I’ve done my due diligence to make this thing, to try and bring these parties to some consensus. We’ve talked to both parties ad nauseam, and, I guess, what I’m looking at is I perused the property, I’ve kicked the dirt, I’ve went and researched everything that I could do, it might not be the greatest situation on earth, but, I mean, we did it. I took (Inaudible)--

Dave Reis: You did, and I appreciate it. Actually, Troy has done probably the most of anybody.

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s not a–

Dave Reis: What I’m saying is, it’s still down there. If you want a handful, or a shovelful of it, I can bring it in. I can show it to you. I can take another picture of it. I’ve showed you pictures before. I’ve showed you exactly where it is, but nobody wants to deal with an asbestos problem. But, it’s on the county property, and it’s going into my water. Okay? It needs to be dealt with. You know, I just wish–

Commissioner Tornatta: We did–

Dave Reis: – that, you know, what have you done to remove that pile of asbestos? Nothing. That’s what I want. All I want is the county to come down there and get rid of it, since it’s on the county property. I’m sure if it was on my property, the county would tell me to get rid of it.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Who put it there?

Dave Reis: I do not know. It wasn’t there a year ago when I was cutting grass.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, then, the county certainly didn’t put it there. So, either you put it there or Mr. O’Hara put it there.

Dave Reis: And, I didn’t put it there. So, you can figure out who put it there.

President Korb: Well, I’m with Commissioner Tornatta on this. We are done with this. We’ll come up with whatever agreement we’re able to come up with. You’ll either choose to adhere to that 100 percent, or you’re privilege to use that property will be taken away.

Dave Reis: That is absolutely fine. I just need to know what we’re going to do with this asbestos, and who should I talk to?

Commissioner Nix: How much of it’s there?

Dave Reis: There’s a pile, it looks like a dump truck load of asbestos.

Commissioner Tornatta: But, that’s a, is that, Ted, is that–

Commissioner Nix: And you’ve had it tested to know that it is asbestos?

Dave Reis: It’s the old, hard type deal. No, I haven’t had it tested, but I could.

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, no, you don’t want to go over there. That’s not your property. I guess, Ted, I’m asking, is that a civil suit? It’s his drinking water, somebody else placed it in his drinking water, it would be a civil suit?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Sure.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Sure.

Dave Reis: On your property. So, what should I do?

Commissioner Tornatta: Somebody else placed it on our property, it’s a civil suit. It’s your drinking water, you’re affected by what they did, it’s your civil suit against that individual.

Dave Reis: Okay, who’s going to clean this up?

Commissioner Tornatta: That’s for the judge to decide.

Dave Reis: Okay. So, the county has no authority?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, whoever did it trespassed. You know, we didn’t put it there.

Dave Reis: Right. Okay, and I didn’t put it there either, but I’m asking a simple question. I need a simple answer. Who will take and have it tested, and if it’s not that, then we have no problems. But, if it is that, are we going to just leave it sitting on the ground?

Commissioner Tornatta: David, I went down there, and I promise, I looked for everything you said. Some things I found, some things I did not. I did not find those shingles. I did not see that there. I guess, where I’m at right now is, if you think it’s affecting your drinking water, you file a civil suit against them for placing it there, and then the judge can take it from there to tell them they have to test it. If the burden of proof isn’t there, then they don’t have to clean anything up.

Dave Reis: Well, I’ll get some off of it and I’ll have it tested, and I’ll take care of it from there.

President Korb: I’m just curious, why–

Dave Reis: But, I’m doing it on your property.

President Korb: Why was the Sheriff–

Dave Reis: Just so you know.

President Korb: –why was the Sheriff down there again this week? Or last week, or whenever they were down there?

Dave Reis: Um, my neighbors–

President Korb: Did you call them, the Sheriff?

Dave Reis: Yes, I did.

President Korb: Okay.

Dave Reis: Would you like to know why?

President Korb: Not really.

Dave Reis: He hit me in the nose.

President Korb: I really am not interested in hearing this story. Sorry.

Dave Reis: Just because I hung up these posters that say “registered sex offender”, and where I have the right to do that. Where everybody ought to know that it is. Of course, these are the same people that allegedly put asbestos on your property–

President Korb: We don’t know that.

Dave Reis: I said allegedly. I did not say they did. I said allegedly.

President Korb: Your time before us is over.

Dave Reis: Thank you very much, Mr. Kolb. Mr. Bill Nix, and Troy.

President Korb: And that’s Korb. Thank you.

Dave Reis: What’s that?

President Korb: K-o-r-b, not Kolb.

Dave Reis: Oh, excuse me.

President Korb: Okay, we have got consent items on the agenda next, unless there’s any other old business?

Commissioner Tornatta: Public comment.

President Korb: Public comment? We had asked for that once.

Commissioner Tornatta: Any other?

President Korb: Okay.

Commissioner Tornatta: The YMCA is having their half marathon. Did want to mention that for those who are going to be downtown.

Commissioner Nix: The 12^th.

Commissioner Tornatta: This Sunday.

President Korb: This Sunday.

Commissioner Tornatta: This Sunday, it starts at Reitz, it ends down at the riverfront. So, if you are in that area, there might be some stoppages. Obviously, the Nut Club is going to be finishing up the Fall Festival, the 87^th annual, and they will be on Franklin Street for clean up. So, the west side is kind of going to be–

President Korb: Busy.

Commissioner Tornatta: – a little busy. So, if you want to go cheer the people on with the half marathon, it’s a great opportunity, or if you want to be at the finish line, that would be fine as well.

Commissioner Nix: Marissa wants to say something.

President Korb: Who does? Marissa?

Marissa Nichoalds: Yes, the Old Courthouse Foundation will be hosting a fundraiser on October 26^th, that’s a Sunday. It’s in conjunction with the haunted house that Phil Wolter puts on. It’s a “non scare” show day for children. The cost is two dollars per person for admission. The proceeds go to the Foundation Board. It’s the same, it’s in conjunction with Trick or Treat on Main Street.

Commissioner Nix: We will have the building opened up to see the new ballroom and all that too.

Commissioner Tornatta: The 26^th?

Commissioner Nix: The 26^th.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, great. What time does that start? Do you–

Marissa Nichoalds: It’s noon to three p.m.

President Korb: Great. Any other public comment?

President Korb: If not, we need to approve the consent items, please.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Korb: Opposed same sign. The motion passes. I need a motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Nix: Motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Korb: The meeting is adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 6:44 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of the September 16, 2008 Commission Meeting Minutes.

Key Government Finance Disbursement #12: Telephone System.

Letter from Senator Lugar Regarding Fehd Property Issue.

EARC: Report of Activities and Meeting Minutes: August 2008.

EMA Letter Regarding Refueling and Servicing of Generators.

Legal Aid: September 2008 Statistics.

Department Head Meeting Minutes: September 16, 2008.

Employment Changes:

Voter Registration (2)               County Clerk (1)                       Election Office (3)

VCCC (2)                                  County Highway (2)                  Circuit Court (2)

Sheriff’s Office (8)                    Knight Assessor (1)                  Prosecutor (1)

County Assessor (1)                 Burdette Park (3)                      Health Dept (1)

Travel Requests:

County Assessor (1)                 Health Department (5)              DADS (1)

SWCD (4)                                 Area Plan (1)                            County Clerk (2)

County Engineer (1)                 Center Assessor (2)

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 61: Green River-Burkhardt TIF Projects.

Surplus Requests:

Burdette Park: Vehicles.

Knight Assessor: Various Computer Equipment.

Circuit Court: File cabinets.

Health Department: Exchange of Assets: Radios.

Purchasing: Monthly Report: August 2008.

Treasurer:

Year-to-Date Report: August 2008.

Monthly Report: August 2008.

County Clerk: Monthly Report: August 2008.

Weights & Measures: Monthly Report: September 2008. 

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Officer

Those in Attendance:

Jeff Korb                                   Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta

Bill Fluty                                    Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Marissa Nichoalds

Madelyn Grayson                     Bob Swallows                           Melanie Hobbs

Z. Tuley                                    Matt Arvay                                Dave Rector

Gretchen Rutledge                   Gary Heck                                John Stoll

Dave Reis                                 Bill Jeffers                                 Others Unidentified

Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Jeff Korb, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

Troy Tornatta, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)