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Board of Commissioners October 14, 2002
The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners
met in session this 14th day of October, 2002 at 5:32 p.m. in
Room 307 of the Civic Center Complex with President Catherine Fanello presiding.
President Fanello: Call to order Vanderburgh
County Board of Commissioner meeting October 14th.
President Fanello: Introductions are as follows, to my right, Tammy McKinney, Superintendent of Buildings; Kevin Winternheimer, County Attorney; Commissioner Mosby. To my left, Commissioner Mourdock; County Auditor, Suzanne Crouch; and Recording Secretary, Madelyn Grayson. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. (The Pledge was given.)
President Fanello: Approval of today's Executive Session summary minutes. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of summary minutes. The meeting began at 5:15, ended at 5:20. The three Commissioners and Ms. Crouch were present, and we discussed personnel matters. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered.
President Fanello: October 7th minutes. Commissioner Mourdock: Motion to approve. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered.
President Fanello: Phil Lawrence. Phil Lawrence: Good evening. President Fanello: Good evening. Phil Lawrence: First, I would like permission to open VC-26-2002, towing bids. Commissioner Mourdock: Motion to open, and how many are there, Phil? Phil Lawrence: There are three different, four different companies. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Commissioner Mosby: A bunch. Phil Lawrence: A bunch. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, I'll move we open a bunch of bids. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. Kevin Winternheimer: Are there any bids from the audience? Seeing none. Commissioner Mourdock: Is this for all three? Phil Lawrence: Yeah. Commissioner Mourdock: For the record, the bids being opened are for the towing contract, oops, I'm sorry. Yeah, okay. Kevin Winternheimer: The first bid I've opened is from Wolfe's Auto Auction of Evansville. Let me see what they bid here. Well, I'll just have to read them, read the list here. On non-county owned vehicles, this is for vehicles that have had accidents, or are broken down on the right-of-way, that are not owned by the county; for storage of the automobiles, pick-up trucks, etcetera, $5 per day. Storage of motorcycles, $5 a day. Storage of a truck over one ton, $7.50 a day. Storage of a semi truck without trailer, $10 a day. Storage of a semi truck with trailer, $20 a day. Storage of a bus or large RV, $10 a day. Storage of an ATV, $5 a day. Storage of tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $7.50 a day. Then under county owned vehicles, they have no charge written. Okay, let me make sure I, let me make sure this is a duplicate here. It looks like it. Yeah. The next bidder is St. Wendel Auto Parts and Service. For, this is for wrecked and impounded county vehicles. This is for the vehicles that have had accidents, and are broken down in the right-of-way. Non-county owned vehicles, automobiles, pick-up trucks, and vans, $5. Storage of motorcycles, $3. Storage of a truck over one ton, $6. Storage of a semi truck without trailer, $6. Storage of semi truck with trailer, $10. Storage of a bus or a large RV, $6. Storage of an ATV, $3. Storage of tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $6. Then on county owned vehicles for storage, they have no charge written. Okay, this, again, is St. Wendel Auto Parts and Service, and this is for the towing of abandoned vehicles. Okay, I'm trying to think of an easy way to do this. There are five categories, is that correct? Phil Lawrence: Yeah, there is probably not an easy way to do that one. Commissioner Mosby: Do you just want to take them under advisement? Kevin Winternheimer: Well, let me just do this, and just for the record that they declined to quote on category two, and three, and five, and there are various items, and sub-categories on the rest of the stuff. Phil Lawrence: Yeah. Kevin Winternheimer: They're public record, if anybody wants to see them, they can see them. The next set of bids is, again, from St. Wendel Auto Parts and Service. This is for the towing of nuisance, wrecked, impounded, and county vehicles. Again, they have various pricing methods listed. They declined to vote, uh, vote, declined to quote on items, or categories two, three, and five. Okay, the next set of bids is from Mike's Towing Service of Evansville, and this is for the towing of abandoned vehicles. It looks like they've bid every category, with various prices listed. Phil Lawrence: Those are five different districts in the county. So, if you would just read, maybe, one column of that. Most of those columns should be the same. Kevin Winternheimer: Oh, I see what you're saying. Okay, for the towing, okay, oh, that's five different districts. Phil Lawrence: Yeah. Kevin Winternheimer: Okay. For the towing of the automobiles, pick-up trucks, and passengers, I see, it's $35 across the board. Towing of motorcycles, $45. Towing of bicycles, $35. Towing of trucks over one ton, $85. Towing of a semi truck without trailer, $85. Towing of semi truck with trailer, $85. Towing of a bus, or large RV, $85. Towing of an ATV, $45. Tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $85. Flatbeds and wenching, $10, and that was all across the board. I assume it's the same. Okay, that's copies. Okay. Okay, these are all copies. Okay, the next set of bids is from Mike's Towing Service, again. This is for wrecked and impounded vehicles. Automobiles, pick-up trucks, and vans, $5. Motorcycles, $5. This is storage, I'm sorry. Storage of nuisance, wrecked, and impounded vehicles. He bid $5 for each item, under the non-county owned vehicles. That makes it easier. For county owned vehicles, there's no charge. Here we go, oh, okay, alright. Okay, the next set of bids is from Mike's Towing Service, and this is for towing of nuisance, wrecked, impounded, and county vehicles. Again, it looks like he's bid all districts. The, it looks like the costs are all the same, I'll just read them down. Automobiles, pick-up trucks, and vans, $35; motorcycles, $45; bicycles, $35; truck over one ton, $85; towing of semi truck without trailer, $85; towing of semi truck with trailer, $85; towing of bus, and large RV, $85; towing of ATV, $45; tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $85; flatbeds and backhoes, and trailers, $85. Then for county owned vehicles, he has no charge for automobiles, trucks, and passenger vans, motorcycles, and bicycles. For trucks over one ton, $85. Towing of semi trucks, $85. Towing of semi truck with trailer, $85. Towing of bus or large RV, $85. No charge for towing of an ATV. Tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $85. Flatbeds and wenching, $10. A per mile charge for towing outside the county limits, an additional 50 cents per mile, across the board. That's all for number one. Okay, the next set of bids is for towing, disposition of wrecked, impounded and nuisance vehicles. The bidder is Hamrick's Diesel Service, Inc. of Evansville. Okay, under, again, this is storage of nuisance, wrecked and impounded vehicles. For non-county owned vehicles, he's bid $3 for the automobiles, pick-up trucks, and vans. Motorcycles, $3. Trucks over one ton, $5. Semi truck without trailer, $5. Semi truck with trailer, $5. Bus and large RV, $3. Storage of ATV's, $3, and tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $5. For county owned vehicles, storage cost, no charge. Next set of bids is for storage of nuisance, wrecked, impounded vehicles. The bidder is Hamrick's Diesel Service, Inc. Okay, and it looks like the, this is again the towing of nuisance, wrecked, impounded and county vehicles, and it looks like he's bid all districts. For automobiles, pick-up trucks, and passenger vans, it's $35, across the board. It looks like all his prices are across the board. Motorcycles, $35. Bicycles, $10. Towing of trucks over one ton, $50 per hour. Towing of semi truck without trailer, $70 per hour. Towing of semi truck with trailer, $75 per hour. Towing of bus and large RV, $40 per hour. Towing of ATV, $30 per hour. Tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $45 per hour. Flatbeds, backhoes, and trailers, $45 per hour. For county owned vehicles, it looks like the prices are the same, across the board. He's got automobiles, trucks, and passenger vans, $30. Towing of motorcycles, $20; bicycles, $10; truck over one ton, $40; semi truck without trailer, $40; semi truck with trailer, $40; these are per hour on the towing of semi truck without trailer and with trailer, it's per hour. Towing of bus and large RV, $40 per hour. Towing of ATV, $25. Tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $40 per hour, and the per mile charge, $1.20. The last bid is from Hamrick's Diesel Service, Inc. Okay, these are towing of abandoned vehicles. It looks like the prices are the same across the board. He bid all districts. Towing of automobiles, pick-up trucks, and vans, $35; motorcycles, $35; bicycles, $10. Towing of a truck over one ton, $50 per hour. Towing of semi truck without trailer, $70 per hour. Towing of semi truck with trailer, $75 per hour. Towing of bus and large RV, $40 per hour. Towing of ATV, $30 per hour. Tractors, backhoes, and trailers, $45 per hour. Flatbeds and wenching, $40 per hour. That's all I have. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move we take the bids under advisement. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered.
Phil Lawrence: I would like to, permission, I'm wore out now, advertise APA008-2002, batteries, and APA017, guardrails. Actually, that should be 2003. Commissioner Mosby: I'll make a motion to advertise. Commissioner Mourdock: Second. Commissioner Mosby: Permission to advertise. President Fanello: So ordered.
Phil Lawrence: I would like to, that last item, move it till next week. There's a couple of little glitches in that. President Fanello: Okay. Commissioner Mosby: Motion to hold. Commissioner Mourdock: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. Thank
you, Phil.
President Fanello: Next item is the Gartner contract. I met with the Mayor last week, and Kevin Winternheimer has reviewed this contract. If you remember a few, it's been about two months ago, I think, that we took RFP's on trying to find a consultant who could help us write an RFP for Computer Services next year, because our contract does expire next June. The first step in that, what the committee decided to do was to get a needs assessment, and that's what this proposal with Gartner is. The price in the contract will be shared 50/50 with city/county. Our funds are in place. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, that's my first question was how the funding was going to be split. President Fanello: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: The other two things that I would make, not necessarily that they need contract changes, but the several comments that are made about how these folks will interact with our representatives- President Fanello: Uh-huh. Commissioner Mourdock: -is that a clearly defined sub-group of the Data Board? Or who will our representatives be? President Fanello: Well, actually, the Mayor wanted for us to get together, and, I think, kind of work with the Data Board, and see who all would be the representatives that would work with everyone. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, and my only other comment was in reviewing this, and getting a better feel for what Gartner can do, and what they have to offer, I don't see anywhere in the document where it necessarily alludes to this, but it might be worth while, to at least keep the option open, that if they do this successfully, that they would, in fact, be a, oh, maybe a consultant for us when it comes to actually negotiating with ACS, or whomever wins the actual contract. President Fanello: They talked to us about that- Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. President Fanello: -and they are willing, obviously, to do that for a price, but, yes, they do have, they've been very successful. That's one of their key jobs. They did Marion County, so. That's an option. If we decide not to go out for RFP, and we decide to re-negotiate our contract. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah. Phil Lawrence: Madam Chairman, also the Board of Public Works also approved- President Fanello: Did they approve theirs? Phil Lawrence: Yes. President Fanello: Okay. Phil Lawrence: This morning. The signed copies are here. President Fanello: Alright. Thank you, Phil. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move to approve the document, then that's submitted to us. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered.
President Fanello: Next item, Will Fosse, Old Courthouse. Will Fosse: Good afternoon to the members of the Board of Commissioners, and others. About 18 months ago a committee was formed to study the Courthouse, and make recommendations on it to make it ship shape, so to speak. One of the recommendations was to, the first recommendation was to get a weather tight exterior. Part of the weather tight exterior was, consists of the roofing, and flashing. Recommendations were made to re-roof it, and I'm here tonight to present to you the project manual, and the drawings to do this re-roofing. I've got a , let me just move this up. The drawings consist of photographs, and details, and if you'd like to go through them, there's 18 or 19 pages. We can, I would really like to give you an overview of what we're doing, and how we're doing it. Then really request permission to advertise the project for bids. Okay, this is a plan of the Courthouse, and this, these, okay, the four corners are the domes. The areas in here are sloped, single roofs, on each side. These four areas are the light wells, and there is sky lights in there. There are some roofing area here, roofing area here, and then the rest, all of this other area is going to be re-roofed. The use of the site, depending on how the contractor is going to do this, there are going to be areas of the site fenced off for construction purposes. However, the Vine Street entrance, because of that is the handicapped access, that site will, that entrance will be available at all times. We're assuming that they may take a section of the building here and work on that, and that may take several weeks. At that time, this entrance would be closed off. Likewise, the other three areas, but, again, this will be always open, because that's the handicapped access. We are taking off all of the existing slate roof, which is on the sloped areas. These are the trapezoidal areas. We're also taking off, there are some other types of roofing; we have slate roofing, we have sheet metal roofing, flat, which is, will be soldered in these areas right here, between the light wells. Then on the towers, on the domes, from here up, we're leaving that construction pretty much as is, with the exception of we're taking some unit costs on replacing some of these decorative shapes that are damaged or missing, but the remainder of the domes, in this area, that is flat, seamed, copper roofing, and that will be removed, the existing removed, and replaced. Now, the materials used for this re-roofing are, the sheet metal roofing is copper. For the domes, this is a pre-patinated copper, and it's, this is the color the copper gets after it weathers for quite a while. You can get this pre-patinated, and we're doing that because this, from here up, is going to remain, and that's, basically, this color. The rest of the dome, all the domes, would be done utilizing this material, and flat seam. The other flat seam roofing in here, would be just regular copper. That's more or less like the color on the back side of this. This will be soldered seams. The flat seam roofing on the domes will be battoned seams. The slate for the project is a grade A, unfading color, and it probably will last 75 to 100 years. The flashing for all these ridges in here, and valleys, and gutters, and gutter liners, that will be constructed using lead coated copper. This is a sample of lead coated copper. It gets a little bit greyer with age, which will approach the color of the slate. That's the material for it. Now, some of the, this project, this re-roofing project is a little bit different than a normal re-roofing project, it has some things that we have to take care of. One of those is because of the spaced framing for the shingles, right now, when they demolish the existing slate, it's, there's a possibility that it could go through the framing is 8" on center, and it could, the slate could go through the spaced framing, and damage...whether you know it or not, there is some HVAC equipment, and duct work in the attic floor. We have to protec that from damage, because the slate might be 20' or 30' above it, and the pieces of slate dropping down could damage that equipment. So, there are some circumstances on this project that are a little bit unusual. The other, some of the other problems are, it's very easy to get to this part of the project, because there is an elevator about right in here. To this side of the project, it's very hard to get into the attic areas. You have to go up some stairs, and down some other stairs, and I just say this because it's not a standard construction project. There's a few little things that are unique. The phasing of the project will really be up to the contractors on how they want to manage it, but we're thinking that they probably would start with the sheet metal domes first, and then do the slate roofing. Actually, the way that it's being bid, they could do both the sheet metal, and the slate at the same time, because we're suggesting that the bid be awarded to a roofing contractor, and we're suggesting that the sheet metal roofing, and flashing bids be taken separate, as well as the roofing contract bids, and awarded to the low roofing contractor. I have some copies of information that we were going to give to potential bidders. These indicate a notice to proceed, I mean, a Notice to Bidders, a summary of the work to be done, and a bid form, or proposal form. With these, a potential bidder can get a very good grasp of what we're asking for. These are for your information. Madelyn Grayson: Will, do you have an extra set for the record? Will Fosse: Yes, ma'am. Tammy McKinney: Madelyn, that's what I gave you. Madelyn Grayson: I have one already. Thank you. Will Fosse: Very good. The other things we've, we have utilized some expertise of Dennis Au, he has reviewed the documents for historic preservation purposes. He has found no problems whatsoever. I think this would be important, down the road, if we are looking for grants, or some certification, as far as preservation uniqueness. The drawings are, this set is, I will call it a preliminary set, but we believe the drawings in the project manual are ready to go out for bid. We really request your permission to do that. However, I would answer any questions, if you might have them right now. President Fanello: Does anyone have any questions? Commissioner Mourdock: Did I understand you, Will, that all of the slate that's there now will be replaced by what you called the leaded copper? Will Fosse: No. No, all the slate will be replaced with new slate. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Will Fosse: Just the, the lead coated copper is for, is a sheet metal, and that's just for flashing- Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Will Fosse: -or ridge flashing- Commissioner Mourdock: Well, you said it was- Will Fosse: -hip flashing, and gutters. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. You said something about it was approximately the same color, and would blend in. Will Fosse: Oh, well- Commissioner Mourdock: I misunderstood you. So, that's fine. Will Fosse: I don't, you can't see the photographs here, but right now this is a slate colored, this is slate, and the flashing is green, it's the patinate- Commissioner Mourdock: Right. Will Fosse: -right now. It's, well, it's got so many holes in it, it's hard to tell whether it green or grey, but we're using lead coated copper, instead of the plain copper, because we think it will give a better effect. That was one concern that Dennis Au had, but we really don't believe that, I'm not sure that 120 years ago they had lead coated copper. Commissioner Mourdock: Sure. Yeah, okay. I guess, I'm having a senior moment here, but the building has not been listed on the National Historic Register, at this point, as a historic building, has it? Tammy McKinney: I think it's still on there. Commissioner Mourdock: It is on there? Tammy McKinney: Uh-huh. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, in that case you mentioned that Dennis approved, Dennis looked at it and okayed- Will Fosse: Yes. Dennis has a copy of the drawings and the specs. Commissioner Mourdock: Is there anyone else, and I don't think any of us can probably answer this question right now, but if it is nationally registered, is there anyone else that we need to get pre-approval from on this, so that we don't put some future grant at risk? Might, I hope the answer is no, but we better check that. Will Fosse: We think that Dennis is the, right now, as far as we need to go. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, well, respectfully, we think, I want to be sure. Will Fosse: Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: So- Will Fosse: Well- Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah. Will Fosse: I think. Maybe I'm wrong. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, and you probably are right, but I just want to be sure that we don't blow something along the way. Last question, in looking at this, and just thinking of the type of work that has to be done, and, are you seeing this for the first time too, Kevin? The bid document? Kevin Winternheimer: I saw the bid documents. I didn't review the plans, obviously. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Kevin Winternheimer: But the bid documents. Commissioner Mourdock: My only thought is, I'm wondering if we should have some higher indemnification limits on this, and hold harmless type stuff than what we normally do, because working on those roofs, obviously, there's a risk there that goes beyond what a lot of normal construction would be. Obviously, if we put that requirement in there, we'll have to pay for it, in a sense, but I think it would be money well spent. Will Fosse: I have the, do you want to see what- Kevin Winternheimer: I don't remember what it was. Will Fosse: I have them right here, I believe. Kevin Winternheimer: He has $2 million each occurrence on (Inaudible) and property damage both. So, whatever you think. Do you want to go higher in the property damage (Inaudible)? Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, I would suggest, maybe, $5 million, or something. I mean, this is a pretty extraordinary type of thing, so. Kevin Winternheimer: That's fine. That's not unreasonable. Commissioner Mourdock: Those are my only comments. President Fanello: Anyone else have any questions? So, I guess, we would probably want to take a week to find out the answer to your question. Commissioner Mourdock: I think it would be worthwhile, just to make sure. President Fanello: Then we could put this back on the agenda for Monday night. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, that's fine. President Fanello: To go ahead and give you the go ahead- Will Fosse: Pardon me? President Fanello: He's, we're going to take a week to get his question answered--- Will Fosse: Oh, okay. President Fanello: -to make sure he's got all his question answered. I don't know, Kevin, if you need to review anymore documents or anything. Kevin Winternheimer: No. (Inaudible. Mike not on.) President Fanello: Then we can put this on the agenda for Monday, next Monday night to approve going forward with the bidding. Commissioner Mourdock: I would formally move that we up that liability limit to $5 million. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. Thank you, Will. Will Fosse: Thank you. Madelyn Grayson: May we make a tape change please? President Fanello: yes. (Tape Changed)
President Fanello: Gary May. Gary May: Good evening. My name is Gary May. I'm a resident of Warrick County, and the local coordinator for a project called Count Us In, which is a project funded by the Governor's Planning Council for People with Disabilities, who's purpose is to increase participation by people with disabilities in the voting process. You may recall that I appeared before this body on September 23rd, at which time I indicated some of our concerns, based on our survey of some of the polling locations during the May primary. Concerns about physical access at the particular polling places, about location of polling places, and transportation, among other issues. Certainly a lingering issue about voting has to do with people who have visual or other impairments, who require some assistance to execute their ballot. Certainly our goal is for every citizen to have the right to vote, and to register a confidential ballot for the person of their choice. Subsequent, or at that meeting on the 23rd, I offered the person power of our group to work with the county to try to ensure that polling places are more nearly accessible than they have been in the past. In response to Mr. Mourdock's question, I agreed for our group to do some surveys, again, of polling places at the upcoming election. I was instructed to contact the Superintendent of Buildings for the county, and I did so. I contacted her, and exchanged some information, or sent some information her way. Subsequent to my, our meeting previously we've been invited by Ms. Abell, the Clerk, to participate in poll worker training coming up later this month over at the Centre. We will be involved with that, and participate in training poll workers about some of the common issues that they might encounter with voters with disabilities. I'm disappointed to report that our progress in getting physical access issues rectified, or at least even identified have not met with success. I'm not sure whether that's attributable to a miscommunication, or my misunderstanding of what I was to expect in that meeting with the Superintendent, or, and I hope this isn't the case, or it may reflect a lack of serious commitment to address the issues of what voters with disabilities. I know that we are on a very short time line for the upcoming election. There may be some relief that will be available for us all in the next general election in '04, but it seems to me that this is a wonderful opportunity with the election coming up in just a few weeks, for everybody to get better communication established, and for there to be more complete understanding about what some of the issues are. Because, quite frankly, some of the issues are not so readily apparent, and not so obvious to a person who hasn't had some of the experiences, or have the life that some of the members of our group has. So I'm here, in part, to reiterate our concerns, and to restate our willingness to work with the county, and the appropriate county officials to ensure that we've done our part to make, take advantage of this upcoming opportunity. Perhaps in preparation for better improvements that will be available in '04. So, that's really my reason for being here, and, again, I want you to know that this is a serious issue for us. As I pointed out last time, it's voting that connects citizens with their government. Anything that is done, even accidentally, that impinges upon that connection between citizens and their government, we think, is an egregious situation that needs to be addressed aggressively, in order for all citizens to have a voice. In addition, this evening, one of the members of our group has some specific questions and concerns about a changed location in a polling place. With your indulgence, I'll introduce Altha Schmitt, who wants to address that issue. (Inaudible. Away from mike.) Commissioner Mourdock: Sure. Gary May: They let me speak. Altha Schmitt: The problem is, we live at Bradford Pointe. We've always had elections out there. Well, all of a sudden, they moved them to Hartke Pool. Well, there's no way that I'm going out there. I didn't go this spring. There is a lot of other people that lives in that complex that will not go, on account it's too far away. They have no transportation. Besides that, excuse me, they have steps. There is none over at Bradford Pointe. Now, I'm under the impression that the people that own that was charging for it. I heard that to begin with. Now, I've heard they did not charge. Now, I would like to know what the problem is. If we can't vote there. That's not fair. Not right. Commissioner Mosby: I guess, the question I would....is Marsha here? Marsha Abell: I don't- Commissioner Mosby: Would it be one that we combined? Would it be two precincts that we might have combined, and kept one polling place? Marsha Abell: (Inaudible. Not at mike.) Commissioner Mosby: What precinct was it? Do you know? Bradford Pointe would be first ward. Marsha Abell: Do you have your voters registration card? Altha Schmitt: Yeah, but it would take me forever to find it. Madelyn Grayson: Marsha, will you please use one of the microphones. Commissioner Mosby: That might be the only thing that I could think of, at this point, is that it might be where we took two precincts and made one out of it, and we used the one polling location, rather than the other. I mean, that would be the only thing I could think, at this time. I would have to look, because we cut the First Ward from what, 22 or 23 down to 17. Commissioner Mourdock: Something like that, yeah. Yeah, we consolidated them. Commissioner Mosby: We've consolidated some precincts, and cut out like six different places, or four or five different places. Commissioner Mourdock: Did I understand it correctly, that the original precinct did not have steps in it, and this one now does? Altha Schmitt: No, it still does not, but people will not drive that far to it. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Altha Schmitt: To Bradford Pointe. Commissioner Mourdock: Just to add a little bit to what David was saying, we reduced the number of total precincts from 167 down to 142. Part of the reason for doing that is because some of our precincts just needed to be better consolidated, and also we're going to have to buy a bunch of new voting machines in the near future, and that means there's 25 less machines that we'll have to buy. As far as the site itself, I think, David, again, is correct, I think, that may be one that we consolidated. Coming to Gary's point of a moment ago, and, again, Gary, you said it very well. To give you a little more optimism, perhaps, you mentioned 2004, on a couple of occasions, I would hope whatever your group can help identify for us as problems on November 5th, we can deal with in 2003. Certainly we don't have to wait for the city elections, I mean, those things can be rectified if you find the problems immediately. Gary May: Yeah, well, it seems to me that that's contingent upon a dialogue. Commissioner Mourdock: That's right. Gary May: That hasn't happened yet, as far as I'm concerned. It's been my coming here now twice representing our concerns. I think we need to know who we need to talk to, and what we can expect as far as cooperation, or collaboration with the county. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah. The people you need to talk to are, basically, the three people in these chairs, and, obviously, I won't be in this chair after January, and the person who is the County Clerk after January 1st, because it probably won't be Marsha. We do need input from you, however, to help us, if you know of specific problems, or you hear of specific problems on November 5th, to let us know. That is the most important part of the dialogue. Gary May: I think the issue that Ms. Schmitt raised is one example of what I was referring to earlier about something that isn't readily apparent, perhaps. You know, certainly, we don't resist, and don't want to be oppositional about any streamlining, or efficiencies in the operation of county government, but decisions about collapsing precincts, or changing locations have pretty important implications for a lot of people who's interests we have in mind, when it comes to voting. During the time of the May primary, for example, regardless of the reason for the decision to consolidate or move the precinct from the accessible community room at Bradford Pointe, which is, by the way, where our group meets on a regular basis, and it is fully accessible, but the decision to move that took the voters then in the midst of construction. The major construction at Swonder, or adjacent to Swonder, I mean, to Hartke, for the Swonder Ice Rink. We had one member of our group who had one very difficult time traversing the unpaved parking lot in his wheelchair to get in to where he was supposed to go vote. So, it's those kinds of things that may not meet, or come to the attention, really, of somebody who isn't, who really conversant with the issues that a little bit of dialogue could do a lot of prevention, as far as anguish and concern. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, and on our behalf, let me just say that when we did have those discussions about consolidating the precincts, it was long before the primary, it was back in February and March, because of the way the process worked. I understand most people aren't thinking about elections, at that point, but your point, nonetheless, is well made. We do need that dialogue. It's unfortunate that we didn't get more feedback from the community as a whole, because I don't think we had but two people from the entire community come in and even have any interest in that subject when we were doing it, unfortunately. I would hope that after this election, and I mean the Tuesday following the election, that you and whomever that would care to report to us on specific problems, that you bring them to us, that you let us know. Marsha, if you, after the election receive some written correspondence, please pass them on to the Commissioners. I know, occasionally, that does happen. Gary May: Again, I agreed to do that on behalf of our group, at the September 23rd meeting, and we will. Commissioner Mosby: You can tell, you can tell any part of your group, all they have to do is file a complaint with the inspector. That inspector can pass that word on to the Clerk, and the Clerk can bring it to us. Commissioner Mourdock: And that- Commissioner Mosby: So, if they go into a polling place, and the driveway is that bad, or the parking lot's that bad, then just have them say something to the inspector. Gary May: I'm not sure how widely known that relief is. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, maybe we could have something put up at the polling places this year, just a small banner in front of it, if you have comments about the suitability of this polling place, please let the County Commission know, or put the website address on it or something. Marsha Abell: I'm putting the form together for the inspector to have at the polling places with them. If someone comes in and says they have a complaint- Commissioner Mourdock: Very good. Marsha Abell: -they can hand it to them, fill it out. Commissioner Mosby: That's where it should be handled right then. Commissioner Mourdock: But, I think Gary's point is correct, most people don't realize who to even complain to. Marsha Abell: We can do some kind of a notice. Commissioner Mourdock: That's good. Commissioner Mosby: Well, if he makes his group aware, I mean, that's why I'm telling you this now. If you make them aware over the next two or three weeks, they have the right to go in and file a complaint with the inspector. Gary May: Am I hearing then that short of alerting people to a due process issue, that there really isn't any plan for anything prior to the next election? Commissioner Mourdock: November 5th? Gary May: Yeah, November 5th. President Fanello: Coming up November 5th? Gary May: Any kind of corrections? Commissioner Mosby: Corrections to what? I mean- Gary May: To access problems. We surveyed, Don Counts in our group visited seven Vanderburgh County precincts, seven or nine, during the May primary, and it was the result of his surveys that I faxed over to the Superintendent's office that indicated some of the access problems that are known to exist in just a very limited number of precincts. Commissioner Mourdock: When was that faxed over? Just recently? Gary May: The 24th of September. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. President Fanello: I think, did you meet with Marsha and Tony and Connie? You all have been talking about that, as I understand. Commissioner Mosby: Did they go out and check them? Altha Schmitt: (Inaudible. Not at mike.) transportation. (Inaudible.) Commissioner Mosby: Well, Tony, I mean, if Tony and Connie got the complaints, why didn't they check them? Marsha Abell: I can't answer for them. I don't know. Altha Schmitt: (Inaudible. Not at mike.) Marsha Abell: Let me make a suggestion for Bradford Pointe. Isn't that where the lady lives who's too large, her wheelchair is too large to get into the- Altha Schmitt: Yes. Marsha Abell: -we have an Election Board meeting October 21st, why don't I bring up to the Election Board that we set up absentee balloting with the bipartisan team at Bradford Pointe the Friday before election day on Tuesday. Anybody who lives at Bradford Pointe that wants to vote absentee can do so at that time. Does that sound like a reasonable solution to you all? No? Altha Schmitt: (Inaudible. Not at mike.) wheelchair off. Commissioner Mosby: What's the difference in voting absentee or going to the polls? I mean, they bring the machine out, and you- Gary May: It's the expression of a fundamental right of citizenship, and we object to special treatment that has the effect of segregating us, or treating us as special people, when compared to the way other people in this county vote. Commissioner Mosby: I mean, we do it at high rises and everywhere else. I mean- Gary May: To say that it's done for other populations, though, doesn't mean that it's acceptable for us. One of the projects, one of the implications of Count Us In is for full community participation, and inclusion by people with disabilities. It really doesn't make sense to say we welcome people with disabilities in our community, although we really aren't saying that with a unified voice in this community, but to say that, and then to say you have to go to this special place, or there have to be these special arrangements made in order for you to vote. We should have the opportunity to vote in precincts, on election day, just like everybody else does. Commissioner Mosby: Why can't she vote in the precinct then? I mean- Altha Schmitt: How is she going to get there? Gary May: Part of the problem with this one individual has to do with transportation. Where she is in a very large, power driven wheelchair that METS is still, I think, trying to decide whether they can haul in one of their vehicles. Commissioner Mosby: Okay, and I understand what you're saying about being counted in, and I understand that part of it, and then you say you want to be like everybody else, but, I mean, if we have this problem over and over and over, I mean, we can't set up a polling place at every high rise, you know, nursing home, you know, retirement home, or whatever. Gary May: Nor is that what we're seeking. We're seeking that the routine precinct locations be 100% accessible. If we can make it to those precinct locations, we'll come and vote. During the May primary, as I said, there were problems that had to do with the construction that was underway at Swonder at that time- Commissioner Mosby: I thought with Hartke Pool being a municipal building, it would be accessible. Gary May: Then the other issue had to do with the transportation for some of the Bradford Pointe residents. Commissioner Mourdock: I think Gary's point is it normally would be accessible, but because the construction was going on at the time, there was large gravel in the parking lot that made it inaccessible to wheelchairs. Gary May: Yeah, and that's assuming that that decision was already made. Again, one of my earlier points is that if other factors are considered when precincts are consolidated, then we may not make the decision, or you may not make the decision to relocate a precinct to Hartke, a non-residential location, especially when it's at the expense of a residential location that is fully accessible. Marsha Abell: Would you like, would the Commissioners like for Tammy and I to take a look at Bradford Pointe and Hartke Pool and see if there's, if they are in the same district, and the same, if everything's equal, we could move it back to Bradford Pointe? Even if they charged, do you want us to take a look at that? Madelyn Grayson: We've already advertised. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, I don't think. Madelyn Grayson: It appears this Friday. The polling places ad. Altha Schmitt: Well they said they wasn't charging. One says one thing, and then another one says something else. Now, who do you believe? President Fanello: What is the advertising rule? Marsha Abell: According to the state, you, the Commissioners, can change the polling location ten days prior to the election for any reason. You have the authority to change it ten days prior to, as long as you give proper notice in the newspaper. Commissioner Mourdock: What's considered proper notice? I mean, does the notice have to run so many days? Marsha Abell: It has to be consistent with what the rule is now. I don't know, how many days do you have to run it now? Kevin Winternheimer: I think it's just one. I believe, but I would have to check, but I think it's just one. Madelyn Grayson: The ad will appear this Friday. So, I don't know, if you're going to do that, if you want me to try to pull that ad this Friday, so it's not confusing, if you're going to make that change. Commissioner Mosby: When is your board meeting? Marsha Abell: October 21st. President Fanello: The 21st. That's next Monday. Commissioner Mosby: That would still give us ten days. Kevin Winternheimer: Yeah. Marsha Abell: You're still ten days out. Kevin Winternheimer: Isn't the construction mostly done at Hartke? Commissioner Mosby: Yeah, the construction is pretty well done. That's why I'm saying that should all be paved. It's a municipal building, it should be handicap accessible. That's my only thought, I mean- Altha Schmitt: Is someone going to come out there and pick me up? Commissioner Mosby: Well, that's what I was saying a while ago, I mean, I don't see how we could, you know, ensure everybody throughout the community that we could have somebody, you know, that could pick you up. We can't make every place in the community a voting place. Altha Schmitt: They used to. Commissioner Mosby: He just said you wanted to be...well, he said you wanted to be counted in like everybody else. I mean, we just offered to set up an absentee machine, which is a regular voting machine, with nobody watching you, and you walk in and vote on Friday, just like you would on Tuesday, but he said he's against that. Gary May: I think that's a short stop gap solution for the reasons that I've already mentioned. Commissioner Mosby: I mean, it's a solution to the problem right now, until we can solve the problem. Gary May: Again, a broader issue for me is a concern about a willingness, quite frankly, to solve the problem. Commissioner Mosby: (Inaudible. Talking over each other) is to vote this time. That's my concern. Gary May: Yeah. Commissioner Mosby: I'm not looking long term right now, I'm making sure that she gets- Gary May: And I think that's, well, I'll hold my comment about that. President Fanello: I guess, the way I saw this happening when you were here on the 23rd, is you working with Tammy, for us to identify the concerns, so that we could try and take care of these concerns by the next primary. Because with the time frame that we have, there is no way, I don't think, that we are going to be able to take care of every single concern in three, four weeks. It would be impossible for us to do that, and have enough time to advertise the polling places. Gary May: But there isn't a process under way, it seems to me, that's going to take care of any of the concerns. President Fanello: Well, I thought that's what we decided on at the- Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, let me deal with the immediate, and then the longer term for just a second. As far as the immediate, near term, Tammy, would you find out tomorrow whether or not there is any construction that would be still presenting the problem in the parking lot at Hartke? If there is, and if we have the time through the advertising, it would, we could go ahead and set up something in place to move it back. I don't have a problem with that. My hunch is, like David, I suspect that parking lot is now paved. That would be the near term for this one. For the longer term, and I think the most important point, you've made the case very well, and I suspect next year when this process begins again in February, the people on this board, and especially Tammy at the end and Marsha from the Clerk's office will put together some sort of team, and make sure that your group has got representation on that team before those first list of tentative polls come to us. Then I would suggest that there be an inspection of all those polling places by that team member, or by that team to make sure that all those sites are, in fact, accessible. That would be an on-going process. President Fanello: Actually, I had talked to Tammy and Patty in our office about right after the election, excuse me, identifying what the concerns are, and putting that small group together by December to even be working on it in plenty enough time for the primary, because that time comes around very quickly. Commissioner Mourdock: Right. President Fanello: So, that was kind of our thoughts, but, I guess, I thought the first step of that was the communication between you and Tammy over the past few weeks. Commissioner Mourdock: One other thing we need to make sure we do, and, I think, the Hartke example is a good one in this sense, when we do that, the bit of paperwork, if you will, beforehand to find out who is willing to allow us to use their space for a polling place, we need to make sure from them that they declare to us whether or not there is going to be any construction in place that might somehow affect ADA accessibility at the time of the election. So, when we put that contract together with those places, that needs to be part of that contract, to make sure that accessibility is there. Marsha Abell: Could I ask that we not publish this Friday? President Fanello: We can hold. Marsha Abell: Let's hold off on publishing this Friday. Tomorrow I will get a hold of Tammy, we'll sit down and look at any option we can make for this immediate problem. You know, we can still address this next Monday night, here at your meeting, tell you what we come up with, and let you all know what we come with for this immediate problem. I wasn't prepared with this immediate problem. I didn't know, but we'll address it, and come up with this one problem's decision, and then we can publish after that. That gives us next Monday's Election Board meeting also to address it. Altha Schmitt: There's a man next door to (Inaudible. Not at mike.)-- Madelyn Grayson: Can you give Ms. Schmitt the microphone please? Altha Schmitt: There's a man (Inaudible. Mike not on.) Madelyn Grayson: It's not turned on, Ms. Schmitt. There's a little button on there. I'm sorry. Altha Schmitt: There's a man that lives next door to Anna that it's impossible for him to get on that bus. Of course, he has a van of his own that he can get on, and go vote, but whether he does, I don't know. Marsha Abell: Well, we'll look, you know, if Bradford Pointe and Hartke Pool are in the same geographical area, and we have no problems with it, regardless of price, we don't care about that, we'll look at it, and see if we can make a change. Commissioner Mourdock: I'm comfortable in doing that, and Suzanne just reminded me, if, in fact, any of these polling places change, we need to notify all the people in that precinct who otherwise were one place on primary day, and now they would be going somewhere else. Marsha Abell: We'll run new voter registration cards for that area. Commissioner Mourdock: Right. Gary May: Don Counts did the surveys for the Vanderburgh County polling places. Don Counts: Hello, I'm Don Counts. You may wonder how or why I got involved. I have a daughter that has a disability. She's 15, and I want to ensure that she'll be able to participate in the voting process when she becomes of age. That I had just finished a course with the Governor's Council on Disabilities, and we've been working closely with them, and the Count Us In project. On election day, I surveyed nine different precincts, and I was, most of them were pretty good, there was like maybe one or two items that could easily be fixed. That's one of the things that I was impressed with this body, where that you are going to let us start inspecting all of those. The worst one though was Stringtown Library. As you go into the poll, that there is a spot, maybe 3' square, and you go down the steps, and it's a winding staircase. I really don't know why anyone would have picked that poll, as a poll, because it in all precincts, not only just the few people that are, we don't know how many people have disabilities, but you've got other people that say are normal working people that have other aches and pains that makes it difficult to go up and down stairs. So, and I'm one of the volunteers that's going to be helping Marsha to train the poll workers. Be glad to work with all of ya. President Fanello: We want your assistance. Don Counts: Oh, and by the way, I would like to thank President Fanello where that she had taken the time to write me a letter on this project. President Fanello: You're welcome. Madelyn Grayson: Would the Commissioners please make a motion directing me to pull the ad this Friday? Commissioner Mosby: I'll make a motion that you pull the ad, and hold the advertising. Commissioner Mourdock: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. Commissioner Mourdock: CYA. President Fanello: Is there any other questions, at this time? Yeah, do you want to fill us in on that? Or Tammy, fill us in on that situation. Marsha Abell: One of the things that we, in the comments from the group that is that the writing is awfully small for some people. We cannot change the font, because it would change the location on the ballot for candidates. However, what we are doing, and Ms. Fanello is aware of this, because it was actually at her suggestion, Tammy and Patty are looking into stand up type magnifying glasses that we will use. In fact, I think, we're probably going to be ordering 140 of those for each precinct. President Fanello: Okay. Are there
any other questions right now? Comments? Alright. Thank you very much for
your comments.
President Fanello: Next item is Debbie Masterson and Keith Hess, vacate right-of-way. Debbie Masterson: Hi, my name is Debbie Masterson, and I'm representing Keith Hess and the petitioners in regard to a Crane addition, a vacation for a right-of-way in Crane addition. President Fanello: Questions, comments? Any questions or comments from the audience? Debbie Masterson: They would just like to close that in regard to better utilize their property. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, and, again, just for the record, no one else is here to speak on the request to vacate this right-of-way. Seeing none, we did advertise this previously, I believe. So, I would move on final the approval of the vacation of the right-of-way as requested. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. Debbie Masterson: Thank you. President Fanello: Thank you.
President Fanello: Okay, next item, we still have one appointment left to the Minority and Women Business Utilization Board. I do have a recommendation for that, and that recommendation is Donna Hagedorn. I would like to make a motion to appoint her. Commissioner Mosby: Are you going to make the motion? President Fanello: Well, if I can make the motion. Commissioner Mosby: Or I'll second it, or make the motion, one of the two. President Fanello: Motion to nominate Donna Hagedorn. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered.
President Fanello: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to address the board? Seeing none, we'll move on to Old
Business.
President Fanello: Is there any Old Business? Commissioner Mosby: I would like to bring up the fact that...I spoke with the environmental consultant this week, and upon the advice of him, not that they've found anything yet, and they're out there working, but what he would like to do is possibly look at doing a second phase with the property being as close as it is to the 66 acres. He said the only thing he's worried about would be the possibility of run off. He thinks that we ought to do a second phase along the edge to check the property, just to ensure ourselves on a $35 million project that we don't have problem. I would like to make a motion that we would allocate up to $18,000 to do a second phase on that project. Commissioner Mourdock: I don't know that I'm in disagreement of doing a phase two, and that sounds like what you're asking for? Is it a phase two? Commissioner Mosby: Phase two environmental. Commissioner Mourdock: Have we heard anything back from the people that CSX is using in the environmental services? Commissioner Mosby: No. I was going to try to contact them today, and didn't get a chance, but the last conversation I had with them was approximately seven to ten days ago, and they said as soon as they got it, they would be willing to send it to us right away. That's the last I've heard. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Well, you know my comments and feelings about the buyer doing the environmental work. I think that's not the way, certainly, it's not the way it's routinely and customarily done. So, I'll watch the two of you act on this one, and then I'll wait with great anxiety to see what the CSX people come back with. I would hope that with the contingency clauses that we have in the contract, that we executed last week, and I presume it's been sent to them, that we use this as something that we at least get that cash back when the time comes. President Fanello: And I would probably, normally agree with you, Richard, about the buyer not paying the fees, but since we wanted to buy the property from CSX, it's not, necessarily, that they wanted to sell the property to us. I think we're in a kind of a different situation here. So, I'm going to go ahead and second your motion, and say so ordered. Any other Old Business that you have? Commissioner Mourdock: Before we pursue that, or before we leave that, was there anything in specifics that you recall, David, he was talking about? Commissioner Mosby: No, he just mentioned it. He said, you know, it would be my advice that you would look at doing a second phase, or phase two. I guess, whatever is on their property, I don't think the city has ever released. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay, well, let me throw this at you here, and I'm not trying to be obstructive, but I'm trying to save us money. Before we act to do that, or before we give the company, was it EM, I always get it confused, EMC, before we direct them to do that, why don't we wait to see what the people with the sellers side do? Because Rick made that recommendation, I'm sure, because, or Mr. Reising, as a professional. He's concerned, with good, professional reasons about what would be there. It would seem to me that any reasonable professional would do that, and, certainly, whoever the environmental company is that's doing the work for CSX, I would expect them to make that same recommendation to CSX. Commissioner Mosby: I could answer that real quickly, because the geo-tech people are out there, and they've got two rigs set up, and it's going to be cheaper if they work in conjunction with them. Commissioner Mourdock: Who works in conjunction with whom? Commissioner Mosby: The environmental. They said if they can go out there while they're out there drilling. Commissioner Mourdock: But this, okay, you're not talking our environmental people working with their environmental people. You're talking about our environmental people working with our geo-technical people? Commissioner Mosby: Right, and they're out there and got two rigs set up. He said if we can do it this week, while they're out there- Commissioner Mourdock: I understand, they're going to place some wells, and that does make some sense. Commissioner Mosby: He said otherwise you're going to pay me to hire them to come back out there and set up. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, I would rather we have CSX pay to hire them anyway, so. Well, I've made my point, and we'll probably have this discussion later. Commissioner Mosby: I just wanted to answer your question. Commissioner Mourdock: I understand. I just want my questions on the record here. President Fanello: I already seconded
your motion. So ordered. So, is there any other Old Business at this time?
President Fanello: New Business. New Business? Commissioner Mosby: Yeah, I've got something I want to bring up. Kevin, I think this is more of a question for you. It was passed on to me that Cheryl Musgrave is holding a scheduled meeting for October 15th at 9:00 a.m. in Room 303, with the Nexus Group. Now, we have not signed any contracts with the Nexus Group, and, I mean, I'm aware of this, and I think the Council passed $124,000 to bring them on board. But, with us not having a contract, how can we have these people in here, and start working? I mean, here's a whole list of what they are going to go through. Kevin Winternheimer: To be quite frank, I don't know who the Nexus people are, or what they do. I assume it's something to do with the reassessment? Commissioner Mosby: Yeah, it's to do with reassessment. But, we've never seen- Kevin Winternheimer: I don't know anything about this. Commissioner Mosby: We've never seen a contract, and she's never brought us a contract, but all the Township Assessors were made aware that she's having a meeting tomorrow, and the Nexus Group is going to be here. President Fanello: Just for information, Tammy and Patty both have repeatedly called the Assessor's office to try and get that contract up here. I know Cheryl went to the Council meeting, and, I think, she got approved $124,000 for this contract. Then she was supposed to bring us a contract for our approval. So, we've asked for the contract, but haven't got it. I was a little disturbed, like David, to learn that we're going to have somebody in here tomorrow who says that their start date is October 15th, and we don't have any kind of written contract in place to even know what their deliverables are, or to hold them accountable for anything, so. Commissioner Mosby: I mean, truthfully, I don't know what Cheryl did in the line of an RFP, or what. There is other people out there that's willing to bid on this, and I'm willing to accept. Because I'm not sure that we have to pay $124,000. I mean, I believe we might be able to negotiate this like we did the jail project. We might get a better price. President Fanello: So, I guess, I mean, how do we want to proceed? Kevin Winternheimer: All I can say is that I will look into it and report back to you. President Fanello: Okay. Kevin Winternheimer: I know nothing about that. Troy Tornatta: Troy Tornatta, County Council. I'm sorry. Commissioner Mosby: I guess, my one question is, if we don't have a signed contract, and it's obvious this body did not sign a contract, can she bring somebody on board? Kevin Winternheimer: Um- Commissioner Mosby: I mean, I'm not going to vote to pay them, but- Kevin Winternheimer: Right. My initial reaction is all contracts need to come in front of this body. I would have to check and see if there is something special along this line. I haven't done that, but I would gladly do that, and report back to you on whether or not she can do that. Troy Tornatta: Actually, this would be on the reassessment. If reassessment is any different. I sent a fax to the Commissioners office, and hoped everyone got it, but it was from the vendor that we have now, ProVal/Manatron, and they feel totally confident that they can get this procedure out of data that we've collected already. They can get this procedure done in a timely and effective manner, and at a cost savings to the county. There bid was, the way I looked at it was considerably lower, and they gave somewhat of an outline on what services they would provide, and then the type of money that would be involved. So, I think that that is, that is something that is eligible under the reassessment plan for 2003, and I think that the other part is, no one has addressed to us how the Assessors are going to have the information once this reassessment's been done, and once the equalization's been done. They have left it, pretty much, wide open. They have not said that we're going to have those numbers, and we're going to be able to incorporate those into daily business, and then go into reassessment 2006 with these numbers, or the know how on how to come up with the numbers. President Fanello: And, I mean, just to even, does it matter what fund it's really coming out of? I mean, the Commissioners did pass a purchasing policy that this whole county is supposed to follow in regards to written contracts. If it's a service over $1,500, it's supposed to be in written form, so. Troy Tornatta: Well, I had a meeting, and Commissioner Mourdock sat in on the meeting, and we addressed a lot of the, a lot of the issues that the Assessors have, but, I think, that we have competent Assessors to be able to do the, get everything set up equalization wise for the County Assessor, and then I think that's her job to get that job done. We should not have to pay anybody else. We already give the Assessors so much for being a Level II, and going to classes and learning different situations. She's been to equalization class. If she needs a refresher, that's fine, but I don't, I really don't believe that anybody should do this besides our Assessor. So, that's my view. President Fanello: I really don't know enough, I'm sorry. Commissioner Mosby: No, that's just what concerned me. President Fanello: Uh-huh. I really don't know enough about it, but Mrs. Musgrave was invited to be here tonight, but she had a prior commitment. Commissioner Mosby: I just ask that Kevin report back to us, and I just wanted it a part of the record. President Fanello: In conjunction with that, when I was looking at the payables, there was bill in here for the Nexus group, and if it's in relation to this project, I would like it pulled out until we know what's going on. I mean, if we don't have a contract, I don't know why we're paying them a fee yet. Commissioner Mosby: Then my question would be to the Auditor, do they do any other work for us? President Fanello: Yeah, I mean, does anybody else use them in the county? Suzanne Crouch: I don't know that without researching it. I would suggest, like you suggested, you pull it, and I'll research it, and get that information to you. President Fanello: Okay. Commissioner Mosby: Would you know it by the account number? President Fanello: I've got it marked. Yeah, no, it's the Assessor's account number. It's a training, it's their Disclosure Fees Account number. Commissioner Mosby: Then I would make a motion that we pull that claim. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll second. President Fanello: So ordered. Anybody else have any New Business? I've got a couple of things. Ken McWilliams is here, and he is interested in hosting a blood drive, and I'll just let you go ahead and talk about that, Ken, and tell us what you want to do. Ken McWilliams: Thanks. My name is Ken McWilliams. I'm employed by the Vanderburgh County Treasurer, and I have been in contact with the American Red Cross about the possibility of hosting a blood drive for county employees. I spoke to David Rector a couple of days ago about the possibility of finding a space that would be large enough, and would be appropriate, and he said that it would be no problem to find a space over at the Centre, where we could host a blood drive for the county employees. My purpose for coming here this evening was to seek the approval of the County Commissioners for a blood drive. We're hoping to have, because, especially around the holiday season, when there is a critical low supply of blood, in case there was some kind of natural disaster of some sort, or any emergency with the low blood supply, and, again, my purpose for coming here this evening was to seek your approval to have a blood drive somewhere. We don't have a specific date. The first thing that we have to do is survey county employees to see how many we could get. Then go about setting a date at a future time. Commissioner Mosby: I would just, and I will support that no problem, and I just say get with Sandie Aarons over at the Centre, and see what you can work out in the line of a location or area. Then if you want to feel free to contact the County Garage Superintendent, Burdette, and if they want to send their people, then that's not a problem. Ken McWilliams: Thank you very much. Commissioner Mosby: I'll make a motion that- Commissioner Mourdock: And I'll second. President Fanello: So ordered. Commissioner Mourdock: Let's give nominees for two or three quarts. Ken McWilliams: We'll see you there. President Fanello: The other thing that I wanted to bring up, it's probably really Old Business not New Business, but I had received the information from the Auditor's office, and thank you for the information, Suzanne, but I was a little confused because of our conversation the night that I had asked the question about getting information, and then I was a little stunned that it became available that following Wednesday. So, I'm not exactly sure what took place. Maybe you can kind of explain what kind of calculations we're looking at here. Commissioner Mourdock: What's the topic? President Fanello: Oh, the TIF, I'm sorry. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Suzanne Crouch: I'm sorry, I didn't understand your question. President Fanello: That Monday night, it's probably been about two weeks ago, I had asked you about the TIF information, and then you said that the calculations weren't available, and that we, I think you said the Redevelopment Commission was looking into hiring somebody, or whatever, and then two days later at the Council meeting we have all these calculations. So, I'm not sure what changed between Monday and Wednesday that we got all these calculations after you weren't even sure that you could get them. Suzanne Crouch: Well, you had asked that we go ahead and figure out how much TIF for each area. You know, we did contact Umbaugh, and they provided that for this. The Redevelopment Commission, and as I'd indicated, we'd been in contact with Mr. Osborne, and, in fact, had traded phone calls last week, several of them. Have not spoken back with him to see where they are on that process, because the Redevelopment Commission is the one that is charged with actually determining that amount of money. President Fanello: Well, I guess, I mean, I know they've made some calculations here about the replacement levy, I guess, what it would be with or without the replacement levy, and from your earlier conversation you had said that that formula wasn't available. So, what, I guess, how are they making the estimate? Suzanne Crouch: Well, I was referencing a conversation that we had had back, or I had had back with them when this first came up, I think in July, when we had at, in that point in time, the calculation wasn't available. In talking with Umbaugh, they had indicated that they still are working on the actual form that it is to be submitted on. So, that they expected to have that completed this month. President Fanello: Well, I mean, you could probably understand that I was a little stunned when I got the information after I had asked for it that Monday night, and I was a little stunned that it became available on Wednesday. You could probably imagine that I wasn't- Suzanne Crouch: I was just happy to provide it. President Fanello: You had just said that you couldn't provide it for me, so I was a little stunned, so. Commissioner Mosby: So, are these calculations right? I mean- Suzanne Crouch: I would presume they are. Umbaugh prepared them. They did create the original Burkhardt TIF district. I have to assume they are correct. They're the one's that prepared them. Commissioner Mosby: I mean, in the minutes it said they didn't even have from the Tax Commissioners anything to figure off of. Suzanne Crouch: I was referencing that to- Commissioner Mosby: I mean, this is- Suzanne Crouch: Yes, to a previous conversation. Commissioner Mosby: -less than 48 hours later all of a sudden we've got all this, and the calculations are in, and the numbers are right. Suzanne Crouch: I'm happy to be able to provide that for you. Commissioner Mosby: I mean, that's, I guess, that's what I'm wondering. I mean, I'm just wondering how all of a sudden we got a formula, you know, and all these calculations in less than 48 hours? Suzanne Crouch: We asked, and they provided it. I was referencing information from a couple months before. Commissioner Mosby: So, we had been asking for two or three weeks, and they weren't available? That's what I'm wondering. Suzanne Crouch: I don't think that's the case, but I am happy to provide that information. Commissioner Mosby: I think if you would go back to the minutes you could see where it had been brought up several times, the TIF district. President Fanello: The only thing that makes me uncomfortable it just seems that every time, you know, I ask for information, or David asks for information, it winds up in the Council meeting, but we get a different answer in the Commissioner meeting, and I would really appreciate cooperation from all the offices in making sure information is available for everyone. Suzanne Crouch: And I'm happy to provide that. President Fanello: Any other New Business?
Okay. Department head reports.
President Fanello: County Engineer. John Stoll: First I would like to request approval to go to County Council to transfer $77,000 from the Old Henderson Road Bridge Account, which is account number 2030-4406, and $23,000 from the Heppler Road Bridge Account, which is 2030-4405 to the Cumulative Bridge Contractual Account. This would be for culvert projects on Graff Road and on Number Six School Road. On Graff Road this would be a project to put a new culvert underneath the road to accommodate some flows that are coming from a lake about half way between Bayou Creek and Nurrenbern Road. On Number Six School Road we're looking at putting a plastic slip liner inside an existing culvert out there as well. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll approve the Council call. I'm sorry, I'll move the Council call, sorry. Commissioner Mosby: I'll second for him to go to Council and transfer. President Fanello: So ordered. John Stoll: Second I have a storm sewer request, acceptance request for storm sewers located outside of the street rights-of-way in Stonecrest Subdivision. This is for Sections One through Four. In Section One we had a total of $1,754 in fees paid at the $2 a foot fee. Then in Sections Two, Three, and Four the combined total was $1,494. The developer has paid those fees in, so it's requested these be accepted for maintenance. Commissioner Mosby: I'll make a motion. Commissioner Mourdock: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. John Stoll: Last, I would like to request a time extension, again, on the Heppler Road Bridge. This would be until October 25th. Here again it's been due to the fact that the project was flooded out, again, due to the rains. Commissioner Mosby: Motion, make a motion. Commissioner Mourdock: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. John Stoll: That's all I have, unless you have any questions on anything. Commissioner Mosby: No, thank you. Commissioner Mourdock: John, one that kind of between you and Dennis, if you would take a look. Yesterday during the great pumpkin metric, I noticed on Baseline Road, just before it makes that swing south, there's a jog where it, about a 1/4 of a mile long, I suppose, where it swings south, and then goes back to the west, just east of the jog, oh, probably 200 yards, 300 yards, there's a box culvert, and it's starting to fall in right into the end of the pavement. It's something we're going to need to deal with. John Stoll: Okay. We'll check it out. President Fanello: Thank you, John. Commissioner Mosby: I just want to say, when she gets done I want to come back to New Business after we go through department head reports. I thought of something that I forgot. President Fanello: Okay.
President Fanello: County Highway. Dennis Hudnall: Good evening. Dennis Hudnall, County Highway. We're putting together a schedule right now for paving for 2003. If you have some input in that, if you could give me a call, we would appreciate it. The only other thing I have is you have my report. Do you have any questions? President Fanello: Did you get your transfers in for the...okay. Dennis Hudnall: Everything went fine. President Fanello: I didn't know if you knew tomorrow was the deadline or not. Dennis Hudnall: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: Just so you know, Dennis, usually in late February or early March there is one meeting that's publically advertised as the county road maintenance, so the types of things you just mentioned, as far as a paving list, that's something you need to work on to get it ready to advertise for that meeting. Dennis Hudnall: Sounds good. President Fanello: Thank you, Dennis. Dennis Hudnall: Thank you. Commissioner Mosby: Thank you.
President Fanello: County Attorney. Kevin Winternheimer: Yes, I just have a couple of matters. First is informational. We had the first meeting of the Minority Women Utilization Board last week. It was primarily an organizational type meeting. If memory serves me correct, they're going to meet at 11:00 on the second Thursday of every month, and the public is invited. The second item I have is a request to have an Executive Session, if you can next week. There is no urgency, but in the coming weeks, but my suggestion is next week. It would have to be a matter that the Sheriff can attend. It involves an old Sheriff case that's coming up for trial later this year. I didn't know if you had time. Also, I think, there's some condemnation cases where there are some offers that we need to discuss. So, if you all have time next week at 5:00. President Fanello: I don't think we have anything else next week. Commissioner Mourdock: Does that work for the Sheriff? Kevin Winternheimer: Can you be here at 5:00 next Monday? Brad Ellsworth: (Inaudible. Not at mike.) Kevin Winternheimer: Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move the advertising, then of an Executive Session at 5:00 next Monday. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. Kevin Winternheimer: That's all I have. President Fanello: Thank you, Kevin.
President Fanello: Superintendent. Tammy McKinney: I have a contract that I forgot to bring last week. It's for the haunted house at the Courthouse. Kevin drew up the contract. The owner of the haunted house has already signed it, so I just need it to be signed by the board. President Fanello: And you said it had insurance with it and everything. Tammy McKinney: Yep. We have already been paid for it. Commissioner Mourdock: In that case, I guess, we'll accept. Tammy McKinney: Minor details. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval. Commissioner Mosby: Motion, second. President Fanello: So ordered.
President Fanello: Burdette Park. Steve Craig: Steve Craig, Manager of Burdette Park. I'd noticed that Mike Duckworth was not here tonight for the Corradino thing. President Fanello: He'll be here next Monday. It was postponed for one week. Steve Craig: Okay, and what I was proposing to the County Commissioners if they had any questions that they would want to talk to me on phase one. President Fanello: Okay. Steve Craig: I had wanted to maybe get in contact with you- President Fanello: Okay. Steve Craig: -just, maybe to explain some of the stuff, or at least go over some of the stuff that they had in phase one before Mike did give his presentation, so. President Fanello: I do just have a couple small questions, but I can get with you later this week. Steve Craig: Okay. President Fanello: Anybody else? Okay. Steve Craig: And I've got my work reports. President Fanello: Alright. Thank you, Steve. Steve Craig: Thank you.
President Fanello: Soil and Water. Mike Wathen: Mike Wathen, Soil and Water Conservation District. In addition to our normal report that we'd sent in, I was going to keep you guys informed of activities we had going. We presently have got 17 Rule Five sites that we're working with. Those are the one's that are five or more acres disturbed. Since January 1st of this year, we've worked with 34 local ordinance issues. Not necessarily violations, but issues. I think you've probably been kept informed of some issues going out on the west side with Schmadel Lake, or University Shopping Center. I've got some pictures here that I wanted to show you, maybe sort of give you a better idea of what we're trying to accomplish out there. It involves a developer draining a piece of property, in which there is about a 2 ½ acre lake on. It's a very shallow lake. The lake has a very, very large watershed, in excess of 200 acres. We are going through what rules we have the ability to do under IDNR Rule Five. We've met with the parties numerous times. I think we've tried to get everybody on the same page, and for the most part, I think we've done that. I would like to pass these pictures around, and sort of give you a feel for what we're dealing with out there. Commissioner Mourdock: (Inaudible. Mike not on.) Mike Wathen: Do what, Richard? Commissioner Mourdock: Is this the pond that's right next to the apartment buildings? Parking lots right up against it? Mike Wathen: Yes. It would be directly south of the apartment building. If you look in the one picture that Commissioner Mosby has, you can see a culvert, I believe. That's a 60" culvert, to give you an idea of the volume of water we're talking about. Presently, I think, the most accurate way I could explain where we're at on this is we've went through every hoop we have the ability to go through, as far as IDNR is concerned. We've done everything we can to try to get the West Side Improvement Association on the same page with what we can do. I think they've been very receptive. I think they understand what we have the ability to do, and what we do not have the ability to do. Starting off, I think there was a little confusion on that. Presently they've cut the lake, it only had a concrete overflow, it did not have a principal. They've put in some, two sediment catch dams that were designed by Morley and Associates. I was out there today to double, just to double check it. I was on vacation last week, and I wanted to see what it looked like. It looked like it has caught quite a bit of sediment. Presently we're waiting for, you know, the next move on the developer. We'll be working with them on it, but it's not your typical situation, when you've got a three acre lake, with 200 acres of watershed, and you've got sediment 4' or 5' deep that's already accumulated in the basin. It's a tough one. Another one we're working on with the West Side Improvement Association is one very near there. It's off of Dorothy Drive. It's Rosenberger Commercial. I've got some pictures of that one as well. Since those pictures have been taken, the one that Commissioner Fanello has in her hand, that's been seeded, mulched, there's rye up about 4". We've made some progress with that one as well. It involves filling a very large area. It's a challenging site, but there again, we're going through what we have the ability to do under IDNR. We've done what we have the power to do. That's the only, that's the best way I know to put it. If anybody's got any questions, I'll certainly be happy to address them on any of those issues, or any other issues you might have. President Fanello: Any questions? Mike Wathen: That's all I have. President Fanello: Thank you, Mike. Commissioner Mosby: Thank you, Mike.
Commissioner Mourdock: Ozone Officer's Report is in the packet, so I'll move approval of that report into the record. President Fanello: Okay. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered.
Commissioner Mourdock: With the Consent Items, we do have one late Consent Item, or one late pink slip from the Garage. I would move that that be added to the Consent File. President Fanello: He made a motion to add the late Consent Item. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: Thank you. So ordered. Commissioner Mourdock: I would move approval of Consent Items, then, with that addition. Commissioner Mosby: Second. President Fanello: So ordered. Commissioner Mosby: That's with pulling out the one claim. President Fanello: Yeah, we already did that with the, when we did the (Inaudible). Commissioner Mosby: Okay.
President Fanello: You wanted to talk about- Commissioner Mosby: I want to go back to New Business. President Fanello: Okay. Commissioner Mosby: I forgot to bring this up a while ago. I knew there was something that I was trying to think of. The Jobe's Lane Project that we had started on several months ago, trying to figure out a solution for, I have probably talked with everybody in the state imaginable, possible, and I've been put on to different people, and we went as far to hire somebody to write some grants, and, of course, that person didn't get paid, if they didn't find anything, which I would think enticed them to work a little harder, but the guy hit a dead end at every spot possible. Commissioner Mourdock: Really. Commissioner Mosby: I've talked with Sarah Alms, she's hit every dead end. I've talked with Jonathan and Dennis and Larry, and, basically, it seems like everybody has hit a dead end. The problem has not gotten any better. I would like to have Tammy put in an appropriation for $360,000 on the money that came back on the Graham Packaging grant, and put it in for the Jobe's Lane Project. I think along with the $360,000 grant, plus what we might have left in Riverboat/Infrastructure, and I did talk to John, at one point, and I don't know if we've got any Street and Road money left that we could possibly use some of it for the surface, if we did, but I think we can adequately find a way to fund this project. John Stoll: I was going to say the three contracts we have, the two asphalt paving contracts, plus the concrete patching contract, pretty well wiped out our Road and Street- Commissioner Mosby: Okay. John Stoll: -Contractual money. Commissioner Mosby: I just knew me and you talked that one time- John Stoll: Right. Commissioner Mosby: -we were going to have to put the street back in, and possibly that would have been a good use. John Stoll: Right. Commissioner Mosby: Anyhow, with $360,000, and what we have in Riverboat, I think we can make it. Commissioner Mourdock: You're thinking this one project is going to be a $360,000 project? Commissioner Mosby: It's going to be a $470,000 project. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, just as a procedural matter, since you've brought it up under New Business, for that kind of appropriation, I think we actually need to have it advertised, as an agenda, agendum, agenda item, before we vote to act on it. Commissioner Mosby: I don't think, I mean, we're not appropriating the money. All I'm asking the Commissioners to do, and Tammy, is to write an appropriation tomorrow and send it to Council. President Fanello: Council's the one who advertises. Commissioner Mosby: Yeah, I mean, we're not advertising, we're not allocating the money. The $360,000 came back on the grant from Graham Packaging, and went back to the Council. I'm just asking, that money came out of Infrastructure and Riverboat. President Fanello: Uh-huh. Commissioner Mosby: So, I'm just asking that it be re-appropriated so that we can do the project out here on Jobe's Lane. It all falls under Infrastructure. That's what the money originally was used for, and came back on. President Fanello: I mean, because we, basically, up fronted the money on the Graham Packaging Project, which, if we don't get that money back, which the Council did defer putting that money back into our account for a month, if we don't get that money back, that means the Commissioners spent $700,000 plus on the Graham Packaging Project, when we really only voted to spend 300 and something. I just don't agree with that at all. So, I mean, the money is there. We would like, you know, I think that's a good project, and it needs to be done, so. Commissioner Mosby: I mean, we've got the stuff from Clark Dietz. The project is ready to go. President Fanello: Would all they have to do is just bid out whatever they need to do? Commissioner Mosby: I'm sure. That project is what, only about three months old? That study, or drawing they did? John Stoll: I believe it was done back in the spring. They would have to go ahead and do the actual plan and profile design drawings- Commissioner Mosby: Right. John Stoll: - because those weren't a part of what they were under contract, originally, to do. Commissioner Mosby: But, I mean, they gave us the estimates and everything- John Stoll: Right. Commissioner Mosby: -and it's all in there. Commissioner Mourdock: I'm sorry, John, you said those were or were not? John Stoll: They were not. Commissioner Mourdock: Not part of their package. John Stoll: Right. Commissioner Mourdock: So, there are more engineering fees to be done. John Stoll: Right. They have, they were under contract to do a study on how to serve the area with sewers, but to provide the actual plan profile drawings, and the specs was not part of their contract. President Fanello: So, actually, the estimate he just quoted might be a little bit higher for the services you're talking about? John Stoll: Right. There will be some additional design fees. Then again, if, I guess, if the road was not reconstructed, there might be some other alternates that they could look at that might drive the cost down, the construction cost down, that might offset some design fees. Commissioner Mourdock: So, we've got some work to do before the project is ready to go out to bid, obviously. John Stoll: Right. President Fanello: Which we can't really do the work until we have the money in place, right? John Stoll: I was going to say, there's no contract right now for them to finish, and no funding that I was, that I'm aware of. Commissioner Mosby: This is the only way I know that we'll ever fund it. President Fanello: Yeah, because, I mean, we don't have enough money in next year's budget to fund it. It's too tight. I mean, we didn't even get any construction road money next year, so. Commissioner Mosby: I mean, I've talked to Dave Schroeder on I don't know how many occasions, and Mike Lockard, I've talked to Mike several times here recently, and everything seems to be a dead end. This is the only way I know to....I mean, it's not getting any better out there. I've went out there a couple of times. Commissioner Mourdock: But, what you're wishing to do, and I'm not saying that I necessarily object, I just want to understand the process. What, given the facts that John has just stated, as far as what we need to do yet, we need to two things; number one, we need to get Clark Dietz signed up to do the final engineering work, to put the actual bid proposal together. Then, b, we need to put the bid proposal out, and get respondents to it, and get them signed up, so that the money then that you have now, based on the action that you're trying to do tonight, can otherwise be encumbered to roll you into next year. Is that accurate? Commissioner Mosby: That's accurate, but, I mean, I'm not going to go through all this with Clark Dietz and everything- President Fanello: Right. Commissioner Mosby: -and spend more money, if the Council is not going to fund it. I mean, we've got to go...we've got to go to the Council, and, I mean, they have a meeting at the end of this month, and if they say, yeah, you know, here's your $360,000, you can put it back in Infrastructure, which came off the Graham Packaging. Then, you know, we can go to Clark Dietz, and say, let's move, we've got the money in place. But, I mean, I'm not going to waste more money if, you know, they are going to sit over there and say sorry. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah. Commissioner Mosby: We're not going to fund this. So, I will make a motion, if that's what it takes. Or, basically- President Fanello: To make a motion, or you're making a motion to turn in the appropriation. Commissioner Mosby: I'll make a motion that we turn in an appropriation for $360,000 for Jobe's Lane. That it be earmarked for Jobe's Lane. President Fanello: Any comment on that? Commissioner Mourdock: No, I've made my comment earlier. President Fanello: Okay. I'll second. Commissioner Mosby: Thank you, John. President Fanello: It's the year 2002, those people shouldn't be having to live like that. Commissioner Mourdock: Is that it? Commissioner Mosby: I'll make a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Mourdock: That I'll second. President Fanello: He's seconded that one. So ordered. The meeting was adjourned at 7:20
p.m.
CONSENT ITEMS: Travel Requests:
Employment Changes:
Requests for Service:
Sheriff:
Auditor:
Health Department:
Commissioners:
Those in Attendance:
APPROVAL
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Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn
Grayson.
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