VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

OCTOBER 17, 2006

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 17^th day of October, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Cheryl Musgrave presiding.

President Musgrave: Good afternoon. I would like to call to order the October 17, 2006 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County. It is approximately 3:30, and we will begin with introductions.

Marissa Nichoalds: Marissa Nichoalds, Superintendent of County Buildings.

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

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, County Commissioner.

President Musgrave: Cheryl Musgrave, Commissioner.

Commissioner Shetler: Tom Shetler, County Commissioner.

Rachel Krampe: Rachel Krampe, Central High School.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Joe Gries: Joe Gries, Chief Deputy Auditor.

President Musgrave: Will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to approve the minutes of October 10^th?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: First item on our agenda this afternoon is the recognition of the service of Sergeant Brock Babb, who was killed a few days ago in Iraq. Sergeant Babb was a resident of Vanderburgh County. We have here this afternoon his brother, Terry B.Jay, I’m sorry, B. Jay is his brother, Terry Brock is his dad, and Tanner, his son. If you would like to come forward. I understand that, B. Jay, you have some thoughts to share with us.

B. Jay Babb: This being a community organization, the first thing Brock stood for was this community. I think in the news articles and the paper, so far they have done an excellent job in representing what Brock stood for. Obviously, the west side of this community would not be what it is without this man. He has done so much, and raising his three wonderful kids; Tanner, Zoey and Levi. We want to foremost, I think, thank the outpouring of support, or the support that has come to us so far, whether it be our friends and family or those that we don’t even know. It has been tremendous so far, and everyone asks what they can do to help right now, and, obviously, right now, there’s only so many things to be done, but the main thing we ask is that you keep our family, especially Brock’s kids and Brock’s wife, Barb, in your thoughts and prayers. There is one thing Brock, he was very, very good at a lot of things, but I always said when he became a Marine, he was built for it. He was made to be a Marine, and he was excellent at it. He was excellent. He was, the reason he got back in was to train the young men. When he came to tell all of us that he was re-enlisting two years ago, the number one thing was there’s a lot of young men out there, but they don’t have the leadership right now in the numbers that they need, and that is why I’m going, because I believe I can help. Even though Brock was not in Iraq for that long, the training that he did with these young men over the last two years, we know that he helped prepare them so that they all can come home. I thank him for that every single day. We thank you all for your time.

President Musgrave: No words can express the sacrifice that Sergeant Babb has made. Our nation’s highest calling is to serve as a soldier, especially during time of war. Our freedoms were bought and then they were kept by soldiers. Your family member, your brother, your father, your son, made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I want to express my personal gratitude for that, but I know that it’s a tragic loss for you, and it’s a tragic loss for Evansville, and I just wanted you to know that my prayers are with you, my heart is with the children especially, and I will be thinking of Barb and your journey over the next few days and years. I do want to thank you again for his service.

Commissioner Nix: On behalf of the county and my family, the ultimate sacrifice, and there’s just not a lot to say at a time like this, but my thoughts and prayers, and, hopefully, the county and I know everyone’s getting behind you in your time of grief. We’re with you now, and if there’s anything we can do, please let us know.

Commissioner Shetler: You know, I don’t know, Terry, if you grew up in the Catholic school system or not. I noticed one of the kids, one of the grandkids goes to St. Agnes–

Terry Babb: Right.

Commissioner Shetler: –I think from the paper I saw, but whenever I was growing up in the Catholic school system the nuns used to point out how the cross, the crucifix on the back was to remind us that Jesus Christ had died on the cross for us. It didn’t come to me until later in life that the flag represents that same thing, in that the men who died for us, and it should remind us every time that we do the Pledge of Allegiance and every time we see that flag should remind us to say a prayer for those folks and those families who sacrificed. It’s the families, as much as it was the soldier who have sacrificed and given up so much for us. I greatly appreciate that. So, just my word is that each time that we look at that flag that we’re reminded, and to say a quiet prayer to ourselves for what they’ve done. So, thank you.

President Musgrave: Joyce Moers from Burdette Park is here, and she asked that I would tell you that she is going to donate a tree in Sergeant Babb’s memory for the memorial tree program out at Burdette Park, and that she will be doing this in the name of the Burdette Park Day Camp where I understand all three children have attended and are likely to be there next year too. But, Joyce is going to have this tree planted very soon to recognize his service and honor his memory. Thank you, Joyce.

President Musgrave: Next on our agenda is Mr. Johnny Kincaid from Smokefree Communities. Mr. Cain, Kincaid is here to speak about the possibility of making signs, “No Smoking” signs available during this upcoming year to businesses as we roll out the anti-smoking ordinance.

Johnny Kincaid: Sure. And thank you for your commitment to this issue. I really, the Commissioners have been very thoughtful throughout this process, and especially Tom Shetler for your leadership on this issue. We really appreciate that. 28 communities in the state have passed local smoke free ordinances now. That is, that’s a great accomplishment. We are networking with those communities so that we learn what they go through in their implementation phases and all of that and get an understanding of what needs to be done to help the local community make adjustments. We do have a unique challenge here, and I want to make sure that people are very aware of that unique challenge, and that is that the city did not pass an identical ordinance to the county’s. There are much bigger gaps between the two than most people in the community are really aware of. That presents us with some unique challenges when it comes to educating the business community on the ordinance, because there is such a big disparity between the two. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to help educate the community. I was in contact with our funding source at Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation today, and making sure that funds would be available for us to use here in the local community to provide, you know, information, to provide signage and those sorts of things for the business community here. The good news is, yes, we’ll have that available. What I have provided to all of you was, first of all, just a sample of what they did in Indianapolis after passing the ordinance there, as far as their signs go. A sample of their “No Smoking” sign, and then their warning, this is a smoking establishment sign that they use. Actually, this is a pretty good format that they followed for putting these together. One that we definitely support doing. There’s also something that we’ve done here locally that’s a little more colorful, and a little more friendly looking, which is the Fresh Air Partners clings that we’ve provided to a lot of businesses here in the community. This started with the support of the hospitals when they developed their smoke free campus policies. So, we put these clings together. That’s one possibility, thing that we can provide within the community. The other thing that I’ll point out to you is our Smoke Free Dining Guide. This is our 2005 edition. We will update this, taking the new ordinance into consideration, come the first of the year, and have these available within the community. We will also make web resources available. We will take one of our websites and devote it 100 percent to the ordinance to provide information to the community, to provide signage that can be downloaded from the website. We’ll use Mr. Ziemer’s FAQ’s on the county ordinance there. We’ll be busy trying to provide as much information as we can county-wide. We’re trying to get in with Kiwanis and all of the service organizations as well to make presentations there, because we want to make sure that the community is aware of exactly what the ordinance covers, and how it affects local business. We’ll also be able to put together kits. The advertising agency that we work with on a state-wide basis, MZD Advertising, has said that they’re willing to put together kits for us to distribute for informational purposes. We’ll work very closely with the county Health Department in all of this as far as implementation goes.

President Musgrave: Well, that’s all very good news. Thank you, because I think that everyone will be curious come January 2^nd when the law goes into effect. I think, my own personal opinion is, it would be nice to have some signs that help establish the boundaries of where you are–

Johnny Kincaid: Sure.

President Musgrave: –allowed to smoke, and where you are not allowed to smoke.

Commissioner Shetler: Johnny, I’m particularly glad that you guys have come forward and are offering this. I think one of the things that I would, I guess, recommend to the Commissioners is that, you know, our job was to establish the ordinance, and to establish the policy, I guess, that you might have for our county. I think from this time it’s really who’s going to handle it. I think that we ought to look seriously at the Health Department being that kind of lead agency. I think if it’s viewed as from the County Commissioners doing this or doing that, that it becomes more legal and say in a restrictive sense, as opposed to the Health Department doing it for the sake of your good health and for the public welfare.

Johnny Kincaid: Uh-huh.

Commissioner Shetler: I think that there’s, while it seems like maybe a minor shift, I think the emphasis on it is probably much greater than that. So, I would like to see us kind of go in that direction with it. It seems like they’re the appropriate body or agency. Of course, that doesn’t come, it’s an unfunded mandate is what that is, I guess. So, it doesn’t come with any dollars attached for extra personnel, but I think that that’s the appropriate body, so.

Johnny Kincaid: The fortunate thing is that we’ll be able to work hand-in-hand with the Health Department–

Commissioner Shetler: Right.

Johnny Kincaid: –to help with the implementation.

President Musgrave: I know that our attorney is looking into putting the language about signs into our ordinance, and perhaps we’ll have something to discuss on that next week, after you review all of the applicable ideas from everyone else’s ordinances.

Johnny Kincaid: One other thing that I want to add is that I just want to assure you that we are going to continue to work as hard as we can with the city of Evansville to try to bring that ordinance up to, you know, we look forward to the day that what we have in our community is every bit as good as what was passed in Henderson, Kentucky. That’s the goal that we’re striving for, is to get that full, comprehensive ordinance. We’ll be working very hard, doing everything we can within the city to try and make that happen.

President Musgrave: Okay. Thank you for coming.

President Musgrave: At this time we move to contracts, leases and agreements, the Treasurer, depository agreement with Old National Bank, is that ready?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No.

President Musgrave: Okay, we will skip that then.

President Musgrave: The Centre has a notice of change in pay phone agreement. This has been reviewed, and SMG has indicated that they would like this lease agreement to remain in place. Is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: I’ll second. I do have a question. Is there going to be a cost to the county in this, an additional cost?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No.

Commissioner Shetler: Alright.

President Musgrave: We have a motion and a second. Any further questions? All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: Department heads. Most have reported that they have nothing to report. Mr. Ziemer, do you have any reports?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, okay, we have Four Rivers RC&D appeared before the Commissioners a couple of weeks ago and requested a letter of notice be sent to various public agencies; the Sheriff, the Surveyor, the Emergency Management Agency, and the Vanderburgh County Dispatch regarding the fact that in the course of their water sampling program they are going to have their trucks, from time to time, on public right-of-ways, and, I think, you have in the file a, actually four forms of letter, one to be sent to each of those groups, if you agree to do that.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Old National Bank, in the course of it’s being audited on an annual basis as it is, Old National has a lease with Vanderburgh County under which they lease energy management system equipment to the county. Their auditors have asked for us to confirm the terms of that lease, that is the next payment date, the amount of that payment, the number of payments remaining, and the maturity date of the lease. I verified those various figures with the Vanderburgh County Auditor, and you also have that in your file, and if you approve it, it’s satisfactory for execution.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Nino Cocchiarella has approached the Commissioners asking for a renewal of his lease for space in the Old Courthouse. We have prepared that lease, after conferring with Marissa Nichoalds as to the substantive terms. It’s identical to the lease for last year, except the term will begin November 1, 2006 and end October 31, 2007. It is satisfactory for execution from a legal perspective.

President Musgrave: And it is on the consent agenda.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Oh, is it? Okay. I’m never quite sure what’s there. That’s it.

President Musgrave: Okay. Any new business?

Commissioner Shetler: Since we brought up that, and it’s on the consent, I might as well just ask the question, is that any increase in rent, or is it the same as last year and before?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The rent is the same as last year. It’s identical to last year’s lease.

Commissioner Shetler: Alright, thank you.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: The lease contains a provision that if there had been substantial increases in the cost of gas and electricity to the premises during that time, that the Commissioners have the option to, of course, it’s a one year lease, so we’ve got the option to do anything we want to, but it has been determined that there was not a significant increase and that the rent can continue at the same basis, if you approve it.

President Musgrave: While we are waiting for a document to be brought forward, is there any new business?

President Musgrave: Is there any old business?

President Musgrave: Is there any public comment on items the Commissioners have control over?

President Musgrave: Then we have the consent agenda. Is there a motion to accept the consent agenda?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: We have some good news, but we’re waiting for the document to be brought back. So, if you’ll all just hold on a moment while it comes forward. While we’re waiting, sometimes Drainage Board goes first, and sometimes Zoning goes first. Is there anyone here? Mr. Jeffers, are we going first with Drainage Board tonight? Okay.

Commissioner Shetler: I can go ahead and start on this other. Okay, let me go ahead, we had gotten word today from Umbaugh and Associates that our bond rating has actually increased. Which means that we are going to get a more favorable rate in the future. It’s basically because of the strength of the county’s economic situation. We were rated before at A, and I believe it went to a AA-. I believe that was by Moody’s and Poor. So, to the best of my recollection there. Thank you. Yeah, it went from an A to a AA- on the county’s bond issues that, the last two outstanding bond issues. It’s a sign of a healthy and stable economic activity throughout the county. The taxes, Food and Beverage Tax and County Option Tax being used to repay the bonds are generating enough revenue and providing the necessary coverage levels to warrant a rating upgrade. So, I think that’s great news for Vanderburgh County, and it’s great news for the citizens and the taxpayers.

President Musgrave: It is great news, and it indicates the health of our local economy. Well, if we have no other business, is there a motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Drainage Board follows immediately.

(The meeting was adjourned at 3:52 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Employment Changes:

County Highway (2)                  Health Department (1)              VCCC (3)

Sheriff Office (1)                       Public Defender (1)                  Prosecutor (1)

County Clerk (1)

Travel Requests: SWCD (1)

Burdette Park: Blue Claims & Change Orders for various projects.

Surplus Requests: Superior Court (1) & Knight Assessor (1).

Auditor: Drawdown No. 4: Knight Township CDBG Grant Funds.

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 6: Integra Acct. 4314: Green River TIF.

Area Plan Commission: Community Rating System Recertification Recognition.

Commissioners:

Old Courthouse Nino Cocchiarella lease.

Old National Bank Letter of Lease Verification (Energy Savings Program).

Letter to Fred Happe, German Township Trustee.

THD&F: Proposed Changes to County Employee’s Insurance.

Four River RC&D: Letter of Water Sampling Project: County Right-of-Way.

Letter from the Planetary Planners.

Department Head Meeting Notes: October 10, 2006.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Officer                           Supt. Of Bldgs.                         Veterans Service

Those in Attendance:

Cheryl Musgrave                      Bill Nix                                      Tom Shetler, Jr.

Joe Gries                                  Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Marissa Nichoalds

Madelyn Grayson                     Rachel Krampe                         B. Jay Babb

Terry Babb                                Johnny Kincaid                         Others Unidentified

Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

Tom Shetler, Jr., Member

Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.