VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

OCTOBER 18, 2004

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 18^th day of October, 2004 at 5:34 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 18^th. Introductions are as follows, to my right, Superintendent, Tammy McKinney; Kevin Winternheimer, County Attorney; Commissioner Mosby. To my left, Commissioner Crouch; Auditor, Bill Fluty; and Recording Secretary, Madelyn Grayson. Please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Fanello: Do I have approval of the October 11^th minutes?

Commissioner Mosby: So moved.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered.

President Fanello: First item of discussion is Girls in Bloom 2005.

Patty Avery: Patty Avery, Commission office. I’m here tonight on behalf of the Girls in Bloom steering committee. As you might recall, we put on the first annual Girls in Bloom arts festival for 5^th to 8^th grade girls at the end of April this year. The Commission played a very active role, and actually initiated the project. You provided us an infrastructure, we were able to receive phone calls in the office, and use the office address as our mailing address for the event. It was a tremendous success, as you saw when the committee came back and we brought the thank you from the girls. We had 200 participants, counting girls, performers, and girls parents who came along with them for the day. We had very, very positive feedback. So we would like to request, the committee has asked me to come and request, that once again you sponsor Girls in Bloom for next year. The committee is very eager to proceed. Last year we raised about $2,200 from area businesses and individuals to support the event. So, we would like to ask for the Commission once again to take it on as a Commission event, along with the school corp, area businesses, and area not-for-profits.

President Fanello: With that, I have a letter from Velinda Stubbs, who is the principal of Cedar Hall Elementary School. Velinda sent this over today, just discussing the success that she felt the program was, and the amount of time that the mothers had to spend with their young daughters, because a lot of the mothers are single, and they don’t get to spend a lot of quality time with their daughters. Serving as chair of that committee, I know it was, everybody on the committee worked so hard, and I know Patty put in a lot of time, and everybody on the committee did. I think it’s one of those ways that local elected officials can be involved in an education type setting and promoting parents working with their children. So, I would hope that this Commission would approve it for next year also.

Patty Avery: The committee’s already invited Suzanne to participate in the steering committee, Thursday morning. She’ll be there.

Commissioner Mosby: I would make a motion that we do the second annual Girls in Bloom event.

Commissioner Crouch: Second, and thanks to you, Patty.

Patty Avery: Oh, and to you. We’ll come back and discuss possible venues for the event, and working with you to make the event a reality next year.

President Fanello: Alright, thank you, Patty.

Patty Avery: Thank you very much.

President Fanello: I’ll say so ordered.

Madelyn Grayson: Catherine, do you have a copy of that principal letter?

President Fanello: Sure.

President Fanello: Our next item is the Evansville Police Department request. They were requesting, I believe, renting the Centre for a couple of days. They are telling me, they sent me up a note earlier and said that they do not need it on Sunday and Monday, the 29^th and 30^th. So, I guess, they’re just needing it on Friday, the 29^th, October 29^th.

Commissioner Mosby: (Inaudible. Mic not on.)

President Fanello: Oh, the 29^th and 30^th, I’m sorry.

Commissioner Mosby: (Inaudible). They want it for Friday and Saturday–

President Fanello: Two days.

Commissioner Mosby: –but not Sunday and Monday.

President Fanello: Yes, but not Sunday and Monday.

Commissioner Crouch: We also had a letter from John Bolton–

President Fanello: Right.

Commissioner Crouch: –requesting that any overtime, etcetera, that is incurred, or any additional costs, extra costs be picked up by whoever we waived for. He said that the administration, the city administration’s policy is that also. So, any time they also provide a room to someone at the Victory or at Roberts Stadium, they do make that stipulation. I also spoke to him about the 30 day notice. I told him that I thought that was too short. That not-for-profits, the people that we waive it for–

President Fanello: Right.

Commissioner Crouch: –already will be too far down the road. He said that he would be agreeable to 60 days. I don’t know if you all want to recommend that.

President Fanello: I don’t know. I think he needs to be agreeable to what we want to be agreeable to.

Commissioner Crouch: Sure.

President Fanello: I think you’re right. You know, once they send out the letter, if they’re having an event there, they’re sending out the letters and, you know, they’ve put out a lot of notice. I don’t know what to do about that one, what would be acceptable. I think almost 90 days would, at least 90 days. What do you think?

Commissioner Crouch: I’m comfortable with that.

President Fanello: Okay. I would settle on 90 days. Commissioner Mosby?

Commissioner Mosby: That’s fine. I’ll go with that.

President Fanello: So, do I have a motion to approve the Police Department’s request with the stipulations as stated in John Bolton’s letter regarding overtime and the 90 day notice?

Commissioner Mosby: So moved.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered. We will, I’m assuming the Commission wants to keep this as policy for anybody that comes along.

President Fanello: Next item is resolution regarding IT services. This resolution comes about from discussion with the city. If you remember, a couple of years ago when we were negotiating a contract with ACS, it was really the desire at that time, on the county side, to go out for an RFP, but all the resources were not available on the city side, and the costs of going out for an RFP is not inexpensive, and the money was not available, at that time, on the county side either. But, with the CIO coming on board, he feels like he can take on a majority of the work, and is going to start and would like to start getting quotes for someone to assist him with writing that RFP. I definitely think it a worthy cause. The reason we’re bringing this up now is, I think we’re already....Matt, do you want to come up to the podium? I think we’re already, what, a year and a half into our contract?

Matt Arvay: Yeah. I’m Matt Arvay, CIO. The current contract expires in June of 2006. It started, I believe, July of 2003.

President Fanello: Right. So, we’re already into the majority of the contract, and Matt feels like he needs at least 18 to 24 months to prepare an adequate RFP for this size facility, especially with this being a city and county RFP.

Matt Arvay: We’ll have to expedite that process to meet the requirements.

President Fanello: Right. So, in speaking with the Mayor last week, he also is in agreement, and cooperation wasn’t always there with the previous administration on this issue, and Mayor Weinzapfel is very agreeable, and really wants to do this. I think it a better way for us to procure, hopefully, less expensive technology costs, and maybe making some changes in technology along the way. So, I guess, I would ask this board’s support in giving Matt Arvay direction and moving forward with this request.

Commissioner Mosby: I’ll make a motion, if that’s what you’re looking for. I’ll make a motion that we move forward in conjunction with the city.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered. Thank you, Matt.

Matt Arvay: Thank you.

President Fanello: Next we have Waggoner, Irwin and Scheele. We have Kent Irwin here and Jay Perry.

Kent Irwin: Good evening. I’m Kent Irwin, with Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates. I’m here this evening to provide you with a copy of part one of our operations review that we’ve been conducting here in Vanderburgh County for the last several months. Before I begin, I would like to congratulate your county on hosting the Association of Indiana Counties conference. Jay and I were down here for almost two weeks with both IAAC and the AIC, and we felt that both the city and the county did an excellent job of hosting two very good conferences. We heard a lot of positive comments about the events and the workshops and the facilities that you had here, at both of them. I think it’s something that you can be very proud. The operations review report that we have, I’m not going to read every paragraph and sentence, but I would certainly like to go through and highlight the work that we’ve completed thus far, and what is yet to be done. We’re taking on this review as a matter of looking to bring about more efficiencies in how you deliver county services, and I can say that given the project that we did for the City of Evansville, which was very similar to this, this one is limited in scope in terms of what authority the Commissioners have, and what you can do with that authority, and the individual departments and agencies for which you have oversight. In looking at how we can go about realizing cost savings and efficiencies in bringing about more comprehensive operations and coverages of various services that you do provide, we looked at other counties of similar size here in the state of Indiana, and they’re listed there on that page; Allen, St. Joe, Elkhart, Hamilton, Tippecanoe, Porter, Madison, Monroe, Delaware, and Johnson. All counties very close in size, and close in terms of size of population, but also in terms of the kinds of service that are provided. We also are looking at and understand, I think, some of the critical needs that are facing you as County Commissioners, and one of the factors that we are going to be looking at throughout this report, and the second, part two, of the report are cost avoidance, things that you can do to save money. Some of those may require spending money to save money, but looking at cost avoidance measures that will increase the productivity and improve the operations of the county. Secondly, modern equipment technology, you just passed a resolution regarding our IT, and we believe there’s some things there that can be done that will not only save money, but will also make your day-to-day operations more effective. Thirdly, we’re all aware of the budget challenges that Indiana government faces, particularly local government and county government, respective of the reassessment, what’s been going on through the state, delays in funding, etcetera. So, everyone is looking, I think, more closely these days at how we can go about using the precious resources we have in a more effective way. So, part one of this report will detail the findings of your office, the Commissioners office, and some broad concerns that are under the authority of the Commissioners. Part two will detail specific findings and recommendations specific to the departments under your authority, as well as some independent contracts that you have for operations of facilities, such as the Auditorium and Convention Centre. We’ll also look at the City/County Purchasing agreement, and we have copies of that, and this is something that was reviewed as a part of the city study as well. One of the first things that, I think, became very obvious, and that is the staffing of your office, and that with the two employees that you currently have, the level of your staffing, you simply cannot perform the array of services that many of the other counties are doing. Now, some of these functions and services may be being performed in other offices, other departments, but as we take a look at some of the other counties, I think you’ll get an appreciation for the kinds of service that other counties are providing through their Commissioners office. We have some recommendations here that we think will not only bring about money, but will save you money through time. Hamilton County on page three, they have six employees; a Safety Risk Manager, a Human Resources Manager, a Human Resources Assistant, they have a Switchboard Operator, and an Administrative Assistant, and a Financial Advisor to the commissioners. This is a contracted position that they have there, and what that person is responsible for is taking a look at, not only what their budgets are, but making forecasts into the future. This person also negotiates with the state, respective of monies that they believe they’re due and owed that, in some instances, has not been forthcoming, either at all, or in a timely way. They’ve just recently filed, I believe it was a $50 million lawsuit against the state to recover, what they believe is their fair share of EDIT dollars from those tax collections that they don’t believe they’ve received the proper amounts. That’s the general scope of what they do in Hamilton County with those six employees. In Allen County, up in Ft. Wayne, you guys would think you’re in heaven if you walked in to their office, thirteen support staff in the County Commissioners office. From not only Human Resources, Risk Management, a Financial Coordinator, we have a Legislative Assistant who is responsible for tracking what’s going on at the legislature respective of the county, and actually going down to Indianapolis and spending some time lobbying on behalf of Allen County. They have a Secretary of Special Projects, they have a Public Information Officer, a Purchasing Director, they have a Grant Coordinator, an Executive Assistant, and an Insurance Manager. Again, some of those functions may be spread throughout other places, they may be contracted here, but this is what Allen County dedicates to it’s full time staff. They have some part time assistants that go along with that. Tippecanoe County up in Lafayette, they have nine employees; a Commissioners Assistant, again, a Grant Coordinator, a Human Resources Office with three people in it, and three people working out of the Commissioners office. Again, we’ve identified the core functions or duties that each one of these employees are performing. Monroe County, Bloomington, they have eight employees; Grants Coordinator, Financial person, Executive Director, they have an Economic Development Coordinator that works out of that office, and Human Resources and other support staff. St. Joe County has ten employees, again, they array from personnel to GIS to purchasing and various support assistants. So, as we move on to page three and drawing from that information and what we know about the performance of some of these functions in other counties, as well as what’s happening here in Vanderburgh, there’s a primary concern here with dealing with compliance issues, particularly as they relate to Human Resources. Compliance issues respective of federal employment law, like the Fair Labor Standards Act, Family Medical Leave, Americans with Disabilities, where regardless of union contracts etcetera, you need to have standardized processes in place to respond to those particular employment laws. Other matters of minimizing safety risks we see as an avoidance of costs. We look at grant administration , grant coordination as a means for bringing additional dollars in to the county through a coordinated effort. So, our first recommendation would be to either retain a grant coordinator, either it be a county employee or an independent contractor to be responsible for seeking and securing alternative funding for various programs. But not only being new dollars for brand new projects, but also looking for ways to replace your General Fund spending with federal or state supported spending. Often times these grants will allow for a percentage of that grant to go towards the administration or the compensation of a grants person. We believe, and I think you’ll find in some of these other counties that that position will more than pay for itself. That that person will be able to bring in revenues that would not only take care of whatever the salary and the benefits would be, but many times over in terms of the revenues that can be brought in. Secondly, we are suggesting that you retain a financial advisor, again, be it a county employee, or an independent contractor. Hamilton County retains an independent contractor, as I had mentioned earlier, I believe they’re spending like $12,000, and, again, they claim that they get every bit of that, and much more back in terms of the service that he provides to them. In addition, you may want to give serious consideration to consolidating your bookkeeping functions and operations into the Commissioners office, as opposed to having separate bookkeeping functions in the various departments; Highway, Burdette, etcetera. I know in Madison County they have it all consolidated in one office, under the Commissioners, so that the Commissioners are very much in tune as to what’s going on. They don’t have to go out and visit all satellite offices to learn about the condition of finance, and there is more efficiencies when those people are housed and working in close proximity to one another. Our third recommendation is in the area of Human Resources. I think as you noticed the various other counties and the amount of effort, or not effort, but the amount of money and what they’re putting into the Human Resources area is something that is lacking here in Vanderburgh County. I talked to Kevin early on in this process and we’re still doing things like we did like 50 years ago. This is a big operation. It is a big business, but we’re almost running it like the corner grocery store when it comes to Human Resources. You think here in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, any business that has 50 or more employees has a Human Resources person. You certainly have many times that many people, and I know that there’s a little bit going on in all departments, but in terms of a in-house person, I see that as a major recommendation that you ought to give some serious thought to. This is not to say that what’s being done is wrong or bad or anything like that. I think what’s being done through the Council and that office and maintaining the job descriptions is a function that is rightfully theirs. It’s part of the Council, but what we’re talking about here is having a person who’s not only looking at compensation issues, but also risk management, benefit administration, insurance, etcetera. Again, the first two recommendations we view as a means of increasing county revenue, or having a neutral impact on county revenue. The third recommendation is viewed as a cost avoidance measure. Following the staffing, another area, and this is kind of a similar recommendation to that which we have identified as part of the city’s assessment, and that is an area of customer service, and a county help line where there is centralized citizen complaints. A good number of your complaints, in the Engineering office for example, come to the Engineer. I mean, this is your Engineer. I mean, the guy that you’re spending the big bucks with, who is, not that he shouldn’t be dealing with citizen complaints and citizens, but we certainly could do this in a little more cost effective manner through setting up some kind of an arrangement where you could have a county help line. This may be an area where you could look for a cooperative agreement between the City of Evansville and yourself. I think we have to look at those opportunities and think like that as we work through any changes that you may bring about. The City of Indianapolis, they operate under the UniGov system, as you all know, that they have instituted a Mayor’s action center where complaints come in, it’s staffed, and you don’t get “the City Hall”, or the “Courthouse” runaround where, you know, you just simply tell people to call this guy. I mean, the person who takes the call will and should get back to the caller, and provide them with a report on their problem. Or when and if it is resolved, a follow up. Thirdly, there’s a lack of formal performance appraisals in the areas under the supervision of the Commissioners, and without performance appraisals management does not have a documented accounting of employee work performance, and therefore cannot effectively set department wide goals. The recommendation here is to put a performance appraisal review program in place to not only establish accountability, but to set work priorities for the future. Personnel policies, we’ve reviewed the existing policies and would like to suggest that that’s another on-going process. Likely a function that would come under the Human Resources department or person, but looking at your policies, they need to be reviewed periodically to comply with legal requirements and reduce liability exposure. We’ve listed here some examples of some of the policies that would need to be reviewed now, and updated, including an active military duty leave policy, the USERRA policies that are applicable to any of your employees who would go on active duty, and what their rights are when they return. There should be mention in your handbook of your HIPPA policy. I know you’ve got a plan, you’ve got a program, but it really needs to be at least summarized in your handbook. Your FMLA policy, just a slight change here, but, you know, providing for the process that an employee would go through to request Family Medical Leave, and how you go about proving those medical certifications, approving the leaves, and the return to work of the employees, but a process for doing that. Your sexual harassment policy, in our view, and having been through several major investigations with other counties where we were called in as an independent investigator to assess whether or not there was a valid complaint, you need to have clear reporting and notice requirements as a part of your policy, so that employees know what the process is going to be, and how an investigation is going to occur, if and when it would happen. Finally, the FLSA policy, as you probably know, the Labor Department has issued new regulations here, but we need to make sure that we’ve established a work week, our record keeping is up to snuff, and that we don’t have people working in multiple positions, that if they do, that we’re paying them correctly in overtime. The Sheriff’s department, for example, has a K-9 Unit that we make sure that we have provided for time off for care and groom and training of the dog, 365 days a year. Two weeks ago I spent a full day in the federal court in Hammond as an expert witness for the Lake County Sheriff’s Department where they had 12 K-9 officers who sued the county for back pay for not being paid for that off duty time for care of the dog. The settlement turned out to be $240,000 in back pay for those officers, including attorneys fees. It could have been much higher than that, but this is something that I think the Sheriff needs to be alert to, and we want to make sure we avoid those kinds of complaints and any potential litigation. ADA policy, medical exams, reference background checks are some other areas where the policies may need to be updated for those topics, reprinted, and then redistributed to county employees. Department performance evaluation, here we’re not talking just about employee performance, but the department, whether it be Highway, Burdette Park, Weights and Measures, whatever department, that right now there’s no systematic establishment of performance measures in Vanderburgh County. In the private sector, most businesses measure performance on the basis of profit. The public sector, no, it’s replaced by service as a primary tool. While service is more difficult to measure than profit, there are tools that can aid the county in the process. We listed several examples here, I think the first one, if you didn’t do anything else, you would give consideration to the International City-County Management Association Center for Performance Measures. They have a data base from other cities, other counties already in their system. They have bench marks for inputs, indicators, outputs, efficiency that you can take your data, plug that in, and that then provides you with a benchmark from which you can measure performance of those departments, whether it be Highway, whether it be Weights and Measures, Police, they have programs for each one of those areas. We’ve listed the websites and the phone numbers where you can gain information and take a look at what’s going on. CitiStat is another program. It was pioneered in New York City after Mayor Giuliani. It was put into effect in the Police Department, and, again, it provided for a way to measure department performance and a way to distribute the resources of the department where they are getting the biggest bang for their buck in terms of expenditures for personnel, equipment, vehicles, tools, etcetera. Then there is some other books out on the subject, the book, “Does Your Government Measure Up?”, is an excellent read, as well as some other performance measures like there’s Six Sigma which is a private sector management tool. It has been adapted, the City of Ft. Wayne has been using it under the term of the, well, it’s been the previous and existing term of this Mayor. We think you ought to take a look, a hard look at looking at those kinds of programs, so that you can access and regularly monitor the performance of your departments. Fuel purchases, another area that there may be some possible cost savings. Again, another possible way to partner with other public agencies, like the city, like the school corporations. Job descriptions, over time the job descriptions here in Vanderburgh County, as I understand it are, basically, looked at when people want to see their job upgraded, to get more money for a job or a person. Many of these job descriptions have not been updated since they were first prepared. 1992, I know in the Highway Department was the last time there’s been any comprehensive review. These descriptions, even though they’re not being processed, or we’re not suggesting that anybody go get a reclassification, the job descriptions, in and of themselves, need to be reviewed periodically, and updated, and make sure that all employees have a copy of their job description. Here are some of the changes that we are presenting and adding to certain job descriptions as they may need, including; Americans with Disabilities Act statement that will be standardized for each job; abilities to, you know, provide confidential or maintain confidentiality. Some other basic types of statements that we’re looking at as well as making sure that the duties reflect what the employee is actually doing now. Not what they were necessarily doing back in 1992. But, those descriptions will be presented to you, the one’s under your authority we’re updating and we’re nearly through with that process, and we’ll present those to you as part of our report in part two, which we would like to come back here next month and present to the Commissioners. The, one of the last items on page 14 deals with FLSA compliance. As I’d mentioned, the wage and hour rules did change. We’ve analyzed each of these descriptions for their compliance, and the basic test, and that is to determine which one’s are exempt and which one’s are non-exempt from the overtime regulations. Exempt, non-exempt means you have to pay time and a half for those hours worked over 40 in a work week. You go beyond those minimum requirements here with most of your non-exempt employees under union contracts by paying time and half after eight hours in a day. So, I think you’re well, you’re very well compliant. You’ve gone beyond the minimum standards. Excuse me, I think some of the difficulty in administration has come with how do you deal with exempt employees? From our review of your job descriptions we’ve listed here, those descriptions that meet the tasks for being exempt, starting with your Superintendent of County Buildings through the Weights and Measures Director, people who are essentially working as department heads or working in professional positions. Again, we note here, provided each position is paid more than $23,600 a year. That is the new minimum level, everything below that you have, anybody who makes less than that is automatically non-exempt under the new rules. So, as jobs change from time to time you need to look at those, and if there is any change in the exempt or non-exempt status, then you would need to treat the employees accordingly, with regard to their method of compensation. Number eight, talking with, particularly your department heads, your people in the Engineering department, and I think there’s a bit of confusion over how do you deal with exempt employees? They don’t get time and a half, but what happens when they do work extra time? We believe, that as Commissioners, as department heads, there ought to be some flexibility, and we provided a model policy that would provide for two things, one of which you could flex a schedule over your two week pay period. So, where if I work 50 hours one week, I can flex it the next, provided that I work a total of 80 hours in the two week pay period. So, that, you know, right now you have to work, you have to work 40. I think this would give you a little latitude in terms of people who put in one week, where they’re putting in a lot of extra time, and then the 2^nd week they could flex that time, provided that they stay within that 80 hour requirement. I have run this policy by the State Board of Accounts for the Monroe County library, we just updated their policy, and this meets with their standards. You have to keep track of time of exempt employees, unlike the private sector where you do not. In the public sector for ghost employment reasons, state statutes, we still have to keep track of hours. We’ve also, not only flexing that time for your exempt employees over a two week period, but also we’ve provided a model policy for exempt employees where you could provide some excess benefit time. Where they could get some “comp time”, if you will, but it’s not FLSA premium comp time. Whatever policy that you would want to establish there, or consider, just don’t make it look like the non-exempt employees. So, it’s different than the time and a half after 40. That it is something beyond that. I think what we have here 45 hours, Jay? To where, after 45 hours in a work week, those exempt employees could get an hour of time that they could bank. You could put a ceiling on it. Now, this is just a model policy that we’ve drafted for your consideration, but I think it is one that would accomplish this for the exempt employees, and especially those who are in exempt positions that do get called out, and do have to do additional work. In the event that you can’t find a union employee to go out and get that limb out of the street, then, you know, someway to be able to either flex a schedule or provide that exempt employee with some additional time off, and, I think, but you would need to establish some policy and some perimeters for doing that. This in a nutshell is part one. Part two will be, we would like to come back, like I said, next month. I don’t know when you’re going to be meeting, but the first of the month would be good on our schedule, and provide you with part two, and the job descriptions that go with each of these individual departments. Jay or I are here, we’ll field any questions that you may have here yet tonight on what we’ve presented.

President Fanello: So, on part two you’re going to come back and discuss Purchasing Department–

Kent Irwin: Yes.

President Fanello: SMG contract, and do you have any specific recommendations for Burdette and Highway that you’ll be discussing?

Kent Irwin: Yes.

President Fanello: Okay. And you’ll have the job descriptions?

Kent Irwin: Yes.

President Fanello: Okay. Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Irwin? They’re going to take it all in.

Kent Irwin: There’s a lot there.

President Fanello: I would like to set the time when you come back. We don’t meet on November 1^st, but is November 8^th acceptable to your schedule?

Kent Irwin: That’s a Monday? Monday the 8^th?

President Fanello: Yeah, we meet every Monday at 5:30.

Kent Irwin: Okay.

President Fanello: We’re just not going to be here, we usually don’t meet the night before election.

Kent Irwin: Very good. We’ll be here and look forward to the drive. Thank you.

President Fanello: Thank you, Mr. Irwin.

President Fanello: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to address the board at this time? Seeing none.

President Fanello: Old business, I’ll just hand out a spread sheet for you guys to look at your leisure regarding the Auditor’s office, the audit on that. So, is there any other old business?

Commissioner Crouch: Did, Kevin, did you ever get an opportunity to look at Knight Township’s request from several weeks ago about railroad, abandoned railroad properties?

Kevin Winternheimer: Yes, but not in any detail. I’ll get back to you on that.

Commissioner Crouch: Okay. Then the dumping, CSX dumping, were we going to draft a letter, or send them some kind of a–

President Fanello: Patty asked Les for pictures. She has the pictures, and she has drafted a letter. Les dropped off the pictures today. So, we’ll put a copy, I didn’t know if you, since we voted to sign it, do you want me to sign it, or do you want all three to sign it? Okay, she can, we’ll put a copy in your box. Anything else?

President Fanello: Any new business?

President Fanello: County Attorney.

Kevin Winternheimer: If I might, Rob Faulkner is here to give you an update on the Plating Works property.

Rob Faulkner: I’m Rob Faulkner. As Kevin indicated, I’m here to give you an update on Evansville Plating. Last week, on the 13^th, the judge signed the order giving us title to the property. It’s been recorded. So, what I’m here to do is to make a suggestion about how we probably should proceed from here in order to optimize the property so that we can realize the most revenue from it when it sold. The property currently is M-2, and the Jacobsville master plan has it designated as commercial. So, what I was going to propose is that we look into down zoning it to say a C-4 with a use and development commitment so that some of the C-4 uses, which the neighborhood might find inconsistent with the master plan or objectionable, we could take out, and still keep it, you know, quite marketable. So, I would propose to sit down with the Jacobsville Neighborhood Association, and also the DMD, and work out a use and development commitment to bring back to you for your review. Also there is a piece of right-of-way that cuts across a corner of it, which at one time had the purpose of lining up with Fourth Street before the expressway was built. I would suggest that we vacate that, square the property off, and also there’s a piece of alley that runs down through it that had been used by the Plating Works, but had not been officially vacated. So, that’s the second thing that I would propose to have authority to do. Finally, there is a piece of property on the corner of it, and in order to evaluate the feasibility of maybe acquiring that property to square it up and make a complete parcel, to get an appraisal of that corner to see, so we can bring it back to you and you can evaluate whether it’s feasible to possibly to do that, to make it a more marketable piece of property. Any questions?

Commissioner Crouch: Rob, when you said it would, down zoning would fit in with the Jacobsville master plan.

Rob Faulkner: Yes.

Commissioner Crouch: Have you talked to Area Plan? Does that work with their master plan also? Or can you check on that?

Rob Faulkner: Yeah, we’ll look at the master plan. In fact, when we do the rezoning, they’ll, part of their staff field report talks about how it’s consistent with the master plan, but I’ll...that’s a good point. I’ll check into that as part of our analysis. Questions?

President Fanello: How do, what direction do we want to give Rob besides...do we want him to proceed with looking at the down zoning and preparing information?

Commissioner Mosby: I would say look at the vacation of that little corner too, because that will square it off.

Rob Faulkner: That’s what I was talking about. That’s primarily it, what I was talking about.

Commissioner Mosby: I would say go ahead and start the vacation process, to vacate that, and then down zone it at the same time.

Rob Faulkner: Then I can bring back a use and development commitment as a proposed one to look at filing a rezoning application.

President Fanello: Yeah, and before you file it we could get the answer to Suzanne’s question–

Rob Faulkner: Sure.

President Fanello: –and see how if fits into the–

Rob Faulkner: Yeah, I could come back with that as well.

President Fanello: Okay. Do I have a motion to ask Rob to proceed with–

Rob Faulkner: What about the appraisal?

Commissioner Mosby: How about the what?

Rob Faulkner: Obtaining an appraisal on that one property, so that we can (Inaudible).

President Fanello: Oh, the last piece of property.

Commissioner Mosby: Yeah.

Tammy McKinney: It’s an old white building. I don’t know if you–

Commissioner Mosby: The southwest corner, I believe. Isn’t it right there on the corner?

Tammy McKinney: It’s been up for rent, or for sale for a long time.

Rob Faulkner: An appraisal wouldn’t be something real expensive. I suspect we may have surplus, money in the surplus property to cover that.

Tammy McKinney: Yeah, I think right now we have something that we could use to cover that.

President Fanello: Why don’t you, could you get price quotes on that?

Rob Faulkner: Sure.

President Fanello: And let us know, and make sure we have enough money in our budget.

Rob Faulkner: Sure.

Commissioner Mosby: Do you want a motion? I mean–

President Fanello: I think you probably should make a motion, that way he’s clear.

Commissioner Mosby: I’ll make a motion to get price quotes on an appraisal, and then, I guess, look into vacating of the corner and the rezoning, the down zoning.

Rob Faulkner: Is that motion actually to go ahead and proceed with the vacation then? Because, that’s not, that’s kind of a ,it’s not something that requires much analysis, and mechanics as rezoning. It could be, we could go ahead and start that.

Commissioner Mosby: I would say so. I mean, it would be agreeable with me.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered.

Rob Faulkner: Thank you.

President Fanello: Thank you, Rob. Kevin, did you have anything else?

Kevin Winternheimer: That’s all I have.

President Fanello: Superintendent.

Tammy McKinney: Earlier in the project meeting I brought to you a lease for a tenant at the Old Courthouse, and I wanted to know if you had any thoughts regarding that. I would ask that you accept that.

President Fanello: Any questions? Okay, do I have a motion?

Commissioner Mosby: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered.

Tammy McKinney: Also in my meeting packet I spoke with the Public Defender on Friday, and he is interested in obtaining some of the space that the Health Department is going to leave behind in the basement for storage of their records. I don’t really expect a decision, I just wanted to bring this to you and let you know that he is interested in that.

Commissioner Crouch: I’d asked Tammy today if anyone else had expressed an interest. She said, no, but I would suspect that if we ask them, there would be some other interest. I don’t know, I kind of think we ought to evaluate what other needs there are out there.

President Fanello: Right.

Tammy McKinney: Something with the Public Defender, those records do have to remain secure. So, it would have to be in a caged area, like their current records are. So, that’s something that we have to consider too is putting them in a secure area.

President Fanello: I kind of would like to know the status, I think this brings up a good question of what space is being utilized in the basement. I haven’t been down there for a long time to look at it, but do we have things that could be, records that could be moved out of there?

Tammy McKinney: Purge some records.

President Fanello: I think it’s...yes. I think it’s, you know, we should be looking at those things to free up some space.

Tammy McKinney: Well, and speaking of freeing up space, I’ve put before you a spreadsheet of computers. These are the computers that are at the Old Courthouse with a list of the non-profits, or agencies that have sent letters to me. I think I only have like three left over.

President Fanello: Okay.

Commissioner Crouch: Tammy, this is after all of the offices have been given an opportunity?

Tammy McKinney: Right, in fact, Tim Van Cleave went over Friday and got those three computers that he needed for the Election Office.

Commissioner Crouch: Do you need us just to make a motion to accept this, so you can then contact the non-profits?

Tammy McKinney: Please. Yes.

Commissioner Crouch: I’ll move that we go ahead and accept this as presented.

Commissioner Mosby: I’ll second that.

President Fanello: So ordered.

Tammy McKinney: And, I also need to enter a late pink slip into the consent items for the Highway Garage, or Cum Bridge.

Commissioner Mosby: Motion to accept pink slip.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered.

Tammy McKinney: Then also I put before you a memo that the Auditor’s office, the representative for the insurance wanted me to let you know that the PERF representative is going to be here on November the 9^th, and just asked that the department heads allow their employees to go. He’s going to give a presentation every hour from like 9:00 to 1:00, and just allowing employees to go if they wanted to hear his presentation.

President Fanello: Has everybody been made aware of this meeting, Bill?

Bill Fluty: Not yet.

President Fanello: But, are you going to make everybody, or is your office going to make everybody aware of this?

Tammy McKinney: Charlene was just getting the details, and we got the room set and everything.

President Fanello: Okay.

Tammy McKinney: So, I’m sure she’ll be putting them out with probably the paychecks next week.

Bill Fluty: It will go out with the open enrollment for insurance.

President Fanello: Okay. Thank you, Tammy.

Tammy McKinney: Sure.

President Fanello: We already had Burdette Park’s report earlier.

President Fanello: Do I have a motion to accept Soil and Water and Ozone Officer’s reports?

Commissioner Mosby: So moved.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered.

President Fanello: And a motion to accept consent items as amended?

Commissioner Mosby: So moved.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered.

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

REZONING BOARD

OCTOBER 18, 2004

The Vanderburgh County Rezoning Board met in session this 18^th day of October, 2004 at 6:27 p.m. in Room 307 of the Civic Center Complex with President Catherine Fanello presiding. The rezoning petitions were heard during the course of the regular Commission meeting.

President Fanello: We will now hear our rezoning agenda. We do not have any first readings.

President Fanello: We have two final readings, the first one being VC-17-2003, 2751 Allens Lane, change from A to R-3.

Tom Bodkin: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, Tom Bodkin, 20 Northwest Fourth Street, counsel for the petitioner. This particular parcel of issue lies between St. Joe Avenue and Mesker Park on Allens Lane. You may recall about a year ago or so we were here rezoning a piece of ground just across the road from this, we went for a down zone there from C-4 to C-2. This is a zoning from Ag to R-3. It’s a very exciting condominium development for the northwest side of Evansville. To my right, your left is a schematic showing you what’s going to be there. This is what they’ll look like, to your right, and my left. The petitioner, Pete McCullough, his mom and dad and the Fehrenbacher family are the folks who are at work. Let me give you a bit of background about the units. This is going to be a condominium project. We met extensively with the staff of the Plan Commission to determine exactly what zoning category we needed for the condominium, and R-3 is that category. That’s why we’ve asked for an R-3. The units, I can tell you that the interior will not be public roadway, it will be private, so you won’t have any maintenance responsibilities for those roads. There will be two entrances to the area. One, I’ll walk over here and point to it for you and then I’ll come back. Those two entrances to the entire development. The major entrance matches up with the entrance right across the road with regard to the units we built, which are apartment type units, right across the road last year, that are under construction now. We’ve met with Bill Jeffers on numerous occasions to work out where the storm water needs to go, and I can tell you two things of interest there. Number one, the water will be taken under Allens Lane, through piping, and put into the little creek downstream of the bridge. That’s significant because that leaves the upstream area free for further development in the future. Secondly, Pete’s working with the Surveyor to deal with quality issues, because we’re acutely aware of your MS4 issues out there, and we are working with Bill to make sure we address those, as well as quantity issues. We’ve talked with your County Engineer, and with EUTS with regard to the roadway issues that need to be dealt with. There will be, as you can see, passing blister is the wrong word, excel/decel to get in and out. Those really get dealt with at site review, but we’re showing you where they’re going to be. These again are condominiums. It’s very exciting, because we don’t have a lot of those on the west side. The Plan Commission met on this matter a week ago, well, last Wednesday, a week ago almost. I believe the vote of the Plan Commission was to recommend it. That vote, save one abstention, correctly so, was unanimous. It’s an exciting opportunity for us. It’s an exciting opportunity for this area of the county. To our west, basically, is one owner who has no objection to this rezoning. To our south, where it says Leisure Living Condominiums, is property owned by Deig Brothers. There is, in fact, a big borrow pit there, as I recall, and some equipment sitting around. They have no objection. There’s some folks who live to our north who have no objection. And, I can tell you the Westside Improvement Association also, not only has no objection, they are here, they’ll talk, I hope, but are also in support of this project. There are no remonstrators. It is a good opportunity for us to move forward with residential development in this part of the county. Pete McCullough is here. If you have any questions in detail, he would be happy to answer them, as would I to the extent that I have that knowledge.

President Fanello: Are there any questions for Mr. Bodkin? Are there any remonstrators in the audience? I have to ask that question.

Fred Padget: In this case we are not going to remonstrate. I’m Fred Padget, and I represent the Westside Improvement Association. I did want to come down tonight because so many times we come in and ask for help or assistance, or we come in and have a problem, or we come in and we’re against something. I just wanted to come down and let you know that we’re not always against things. Here’s a project that we do fully support, and we think it will be a great asset to the west side. The developer, Mr. McCullough, he invited me to meet with him and review the plans way up front, which is exactly the way that we think it should work. We appreciate that, and we thank Pete for the invitation to do that. We reviewed the plans in quite detail, I guess, we spent, I guess, an hour and a half or so, took a walk around some of the other property and seen some other things he’s doing. But, this concept of the free standing residences operated similar to a condominium, I think, is a great thing for the west side. There is little maintenance involved with it. I think that will be attractive to a lot of people that would like to live in that kind of a setting. I guess, it’s unusual to use the word innovative and retro in the same sentence, but this design plan, to me, is kind of innovative, but at the same time, it’s retro. One of the things that I liked about it was that it kind of goes back to the old concept of a lot of neighborhoods in cities where there’s an alleyway with the garages facing the alleyway. So, that the front of the house is the only thing that you see from the main street. You don’t see the garage. They’re around behind. I think that’s quite innovative today, and at the same time it is retro. The drainage and traffic plans we went over those, but we’ll leave that to the technical people. Basically, it’s a good project. Many westsiders, I think, want something like this. I’ve had several people talk to me about they would like to stay on the west side, as they get older they don’t want the maintenance of a home, this kind of answers that question. We believe there’s a need for it, not only on the west side, but in Vanderburgh County. So, we think it’s a good project. We fully support it. Best of all, I guess, is that we have a developer here that is, one of the developers that tells us what he’s going to do, and then he goes and does it, and he’s responsive to us in the meantime. Thank you. If you have any questions, I’ll gladly answer them.

President Fanello: Thank you, Fred. Is there anyone else here wishing to speak to this rezoning? If not, do I have a motion to approve?

Commissioner Mosby: Motion to adopt VC-17-2003, and call the roll.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: Commissioner Crouch?

Commissioner Crouch: Yes.

President Fanello: Commissioner Mosby?

Commissioner Mosby: Aye.

President Fanello: And I vote yes.

Tom Bodkin: Thank you ladies and gentlemen.

President Fanello: Next rezoning we have is VC-8-2004.

Jim McKinney: Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Jim McKinney, I’m president of Cross Pointe Commerce Corp. here to request a rezoning from agriculture to C-4, what we know as Lot E4. This is a piece of property, a part of Cross Pointe, which is on Virginia Street adjacent to the rest of Cross Pointe. Unfortunately through our process of rezoning, we had failed to get this one parcel rezoned C-4 with the rest of the development. It went before Area Plan Commission. I understand it was unanimous except for one vote, and that was only with regards to the fact that a private covenant was being requested, under which this parcel of ground would be in agreement by the owner to complete Columbia Street, when Columbia Street would be built to this parcel of ground. Which we are in agreement to. A few weeks back there was a comparable request with regards to the private covenant for a lot at the corner of Burkhardt and Columbia, and the private covenant has been drafted, has been provided to your attorney, it was show to John Stoll, both of whom I understand have approved it. It parallels exactly the agreement they had reached before, and I wish to offer this.

President Fanello: Are there any questions for Mr. McKinney? And everyone has seen the private covenant.

Commissioner Mosby: I guess, you’ve seen this.

Kevin Winternheimer: Just for the record, they, on the covenant, they’ve agreed to dedicate and build their half of the street when the other half is dedicated and built, or to be built. That was John Stoll’s request. He did not want half a street built too early. So, that was the change in the final covenant, and they put that in the agreement.

Jim McKinney: Do you want me to present the covenant to you.

President Fanello: I have a copy of one. Do we need, do you have one, Madelyn?

Kevin Winternheimer: We’ll have to give it to Madelyn.

President Fanello: Okay, yes, we will need that one. Thank you.

Commissioner Mosby: With that being said, I’ll make a motion to adopt VC-8-2004, and call the roll.

Kevin Winternheimer: Just before you call the roll, let’s note that there is no audience, so we have no remonstrators, except for the media, and he’s not saying anything.

Commissioner Mosby: John, do you want to remonstrate?

President Fanello: Thank you, Kevin.

Commissioner Crouch: I’ll second. Yes.

President Fanello: Commissioner Mosby?

Commissioner Mosby: Aye.

President Fanello: And I vote yes. Rezoning passes.

Jim McKinney: Thank you very much.

President Fanello: Thank you, Mr. McKinney.

Commissioner Mosby: Thank you.

President Fanello: Before we adjourn, I had, do we have any minutes to approve from the last rezoning?

Madelyn Grayson: We approved those at the Commission meeting following the last rezoning meeting.

President Fanello: Right. I did forget one item under consent items that someone had asked me to bring up. In regards to the voter outreach program that’s going on right now, I noticed that we signed a contract tonight for demonstrations at Eastland Mall. I think the Election Board a couple of weeks ago voted, which I think was a good vote, to have the voter outreach performed in a bipartisan manner. But, I’ve had a complaint from the person who has been hired as the Democrat appointee, that they are not getting paid the same as the Republican appointee. So, I don’t know, they asked me to bring that to the attention of this board. I believe ES&S is signing contracts with these individuals. So, I don’t know what we can do about that. But, I don’t think it’s fair that somebody get paid $25, and another person get paid $15, if it’s supposed to be a fair and bipartisan effort.

Commissioner Crouch: This is the first that I’ve heard of it. So, I don’t know how to respond to that. I guess, we could ask Kevin to look into it and see if there’s...I mean, is there any–

Kevin Winternheimer: Well, I was going to suggest Tammy.

Commissioner Crouch: Well, moving right along.

Kevin Winternheimer: I mean, they may have a reason. I think the appropriate thing to ask them is why they are differential, and see if they have a reason. I have no idea.

President Fanello: Can you check? I think it would be appropriate for you to check on that. Can you have a conversation with the appropriate people in the Election Office, and probably the person at ES&S would be Tom O’Brien, and Patty has his number.

Kevin Winternheimer: Okay.

President Fanello: But, if you could have those conversations and let me know, let us know in the next few days what you find out.

Kevin Winternheimer: I will.

Madelyn Grayson: Do you want me to pull that document?

President Fanello: No, I think the contract is fine, but that made me remember that somebody had brought that to my attention the other day. Do I have a motion to adjourn, if there is no further business?

Commissioner Mosby: Motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Crouch: Second.

President Fanello: So ordered.

(The meeting was adjourned at 6:37 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

         Jail Expenses:

         Williams Brothers Construction, Inc.: $740,777.27

         Peyronnin Construction Company: $238,252.86

         Mel-Kay Electric Company, Inc.: $ 184,950.00

         Integrator.com: $15,750.00

         Travel Requests:

         Center Assessor (1)                 County Clerk (1)

         Employment Changes:

         Cumulative Bridge (1)               Auditor (3)             Burdette Park (1)

         Prosecutor (2)                           VCCC (2)              Commissioners (1)

         Sheriff Department (4)              Circuit Court (1)

         Election Office: Voter Outreach Contract: Eastland Mall.

         Health Department: Renewal of STD Grant.

         Sheriff Department: Weekly Jail and Community Corrections Reports.

         Those in Attendance:

         Catherine Fanello           David W. Mosby             Suzanne M. Crouch

         Bill Fluty                          Kevin Winternheimer      Tammy McKinney

         Madelyn Grayson           Patty Avery                     Matt Arvay

         Kent Irwin                       Rob Faulkner                  Bev Behme

         Tom Bodkin                    Fred Padget                    Jim McKinney

         Others Unidentified         Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Catherine Fanello, President

David W. Mosby, Vice President

Suzanne M. Crouch, Member

Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.