VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

SEPTEMBER 1, 2009

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 1^st day of September, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Troy Tornatta presiding.

President Tornatta: Alright. Good evening. We will start the Board of Commissioners meeting September 1, 2009 with the Pledge. Roll call vote, please. Or, how about attendance roll call.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Here.

President Tornatta: Sheriff Williams, would you lead us in the Pledge, please?

Eric Williams: Absolutely.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Tornatta: Before you go, yeah, talk about some of the not-for-profits you serve. Tell us what’s happening in the Sheriff’s office today, just everything you know. No, seriously, just talk about, just generally how the summer’s went, and, I’m putting you on the spot, I understand.

Eric Williams: How much time do you have?

President Tornatta: You’ve got about three minutes.

Eric Williams: Do you want this to be a short meeting or a long meeting? I can tell you that probably one of the things of interest right now is uncharacteristically our jail population has been hovering a little below capacity the last 30 days, which for this time of year generally is outside of what we would normally see as a trend. This is a period of the summer months when we would see it surge above our capacity. So, that’s a comforting sign, provided that’s not the calm before the storm. So, the jail is operating fairly efficiently right now. The summer months are always busy for the Sheriff’s office. You know, we do a lot of things, there are a lot of things going on, but it’s also when we do a lot of vacations. So, we’re at our minimum manpower through most of the summer months. But, there really have been no remarkable things occur at the Sheriff’s office during the last few months. We have continued to strive to provide the best service that we can to the community and the people here. So, I would be happy to answer any questions.

President Tornatta: Anything of the Sheriff? I’m sorry we put you on the spot.

Eric Williams: That’s alright. I’m used to it.

President Tornatta: Our not-for-profit had another commitment. So, we appreciate you stepping up.

Eric Williams: Which was your not-for-profit tonight?

President Tornatta: The Humane Society.

Eric Williams: Okay, because I have, I just had a meeting with Youth Resources, and that’s one of the things that I would like to talk to you about afterwards.

President Tornatta: Okay. Alright. Well, thank you.

President Tornatta: Action items, contracts, agreements and leases. County Recorder, imaging services agreement with Phoenix? Z., you’re still under the three minutes.

Z. Tuley: Okay, then, I’m Z. Tuley, the Vanderburgh County Recorder. I have three minutes, sign it so that we can move forward. How’s that?

President Tornatta: Okay, now, tell us how this contract differs from the other contracts?

Z. Tuley: In light of the fact that we do have a hiring freeze on, the difference in this contract is that we have asked for Phoenix Imaging to provide one employee to do the quality control section of the indexing. Indexing is where you create the search engine that puts in the person’s last name, so it becomes searchable data. Then there is a second process that goes in behind that where it’s almost a repeat, so that you have a quality control mechanism in case a name is mistyped or you accidentally clicked on the wrong subdivision or something. We have asked them to provide, and we’ve had to slow down the pace, because my staff is not going to be able to assist and keep up if we’re going to have a staff reduction. So, I have asked for two employees from Phoenix to do the verifying, or the indexing, and one to do the verifying, so that we can move at a slower pace. I’m trying to find what I would deem a responsible level of money going out of the Perpetuation Fund, in order to get this project on the way, versus how quickly the Perpetuation Fund is loaded. I don’t want to be spending a whole lot more than I’m bringing in. I’m trying to find a comfortable balance. So, we’ll try this pace and hit it. We did scale it back. There’s a lot more images out there, such as weed and sewer liens and things of this nature, and UCC’s and power of attorneys and there’s a whole slew of documents, but right now our agreement with Phoenix is to start and complete the mortgages and their releases all the way back to 1980. The more we get online, not only is the more the public going to like it, but the more contractual agreements I can have with those public and private entities that want to be able to access this information, unlimited. There’s actually a contract in place. It also can tally the number of copies that they may print and use. Copy money is the survival key for the Recorder’s office. As the Recorder, everything that’s documented, every document, excuse me, that is recorded, the County General gets a cut, the Surveyor gets a cut, the Recorder gets a cut, there’s a couple of other little minor funds that get a cut. We’ve supplied over $300,000 to the County General this year alone.

President Tornatta: Questions?

Commissioner Winnecke: Z., first of all, I think, excuse me, I think that it’s a great project. The more we can get digitized–

Z. Tuley: Realtors like it.

Commissioner Winnecke: I understand that.

Z. Tuley: Bankers like it too, probably.

Commissioner Winnecke: You just touched on it, but just for the record, just if you could explain so folks watching at home would understand the Perpetuation Fund and the funding source for this. Just so everyone at home–

Z. Tuley: It is a fee based fund. The Recorder is responsible for accounting and the use of that fund. So, I’m held accountable on every level. As the fees come in by people filing documents that they need to be recorded, or they get a fee, it’s a dollar a page, these are all State set fees. So, all of the money that I collect goes into the appropriate allocation. The money is brought in, we balance it for the month, and then we divvy out the cuts through a quietus and the County General gets their share, and the Surveyor gets his share. So, the share that comes to me is what I’m using. So, this is not taxpayer dollars being used. This is the work that we’ve done that will turn around and provide and support more for everybody to use.

Commissioner Winnecke: Good explanation. Thanks.

Z. Tuley: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Anything else?

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll move for approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Z. Tuley: Thank you.

President Tornatta: See ya.

Z. Tuley: See ya.

President Tornatta: County Prosecutor, Adult Protective Services contract amendment. The amendment addresses the expenses for supplies, modifies a section on notice to parties, and replaces a section on security and privacy of health information. The new language to reflect Federal government regulations in that regard. This amendment does not change the term of the grant from 7/1/07 through 6/30/2010, but the amendment is only effective beginning 7/1/2009. The amount of the amendment grant is the sum of $420,388 also does not change.

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

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Further discussion? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: We have two Health Department action items here. The 2009 public health preparedness and response for H1N1 fund grant. The grant agreement EDS from the State Department of Health to Vanderburgh County for the Vanderburgh County Health Department for $188,402 for eligible costs of projects regarding the H1N1 virus as set forth on the attachment A to the agreement. I believe we’ve talked about that.

Gary Heck: I would be happy to answer any questions? Gary Heck, Vanderburgh County Health Department.

President Tornatta: While you’re here we’ll just take this other one, if that’s okay? Health Department, Verizon Wireless agreement for the purchase of MiFi cards. I believe in October of 2007 the county on the behalf of the Health Department used the GSA Federal supply schedule to acquire two lines at a cost of $1,166.16 per year. Now through new technology Verizon offers MiFi cards and unlimited broadband access for up to 12 lines at $515.88 per line used.

Gary Heck: The biggest difference between this and the aircard that we had previous, the MiFi will allow you to have up to five devices attached to that same card. So, if you were in a setting where you had additional laptops or computers within a certain range of feet, you only need the one card to support five computers, instead of one card for each computer. So, it’s a much better deal for the county. This is something that we envisioned we will be able to use in the response for the H1N1. I think we actually had one other late contract, if the County Attorney has that. It was for the WIC grant amendment. If you wanted to do them all at once.

President Tornatta: That’s fine.

David Miller: Yes, I e-mailed around today the WIC grant agreement amendment EDS# A709070136. This is a late addition to the agenda requested by Mr. Heck. I have reviewed the amendment. It is late in getting to us, but there is a deadline. Would you like to explain why we’re asking for the Commissioners to address this at this time?

Gary Heck: We receive the contracts from the State. They just show up one day in the mail, and in the cover letter they ask for a seven day turnaround. We’ve explained to them before that we will do our best to try to meet that request, but that we certainly can’t control County Commissioners schedules. It just so happened that this one came in, we were hoping to get it returned just because it would save us time later, but we certainly understand if you’re not able to consider it. It is a, just a standard amendment where it’s renewed funding for an additional, continuation funding for another grant year. This particular grant is on a Federal grant year which would start October 1 and then run through September 30^th for the following year. The grant amount is for the same total amount. Some of the line items are slightly different, but other than that it’s just a standard grant amount.

David Miller: $473,622 is the amount of the grant.

President Tornatta: Alright.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, at this time I would move that we accept the late amendment to the WIC grant, as well as the two other grant agreements, one on the H1N1 grant and the other on the MiFi cards.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Further discussion? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Gary Heck: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Thank you.

President Tornatta: Department head reports, Chris, anything?

Chris Walsh: Chris Walsh, Vanderburgh County Highway Department. I’ll take less than three minutes, I promise. I just have, as part of our on-going training, I just wanted to announce and invite you that October 15^th, which is a Thursday, we’re getting involved in a program that the State puts on, which is the Snow Plow Rodeo, and it’s too late for us to get in at the State level this year. We want to do some training, we’re going to go out to Burdette Park, we’re going to set it up just like the State competition, and we’re going to have an in-house competition. If this is successful, I would like to do it again next year and invite like Posey County, maybe Warrick County in to get us ready for the 2010, which I think is going to be in Indianapolis. That’s through LTAP, kind of excited about it. They haven’t done it in years. I think we’ve got some great drivers down here, would be very competitive. We talked to a gentleman with LTAP and he said if things go right we may be able to host an event here, either next year or the year after, and get some of the counties to come down here and participate with us. So, we’re kind of excited, and I would like for you gentlemen....I’ll e-mail you and give you the–

President Tornatta: Yeah.

Chris Walsh: –finals on it when we have it.

President Tornatta: That would be great. Then, you had talked about, in the process of you guys training at the Centre, in your training room, where are you with the process, and then, I think you’ve identified that there might be some software, you’ve looked through that software?

Chris Walsh: Yeah, we’re doing a pilot program with some software right now. We’ve also went with the Emergency Management, I think you and I had talked about, and we’ve gone through some of the training. We’re starting in the supervisory level and going to work our way through the whole staff with the Emergency Management. We also contacted the American Red Cross, and we’re going to do some safety and CPR training for the people, because we feel like we are first responders in storms and snow events and that. Then, this is part of our on-going training, daily operational type training, just to get our people continually trained. So, we’re kind of excited about it.

President Tornatta: Sounds good. Any questions? Thank you, Chris.

Chris Walsh: Thank you.

President Tornatta: John?

John Stoll: The first item that I have is a request for street plan approval for Carrie Hills No. 2 Subdivision. This street plan provides a cul-de-sac at the south end of Summertime Lane, and it also provides for some widening of Summertime. We’ve reviewed the plans, Bernardin Lochmueller has made the changes we had requested, so I would recommend approval.

Commissioner Winnecke: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

John Stoll: I also have a sidewalk waiver for Carrie Hills No. 2. Since there are no sidewalks anywhere along Summertime Lane, it’s recommended that the sidewalk waiver be approved.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Questions? Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

John Stoll: I also have a note here, I just wanted to let you know that we’re working on a contract to repair the culvert out on Bridgeview Drive, and we hope to have those quotes submitted at the next meeting.

President Tornatta: Okay.

John Stoll: That’s all I have.

President Tornatta: While you’re here, I do want to try and let people know as early as we can provide that information, but you had talked about Friday afternoon, which is this Friday afternoon, which would be the 5^th?

John Stoll: The 4^th.

President Tornatta: The 4^th? Okay, we look to switch over to the temporary bridge on Green River Road. Could you go down some of the highlights of what’s going to happen in the next week or two?

John Stoll: As it stands right now they’re estimating that it would be ready for the switch Friday afternoon. That’s not definite as of yet, but that’s what the project inspector told me late this afternoon. Basically, that would switch all of the Green River Road traffic between Hirsch Road and Pigeon Creek over to the temporary road that’s been under construction for the past several months. When that’s done, then the existing Green River Road and existing bridge would be removed, and half of the new road would go under construction. So, the temporary bridge will be in use until sometime next year. Also, along those lines, the Green River Road-Millersburg project, it looks like sometime next week they will switch traffic over to the east half of that road where the new asphalt’s been placed over the last few weeks. The west leg of Millersburg would be shut off at that intersection for a period of up to six weeks. Traffic will not be maintained on that leg because the crest of the hill that’s out there will be cut down as part of that project. We’ll send out the media notifications that we always send out when we get a significant change, but that’s the two major changes that both of those projects will probably be seeing next week.

President Tornatta: For those who, obviously, Millersburg Road, CFC, Christian Fellowship Church is in that area and Oak Hill School, so they would want to make different plans of travel.

John Stoll: While we’re talking about projects, one other thing, on Baseline Road most of the fill is getting finalized out there, and there’s going to be a settlement period out there. So, it looks like that within the next couple of weeks the contractor will pretty much pull off the job to let the settlement take place. So, I just wanted to make it known that the project is not being abandoned, it’s just part of the settlement of the fill. It looks like sometime in October would be the estimated time that the project would, the rock would be placed and the asphalt would be placed. That all is tentative as well, but that will be coming up here soon as well.

President Tornatta: Okay. Anything?

President Tornatta: David?

David Miller: Mr. President, I have a settlement agreement and general release that we have negotiated with the assistance of the Commissioners involving Vanderburgh County and Eagleson Services LLC. This is an eminent domain action in connection with University Parkway. The county took some real estate to accommodate the new University Parkway thoroughfare, and we have reached an agreement to pay Eagleson the sum of $30,000 for settlement of their property rights. We will require three signed settlement agreements. Mr. Eagleson has already signed.

President Tornatta: That would, in turn, put us at the end of our acquisitions on University Parkway.

David Miller: I believe this is the last one.

President Tornatta: This is just underground rights. So, we are finished. That’s a good thing.

David Miller: Yes.

President Tornatta: Up to the point. So, we probably need to have a motion.

Commissioner Winnecke: I’ll move to approve.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

David Miller: I have the original here, and, I believe Madelyn has two more.

President Tornatta: Okay. Alright, any other department heads?

President Tornatta: Any new business? Seeing none.

President Tornatta: Any old business?

President Tornatta: Public comment? Seeing none at this time.

President Tornatta: I look to go through the consent agenda, fairly lengthy, would I have a motion to submit this to the record.

Commissioner Melcher: Well, we did that the last two times, I would like to go ahead and read this one.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Madelyn Grayson: Do you want me to go ahead and read them?

President Tornatta: Sure.

Madelyn Grayson: Approval of the August 18, 2009 Commission meeting minutes; employment changes from the various offices; travel requests, there’s one from Area Plan Commission, one from the Health Department, one from the County Clerk; there’s a request to redeem properties at 1407 and 1409 Ewing; the County Auditor has approval of the August 2009 A/P vouchers; the County Treasurer has the July 2009 monthly report; Evansville ARC, July 2009 meeting minutes and report of activities; Weights and Measures monthly report from July 15^th to August 15, 2009; Girls in Bloom requests use of the Centre waiver of fees not OT for 2010 event; County Engineer has pay request number 86 for the Burkhardt-Green River TIF projects in the amount of $710,781.27; the County Commissioners have a Cintas uniform rental renewal for Bennie Gossar; the settlement of University Parkway eminent domain action for Eagleson Services LLC; the Building Authority has a request to surplus 12 boxes of vinyl tile from the Centre; and department head reports from the County Ozone Officer, Burdette Park and the County Engineer.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. President, I’ll move approval of the consent items.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. Discussion? Actually, we’re going to, well, I guess, it doesn’t matter about the settlement agreement. We’ll approve it twice. So, roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Winnecke?

Commissioner Winnecke: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Tornatta?

President Tornatta: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: If there’s no other comment, motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

(The meeting was adjourned at 5:24 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Commissioners:

Approval of the August 18, 2009 Commission meeting minutes.

Request to Redeem Properties at 1407 and 1409 Ewing.

Evansville ARC July 2009 Meeting Minutes and Report of Activities.

Girls in Bloom: Waiver of Centre Fee/Not OT for 2010 Event.

Cintas Uniform Rental Renewal: Bennie Gossar.

Settlement Agreement and General Release: Eagleson: University Parkway.

Approval of Surplus Request: Bldg. Authority: 12 boxes of tile from the Centre.

Employment Changes:

Recorder (1)                             Circuit Court (1)                        Burdette Park (2)

County Highway (1)                  County Engineer (1)                 Co-Op Ext. (1)

Auditor (3)                                 Prosecutor (2)                           Sheriff (3)

County Assessor (1)

Travel Requests:

Area Plan Commission (1)       Health Department (1)              County Clerk (1)

Auditor: Approval of August 2009 A/P Vouchers.

Treasurer: July 2009 Monthly Report.

Weights & Measures: Monthly Report: 7/15-8/15/2009.

County Engineer: Pay Request No. 86: Green River-Burkhardt TIF Projects.

Department Head Reports:

Ozone Officer                           Burdette Park                           County Engineer

Those in Attendance:

Troy Tornatta                            Stephen Melcher                      Lloyd Winnecke

Bill Fluty                                    David Miller                               Madelyn Grayson

Eric Williams                             Z. Tuley                                    Chris Walsh

John Stoll                                  Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Troy Tornatta, President

Stephen Melcher, Vice President

Lloyd Winnecke, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)