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Board of Commissioners September 23, 2002
The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners
met in session this 23rd day of September, 2002 at 5:29 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, September 23rd.
President Fanello: Introductions are as follows, to my right, Superintendent of Buildings, Tammy McKinney; County Attorney, Kevin Winternheimer. To my left, Commissioner Mourdock; Suzanne Crouch, County Auditor; and Recording Secretary, Madelyn Grayson. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. (The Pledge was given.)
Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval of the minutes of September 16th for both the Commission meeting and space allocation meeting. President Fanello: Second, and so
ordered.
President Fanello: First item is Phil Lawrence, permission to advertise VC-26-2002, towing contract. Phil Lawrence: Yes, permission to advertise. These are the contracts for the county wrecked and abandoned vehicles. We're going to advertise September 27th, October 4th, and open the bids here October 14th. President Fanello: Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: Motion to approve the advertising. President Fanello: Second, and so ordered. Phil Lawrence: Thank you. President Fanello: Thank you, Phil.
President Fanello: County Treasurer, award of cash management bid package. Jason Perry: Hello, I'm Jason Perry. I'm the Chief Deputy Treasurer, here on behalf of the County Treasurer. The Treasurer delivered six requests for proposal of cash management services, and I have a memo that details the results of that that I would like to hand out. Commissioner Mourdock: Thank you. Jason Perry: Based on the results of the bids, the Treasurer recommends that Old National Bank be the bank for the next two years. Commissioner Mourdock: The only question I have is if Kevin got a chance to look at these? I know last week we took them under advisement. Did you get to talk to Z.? Jason Perry: I have a copy of the contract that we used with Old National Bank in 1998, and she has highlighted the areas of the contract that need revision. She wanted me to give you a copy of that this evening. Kevin Winternheimer: I was going to say, I haven't reviewed the actual proposed contract yet. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Well, I'll move that we go ahead and accept the Treasurer's recommendation of Old National. Obviously, we'll have to vote on the contract next week. Kevin Winternheimer: Right. President Fanello: Second, and so
ordered.
President Fanello: County Attorney, open bids for VC02-09-01, replacement of bridge number 1532 on Old Boonville Highway. Kevin Winternheimer: Yes, I have one bid. Any other bids from the audience? Seeing none. The one and only bid that I have is from Deig Brothers Lumber and Construction Company, Inc. of Evansville. The total bid amount appears to be $105,486. That's the only bid I have. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move we take the bid under advisement. President Fanello: Second, and so
ordered.
President Fanello: Auditor, permission to advertise vacation of right-of-way. Commissioner Mourdock: We have in our package a pretty standard request for the vacation, and, again, Kevin, have you had a chance to look at this one? Kevin Winternheimer: I have not. I have not seen that one. I've been given it. It's here on my desk, but I haven't reviewed it yet. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Well, I'll go ahead and move- Kevin Winternheimer: I think so. Commissioner Mourdock: -the advertisement, and then, obviously, you'll look at it. Kevin Winternheimer: Yeah. Commissioner Mourdock: I think the advertisement date is September 27th? Is that right? Madelyn Grayson: Yes, the advertisement date will be September 27th. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Madelyn Grayson: Then the first hearing is scheduled for October 14th, and the week after will be the final reading. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. President Fanello: Second, and so
ordered.
President Fanello: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to address the board at this time? Gary May: Good afternoon. My name is Gary May. I'm a resident of Warrick County, but I'm also the local coordinator for a project called, Count Us In, which is an initiative funded by the Governor's Planning Council for people with disabilities. Count Us In was formed after the 2000 general election for the purpose of increasing participation, and increasing responsiveness of the voting process for people with disabilities. We've been meeting locally, and during the May primary, we surveyed several of the voting sites here in Vanderburgh County, and found, at least a few of them to be wanting. I would add that we only surveyed nine or so precincts, but we found some that were totally inaccessible to people with mobility problems. We found others where the poll workers didn't seem to be fully aware of the rights of voters with disabilities, as they pertain to having personal attendants assist them, register their votes, etcetera. None of the precincts that we visited had fully accessible voting mechanisms, or voting machines. People with visual impairments still in Vanderburgh County are unable to register an anonymous, confidential ballot. They always have to have somebody to assist them. We've also heard from many of our members and informants that transportation is a major issue. People can't get to polling places. If they get to polling, or think they can get to polling places, they are surprised sometimes to learn that the polling place has been changed. So, what we would like for the Commissioners to do is to ensure that the election coming up, in about, what, five or six weeks, is more accessible, and more compliant with federal law, and state statutes, in terms of being accessible to voters with disabilities. We feel that failure to act on this request is the continued institutionalized, disenfranchisement of people with disabilities, who are citizens, and entitled to the same rights and privileges, and willingly accept the same responsibilities as all other citizens of this community. You are aware, I'm sure, that there's a national effort underway, as well, to make polling places more accessible and more accommodating for voters with disabilities. We feel that the time has come, and, in fact, the time has passed, for Vanderburgh County to be more responsive to addressing the needs of all of it's citizens, including citizens with disabilities. So, we need to know where we need to go to vote. We need to know what determines what sort of decisions, or what determines the decisions that get made about polling places. We need better transportation to get there. We need poll workers who are adequately trained and understand the law, and understand common courtesies that apply to voters who come to register their preference, and we think that the time for this to happen is past due. I have questions, speaking of our transportation problem, from one of our very active members who wasn't able to make it this evening because she has been denied services on METS, because of the size of her wheelchair. So, that sort of underscores one of the problems that we face continuously in this community. Thank you. President Fanello: Just to give you a little information, we did, or the Board of Commissioners did, in the primary, or before the primary started, seek to check as many polling places as possible for accessibility. We did go ahead and designate the Civic Center as the main location that anyone can come to and vote who may have an accessibility issue. Gary May: Yes, I'm aware of that, but our preference is to vote where we live, just like every other citizen is able to do. Commissioner Mourdock: That step of declaring the Civic Center as one place for folks to come isn't in lieu of making- President Fanello: Right. Commissioner Mourdock: -the normal polling places accessible. It is just, we, as Catherine said, we started through the process. We too reviewed all of, all 147 precincts to see if they were ADA compliant. A few of them were not. I think, was it nine? I think we ended up with nine of them that weren't, and we had no way of converting them over, converting polling places without causing mass confusion between the primary and the general, but, certainly, that's the plan for '93, or '93, 2003 to make sure we get all of them. Gary May: Should we expect that everyone will go to the same place to vote in the general election as they went in the primary election then? President Fanello: Are we changing any polling places? Gary May: Right. President Fanello: No, we're not. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah. President Fanello: Yeah, we can't change any polling places from the primary. Gary May: Okay, we're past that time. Our group is ready to assist. We would gladly assist in whatever way is feasible to review sites, and we have a checklist that, it's a national checklist that's available for people who are interested in access to polling places. We would be very happy to help you make the sites more accessible and user friendly. Commissioner Mourdock: I do have a question for you, Gary. I know you've worked on this issue for some time, and, as always, you are very well spoken in presenting it. For those folks who have disabilities, as you described them, those who cannot see who would otherwise lose the privacy of their ballot, nationally, is there any consistent trend as to how that is being dealt with? I just cannot imagine in this county, in every precinct, that one day we would have whatever the technology is at that precinct. Do most places have people waiting at a central location to deal with those? Gary May: Well, I'll address the second part of that. I can't imagine a day when we won't have a fully accessible precinct polling places. As far as I know right now, for the upcoming general election, Washington, D.C. is going to be fully accessible, including touch screen, and voice feedback voting machines for citizens of that district that also have visual impairments. They also have machines that are accessible for people who have severe tactile, or mobility restrictions, who are, essentially, 100% paralyzed. Commissioner Mourdock: It's your understanding in every single precinct they've provided that? Gary May: That's what the latest e-mail that I have gotten says about the district. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, I mean- Gary May: It's, I think, in some measure holding itself out as the model for other jurisdictions in the country, since that is the nation's capital, that they are attempting to lead the way, and show how this can be done. Commissioner Mourdock: Uh-huh. Gary May: There are many areas where improvement needs to happen. Commissioner Mourdock: Please don't misinterpret what I said. I was not suggesting in any way that we should not have accessible polling places. I'm just saying I'm not sure that I see the day where they are accessible for every disability. I mean, I hope that- Gary May: And my question to you, sir, would be why not? Are we going to declare certain citizens with certain disabilities to be non-citizens? Because, essentially, I think, that is what that would involve. Because it's presented to all of us in our early elementary years forward as a basic, civil responsibility that we have, to vote. If our ability to vote is compromised because of those barriers that I've mentioned, then I think that tarnishes our citizenship, and it sure as heck interferes with our willingness, and our ability to exercise that fundamental privilege that attendant to citizenship. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, I will watch with interest, as I'm sure everyone will. If this is you say the first time that D.C. is apparently going to the full execution of this? Gary May: Yes. Commissioner Mourdock: Well, it will be interesting to see how that technology works. It would be a wonderful thing if it can be done in a cost effective way, so that every polling place in the country can get to that point. President Fanello: Well, I would like to see, if it's possible, you possibly work with Tammy McKinney, who is our Superintendent of Buildings, and she is the one in charge of checking out all of our polling places, and making sure everything is in order before election day. So, if there is something you can do to work with her, and get the information to her about polling places that you have specific concerns about, I would like for you to do that. Then, I think, go ahead. I'm sorry. I think, you know, this is an issue that, you know, as we move to, possibly, buy new voting equipment in the next year or so, if that happens, that the Council needs to be made aware of. Those are issues that we need to look at when we purchase new voting equipment. On the issue of transportation, I hope to have an announcement in the next couple of weeks. Working with a local organization to assist with transportation on election day. So, I hope to have an announcement about that in the next couple of weeks. Gary May: Okay. Well, thank you. Commissioner Mourdock: Sure. I was just going to add one thing to it. In addition to working with Tammy prior to the election day, I would be more than happy to receive any kind of report card you would care to give Vanderburgh County from election day. President Fanello: Right. Commissioner Mourdock: If you would want to come in the Monday after the election, and have any good news for us, or bad news, where we can do better- Gary May: Yeah, I think, at a minimum, we're going to make an organized effort, and I can't say that we'll come to every polling place, but we're going to make an organized effort to assess the polling places, as we were able to do on a limited basis during the primary. One final note, if you would indulge me, as you think about this, I would encourage you to delink access and cost. Because people with disabilities have always been victimized by the linkage of making accommodations and cost. When public transit was first becoming accessible, for example, critics were saying, well, if we look at ridership over the past year, we calculate that the cost of a ride in an equipped, wheelchair equipped bus, it's going to be about 600 and so dollars a trip. Well, that's true, in part, because before the busses are accessible, few people are using them. So, if you take that as the baseline, and then divide those number of trips into the number of dollars you spend on accessible busses, people with disabilities are, of course, going to come out costing a helluva lot of money, but there's a benefit, and one of the fundamental benefits for us is the benefit of citizenship, and the basic exercise of that citizenship through the voting process. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, and I apologize if my comment regarding cost seemed rather crass, but I have to tell you that, and Catherine's heard this before, I am still fried that the state of Indiana has told Vanderburgh County, basically, that we must spend about a million dollars just to change our voting machines. I would much rather have the local control here, that this board here, working with Council, can decide on what machines we want, when we want them, so that we can deal with the kind of issue you've just laid before us, than to deal with, what I'll define as faults issues, which the state dealt with in just giving us an unfunded mandate. So, I'm hyper-sensitive to money issues. President Fanello: I would just say that I think this would be, would appreciate if you could also talk to the County Council, because they are the funding body, and we have to work jointly on this issue of buying new election equipment. So, I think it would be helpful for them to hear some of your concerns as well. If you could do that. Gary May: Thank you, again, for your time. President Fanello: Thank you. Commissioner Mourdock: Thank you. President Fanello: If you would, if
you will leave your name with Tammy McKinney, and she can let you know
how to get in touch with her as well. Thank you. Is there anyone else in
the audience wishing to address the board at this time? Seeing none.
President Fanello: Any Old Business?
New Business? Okay. Department head reports.
President Fanello: County Engineer. John Stoll: First I would like to request that the time, completion date for the Heppler Road Bridge Project be extended till October 11, 2002. It had been previously extended till this Friday, but with the rainfall that we've received, that job has been flooded out a couple of times, as of late. So, the contractor has requested that be extended again. It's requested that be approved. Commissioner Mourdock: So moved. President Fanello: Second, and so ordered. John Stoll: The other thing I had was just a brief update on Rodenberg. Valerie Harry met with the other property owner, the Ballards, and they are in the process of reworking, refinancing their mortgage, and they said they will not do anything until that's all closed. They said that will be, at least, another month. So, I won't have anymore information on that until probably some time early October, I mean, late October. That's all I have, unless you have any questions on anything. Commissioner Mourdock: Nope. President Fanello: I don't have anything.
Thank you, John.
President Fanello: County Highway. Dennis Hudnall: Good evening. Dennis Hudnall, County Highway. First of all, I have some bid packages that I would like to submit to you. We got three bids from various vendors. On the front page I tried to explain how we approached the specifications for this equipment. There were several vendors that stated that they couldn't match the same items we want, and we want to try to keep it uniform, so that we don't have to buy so many different parts. So, the bids that you see is not necessarily to the specifications that we requested. But, to be fair to everyone, they said it would do the job, but we want something that will last, because a lot of times we have something out there and we're always repairing it. So, I made recommendations on the equipment, of which one's we felt met our specifications to the best. Also, the, you asked me several meetings ago to compare buying new dump beds versus repairing the old ones. I got bids on both of them, and I averaged those bids to keep it uniform, and repairing the dump beds would be $1,024 cheaper than buying the new ones. However, the vendors also stated on these, if they find something wrong once they get the beds off, that it will incur more cost as we go along. So, the bids are so close, instead of repairing them, I'm going to recommend that we buy the new beds. President Fanello: Would you mind if we just took until the next meeting to look at these? Dennis Hudnall: Sure. Yeah. President Fanello: Is that okay? Dennis Hudnall: That's fine. Sure. Okay, go ahead. Kevin Winternheimer: Before you, it might be helpful, and it might not, if he maybe did somewhere, and I haven't looked through all those, just outline why a particular low bidder wasn't one that he would select. What was wrong with the equipment? Or what didn't, you know- Dennis Hudnall: Okay. That's fine. Kevin Winternheimer: -and just submit it to them to help them in their analysis. I think that might be helpful. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah, and I was just going through my file here, because looking at one of these, I think we've got a situation in the past where they were low bidder and didn't get the work, and didn't get it, and I know we'll hear all over again- President Fanello: Uh-huh. Commissioner Mourdock: -on that issue. Dennis Hudnall: That's why we approached it with specifications of what we need. Like, some of them submitted the bids that it only had a 12' spreader, when we've got a capacity for 14' on the new trucks. So, I would rather have 9.2 cubic feet, rather than 7.5. That's the type, the capacity type questions. We did do a comparison, and I have those here on the different kinds of equipment. The ones that I've checked has come out much better. I think it's going to do the job a lot better for us. So, the selection wasn't made by cost. It was made by what do we need, and how best to do the job. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Well, as you sit down to compile that, I just checked my date, it was March 25th of this year that this issue came up once before with one of these vendors- Dennis Hudnall: Uh-huh. Commissioner Mourdock: -so, you might run that by the folks out at the garage- Dennis Hudnall: Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: -and talk to them about everything that was involved then. Dennis Hudnall: I'll be glad to put the specification package together to support what I've just told you about getting good equipment versus something that we can, it will last us for awhile, but we want it to last for a long time. We got new trucks, so. President Fanello: Alright. Dennis Hudnall: Okay, you have my report. If there are any questions. The pie, excuse me, the pie chart will close up next week. I called John, and he said the contract paving is completed, so. President Fanello: Alright. Anything else? Alright. Thanks, Dennis. Dennis Hudnall: Okay, thank you.
President Fanello: County Attorney. Kevin Winternheimer: I have no report, but I would mention that we did conduct, Phil Lawrence and I, an in-house seminar on the new purchasing policy. It was well attended, and there were many questions, but it seemed to be well received, and I'm sure there will be other questions on the intricacies of it as we proceed, but I think it went very well. President Fanello: Okay. Good job. Unidentified: (Inaudible. Mike not on.) Kevin Winternheimer: Not that I know of. She was asking whether we needed an Executive Session. As of this date, I don't know of anything. President Fanello: Well, actually, I do know of one thing. Kevin Winternheimer: Okay. Commissioner Mourdock: Yeah. President Fanello: So, we probably need to go ahead- Commissioner Mourdock: Half hour? President Fanello: Yeah, I think a half hour would be sufficient. Commissioner Mourdock: I would move then that we schedule an Executive Session for 5:00 on Monday, September 30th. President Fanello: Second, and so ordered. Kevin Winternheimer: The only other thing that I would have for you to move on, is just a thought, and that thought is to prevent instances where our regular meetings get over real quickly, and our zoning meetings don't start until later, that possibly we look into having zoning meetings as part of our regular meeting, and everybody just be notified to be here at 5:30. That's how City Council does it. They don't have two separate meetings that same night. I know what was it, last month, or the month before, our regular meeting ended quite early, and we would have been here an hour or more just with everybody waiting in the audience. It's just something to think about for next year. I'm not proposing to do this before the end of the year, but later in the year we can take up the issue, and you can think about how to do it for next year. Because the notices would have to be changed slightly. So, it's just something to keep in mind. Commissioner Mourdock: Respectfully, I'll not keep it in mind, but those of you who will be here (Inaudible. Talking over each other.) President Fanello: I'll keep it in
mind, and I agree. We can do that. Thank you.
President Fanello: Superintendent. Tammy McKinney: The only thing I have is a late travel request to add to the Consent Items. Commissioner Mourdock: I'll move approval, or addition of that travel request to Consents. President Fanello: Second, and so
ordered.
President Fanello: Burdette Park. Steve Craig: Steve Craig, Manager of Burdette Park. The one thing, I guess, if I'm not on it, I need to be on the Executive Session for next Monday. President Fanello: Okay. Steve Craig: About family leave. Other than that- Kevin Winternheimer: Personnel issue, I think. Steve Craig: Personnel issue. Kevin Winternheimer: Personnel issue, I believe. Steve Craig: Yes. Kevin Winternheimer: Okay. Steve Craig: Other than that, I have my reports. Commissioner Mourdock: Okay. Steve Craig: The fire ban, or the open burn was lifted? Commissioner Mourdock: Right. By not acting tonight, it is in effect lifted. President Fanello: Yes.
Commissioner Mourdock: I would move then that the Soil and Water Conservation District and the Ozone Officer's Reports be added to the record. President Fanello: Second, and so
ordered.
Commissioner Mourdock: With the one addition, I would move approval of the Consent Items. President Fanello: Second, and so ordered. Commissioner Mourdock: Motion to adjourn. President Fanello: Okay. Eric Williams: I would just add, so you know, that we were at 329 at 5:00 today. President Fanello: 329 at 5:00 today. Commissioner Mourdock: Good number. Okay. President Fanello: Stay there. Eric Williams: I was hoping that we would make it for an hour. The meeting was adjourned at 5:54
p.m.
CONSENT ITEMS: Travel Requests:
Employment Changes:
Requests for Service:
Sheriff:
The Centre:
Area Plan:
Health Department:
Those in Attendance:
APPROVAL
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Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn
Grayson.
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