VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

SEPTEMBER 26, 2006

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 26^th day of September, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Cheryl Musgrave presiding.

President Musgrave: Good afternoon. I will now call to order the September 26, 2006 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County. It is approximately 3:30, and we will start with introductions.

Marissa Nichoalds: Marissa Nichoalds, Superintendent of County Buildings.

Kathryn Schymik: Kathryn Schymik from the office of the County Attorney.

Commissioner Nix: Bill Nix, Vanderburgh County Commissioner.

President Musgrave: Cheryl Musgrave, Commissioner, and would you introduce yourself as well?

Rick Yeager: I’m Rick Yeager. I’m shadowing Ms. Musgrave, and I’m a junior at Reitz High.

Commissioner Shetler: Tom Shetler, County Commissioner.

Samantha Loehrlein: Samantha Loehrlein shadowing him from Reitz.

Madelyn Grayson: Madelyn Grayson, Recording Secretary.

Joe Gries: Joe Gries, Chief Deputy Auditor.

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

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given.)

President Musgrave: We have two sets of minutes on the agenda, for September 12^th and the September 18^th special meeting minutes, and a permission to open quotes for VC09-09-02. May I have a motion to approve all of those?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: Our first action item, Hoosier Voices for I-69, we have Steve Schaeffer from the Chamber of Commerce here to make a presentation about the Hoosier Voices for I-69.

Steve Schaeffer: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Steve Schaeffer, Vice President of Public Policy for the Metropolitan Evansville Chamber of Commerce, but, also Executive Director for the Hoosier Voices for I-69 statewide coalition advocating for the construction of I-69. We are here today thanking you for your past support for the project, specifically for your efforts in supporting the Major Moves program, which now puts in place a funding mechanism to fund construction of the highway and accelerating it’s construction, hopefully, with a ground breaking in 2008. I’m here today with our Chairman of the Board of the Hoosier Voices for I-69, Joe Dedmond, from Petersburg, who is going to give a little, an update on our organization, and some of the activities that we’re currently undertaking. We would love to have any questions from the three of you on any of our activities.

President Musgrave: Questions?

Joe Dedmond: Thanks, Steve. Thank you, Commissioners, for the opportunity. It’s nice to be the one that gets to raise it up a little bit. I’m generally the shorter one of the group. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you. We are, again, as Steve said, very appreciative of your past support. Appreciative of your efforts in the resolution last year during Major Moves, and your appearance at the events in Indianapolis. To give you an update on the organization, we are continuing, until we actually have an ability to drive on the highway, I think we know that there’s a lot of risks to the highway and to the project. Thus, our efforts are going to be focused very strongly over the coming months on communication. Steve is providing reports on a regular basis to all the interested parties and stakeholders with I-69. We’ll also continue to host events as we did back in August at Crane, where we brought in the INDOT officials to provide updates on the project. We’ll also be doing a lot of work up and down the corridor and information gathering and helping INDOT with the information that they need to continue with the project and prepare for upcoming hearings. Also, just in general, whatever support we can, both two-way communication. Our organization was vital in trying to work behind the scenes in helping get Major Moves passed. We know this next legislative session will be critical. The funding is there to start the highway, but the funding’s not there to complete the highway. Thus, we know that there will be a lot issues in this upcoming legislative session that will be critical for us to focus our attention to. We’re also going to be heavily involved in community planning. There’s upcoming hearings, or education sessions that INDOT is setting up in each segment to work with community planning. We are also working on a similar project, initially, for a couple of communities to do some community planning to prepare for when the highway is a reality. So, those are some of our upcoming things that we’ll be working on. I would certainly welcome any questions you might have about the organization and our plans.

Commissioner Shetler: I’ve got to get used to this here. First of all, Joe, I just want to thank you and Steve. I don’t think there’s anything more important to come our way, particularly for economic development, than I-69. It will be a significant force of what it’s going to do for us in the years to come. You know, the theme around here has always been, “Not in my lifetime”. Well, I’m sorry to contradict those people, but I think it is, I know it’s going to happen within our lifetime. I was with some engineers and people last Friday, and I know the Governor is committed to breaking ground in 2008. They’re talking that their next stage, which will go all the way, the rest of the way to Indianapolis, may happen within five to eight years. So, God willing, it will happen in our lifetime, happen in my lifetime. So, thank you very much for what you all do. We greatly appreciate it.

Joe Dedmond: Thank you. I couldn’t agree more. Coming from a community like Petersburg, what it means to us is vitally important. With a small town like that and the opportunities it will provide. So, we, again, appreciate your support.

Commissioner Nix: Could you just touch on the membership of the Voices of I-69? The numbers of people that are involved, and the work that’s taken place? Because, I think that has a lot to do with where we’re at right now. If you could share with us that.

Joe Dedmond: Yes I can. I can’t exactly say we have a membership roll. We seem to have the ability to bring out numbers for regional meetings in the 100 people range, but they are up and down the corridor from Evansville, all the way to Indianapolis. We have some support north of Indianapolis, up the existing I-69 corridor. A lot of our support comes from local businesses, businesses up and down the corridor, also in Indianapolis. We have a lot of the economic development folks heavily involved with us, as well as elected officials up and down the corridor.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Well, I understand that financial backing is something that’s required to make sure that the Hoosier Voices for I-69 is effective. I believe that we have the opportunity to help you with that. Would you like to make a motion?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: Just so that the record is clear, it’s to fund you at the level that the Commissioners, as a body in the past, had made available, and that figure is $10,000. We will be able to provide that for the year. So, with a motion and a second, all those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Joe Dedmond: Thank you very much. It’s greatly appreciated.

President Musgrave: Thank you, and good luck.

Joe Dedmond: Also, I have a couple of the current case statements that we use for each of you here.

President Musgrave: Okay. I understand that there’s a meeting coming up in Oakland City shortly.

Joe Dedmond: October 16^th. It’s the first of the community planning events scheduled by INDOT. That just came out this week. So, it’s still pretty sketchy as to what’s going to be covered, but it’s going to be the start of the community planning process in segment one.

President Musgrave: Is the public invited to that? Or is it just for officials?

Joe Dedmond: Uh, Steve, do you know?

Steve Schaeffer: I’m not sure. I think they may have sent out invitations, but I know they are looking for any and all input from government officials. I can find out.

President Musgrave: Okay. Alright, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dedmond, Mr. Schaeffer.

Joe Dedmond: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Next, I’m pleased to welcome Ron Keeping, with some good news about the Vanderburgh Industrial Park site. Mr. Keeping?

Ron Keeping: Good afternoon. I’m appearing before you today as a board member of the Evansville Industrial Foundation, to let you know that the Vanderburgh Industrial Park has been certified by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation as one of the state’s first Shovel Ready sites. The certification marks a milestone in the park’s development. It will greatly enhance our ability to market this asset to potential employers to the benefit of all. We received this certification under the terms of the pilot version of the Shovel Ready program, which was limited at ten sites across the state. We were certified in the second round of the pilot process. Several other sites having been certified earlier this summer. This was not an easy designation to achieve. Our application was nearly four inches thick, and as you might suppose, required multiple copies. It was reviewed by over a dozen different state and federal agencies. What good is a Shovel Ready site designation you may ask? It’s function is to signal to a potential buyer that there should be no insurmountable or unidentified obstacles to a site’s development. The Shovel Ready site designation will be attached to the VIP’s listing in the state’s Industrial Sites and Buildings data base. We at the Foundation will be modifying our signage and marketing material to reflect the designation. Although the state board that made this decision did so several days ago, it has yet to issue a public release. So, my announcement to you all here today constitute’s real news. On behalf of the Foundation, I would like to thank the Commission for it’s endorsement of our application, for the county’s continuing support and partnership in the development of the park. I would also like to acknowledge the help of the Foundation’s co-applicant, Vision-e. The exceptional support from my staff person at Vectren, Lisa Nelson, who did most of the heavy lifting, both literally and figuratively. Finally, I need to acknowledge the help we received from Greg LaMar and the Department of Metro Development, and especially the extraordinary effort put forth by DMD personnel, Deb Spalding and Rob Schaeffer. We couldn’t have done it without them. I have copies of fact sheets on the program for your perusal, and if you have any questions.

President Musgrave: While you’re distributing the fact sheets, the questions I have is how many lots do we have available, and what sort of buyers are we looking for, and when are you available to show them around the site?

Ron Keeping: I’m available anytime day or night, just light is better than dark, but we can do it by headlights if we have to. We, about 40 percent of the park is sold so far. We have about 12 lots left. I actually have been talking to our local economic development people, we have several strong expressions of interest from prospects, and that’s as much as I can say. It’s been said to me that there’s more interest right now in the park than there has been in it’s history to date.

Commissioner Nix: When you say lots, those could be put together into something less than 12, a bigger development so to speak?

Ron Keeping: That’s right. The largest lot, per se, is 25 acres, but it’s adjacent to another lot that’s 12 acres. So, there’s a 37 acre lot. That would solve, the sale of those two lots would solve all of our problems.

President Musgrave: We are very aggressively interested in moving these properties and worked with the state recently to get an infrastructure grant to assist an industry moving in there not too long ago. I believe they’re still constructing their building.

Ron Keeping: Yeah, sure enough.

President Musgrave: So, there are several incentive programs that we can partner with the Shovel Ready site and get it moving.

Ron Keeping: You make a good point. With this designation we actually more firmly establish our credibility in the eyes of all those state agencies that make those grants. We should be sure to take advantage of them every time we get a prospect.

President Musgrave: Congratulations to you and your staff and the folks at Vision-e and DMD who helped you along with this. I know that it was a lot of work, work that you undertook voluntarily. I appreciate you doing that, because it does move our economic development along further as a community, and that means jobs. So, thank you.

Ron Keeping: Well, and, again, thanks to the Commission for your help over the years.

Commissioner Shetler: I don’t want to belabor the point, but I think this whole issue does bring up something that does point out the reason why we have the need for Vision-e and the regional Economic Coalition. It’s important to have both of them working together. So, thank you, Ron.

President Musgrave: Alright, we move now to the memorial tree planting at Burdette Park. We have Andy Schroeder and Bobbi Jo Cook here to describe this new program. Andy, Bobbi Jo?

Andy Schroeder: First of all, we would like to thank the Commissioners for entertaining us this afternoon. Just to give you a quick abstract, and overview of what we have before you, and I believe you should have a copy, and if there’s not enough we can make sure that we leave a couple extra there in the office before we go. This would basically be a program that would provide the public, who wish to memorialize a loved one, an opportunity to do so with a living memorial at Burdette Park. We came up with this idea, actually there was a whole lot of input over the last several months. Bobbi Jo and I became acquainted several months back through her mother’s untimely death. I’m a television reporter, and we’ve sort of become friends through that avenue. We were looking for a way to have a long term, lasting, living memorial to her mother, and through some contacts that I’ve had with Commissioner Musgrave, we came up with this idea of a living memorial at Burdette Park. In speaking to Steve Craig at Burdette, he said they’ve been looking for a way to get the public very interested in the new Burdette to USI trail, and they’ve also been looking for a way to replace several trees that they will have to remove to put that trail in. It seemed like a natural fit. So, what we’ve come up with is basically an opportunity for the public to, through a list of approved trees, and a list of approved sites, to come out and help enhance Burdette. The way that they’ll be enhancing Burdette will last for a hundred years or more, providing a lasting memorial to their loved ones and continued beautification of what is now already a wonderful park and a wonderful asset to the community. So, we’re hoping this kind of becomes a great big circle, getting more people involved, getting more people out to Burdette, and getting more people interested in exploring the new trail that will be hopefully opening very soon, depending on whether we go for federal or local funding on that. So, that’s the abstract there. There are still some details, I know, that have to be worked out. One of the things that we had mentioned earlier was that the park should be in control of the locations for planting the trees, should have a list of approved trees. We need to come up with some sort of standard format for putting plaques on the trees, so that we have a uniform look to this memorial. But, other than that, you’ll notice the costs paragraph is very brief, and I’m sure you guys like to see that, because it would be those who wish to participate in the memorial area, they would help provide funding for the tree. So, all we need is a couple of guys on county time with some shovels, and it wouldn’t be too difficult to get this project off the ground. So, that’s where we stand. We would be happy to take any questions.

President Musgrave: Bobbi, would you like to tell us a little bit about what led you to consider making a living memorial?

Bobbi Jo Cook: Yeah, okay, my mom she was murdered. It’s, October 9^th will be the year anniversary of her death. She was working out at Busler’s on 41, I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with the murder. It’s gone unsolved. When you go through something like this, everyday you’re always trying to, you know, everybody says, with time it gets easier. It’s like, my thing was always, when does that time come. Because it’s not getting easier, it gets worse. Everyday there’s no phone call. Everyday there’s nothing anymore. So, when I was talking with Andy, I’m like, you know, because he would call and check in, whether it would be, you know, hey, do you want to do an interview? Or it would be how are you doing? It’s like what am I going to do? I’m lost. I, you know, go through the day being a mom, and I put this smile on because I have to because I have a little girl that looks up to me. Then, at night, when Morgan’s in bed, that’s when I grieve. It’s like, I have pictures I look at. I have all these newspapers that I put in a scrapbook. I have all this, and this is what I have. I have a scrapbook left and I have pictures and that’s it. That’s supposed to be, that’s what happens with life. So, when he brought up a memorial, and, you know, a tree planting and all that, it’s like, it got us so psyched up and so excited about doing it, because that is something that will be here long after we’re gone. You know, people will go and they’ll realize, you know, these people were people. You know, you’ve got a tree that’s going to grow for how ever many years trees grow.

Andy Schroeder: A big number.

Bobbi Jo Cook: Right. It’s really exciting. In fact, it’s like one of the happiest things that’s happened, and that we’ve came up with since my mother’s death. I guess, that’s what led me up to it, because it was the way Andy said it, it’s like it’s a living tribute. That’s exactly what it is. It’s not all about she’s dead, hanging her picture up on the wall, and then you go and you do the headstone and that’s the end of it. It’s not. That living tribute, that just, it stuck with me. It’s very exciting to see if it could get up and going.

Commissioner Nix: I just want to commend both of you on the job you’ve done putting this together. You know, my heart goes out to you and your family for this, but what you’re doing is a great thing. You’ve got a lot to look forward to, in a few years from now you’ll go out there and you’ll see a lot of trees and a lot of plaques up. I’m sure that it doesn’t help you right now, but it will in the future, I’m sure.

Bobbi Jo Cook: Thank you.

Commissioner Shetler: Yeah, I just echo what Commissioner Nix had to say, and that is it was a tragic situation and we all feel for you and your family, but out of that, I think the community is going to benefit greatly for it, and we applaud you. Thank you for coming forward to do this.

Bobbi Jo Cook: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Well, Commissioners, if you will give me a motion to approve the proposal, I believe then we could get underway with Bobbi Jo Cook’s memorial to her mom, somewhere a tree planted in the park that, with the help of the Burdette Park staff.

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Good luck with your tree selection and your site selection.

Andy Schroeder: Thank you all so much. Appreciate it.

Bobbi Jo Cook: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Thank you very much, Andy and Bobbi.

President Musgrave: We move now to an update on the Four Rivers RC&D watershed project. Mr. Dave Elgin. Welcome, Mr. Elgin.

Dave Elgin: Thank you. Glad to be here this afternoon. Four Rivers RC&D, RC&D stands for resource conservation development, and when Commissioner Don Hunter was sitting in the chairs you’re sitting in, we developed a partnership with our organization and with Vanderburgh County, and you have continued that sponsorship through the years. So, today I would like to bring to you a project that we’re looking at that’s part of your county. This involves the Big Creek watershed, which will be a three year project. I provided to you, it’s a copy of the goals and the parameters and sampling points that we’ll be doing on 16 sub-watersheds, which includes part of the county. This covers three counties; Posey County, Vanderburgh County, and Gibson County. Posey County SWCD, Soil and Water Conservation District, initiated this project a couple of years ago. They do have the largest part of the drainage area of that watershed. Gibson County and Vanderburgh County Soil and Water Conservation Districts have all agreed to be a partner of this also. The Posey County Soil and Water District applied and received a Clean Water Indiana Grant. This comes through ISMA, or Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the new group we have. It’s start up funds of $8,000. Also the Farm Bureau organizations in the three counties have provided an equal match to that. The Posey County Soil and Water District has also applied for an EPA 205J grant through IDEM. That’s been approved and the contract’s being drawn up. John Bittner who is here in your county is also part of the Big Ditch, Big Creek Ditch Association, has contacted me, and they’re also interested in being part of this project as we develop it. If you’ll look into your book a little bit, if you find it or have it, there’s really four goals that we’re looking at as we develop the, look at the watershed over the next three years. We look at nutrient loading, which has to deal with the phosphates and nitrates that’s in the water, E-coli, there’s a lot of things in the news, but we’re looking at the E-coli levels that exist. Also, we will develop ways and evaluate ways to reduce any of the nutrients or the loading levels we find. Also, we have an education program and an outreach program for the general public to explain what’s going on with the watershed plan. Also, within your folder you’re going to find seven parameters of monitoring. Those deal with the things that we want to look for that exist, or could exist in the present samples we’re taking. Also, there’s a color map that shows the 16 sub watersheds, and also the last map in there will show the 34 monitoring points where we’ll be taking samples within the ditch. The one reason I wanted to appear before you today is, we use the county highway bridges as an access point to the channel to take our water samples. That way we’re not on any private property, or creating a problem in that sense. What I’m proposing today is, and I’ve provided a draft letter, is your concurrence and support of our project. We will be doing monitoring on a monthly basis from spring through fall. No winter monitoring because of weather. All of our vehicles, normally there’s one or two, we have identification on them, which identifies who we are as far as Four Rivers, and that we are water monitoring project. The cooperation of the SWCD’s, the NRCS and the RC&D is what makes this project work, and it’s part of the Clean Water Indiana efforts. So, I know this is new before you today, and I’ve started, we’ve completed the process in Posey County, we’ll be scheduling with Gibson also. If there’s any questions I can answer, why–

President Musgrave: Are you chiefly asking for our permission to use the right-of-way to go down to the–

Dave Elgin: Right, in other words, you have that responsibility. Also, in our draft letter there are cc copies to all of your departments within your counties. There should be a draft copy of the letter from Dave Ellison there also that states kind of what we’ll be doing. If you need extra copies of the plan part, I have them.

President Musgrave: Will we be getting copies of the reports for your water quality?

Dave Elgin: I will appear before you on a scheduled basis to give you updates of where we’re at and what we have, yes. We do that, we’re finishing up Posey, the Patoka and Dubois County right now. That will close in December. So, we would like to start in January on this one.

President Musgrave: Ms. Schymik, are there any issues regarding insurance?

Dave Elgin: We cover liability, and all of our liabilities affect our projects, it’s a national million type liability, so, anything that would be created by us is under our liability as Four Rivers RC&D.

Kathryn Schymik: That seems like it would be sufficient. This is the first time I’ve had an opportunity to look at this.

Dave Elgin: It’s new to you uns, I’m sure.

Kathryn Schymik: So, I would be remiss if I gave a definitive answer right now before I look over it.

Dave Elgin: If you would like to review it and then table it till next meeting for review and signature that would be fine.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Dave Elgin: If you have any other questions, why contact Bonnie Bittner at our SWCD office here in the county and she’ll get back with me.

Commissioner Shetler: Do we want to approve this subject to the terms?

Commissioner Nix: Either that, or just bring it back to the next meeting for approval. Would that be alright?

Dave Elgin: You have the original copies in hand. So, I mean, that would be fine with me. It would give you uns a chance to look at it.

President Musgrave: Alright, so what we can do is have you review it and if there’s any issues, please leave your contact information.

Dave Elgin: I’ll give her my card.

President Musgrave: That way you can just bring it up under your report next time. Do you want to make that motion?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Dave Elgin: Thank you very much.

President Musgrave: Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. I look forward to hearing your report.

President Musgrave: We move now to the Polling Place Advisory Board, the polling locations for the general election. President of the board is Mr. Gregg Utley. I believe you’re President, you could be Chairman, I’m not sure.

Gregg Utley: Yes, President, I believe.

President Musgrave: Alright, go ahead.

Gregg Utley: Thank you so much, Madam President, and fellow Commissioners. I come before you today to give you the recommendation of the Polling Place Advisory Committee in regards to the polling places for the upcoming general election. I am pleased to announce that with the diligent efforts of the committee that there is only one change that we have in polling places from the election that we had in May to the election that is coming up in November. That particular one is in the first ward, it is the fifth precinct, it is the one that was held at McCullough Library. We cannot have a polling place there because they are doing major renovations on the library, so, they are basically closed. So, what we have done is look for an alternative location, and have found one at Washington Square Mall. They have been gracious enough to let us have a polling place there. So, that is the only change. So, there shouldn’t be confusion among the voters or any agency or organization that is looking to find the polling places. I would like to commend the Commissioners for sending out a contact information letter to these various polling places. We have shared that information. Many of those we have gotten back. Many of those, almost all of them, and we do have verbal commitments from the rest of them that said, well, I filled it out in May, it’s the same contact information. We have shared that with Susie Kirk, and for the Election Board, I guess. So, we have referenced that, and we have supplied them with that information. I also want to thank you for putting this information on the Commissioners website, which should make it, once again, very easy for the average person out there that wants to go vote, or any organization to be able to access the polling places and the maps if they live in a particular precinct where they may go and vote. So, barring any unforeseen, possibly Acts of God or something like that, we feel confident that these will be the polling places. If something does arise, or if there is a complication, I guess, we will meet again and come back before you. But, we are fairly confident that these will be the polling places for the general election of 2006.

President Musgrave: As to the location in Washington Square Mall, that has a lot of entrances, which entrance will the–

Gregg Utley: We chose the one that was closest to McCullough Library. So, if you were walking out of McCullough Library and facing west, it would be where the Sears building is, it would be the next one over. So, it would be on the, I guess, you would call it the east entrance.

President Musgrave: Okay.

Commissioner Nix: And that’s the commons entrance area?

Gregg Utley: Yes, it is.

Commissioner Nix: It goes to that...okay.

Gregg Utley: Yes, it is. It’s not in a particular store or anything like that. It’s in the area right there, and it is handicap accessible. We feel that it was the good and closest spot. There was another location that we looked at, but they did have a conflict with their schedule. So, this seemed to be the next best case scenario, and shouldn’t inconvenience voters very much. It’s just right across the parking lot from McCullough Library.

Commissioner Shetler: Yeah, when you think of inclement weather, standing in long lines, or any of those kind of things, I mean, really, it’s ideal conditions compared to where you might be in other places and stuff. So, I think there’s a lot of good things about it. I do think it could be confusing because of the multitude of doors and stuff going in and out of the place, I mean, it’s a pretty massive building all in all. We’re going to need some clear signage. I think that’s going to be the key to directing the traffic in the right door.

Gregg Utley: Yes, and I think that’s something that we may be able to do at that particular location, being as we only have the one change. I think the Polling Place Committee could come up with something that we could post out at McCullough Library, with their permission. I will go to that organization and ask them if that’s something that we couldn’t do.

Commissioner Shetler: You know, we might be able to do some posting at like, for example, I believe Continental Towers might be in that precinct.

Gregg Utley: Yes.

Commissioner Shetler: And that might constitute a good percentage of the voters, at least the elderly ones anyway.

Gregg Utley: Yes.

Commissioner Shetler: So, we might just even put up some maps in some pretty public places like that, where they would know where to go.

Gregg Utley: That’s a very good idea, and I’m not opposed to that at all. A lot of those folks do go over there and walk in the mornings.

Commissioner Shetler: Alright.

President Musgrave: I do want to remind the public and encourage them also, I believe voting starts on the 28^th I think it is. Does anybody know for sure? But, the voting in the Civic Center starts very, very soon, and we could encourage them to come on down to the Civic Center and vote here where we know where the Civic Center is, we know where the parking is, between now and the election. I believe it starts the end of this week, but I’m not absolutely positive. I’m certain that starts by next week though. To go ahead and either vote absentee or come down to the Civic Center in advance of election day to alleviate any concerns that someone might not remember where their poll is, might not be able to find the right door on election day, might be concerned about voter I.D. issues. I would say take your time and come early and then all of those things can be worked out.

Gregg Utley: Any other questions?

President Musgrave: No. Thank you–

Gregg Utley: Thank you so much for your time today.

President Musgrave: –for your work, sir.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

Commissioner Shetler: A motion?

President Musgrave: Oh, we do need to have a motion to adopt that change in location.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Gregg Utley: Thank you so much.

President Musgrave: Thank you.

President Musgrave: At this time I would like to welcome Bruce Jones and Kelvin Fee to discuss the SIGECOM resolution, the update of franchise agreement to WOW. WOW is the name of the company that SIGECOM is selling it’s franchise agreement to.

Bruce Jones: Actually, we’re selling the whole company. Good afternoon. My name is Bruce Jones, I’m president and CEO of SIGECOM. With me is Mr. Kelvin Fee, who is Regional Senior Vice President of Wide Open West, which is where the name WOW comes from. As you just heard and undoubtedly have read, WOW is acquiring SIGECOM. WOW has an excellent operating reputation (Inaudible. Microphone cutting out.) The company now has won a J.D. Power Award for excellence as the best operating cable company in the country two years in a row, and, I believe, Kelvin has just won one for their internet service as well. A very, very fine company, and I believe the county can expect that they will continue to get the same fine service from WOW that they get from SIGECOM. As part of our franchise with the county, when there is change of control of the company, we are required to come to the county and ask permission for the continuation of that franchise. That is why we are here today, and also to answer any questions you may have about the sale.

President Musgrave: Questions? I know that our attorney has reviewed it. Is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. And your franchise agreement has now been awarded to you.

Bruce Jones: Terrific. We really appreciate the county’s moving very quickly like this.

President Musgrave: Thank you, sir.

Commissioner Nix: Thanks.

Bruce Jones: Thanks again.

President Musgrave: And we’ll go from moving quickly to moving slowly, an ordinance concerning speed limits, the first and final reading of CO.09-06-018. Commissioner Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: This really came about at a road hearing meeting out on Oak Hill Road concerning the Oak Hill and Bergdolt intersection, where a new stop light is going to be erected, hopefully, this coming spring, and that intersection kind of redone there. In the process, many of the neighbors voiced their concerns. There’s been a tremendous amount of growth on the whole north side area, and a lot of people using Oak Hill Road. At one time it was safe for those folks that live along Oak Hill Road to back out and pull on down the stream of traffic, but today it’s not. Just too much congestion, and driving 40-45 miles an hour is just far too fast to try to do it safely. So, it’s really an act of doing the, you know, trying to protect the kids and the families out there that I think that that is one of the areas. In the meantime, as you know, since, in the past year since I’ve been on, I think this might be the third ordinance that we’ve done concerning speed limits. We’ve generally looked at speed limits throughout the county, and tried to find those areas where a lot of activity has taken place, a lot of growth, and this is an opportunity, again, we’ve looked at other areas and there are several streets that are in residential areas that we are reducing the speed. Most about five miles an hour from where they are presently. So, I think this is a good thing. I would urge my colleagues on the Commission to vote for this. It’s a matter of safety.

President Musgrave: In order to pass this on one reading, we will need to waive, have a motion to waive the second reading.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. Is there a motion to pass the first reading?

Commissioner Shetler: Are you going to ask if there are any people here to speak to this?

President Musgrave: Thank you, Commissioner Shetler. Are there any people here who would like to speak to this ordinance? I see Oak Hill Neighborhood President. Please come forward.

Susan Harp: Susan Harp, President of Oak Hill Neighborhood Association. I agree with Mr. Shetler that during that meeting and several others, we frequently hear, all along Oak Hill, both city and county, to reduce the speed limit. I think, hopefully, that we can get a little more enforcement out there right after the speed limit changes, but, you know, people are still going to go fast, and I think this is one way that we can try to help those people who are on those side streets getting off. So, hopefully, none of the neighbors will speed. Hopefully, they will control themselves. I think it’s about the only thing we can do, and maybe in the future we may have to look into doing something else to Oak Hill Road, but right now I think this is the wise decision. Thanks.

President Musgrave: Thank you, Mrs. Harp. Is there anyone else who would care to address the Commission on this point? Seeing no one. Is there a motion a motion to pass the ordinance CO.09-06-018?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Nix?

Commissioner Nix: Yes.

President Musgrave: Commissioner Shetler?

Commissioner Shetler: Yes.

President Musgrave: And I vote yes. Show that as passed.

President Musgrave: We move now to the County Commissioners, letter of notification to property owners of the sale of their property. The County Attorney has prepared a letter, and this letter will inform the owners of property that the Commissioners sold at their tax certificate sale last week, that their property has been sold. We have been advised to do this by some of the folks from around the state who suggest that we make every attempt to let people know that their property has been sold. Do you have any remarks that you would like to make about that letter?

Kathryn Schymik: This basically just summarizes what has taken place and the requirements going forward. There is a redemption period that is still in place for the owners of record, who can come in, and we’re going to state in the letter what they are required to pay if they are interested in redeeming. That period is 120 days. We’ll also let them know specifically when that date expires. Again, as Commissioner Musgrave said, this is just an attempt on the part of the county to notify people that they could ultimately be divested of ownership in their property before that takes place.

President Musgrave: Also, an update on the tax certificate sale. We only sold 40 percent of our properties. Sixty percent of those remained unsold. We collected, is that $2,561? $2,561. Last year, if my memory serves, we collected well over $300,000, mostly from the sale of a single property, not at the certificate sale, and the balance, some $60,000 I think it was last year, at the tax certificate sale. So only 27 properties sold. We have 40 unsold properties, 11 other properties were redeemed before the sale. We need to take another approach, I believe, and I would like to adopt the suggestion of the County Treasurer, who has asked us to investigate, and we’ll get to this next on our agenda, taking title to those properties. Before we get to that though, if we could approve the letter of notification to the owners of the property that we already did sell.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: Again, the County Treasurer and others feel that if we took title to these properties, rather than selling tax certificates, that our sale would be more successful and perhaps generate more revenue. In order to research whether that would be a good idea or not, we talked it over and thought that seeking bids from title search companies to perform the title searches would be a good way to approach this. I know that customarily you hire a title search company one property at a time, but our next sale we have, I think it’s 134 properties?

Joe Gries: That is correct.

President Musgrave: And perhaps four left over from our tax certificate sale of last year.

Joe Gries: I believe that’s right.

President Musgrave: Then there’s a completely different twist to this whole tax certificate sale business as well, the past two years the Commissioners have sold property that failed to sell at two consecutive tax sales. The 134 properties that are coming forward now will only have gone through one tax sale. The law has changed, and now we’ll be getting more property to be sold faster than before. I think that we need to take every approach to collect the taxes and conduct a good sale. This is all landing on the Commissioners desk. I also hope that we’ll get lots of good cooperation from the Auditor’s office to sell these properties. So, the first step though in this whole process of trying to figure out how we’re going to handle this new responsibility, I believe, is to seek permission to get bids. Is there a motion for that, the bids from title search companies?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Madelyn Grayson: May we make a tape change quickly?

President Musgrave: Yes, please.

(Tape change)

President Musgrave: Let’s do the next two items, number two and number three. Moving of election equipment, Kinder, who moved our election equipment last May for the primary has agreed to deliver those for the same price in November, at the general election. We understand that we won’t need to bid this out, we can just go ahead and award it to Kinder, since we had gone through a competitive process in May, for the May election.

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: We need to have permission to advertise the polling locations in the newspapers for the November election. Is there a motion for that?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: Would you like to read the bid opening?

Kathryn Schymik: We received two bids. The first from CCC of Evansville, Inc., for a total of $63,332.86. Second, from Koberstein, Koberstein Trucking, Inc., $71,055.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to take them under advisement?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

President Musgrave: We move now to Emergency Management, the National Incident Management Systems statement of compliance. Mr. Sherman Greer is here to update us.

Sherman Greer: Sherman Greer, Emergency Management Director for Evansville-Vanderburgh County. Before you, you have a letter of compliance for the National Incident Management System. It has 15 items that has to be complied with. We feel that Vanderburgh County has complied with all 15 of those, and is waiting for your signature as the governing body, so that we can send it back up to Indy.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to sign the letter of compliance?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Sherman Greer: You also have a grant agreement, sub-grant agreement that was approved by Council for the GIS laptops. We’re getting ten laptops that is being purchased by the state, and then we’ll be able to use those for people out in the field, if they are NIMS compliant.

President Musgrave: Now that we’re NIMS compliant, you’ll be wanting to send that grant application in?

Sherman Greer: Exactly.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion to approve the grant application?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

Sherman Greer: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Thank you, and congratulations for the hard work in getting the compliance documents in order.

Sherman Greer: Thank you.

President Musgrave: Contracts, leases and agreements, numbers one, two and three need to be stricken from the agenda. Those are not ready at this time. We have the Area Plan CRS re-certification, and Misdemeanor Probation, the Kelly Williams contract. Both of these have been reviewed. Is there a motion to adopt? Or do you need to say anything regarding the Area Plan, John?

John Ansbro: Just requesting your signature on the cover sheet. We re-certified the discount that homeowners and businesses get from our participation in our community rating system.

President Musgrave: Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt number four and five?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. We move now to department head reports, Mr. Stoll, County Engineer?

Madelyn Grayson: Excuse me, Commissioner Musgrave, did you adopt the Misdemeanor Probation contract?

President Musgrave: Yes, those were done on the same motion.

Madelyn Grayson: Okay.

President Musgrave: Thank you.

John Stoll: I’ve got three items. First, I would like to request approval to go to County Council to appropriate $85,000 in the Kuebler Road Bridge Account. This is, this $85,000 is what’s needed to get our funding up to the level of the consultant’s construction estimate.

President Musgrave: Is there a motion?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: Then, next, I have a contract proposed with Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates for $31,000. This is to evaluate the on-going settlement problem that’s occurred at the northwest corner, primarily, of the First Avenue Bridge over Pigeon Creek. We’ve made a number of attempts to try and patch that, figure out the source of why the settlement keeps occurring. The County Highway Department’s made routine attempts to resurface it to make it more passable for motorists, and nothing seems to work. So, I contacted Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates, and what they plan to do is do an engineering evaluation through some soils work and some survey work to try and figure out exactly what’s the source of the settlement problem, and then what is needed to fix it. This will pay for the evaluation. It’s for $31,000. Then we’ll have to follow that up at a later date with an actual design contract, pending what they find in their evaluation stage.

Commissioner Nix: John, I was just curious, are they going to need to access First Avenue for those soils? Or is that something they can do from the side, or below, down the side of the bridge? Do you know for sure?

John Stoll: I think they’ll have to go more along the side than they would actually through the road. Mainly because some of the attempts to try and stabilize that over the years, I know they’ve put concrete, flowable fill, I don’t know what all is down there, but I don’t know that they could get a good boring through the pavement. Because I don’t know the limits of the attempted repairs over the years.

Commissioner Nix: My concern is just from a traffic issue, early morning, late afternoon traffic. If they’ve got to get up on the road that they work with the Board of Public Safety and that to do that.

John Stoll: We can work with them on that as well. Just make sure that if they’re in the southbound lanes, that they would start after about 8:30, and if they’re in the northbound lanes, they could do it in the morning, prior to the evening peak hour.

President Musgrave: Is there anything further?

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: The last thing I’ve got, it was actually listed as a specific item on the agenda, but if you’re okay with it, I’ll go ahead with the award of the Hogue Road Culvert repair to CCC of Evansville for $22,736.84.

Commissioner Nix: Move approval.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: They were the low bidder on the project?

John Stoll: Yes.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries.

John Stoll: That’s all I’ve got.

President Musgrave: Well, it’s also a little further down on the page, but I would like to reiterate, as you already know, we managed to surprise you completely, taking you up to South Bend under the pretext of one award, which if you’ll move closer to it, so the folks at home can see that. This is the Local Cooperation Award, and I’ll put this down, if they can focus on John at the podium. The Local Cooperation Award 2006, Vanderburgh County and Warrick County, Lynch Road project. This award was awarded by the Association of Indiana Counties. John, you were the lead engineer for this project which started the year I got married, 27 years ago, and you took the lead in it for about the past 13 years or so. Is that right?

John Stoll: Right. The original bridges and grading contract for the segment between Oak Hill and Bergdolt started, I mean, Burkhardt started in 1993, and that was my first year with Vanderburgh County. It’s taken 13 years, but it’s finally done.

President Musgrave: It was an award winning project.

President Musgrave: So, we got him up to the AIC Conference, he knew about this award, because he had to appear in a film for that award, but little did John know that his peers, the county engineers from across the state of Indiana, had selected him as Engineer of the Year for the State of Indiana. They awarded you this wonderful plaque that you get to take back and put on your wall. Congratulations! We’re all very proud of you.

(Applause)

John Stoll: Big surprise. I think that was the worst kept secret up here, but you all had a good poker face, because I didn’t know anything about it.

President Musgrave: As he turned several different shades of red, then he understood why I had made him drive me up there. Because he wasn’t going to get out of going. He had to take me. So, thank you, John.

John Stoll: Thanks.

President Musgrave: And congratulations to your whole staff as well.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you, John. You do a good job.

Commissioner Shetler: I just wish you guys would have gone a few days earlier and designed a victory for Notre Dame that weekend. That was a tough one.

President Musgrave: Okay, so we have already awarded the Hogue Road culvert.

President Musgrave: So, we will move now to board appointments. We have an opening on the Public Defender Board. I would like to recommend Bill Nix for this, as an individual and not as a Commissioner, so that his term will be for three years, and expire on September 1, 2009. I would like to make that motion.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioner Shetler: Aye.

President Musgrave: Aye. Thank you, Bill.

Commissioner Nix: You’re welcome.

President Musgrave: I think that your work in helping build the jail on time and under budget, and working with the public, the Community Corrections Board, that this is a perfect fit for that, and will ensure that the board has a great member.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

President Musgrave: So, is there any new business? I see none.

President Musgrave: I have one piece of old business. If you will recall, last time we met, we approved a letter to send to Senator Lugar to ask him to bring his thoughts on energy security to Evansville, to Vanderburgh County. The letter went off, and I spoke with his staff today, and they are very excited about coming. They say that the calendar for 2006 is full, but they would like to come down in 2007. So, I’ve offered them, I guess, I should ask your permission to offer them the use of the Auditorium or the Centre, but those details can be worked out as the Senator puts his format together. Perhaps he’ll come just to give the speech alone. Perhaps he will partner, as he did in Lafayette with Purdue University, or perhaps someone else. But, I’m very excited to report that they are looking at coming in 2007.

President Musgrave: Okay, we have now public comment. Is there anyone here who would like to address the Commissioners on a matter of interest to the Commissioners? I see no one.

President Musgrave: We have a consent agenda. There is one item that needs to be removed from the agenda, that is the medical contract.

Marissa Nichoalds: That’s a typo. That was under the action items.

President Musgrave: Oh, so, there is no change on the consent agenda. Alright, is there a motion to approve?

Commissioner Shetler: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second.

President Musgrave: All those in favor?

Commissioners: Aye.

President Musgrave: The motion carries. Is there a motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Nix: So moved.

Commissioner Shetler: Second.

President Musgrave: We are adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 4:23 p.m.)

CONSENT ITEMS:

Employment Changes:

Superior Court (1)                     County Highway (1)                  Sheriff’s Office (2)

VCCC (4)                                  Armstrong Assessor (1)            Auditor (1)

County Clerk (1)                       Knight Assessor (1)                  Public Defender (2)

Health Department (1)              Burdette Park (1)                      Prosecutor (1)

Travel Requests:

Health Department (5)              Legal Aid (1)                             SWCD (1)

Commissioners:

Letter to Sheriff Brad Ellsworth: Kim DeWitt & Regan Braun: Tax Cert. Sale

Letter to Insight Communications: Removing Co. Comm. Phone Number

Vision-e Monthly Report: August 2006

Permission to Use Old Courthouse Courtroom: Judge Lloyd

Department Head Meeting Notes: 9/12/2006.

County Engineers: Approval of Pay Request #3: Burkhardt-Green River TIF

Treasurer: Year-to-Date Investments: August 31, 2006

Weights & Measures: Monthly Report: 8/15-9/15/2006

Purchasing: Monthly Report: July 2006.

Health Department: Surplus request: various items.

Auditor:

Surplus request: computers.

Drawdown #3 of funds for Knight Township Fire Department CDBG Grant.

Department Head Reports:

Burdette Park                           County Engineer                       County Highway

Ozone Officer                           Supt. Of Bldgs.                         Veterans Service

Those in Attendance:

Cheryl Musgrave                      Bill Nix                                      Tom Shetler, Jr.

Joe Gries                                  Kathryn Schymik                      Marissa Nichoalds

Madelyn Grayson                     Samantha Loehrlein                 Rick Yeager

Steve Schaeffer                        Joe Dedmond                           Ron Keeping

Andy Schroeder                        Bobbi Jo Cook                          Dave Elgin

Gregg Utley                              Bruce Jones                             Susan Harp

Sherman Greer                         John Stoll                                  Others Unidentified

Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, President

Bill Nix, Vice President

Tom Shetler, Jr., Member

Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.