President Abell: I’d like to call to order the August 1st, 2007 meeting of the Vanderburgh County Council. Roll call attendance, please.

President Abell: Councilman Raben, would you lead us in the Pledge?

(Pledge of Allegiance was given)

President Abell: Good morning and welcome to the large attendance here this morning. Could I have a motion to approve the minutes of the June 27th meeting?

Councilmember Leader: So moved.

Councilmember Raben: I’ll second.

President Abell: Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Abell: The appropriation ordinance, I’ll turn the meeting over to the Finance Chairman, Mr. Raben. And, Mr. Raben, I think you’re aware that Mr. Nix needs to get out of here, so he’d like to go first.

Councilmember Raben: I will certainly take him first.

LOCAL ROADS & STREETS

Bill Nix: Good morning, Madam President and members of the Council. I’m here today, I guess, in request for some money for a boom truck that Mr. Duckworth had presented to you a couple of weeks back. Basically, we’ve got three pieces of equipment now that we use for hoisting, but they’re really not made to do that. When you pick up pipe, tree limbs and that type of thing up, these machines are pretty unstable. And I know that Mike had mentioned something about the fact that it was unsafe. Its not necessarily unsafe, it’s just that the equipment that we’re utilizing right now is really not made to do what we’re doing and we’ve had some damage to one of maybe two boom trucks. And I just think this would be an asset to the fleet. There are times when we have emergencies in the middle of the night. We’ve got tree limbs and stuff in the road, some of the stuff is pretty heavy and I just think it would be an asset to have this out at the county garage. And we’ve been looking for awhile at this particular type of equipment and we’ve got about, the request is for $90,000 to purchase it and I think it’s a good buy. And I just think it’s something we need to move forward with. So I’ll entertain any questions that any of the board members have. Yes?

Councilmember Sutton: Thank you, Commissioner. We had several questions at our meeting last Wednesday about this particular request and I appreciate Mr. Duckworth and his staff getting right on that to prepare a response to the questions that we may have. I think we may have gotten the material as early as Friday. And one of the things that we, a couple of the things that we did make some mention about was the lease as opposed to buying scenarios. And had him to go back and to review how much had been spent on leasing equipment for this particular type of work over the past few years and he was able to go back to 2000 and found that there were right at $38,446.50 spent on leased equipment to perform these types of work, so not quite up to what we, I guess we were anticipating maybe a little bit higher levels, but understanding that there is a routine or regular need for this type of equipment. The other area that was covered, we asked about the amount of, if there was some type of warranty or some type of guarantee per se, associated with this particular piece of equipment, and he’s got two years on this piece of equipment. One of the things, I guess, as I thought about this because I know you guys had kind of combed through this Local Road & Street budget and I’m trying to see if there are other lines within that budget that there might be some surplus or maybe even some expenses that came in a little bit lower than what was anticipated that we could maybe draw from on this particular request. Any thoughts on that?

Bill Nix: I’m all for that if we could do it. To be honest with you, I haven’t really researched that. We were looking at the particular line item, I’m not for sure what he’s asking for it to come out of, but we can look at that. That would be fine. I think the thing here today is to try and get this thing purchased before it gets away from us.

Councilmember Sutton: Well, I know he did sit down, Mike did sit down with Bill Fluty, our Auditor, and sat down with Jim, too, and I spoke with him. I guess it seems that we are pretty much in line with what we had anticipated up to this point and couldn’t really find –

Bill Nix: On most other line items.

Councilmember Sutton: Yeah, on most of the line items. But I’m not going to profess to know or pretend to know anything about this type of equipment, but I guess I know a little bit about I guess our financial situation so I’m not trying to see what we can come up with to – right now we’ve got a decent, healthy unappropriated balance so I’m just trying to protect that as much as possible. And we’ve spent, I guess over the last few years right about a million dollars on equipment out there.

Bill Nix: And I will say that we’ve made some good investments out there between the new paver, and roller and we got the gradall in ‘05, which I think was actually purchased in ‘04 and it took a while to get that delivered out there. But I think we’ve done a real good job, Mike’s done a good job out there with you all’s help in upgrading the equipment out there. New trucks, I think we’ve got a couple of new trucks in and so I think its money well spent for the county.

Councilmember Sutton: Well, to Councilman Raben’s credit, one of the suggestions was the possibility of if we were to purchase this, look at some at some of our equipment that may be getting a little bit of age on it but it’s still marketable, look at maybe surplussing some of that equipment so that maybe we can recoup some of the cost on something like this. I don’t know if they go through their inventory, if there’s some things they can identify that may qualify or come up to and approach maybe some of the, offsetting some of the cost with this.

Bill Nix: And I have no problem with that. I’d say that most of everything we have out there, we need. We may have, of the three gradalls that we have, I don’t know that we use all three of them all of time, but for the most part, we’ve done a pretty decent job of going through the stuff we don’t need and getting rid of it. The other thing I’d point out, too, there are a lot of times when these gradalls are used for, we wouldn’t be using gradalls if we had this truck available, so that the information you got in front of you is outside rental things that occurred since 2000, I think.

Councilmember Sutton: Correct.

Bill Nix: And so there would be a lot of times when this would be utilized over and above what we use the gradalls for. And that’s kind of something that would be hard to track. Thank you.

Councilmember Raben: I’m going to move approval of Local Roads & Streets transfer in the amount of $40,000.

Councilmember Winnecke: Second.

President Abell: Further discussion? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

LOCAL ROADS & STREETS                                REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

CLERK

Councilmember Raben: Okay, County Clerk 1010-3603 Record Storage in the amount of $45,000, I move approval.

Councilmember Winnecke: Second.

President Abell: Good morning.

Susan Kirk: Good morning. Any questions?

President Abell: I have a question. How much money do you have in the account for electronic storage?

Susan Kirk: At this moment?

President Abell: Yes.

Susan Kirk: After we pay the bill, none. We’ll probably be a little behind. Even with the $5,000 that the Council granted us, we’re still going to be behind.

President Abell: You use that money for Kinder Moving & Storage’s expenses?

Susan Kirk: We use that for record storage and pick up and delivery of files.

President Abell: Okay. How much is that per file that you get? Do you remember?

Susan Kirk: Did everybody get this that I sent? Okay.

President Abell: I got it.

Susan Kirk: Okay. It’s listed back in here. Kinder gave us a little breakdown of what they do. I think it’s like, depending on the size of the cart and if they have to bring a file, or if they have to bring a box and then there’s different size boxes, but –

President Abell: That was what I spent.

Susan Kirk: Okay.

President Abell: There’s an income to the Clerk’s office from every case that’s filed in the Clerk’s office –

Susan Kirk: Well, that’s the –

President Abell: -- that goes to record storage. It goes to electronic storage.

Susan Kirk: Well, no, actually, that’s the perpetuation fund and what that is, two dollars out of every new case that is filed, the Clerk’s office uses that for scanning and microfilm. That’s all that can be used for. It can’t be used for storage.

President Abell: But aren’t they doing some bar coding?

Susan Kirk: We bar code, yes, everything that goes out there is bar coded, but all of that is in, like I said, that goes into the microfilming, scanning of the case. Then once the case is, you know, we turn it in, they microfilm, scan it, put it on disk, put it on microfilm, have it on paper, we have it everywhere, then its bar coded and filed.

President Abell: Well, I guess what I’m asking is, couldn’t some of that money be used to offset some of the storage cost?

Susan Kirk: Not really. We’re running pretty well even Steven with the money that’s coming in. As a matter of fact, the Clerk’s association even is talking about maybe getting that two dollars raised maybe to three dollars because its been two dollars, I guess, for years. And needless to say, a lot of them, the counties are experiencing an increase with the companies that they’re using and that two dollars is just not really covering the cost anymore. We’ve been fortunate so far that our two dollars is still working for us, but storage is huge, its just huge now, all the different expenses that go into it.

President Abell: Well, if you’re using it, you’re using it, that’s all I need to know.

Susan Kirk: Yes, yes, we are using it.

Councilmember Leader: I make a motion to approve. Oh, I’m sorry, do you need a second?

Councilmember Winnecke: I seconded it.

Councilmember Leader: Well, good grief.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: That would be yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

CLERK                                                                   REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

SHERIFF

JAIL

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS

Councilmember Raben: Madam President, next we have the Sheriff, the Jail –

Susan Kirk: Thank you, Council.

Councilmember Raben: Thank you. The Sheriff’s Office, the Jail and Community Corrections, I’ll take those together. And I did receive an email some time yesterday from Sheriff Williams. He is at the Sheriff’s training seminar this week and apologized for not being present today. Under Sheriff, Overtime request in the amount of $140,000, Civilian Overtime $9,000, for a total of $149,000. Under Jail, Union Overtime in the amount of $20,000. And Community Corrections, Union Overtime in the amount of $7,000. I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

President Abell: Everybody have those figures? Roll call –

Councilmember Raben: Under Sheriff, Union Overtime 140,000, Civilian Overtime 9,000. Under Jail, Union Overtime 20,000. Community Corrections, Union Overtime 7,000.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

SHERIFF                                                                REQUESTED       APPROVED

JAIL                                                                       REQUESTED       APPROVED

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS                              REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

ELECTION OFFICE

Councilmember Raben: Okay, next, Election Office. We have several items here for a total request of $61,000. It’s my understanding this money has been deposited into the County General Fund. So I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

ELECTION OFFICE                                               REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

DRUG & ALCOHOL DEFERRAL SERVICE

Councilmember Raben: Okay, Drug & Alcohol Deferral Services, 1371-3930 Other Contractual in the amount of $4,950. This is a buy-out and according to state statute, they must have a Chief Probation Officer in place, I will move approval.

Deloris Koch: Excuse me, its not for a probation officer. Its for training for our office to gain access to the probation module in Courtview. This is the $4,950 for the Drug & Alcohol Deferral Service. Is there a misunderstanding there?

Councilmember Raben: Oh, that’s –

Deloris Koch: I had withdrawn a request last month in regard to staff. Actually we only need $2,500. We have been approved for a grant from the – or monies from the probation fund by the judges for half of that amount and I’ve applied for a grant with the judicial center for the other half. I’m waiting today for a response yet today to see if they’ve approved that. We may be reimbursed.

Councilmember Raben: So for today, we just need 2,500? Madam Present, I’ll amend my motion for 1371-3930 in the amount of $2,500.

Councilmember Leader: Second.

President Abell: I have a question. This is for training with Courtview?

Deloris Koch: Yes.

President Abell: Has Tim VanCleave talked to Courtview about, it seems like something under our contract with them provides for some additional training.

Deloris Koch: Apparently not for us. They trained all the probation officers when they were established, but not for us. It will cover – the licensor and the maintenance agreement will still apply, we don’t have to pay anything extra for that. This is just the up-front training and the setup to meet out needs for our office. And they’ll train two of our staff and we’ll train the rest of the staff. Its all we could afford.

President Abell: Okay, that’s fine. Thank you. Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

DRUG & ALCOHOL DEFERRAL SERVICE         REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

BURDETTE PARK

Councilmember Raben: Okay, next, Burdette Park, Other Employees in the amount of $75,000, FICA in the amount of 5,738, for a total of 80,738. I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

President Abell: Any questions? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

BURDETTE PARK                                                 REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

Steve Craig: Thank you.

President Abell: Thank you, Mr. Craig.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Councilmember Raben: Okay, Health Department, 2130-2241 Institutional & Medical in the amount of $45,962, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Winnecke: Second.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT                                       REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

REASSESSMENT/KNIGHT TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR

Councilmember Raben: Next, under Reassessment, Knight Township Assessor, Extra Help in the amount of $12,000, FICA in the amount of $918, for a total of $12,918, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Leader: Second.

Councilmember Winnecke: Madam President, I did have a question on this.

President Abell: Mr. Winnecke, go ahead.

Shirley Reeder: Good morning, Shirley Reeder, Knight Township.

Councilmember Winnecke: I know we talked about this last week but I forgot the answer, so you’re comfortable that this will get you through the balance of the year?

Shirley Reeder: Yes, for the three employees that we have at Extra Help, yes.

Councilmember Winnecke: Thank you.

Shirley Reeder: Thank you.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

KNIGHT TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR                        REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

Shirley Reeder: Thank you very much.

Councilmember Raben: Thank you.

REASSESSMENT/PERRY TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR

Councilmember Raben: Perry Township Assessor, we have a request for Travel & Mileage in the amount of 900, Equipment Repair 500, Dues & Subscriptions in the amount of 280, for a total of $1,680. I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Leader: Second.

President Abell: Discussion? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

PERRY TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR                          REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

CIRCUIT COURT SUPPLEMENTAL ADULT PROBATION

Councilmember Raben: Supplemental Adult Probation, in the amount of 11,329, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Winnecke: Second.

President Abell: Mr. Sutton, did you have some –

Councilmember Sutton: Did we get an explanation on this last week?

Councilmember Raben: This is what I had mentioned earlier. This is a buy-out for the current Chief Probation Officer. I’ll allow Karen to explain that.

Karen Angermeier: This is the buy-out for our Chief Probation Officer who is retiring after 33 years.

Councilmember Sutton: And based on how we’ve been operating up to this point, after we buy someone out, there’s a period of time before the next person comes on. How long will it be before the, the period of time where you guys will have to wait until the next person –

Karen Angermeier: Because of the buyout, we would be able to replace him immediately, because we have to have a Chief Probation Officer on staff.

Councilmember Sutton: Okay. Alright.

President Abell: Anyone else? Roll call vote, please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

CIRCUIT COURT

SUPPLEMENTAL ADULT PROBATION              REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

SURVEYOR CORNER PERPETUATION

Councilmember Raben: Okay, Surveyor Corner Perpetuation Fund for a new vehicle in the amount of $25,000. I’ll move approval.

President Abell: Discussion? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

SURVEYOR CORNER PERPETUATION             REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

CIRCUIT COURT SUPPLEMENTAL ADULT PROBATION

SHERIFF/MISDEMEANOR HOUSING

TOURISM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT (LATE)

WEIGHTS & MEASURES (LATE)

SUPERIOR COURT (LATE)

REASSESSMENT/PIGEON TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR (LATE)

Councilmember Raben: Okay, that concludes appropriations. As far as transfers, first under C, Weights & Measures, that request has been withdrawn. Madam President, if everyone is agreeable, I’ll move that all transfers be approved as listed.

Councilmember Leader: I have a question.

President Abell: Does someone want to second it, and then you can –

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

President Abell: Okay, go ahead, Mrs. Leader.

Councilmember Leader: Mr. Raben, my understanding on Weights & Measures was that the copy machine had been repaired and does that mean that everything was relative to the copy machine in that $900?

Councilmember Raben: For right now, Loretta said she’s fine with the transfer being withdrawn.

Councilmember Sutton: One other question, on the Tourism Capital Improvement fund? Did we get some explanation on that transfer?

President Abell: Mr. Vezzoso?

Councilmember Sutton: Where you’re talking – moving $12,000 from the museum, African-American Museum to Land Acquisition.

President Abell: I think its $120,000, Mr. Sutton.

Joe Vezzoso: Joe Vezzoso, President of the Convention Bureau. It’s $120,000 and we’re transferring, requesting a transfer from a line item, it’s 4071 African-American Museum to line item 4172 Land Acquisition. Later in the year we will come before you again with an appropriation to refund that 4071. Does that answer your question?

Councilmember Sutton: Somewhat.

Joe Vezzoso: This is for the purchase of land at Burdette Park. And for us to have the funds to be able to do that, we have to transfer at this point in the year and as that fund builds up again, then we will come back and reappropriate the money for the African American Museum. The African American Museum appropriation was approved earlier in the year, so we’re just transferring those funds over into the other line item.

Councilmember Sutton: So I guess from a timing standpoint, the museum funds aren’t needed now or –

Joe Vezzoso: Our agreement with the city of Evansville is that they advance those funds to pay for the African American Museum, and we actually, we pay the city. And our payment to the city is not due until December 31st and we have already talked to the city. And if we’d need to extend that payment date, we can go into next year. But we feel that we will have the funds built to a sufficient amount to cover this $120,000.

Councilmember Sutton: So you’ll be back to see us by the end of the year on this?

Joe Vezzoso: We’ll be back before that. Probably a couple of months, we’ll be back for an appropriation to transfer the money back in here so we can make our payment to the city.

Councilmember Sutton: Okay. Alright. Thank you.

Joe Vezzoso: I would say that that land is very valuable out there and we’re certainly pleased to be a part of acquiring that property for the county, and especially for Burdette Park. Had that not occurred, it would not have been good for the county or the park, so we’re glad to be a part of that. Any other questions?

President Abell: Thank you, Mr. Vezzoso. We’re happy you’re a part of it, also.

Joe Vezzoso: Well, thank you. We appreciate it.

President Abell: I think the one point that Mr. Sutton wants to make, and I think we certainly on the record want to make the point, that we are not cutting into the African American Museum’s funds at all. We’re just doing a little in-house moving money, but we’re not eliminating them from our budget.

Councilmember Sutton: Precisely, that’s what I’m inquiring about.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

CIRCUIT COURT SUPP. ADULT PROBATION   REQUESTED       APPROVED

SHERIFF/MISDEMEANOR HOUSING                  REQUESTED       APPROVED

TOURISM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT                  REQUESTED       APPROVED

WEIGHTS & MEASURES                                      REQUESTED       APPROVED

SUPERIOR COURT                                               REQUESTED       APPROVED

REASSESSMENT/PIGEON TWP. ASSESSOR    REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

Councilmember Raben: Okay, Madam President, that concludes the appropriations and transfers. Last, we have the amendments to the Salary Ordinance. First, under Sheriff, I move that we amend salary line 1050-1300 Overtime as previously adopted. Salary line 1050-1301 Civilian Overtime as previously adopted. Under Jail, 1051-1850 Union Overtime as previously adopted. Community Corrections, 1361-1850 Union Overtime as previously adopted. Under Burdette Park, move we amend salary line 1450-1180 Other Employees as previously adopted. Knight Township Assessor, 2490-1130-1990 Extra Help as previously adopted. Circuit Court Supplemental Adult Probation salary ordinance line 2600-1971 Accrued Payments as previously approved. This is for the buyout of the retiring Chief Probation Officer. Salary line under Sheriff/Misdemeanor Housing 2780-1530 Shift Differential as previously approved. Pigeon Assessor 2490-1150-1990 Extra Help as previously approved. And under Public Defender, salary line 1303-1830 Juvenile Court - Public Defender to an Executive II, Step 3 as recommended by the Personnel Administration Committee. The annual salary will be $59,078 effective August 6th of 2007. This Step 3 placement applies only to salary and does not include Step 3 vacation allowance. I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Leader: Second.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Abell: I think that takes care of all of your business, doesn’t it, Mr. Raben? Okay. We have nothing under Old Business. Under new business, we are removing, at the request of the County Commissioners, the Ordinance Approving the

Acquisition of Real Estate from the State of Indiana. They do intend to bring that back to us at some point, but it is being removed today.

President Abell: We have put back on the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage Ordinance for first reading. We’ll vote on that today and it will be moved to second reading in September. And I understand that Miss Heiman is here and wants to address this issue.

Roberta Heiman: Thank you for so much for hearing me. First, its so encouraging to see county government’s increased interest in working with the city on the Greenway. It’s just really encouraging to see that. And I’m just here to say that there are a lot of citizens who have dreamed of this for a long time. And it needs an advocate. Local government has so much to do and so little to do it with sometimes. Projects like the Greenway come along and this just has to rank among many things you have to do, so it needs an advocate and we are more than willing to serve as that advocate and work with you in helping maintain it, promote it, plan special events. Do all of that kind of good stuff while you guys do your work, and so that’s what I’m here to do. Please don’t leave it in limbo. We need a way for people who care about the Greenway to be active in it.

President Abell: I am assuming when you say we, you are referring to the League of Women Voters?

Roberta Heiman: No, I’m not here for the League, I’m just here for me. For people who just –

President Abell: There’s more “we” than just you, in other words.

Roberta Heiman: Yeah. Okay, thanks.

President Abell: Does anyone have any questions?

Councilmember Raben: Just one comment, I’ve suggested this a few times before. I would just like to see something big, some sort of dedication made towards the real pioneer, the real workhorse for the Greenway, Shirley James, who has recently passed. So that’s my only recommendation or real favor that I ask, that something in her honor be made.

President Abell: Mr. Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: I guess, when I first came on, I was 17 years old, that was 35 years ago, I was a senior in high school on the Park Board, and we talked about the Greenway then. And really, nothing much was done for many years and for maybe a couple of decades, in fact. My biggest concern is, particularly as County Councilman now, is that it seems to be that the same plans that we laid out 20 or 30 years ago are still what’s primarily in place today. And a lot has changed. A lot of new ideas, concepts, have come about in the way of utilizing recreation areas, particularly Greenways. And I would like to see us incorporate, and the last time I had met with Shirley James I had not really seen that, although they talked about it, but I’d like to see us incorporate some areas like where you have utility type of easements and stuff, and a lot of that’s in the county areas, and see us incorporate some of that existing into those areas. And we might be able to cooperate with Vectren, tax incentives and stuff that we could utilize those properties and make a full area that would also encompass county rural areas as well as the urban areas.

Roberta Heiman: The state’s plan in creating its new greenway and bikeway system throughout Indiana is to, as they’ve done in Indianapolis on the Monon Trail, the way that was financed largely was using it as a utility corridor. And it began as a partial solution to a major sewer and flooding problem in Indianapolis. Ray Irvin, the director of the state plan, is an expert on explaining it, but they’re using it for – oh, what do you call these lines now? They’re not micro fiber lines, they’re fiber optic. You know, a corridor for that. There are all sorts of – aside from the safety and health and environmental reasons to have this, there are financial reasons to have it. In Indianapolis they have figures showing that more people use their greenway than attend all of those major sporting events that Indianapolis has. This is something people really, really want and they really, really use it. And in a community where our income is lower than the state and national averages, this would be a wonderful asset for families to use for free, a safe place for our kids to ride their bikes, just, you know, there are all sorts of reasons for this community to get serious about completing this greenway. Thank you.

Councilmember Shetler: And I don’t disagree. I guess my point is, I’m not seeing any of those new ideas incorporated into our local plan at this moment. And I would really like to see that be a part of it and that was really some of my objection from the past is that I’d like to see us get this to be a lot more comprehensive as opposed to being so narrowly defined as it was before. So, thank you.

President Abell: Mr. Jarboe?

Keith Jarboe: Good morning. Keith Jarboe. And I agree, I agree with what you’re saying. The one point I would make is that the entire greenway is in the county, because the city is in the county of Vanderburgh County. So this is really a county project and a city project. So I think it’s important that we work hand in hand to get this moving forward and I really believe, and it was the Council’s thought when we passed this ordinance, that by getting this committee together, by getting individuals from the area, from the county, the city, joined together, that we could think big and we could come up with new ways, new visions of how the greenway could be. And we could also give a quality of life project in Evansville and the county of Vanderburgh, that would really help draw young people here. This is one thing we always hear about is, well, we have this brain drain and that young people don’t want to come to Evansville. My son lives in Connecticut and they did the rails to trails up there. They have 26 miles of bike trails up there where they took abandoned railroad tracks and it was a huge success. Every day on the weekends and throughout the week, there are hundreds of people that travel those trails because it’s a quality of life issue. And I think, I would urge you to pass the ordinance and I’ll be back in September, I promise you, because this is truly a quality of life issue and it’s something that we could work together and think big about. And really be progressive in Vanderburgh County. So thank you.

President Abell: Thank you. Anyone have any questions of Mr. Jarboe? Anyone else? I guess I first need a motion and a second.

Councilmember Winnecke: Madam President, I would move that we adopt the Pigeon Creek Greenway ordinance that’s been presented.

Councilmember Leader: I will second.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?