President Winnecke: Would you please stand and join in the Pledge of Allegiance?

(Pledge of Allegiance was given)

President Winnecke: At this time I would entertain a motion to approve the minutes from our July 5th meeting.

Councilmember Tornatta: So moved.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Winnecke: Okay, before we begin with the appropriation requests, I’ll just remind the folks who are viewing at home that we heard information on these requests last week, and so at this point we’ll turn it over to the Finance Chair, Mr. Raben.

CLERK

Councilmember Raben: Okay, thank you, Mr. President. First is Clerk under 1010-1400-1010 in the amount of $1,891, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

CLERK                                                                   REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

SURVEYOR

Councilmember Raben: Okay, Surveyor, 1060-2210 and 1060-2230 for a total of $2,800, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: A clear yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

SURVEYOR                                                           REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

CORONER

Councilmember Raben: Coroner, 1070-2210 and 1070-3200, for a total of $8,000, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: There’s a motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Mr. Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Okay, last time we were here, we had talked about just different issues on how this bill was paid and maybe it wasn’t paid effectively. And I think, with talking to Auditor Fluty, and I didn’t mean to bang on you last time, Bill, so I apologize for that, and let’s get that on the record, but I did want to say that communications were enhanced and reinforced between the Coroner’s Office and the Auditor’s Office and how things were to be put in at a specific time. And I think things have been rectified so that we will actually have this problem dissolved very quickly, if I’m not mistaken. If that correct?

Bill Fluty: That is correct. I met with Don Erk and Annie Groves.

Councilmember Tornatta: Okay, so no one gets the bad seed on this one. Everybody has talked and communication has prevailed again and I think that everyone is on the same page and so I appreciate you working that out. Thank you.

President Winnecke: Any other discussion or questions? Roll call vote, please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

CORONER                                                             REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

PROSECUTOR FEE CHECK RECOVERY

Councilmember Raben: Okay, Prosecutor Fee Check Recovery, 1082-1910 in the amount of $465, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

PROSECUTOR FEE CHECK RECOVERY REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

SUPERINTENDENT OF COUNTY BUILDINGS

Councilmember Raben: Okay, under Superintendent of County Buildings, 1310-1150-1310 and 1310-1900, 1310-2860, for a total request of $6,201, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yeah, I’d just like to, Bill, you’re in the audience, if you could answer some questions?

Bill Nix: Yes, sir.

Councilmember Tornatta: Commissioner, when was the hire date of the employee in question?

Bill Nix: Are you talking about Carla Hayden?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Bill Nix: I don’t know that I’ve got that here handy. (Inaudible -- comments made away from the microphone.) I don’t have the exact hire date.

Councilmember Tornatta: Middle of June? Okay. Well, we have a policy and we want to try and keep everyone on policy. And maybe this is a policy we have to change and we have to work around because we know that these things are going to arise and we know there are critical positions and obviously you know you have to have somebody answering a phone or at least work it out so you can do that. And I don’t have a problem with making sure that those things are accommodated. You’ve got to do your job just like we do.

Bill Nix: That’s right.

Councilmember Tornatta: But we have to vote on policy and I think its awful hard knowing that the person that left the position had to give some type of notice and that your office was not in here trying to get those funds set up before you hired that person or at least trying to work that out beforehand, in order to get this thing resolved, so that we’re not doing things on the backside. Because the last thing that I want to see up here at this office, is to see that we are paying people from the things that they’ve done in the future or things they’ve done in the past. I’m not really wanting to get to a position where people are doing things and then come back asking for money.

Bill Nix: Is there something you think we should have done different, I guess, from a procedural standpoint, than we did?

Councilmember Tornatta: Well, as the policy is set now, and I think that a few of us on the Council have talked, we’d like to address that policy because there are certain people that need to be recognized, especially offices where you have a very few amount of people in your office, we need to look at those offices that have a small amount of people and say hey, if there’s something that comes up, we need to address these a little bit quicker than maybe an office that has 45 or 50.

Bill Nix: Sure.

Councilmember Tornatta: Maybe that’s something we need to look at. If you have a Chief Deputy, if you’re an office, maybe we ought to look at that. We’ll have one of these coming up. And, here again, I like to stick with policy whether it’s a Chief Deputy or whatever, policy is policy.

Bill Nix: I’d be willing to sit down with you and talk about that.

Councilmember Tornatta: So, I guess, what I’m saying is, I would appreciate, in the future, if whether it be your office, and let any other offices know, that when you’re coming to us, please come to us within a period of time that we can try and address the problem before the problem comes about so that we don’t have to do transfers and go outside policy. It makes our job a lot cleaner and it sets an example for the rest of the offices.

Bill Nix: I don’t have a problem with that at all.

Councilmember Tornatta: Okay, thank you very much.

Bill Nix: You’re welcome.

President Winnecke: Any other questions or discussion?

Councilmember Abell: President Winnecke, I’d just like to say that if Mr. Tornatta does want to pursue that, I’d be willing to sit on a committee with that. Having been an officeholder, I think I could help on how we could address these positions when people to need staffing because we’ve kept our staffing low over the last few years – almost to none – and so these offices do operate on a skeletal crew, and when they’ve got key positions available, its tough. So if you decide to appoint a committee, I’d certainly like to help out.

President Winnecke: Okay, thank you.

Bill Nix: I think in this particular instance, too, we had about a week and a half’s notice or so. And its just tough, sometimes, to get everybody together to do that. So, I mean, if there’s something we can do different to make that smoother, I’d be willing to work with you on that.

President Winnecke: Okay, there’s a motion and a second, further questions or discussion?

Councilmember Sutton: One other thing, I think another thing has kind of arisen out of this, and its been in place for years, and perhaps maybe we can spend some time maybe revisiting this if there’s a committee that is formed, and that is this whole thing with the payouts. For the officeholder who has to potentially wait for an extended period of time or come before Council and seek additional money out of part-time dollars or something like that, it really does become quite a long process to wait until you actually can hire somebody at times. And just looking at that and how we can address that, whether – and I’m not sure all of the areas in the policy we might be touching upon, but clearly there’s some issues here that, you know, we’ve seen with a number of different offices when it comes to – when we have these large payouts that we have to make or we have to wait for an extended period of time until the payout does exhaust itself, it just seems to be real inconvenient and not necessarily the best way to approach this.

Bill Nix: I’m just curious, how many times does this happen in a year?

Councilmember Tornatta: Three. Its happened three times in the past, I believe. The Auditor’s, I thought I’d have a little paperwork here, but three times, and one was a public safety issue where a Sheriff had moved on. At that time, instead of leaving somebody without a squad car on the road, we went ahead and put somebody in that position. One time when the administration of the Commission changed, we had an issue out at the county garage where we were replacing one with another. I thought that’s the appropriate time to get things settled up and squared away for the new administration. And I believe it happened one other time. It was a very small issue and I apologize, Teri, do you –

Teri Lukeman: Voter Registration.

Councilmember Tornatta: Oh, Voter Registration, and at that time, both the Republican and Democrat people in that office decided they’d let one person go through attrition. And at that time, we went ahead and took care of them so that that would be a clean issue. So, at no time did we do it knowing that if somebody else was going to fill a role where it was just somebody in the office. It was either public safety or a shift change or administration change.

Bill Nix: But anytime a person leaves a position, there’s a line item for each individual county employee, so I guess what Councilman Sutton is saying is that, you have to go through this process of, if someone is making more money in that line item and you hire somebody else, that buyout, I mean, its rather a lengthy process for the Council, isn’t it?

Councilmember Tornatta: Depending on how long that person has been in office. With the person in your position, they’ve been in office for quite a period of time to pay them out. At that point, you know, if they were owed 13,000, let’s just say that, their regular scheduled salary would be paid out until 13,000 was accumulated. And at some point, that could be quite a long term. As policy sets it now, that’s just how we do things.

Bill Nix: That’s the way it is.

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes, and we kind of went away from that because we had so many people retiring, it was eating into our general fund. So we had to prolong some of those payouts. But at some point, we need to address when these critical people are actually moving on to another job or switching jobs so that we don’t leave somebody hanging in county government. And I believe there’s a good movement to revisit how we do policy. And, if we can, I’m in favor of this.

President Winnecke: Mr. Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: I agree 100 percent. And I think Mr. Tornatta and Mr. Sutton, I’m just learning some of the ropes here, but I think in the end, are we serving an individual? There’s a difference between retirement and buyout, to me, and a resignation or someone quitting and buying that person out. And I think, are we serving that individual or are we serving the general public? And in this case, I think we’re doing more for that individual than we are for the public. And I know its not your issue, but I think its something that maybe I’m way off base, but can be discussed when that committee is formed, but I don’t know if that policy works that way in the private sector or not.

President Winnecke: I think it, just to kind of put a period at the end of this discussion here, I think the issue really came up as a matter of financial prudence, when we probably had less money than what we do today, and at the time it seemed like the most financially prudent thing to do. I don’t disagree necessarily with anything that’s been said. At this time, before we vote, I would appoint Mrs. Abell and Mr. Tornatta to chair a committee and maybe look at this issue and come back to the Council in a reasonable amount of time with a recommendation. And maybe the recommendation is we take everything on a case by case basis and we don’t have the blanket policy. But I would defer to the two of you to get together and then come back with a recommendation at a later time. Okay, we do have a motion on the floor and a second. We’ll do a roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

Bill Nix: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Thank you, Commissioner.

AMENDED

SUPERINTENDENT OF COUNTY BUILDINGS   REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

THE CENTRE

Councilmember Raben: Under The Centre, 1440-1140-1440 down through 1440-1190-1440 for a total of $7. I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

THE CENTRE                                                        REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

BURDETTE PARK

Councilmember Raben: Okay, next under Burdette Park, 1450-1210-1450 through 1450-2310 for a total of $51,565. I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

BURDETTE PARK                                                 REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

CCD/COMMISSIONERS

Councilmember Raben: Under CCD, 2031-1300-4114 in the amount of $18,110, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? And I see Mr. Acker is in the audience, if you would like to come up and do a brief explanation of this project.

Mark Acker: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

President Winnecke: Good morning.

Mark Acker: Thank you for your courtesy. As you know, I’ve been in the Old Courthouse since 1993, one of the first offices moved over out of the Civic Center complex to try to revitalize the rental use of the Old Courthouse. And the idea was, eventually to move additional county offices there. The Engineer Office moved in shortly after I was there and they kind of renovated, made the place look much nicer. As you can see in the pictures I provided on your desks, there is a folder, plaster falling off the ceiling, paint peeling from the walls, the carpeting has been in there since `93, its buckling and causing a trip hazard in the various office areas. After the Engineer’s was done, we went over and looked at it. Its esthetically pleasing, its nice looking, it looks professional, and so my secretary, by the way, so you can send her a letter of thank you, got on my back and asked me if I could do something about getting the office cleaned up. So I went over to the Engineer’s Office, talked with them, felt it was redundant to start looking for bids. The people that were doing the work, and had done the work, and have been approved by this body, knew the paint schemes, the color, everything is identical, there is no aesthetic changes to the building, or any defacing or changing of the structure itself. It’s just simply plaster repair, and paint and carpeting. And I hope that you will see that that’s necessary in that office over there. It will help enhance the look of the building, also.

President Winnecke: The only other question I had, and I think you’ve kind of touched on it, but the renovation is in keeping with the historical significance –

Mark Acker: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And in keeping with the Engineers’ because I knew they went through that and so historically, there is no changing as far as the structure itself or altering anything.

President Winnecke: Okay. Mr. Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: And it sure needed it.

Mark Acker: Yes, sir. It does need it pretty badly.

President Winnecke: Mr. Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Thanks for bringing this in. It answers a lot of questions and I’m a visual person, so I can see the need is there. Thank you.

Mark Acker: You’re quite welcome. Thank you.

President Winnecke: Other questions or discussion? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

CCD/COMMISSIONERS                                        REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

Mark Acker: Thank you very much for your time and courtesy.

President Winnecke: Thank you, Mark.

REASSESSMENT/UNION TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR

Councilmember Raben: Okay, next under Reassessment funds, we have one for Union Township Assessor and its 2490-1170-1990 and 2490-1170-1900, for a total of $2,197.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: There’s a motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

REASSESS./UNION TWP. ASSESSOR               REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

CORONER

PUBLIC DEFENDER

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

TREASURER

SUPERINTENDENT OF COUNTY BUILDINGS

SHERIFF/MISDEMEANOR HOUSING

Councilmember Raben: Okay, next, Mr. President, I’m going to move that all transfers be approved as listed including the late transfer for the Sheriff/Misdemeanor Housing and, let’s see, that’s the only late one.

President Winnecke: Treasurer?

Councilmember Raben: Treasurer.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Mr. Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: I was wondering if Z, the Treasurer, could come up. I had a couple of questions on that request. We did get information regarding your, I guess you lost your Chief Deputy, I did want to get an idea, in terms of timetable, where you stand in the process of trying to get this position replaced. What’s it looking like?

Z Tuley: I didn’t right away start looking or interviewing because he was still present. I wanted to wait until he was gone. I stepped back, I took a look at everything, I made a list of what I was looking for in qualifications and this kind of thing, and then I think it was maybe a week ago or Friday or so, I went to Sandie and I said, when does the Deputy get to start, because I didn’t have that paperwork, although, apparently I signed off on it. I didn’t read it close enough to notice the time frame. So when I found out that the line was bought out until October 3, that’s when I said, oh, I can’t wait that long. And I’ve been interviewing and I have a list of things that I’ve been looking for and I’ve been trying to do both jobs. And I’m also trying to supervise the staff and we’re in the middle of the tax sale list, so sometimes those are very unusual situations and sometimes the situations are unusual on a daily basis. And if this was any other position, I have other people that are trained as backup. And I, myself, can fill in on any job that is in that office. But when it is the Chief Deputy’s position, I don’t have a regular staff member trained that is qualified to handle that job on their own. I have to do that job myself and my job and assist with any kind of daily unusual things, and we’ve had some bankruptcy issues and some things I’ve had to read over on that. And I probably should have sat down sooner and looked at this time frame a little closer, but you’re just going at such a quick pace and everything is kind of coming at you at the same time, if you want to say I dropped the ball, then I dropped the ball. But when I did find out from Sandie that it was going to be this long and that nothing was bought out on the side, that everything came out of this line including vacation and personal time and whatever that had accumulated, I sat there and I said, I can’t keep up this pace for another two full months.

Councilmember Sutton: So you’ve got some candidates, and so I’m just trying to gain a sense of when to anticipate that you’ll probably be down to a point where you’re ready to make a decision on whoever that candidate may be, because I don’t know of – we’ve got, I mean, this request here, how much time will this request allow for you to pay –

Z Tuley: A start date of August 21st.

Councilmember Sutton: That’s what this amount is here?

Z Tuley: Uh-huh.

Councilmember Sutton: And is that what you’re anticipating?

Z Tuley: Uh-huh. I have tax sale August the 28th. I really need a Chief Deputy in there just so, if nothing else, they can ward off some of the day to day stuff for me to give them enough training that some of the day to day stuff that might seem a bit unusual can be handled, so that I can sit with the tax sale person. The tax sale clerk that I currently have, she’s been in the office for several years, however, she is a rookie to this position. And I need time to spend with her to go over the list thoroughly and make sure that we don’t have any problems with that come Monday the 28th. If I don’t get someone in there before then, I fear that we will run out of time and it’s very stressful trying to deal with two jobs, two full-time jobs, and this is a key position. Like I said, if it was any other position, then we would have enough staff that could chip in and help for some period of time. But I can’t go two full months without a Chief.

Councilmember Sutton: Well, and that goes back to what I was sharing earlier, that perhaps maybe a case by case situation, as we go back and revisit this with this committee, being able to figure out how we can address certain situations, whether it’s a, we wait until that payout is exhausted or we go ahead and fill the positions a little bit sooner based on the size of the office. I mean, if you’ve got a smaller office, obviously it has a greater impact than someone who’s got, you know, fifty employees in their office. But, and then looking at that position, whether its someone who is like a Chief Deputy or someone that has maybe a position that is not as great a responsibility, is something this committee can take a look at. But trying to gain a sense on your request –

Z Tuley: The other time frame that disturbs me –

Councilmember Sutton: – when you plan on getting this in place and it appears you’re well on the way to getting this going.

Z Tuley: That’s what I’ve recognized, the time frame that I need to cover, you know, looking at the whole picture. The other thing is, we have tax deadline coming up November 10. The tax deadline is, everybody comes in seemingly all at once and pays and then they go away. So then you’re cleaning up whatever you had to throw off to the side because you just had to deal with the taxpayer. I need to make sure that I have someone in there and trained properly to be able to handle this tax season as well. Like I said, if it was regular staff member, it would be different. But if I’m at lunch, the Chief Deputy is going to have to be trained well enough to handle a taxpayer issue complaint, or what have you, while I’m at lunch. And evaluating, its going to take some time. The Chief Deputy that left had ten years of experience and you didn’t have to tell him much.

President Winnecke: Okay, the motion on the floor is to approve the transfers and late transfers as presented. Any other questions or discussion?

Councilmember Tornatta: I was just going to say, Z, I know this happened kind of mid-July, I believe you were telling me, so I appreciate you coming in here and trying to get this handled before we got into another issue, so if policy goes along, I appreciate you getting in as quickly as possible. Thanks.

Z Tuley: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

CORONER                                                             REQUESTED       APPROVED

PUBLIC DEFENDER                                             REQUESTED       APPROVED

HEALTH DEPARTMENT                                       REQUESTED       APPROVED

TREASURER                                                         REQUESTED       APPROVED

SUPERINTENDENT OF COUNTY BUILDINGS   REQUESTED       APPROVED

SHERIFF/MISDEMEANOR HOUSING                  REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

Councilmember Raben: Okay and last, Mr. President, are the Salary Ordinance amendments, (inaudible– microphone turned off), move for approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Winnecke: Mr. Sutton, did you have something you wanted to mention?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes, thank you, Mr. President. A couple of weeks ago, I had a meeting with a gentleman, Herman Oliver, and he’s the director of what’s called the Indiana Plan. It’s a new initiative by Governor Daniels to encourage more participation in the building trades. I guess in Indiana, what we are beginning to see is a declining number of people in the building trades just as a number of large construction projects are about to begin to take hold, in particular, like I-69. So in an effort to try to increase the number and participation of those in the building trades, in particular as well as minorities involved in the building trades, they have developed this Indiana Plan. And the intent is to locate offices in key cities throughout the state. There’s already one in Indianapolis, one in Gary, in South Bend, they’re intending to open an office here in Evansville. And what they are wanting to do, as a part of this, is to encourage participation in the building trades from those who may not even consider the building trades where you’re talking about a minimum pay scale level for these trainees being at least $10 an hour. And in a market like what we’ve got right now, that would be a welcome sight for some individuals who may not have other employment options. As they are trying to gear up for this, they are trying to gauge to see if there is local support for this type of effort and an office being opened here. Now, they wouldn’t be coming to ask us for funding necessarily, but they’re looking for our support. They’ve been to the city, the city has expressed their support for the Indiana Plan. The County Commissioners had it on their agenda yesterday and they expressed interest or support for the plan. And so I’m coming to you today to ask if we could prepare a letter seeking to support this Indiana Plan and send that on to Herman Oliver, who is the director, and tell him that the County Council is fully supportive of their effort to locate an office down here.

President Winnecke: And just to clarify, the state would fund the operation of the office in...

Councilmember Sutton: The state would fund it but they’re also going to receive some funding from the local unions here. They’re going to draw some support from them.

President Winnecke: Mr. Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: You’ve got that new facility out there that should be a factor in something like this on the building trades, that new technical school.

Councilmember Sutton: That would help tremendously, that’s one of the resources that they’re going to draw on to gain some additional participation in the trades and they’re going to work with several other entities here in the community to try to really get the word out. So I’m just asking you today, I don’t know if by a shake of your head or raise a hand or something if you are supportive of this, and then we could prepare a letter to send it on to them, to show the county is supportive.

Councilmember Wortman: Ivy Tech is another one.

Councilmember Sutton: They’re going to work with Ivy Tech as well.

Councilmember Raben: It sounds as if this would almost want to be joined at the hip with the new multi-county regional development committee.

President Winnecke: Right. Is everyone in favor of us sending a letter of support? Everybody raise your right hand if you are. In that case, Mr. Sutton, why don’t you and I get together and I will draft a letter and send it on behalf of the Council to Mr. Oliver.

Councilmember Sutton: Okay, thank you.

President Winnecke: Any other business to come before us? In that case, I would remind everyone that our county budget hearings begin next Tuesday at 9 a.m. Bring your budget books and lots of patience, so I appreciate everyone’s hard work as we gear up for this important time. With no other business to come before us, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Councilmember Wortman: So moved.

President Winnecke: We are adjourned.

(There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 a.m.)

VANDERBURGH COUNTY COUNCIL

                                                                                                                                             President Lloyd Winnecke                 Vice President Marsha Abell

       Councilmember Jim Raben           Councilmember Mike Goebel

                                                                                                                                         Councilmember Curt Wortman       Councilmember Royce Sutton

Councilmember Troy Tornatta

Recorded and transcribed by Teri Lukeman