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 consider a motion to approve minutes from our April 5th meeting.

Councilmember Wortman: So moved.

Councilmember Tornatta: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0) 

President Winnecke: At this time, we’ll begin with our appropriation requests. For those of you who are viewing at home or may not watch us all that frequently, these are requests that we heard detail on last week, so if we don’t have questions I’m assuming that – I think its fair for you to assume at home that we have the answers we need, we think, to make the votes we do. Also, as a note, Mr. Raben is out of town. Our Council Vice President, Marsha Abell, will serve as the finance chair for the meeting and I’ll turn the floor over to her.

RECORDER

Councilmember Abell: Thank you, Mr. President. Let’s start with the Recorder’s request for extra help for a total of $10,765. I move for approval.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Questions or discussion? I would just note that Mrs. Smith has had some health problems the last few days. We send her the best from the Council. 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

RECORDER                                                           REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

SHERIFF

Councilmember Abell: The next item, Sheriff/Overtime, the total amount of $20,000, make that in the form of a motion.

Councilmember Tornatta: 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: No.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

SHERIFF                                                                REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion carried 5-1/Councilmember Wortman opposed)

JAIL

Councilmember Abell: The next item, Jail/Shift Differential set in at $28,000 as requested; Union Overtime requested at $45,000, set it in at $25,000, for a total of $53,000. Put that in the form of a motion.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: No.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

JAIL                                                                       REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion carried 5-1/Councilmember Wortman opposed)

ELECTION OFFICE

Councilmember Abell: Next item, the Election Office, set in a total of $23,400 as requested. I would like to make note that the Clerk, I’m sure, will be coming back in the fall to ask for more money because this does pretty well deplete that, take that account down quite a bit for when we do have another election.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

Councilmember Abell: Thank you.

Councilmember Sutton: Or were you done? I’m sorry.

Councilmember Abell: I’m finished.

Councilmember Sutton: I just didn’t know if you had more commentary.

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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

ELECTION OFFICE                                               REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Councilmember Abell: Next item, County Commissioners, for a total of $119,771, I move for approval.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

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

Councilmember Tornatta: I had a quick question. Did we find out about the reason why the Unemployment seems to keep going up? If somebody can address that please.

B.J. Farrell: I’m B.J. Farrell, I’m here representing the Commissioners. Um, I do not know the reason for the Unemployment other than there are employees or former employees collecting that. That information is held by the Auditor’s Office and we just watch the budget and monitor it and when its getting low, we ask the Council to replenish that account so that there’s money available when those claims come through.

Councilmember Tornatta: I had asked Commissioner Nix at last Wednesday’s meeting just if he could come up and maybe, Auditor Fluty, this is a question for you as well, is there any trend or any reasoning why we are starting to see this number creep up quite a bit?

Bill Fluty: Vanderburgh County is a reimbursable account. We don’t – we budget some money into that account, but we have no way of knowing how many employees will leave Vanderburgh County and apply for unemployment benefits.

Councilmember Tornatta: I guess what I’m looking at, over the course of – I’ve asked Commissioner Nix to look over a course of five years and see if there was a different trend. Maybe, do we need to change the way we do business?

Bill Fluty: Meaning actually budget more money in there? I mean, that could be a possibility.

Councilmember Tornatta: I don’t know, or why are we losing the amount of employees – I mean, do we need to address these certain items? Why we’re losing a certain amount of employees, if that’s the case. If we’re seeing a trend toward...

Bill Fluty: I don’t think there’s been a study on why we’re losing employees, why there’s a movement in our employee workforce. It may be because of our pay. But there may be many reasons, but that hasn’t been done.

Councilmember Tornatta: Okay. If we could look, I think it would be good knowledge for the Council to see why that trend is moving, if it is. But I looked over the last five years, it looks like we’re moving up quite a bit in that area, so if we could kind of get an idea, it would be great.

B.J. Farrell: There has been an increase and I’ll do some research and see what I can find out.

Councilmember Tornatta: Thank you.

President Winnecke: And there is a nice bar graph on your desk that provides a three year history of each of the areas for which the Commissioners seek funding today: Unemployment, Legal Advertising and Utilities, so you can see the trend, although the analysis that you asked for or the reasoning behind the trends is not there. But here you see what the trends are.

B.J. Farrell: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Other 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS                                REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

SUPERINTENDENT OF COUNTY BUILDINGS

Councilmember Abell: Next item, Superintendent of County Buildings, request for Utilities $90,000. Move for 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: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

SUPERINTENDENT OF CO. BLDGS.                  REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

COUNTY HIGHWAY (TWO REQUESTS)

Councilmember Abell: Next under County Highway appropriations, request for $122, move for 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: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

COUNTY HIGHWAY                                              REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

Councilmember Abell: Under County Highway for Union Overtime, Garage & Motor, Contractual Services and Lease & Rental of Equipment, for a total of $177,361, 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: No.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

COUNTY HIGHWAY                                              REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion carried 5-1/Councilmember Tornatta opposed)                           

CUMULATIVE BRIDGE (TWO REQUESTS)

Councilmember Abell: Next under Cumulative Bridge for Union Overtime in the amount of $8,719. 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

CUMULATIVE BRIDGE                                         REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

Councilmember Abell: Next item under Cumulative Bridge, Baseline Road Bridge project set in at $200,000, 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

CUMULATIVE BRIDGE                                         REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

Councilmember Sutton: Mr. President? On an earlier line item I meant to reflect back on a question if we could. I had asked, on that Hillcrest-Washington CPI index adjustment at our Personnel & Finance meeting last week, what that was based on. We received a letter, a memo from the Commission President, Ms. Musgrave. I was wondering if you could come speak to what you guys may have found on that. Well, I mean, I guess I was –

B.J. Farrell: I have a handout for you. It’s a page from the contract that says we have the CPI built into our contract. It can’t exceed five percent. I did give you a letter to Commissioner Musgrave from John Browning, and showed you the calculation to reach that CPI. I’d like to give this to the Council, please.

Councilmember Sutton: Now what are we looking at here? I mean, is this from the contract?

B.J. Farrell: Yes, that’s page three of the contract that was signed, I believe, back in 1995. It basically says that we will, each year, have the CPI increase for the Hillcrest-Washington Home, it cannot exceed five percent. So we go to the Department of Labor, we pull those statistics, we calculate that number, and we do agree with Mr. Browning that that should be the increase for this year.

Councilmember Sutton: No offense to you, Ms. Farrell, but I guess my question was, I want, I guess I was wanting to speak to one of the Commissioners.

B.J. Farrell: Okay, that will be fine. Thank you.

Councilmember Sutton: Since that’s who we received the letter from, and I guess John Browning did respond back, I guess the question that I had was, which index this was based upon, like I said, there’s a couple different –

President Winnecke: According to the letter, it says that the CPI as published by the US Department of Labor.

Councilmember Sutton: Well, they publish two different indexes, the Department of Labor, and it can be measured in a couple of different ways. I guess that’s what I’m trying to get, that was my question, which measurement are they actually using? There’s a couple of different CPI indexes that can be used, and depending on which one you may use, one is higher and one is lower. I’m trying to find out which one we’re actually using.

Cheryl Musgrave: The contract says CPI-U.

Councilmember Sutton: So we’re not using one that’s really based – this is – apparently, the one that’s an index for the entire US as opposed to more of our regional area. I mean, that’s something we may want to visit with Southwest Indiana Mental Health on this particular area in the contract because we may be getting a greater amount of inflation or escalation on this than what might be in line with our particular area.

Cheryl Musgrave: As Ms. Farrell stated, this contract was signed in 1995. I do not know what its length is. We could look into that, but when I received the letter from Hillcrest-Washington, I sent it to our attorney for their review of which CPI was the appropriate CPI, and I was informed that this was the accurate number for this contract.

Councilmember Sutton: Okay. Well, I mean, I wouldn’t have any questions that they probably have the accurate number for the index that they’re using here, I’m just, my question is, is this the appropriate index that we should be using for our regional area. So perhaps maybe if we can look at that as an area, and I don’t know when this contract expires, but it definitely would be something that we’d get a little bit more specificity with, because I guess what we’re talking about here is what, about a 5.3% increase, is that what it was, or was it 4.3? Like I said, I think we might be just a little bit on the high side on that. So two things, looking at when that contract expires and if we can go back in and really visit and make sure that index is in line with what we ought to be paying. I mean, is that how you – your thoughts?

Cheryl Musgrave: We can certainly look at when the contract expires and put some notes in the file to renegotiate that item at that time.

Councilmember Sutton: Alright. Thank you. I’m sorry, I meant to ask that earlier, but thank you.

President Winnecke: That’s fine. Mrs. Abell?

LEGAL AID/UNITED WAY

Councilmember Abell: I think we’re ready for the United Way request for the Executive Director. The total request was $9,156. I think the discussion leaned toward putting this in at budget time last week, so we’re setting that in at zero. And I move for approval.

Councilmember Tornatta: Second.

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

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes, Mr. President. I talked with somebody from the Legal Aid/United Way, and at this point I think it should be more a deferral than a zero. I know we’ve been down this road before, but one of the things we talked about was them acquiring 5,000 additional dollars or the equivalent that they would need to take care of this director’s position in the future over possibly a five year period. And at that time, if they can do that, maybe we can re-address and appropriate the funds for this year, which would give them at least six years down the road that they would have that funding in place. But they also knew and we understood and went through the numbers, that if that $5,000 were not placed in that account, that it would come from taxpayer dollars. And at this point, you know, from this standpoint or from this seat, I discussed that I would not be in favor of throwing 5,000 more dollars into the pot. If United Way thought that that was a place that they would want to go, then we can do that. Obviously this is broken down into a percentage situation where we pay so much and then United Way pays a percentage of that budget. So in those terms, they understood what was going on and they’re actively pursuing United Way to see if they can get those dollars.

President Winnecke: Mr. Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: I don’t think anyone can question the importance of the benefit that Legal Aid provides for our community and the families that are in desperate need. And we go along with that. I guess the biggest, its just the bottom line, if we approve this today, will it, I think its zeroed out right now, but if it would be approved, will in the future, we be encumbered, Vanderburgh County taxpayers be encumbered with funding this $5,000 or will it go away or could it be a one year deal, is my question? If United Way has suggested they fund it, and they have the money for that, I think that might be their prerogative, however, its awfully hard to put something on the table and then come budget time, take it back. So I’m inclined to think along the lines of Councilman Tornatta, that if we can get this worked out so if this increase is going to be permanent, that United Way commits permanently to that, and it doesn’t come out of tax dollars, that would be my only concern. Other than that, I think they can call the shots. Thank you.

Kelly Lonnberg: If I may, I’m Kelly Lonnberg, I’m the President of the Legal Aid Board of Directors this year. And we do have United Way’s full support for the reallocation of the United Way dollars. What we did as a board, and along with United Way was look at the United Way dollars that were coming in and where they had been apportioned and make some changes in our budget in order to accommodate this, and we believe that we’re in a position to do that from this point forward. United Way was not in a position to give us any kind of confirmation that of course, they can guarantee their funds from one year to the next, and they can’t do that for anyone. That depends on what their contributions are in a given year. But they’ve been very consistent in the funds that they have provided for Legal Aid. They’re very supportive of Legal Aid, and they are fully in agreement with the allocation of the $5,000 stipend from their funds. Obviously, if United Way’s funding hits rock bottom and their funding to the Legal Aid Board or the Legal Aid Society in Evansville is cut drastically, then we will have to make a lot of changes. We may be laying off staff, we may be slashing salaries, we may be making drastic changes in the level of income to which we provide services. But what I would request of the Council is to address that issue when it comes before the Council, when we are requesting from the Council we would understand and as president, I’m more than happy to say that I acknowledge the Council’s position, that they are not agreeing to fund this stipend and if we don’t have the funds from United Way, we understand. It has not been offered from the County, however, we would just request that you save the no for when we’re requesting the funds from you. We are not requesting the funds to come from taxpayer dollars in any form at this point. We have those funds available for this year, for next and presumably in the future, with United Way’s support from their funds.

President Winnecke: Thank you, Kelly. I would just offer, I didn’t bring my budget book in from my car, but if I recall, the allocation from the United Way to Legal Aid over the last three or four years has been in the mid-sixty thousands. Its been pretty consistent. To me, this is a reasonable request. They have a pot of money that comes from the United Way. This board is asking that they split that pot in a different way. They are not coming before us asking for tax dollars. Just based on recent history of allocation from the United Way, there’s no indication at this time that they would rely on tax dollars to pay this stipend. So I personally am in favor of the request. But I know that others are not as comfortable. So...and frankly, I’m not quite clear what your point is or what your suggestion is.

Councilmember Tornatta: Well, my suggestion is clearly, if they can get some type of nod from the United Way that United Way will up their – they’re going to pay their percentage and then pay 5,000 more toward that salary.

President Winnecke: You’re saying the United Way will –

Councilmember Tornatta: Yeah, but they won’t increase it by 5,000. It will be by a number plus 5,000 to take care of her salary.

President Winnecke: Okay.

Councilmember Tornatta: But whatever that number is, if they can take care of those numbers, then I would be okay, but they’ve got 9,000 in their United Way fund that they have sitting there. And one thing I hesitate to do is, we did not approve this at budget time so that was a time when we said no. I really don’t know why its coming back now because it was not approved at that time. But in the same term, if you do due diligence, and go out and some way are able to get a five year commitment from the United Way, then I am willing to say okay, we’ll throw six years in with the money that you have and put that toward it and, because it will be an extended commitment. What I don’t want to do is, I don’t want to put money in this year and then next year we’re going to deny and take that salary back, move backwards with that salary. I think that’s not the way that we should do business.

President Winnecke: If I may, I think the only challenge to that is, in the fund raising world, I am unaware of any not-for-profit that can say, make a five year increase commitment like that. It is a year to year sort of deal and as long as the economy is as robust as it appears to be today, that is the local economy, raising that amount of money from the United Way may not be a challenge, but we didn’t realize that September 11th was going to happen and that was an event that changed the world economy and a lot of things changed. So to expect the local United Way to come on and say, you know, here’s a five year commitment from one agency, I think is really, probably not very practical.

Councilmember Tornatta: Well, it might not be practical, but its not practical to tell them that they’re going to have this salary set in at a certain point and then we come back after we already denied it, we come back and have to deny it and pull back a salary. So along those lines, I am in favor with setting it in at zero but looking at it still for this year as long as there can be some type of benchmark to take care of those issues in the future. And if there can’t, then I don’t see how this thing is going to fly.

Kelly Lonnberg: I guess my only response would be that we believe that we’ve addressed the $5,000 stipend in our existing budgets, and that we can continue to do that without additional funds. And that was our point in coming to the Council with it, is that we are not asking for additional funds from either organization. We’ve revamped our budget in order to address —

Councilmember Tornatta: And I would be – as I said before and I got a call yesterday from Legal Aid and I talked for 20 or 30 minutes, I would be willing to go over those budgets and if you convince me that that’s been done and we go through, then maybe there is an option. And, like I said, we set it in at zero, but we can address this if we need to.

President Winnecke: Any other questions or discussion?

Councilmember Sutton: You know, I was just going to add, this has been before us for a while, a couple different budgets before and then, of course, we discussed it last week, and I have not been supportive of the request in past requests that have come before us, but I think now there might be a little bit of a difference. Just as we can’t ask the organization to commit for a long time, for a period probably in excess of one year, we can’t really commit the Council beyond one year as well. I guess because the request is a little bit different now and they are not going to use county dollars, as I understand it now with this request, I guess I see it a little bit different than what I’ve seen in the past.

Councilmember Goebel: President Winnecke, in the budget, is the $5,000 allocated in the proposal early in the year or last year when we looked it over, to come out of county dollars or is it stipulated in any way? I know we didn’t set it in.

President Winnecke: Well, yeah, its not in there, but there are two pages in the budget book: one relating to the county’s portion of the funding for Legal Aid and the other page, and they are separated in the budget book, is the United Way allocation. So at this time, that $5,000 stipend is not in either page. But what they’re suggesting is, the 60 some odd thousand dollar allocation they currently have, they’re going to redo that budget in order to give $5,000 to the executive director from the money that they already have. Is that, correct?

Kelly Lonnberg: That is correct. We have the funds. We can set our budget out to address those issues (inaudible – comments not made from the microphone).

Councilmember Goebel: Well, I’d be very reluctant to vote in favor of taking any county monies, however, its United Way. I think if they decide, then they will probably get some input from other directions, too, how they’re going to spend their money as far as Legal Aid goes. So as long as its understood that this is not going to come from county dollars in the future.

Councilmember Abell: Mr. President?

President Winnecke: Yes, Mrs. Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Could I withdraw this motion and we defer it for 30 days? I don’t think anybody is too comfortable right now. We’re having discussion we probably should have had last week and maybe give Mr. Tornatta his opportunity to meet with United Way.

President Winnecke: I’m fine with that. He made the second, so –

Councilmember Tornatta: I’ll withdraw the second and we can, like I said, the room is open for talk and we can go through as we need to, to try to get to a place as long as we can come to terms so that those questions that have been asked before are answered.

Councilmember Abell: I will withdraw my motion.

President Winnecke: Motion withdrawn. If you would go ahead and refile the same request for next month, and then in the meantime, if you want to schedule some time with Councilman Tornatta and Mr. Goebel as well, and anyone else that might have questions pertaining to this, that would be helpful.

Kelly Lonnberg: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Thank you.

Councilmember Sutton: Did we get the question, I know last week we also talked about the software and hardware question on this request from Legal Aid into question was about just the possibility of finding some pricing discounts, appears to be that the costs that we’ve got, the price that we’ve got listed, we’ve got $3,218 for hardware, is a level that would be above what we would pay for some of the units in some of our other offices. Now you guys don’t fall under our computer services contract, but have you had a chance to talk with anyone regarding that?

Sue Hartig: What I was appropriating was the carry over of last year’s United Way funds. So after the 5,000 was taken off the top, I just arbitrarily put the rest in computers. We try to keep our computers the same as the court’s computers are. Traditionally, we were on a program where we replaced three of the six every two years, so we never had a computer older than four years old. But when the courts did not replace theirs and went through that lease/purchase stuff, we waited, too. So now that the courts are going to move forward, we want to move forward. And probably get six new units that are just like the court’s units. And we have one printer that’s on its last leg. So we will definitely use whatever the cheapest figures are and whatever Tim and the IT department tell us to, and we rely on them for support and maintenance. So we’re not doing this on our own, we’ll do whatever they want us to do.

President Winnecke: Okay, maybe if, while in this next 30 day period, if you could give us a more realistic view of what those expenses are, so we can consider that at our next meeting.

Sue Hartig: Okay, sure.

Councilmember Tornatta: Okay, withdraw the whole motion?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Councilmember Tornatta: Okay.

President Winnecke: In fact, what you’ll need, Mrs. Abell, if you could make a motion, we need to vote on a motion to defer and we’ll need a second on that.

Councilmember Abell: I make a motion to defer the entire request from Legal Aid.

Councilmember Tornatta: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Further 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

LEGAL AID/UNITED WAY                                    REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

SHERIFF

Councilmember Abell: Sheriff’s request for transfer for Process Servers in the amount of $2,930, make that in the form of a motion.

President Winnecke: Is there a second?

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Questions or discussion?

Councilmember Abell: I just have a question. Mr. Fluty, is there any possibility that you could run some numbers to see if the amount of money that they’re charging in the Clerk’s Office for process service is covering what we’re spending on process servers?

Bill Fluty: I can do that.

Councilmember Abell: Thank you. I’d like to see those numbers.

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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

SHERIFF                                                                REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Councilmember Abell: The last one is the Health Department transfer for the Medical Lab Tech in the amount of $5,000. Move for approval.

Councilmember Tornatta: 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. I’m sorry, I’m over here doing the paperwork.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT                                       REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

President Winnecke: And would you like to do the Salary Ordinance?

Councilmember Abell: Sure. I move that the Salary Ordinance be accepted as per the handout.

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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

President Winnecke: Okay, we move on to Old Business. Today is the day we finalize the tax, the confirming resolution on the tax phase-in for Brake Supply. Kevin Koch from Brake Supply is here if we have any additional questions for him. If you’ll recall at our last meeting last month, we gave it preliminary approval on a ten year phase-in. Additional questions or discussion? Mr. Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: This is more of a comment than anything. At our last, the last time we had a chance to bring Brake Supply before us, I had a question about affirmative action and diversity hiring practices, the questions along that line, and at that time it was indicated that there hadn’t been either of those things in place. Now since, subsequent to that meeting, there have been some policies, some procedures put in place that would meet what we would consider acceptable policies and procedures in line with our tax phase-in application process. And as well, you know, I ask these questions primarily because I think its extremely important, you know, we’re talking about, when we’re talking about the tax phase-in program, it is tax supported, it is a program, and I guess I want to make sure that we have an opportunity to see that those who come before us, that they’re employing practices and their workforce are just like what we would expect here in county government. And I think our tax phase-in program is an outstanding program. And even with the adjustments, give us a chance to see a lot of different things. So the companies that come before us, I think they have a responsibility to have the practices that we would consider acceptable. And Brake Supply has done that and the Shoe Carnival as well, which is coming up next, has responded in a very affirmative way, and corrected some things that were erroneous in their application from the last time. I think they’re going to explain that a little bit, but I’m very pleased to see the progress that Brake Supply has made and the Shoe Carnival.

President Winnecke: Other comments or discussion?

Councilmember Abell: Move for approval of the Brake Supply tax phase-in.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

President Winnecke: There is a motion and a second to confirm the preliminary resolution for a ten-year tax phase-in for Brake Supply. Any other 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

President Winnecke: Thank you, Mr. Koch, we appreciate your confidence and your ability to work with us.

Kevin Koch: Thank you.

President Winnecke: New Business. While we’re on the issue of tax phase-ins, let’s just jump down to D –

Councilmember Abell: Are you skipping the court technology?

President Winnecke: We did that last week. I think once a month is plenty. And I mean that in the nicest way. Shoe Carnival. Again, to refresh your memory, they were before us three or four months ago on a tax phase-in request for their new corporate headquarters. We approved that at a ten-year phase-in level, the specific address of that location has changed so they’re back before us to seek a ten-year tax phase-in on that property and I think Mr. Beck from Woodward Development has some new information regarding the scoring that Councilman Tornatta brought up last week.

Evan Beck: Councilman Winnecke, thank you very much. Again, Evan Beck, I’m managing member of Outback Holdings, which is your applicant here today for the Shoe Carnival Headquarters, to address a couple of issues that were brought up last week. I want to state that it was my error on the application information that was left off the headquarters application in regard to what Councilman Sutton was speaking to a few minutes ago. We had the detailed information included on the distribution center, and it was my error in not carrying over the information on the headquarters application. I think we’ve gotten that into your hands, and also in your files, so in regard to the scoring, Rob Schaefer has in the file, as we confirmed this morning with Mr. Schaefer who is not able to be here this morning, we had picked up an additional 40 points in the scoring sheet. Again, that would be ten points on question 6, which again, is saying demonstrates a commitment to a diverse workforce. And then as you go into the bonus section, we picked up ten points for questions one, two, and three. Questions four and five are not applicable to this project. And if you have any questions for me on this project, I am here to answer those questions.

President Winnecke: Any questions for Mr. Beck or anyone else from the Shoe Carnival team?

Councilmember Abell: Move to confirm the resolution for tax phase-in for Shoe Carnival.

Councilmember Tornatta: Second.

President Winnecke: Okay, there’s a motion and a second for the preliminary resolution on the ten-year tax phase-in for the new location at Shoe Carnival. 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

Evan Beck: Thank you, very much.

President Winnecke: And we’ll confirm this next month.

Evan Beck: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Okay, back up under new business, item A, Mr. Fluty, would you mind to walk us through?

Bill Fluty: Yes, as long as I remember, we’ve passed this. This is actually the percentage of homestead, it’s a resolution, and then after that, there’s an ordinance. This is actually setting up to eight percent, and it is a decrease to homeowners. We’re setting aside COIT dollars to offset taxes. I think this year its four million dollars and after we pass this it moves on to the City Council and the Town of Darmstadt.

President Winnecke: So at this time, I would consider a motion to pass this resolution.

Councilmember Sutton: So moved.

Councilmember Wortman: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a lot of seconds. 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

President Winnecke: And then item B, is that you, too, Bill?

Bill Fluty: Yes, this is a continuation of what we’ve just done here.

President Winnecke: Do we need a separate vote on that?

Bill Fluty: Yes.

President Winnecke: And at this time I need someone to make a motion on the ordinance of the Vanderburgh County Income Tax establishing the percent credit allowed for homesteads.

Councilmember Tornatta: So moved.

Councilmember Sutton: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. 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 Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

President Winnecke: Okay, the last item on the agenda is discussion on creating a guideline for officeholders and department heads as they start to prepare the 2007 budgets. I know its kind of scary to think about that. But they are in the process of starting that work and they need some guidelines from this body as to what size of increase they should allot for their planning. And as everyone ponders that, let us change the tape.

(Tape changed)

Councilmember Sutton: Are you ready?

President Winnecke: You’re on.

Councilmember Sutton: Mr. President, I’d like, and two years ago, you know, with just the adverse effects of a number of things on the local economy, you know, we were only able to do a $500 increase for county employees, and last year that figure was three percent. I think, given as the local economy has begun to rebound and is in a stronger position, and when I look at our unappropriated balance and what we started with this year, hopefully, we’ll have maybe a similar type of unappropriated balance, I’d like to see us at the four percent range, at least start there, on increases for 2007. And I think it would be a good way to reflect where we are as a county. Anyone care to speak to that.

President Winnecke: Well, Councilman Sutton is way out there on ski tips, anyone else want to join him?

Councilmember Tornatta: I think it’s a great idea if we can get to that point. I know that in the past it seems like that’s always one of the places that we cut first and I’m kind of more of a Christmas guy. So I’d like to stay with three and if we can, move up to four. But we can set it in at four and it move it back if that’s what we need to do.

President Winnecke: My personal opinion is that it needs to be at three percent and to me, that’s a nice baseline from which to start, not knowing what requests we’ll see for the balance of this year, not knowing exactly how, you know, what other projects we’ll see that we don’t know about, those surprises always come around about budget time.

Councilmember Tornatta: And if I’m not mistaken, that’s about a $750,000 jump per percent. Is that close?

Bill Fluty: No, I don’t believe that’s –

Councilmember Tornatta: That’s three percent. Okay.

Bill Fluty: I think its more, $300,000, but I’ll check that for you.

President Winnecke: And it is a planning, to Councilman Sutton’s point, it is a guide, you know, if we set it in, if we agree today that the number is four percent, that is not set in stone. At budget time we can reduce that if would need be.

Councilmember Sutton: And I think that’s – to qualify my remark, to make sure we’re not saying that this is not what the increase will be. Truly it is a starting point to look and see where we’re going to be. We don’t know what may befall us in the next few months, here as a county. That’s a good way to start.

President Winnecke: I just – Mr. Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Historically, three percent has been the number that we’ve sought?

President Winnecke: Two years ago when we had very tight conditions, we granted a $500 across the board, but traditionally, three percent is kind of the baseline.

Councilmember Goebel: I think if we suggest four and then have to cut back to three, that might provide negative feelings. I mean, they’d still get three percent, but, and I’m also one to think that if we can build up funds locally and save those for a rainy day or for maybe unforeseen circumstances, its probably best to stay with three. And we’re still operating in good faith toward the county workers, but we’re not mortgaging the future either.

President Winnecke: My personal feeling is that once you establish the hopes of a certain percentage raise in this building, and not just in this building, in any place of employment, and then, even though people know it’s a guide, and then when it comes to decision time, based on whatever factors come into play, you have to reduce that number, I think you really set yourself and your employees up for disappointment that could have an adverse impact on morale, and I don’t think that’s anyone’s intent. But I’d be far more comfortable setting it in at three, if we could do more, great. But I hate to set it in at four today and then come back and say, you know what, maybe we can only do two and a half or three. I do think we set ourselves up and the 800 some odd workers for some pretty big disappointment if...

Councilmember Tornatta: Well, and at three, I mean, I think that we should really look at that being the very, very last thing that you would ever touch. At four, you’re looking at that as a possible way to make sure that the tax rate stays on a level as we’ve been able to maintain at this County Council for quite some time, to keep that rate low. But maybe that three percent would be a point that we can all say we think that we can definitely do this. If we can do more, then its Christmas around the county, but if we can’t, then I think that we need to at least establish this three percent, and we appreciate them for their work, the people that are around here doing it day in and day out.

President Winnecke: Anybody else?

Councilmember Abell: I do have two points from having been a previous officeholder. I can tell you that there are a lot of officeholders here that are elected who would be happy to not get any increase so their staff could get it. So if we have to get to that point, we might want to consider something along those lines. And I also would say that no one liked the $500. They would of rather had nothing. That was a pretty, percentage-wise its so much better because then everybody stays even with that break between the next person up and the next below, but when you gave $500 across the board, just advising you of what the comments where in the Clerk’s office which was a staff of 53 people, no one was happy with $500. They would of rather had nothing, because they didn’t feel that was – they kind of thought it was a slap in the face and would have preferred a percentage. So I think those are things we need to keep in mind is the comments that our employees do make to us from time to time about how they get their salaries increased.

President Winnecke: Anyone else?

Councilmember Sutton: I was going to add one thing. One thing that has added a – its just really placed a great deal of pressure on this budget, you know, most of the items in our budget are pretty routine, pretty standard, it’s the health care costs that continue to escalate at a level that’s just been outside of what this county would really consider reasonable. I mean, I’d like to see some type of way, if we can get in front of that whole situation and evaluate what our health care options are and the appropriate costs related to that. And I know when we talk about the total package that we offer for county employees, we can just look at just the salary, we have to look at some of these other perks that help to make it a place that people want to work. And if we are totally in a situation where the market continues to out price what we’re able to afford, it does affect the salaries and so many other things. So as a means of maybe getting ahead, I don’t know if the Commissioners have already, I know they’ve probably been thinking about this since last year when we had increases, but, you know, these double-digit increases each year do not put us in a position from a financial health standpoint that we can do a lot of different things. So, Commissioner Musgrave, I know this wasn’t necessarily on the agenda and didn’t plan to speak to this, but is this something that you may be able to provide some assistance to the county, to us, in looking at and evaluating some options that may reduce the increases that we are seeing year over year in this regard?

Cheryl Musgrave: I have never been part of the process to this point, of renegotiating the healthcare contracts or looking at those benefits, having just become president a few days before the tornado in 2005. So I will say that I have been thinking about it and there are some things which are on my mind, particularly, I understand that the state legislature was considering allowing rates to be adjusted for people who engage in unhealthy, health risk activities such as smoking, that you could charge more to employees who smoke for their health insurance than others. So I’ll be looking to see if that legislation actually passed or not. I’ve been an observer of the process that the school board recently went through and looking for a new healthcare provider and I think, I don’t know if we’ll want to do that, but certainly when it comes time, we’ll do due diligence on looking at the prices that our vendors charge. But if I may digress from that for a moment and speak to the raises. I would ask you to be more creative to allow the officeholders to reward employees who work harder than other employees, doing across the board increases does not reward productivity, creative processes, that save this county a great deal of money. I understand that Governor Daniels has recently announced that he will not be entertaining across the board raises, so look at some ways where officeholders can reward those who do produce the most for the county. So yes, I’ll be looking into the health insurance and I’d appreciate your thoughts on that before the contract comes up and not wait until the contract is all done and before the Commissioners for final approval. I’d like to hear from you well in advance.

President Winnecke: What if, maybe it would be fruitful if maybe Councilman Sutton and myself and you and the insurance provider sat down in the not too distant future to kind of begin those discussions early on so that is kind of the, always the eleventh hour number that we plug in during the budget process and it might be easier if we know more on the front end, kind of the direction that things are going. So maybe if you could arrange that kind of meeting between the three of us.

Cheryl Musgrave: I’ll look to our insurance provider to also attend that and one other thing, a lot of our employees do not take some of the benefits that we offer. For example, their spouse provides their health insurance. Maybe you could look more to a cafeteria style benefit package where you chose some and not others, and perhaps that would reduce your overall costs.

Councilmember Sutton: There are some really good ideas, I mean, you’re advancing there, and there’s some – I’ve heard from just some of our employees right here in the building, that could potentially be some cost saving measures for us. And right now is a good time to begin really thinking along those lines because it really is, it poses a real problem for us at budget time trying to figure out what the number is going to be and how to plug that in and it does affect just about every other thing in the budget.

Cheryl Musgrave: Not just for government, but for every employer around.

Councilmember Sutton: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Thank you, Cheryl.

Councilmember Abell: Mr. President, I move that we set this salary in at three percent for the purpose of budgeting.

Councilmember Tornatta: Second.

President Winnecke: Motion and a second. Any more discussion or questions? Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Tornatta?

Councilmember Tornatta: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: I’m still strongly in favor of that four. You know, perhaps maybe if we can make some headway on this insurance line, maybe we could get to that point but I’ll vote in favor of the three percent.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Abell?

Councilmember Abell: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Wortman?

Councilmember Wortman: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

President Winnecke: Mrs. Deig, if you would draft a memorandum to all the affected departments? At this time, I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

Councilmember Tornatta: So moved.

President Winnecke: We are adjourned.

(There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9:25 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