REASSESSMENT/TREASURER

Councilmember Winnecke: Next, under the Reassessment Fund appropriations, from the Treasurer’s Office, line 2490-1030-3370 Computers in the amount of $826.16. I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Leader: Second.

President Abell: Questions?

Councilmember Sutton: That amount again?

Councilmember Winnecke: I’m sorry. We’ll round that up to $827.

President Abell: Ms. Leader, did you second that?

Councilmember Leader: I did.

President Abell: Will you agree to change it to the –

Councilmember Leader: I will. Second.

President Abell: Okay. Mr. Goebel, do you want to explain that the Treasurer has agreed to this?

Councilmember Goebel: Z Tuley, our Treasurer, requested 11,000 plus for new computers. Some of hers are old. One, in particular, has crashed twice this year. But Z has agreed to table that upon Council President Abell’s recommendation until the Township Assessors’ situation is resolved as far as computers may be coming into the building. However, looking at the monitors she has, she probably needs two new ones there and that’s what this funding is for. And they are larger than the typical agreement we made, but I looked, and I agree that they’re replacing a large one already. So she is getting two new monitors at this point.

President Abell: Thank you, Mr. Goebel. Any questions about that? 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 Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

TREASURER                                                         REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

REASSESSMENT/PIGEON TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR

Councilmember Winnecke: Pigeon Township Assessor, line 2490-1150-2600 Office Supplies in the amount of $3,000; line 2490-1150-4220 Office Machines in the amount of $6,822, for a total appropriation of $9,822, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Shetler: Second.

President Abell: 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: Is it too late to bring up a question? I’m sorry, I was asleep on the job. The second request for Office Machines, $6822, is that correct?

President Abell: Isn’t that for a copier? Copy Machine?

Councilmember Goebel: I thought last week we discussed, perhaps, waiting to see if there were any available at one of the outlying areas.

Councilmember Leader: Mr. Weaver is here if you want to ask him.

President Abell: Mr. Weaver, do you know?

Councilmember Sutton: He did send out a list of potential supplies to us, but the time that they are actually going to be available and when they need it at Pigeon Township, you know, there would be a little bit of a gap. And they are repealing, Pigeon Township is repealing, if you look later, farther back, like $9,100 back to us, but yeah, he did send us a pretty comprehensive list of equipment, supplies.

Jonathan Weaver: I guess the question is, do you guys want to wait until July 1^st, or can Pigeon wait? I forget how many copiers were in that, three, I think, at least, are coming into the building come July 1^st.

Councilmember Goebel: My question is, do we want to purchase a new one at this point? I know their contract runs out about the same time and that machine is dated and has seen its lifetime of use, but if we have another one we could replace it with already existing, do we want to buy a new one right now?

Councilmember Leader: Mr. Weaver, you sent us the list of equipment, but what you haven’t done, I assume, in this short period of time since we saw you last week, is determine the age of that equipment and the quality of the equipment. Have you been able to do that?

Jonathan Weaver: No, I haven’t even thought to do that. I thought we’d just inherit everything and use it.

Councilmember Sutton: More than likely, those supplies will find a home because we’ve got so many copiers all around the building and some of them are pretty old, so I don’t think that probably is going to be an issue for you, especially if their things are salvageable.

Jonathan Weaver: I can’t control what you guys do now, but I’m just saying that these copiers will be coming into the building. They’ll probably be put to some use at some point and that’s the story, I guess.

President Abell: Mr. Goebel, would you feel better if we appropriated it but we talked to them first before they spent it? Just because we appropriated it doesn’t mean they have to spend it.

Councilmember Goebel: If we appropriated it, I think that’s a green light, isn’t it?

President Abell: Well, it means they can spend it, but I think they were pretty cooperative. They’re not here today and –

Councilmember Goebel: Speaking to them last week, they said the copier they had is nearly dilapidated, but they would be agreeable to try to get one from another office if it became available so we wouldn’t have to buy a new one. That was the sense that I got from them, speaking to them after the meeting.

President Abell: Well, what’s the pleasure of Council, we’re in the middle of a vote. Do we want to continue with this vote?

Councilmember Shetler: Well, I was thinking that one of the issues that did come up was that the current copy situation that they’re in, that through either contractual maintenance agreements and/or the machine itself, that was expiring like now or has expired. And that waiting until July was not necessarily going to be a workable situation. Now there may be other alternatives between now and then, but waiting the next three months or so would not be something that they could really do. I mean, that’s the impression that I had got.

Jonathan Weaver: When I look at that space in the basement, supposedly where they’re going, you know, will three copiers fit down there along with fourteen people? Do we need three copiers down there? I mean, we’re willing to maybe let Pigeon borrow one. But I don’t know what Pigeon’s situation is, if they need it right at this second or if they can wait.

Councilmember Winnecke: And the other issue is, we won’t know on Pigeon until November as to whether they’ll be coming into Mr. Weaver’s office or not.

Councilmember Goebel: I understand that, but you’re getting three, you suspect, and you might be able to lend one out to Pigeon? Because their maintenance agreement ends on July 1^st, when the other offices are scheduled to close. Could we not work out a loan situation or –

Jonathan Weaver: My concern at this point is Area 51 in the basement, there’s a sign on the door that says that, we would need to squeeze fourteen people in there and all that equipment that I emailed you. So I’m worried about space issues at this point, and that we won’t need three copiers down there.

Councilmember Shetler: Mike, you’re saying that shows that the maintenance doesn’t expire until July?

Councilmember Goebel: July 1^st.

Councilmember Shetler: And see, that’s when these other guys will, in that case, I mean, I’m willing to withdraw my vote and – except for the other two, but I’m willing to withdraw my vote and get this thing restarted.

Councilmember Sutton: Well, but the issue is what do they do now? I mean, they’re in need of a copier now. Not necessarily in July, so and obviously, these other offices aren’t going to move their equipment over to another office until their time expires here.

President Abell: I actually thought they said that theirs was okay and they could use it until July, but when the maintenance runs out, they wanted to renew it and that was what this was for. No?

Councilmember Sutton: Based on my discussion with them, they actually have been wanting to come the last couple of months on this issue but they thought they might be able to hold out and that hadn’t necessarily been the case.

President Abell: We probably need to have more discussion with them and find out exactly where they are. Do you think they could limp by for 30 more days when we could bring this back up in June?

Councilmember Sutton: Well, they’re not here today –

President Abell: Yeah, they’re not here.

Councilmember Sutton: Is there anyone from Pigeon?

Councilmember Winnecke: Maybe we could table this for now and ask Mrs. Deig to call them and ask them to come up and we could move on to the other matters and revisit this later in the meeting?

President Abell: The three people – yeah, that’s what I was saying, we could appropriate and tell them not to spend the funds, but I don’t know if we can actually tell them not to spend the funds. If they got it, they can spend it. I do need the three – I will need the three people that have voted for it to withdraw their votes. Mr. Sutton?

Councilmember Winnecke: Well, do we need to do that if we’re just going to table it for the time?

President Abell: Mr. Ahlers thinks we do.

Jeff Ahlers: Well, I mean, somehow you’ve got to get your way out. We’re kind of halfway through, so I would think that either they’ve got to voluntarily withdraw their votes and then you need to probably file a motion to table it or let everybody finish voting and then if you need to move to bring it back to the floor for another vote. But somehow we’re kind of in the middle of a vote here. So either, if they’re willing to withdraw their votes, that’s an easy way to resolve it. If they’re not, we need to finish the roll call vote, I guess, and then take a new motion.

Councilmember Leader: She’s going to go call.

Councilmember Sutton: Everybody is looking at me.

President Abell: Well, you’re first. I think we’ll have Ms. Lukeman call your names.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yeah, I’ll withdraw mine as well.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader:

Councilmember Leader: I will.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

President Abell: Mr. Winnecke, it’s back to you.

Jeff Ahlers: You want to show for the record, just so that it’s clear on the record, that the three votes have been withdrawn and that there is no vote on the motion and, I guess, there’s going to be a new motion.

(DISCUSSION CONTINUED ON PAGE 15)

CIRCUIT COURT SUPPLEMENTAL ADULT PROBATION

Councilmember Winnecke: Okay, next Circuit Court Supplemental Adult Probation, line 2600-3935 Contractual Drug Testing in the amount of $75,000, I move approval.

Councilmember Leader: Second.

President Abell: Discussion? Roll call vote.

Councilmember Sutton: Just the only discussion I have, and it goes back to what I was sharing last week, I think we’re going to have a discussion maybe with the Commissioners and come up with some kind of understanding of what type of contracts should be bid. And come to some understanding if it’s a dollar amount, the type of contract. You know, the type of contract that I saw, or that we received last week on this, I think it warrants at least being competitively bid. And not only just from the dollar amount, but also just the perception issues and what we’re dealing with. I think we really need to move in that direction. I want to have a discussion with the Commissioners along that line and see if we can get something like that moving. Obviously, we’ve got this one before us today and the contract, in and of itself, probably does suit their needs. It’s fine, they’ve had enough discussions with them, but I just don’t feel comfortable just voting on something like this, at least affirmatively, without at least it just having had a chance to be bid. So my vote is no.

President Abell: Mr. Sutton, to address that, I’d like to read a very brief inter-office memorandum that I have prepared and Mrs. Deig is going to copy to all of the county officeholders/department heads, and judicial officers. “There has been confusion lately regarding letting contacts, whether or not they need to be bid out. As a matter of practice, it is suggested that every contract be let for bid. However, if there is any question regarding this practice, please submit your request directly to the County Council and you will receive a response. No contract should be signed by anyone other than the County Commissioners as they are the body that enters into contracts on behalf of the county.” And that will be sent out to every officeholder today.

Councilmember Sutton: Okay, thank you.

President Abell: Roll call vote.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: No.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Leader?

Councilmember Leader: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

CIRCUIT COURT SUPPLEMENTAL

ADULT PROBATION                                             REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion carried 5-1/Councilmember Sutton opposed)

PIGEON TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR

President Abell: Mr. Winnecke, I think we’re going to have to back pedal a minute. We need to revisit Pigeon Township and table the $6,822 and pass the 3,000, correct?

Jeff Ahlers: Yeah, somehow we need a final disposal on that. I don’t know if you want to set it in at zero or whether you want to defer it but –

Councilmember Winnecke: Well, their votes were on the entire appropriation request, so if we’ve table it, I think we’ve tabled the entire –

Councilmember Sutton: Right, we’ll just come back, and then we’ll just deal with both issues.

Councilmember Winnecke: Because they were bundled together.

President Abell: Okay.

Councilmember Winnecke: Next, we have a repeal from Pigeon Township, 1150-1120-1150 Chief Deputy in the amount of $9,171, I’ll move approval.

Councilmember Shetler: 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 Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

PIGEON TWP. ASSESSOR                                  REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

REASSESSMENT/PIGEON TWP. ASSESSOR (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12)

President Abell: Mr. Winnecke, I see Pigeon Township has arrived.

Councilmember Winnecke: Okay.

Stacy French: Stacy French, Chief Deputy, Pigeon Township Assessor’s Office.

Councilmember Winnecke: Hi, Stacy. Thanks for coming up. Would you just explain, I know we’ve visited this issue briefly last week, but could you re-explain the status of the copier and what you feel its life is?

Stacy French: The gentleman came in this month and he had to replace four springs on it, and he said that it would probably only go for maybe a good month. We’re making copies for appeals, we’re making copies for the new assessment papers that are being made. The personal property (Inaudible – microphone not turned on).

President Abell: When did you say he was there? Last week?

Stacy French: This month, yes.

Councilmember Goebel: But your contract ends on July 1^st, correct?

Stacy French: Yes.

Councilmember Goebel: I think this group, without a doubt, supports that you need a copier that works, but is it okay with Pigeon Township if we wait until the other copiers might become available about that same time period?

Stacy French: We agreed to that, but we didn’t – that’s why we didn’t come up here because that’s what the determination was, that we were going to wait on that. But we are going to be out a copier soon. It’s not going to be able to handle any copies much longer.

Councilmember Sutton: The copier that you are proposing to buy, it’s with the same company. Am I –

Stacy French: It’s a duplicate of the one that the County Assessor’s office has.

Councilmember Sutton: So, if you were to go with another copier prior to this contract expiring, will they then pick up with the new one? I mean, is there some – with that, if you were to get the copier before the contract expires, what issues are created by doing that?

Stacy French: I don’t know.

President Abell: Well, I think that we thought that you had indicated that you would try to get by, but we weren’t going to shortchange you on it, that’s why we asked you to come up, so we appreciate that. Any other questions? Go ahead, Mr. Shetler.

Councilmember Shetler: If the springs all pop loose again and you need a copier, is there a place you could rent one from?

Stacy French: We have two copiers: the one we are replacing is the one from 1997.

Councilmember Shetler: Okay, so you have alternative means here to get by?

Stacy French: Yes.

Councilmember Winnecke: Madam President, I will move that line 2490-1150-2600 Office Supplies be set in at $3,000 for the Pigeon Township Assessor and I’ll make that in the form of a motion.

Councilmember Shetler: Second.

Councilmember Winnecke: And then we can revisit that issue down the road.

President Abell: You’re setting the other one in at zero?

Councilmember Winnecke: The other one in at zero, I’m sorry, I apologize.

President Abell: That’s alright. We’re sorry for the confusion, but we’re trying to get through this Assessor thing. Okay, any other comments or questions from the Council? Okay, 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 Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

PIGEON TWP. ASSESSOR                                  REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

President Abell: Thank you so much for coming up. We appreciate it.

Councilmember Winnecke: Thanks. Stacy.

JAIL

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY (LATE)

Councilmember Winnecke: Okay, Madam President, next the transfer requests, there are several. I will move that all the transfers including the late transfer be approved as submitted.

Councilmember Leader: Second.

President Abell: Any questions from Council? 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 Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

JAIL                                                                       REQUESTED       APPROVED

WEIGHTS & MEASURES                                      REQUESTED       APPROVED

COUNTY HIGHWAY                                              REQUESTED       APPROVED

TREASURER                                                         REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

Councilmember Winnecke: Finally, the amendments to the Salary Ordinance, again, they are lengthy, almost five pages. Short of me doing a dramatic reading, I will move that the salary ordinance amendments that are presented before you be made a part of the record, and I’ll make that in the form of a motion.

President Abell: Is there a second?

Councilmember Shetler: 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 Winnecke?

Councilmember Winnecke: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Abell?

President Abell: Yes.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

President Abell: Thank you, Mr. Winnecke. I see nothing on our agenda for old business. We have several items under New Business. The first is the Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau/Burdette Park, I think, have a presentation for us this morning. Good morning, Ms. Tucker.

Kristen Tucker: Good morning, Mrs. Abell. I’m Kristen Tucker. Thank you for having me here today. I am Vice President of the board of commissioners of the Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau, and I’m also the County Council appointment, so I really appreciate the opportunity to speak before you today. I am here today to request the approval of the County Council to allocate $407,000 in funds from the Tourism Capital Development fund to be used to build a facility at the BMX track at Burdette Park. And I’m joined here today by a large contingency: Laura Libs from the CVB, Steve Craig and Angie Almond from Burdette, as well as a large group of their volunteers and their employees, as well as Ben Kunkel, the architect for that project. This facility will house a concession stand, bathroom facilities, and registration area for BMX events. In 2006, as many of you know, we hired a consultant, Don Schumacher, to conduct a study of the existing sports facilities in Vanderburgh County. He identified this BMX track as a truly unique sports facility in our area that attracts not only local competitions, but national and international racing as well. His recommendation was for us to assist with some of the necessary improvements to elevate it to world-class status. At our March board meeting, our members were shown the design of the new structure and, after that discussion, agreed it was a worthwhile project for our Tourism Capital Development Fund. Today we ask that you approve our request for this allocation of $407,000 for the BMX track at Burdette Park. And Councilmen and women, we do have drawings and information here with us today if you would like Mr. Kunkel and Mr. Craig to speak about this effort, I would be pleased to invite them to do that.

President Abell: I think everyone would like to see the drawings.

Kristen Tucker: Certainly.

Councilmember Leader: Mrs. Abell, I’d also like to just hear more about the BMX activity, if we may.

Kristen Tucker: This is Ben Kunkel from Kunkel Architects. And also joining us is Angie Almond from the Burdette Park, BMX track.

Angie Almond: Hi, thank you for seeing us.

President Abell: Would you like for them to pass those around? You could get a – Angie, maybe you could also give us a little –

Angie Almond: I am the track director of the BMX track at Burdette Park. I’ve been involved for about seven years out there. We are in desperate need of a new facility out there. Our building is a one-room facility. We have national races that bring in about three to four thousand people every year for a full weekend where we have races that go from Friday to Sunday. We have local races every Saturday night. It’s the oldest track in the country. It’s the fastest track in the country. We’ve been here for 31 years. And we just really need a new facility.

Councilmember Leader: How many people actually use the track and what do you estimate your – I was there and I saw it the first weekend you were open this year and I’d never been exposed to it. It’s quite an interesting thing and I encourage the Councilmembers to go look at it. It’s incredible. But how many people use it on an average weekend? Where are those people from and what are your plans if you get the expansion?

Angie Almond: On the average weekend, we have about 40 to 60 riders. They’re local, Kentucky, Indianapolis, some from Ohio. In August, we have the state final race, which is people from all over the state. We have different competitions set up all over the state, and we have the final for that. Then we have a race called the Battle of the Villes, which is Louisville and Nashville, that’s a full weekend that will bring I people from the Louisville and Nashville area. And then our national is the first weekend in October and that will bring in people from all over the world.

Councilmember Leader: One other thing, does the Convention & Visitors Bureau have an estimate of the overnight – the number of overnights or the actual income that the community receives from these visitors?

Kristen Tucker: You know, Mrs. Leader, I believe we do and I know it was on the grant application. I don’t have that information right here. Ms. Libs may. Do you, Laura?

Laura Libs: I don’t have it with me but we’d be happy to get that to you. It’s amazingly (inaudible – comments not made from the microphone) it will be based on the number of events they have had in previous years and what we estimate the direct expenditure from those groups.

Councilmember Leader: And then one last question from me, when is the track open? From what date – give or take – and when does it close, and what hours, and can anyone use it?

Angie Almond: From the first week in April to the last week in October. We have practices on Wednesday nights and Saturdays. The track is generally not open to the – I mean, it’s open to the public. Anyone can come see the track and anyone can try it. They can sign a waiver. To ride and actually compete, you have to be an NBL member, which is $45 a year and that means that you can race at any track in the country.

Kristen Tucker: I might note briefly, just because it’s so interesting, we’re, I think Burdette is in a position to really ride the wave of this popularity because BMX racing is going to be an Olympic sport this summer, which is, you know, kind of wild and interesting, I think. So the light will really be shown on that sport and I think this will position them to really take advantage of it. And, Angie, this, if approved, this will be up and going this summer, correct?

Councilmember Leader: So we’re looking at the architect’s drawings, what direction, if I’m going in the front entrance of the park, where is this track? And I assume, since it’s over $400,000, we will have bids for the construction of the track and that kind of thing. We had a long discussion about that last Wednesday. And we need to be assured that there will be fair and equitable bidding of the contract.

Kristen Tucker: As in any project that we’ve brought in front of the County Council, we’ll follow your standard protocol for obtaining the bids and the work to be done, of course.

Ben Kunkel: As far as the – I was going to speak to the location of it. You know where the O’Day Discovery Lodge is actually past the main entrance to the park, it sits up on the hill. There is an existing, you probably wouldn’t notice, but there is an existing clubhouse there now, which you probably have never noticed. But we’ll demolish that and replace it.

Councilmember Leader: At the park?

Ben Kunkel: Yes, I think they have an agreement that they use the Discovery Lodge as overflow parking for their major events.

Councilmember Sutton: Staffing the concession areas and the revenue and so forth, how does that – obviously, since you’re getting an upgrade, how will you handle that situation? Do you have outside people or is it part-time park people that are handling the concessions?

Angie Almond: We are all volunteers, it’s done within the BMX track. We’ve done that for as long as I’ve been involved: it’s just been the volunteers that step up to help.

Kristen Tucker: It’s pretty impressive and many of these folks here are volunteers and kind of leading the volunteer effort, from what I understand.

Councilmember Sutton: Well, concessions can generate some significant revenue depending on how it’s handled and the selection and so forth. Just what will happen with that revenue from the concessions?

Angie Almond: Actually, the money that comes from the concession stand pays for our trophies, our diesel fuel, our tractors, our lawn mowers, weed eaters. The volunteers take care of the whole park area that we are in. It takes care of the whole BMX track area and we have to buy equipment, upgrades, you know, our tractor, we have to use to pack the track. We have to get out there and work it whenever it rains.

Councilmember Sutton: So you guys are like a – are you a non-profit entity?

Angie Almond: Yes, we are. We’re non-profit.

Councilmember Sutton: 501(C)3?

Angie Almond: Yes.

Councilmember Leader: Is there anyone here who actually has used the track?

Angie Almond: I am a BMX rider.

Councilmember Leader: Are you? And this young man back here?

Angie Almond: All of these people are.

Councilmember Leader: That’d be the world. Okay, thanks. How about, can we hear from this young man back here about the sport and what it does for him?

Chris Cannon: Hello, I’m Chris Cannon and I’ve raced BMX for like two years now and like, I used to play football but I’ve done BMX for a long time and I really like it. So I quit football and I, like, I encourage you to do this because, like, we need it and I hope that, like, the track gets good enough, that, like, they might make the grand nationals there and that will bring, like, a lot of people there. So you should do it.

Councilmember Leader: Are you going to try out for the Olympics?

Chris Cannon: No.

Councilmember Sutton: What school do you attend?

Chris Cannon: I go to Castle High School.

President Abell: Mr. Shetler, did you have a question? I think Mr. Winnecke may have one.

Councilmember Shetler: When are you looking at trying to get this up and running? This new building?

Angie Almond: We would like to have it opened for our first big race in August.

Councilmember Shetler: Of this year?

Angie Almond: Yes.

Councilmember Shetler: And construction time?

Ben Kunkel: We’re going to start in the next two weeks.

Councilmember Shetler: Okay. Because I’m thinking timing from our side of appropriations and all that kind of thing, you’re talking really June before we can ever get anything going ourselves at all, and then putting out bids and that whole business after that, so that’s the reason I asked the question, but time might be a little short here.

Kristen Tucker: I can, one aspect of that, Mr. Shetler, I know our immediate plan for funding and I think you may be aware of this, is to obtain a short-term bank loan and then we will, with our capital development tourism monies, which are growing at a very significant rate now that the Innkeepers Tax has been increased. You know, pay that off within the year so that we would be asking for that appropriation in the ‘09 budget.

President Abell: So you’re asking our permission for you to get a loan today?

Kristen Tucker: Yes.

President Abell: Mr. Winnecke, you had a question?

Councilmember Winnecke: Well, I guess my question is, because I received a call yesterday or earlier, recently, to go to a meeting to discuss a request from the museum and won’t that request come from the same fund? How much will that be?

Kristen Tucker: Mr. Winnecke, I don’t know that. I do know that we are looking forward to receiving such requests and with the foresight of the needs in our community, that was really the driving factor for the increase in the Innkeepers Tax. And our anticipation is that we will be able to handle and meet many of these but we will, you know, address them as they come in and we are aware of that request coming in as well. And look forward to receiving it and, you know, I’m sure, hopefully, being able to do something with that. We don’t see it as an either/or circumstance and really, it’s a wonderful thing in that this, our Capital Development Tourism fund is growing quite significantly now with that increase.

Councilmember Winnecke: So is this now in queue with the softball/baseball complex that we’ve heard about over the months?

Kristen Tucker: Yes, that would be. This is coming from the same study that, you know, evaluated our softball and baseball situation here and I think that the general feeling of the CVB commissioners was that, there were many recommendations. This was one as well and this was also a more manageable one than the proposed baseball complex. That is still, you know, in queue, I think we all strongly believe that something will be taking place with that but right now an immediate need was Burdette and we could meet that need while also keeping that train going and considering these other requests.

Councilmember Sutton: Now 407 is the total cost or are you anticipating – okay.

Kristen Tucker: Total.

President Abell: Mr. Goebel, did you have a question?

Councilmember Goebel: Just to the building, what will be the use for that building when you’re so-called out of season?

Angie Almond: We will have all of our meetings there. We try to have board meetings every other week or at least once a month, to keep people throughout the non-racing season, to get everything ready for the next season.

Councilmember Goebel: Will there be use by any other groups at Burdette Park?

Angie Almond: Anyone can use the building if they need to have it for meetings or, you know, –

Councilmember Goebel: This is kind of rushed, you know, on our end and can we even approve anything on this date?

President Abell: Mr. Ahlers says that we can approve, we can give them permission to seek the loan. But we can’t do anything with money because it’s not on our transfer or appropriation for this – it’ll have to be next month or the month after, whenever they decide. I guess if they get the loan, you don’t need to do a transfer until late summer?

Kristen Tucker: I would think so. Again, I can clarify some of that with you, with Marilee, and she apologizes, she was traveling today and normally she would be able to probably answer these questions a little bit better than I. However, I do understand that the appropriation – my understanding was that we would likely ask for the appropriation for an ‘09 budget when the short-term loan was termed and it was time for us to pay that off.

President Abell: I did attend the CVB meeting and it is a great project, but I do have some questions if you’ll stay right there, because I think Mr. Shetler also has a question for you, but I’d like for Mr. Craig to come up.

Steve Craig: Steve Craig, Manager of Burdette Park.

President Abell: Mr. Craig, what part are you going to play in this? I mean, somebody is going to have to keep this building clean. Is your staff going to be in charge of clean-up, trash pickup or are you just kind of being the landlord, housing the land, and everything else is up to the volunteers?

Steve Craig: No, they actually lease the property from Burdette Park or Vanderburgh County every year and they are responsible for all the utilities, the maintenance, the upkeep, and the cleaning of their own facilities. This would be at no cost to Burdette Park. They actually pay their own electric, the water, all they do is they lease it from us, and after that, the volunteer people up there that they have take care of the facility.

President Abell: Back up. They lease it from you?

Steve Craig: Yes, ma’am, from Vanderburgh County.

President Abell: The BMX group leases it from you? Is that a set up amount? Have you decided how you’re going to lease it? How is that going to work?

Steve Craig: We’ve leased it to them, I think, for probably the last thirty years and they pay $600 a year to use the area inside the fence and then they are responsible for everything inside of that.

President Abell: And that includes the building? Inside the fence?

Steve Craig: Yeah, they put the building up there. Burdette didn’t build the building, the county didn’t pay for it. Nothing inside the track has been paid with county money. That’s all been done by the BMX club.

President Abell: Mr. Shetler, did you have some questions?

Councilmember Shetler: Yeah. Then who carries the insurance on that?

Steve Craig: I think it’s NBL, the National Bicycle League, and they do have that. It does not go through the county.

Councilmember Shetler: So the county, it’s not on our rolls at all. What kind of liability do they require of them or is that a question that I guess I should ask of Mr. Ziemer?

Angie Almond: The National Bicycle League carries insurance on the riders and we, as our local BMX track, carry insurance on the buildings and all of our equipment that’s inside the buildings.

Councilmember Shetler: Is that a contract, Steve, that Mr. Ziemer has looked over and, to make sure that we’re indemnified, the county?

Steve Craig: We have submitted it every year and he has okayed it, so I would, you know, re-entertain going back to him and make sure it’s, you know, the way that you want it, but –

Councilmember Shetler: No, I just wanted to make sure that he has seen that contract and understands and is, you know, as long as he’s seen it, I feel comfortable that that’s being done then. And then my other question was really along with Marsha’s, so the only revenue that we’d receive is the $600 per year?

Steve Craig: Yes sir.

Councilmember Shetler: On the lease?

Steve Craig: Yes sir.

Councilmember Shetler: Are there other activities that are utilized throughout the rest of the park? Do they rent cabins when they come in for the weekend?

Steve Craig: Our campgrounds are completely full, the city is completely full when they have the larger races. They use our aquatic center, our miniature golf, our batters cage, they fill the park up. On any race that’s outside of the local races and even the local races, there’s people that, like she said, comes in from the tri-state or even the quad state, including Ohio, that come in and use our campground facilities weekly. And they also bring a crowd to the park.

Councilmember Shetler: Is there any way that you could estimate, you know, like how much revenue is derived from the 40 to 60 riders that come in every weekend and then the biggie, the 3,000 people or whatever it is, that come in, in October?

Steve Craig: I don’t have the formula that the bureau uses on it, –

Councilmember Shetler: Well, I don’t mean necessarily from the community, I’m talking about directly to Burdette Park, because I’m trying to justify a $400,000 mortgage on $50 a month. I’m trying to get you to add into the income side of the revenue stream here a little bit so that, you know –

(Inaudible – several speaking at once)

Steve Craig: Tom, I would love to start throwing numbers at you, but I just know that you go up there on a Saturday night and it’s packed, you know, and like when the aquatic center is opened, the people, the other kids are using that and the camping, but as far as the number, I’d be guessing. I wouldn’t be giving you a logical explanation there. But I’m just giving you my word that there is heavy use of the park when the BMX is going on.

Councilmember Shetler: I really would like for us to try to track that somehow within the park and I don’t mean the swimming pool and all the other things that, you know, the ancillary things that I’m certain that they do, but, you know, if there are those folks who are renting out the cabins, for example, that, you know, out of those 30 or 40 riders that came in, 10 were from out of town and half of them rented cabins or got camping sites or whatever. I’d be interested to know that. Again, I think that helps our revenue stream and I think that’s important to the whole equation. So, in the future, if we could track that, and any other groups that come in whether it’s aquatics or whatever they might be coming in for.

Steve Craig: In our baseball diamonds, they have quite a few out of town tournaments also, so that would be something I can start marking down and seeing what they do use in the park.

Councilmember Shetler: Alright, thanks.

President Abell: Mr. Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: I think we’re all very open to the expansion of the program. This has been presented before. My question is on the building, again, as far as the usage of that, Steve, are we not considering doing some new building just for offices and things like that at Burdette?

Steve Craig: It is in the future plans with the new 30 acres that we have. It’s nothing that we’ve got any concrete numbers down. I’m looking at present time about infrastructure for that property of where the sewers, the electric and that, but we are looking at adding buildings, chalets, maybe getting our office out of the flood plain where we don’t have to sandbag the front doors when we have heavy rains. That is part of the future plans at Burdette. But that wouldn’t be something that I think that we would, you know, go to them out of the sports part of it and request that money for it, if that’s what you’re asking.

Councilmember Goebel: I’m just looking maybe at a good, solid, loan, arranged plan, if we’re going to put buildings up, and this looks like a nice building, if we could not incorporate some other needs that might make it more usable year round, and BMX certainly would have a place there, but does BMX need the entire complex or could the building be moved a little bit to one side or the other, is it in the middle of the track right now?

Steve Craig: It will be on the far south side of the track and, Mike, it’s in use probably eight months out of the year. The four months that they’re not racing, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be using it because they do have organizational meetings throughout the winter and two or three times a year. And like Angie said, if we did want to use it or if somebody wanted to come out and have a meeting, they would be more than happy to let them use that, but you know, on the terms on them leasing that, I would think that would be their building, you know, they’re the ones seeking the funding for it. And I think from the activity I see up there during the winter, they’re pretty active 12 months out of the year and not use the eight that they’re actually racing.

Councilmember Goebel: Okay, that answers some questions, thank you.

President Abell: Mr. Winnecke, did you have another question? I think one of our problems at this point is we don’t know exactly what we’re supposed to be doing here. I mean, you haven’t asked for an appropriation, you haven’t asked for a transfer, you’re talking about a short-term loan, but I think we have to approve that, don’t we?

Councilmember Winnecke: Maybe the course of action, I guess I’d rather have heard about it a little before today, before making a decision on a $400,000 expense. I do have a quick question. About how long is the actual construction time? I heard you say you want to start in two weeks and you’d be up by August, but –

Ben Kunkel: Well, we need every bit of it.

Councilmember Winnecke: Maybe we pass a resolution in support of it.

President Abell: Your board, as I recall, I was at a meeting, has voted for this?

Kristen Tucker: Yes, our board has voted and my understanding from speaking with Marilee and Mr. Vezzoso, was that we are requesting approval of the process, if this language helps you all, process to fund. And our process is to seek a short-term loan that, you know, we will hold and then next year – or it could be at the end of this year, I don’t want to speak to that specifically, but I was told ‘09 we would come to you with the request for an appropriation.

President Abell: Does that help you with some wording, Mr. Winnecke? Would you like –

Councilmember Winnecke: Are you looking for me to wordsmith something?

President Abell: Oh, certainly.

Councilmember Winnecke: I guess I would make a motion to approve a resolution that supports the CVB’s funding process that would allow them to seek a short-term loan in the amount of $407,000, so that it may proceed with the construction of the BMX improvements to be – I guess I would leave it at that.

Councilmember Leader: I’ll second that motion.

President Abell: Does everyone understand the motion? No?

Councilmember Sutton: I don’t think it poses any issues for us. We’re not allocating any money, we’re not changing anything necessarily in what they’re requesting is not something that would require, I guess, the legal advertising issue I guess is what I’m kind of playing around with in my head, and I don’t know what thoughts you may have here, Jeff, since we don’t really, we’ve got them on the agenda here, but what – I just wanted to make sure we’re covering our bases here.

Jeff Ahlers: I think we’re okay, but in the future, I guess what I would suggest is it would be nice to have some paper in front of us. In other words, for example, I assume that your board passed a resolution or motion of some sort. It might be nice to have had that in front of us or something a little more concrete than, you know, what we’re doing here. But, I mean, I think that’s up to you. In terms of all we’re doing here is a resolution just saying we’re supportive of it. Any actual approval of anything specific, in my opinion, ought to come back before us. In other words, you know, if they’re wanting any specific transfers or funding requests approved, it ought to be specifically requested in writing and come back to us. So I’m interpreting what you’re doing is just merely a friendly resolution to say this Council is supportive of going forward with the idea, but any more particulars in terms of funding requests would need to come specifically before Council.

Councilmember Winnecke: That’s right.

Councilmember Leader: I just want to comment that, in the future, as well, something this significant I would prefer advance notice, number one. And secondly, once we get rolling with the project, frequently, we’re left in some void. And we never hear about it again and we don’t know what’s going on, and so forth. And if your board would consider creating an email that goes to the County Commissioners and the County Council, I would sincerely appreciate it. As you make progress, maybe attaching a few pictures because this is a significant amount of money for us or for anyone and I would just appreciate, as we go along with these projects, all the projects that we do, it would mean a lot for us for future reference in understanding, to have kind of a history as we go through the project.

Kristen Tucker: Thank you, Ms. Leader, and I can take that back, certainly, to our board. The Executive Director, Ms. Libs is here, and I certainly agree with that and we want to be communicative with County Council and I think that’s not a lot to ask. So you can expect that.

President Abell: Let me read, and then I’ll get to you, Mr. Shetler. I will read to you from their board minutes of March 20^th. After discussion, the grants committee deemed it beneficial in garnering local, regional and national BMX races and tournaments, and would make Evansville the host of a premiere racing track. The grants committee offered the motion and second to approve the TCD, which is the Tourism Capital Development, request in the amount of $407,000. The board cautioned they still had to appear before County Council to get approval of the disbursement for the Tourism Capital Development fund and the request would be submitted by the 15^th of April, which didn’t happen. The meeting to approve would be held the first week of May, 2008. If the Council approves the disbursement, it would then go to the state of Indiana for final approval. All of the commissioners approved the motion and the grant of funds was approved. I think the problem is, we didn’t get the April 15^th request. Okay, Mr. Shetler.

Councilmember Shetler: I’m very supportive. I’m supportive of anything that brings people in here and comes to Evansville for whatever reasons, and I think the BMX is a good project and it gets a lot of people involved in it, particularly young people and gets them off the streets and has things to do and I’m very much in favor of that. I am concerned about the mechanics here and I’m concerned because – and I think the resolution is a good way to go forward, but I think we’re going to have to put together that finance ordinance very quickly because that’s going to be, assuming tax dollars that are going to be used, at least to pay off that loan or that note unless the BMX folks are actually going to take ownership of that mortgage or that loan, would be the only other way, and then they would be at risk to cover it, because if the risk is in the hands of the Convention & Visitors Bureau, a tax entity, I would think we would have a little bit of a problem here because tax money would be actually involved in you utilizing it to pay that off, even the interest in the short term. I mean, and so I would think that we would have to have an appropriation before that can start happening, of any amount, wouldn’t it? I mean...

President Abell: How far behind would you be if you didn’t start in two weeks and you started in four weeks?

Ben Kunkel: Well, two weeks behind.

President Abell: It’s that tight?

Ben Kunkel: Not to be flip, but yeah, it is tight.

President Abell: Because we really need this to come before us at the end of the month and then vote on it at our first meeting in June.

Councilmember Shetler: And the only, I mean, and I don’t mean – but it seems to me that if BMX took ownership to it up front and did it off on their own, but they’re taking a risk that if we did not approve it, you know, then they would have to be responsible for that, then I would think might be able to work around it legally, but if Convention & Visitors Bureau has ownership of that loan, then, in fact, there is tax money that’s there’s no other alternative, because they don’t have any other source of income other than tax revenue.

Councilmember Winnecke: Here is a possible solution here, not to interrupt, but in the Tourism Capital Improvement budget for this year, there is $100,000 budgeted for soccer fields, $125,000 for the African-American museum, $50,000 for the LST project, $900,000 for the sports complex, which I assume is the baseball/softball complex, and then there is a loan interest payment of 35,000 plus and another loan payment of $325,000 plus. If the sports complex is on hold, then maybe the appropriate action is to, next month, request a transfer so there is a line item that says BMX in the amount of $407,000. We can –

Councilmember Shetler: Can we transfer funds, though, can you do that today?

Councilmember Winnecke: No, but we can transfer the funds as quickly as next month.

President Abell: I think that’s what we’re going to have to do and I think you’re going to have to wait a couple weeks, because – go ahead, Mr. Goebel.

Councilmember Goebel: Well, in the past, the CVB has done a very good job of giving us the drawings and the explanation and that, so we’ve had a chance to look it over. And hopefully between now and the next meeting, we will be able to have that in hand?

Kristen Tucker: We’ll supply you all with whatever is necessary, of course. So, I mean, we have all of that, and on behalf of my fellow commissioners and the executive director and president, you know, I personally apologize. I wasn’t aware of the time frame and so, you know, we’ll get that handled and get you