VANDERBURGH COUNTY COUNCIL

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

The Vanderburgh County Council met in session this 1st day of September, 2010 in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex. The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. by County Council President Russell Lloyd, Jr.

President Lloyd: I’d like to call to order the Vanderburgh County Council September 1, 2010 meeting. Attendance roll call please.

*Arrived shortly after roll call.

President Lloyd: For the Pledge of Allegiance I’d ask Councilman Bassemier to lead us.

Councilmember Bassemier: Everyone please stand.

(Pledge of Allegiance was given)

President Lloyd: Okay, you have before you the minutes from the August 4, 2010 meeting. Is there any changes or is there a motion to approve?

Councilmember Shetler: So moved.

President Lloyd: Is there a second?

Councilmember Raben: Second.

President Lloyd: Okay, motion Mr. Shetler, second Mr. Raben. Any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted aye)

President Lloyd: Any opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Lloyd: Six/zero.

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

SHERIFF

President Lloyd: Okay item five, appropriation ordinance, the Sheriff, we’ll start with the Finance Chair, Mr. Shetler.

Councilmember Shetler: Thank you. The Sheriff is here, he answered questions on that last week. I have papers everywhere with the budget and everything else, so I apologize. Anybody have any questions? If not, I make a motion for approval.

President Lloyd: Motion to approve. Is there a second?

Councilmember Terry: Second.

President Lloyd: Motion Mr. Shetler, second Ms. Terry. This is for the utility line item or is this for all of them. This is just Utilities? Okay, roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Motion passes six/zero.

SHERIFF                                                                REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 6-0)

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

Councilmember Shetler: I don’t think anybody was here last week for the Cooperative Extension. Do we have anybody? Is the $2,100 for Travel & Mileage?

Susan Plassmeier: Did you forward the information I sent?

Councilmember Terry: I did forward the information. Was that clear?

Councilmember Shetler: Yeah, are there any questions? If not, motion for approval.

President Lloyd: Okay, motion to approve, is there a second?

Councilmember Raben: Second.

President Lloyd: Okay, motion Mr. Shetler, second Mr. Raben. Any questions on, it’s $2,100 additional. Okay, roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Motion passes seven/zero.

Susan Plassmeier: Thank you.

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE               REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

CIRCUIT COURT

President Lloyd: Circuit Court.

Councilmember Shetler: The judge is here and he answered questions last week concerning Circuit Court appropriations. I would move approval.

President Lloyd: Is there a second?

Councilmember Raben: Second.

President Lloyd: Motion Mr. Shetler, second Mr. Raben. Any questions, discussion? We did talk about this last week. Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Motion passes seven/zero.

CIRCUIT COURT                                                   REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

BURDETTE PARK

President Lloyd: Burdette Park.

Councilmember Shetler: I saw Steve here, I think he sent out an email to everyone giving some explanation on that. But if anybody has any questions for Steve, he is here to answer any questions concerning the appropriation. I would move approval.

President Lloyd: Is there a second?

Councilmember Raben: Second.

President Lloyd: Motion Mr. Shetler, second Mr. Raben. Any questions on this Burdette Park $57,913? Yes, Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: And this will be reimbursed? You don’t have to come up.

Steve Craig: (Inaudible, comments not made from the microphone.)

Councilmember Goebel: Okay, thank you.

President Lloyd: Any other questions? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Motion passes seven/zero.

BURDETTE PARK                                                 REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

REASSESSMENT/ASSESSOR

President Lloyd: Reassessment fund, Reassessment/Assessor.

Councilmember Shetler: This is for the amount of $3,463. This is for some additional Level II certifications that came up during the year. We talked to the Assessor at length on this. I would move for approval. If anybody has any questions, he’s here with staff to answer those.

Councilmember Bassemier: Second.

President Lloyd: Motion Mr. Shetler, second Mr. Bassemier. Any discussion? We did have a thorough discussion last week. Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Motion passes seven/zero.

REASSESSMENT/ASSESSOR                             REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

CIRCUIT COURT SUPPLEMENTAL ADULT PROBATION

President Lloyd: Move on to Circuit Court Supplemental Adult Probation fund.

Councilmember Shetler: Again, the judge was here last week on this. The $25,000 being requested for additional insurance, line 1920. I would move approval.

President Lloyd: Is there a second?

Councilmember Kiefer: Second.

President Lloyd: Okay, motion Mr. Shetler, second Mr. Kiefer. I think the judge indicated these were employees that decided to take county health insurance and had not in the past, so that’s where that was from. Any other questions, discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Motion passes seven/zero. Move on to transfers.

CIRCUIT COURT SUPPLEMENTAL                     REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

TREASURER                                     SHERIFF

SUPERIOR COURT                           REASSESSMENT/AUDITOR

SALES DISCLOSURE                       COUNTY CLERK (LATE)

Councilmember Shetler: We have requests to transfer from the following departments: the Treasurer’s office in the amount of $7,346, and we have requests from the Sheriff’s department for a transfer in the amount of $19,000, Superior Court in the amount of $555, Reassessment/Auditor in the amount of $1,000, County Assessor in the amount of $500, I guess that’s the Sales Disclosure, and then the Clerk, we’ve got one on a late transfer notice on that. And again, I’m not finding that one real quickly, but I would move approval on all the transfers.

President Lloyd: Is there a second?

Councilmember Raben: Second.

President Lloyd: Okay, this is a motion for all the transfers. Any questions, discussion on any one of those? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. All the transfers pass seven/zero. Thank you.

TREASURER                                                         REQUESTED       APPROVED

SHERIFF                                                                REQUESTED       APPROVED

SUPERIOR COURT                                               REQUESTED       APPROVED

REASSESSMENT/AUDITOR                                REQUESTED       APPROVED

SALES DISCLOSURE                                           REQUESTED       APPROVED

COUNTY CLERK                                                   REQUESTED       APPROVED

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Lloyd: Item seven, no repeals, item eight, no old business. Item nine, new business, item A Superior Court, request to fill two vacancies. Judge Trockman and Judge Niemeier, and you’ve got letters from them. Any questions on that? And these are not new, they are replacements. The one for Judge Trockman is a state funded grant, so it will cost the county nothing. But it’s a PERF position. Any questions? Roll call vote please. Oh, we need a motion and a second.

Councilmember Shetler: I’ll so move.

President Lloyd: Okay, motion Mr. Shetler, is there a second?

Councilmember Terry: Second.

President Lloyd: Second Ms. Terry. Any discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Those two requests from Judge Trockman and Judge Niemeier pass seven to zero. Did you want to add anything, Judge?

Wayne Trockman: I think maybe I’d better not, at this point, but thank you. I think that Council is aware that this is all fully funded from the state. And a great opportunity for our program, and so thank you for your continued support.

President Lloyd: Alright, thank you much, Judge, appreciate it.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Lloyd: Item nine B, Circuit Court, three vacancies, Supplemental Adult Probation, and here’s Judge Heldt.

Carl Heldt: Good morning. Carl Heldt, Circuit Court. These are three replacement part-time people, fully funded by the adult probation user fee fund, so there’s no affect on the county budget. We need them and ask that the vacancies be filled. Also, we’re asking that the hourly, these are all hourly people, and that we be allowed to pay up to $11.00 an hour to get these folks. Cherie Wood, Chief Probation Officer is here if you want any details on the work that they do.

President Lloyd: What are we paying them now?

Karen Angermeier: The only position we’re asking to upgrade the pay is the Court Liaison intern because that person needs to be at least a senior in college or graduated, so we’re asking to pay that position up to $11.00 an hour. The other ones will remain up to $9.00 an hour.

President Lloyd: Okay. On a part-time the salary ordinance does allow it. Okay, any questions for the Judge? And you’ve got the letter from him to that effect. Is there a motion and a second to approve?

Councilmember Shetler: So moved.

President Lloyd: Motion Mr. Shetler, is there a second?

Councilmember Bassemier: Second.

President Lloyd: Second Mr. Bassemier. Any discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Approved seven to zero. Thank you, Judge.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

(Because the podium microphone was not working properly, some of the comments made from the podium are inaudible )

President Lloyd: Item C, County Clerk request to fill vacancy. Good morning.

Susan Kirk: Good morning.

President Lloyd: Did we have a letter or email for this? Yeah, there was a letter. This position is...

Susan Kirk: It’s the Small Claims Clerk, they work the front counter, they put on cases, they do add-ons. The bad news is, the cases are already up from where they were last year. So we’re not decreasing (inaudible), we’re up.

President Lloyd: Okay. So this is to replace an existing vacancy?

Susan Kirk: Yes.

President Lloyd: Any questions for the County Clerk?

Councilmember Shetler: Yeah, how many total employees in the office?

Susan Kirk: We have, including me, there’s 53 full-time and (inaudible) part-time.

Councilmember Shetler: And is it possible to look at shifting more of the full-time positions and responsibilities into some part-time positions?

Susan Kirk: Do you want to talk about benefits for part-time people?

Councilmember Shetler: No, to kind of restructuring the office with a blend of full-time supplementing some of the workload with part-time people that might help us to reduce the overall cost of the operation and at the same time make it somewhat efficient. Again, my experience has been, and speaking with other folks in business, is that there are a lot of very talented people out there that are looking for part-time work today. Some of them are looking for part-time that might be seasonal in nature, they’re looking for work that, you know, a lot of the kids that are in school, some of them are looking for work while kids are out of school, some of them are looking for specific hours of the day. Many, like I said, are very talented and have, are very well educated, they just would like to have a little extra money to help supplement the family budget. And we can, sometimes those people can be found at a bargain price, if you will, because of their willingness to work and get back into the workforce for a variety of different reasons. And didn’t know if that may be a possibility to start supplementing some of the full-time with some of those part-time that are available out there.

President Lloyd: Any other questions? Mr. Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: The person who resigned, and we have had to pay her accrued time and things like that, when does the balance sheet zero out, so that —

Susan Kirk: Well, you just did a transfer, so it should be the 7^th, is that correct, Sandie? We did a transfer from another line item in payroll into that one to take care of that buyout, so is that –

Sandie Deig: You’re talking about the one that’s leaving in September, not this one.

Susan Kirk: Yeah, that’s true. So we should be able to move this one –

Sandie Deig: It’s approved.

Susan Kirk: Yeah, ready to go. She didn’t really have much time left, that was one of the problems.

Councilmember Goebel: Have we eliminated or have you eliminated any positions in your office?

Susan Kirk: No.

Councilmember Goebel: They’re all still filled?

Susan Kirk: Well, we’ve got the one part-time person instead of the full-time person that we had, so we’re down to, you know, the one part-time, that’s the loss that we’ve suffered so far. So, again, I will reiterate, our cases are already up in June. Tim Van Cleave can vouch for it. The judges can vouch for it, everything is up. It’s bad news but it’s unfortunate.

Councilmember Goebel: I don’t think anyone disputes that. You’re doing a great job over there. All the offices are.

Susan Kirk: Well, and because of that, we really can’t afford to do part time. As a matter of fact, if these cases keep rising every year, we’re going to be back asking at least for more part-time help because it’s going to be impossible to get the job done. Yes?

Councilmember Kiefer: Susie, what is the total caseload? I mean, how do you measure? I mean, what’s the numbers?

Susan Kirk: Well, Tim, he runs this report and last year we were over 64,000 and I emailed all of you the statistics on that last year, I believe. And he ran another report so, basically, if you want to make it easy, you take 64, cut it in half, well, we’re already over half of that now. So small claims is up, we had, for instance, just a couple of weeks ago, you know, they came in and they had over 200 cases to file in one day. It’s just, you know, between people losing their jobs, they can’t pay their bills, the foreclosures, it’s just, crime – I wish it weren’t that way. You know, I wish everything was better to where our caseload was going down. But it isn’t. The only thing I think that’s probably going down is the marriages.

President Lloyd: Marriage is down, divorce is up? Hmm.

Susan Kirk: Yeah, it’s just, you know, money problems can cause all kinds of marital problems, too. So, like I said, I hope that you trust my judgement. I am not up here just trying to hand something over. We have facts and figures to show that our caseload is up. And right now is not the time to be cutting back nor do we want to go to any part-time help and talk about the benefits and stuff like that.

President Lloyd: We, last year the Council had requested you to take, I guess we’ve taken one full-time and made it part-time and that’s where you are and you haven’t had any other –

Susan Kirk: And they’re working 35 hours a week.

President Lloyd: And you haven’t had any other staff changes.

Councilmember Kiefer: Susie, could you ask Tim or whoever could help you with the report, I’d be interested to see like a five-year trend on your caseload to see –

Susan Kirk: We gave you a ten-year trend when I emailed you.

Councilmember Kiefer: That was last year?

Susan Kirk: Yes, the one I sent that –

Councilmember Kiefer: Could you resend that out?

Susan Kirk: Yes, I can do that. Yes, it goes back ten years. And Tim came before you just the last time, I believe, and gave you a pretty good report of some of the numbers, the caseloads and stuff like that. Some of it you may not understand, but if you just look at the numbers, you see they’re up. Because everything is divided down into each, you know, there’s like little letters that designate what kind of cases they are, it’s a little complicated, but like I said, you look at the end results and you see the numbers are up.

Councilmember Kiefer: I probably still don’t have that if it was a year ago, so if you wouldn’t mind resending that, that would be great.

Susan Kirk: I will do that. And we’ll give you the new report, too. I’ll send you a ten-year and then the – well, wait a minute, I think Tim does, when he does our half year in June I think he includes that. Either way, I will re-email that to all of you.

President Lloyd: For whatever reason, our population is growing by a small amount, but there’s more accessing of the legal system.

Susan Kirk: It is. You know, we’re such a litigious society anymore. You can’t make a mistake, you know. If I accidently step on your toe, you’re going to sue me and more than likely you’re going to get a little money. So we’ve made society more litigious plus, of all the problems just because of the economy.

President Lloyd: Good business for the attorneys.

Susan Kirk: Yes, that’s true.

President Lloyd: Any other questions of the Clerk?

Councilmember Raben: Just a general comment, you know, I’ve mentioned this before, you know, when we look at, not just Susie’s office but every office, I wish, you know, if it were affordable, I wish it was possible at some point to move towards some efficiency studies within offices. You know, with the computerization and the new software we buy, we’re getting ready to appropriate millions of dollars for computers for next year, and support staff and software, you know, we should be able to increase our caseload today versus ten years ago in every department in every office. And somebody coming in and looking through a different set of goggles or glasses, I think would be beneficial. And I don’t know that you’ve got to tear the whole Civic Center apart, but start with some of the larger offices or branches, you know, because I think we do things the way we do it just because we always have. You know, well, that’s the way we’ve done it for the last ten years. I don’t know that we’re doing everything as efficiently as possible and I’m not going after you or any one department, but again, I think some outside fresh eyes would be beneficial to the county. And again, I know the cost would be high, I don’t think you can do the entire Civic Center, but a couple of the larger offices, you might be able to spread a little bit of that into the smaller ones once we find out the benefits of any change made in the bigger ones. So again, I’ve preached that several times and I still, I wish at some point over the next twelve months, the county or maybe the Commissioners could find that appropriate firm to come in and do just that.

Susan Kirk: Well, that’s just it. When you explained, over the last ten years we should be able to do that, well, we have. There have been no new employees in the Clerk’s office since back in the 70's, even before that. And we have streamlined. We do have computer updates and things like that but you have to remember in our case, we keep getting more every year and we have adapted to it. But it’s getting to a place where now streamlined or not, we’re about as streamlined and you’re going to get. I mean, we’ve worked with the Sheriff’s department, the Prosecutor’s office, the judges’ offices, the police department, the state, to try to come up with interfaces, anything that’s going to make our jobs go a little bit quicker. And we have done that. We’re in the process now of (inaudible) the state. We’re getting a (inaudible) actually to try to help us a little bit and streamline a little bit more. And that’s exactly what we have done with the caseload histories, the same amount of employees. We have streamlined until we – and we’re barely keeping up now, but the caseload keeps increasing. You can streamline as much as you want, but you’ve got to have somebody to be able to do that job. And we’re getting reasonably close to that now if this continues to go up.

Councilmember Raben: Well, I think there, you know, again, not that every official or every department head is not doing everything they can, I honestly believe that everybody is putting their best foot forward, but you know, there are people, believe it or not, smarter than us that –

Susan Kirk: Well, I’ll agree –

Councilmember Raben: – that could find some duplications in what we do, you know, do we have duplications within your office? Are we moving the same piece of paper, is it crossing too many desks. I mean, it’s –

Susan Kirk: Well, a lot of that, yes, Councilman, some of that is, and that’s just because that’s the way the law is. So you need to get in touch with your representatives to get some of that stuff changed.

Councilmember Raben: Anyway, we’re not going to work that out today and we’ve got a –

Susan Kirk: When we got computers, we were going to have no more paper. And now we have computers, paper, microfilm, scanners, we’ve just, we (inaudible) cut back any paper because that’s the law. We have to do that.

Councilmember Raben: Well, we’re not going to figure this out today and we’ve got a budget to pass, but you know, at some point, I really would like to see the county move in that direction with at least a few of the larger departments.

Susan Kirk: (Inaudible) – like I said, I’m one of these people, I don’t even put trash in my little trash basket, because I don’t want to pay for that little bag to get changed every day. I carry it in to the other room. So I’m pretty stingy actually, so anyway, like I said, I hope that you trust my judgement and (inaudible).

President Lloyd: Any other questions for the Clerk? Mr. Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Mr. President, I’d like to make a motion to approve.

President Lloyd: Is there a second?

Councilmember Kiefer: Second.

President Lloyd: Motion Mr. Bassemier, second Mr. Kiefer. Any discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: It’s just, it’s not a matter of me not trusting your judgement, and it’s not a matter of me feeling as if you haven’t done the best you can on it. I know that many people, when private business is forced to, over the past three years, to really dig deep and to find every available cut that they can in order to survive the economy. I really don’t feel that government should be any different. I think it was, Mr. Raben said it very well, with all the automation that we have today and the equipment and stuff, we ought to be able to find and squeak out a little bit more efficiency. Even looking at a new way of looking at how to hire and use employees, so I’m going to have to vote no. We need to find ways to hold the line on the budget and to actually cut expenses the best we can. So, again, I vote no.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: No.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: At this time I’m, again, I’m going to vote yes. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and I know we have eliminated one more person, but simply to allow more time to keep searching, as Tom said, for those efficiencies. The next time, I probably won’t be as favorable, but I’ll vote yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: I’m going to echo Councilman Raben’s comments and vote yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: I’m going to vote yes, so that’s five to two. Motion passes, thank you.

(Motion carried 5-2/Councilmembers Shetler and Goebel opposed)

President Lloyd: Item D, Health Department, request to fill one part-time and two vacancies.

Gary Heck: Gary Heck, Vanderburgh County Health Department. I’d be happy to explain the request.

President Lloyd: You should have received a little packet of information from the Health department on this. Any questions? You might want to restate what these positions are.

Gary Heck: The part-time position is for a part-time vital records clerk. This vacancy goes back to last year. It was part of the accrued payment package for the retiring executive director. We finally saw the light of Mr. Shetler’s advice that we should try part-time people and that’s what they’re (inaudible) to try to do. The only difference this (inaudible) other full-time members of the vital records is we wouldn’t ask this position to do any of the more complex paternity affidavits which would require much more experience than just to help handle the front desk and handle the requests for birth and death certificates and answer questions.

President Lloyd: And then is the other one the dental assistant?

Gary Heck: One of them would be for the chair side dental assistant, which the dentist needs in order to be able to function. And the other one we had may have been a late request but we were given permission to hire the, under the WIC grant, a secretary bookkeeper the last time. One of the WIC clerks was able to accept that position and this would be to fill that grant WIC clerk’s position (inaudible).

President Lloyd: So the WIC clerk, that’s a grant and doesn’t cost the county anything.

Gary Heck: That’s correct.

President Lloyd: Mr. Shetler.

Councilmember Shetler: What’s the approximate savings on going from that full-time to the part-time in vital records?

Gary Heck: It would probably be up to 32 hours and probably the savings would be off of the benefit package, which if a county employee were to have family coverage, that could be about $19,000, and then when you look at the difference in salary, it’s probably, would be about one/fifth of whatever the salary difference would be. So if they’re in a $20,000 position, let’s just say, then it’s going to save $4,000 for that. So when you put the two together, probably (inaudible) over the course of a year.

Councilmember Shetler: Alright, thank you.

Gary Heck: You’re welcome.

President Lloyd: Other questions for Mr. Heck? Is there a motion and a second? Is there a motion to approve?

Councilmember Goebel: Move for approval.

President Lloyd: Is there a second?

Councilmember Shetler: I’ll second.

President Lloyd: Motion Mr. Goebel, second Mr. Shetler. Any discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Motion passes seven/zero. Thank you, Gary.

Gary Heck: Thank you.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Lloyd: Item E, Commission on Homelessness Annual Report. I asked that be rescheduled due to the crunch of time we had with the budget, item E, so we’re going to hear that, is that going to be at the Personnel & Finance?

Sarah Nunn: Yes.

President Lloyd: In September or October?

Sarah Nunn: September.

President Lloyd: Okay, so it will be at our next meeting.

President Lloyd: Item F, travel requests, start with the Health department.

Councilmember Raben: Mr. President, I’ll move approval of all travel requests.

President Lloyd: Let me make a point of order here. Number five, the County Commissioner, that was, I guess, Mr. Tornatta traveled to Indianapolis for a judge swearing in, he withdrew that. So we had one withdrawn. So one, two, three, four and six travel requests. Any questions? You said to approve all of them except for five?

Councilmember Raben: Right.

Councilmember Shetler: I’ll second that and I have a quick question for Gary. But the last time, maybe the time before, that you came before us about travel requests, we talked about the possibility of trying to do some of this stuff by webinars. What’s the progress on that?

Gary Heck: The progress on that is that computer services advised us that we needed to have a second internet connection, that the way the webinar streaming works, we wouldn’t be able to use the county basic network internet connection. We do have a secondary internet connection at the health department and we’re in the process now of submitting the request to confirm the quotes that the state provided us with (inaudible), so as soon as we get the quotes back from computer services and we’re in a position to purchase and test the equipment, I would say probably within the next month, we should be functional and operational.

Councilmember Shetler: Any feeling on how much that may be saving, could save the department?

Gary Heck: Well, when you look at, a lot of our grant and professional nursing and environmental health specialists are required to have trainings and recertifications, most of those trainings are in Indianapolis or some of them are actually out of state, Cincinnati, it would probably save, I would say conservatively, $10,000 a year in – if you include time and travel, it would probably be close to $20,000 a year when you look at the amount of time someone would need to be off to go travel to and from, if there were lodging involved for overnight stay. So it could a substantial amount of money.

Councilmember Shetler: Alright, thank you.

Gary Heck: You’re welcome, sir.

President Lloyd: Other questions? Mr. Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: This is not for Mr. Heck, it’s just an observation, again, I brought it up in the past and it goes to the Auditor. I have no problem with the state mandated or required Auditor’s conference, I just don’t understand why it would happen in October on an election year when, by statute, many Auditors will be moving on and perhaps the Auditors might want to reconsider and have that after – I know you don’t control this – but the Auditors might want to move that till after the election so that the new Auditor elect, whoever that might be, would go to the conference and really get a great start on the position that begins in January. I know there’s some things that have to be done yet, but I would think a lot of the Auditors might be, by term limit, not continuing next January. Is that correct?

Bill Fluty: That is correct.

Councilmember Goebel: Okay, maybe you could bring that idea up.

Bill Fluty: I can do that.

Councilmember Goebel: Thank you. But I have no problem with the travel allowance.

President Lloyd: Other questions on the travel? Okay, we had a motion by Mr. Raben, second by Mr. Shetler, roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. The travel requests pass seven/zero. And also Area Plan was on there. That was the last one.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Lloyd: Item 10, Amendments to Salary Ordinance, I’ll turn that over to the Finance Chair.

Councilmember Shetler: I think everyone has received a copy of the Salary Ordinance amendments. I would put this in the form of a motion for approval as submitted to everyone.

Councilmember Raben: So moved.

President Lloyd: Okay, motion Mr. Shetler, second Mr. Raben. Burdette Park, Assessor/Reassessment, Treasurer, Sheriff, Superior Court, Auditor/Reassessment, Circuit Court, County Clerk and Health department all included in that. Any discussion? Roll call vote please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Lloyd?

President Lloyd: Yes. Salary ordinance amendments pass seven/zero.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Lloyd: Item eleven, public comment regarding this meeting, is there anyone from the public that would like to speak? And this is the regular Council meeting, our budget hearings will follow shortly. Yes, come up, please. State your name and address, please.

Martha Crosley: My name is Martha Crosley, I live at 5511 Stringtown Road and I talked to some of you folks on the phone regarding the ball park (inaudible) Wesselman Park and I’ve talked to a lot of people about the ballpark (inaudible). I’ve watched you people struggle with this budget issue. I’ve been to a couple budgetary meetings and you really work hard on this and having been in business for 32 years, I understand exactly what budgetary issues can be. And they’re not easy. You’re dealing with people and your responsibility is the people of the county and the people who work for the county. It’s very hard. And I don’t know exactly when this took place, but apparently, the CVB or Mr. Dunn came before you and requested $425,000 to proceed with investigating the ball complexes in Wesselman Park. And I don’t know if he spent all that or not, but he’s sure making a big show of it. I don’t think that $425,000 should have been spent. It seems to me that you could get a whole lot better plan for your money, you wouldn’t have to spend $425,000, so I don’t know where its gone and I don’t know whether you have requested an assessment from him of where this money has been spent. I would certainly, as a citizen, like to see that. I have here some papers I’m going to pass out to you in just a minute of someone who threw together a plan for free at my request and he’s a respected architect in this area, environmentally sound and very knowledgeable about things. He’s been an architect in this area for, what, thirty years. Also the money that they’re requesting to put the ball complex together, 15 to $18,000,000. Mr. Goebel, you may know when the Goebel Soccer Complex was put together, do you know how much was spent to put that complex together, because I don’t. I don’t have the figures on that and I don’t know who to ask.

President Lloyd: It’s about four and a half million, I believe.

Martha Crosley: Thank you, sir. Well, let’s see, four and a half million versus eighteen million. What’s wrong with this picture? You’re struggling with money, we’re struggling to get what, two to three million dollars out of the county budget and the CVB is trying to talk you into letting them spend eighteen million dollars of the taxpayers’ money to put in ball complexes which will be used by a small percentage of people in this town for part of the year, and you’re struggling with two to three million dollars out of this budget for all year for all the county employees for all the people of this county. I am not against the ball complex. Please, don’t get me wrong. If you can put this ball complex together for four and a half million, six million, eight million, I could see that, but eighteen million dollars is whacko, to put it bluntly. Mr. Dunn is asking for help from you folks for Recovery Zone and Build America Bonds, and if you look back, if I could read to you just a small section of your Council meeting. This is minutes from your Council meeting July 7^th of this year. Mr. Ahlers asked, basically, what is it that you want from this Council? Is there an ordinance, is there a resolution, is there, I mean, what specifically would you anticipate needing from the County Council. And Karl Sturbaum, who is from Boze McKinney and Evans in Indianapolis, who is the attorney firm that was contracted by Mr. Dunn to access these bonds and also London Witte, I believe, they’re the bond firm, London Witte was here at that meeting as well. But Mr. Sturbaum’s response to Mr. Ahler’s question was, and I’ll just read this as it states, “Sorry, I’m Karl Sturbaum from Boze McKinney and Evans. We would be looking for an ordinance appropriating the Innkeepers’ Tax. The CVB has the authority to allocate it, to transfer it to any other body, but we would need you to conduct the statutory procedures on appropriating the proceeds. We would also, you would be involved approving the park as an economic redevelopment area, we would be establishing that so we could use the lease structure of the Redevelopment Commission and the Redevelopment Authority as the lessor. And then the last thing would be if their, well, your participation in the allocation of the recovery zone would be appropriate although I think that’s probably the Commissioners, ultimately, you would want to back that one up. And then if it’s determined that there is a backup pledge of COIT, you would be involved in making that pledge to the Redevelopment Commission. So there are the four things that we would be looking for.” Let’s break those down. Let’s talk about recovery zone bonds and redevelopment bonds, Rebuilding America Bonds. This is a little piece of paper off the internet, anybody can get it from Barnes and Thornburg, which many of you know is a huge law firm in Indianapolis as is Boze McKinney and Evans – take one and pass it around. I don’t know how many there are, please make sure every Councilmember gets one, I would appreciate it. I have three pages. The first page underlines the definition of a recovery zone bond. And I’d like to read that to you. Recovery zone bond is defined as any area designated by the issuer as having significant poverty, unemployment, rate of home foreclosures or general distress. I would like you to consider in your mind the Wesselman Park area. Would you de-fine that as having significant poverty, rate of home foreclosures, general distress? Would you define it as that? Well, if you can’t define it as that, then they can’t get recovery zone bonds to meet it. That’s the definition of how you get recovery zone bonds. So that’s a problem. You go to the second page, we find that some cities in the state of Indiana are allowed their own recovery zone bond funds to apportion out, and these are facility bonds. That means they are bonds that are accessed by businesses, not by government. There are other recovery zone bonds that governments can access. Evansville, the city of Evansville, has over $7,000,000 that it can apportion out in recovery zone bonds. You turn to the last page, Vanderburgh County, and I’m assuming since you are the monetary committee for Vanderburgh County, that you would have over $4,000,000 to apportion at this point, unless you’ve done some already that I don’t know about. I would like you to think about that a minute. I would like you to think about the fact that not only is the CVB asking you to help them spend $18,000,000, they’re asking you to access some of this money with recovery zone bonds when the definition that they have doesn’t meet the definition that the law says. So something, something’s got to give here. Something is not working. Please think about that. And lastly, on the commentary that Mr. Sturbaum said, they would be possibly asking you for a backup pledge of the county income tax. Well, you people have been struggling with the county income tax here for how long? My gosh, why would you back up something that costs $18,000,000 for a ball complex when you’re struggling to make payroll for the people that you have in your employ? Why would you put that on the line? You couldn’t. That’s nuts. That upsets me as a citizen to think that anyone would ask you to do that. I think it’s wrong. There is a big split in opinion of the public. If you read the editorial section of the newspaper, you will see almost every day, commentary on the ball complexes, or commentary on Roberts Stadium. And people are kind of getting this all lumped together when it really shouldn’t be. The ball complexes are one issue, Roberts Stadium in another issue and they should be taken independently. If the ball complexes are something that you want to support, fine. But let’s look at various other locations. They don’t have to be tied to Roberts Stadium. They can be put elsewhere. And I offer this up to you, I have some papers here that some of you may find interesting. The first is, this is not the picture that you may be used to looking at from Mr. Dunn of the diagram of how he would propose doing the complex in Wesselman Park. This is a diagram from Mr. Bill Gaiser, who said, well, gee, you know, a nice park to do this in that really needs improvement in the city is Kleymeyer Park. I don’t know if you know where Kleymeyer Park is. It is right on First Avenue and Diamond Avenue intersection. It is adjacent to, if you cross the Greenway and Pigeon Creek, Garvin Park, and he has made some interesting notations here. Let me pass these around to you. I’m not selling this as the ideal location, I’m not pushing locations. I’m just saying, let’s get other ideas on the table. The last time other ideas were on the table, I think, was ‘07. The last time that he looked at other locations was the last time around when this ball complex idea came up for Wesselman Park, and I don’t believe he’s looked at locations since. In the Kleymeyer Park area, there is enough room to put in eight ball fields, practice areas, parking and still keep the football field that the little league plays on at the very front of the park toward First Avenue. The recommendation could be to bridge Pigeon Creek in a couple of areas so that other amenities at Garvin Park could be used such as the swimming pool or the tennis courts or basketball courts or whatever, playground things for the kids, and this park is in very much need of improvement. It is also sitting on the edge of the brown field zone that the federal government has been looking at and it is near a more or I should say less affluent area. It is near some poverty, it is near some children that would greatly benefit by having this here. I mean, let’s look at the people of the city. And they might actually like to use these facilities. So this is another idea. We’ve talked about, well, gee, that could be put by Goebel Soccer Complex, there’s land up there, here’s the third idea, as opposed to Wesselman Park. You also know that real estate situations change on a daily basis. I know for a fact that there is an area on Burkhardt Road, south of Lynch, it is about 46 acres and it’s on sale right now. It’s on sale right now for probably more than Mr. Dunn wants to spend for it, it’s about three million dollars, but it just came up for sale. Things come up for sale all the time. You can approach people and look at their land and say here’s what we’re trying to do with the city, would you be amendable to, are you in the market for selling your land? And we need to look at these things and he’s not looking at them. I have a couple more papers here and then I won’t paper you out anymore.

President Lloyd: You know, Ms. Crosley, we’re also, if Council intends to move this thing forward, it would have to come in a public meeting so we’ll have other opportunities and we appreciate all this information. The other type of bond that I guess Mr. Dunn talked about was Build America.

Martha Crosley: Build America bonds, recovery zone bonds are a type of Build America bond, is my understanding. Yes, and I’ll hurry this along for you because I just think it’s important to give you things to think about.

President Lloyd: Okay, appreciate that.

Martha Crosley: You’re looking at papers that show Kleymeyer Park, Wesselman Park and the Goebel Soccer Field. And the reason I’m passing those out to you is this: please spread all of them out in front of you and look and see where all the population is. Look closely at Wesselman Park and see how many homes are there across Boeke Road. See how many people are being affected that really don’t like it. I have talked to many people who live in that area, some of whom have been fighting this ball complex since ‘07, that really are highly concerned about noise pollution, light pollution even with the hot Musco lights that Mr. Dunn talks about. There still has to be security lighting all night long which will shine in these people’s windows. There are major, major concerns. And when you talk about noise pollution, one of the solutions that has been brought up from the environmental folks that Mr. Dunn has hired with his $425,000, have said well, let’s put berms up, let’s put trees up, and that will block a lot of the noise and stuff and these people on Boeke Road. One last paper, and I’ll show you why that won’t work. The paper that you’re looking at will make no sense at all when you see it, but it’s another Map Quest. I want to give everybody a chance to get it in their hands. That paper that you’re looking at an area on the north side of Evansville. It shows Stringtown Road running vertically on the right side of your paper, on the left side of your paper, it shows First Avenue running vertically. On the left side of your paper, Central High School is circled in red. On the right side of your paper, that’s where I live. And you’ll notice that there are trees, there are houses, there is land, there is probably a good quarter of a mile in between those two places. And ladies and gentlemen, there have been occasions when I can hear Central High School in my house with the doors and windows shut. So there is no way in the world you can tell me that the people along Boeke Road are not going to be disturbed by this complex. And it doesn’t have to be there because there are other places it could be put where there are businesses adjacent that, you know, they’ll welcome somebody there. It’s like, hello, come on over, do some business. There are open fields that could be adjacent, but not in Wesselman Park. And one last comment, I’ll say two last comments: the dearest thing to my heart in this whole process is Wesselman Woods. I hope that you all get an opportunity to read the letter from John Bacone, the head of nature preserves for the state of Indiana, and also the letter from the Evansville Audubon Society. There is nothing else like Wesselman Woods around in Evansville, in the state of Indiana, or in the whole country. Why on earth would you risk even a one percent chance of messing up a unique feature of this city, one percent chance by putting in something that could remotely affect the animals and plants and the wetlands in the park and in the preserve? This is your charge. We are in charge of handling and respecting this land. It is up to us to save it for the next generation, and the generation after that, and the generation after that. And we have continued over the years to encroach. When Roberts Stadium was built in 1959 or ‘58 or whenever it was built, it was just the biggest thing since sliced bread and it was wonderful, and we were not as environmentally enlightened as we are now. If we were environmentally enlightened, we maybe wouldn’t have put it there. We might have done some permeable paving. We might have done some things that were different. I’m not a big proponent of keeping Roberts Stadium. I think Roberts Stadium needs to be torn down because of a whole lot of economic issues. I’ve talked to gentlemen from the Park Board and they have explained a whole lot of stuff and I think that that land ought to be put back in park land to serve as a buffer, and that kind of thing needs to be looked at. My recommendation to you at this point is to slow down. Get an overall plan for the area, for the park system, for the county, an overall plan for the whole enchilada, people, before we move forward on details of the plan. If you don’t have the big picture, you can’t deal with the small details. Please reserve your vote, please reserve the time to think. Please get a good understanding from all sides of this issue, not somebody like Mr. Dunn, who I’m sure is a fine man, but who is a business man coming in with a slick presentation that says this is going to be great, because I know people who can pick that presentation apart quite easily. I thank you for your time.

President Lloyd: Any questions for Ms. Crosley? Okay, appreciate you coming in and giving us all that information. We’ll digest it.

Martha Crosley: Thank you.

President Lloyd: Okay, is there a motion to adjourn? We’ll take a seven minute recess and then we’ll start our budget meeting at 9:35.

Councilmember Shetler: Motion to adjourn.

President Lloyd: Motion to adjourn this meeting. Is there a second?

Councilmember Raben: Second.

President Lloyd: We are adjourned. Thank you.

(There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9:28 a.m.)

VANDERBURGH COUNTY COUNCIL

Recorded and transcribed by Teri Lukeman.