VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

APRIL 3, 2007

The Vanderburgh County Drainage Board met in session this 3^rd day of April, 2007 at 4:02 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Bill Nix presiding.

President Nix: Good afternoon. I would like to call to order the Vanderburgh County Drainage Board meeting, Tuesday, April 3, 2007, it’s 4:02.

President Nix: I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Musgrave: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Nix: Mr. Jeffers?

Bill Jeffers: Good afternoon. Our first order of business today is to open the bids that the Auditor received on our behalf from all the various prospective contractors who would like to do work on our legal drains.

Commissioner Musgrave: Motion to open the bids.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Are you going to have your gal come down here and write this stuff down? She did that for me last year, because there’s so many of these. Or somebody did from your office, didn’t they?

Bill Jeffers: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Could she do that?

Bill Jeffers: Okay. Is it 4:30 yet?

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: No, it’s 4:00.

Bill Jeffers: I’ll just lock my office, and have her do that.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Okay, it’s a big help.

Bill Jeffers: Right. (Bill Jeffers makes telephone call.) Can you lock the office, or have somebody from the City Engineer’s office sit there and answer the telephone, and come down and assist Mr. Ziemer with the....he would like for you to write the bids down on that spreadsheet, because it will go a lot quicker if we do that. Thank you. Thank you. While we’re waiting for the bids to be entered into the record, we can proceed with the drainage plans.

Bill Jeffers: The first one, Arlington Heights, has been, there’s been a request to remove that from the agenda, and move it forward a couple of weeks. The developer has had a recent operation, and was unable to meet with or notify the adjacent landowners, and would like to notify them, and give them a chance.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval to table this for a week.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Bill Jeffers: And, are we having drainage board meetings all through, are we having Commissioner meetings all through April?

President Nix: There will be one every week, every Tuesday in April.

Bill Jeffers: Then, that developer will be able to make the next Area Plan Commission meeting.

President Nix: That’s fine.

Bill Jeffers: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: The next drainage plan to take under consideration is Preston Oaks. It’s a final drainage plan that you considered as a preliminary plan earlier. It’s on North St. Joe Avenue, north of AAA Auto Salvage Yard. On your overhead projector you can see an outline of Preston Oaks. It’s simply a long row of residential lots, R-2, planned for duplex units, two dwellings per lot. It has an entrance road off of Charlotte Street, it then turns and runs west to a cul-de-sac, and there will be a pond at the end of the cul-de-sac to capture all the increased drainage run off and hold it in that pond until it’s discharged from the northwest corner of the project and into a little channel that runs back to Locust Creek. Last month we had held up approval of the final drainage plan until the developer acquired a drainage easement from the adjacent landowner for the discharge point to make sure there was a sufficient easement. I think there was a ten foot easement, and they needed a little bit wider than that to improve it. The erosion control plan has been approved by Mike Wathen at the County Engineer’s office. Both the developer and the developer’s engineer are in the audience to answer any questions. They’ve brought their two good looking kids with them to observe our proceedings. I have suggested that, because of the location of the pond in, near, you know, near the flood plain, and in a wooded setting, where the ground is very flat, that they should consider a fountain, if you’ll remember, for water quality. While it’s not a requirement of the drainage code to have a fountain, per se, it is a requirement for them to maintain water quality. There were some remonstrators, or residents adjacent who had apprehensions about mosquitos. So, at this time it’s still my suggestion that they put a floating fountain, or a stationary fountain of some sort, but I would only require it if water quality degraded to the point of needing it. In other words, I don’t think I should insist upon it until the water quality is such that it proves a necessity. So, I’m entering that as a suggestion. I’ve talked to the developer about that on the telephone and told him I would like for him to agree that if the pond develops into an algae covered pond, or any water quality issues arise, or mosquito issues, that he would install a fountain of some sort for water circulation.

Commissioner Musgrave: Mr. Jeffers, I serve on the Area Plan board, as do you.

Bill Jeffers: Yes, Ma’am.

Commissioner Musgrave: And I listened to a lot of the neighbors concerns about flooding and water and drainage. Is it your impression, or your considered opinion that this plan will alleviate the concerns that were brought up during those meetings?

Bill Jeffers: Yes, Ma’am, and to address those concerns more specifically, there will be a watercourse from the middle of these two large lots, and it’s my understanding that someone out here on St. Joe Avenue wants to purchase a portion of those lots for a buffer zone, and that the developer is working with that landowner, who, I believe, lives in this home here. There will be a watercourse that gathers all the water from this low lying area, and carries it due west along the north line of the project, and into the pond. That would also capture any run off from the back yard of the adjacent, existing homes that now flows out into this open field. It would capture that and also take it to the pond, which is sized adequately for that watershed. Also, each home, and the drainage plan points this out, each home must be a minimum two feet above flood plain elevation, even though the flood plain terminates back here at this corner. These homes are not required to elevate above flood plain elevation by code. The developer has agreed to do that, and that is shown on the plan, two feet above the 100 year flood. The same as if they were in the flood plain. Then, I asked the engineer to show that that elevation of those homes would not be higher than the existing homes to the north. But, that being because the water flows to the south, you don’t want the homes to the north to be higher than the homes, the homes to the south being higher and shedding water back that way. His plan also shows that they run between a foot and a foot and half lower than the homes to the north, while still being two feet above flood plain. So, therefore, I think he has not only met the requirements of the drainage code, he has exceeded the requirements in order to attain conditions that you and other Area Plan Commission members were concerned about in relationship to what the adjacent landowners had brought forward.

President Nix: Thank you. Do you have a question?

Commissioner Tornatta: I was just going to say, considering the opinion of the Surveyor, and all the concerns that you’ve had, I would like to make approval of the final Preston Oaks.

President Nix: Before we do, if we could, is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak to this final plan for Preston Oaks? If not, the motion is on the floor.

Commissioner Musgrave: I’ll second the motion.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Bill Jeffers: Okay, the second and only other plan that I have to bring before you tonight is a revised plan for Shoe Carnival executive offices, located in Cross Pointe development. I believe it’s 6C, I know it’s section six, but, I think, alphabetically it’s also 6C. But, you know where it is, out there off of Cross Pointe and Columbia. You’re familiar with that. Our aerial photograph, of course, from 2004 or 2005, doesn’t show the extension of Cross Pointe, but you know that it’s since been extended up into the Hirsch property, and that your TIF plans are to extend it to Oak Grove. But, this here is Cross Pointe, and this is Virginia, it goes back into the apartments and around to the Ford dealership. This is the termination of Columbia Street. It will eventually go north of these apartments and back over to Sam’s Wholesale Club. The project we’re talking about is located on these three or four lots right here. But, the plan I have in front of you only shows a portion of this central lot and this lot, because that’s the parking area for the executive offices. The issue that we’re looking at here is that a 36 inch pipe drains these lots, this street, and angles through this parking lot and then takes not quite a 45 degree turn, and goes into a lake that’s located up here, the detention lake, before it releases into Nurrenbern Ditch. Now, if you’ll turn to the sheets I have attached to your agenda, you will see that we require manholes to be provided as access to any continuous underground storm sewer system, specifically for the purpose of inspecting and maintaining that system, and that they’ll be provided, at various points, and one of those points is where an abrupt change in horizontal alignment occurs. The reason for that being that a lot of times, especially with smaller pipes, you might have debris accumulate at a bend in a pipe, and then the manhole give access for maintenance personnel to go down in there and remove pieces of lumber, straw that may have come off a recently mulched new development, pieces of plastic, whatever, styrofoam bats, it’s usually associated with construction. Okay, the issue here today is that the developer, Woodward Realty, who is doing the construction, overseeing the construction for the Shoe Carnival development, wishes to have us approve an alternate plan for a manufactured pipe elbow. The pipe elbow has been manufactured at M&W Concrete. It was manufactured under rigorous specifications. Those specifications are on your desk as a shop drawing. I called out there and the mesh that, when they cut a pipe and expose the mesh and then angle it so that it becomes an elbow, and I’m sure Mr. Nix is very familiar with this process, then they either tie the reinforcing wire and rods together, or they weld them. In this case, M&W welded those wires, and they welded in additional wires for reinforcement, then they regrouted the elbow and made it an integral, one piece structure. This is acceptable to any Department of Transportation specifications. The reason for doing this, obviously, is it saves some expense, it eliminates an unsightly manhole in the middle of their lawn. This is outside of the parking area, so, it’s not, cars aren’t parking on top of it. It would be just sticking up there in their landscaping and so forth, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but as this has gone forward, Shoe Carnival is very interested in a nice appearance. They are doing a lot of landscaping, and they are building a berm around their property for sight and sound barrier, etcetera. Now, you probably will ask, how will someone access that pipe elbow? Because, if something were to get lodged in there, obviously, they will have to access it. It’s 19 feet from that elbow out to the flared end section that empties into the lake. The invert elevation of the flared end section is at or above pool elevation, so, there is not standing water in it. Someone could simply crouch down and not exactly walk upright through a 36 inch pipe, but it’s large enough to, I mean, it’s as large as a manhole would be, and it’s 19 feet back in there from the flared end section to the elbow. So, that’s there proposed method of accessing it for maintenance and inspection. I would like to go a step further and say that because it’s on commercial property, it will be 100 percent the responsibility of Shoe Carnival or any heirs or assigns who later come into possession of that property to inspect and maintain that structure. It will not be the responsibility of the county or any other municipality that might come into jurisdiction at that point. I’m sure that the developer is aware of that, and I would ask him to make his client, Shoe Carnival, aware that they are 100 percent responsible for the inspection and maintenance, and any repairs that need to be made. I say that, because this piece of property originally was developed by Regency Corporation, and they have a vested interest in unobstructed flow through this 36 inch pipe, which also drains a goodly portion of their development.

President Nix: Will that be something that will be recorded in some type of a document?

Bill Jeffers: It should have been on the plat. I have not checked the plat, but it’s pretty much understood in commercial development that the single developer or the group of developers who come into possession of all of these properties that are within the plat are responsible, singly or mutually, for the maintenance of their storm water structures.

President Nix: Okay, thank you.

Bill Jeffers: I’m just making sure that that’s a matter of record, and that it’s understood.

President Nix: Okay. Any questions?

Bill Jeffers: The next sheet I have shows that the board has the discretionary right, or the right to a discretionary decision in this regard. By code, if you feel that the petition before you is valid and has merit, you have every right to make a discretionary decision to set aside the requirement for a manhole and have that be substituted by a 19 foot crawl way.

President Nix: Okay, thank you. Is there anyone from the audience who would like to address the Shoe Carnival executive offices revised plan? Questions from the board?

Commissioner Musgrave: I would like to make a motion to incorporate the Surveyor’s recommendations, all of them that he made, including the approval and the maintenance of this drain and all its aspects.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Nix: Thank you.

Bill Jeffers: Another piece of business that has come forward, after I’d made the agenda, but you’re not quite ready to take the bids under consideration, is it’s come to our attention over the past couple of weeks, from a farmer out on the county line just south of....well, he farms both sides of Indiana 62, Morgan Avenue, and he farms in Vanderburgh County and in Warrick County, oh, say between Epworth Road and I-164, Mr. Stahl, that our ditch out there, Kelly Ditch, has pretty much filled up with sediment and cattails, out along the area where Indiana Department of Transportation has recently improved, whatever it’s called, Boonville Highway, Morgan Avenue. They have also installed several new drainage structures under the highway, and under the railroad tracks into our ditch, that has contributed a lot more pressure on the ditch, and may have contributed more sediment. We have inspected it, Ms. Freeman, the Chief Deputy has inspected it personally, as have two of our inspectors from our office, and they have worked with the farmers. There’s a portion of the ditch that’s almost completed filled with sediment and cattails, and needs to be cleaned out. This just came to our attention this spring, and Ms. Freeman has produced a notice to bidders, and a three page set of specifications that we would like to advertise for a bidder to come dip out the silt. I ask that you approve the notice to bidders and let us proceed with that in the next few weeks.

President Nix: Mr. Jeffers, will that go through our City-County Purchasing Department then? I’m just curious as far as the protocol on that.

Bill Jeffers: This is pretty much handled between the Surveyor’s office, the Drainage Board and the County Auditor.

President Nix: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: It’s all covered by the drainage statute, 36-9-27, and it’s the same way we did these bids over here. It’s just pretty much one that should have been in that pack, but it just came to our notice in the last month, and, so, we’re asking to move it forward.

President Nix: Thank you.

Commissioner Musgrave: Do you have sufficient funding to award another bid?

Bill Jeffers: Yes, Ma’am. If we don’t, if the bids come in too high and we don’t have sufficient funding, it will not be awarded.

Commissioner Musgrave: Okay, motion to advertise, or seek bids.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Bill Jeffers: Thank you.

Commissioner Tornatta: I have a motion to take a 15 minutes recess.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I mean, I wouldn’t do that, we’re just–

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: Have you all got other Commissioner business, some paperwork that you would like to catch up on?

President Nix: We’ll get signatures here.

Bill Jeffers: Just let the folks at home know we’re taking a brief pause. What we’re doing basically is opening the bids, we have a whole lot of them, and we’ll be back on, at the microphone in a few minutes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Due to the many bids we have received for various services on various ditches, I’m going to read the names of the various bidders and then advise you that we have listed the bids for the various services on the various ditches and they are available for review by anyone who would like to do that. The bidders are; Rexing Enterprises, RR Rexing Farms, John Maurer, M-a-u-r-e-r, Union Township Ditch Association, Shideler Spray Service, Eldon Maasberg, M-a-a-s-b-e-r-g, Big Creek Drainage Association, Townsend, T-o-w-n-s-e-n-d, Tree Service, Terry Johnson, and Mark Naas, N-a-a-s.

President Nix: Thank you, Mr. Ziemer. Any questions of the board?

Commissioner Musgrave: Motion to take the bids under advisement.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Nix: Anything else, Mr. Jeffers? I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Musgrave: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Bill Jeffers: We are adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.)

Those in Attendance:

Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta                            Cheryl Musgrave

Bill Jeffers                                 Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Madelyn Grayson

Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

Bill Nix, President

Troy Tornatta, Vice President

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)