VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

The Vanderburgh County Drainage Board met in session this 2^nd day of February, 2010 at 6:08 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay, the Vanderburgh County Drainage Board is now open. The President last year, Lloyd Winnecke.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. Chairman, I would move that we nominate Troy Tornatta to be President for 2010.

Commissioner Tornatta: Bless your heart.

Commissioner Melcher: Okay, I’ll second it then, since it’s been blessed. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Commissioner Melcher: Troy, it’s yours.

President Tornatta: Do we need–

Madelyn Grayson: Who’s going to be Vice President?

Commissioner Melcher: Well, he’s got to do that.

President Tornatta: I do? No, Lloyd’s on a roll. Go ahead, Lloyd.

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. Chairman, I will move that Steve Melcher be named Vice President.

President Tornatta: Second.

Commissioner Melcher: Thank you.

President Tornatta: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Alright, the ayes have it.

Commissioner Melcher: I was going to vote nay.

President Tornatta: Mr. Jeffers? So long since we’ve had this opportunity.

Bill Jeffers: Yes, it’s been a nice break.

President Tornatta: That wasn’t very nice, Bill.

Bill Jeffers: Well, I enjoyed it. I was on vacation for part of it.

President Tornatta: Oh, so it wasn’t me, it was the vacation.

Bill Jeffers: The vacation was nice.

President Tornatta: Oh, okay. Thank you.

Bill Jeffers: I think your next order of business is to, if you wish, you can announce the meeting dates, but, I guess, those just follow Commissioners?

President Tornatta: Yeah, motion to approve the meeting dates for 2010?

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: That handles the statutory requirements for reorganization of the Drainage Board for 2010.

President Tornatta: I must approve the minutes before we get started.

Bill Jeffers: That’s right.

President Tornatta: Okay, approve the minutes of the previous meeting?

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: The motion is approved.

Bill Jeffers: We have one drainage plan tonight for Deerfield Subdivision, Section Four. It’s really a technicality. You’ve already approved it twice. Once it had an extension of the cul-de-sac now, it had an extension down to Eissler Road, that was approved. Then, they removed the extension and terminated Carrington Drive in a cul-de-sac not connected to Eissler Road. That’s been approved. But, technically we never had final Drainage Board approval of the drainage plan, which essentially remains the same as it did on the previous two approvals, and they want to record this plat, and Area Plan Commission requires a final drainage approval for plat–

President Tornatta: Bill, did we get all of the collection points satisfied?

Bill Jeffers: Yes.

President Tornatta: Okay, because there–

Bill Jeffers: They are not all completed, but they are all satisfied as to plan. They have been monitoring this point–

President Tornatta: Right.

Bill Jeffers: –that discharges onto the lady to the east and cleaning that up, she says they clean up the driveway every time it overflows and causes any siltation. There’s an area over here that discharges water through a watercourse on to Winterbury Drive, and we get complaints each time that there’s a torrential downpour of mud that needs to be cleaned from Winterbury Drive. I believe that is occurring too, possibly not as quickly as the residents would like it, but it does get cleaned up. Those are just ongoing issues that have to be monitored by Mike Wathen as to erosion control measures.

President Tornatta: But, then–

Bill Jeffers: But, the drainage plan itself–

President Tornatta: –the prior issues that we had, I think even Bill Nix was addressing at the time–

Bill Jeffers: Right.

President Tornatta: –have those been fixed?

Bill Jeffers: They have...the one that came to, I think Bill Nix brought to our attention, or was brought to his attention was up here at the upper end of the plat, there is mud coming down the hill, and water coming down the hill, this is a very steep hill here, and it was shooting across the street into this lady’s driveway. I believe her name is, just a second, onto the Sisna property. They have installed, there was a clogged pipe run going up the hill, and John Stoll and his department went out there and pushed the repair of that, and Mr. Dentino has completed that repair. I believe that’s the one you were referring to. So, that repair has been completed. But, construction is ongoing. All of the problems have not, all of the problems associated with construction continue, and that needs to be monitored–

President Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: –by the erosion control expert.

President Tornatta: I need a motion.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Winnecke: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Bill Jeffers: Thank you.

Bill Jeffers: Okay, we have a presentation for you tonight regarding an opportunity for a regional logjam removal and debris removal from Pigeon Creek that would include Gibson County, Warrick County, Vanderburgh County and the City of Evansville. Tonight Deborah Bennett-Stearsman from the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana is here to make that presentation. Teresa Hartwick from Commonwealth Engineers is also here to answer questions if you need. She’s accompanied by David Hines who is a professional engineer that heads up the office for Commonwealth Engineering here in Evansville. Michael Stevenson the Gibson County Surveyor is here tonight. Tim Mosbey the Warrick County Commissioner and head of the Drainage Board is here tonight. Pat Keepes the City Engineer is here, and Phil Baxter may attend and may have had a previous engagement that is holding him up at the moment. He is the Warrick County Surveyor. But, we do have broad support for this, and I just wanted to name those people because, especially Ms. Stearsman and Teresa Hartwick have been very accommodating to us in pushing this forward. So, I would like to turn it over to Debra Bennett-Stearsman to give you the presentation.

President Tornatta: Wow, are you running for office? He mentioned you three times.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: I know, but, you know, just Debbie is fine.

President Tornatta: Debbie, how are you doing?

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: I’m good. Good evening. It’s my pleasure to be back before you again. It’s been a while. Before I get started I’m going to give you some handouts. We always have to have handouts. There’s two different handouts, if you would take one of each and then pass them down. I’ll try to keep it a shorter version of what I’m handing out to you. You should have received, I hope everyone received an e-mail prior to the meeting tonight regarding the presentation. In the disasters of 2008, Indiana, 82 of the counties in Indiana were declared Federal disasters in three separate FEMA related disasters. From this there were two pots of monies distributed through the State of Indiana for competitive or non-competitive funding. The first disaster there was $60 million, and the second disaster there was $380 million. From those two disasters there were different pots of money that were divided down into categories, and the category that I’m coming to talk to you about tonight is the category for debris removal. They have allocated $15 million for debris removal. The application began being accepted January the 4^th. At this point, there are no applications, because we had the workshop like that day, but, the criteria was, for waterway debris removal, was in coordination with the Department of Natural Resources, the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, that is the funding agency, it’s Federal funds, intends to make funds available to local communities to address the impact of the 2008 storms on the waterways. Logjams and debris obstructions left unattended within a waterway will continue to grow in size and density over time. As these obstructions grow in size it takes smaller and smaller storm events to cause upstream flooding. The obstructions restrict, or may even totally cut off the flow of water in the channel, or they will completely re-route the flow of water in different directions. Flooding is frequent, flood depths are higher, and the duration of flooding is longer in those areas located upstream from an obstruction in the waterway. The resulting impacts caused by logjams and debris left within a waterway pose significant threats to public safety and economic development. That was the criteria that they put the $15 million in. The two handouts that I gave you, the first handout is a small handout and it talks about the information needed to make the applications for the logjams and the obstruction removal. If you will look on page three, the two categories as defined by DNR that are eligible for this funding, is condition three, meaning two or more interlocked logs are located across a channel and sediment and debris are collecting on the logjams and water is flowing through the logjams. The second is logjam condition four, that means two or more interlocked logs are located in or across a channel and sediment and debris are compacted in the logjam, therefore little or no water is flowing through it, and water flows into the overbank areas through the logjam. There are five categories on that sheet that I gave you, only two are eligible. So, we went, the Coalition worked to get the information out to all of the counties. In talking through different personnel in the counties it became apparent that Pigeon Creek was probably a very large problem for three of the counties and the City of Evansville. Back up for a minute, each county can put in their own application if you’ve got a project that you think is more important than this, because everybody can put in their own project. It is on a first come first served basis. There is no required local match, however they expect a local match. Now, I can’t tell you what that is, it can be anywhere from five percent to 25 percent, but if you have to do upfront costs, like flying over the area, or getting your package together to turn in, defining your project and the budget you can count that as part of your local match. Each county can put in their own application, or you can join to do one application and one county or one entity can apply on their behalf. That only counts for that entity’s application. So, if the four of you went together and did this project, Gibson, Warrick, Vanderburgh and the city, and say the City of Evansville put it in, the other three counties could each put in another project of another area, however you are all competing against each other. So, if you’re putting in one that affects your area and you put another one in, in my opinion only you’re sort of defeating your purpose, but, you are allowed to do that. So, that’s kind of the decision you are looking at tonight. If you choose to go forward on the Pigeon Creek project and join together, then we’re going to have to come up with some way of making sure this whole project can come together and that everybody’s doing their part in their particular area to get their packet together to turn in as one. The only thing we have to do, at this point, is decide if you want to go together. If you do go together then we have to define the areas that are jammed and get a proposed budget on those and get an environmental review done. Once that is done, and getting that done sounds simple, it’s probably going to be a 60 to 90 day process, the application goes in, it is non-competitive. So, you’re clock is ticking against anybody else in the other 82 counties and how they are doing that. If you decide you don’t want to do that tonight and you have another area that you want to look at that you feel that you’re compelled that doesn’t go into this, then you’re more than welcome to tell me what area that is, or think about it and get back with me and say we’re not sure we want to do this. But, I just saw it as a nice regional opportunity because of the impact in all of the different areas. I think I mentioned in there that we weren’t certain who the applicant was going to be, and we still are not. I posed the question to OCRA, is there any guide on which of the entities should be the applicant? They said no. The recommendation would be the county or the entity which the largest impact of a flood when it jams, how many residents are being affected. They may not have the obstructions, but they may get the impact of it. But, they told me that it did not have to be that entity. So, we haven’t really decided which one, which entity, or if you would like to say, oh, I would like for it to be us, you could do that. So, I think I’ve given you all the information, I hope, and I’ll ask for questions now.

Commissioner Melcher: It sounds like Gibson County ought to be it, because we get all the water from them, all of us. I’m just kidding.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Well, everyone has agreed that....at this point, and individually and not in a formal meeting, every entity that I’ve talked to has said it’s a problem, if we need to sponsor it we will.

President Tornatta: Right.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Remember that by sponsoring it you’re not taking responsibility for any, for all of the dollars to get it ready.

President Tornatta: But, it seems like it would probably be the City of Evansville.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Pardon me?

President Tornatta: It seems to me like it would be the City of Evansville.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: I don’t know who the largest impact...the only way we can determine that, we have, Gibson County, Michael Stevenson from Gibson County just gave me an aerial fly over of 2006. From the fly over most of the obstructions were in Vanderburgh County. Now that’s not to say that the people impacted were not Gibson County by the back up.

President Tornatta: Yeah.

Commissioner Winnecke: To me it’s six of one half a dozen of the other.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Yeah, it’s just you need to decide whether you’re going to do it. It doesn’t matter who’s sponsoring it–

President Tornatta: Right.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: –we’ve got to work together.

President Tornatta: I think I’m in favor of moving forward with the four entities. It’s, I guess, it would be up to you to filter out who would be the best applicant.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Well, after I get formal permission, which we’re scheduled to go to the other three entities formally and get their permission that this is a project, then I would be happy to do that. I will report back who that is going to be. That’s, in my opinion, that’s probably going to be the area that is impacted residentially by the most damage. It makes the most sense. Now, if for some reason the funding agency would come back to me and say, on the scoring, one of the others looked better, then I’ll change it.

Commissioner Winnecke: Yeah.

President Tornatta: Does everybody on this board know what Debbie’s capacity is?

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: I’m sorry, I didn’t even say who I was.

President Tornatta: Well, I mean, it just, at one point we were looking for the county to have somebody to go after funds and to try and be a grant writer and what not. Debbie has been able to step up, and, in fact, she’s even got somebody that’s helping her and they have been able to provide our county with that wonderful asset. So, that’s why she champions this, but she not only does it for us, but with the Economic Coalition she does it for other counties. We kind of have a regional approach, which I think is beneficial at this point in time. So, we appreciate it. Do we have a motion?

Commissioner Winnecke: Mr. Chairman, at this time I’ll move that this Board partner with Gibson County, Warrick County and the City of Evansville to pursue funding from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs for the purpose of breaking the logjams that clog Pigeon Creek.

Commissioner Melcher: I gladly second it.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: I appreciate it. Could I, you designate one person as a point of contact that I can contact once I meet the other three so that we can get the particulars together.

President Tornatta: I’ll take care of it.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Okay. Do you have anything to add, Bill? Thank you.

President Tornatta: Now, Debbie, we talked once before, the work that we’ve done prior to this does not count as that upfront money? Or we don’t know that?

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: I don’t know that yet.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Any work that you will be doing now will be counted as your match money, yes.

President Tornatta: Well, I mean–

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: You won’t be reimbursed for it, no.

President Tornatta: Right, but it would be the match money?

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Yes.

President Tornatta: Because Warrick County and Vanderburgh County are doing this–

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Everybody, each individual entity’s work that they provide, and any expenses that they provide, however we decide how it’s going to be, will be the match. That’s what I anticipate would be the match for the project, and hope to get the construction 100 percent paid for.

President Tornatta: Great. Super.

Commissioner Winnecke: Thanks, Debbie.

Bill Jeffers: Yeah, just a second. I think what President Tornatta’s question may have been alluding to is we’ve already, this Board has already spent $12,000?

President Tornatta: Yeah.

Bill Jeffers: On a logjam that’s right on the county line with Warrick County, and Warrick County and Vanderburgh County have already worked together to remove one that met the qualifications for type four. We do have pictures of it, etcetera. Were you asking whether that might apply towards match money?

President Tornatta: Right, that would be our buy in.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: But, you’ve already done the work though.

Bill Jeffers: Yeah, we’ve already done the work.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: The work I’m talking about is soft costs in preparing for it.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Gathering your data on where the obstructions are and putting together your budget for it. That may be performed by either your County Surveyor or by a consulting firm. That is totally up to you.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Debbie Bennett-Stearsman: Either is allowed to do it and to sign the certificate.

President Tornatta: Alright.

Bill Jeffers: Okay, so, basically, I would just like to stress, first of all I would like to thank Debbie for all this work that she’s done in the past and now, and Teresa Hartwick for bringing this opportunity to our attention. She’s been before you before from Commonwealth Engineering to bring this to our attention that we have this opportunity, and Michael Stevenson, Phil Baxter, Tim Mosbey, Pat Keepes for cooperating in this. But, I want to stress the urgency, we need to get an application in March 1^st if we can so we’re right at the top, you know. I do expect others will put in applications. I hope ours is considered first. I think Warrick County is going to take a helicopter, hire a helicopter and fly their portion of the creek. I would like to encourage the Gibson County Commissioners and the Vanderburgh County Commissioners and the City of Evansville Board of Works to either come up with some money to help in that flight, or work in kind of some sort to compensate Warrick County and fly the entire thing from the mouth of Pigeon Creek all the way up to Princeton so that we get, so that we locate all of these logjams. We are going to need an interlocal agreement. I think we should strive towards that. Either have our legal staff write that or have a consultant retained to write an interlocal agreement so that all four entities are working together in concert. I don’t think we would need to go out and hire a consultant for each jurisdiction. I think there should be one consultant, if we need someone to coordinate that. Our office is willing to do as much field work as we can possibly do towards that to keep the cost down, but the estimates should probably be done by someone who is professionally qualified to do those estimates after we present them with the information that we have.

Commissioner Winnecke: Bill?

Bill Jeffers: So, that’s all I have on that.

Commissioner Winnecke: Quick question. Do you know how, what the estimated fly time for the entire region would be?

Bill Jeffers: Well, I would think that they could do it in one day. They could fly it in one day. If somebody knowledgeable is in that helicopter as they fly it, they could note landmarks that our field crew could then go out then in the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, my field crew could go out and GPS those locations. Now, I would ask you in addition to give me permission and my field crew permission to travel to the other counties, in county vehicles with county equipment and personnel, in case they need assistance, we can....Warrick County has their own GPS equipment and I believe Gibson County does too, but if there’s some reason why those two counties or the City of Evansville would need additional assistance from our crew, I would like permission to travel to those counties outside our jurisdiction to perform work.

Commissioner Winnecke: So, I’ll get back to that in a second. So, are you looking for an approval of funding tonight on the fly over assist? Like a level not to exceed?

President Tornatta: Commissioner Mosbey?

Tim Mosbey: Yes, Tim Mosbey, Warrick County Commissioner and President of the Drainage Board. At this moment we are still working and pricing trying to find a helicopter. It was brought to my attention that the Surveyor of Gibson County mentioned the State Police, hadn’t crossed our mind. If you’ve got any ideas, we’ll entertain anything, we’re just trying to get this started. Debbie met with us individually, I guess, last week and the light bulb came on and we thought, you know, with the March 1^st application we need to get started and get moving as soon as we can. Once we find the most economical way to fly over, this time of year, I don’t know if any of you have ever gotten in a canoe and tried to paddle down Pigeon Creek, but you’re not going to be able to it. You’ve got to get a helicopter. The amount of time it’s going to take, we’re estimating, we’re hoping we can do it in a day, I don’t know because it depends on how many logjams we see. We’ll have to stop, or hover with the helicopter and let a, whoever wants to go up....I’m not going up. I don’t know if Jeffers wants to go up, but, you know, we envision two people with cameras, one on each side of the helicopter, and, you know, take off and get going as fast as we can. We will definitely keep all of the three counties and the city informed once we find the best....or if you guys have any access. We’ve contacted corporate citizens in our county, they’re trying to help us out. I’ve contacted crop dusters, being a farmer myself, I know a lot of them. This time of year they are not very busy, I’m waiting on estimates depending on what they would charge us per hour. The trouble is they’re all located two hours away, so you have to pay from the time they leave. So, we’re looking for help.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Commissioner Winnecke: I know from a previous life, helicopters rent for $400 to $500 an hour.

Tim Mosbey: That’s the cheapest we’ve found so far is $465.

Commissioner Winnecke: Yeah.

President Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: Well, my estimate was way off. I told Debbie I thought we might be able to do it for $150 to $200, but apparently not.

Commissioner Winnecke: You need to get out more, Bill.

Bill Jeffers: I do. I need to stop taking vacations and do more work. Okay, that’s all I have unless there are other questions, but I am asking you for permission to travel outside the county.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Tornatta: Bill, probably what I would recommend is just, we probably need, and, Commissioner Mosbey, we need to get those four point people and call in to somebody, whether it be you or Bill, even, and give him any opportunities that we might have. I mean, there are some things that we can look at in the city for opportunities with helicopters.

Bill Jeffers: Right, and our next meeting is the twenty, the 19^th? In case we need to look into retaining a consultant, I guess we can come back on the 19^th–

Madelyn Grayson: It’s the 16^th.

Bill Jeffers: The 16^th with some idea of whether we’re going to need a professional coordinator.

President Tornatta: While we’re on t.v. let’s throw it out there, if somebody does have the opportunity with a helicopter, and they want to give us a quote on that, we would happily accept it.

Bill Jeffers: I would like a licensed pilot.

President Tornatta: We’re thinking that that would probably be–

Commissioner Winnecke: (Inaudible).

President Tornatta: Yeah.

Commissioner Melcher: A little over $250.

Bill Jeffers: I’m not going up in any ultra light I’ll tell you that.

President Tornatta: They would contact 812-435-5241 and reference helicopter.

President Tornatta: Anyway, update on Royal Carwash flooding.

Bill Jeffers: Yes, I’ve sent several e-mails and I copied you, each one of you, you may have seen them, regarding, well, two particular contacts at Home Depot and I have not received a satisfactory response. The owner of the carwash, Heath Rupp, had indicated that he may want to speak tonight. I don’t know if he’s here tonight. Apparently, Heath Rupp is not here tonight. So, we can skip past that just with the notation that I have not received a satisfactory response. The picture of the site is on your overhead, and the carwash property is highlighted in yellow. The flooding is caused by all the excess water from these several acres of parking that rushes down this service road, out into Pearl Drive. There’s a little hill here in front of Hacienda, and that acts as a dam and the water gets fairly deep out there in Pearl Drive, and then overcomes the carwash and rushes through the carwash and across his back property into the lake. It needs to be resolved. So, that’s where it stands today.

Commissioner Winnecke: Hey, Bill?

Bill Jeffers: Yes, sir?

Commissioner Winnecke: Do we need to instruct the County Attorney to send a nasty gram to somebody?

Bill Jeffers: If you so wish. I did send one of those to just a generic contact person at Home Depot national, and have not received a response back other than thank you for contacting us.

President Tornatta: I ended up sending an e-mail out to their, to the gentleman that wrote back to you.

Bill Jeffers: Yes.

President Tornatta: But, I haven’t heard anything back.

Bill Jeffers: Okay, whatever will work.

President Tornatta: They did say that they were going to address pond issues and address the erosion issues behind the carwash. That’s what they did say.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Bill, if you could give me the information, we would be happy to write a really nasty letter.

Bill Jeffers: Okay, I’ll e-mail you all of the....I had two, I had one computer crash, they rebuilt that one, it crashed. I got a new computer, so I’ve lost all of my e-mail contacts and I’m rebuilding those. That’s why you didn’t get a copy of all of this, Mr. Ziemer. I will forward you a copy of that.

Brenda Jeffers: Bill, I have all of those.

Bill Jeffers: Okay, with you? Okay. We’ll forward Mr. Ziemer that information, and if he wishes he can use his skill to get their attention.

Bill Jeffers: On CSX Railroad, the rock that fell into Pond Flat and Rexing Creek was brought to your attention by property owners and farmers in that area. Linda put together some photographs of that. You saw that at the meeting in December. I did receive a response from CSX Railroad today, after I sent you an e-mail saying that I hadn’t received anything yet. But, they responded today and they are asking for detailed maps with locations, pictures, etcetera. So, that indicates that they are ready to take a look at it. So, I would like to thank them for responding. All that information will be forwarded to CSX, and I’ll tell you about that on the 16^th.

President Tornatta: Move up one.

Bill Jeffers: Move back up one, declare emergency on Hirsch Ditch at the Norfolk Southern Railway trestle. That’s right at the Stockfleth Ditch intersection. The railroad contacted us and said that the trestle is in danger of failure. We knew that from our own study that was done by Structurepoint. They pointed that out. The railroad is now ready to immediately remove and replace that trestle with an open structure that would let a lot more water through. So, that works to our benefit. Our construction plans prepared by Structurepoint are ready to go. So, we could move ahead with ours if we had the money. The railroad would like to, and I would suggest that they piggyback on our permits, because our 401 and 404 storm water permits have been certified on July 2, 2009 and are ready to go. If the Corps of Engineers and IDEM will let them piggyback on those, they could go ahead with their plans right now. Those permits are good for two years, until July 2, 2011, at which time our project must be complete. The railroad indicated to me that if they could piggyback they would do some of the work that we were going to do. That would save us some money. So, tonight I’m asking you to declare an emergency to authorize Structurepoint, who is our consultant on this project, to notify the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for a final field walk through of the site, and to cooperate with Norfolk Southern to remove and replace the failed structures in East Side Urban drain, including their request for a temporary ditch crossing during their construction, and to also authorize Structurepoint to prepare a bid package for our project at this time.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Bill Jeffers: And pending our ability to fund our project.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Bill Jeffers: Thank you.

Bill Jeffers: Then I have a group of claims that are in order, and I ask you to have the County Auditor process those for payment to our ditch contractors.

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Tornatta: A motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

All Commissioners: Aye.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Bill Jeffers: I believe, other than public comment, or any business that you may have, I am finished.

President Tornatta: Okay, that being said, any public comment? Boys in the back, any public comment? Nothing? Okay.

Eldon Massberg: You don’t want my comments anyway.

Bill Jeffers: Excuse me, we all love Eldon Maasberg and his comments.

President Tornatta: Yes.

Bill Jeffers: And we will be, if there’s anyone interested, we will be meeting with Eldon and the Big Creek Drainage Association for their annual tell the Surveyor what needs to be done in Scott and Union Township meeting, Thursday at noon, at the–

President Tornatta: (Inaudible).

Bill Jeffers: No, in Owensville, what’s the name of that joint up there? The Hornville Tavern.

President Tornatta: That’s what I said, Hornville.

Bill Jeffers: Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you said Silver Bell. If any of the Drainage Board would like to attend, we will be there.

President Tornatta: That’s half chicken day, right?

Bill Jeffers: Anything you want day.

President Tornatta: Right, okay.

Eldon Maasberg: Wednesday is half chicken.

President Tornatta: Okay, alright.

Bill Jeffers: Thursday is pork chop day.

President Tornatta: Okay, now we’ve got it. Motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Winnecke: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

(The meeting was adjourned at 6:35 p.m.)

Those in Attendance:

Troy Tornatta                            Stephen Melcher                      Lloyd Winnecke

Bill Jeffers                                 Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Madelyn Grayson

Brenda Jeffers                          Debbie Bennett-Stearsman      Tim Mosbey

Eldon Maasberg                       Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

Troy Tornatta, President

Stephen Melcher, Vice President

Lloyd Winnecke, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson)