VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

FEBRUARY 3, 2009

The Vanderburgh County Drainage Board met in session this 3^rd day of February, 2009 at 5:35 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Lloyd Winnecke presiding.

President Winnecke: At this time I would like to call to order the Tuesday, February 3^rd meeting of the Vanderburgh County Drainage Board. We’ll start with attendance roll call, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Here.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Here.

President Winnecke: Good evening, Mr. Jeffers.

Bill Jeffers: Good evening, President Winnecke. Our only item of business, besides some claims I have on your desk to pay for ditch work, is the hearing of the Joe Nickolick petition to remove an obstruction in a drain that serves his property. The hearing is required by state statute. It was set for today, so it will be held today. You’ll receive a very brief report from me, which basically is the same thing I’ve sent you by e-mail earlier. Mr. Nickolick is an elderly fellow who had some concerns about coming in today with the weather and the roads the way they are, so, he asked if he could be excused from coming in today. That’s fine. I think he’s satisfied with the progress that’s being made, and sees that it will be completed in a timely fashion. I don’t know if any of the representatives from Vectren or Motel 6 are here today. If they are, they can speak if they wish. But, briefly, the drain is along this yellow line through the property of Motel 6, which is over here on your left, and Vectren, which owns the property on the right, to the east. The ditch flows from Yokel Road, due north, along the property line, and out to Sonntag Stevens, which is a regulated drain operated by Vanderburgh County. At the south end of, this is basically the south end of the Whirlpool parking lot here. Okay, along in here, right there, as a matter of fact, is a pipe crossing, because this is a power line, and you’ll see it in the next picture, Vectren needs a pipe at that point to cross and do service on their power line. Now, the pipe was buried by sedimentation, weeds, what have you, that’s all you could see of the pipe when Mr. Nickolick filed his petition. That’s just the top of the concrete pipe. Then, in the next picture you can see what Vectren has accomplished. They’ve put in a new pipe, put the crossing back across it and opened the ditch up. So, now it’s carrying the flow that it was designed to carry. There may be some problems in the future, this isn’t exactly the way I would have put a pipe in, but this is the way Vectren chose to put it in, and I’m not going to complain about it because it’s working. We may ask them to do a little dressing up at both ends of the pipe to keep the gravel from falling in front of the pipe, but this is very minor. This is their crossing, you can see the power line, you can see the old pipe’s been removed and the new pipe is in the ground. That’s basically it, other than to say that there is some brush and tree removal in the ditch between Yokel Road and this pipe that need to be removed. Since it runs along the property line, Vectren secured an estimate of $1,900, excuse me, $1,290, proposed to be split between Motel 6 and Vectren. I have a copy here of an e-mail from Mark Conn, C-o-n-n, Motel 6 RME, stating that he left a voice mail with Vectren, indicating that he was willing to pay his half, $645.28, so long as an invoice was made out to Motel 6, 1157 U.S. 41, no, that’s Motel 6 number 1157, that’s the unit number. So, as you can imagine, Vectren has some more important business to attend to after the ice storm than to clear this ditch. I think the ditch is operating sufficiently for this time of year, being it’s frozen up. I feel confident that Vectren and Motel 6 will work together to have this ditch cleared by the time we have any spring rains. Mr. Nickolick is aware of this. Chief Deputy, Linda Freeman, spoke with him today, explained it all to him. He seemed satisfied with her explanation. I will be out of town February 17, that’s your rezoning night anyway. I’ll be out of town if you want to cancel the Drainage Board for that night. On March 3^rd I will be bringing bid documents to be advertised in the paper, and I’ll update you on this issue, if you would like to keep the hearing open. Then, by March 31^st, I think we should have a conclusion. Then, I’ll bring that conclusion to you and you can have your findings or make your declarations at that time, if that sufficiently addresses the situation in your opinion.

President Winnecke: Any questions for Mr. Jeffers? Anyone here from Vectren or Motel 6 that would care to speak during this hearing?

Unidentified: ( Inaudible. Not at microphone.)

President Winnecke: Okay, that’s fine.

Unidentified: I think he addressed everything that I would say.

President Winnecke: Okay.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

President Winnecke: Fair enough.

Bill Jeffers: We do appreciate Vectren working diligently toward this end while having to deal with everything they’ve had to deal with in the recent past, to put people back in service.

President Winnecke: At this time I would entertain a motion to continue this hearing until the, I’m sorry, did you say March 30^th?

Commissioner Tornatta: March 3^rd.

Bill Jeffers: I think March 3^rd I’ll come back with a report, and March 31^st, maybe have a wind up.

Commissioner Tornatta: I make that in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Commissioner Tornatta: I would also like to make a motion to cancel the, what did we say, the February 17^th–

Bill Jeffers: February 17^th.

Commissioner Tornatta: –Drainage Board meeting.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second that.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Okay, other business, Bill?

Bill Jeffers: I just would ask that you would approve the claims that have been, the proper paperwork is attached, signatures are on the claims, and that’s for ditch work completed in 2008 and the first part of 2009.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve and stamp.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second. Questions or discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Madelyn Grayson: And I think we did not approve the minutes from the January 27^th meeting for Drainage Board.

Commissioner Tornatta: And, I’ll make a motion to approve those minutes.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

President Winnecke: A motion and a second to approve our minutes from our previous meeting. Roll call vote please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Any other business, Bill?

Bill Jeffers: No, sir.

President Winnecke: Thank you very much.

President Winnecke: Any public comment for the Drainage Board.

Commissioner Tornatta: I would say that there’s no public comment for the Drainage Board, but would like to make, since we forgot to do this in the Commissioners meeting, talk about our road hearings, which are tentatively scheduled for March 4^th. So, I would ask both Commissioners, if they would, please, to check their schedules and see if March 4^th is a date that would work for you. We would announce it, obviously in the 17^th meeting, and the March 3^rd meeting to the public, but trying to get a little bit ahead of time. We would just have one meeting on that night, and at one central location. We’re now trying to confirm the location which will be known by the 17^th. Thank you.

President Winnecke: Great, and did we introduce, Alex?

Commissioner Tornatta: Let’s introduce Alex.

President Winnecke: Alex Young from Memorial High School , he’s our baseball player, had conditioning practice before, so he was a little late. So, we welcome him along with Carolyn and Chris, as our shadows.

Commissioner Tornatta: Thanks for coming.

President Winnecke: At this point I would entertain a motion to adjourn the Drainage Board.

Commissioner Melcher: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Winnecke: And, we are adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m.)

Those in Attendance:

Lloyd Winnecke                        Troy Tornatta                            Stephen Melcher

Bill Jeffers                                 Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Madelyn Grayson

Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

Lloyd Winnecke, President

Troy Tornatta, Vice President

Stephen Melcher, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)