VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

JANUARY 6, 2009

The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 6^th day of January, 2009 at 5:48 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex.

Commissioner Tornatta: Mr. Jeffers, welcome. This is the Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Vanderburgh County Drainage Board meeting. It is about a quarter till six, close enough.

Commissioner Tornatta: Let’s see, we have to, I have to actually approve the minutes. So, I’ll move to approve the previous meeting’s minutes, second it. Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Commissioner Tornatta: Alright, we need a nomination for the Board President, please.

Commissioner Melcher: I move that the Drainage Board President be Commissioner Lloyd Winnecke.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second. Any discussion? Roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Okay, you threw me a loop here. Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: And President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Do I get a gavel? Just kidding. At this time I would nominate, I would entertain a motion for Vice President.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll move that Commissioner Troy Tornatta be Vice President.

President Winnecke: I’ll second that. All in favor say, oh, I’m sorry, roll call vote.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: At this time we’ll schedule our regular meeting dates and times. They will follow each of our regularly scheduled Commission meetings for the year. Is that correct?

Bill Jeffers: I would suggest that, are you having one on the 20^th? Are you having, you’re having a meeting on the 20^th of January?

President Winnecke: Right.

Bill Jeffers: And it’s probably will be a very extensive–

President Winnecke: Right.

Bill Jeffers: –Rezoning hearing. You might want to skip that one meeting, and declare at this time not to have a Drainage Board on January 20, 2009. Other than that, follow the rest of your meetings.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Yeah, I think, what they would want to do is vote to have a Drainage Board meeting after every meeting of the Commissioners, and then cancel any one that they’re not going to have.

Bill Jeffers: I’m just cancelling cancel that one, because that one is going to be a long Commissioners meeting.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, I would make a motion to have a meeting after every scheduled Commissioners meeting, with the exemption of the 20^th of January. I make that in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second.

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

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

President Winnecke: Okay, Bill?

Bill Jeffers: I have a request to set a hearing date for Joe Nickolick’s petition. To hear that either on January 27^th, if you meet on that day, or February 3^rd. Any date after that would be outside the 90 days allowed to have the hearing.

Commissioner Tornatta: I make a motion to do that February 3^rd.

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second.

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

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Bill Jeffers: And I have one claim for you in a folder in front of Madelyn Grayson for ditch work that has been completed, has been inspected, and the proper paperwork is attached. The recommendation is to pay the contractor.

Commissioner Tornatta: Motion to approve.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

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

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Bill Jeffers: Other than that, the County Surveyor has no other business, except to say that I look forward to working with all three of the Commissioners, two new Commissioners. Congratulations, Steve, on skating by on any appointments in the Drainage Board.

Commissioner Melcher: You have to work hard to do that.

Bill Jeffers: It’s nice to see David Miller. I worked with him under a different administration several years ago, and that’s going to be refreshing to see him back.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, how about other business? I did want to clarify, if we can clarify, what are we going to do about the delinquent bills that are outstanding and getting those paid back to their proper funding bases?

Bill Jeffers: Okay, the State Board of Accounts sent us a message this morning that said that the County Surveyor, on behalf of the Drainage Board, rather than the County Auditor, should send the billings out for the statutory due bills. Those are the ones under the State statute to, for the petitions to remove obstructions from natural water surfaces, natural watercourses and drains. We have one outstanding bill on Anthony Drive. Four people agreed to pay equal shares, and Linda Freeman, Chief Deputy Surveyor, sent out that billing this morning. State Board of Accounts says we are to collect it on your behalf, and then take the checks to the Auditor’s Office, and the Auditor is to enter them into the account from which the contractor was paid.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: So, that’s the statutory end of it. Under your local code we have one outstanding bill where the work has been accomplished by a contractor in November. The bill was sent December 1^st. We received a green card acknowledging receipt of that bill by the property owner to whom it was billed on December 2^nd. So, that property owner has 90 days, under the code, to pay that bill directly to the contractor. As of today the bill has not been paid. So, we will wait 90 days, according to the code, from December 2^nd, when she received the bill. If it has not been paid at that time, I will come back to you and ask that you attach that to the tax bill.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, and we did discuss that we could or could not attach it to a tax bill?

Bill Jeffers: I believe, under the local code, the county’s drainage code, you can attach it–

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: –that’s one of the options, you can attach it to the tax bill. Under the State statute, the State Board of Accounts says the only way you can collect a delinquent bill is to go to Superior or Circuit Court and collect it through those means.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay, and, so, I’ve got two questions, Bill. If we are to, if she does not pay this bill and we do pay it and then attach or whatever means we have, where are we going to take that money from, in your opinion?

Bill Fluty: Well–

Commissioner Tornatta: Will we have to go back to the Council?

Bill Fluty: We have a fund that we can spend that out of right now.

Bill Jeffers: Okay, under the one, under the one where it was a code violation, a drainage code violation, that’s the one out in Clear Creek Village.

Commissioner Tornatta: Alright.

Bill Jeffers: A subdivision that’s relatively a new subdivision. After 1994 we collect escrow, we collect a fee of two dollars per lineal foot of pipe, goes into an escrow account that’s held by Mr. Fluty in the Auditor’s Office. Each account is for a specific subdivision. If there’s a failure in the pipe structures, etcetera, drainage system in that subdivision, outside the county right-of-way, that’s what that account pays for. Also, our code allows you to pay a contractor to correct a code violation for that subdivision out of that account, and then recoup that cost by attaching a tax lien if the bill is not paid. That’s the way I read the code, and I believe I forwarded an e-mail to Mr. Ziemer last year, and pretty much we’re in agreement with that.

Commissioner Tornatta: So, do you have the proper amount of funds in that–

Bill Jeffers: Yes, sir.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: We have sufficient funds in that account to pay the bill.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: But, it’s my understanding from your attorney that we cannot pay the bill until we have given the property owner 90 days to pay it.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Jeffers: That’s my understanding at this time.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

Bill Fluty: One issue, and I don’t know if we’ve discussed it, but you’re actually waiting 90 days, and I think that’s a local ordinance. That may be, it would be at your pleasure to change that to something a little less than that. So, it wouldn’t be three months before that contractor would be paid if we got in this thing again.

Commissioner Tornatta: Right. I mean, what we’re going to run into is we’re going to have contractors, good contractors that would normally do our work that won’t do our work because they don’t want to bridge the gap.

Bill Jeffers: That’s correct. That’s, this is the first time we’ve ever done this. This is the first time we have ever gone to that fund to pay a bill for a property owner who has not yet paid a bill.

Commissioner Tornatta: But, we can see that there’s potential that this could be on the horizon.

Bill Jeffers: Right. When we adopted that ordinance in 1994, it was based on a model ordinance from Tippecanoe County, and we just never took that under consideration. Now that it’s happened, we see that that was an oversight on our part in 1994. 90 days is a little long to expect a contractor to wait to be paid.

Commissioner Tornatta: Alright, is this something we want to make in the form of a motion to get it on the table? Or just look into it?

President Winnecke: It’s a local ordinance that requires the 90 days?

Bill Jeffers: Yes, sir?

President Winnecke: Why don’t we just ask the County Attorney to draft an amendment to the ordinance to make it something less than that, and we can act on it at a future meeting?

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

Commissioner Melcher: I’ll second.

President Winnecke: What time frame do you have in mind? We need to give him a little direction here.

Commissioner Tornatta: The 27^th.

President Winnecke: No, I’m talking about in terms of do you have a recommendation on how long the period should be? Is it 60 days? 30 days?

Bill Jeffers: I would say 60 days would be the maximum. How long does it take, Bill Fluty, how long would it generally take to pay our claims to other contractors?

Bill Fluty: If you actually do a contract, you’ll turn a bill in on a Friday, and it will be paid the next Friday. If you actually, if it’s in the weekly, or in the monthly where we have to do advertising, it will range around 40 days to 45, depending on–

Commissioner Tornatta: I was going to say 45.

Commissioner Melcher: Let’s do the 45 days.

Bill Jeffers: Now, take into consideration now, this bills only maybe $2,100, $1,800 or $2,100, I don’t remember exactly. Some of these bills, there’s one bill in the past that ran $10,000. The person paid it, but, I mean–

President Winnecke: Right.

Bill Jeffers: –there’s a potential for these bills to be as high–

Commissioner Tornatta: Well, could we say no longer than 45 days?

Commissioner Melcher: I think the object is getting it paid. You’ve got to give the owner some time to pay. You’ve got to give the county, I think 45 days is enough, because by the time the county does it, it will be 60 days.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Well, I’m hearing, President Winnecke, is that we would reduce 90 days to 45 days.

Commissioner Melcher: Yes.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: And if it’s the Commissioners wish, we could have an ordinance to that effect ready for first reading next Tuesday.

President Winnecke: I think that’s the consensus I hear.

Commissioner Tornatta: Okay.

President Winnecke: So, that’s the direction.

Commissioner Tornatta: So, it would be on the 13^th. I made all of that in the form of a motion. And he seconded.

President Winnecke: Any other discussion on that? Mr. Jeffers, your opinion?

Bill Jeffers: That’s fine.

President Winnecke: Are you okay with that change?

Bill Jeffers: Yes, sir.

Commissioner Melcher: Since we have an audience, anybody in the audience that would like to chime in on that? Okay.

President Winnecke: Roll call vote, please.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Melcher?

Commissioner Melcher: Aye.

Madelyn Grayson: Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Madelyn Grayson: President Winnecke?

President Winnecke: Yes.

(Motion approved 3-0)

Bill Jeffers: Thank you, and that’s all I have to bring before you.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: I’m only sorry that Mrs. Phillips isn’t here. I know she would like to chime in on that.

Commissioner Tornatta: So, she can call what number, if she needs to? Alright.

President Winnecke: Any other public comment for the Drainage Board? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Melcher: Second.

Bill Jeffers: Thank you.

President Winnecke: Thank you.

(The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.)

Those in Attendance:

Lloyd Winnecke                        Troy Tornatta                            Stephen Melcher

Bill Jeffers                                 David Miller                               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.)