PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2002

The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 8, 2002 in the Commissioners' Chambers of the Administration Center.

Those present were: Commissioners David Burrus, Larry Sheets and John Evans, and Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger.

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Sheets moved to approve the payroll of January 14, 2002, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF CLAIMS

Com. Sheets moved to approve the claims for January 22, 2002, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Sheets moved to approve the minutes for December 18, 2001, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

NATURE WORKS CONSERVANCY DISTRICT APPOINTMENTS-
Attorney David Hollenbeck

Mr. Hollenbeck, "Good morning. One of your more mundane tasks as Commissioners is to make appointments on an interim basis to the Board of Commissioners of our Conservancy Districts in the county and in this case we are referencing the Nature Works Conservancy District which serves the Aberdeen subdivision and is the owner-operator of their sanitary sewer collection and treatment facilities. I am here asking you to make three appointments on an interim basis. The first one is for Area 6. Our incumbent board member chose not to run. Our nominating process happens during the month of November of each year and closes on December 1. We had no one file a nominating petition for the position. It is vacant as of our February annual meeting. We would like to have that filled. The Board has sought some people and unanimously voted for Joseph Mihalov for that area. Joe is a CPA here in town and recently built a house in Aberdeen. The second person is Bob Vaughn. You may know him as he works for Indiana American Water Company. He is our incumbent, but due to his busy schedule, he forgot to file a nominating petition. He has been a good board member and the board voted unanimously to ask you to re-appoint him. Thirdly we have Bruce Roth here with me this morning. He has been in the community on and off with a stint in Australia. He also has built in Aberdeen upon his return to Porter County. His position is one that has been vacant for a couple years. He is in a relatively new area where we just don't have a lot of candidates because they don't have a lot of homes. Bruce was approached by Barb Young and myself and has indicated a willingness to have his name placed in nomination. The other two are not here because of their work commitments. Bob is down in Indy and I think Joe is out of town. These appointments last under the statute for one year at which point each of these three gentlemen will have to stand for election for the remaining three years of their terms. This is an unpaid position, and you only hear from people when they are complaining. We appreciate the three candidates. On behalf of the Nature Works I ask the Board of Commissioners to appoint these gentlemen to our Board of Directors."

Com. Burrus, "One question. One of the gentlemen is for District 6, are there respective areas for the others?"

Atty. Hollenbeck, "District 8. We have nine board members at the Nature Works."

Com. Sheets moved to approve all three nominations to the Board of Directors, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

RATIFY PREVIOUS ACTION REGARDING BORROWING FROM THE BOND BANK FOR TAX ANTICIPATION WARRANTS

Atty. Hollenbeck, "As you will recall, when we closed on our bond bank loan, the people who were insuring that loan in the bond market asked that we do the same thing that East Chicago was required to do last year and that is as the tax bills go out and people start paying the money, we are being asked to set aside money as it comes in as people pay their property taxes up to the $5 million dollars we borrowed from tax anticipation warrants. We had to do that at the 11th hour before the closing so I tracked you down and had you agree to that but at a public meeting I need you to ratify that action so the treasurer can start doing that once the tax bills go out. Even with Bethlehem Steel not paying their taxes we anticipate collecting between 8 and 10 million dollars in May. Even by setting 5 million aside, we will still have money in May and June to pay bills. I need a motion for you to ratify that assignment and security agreement presented to us by the Indiana bond bank."

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Evans, "Just for the general public, anybody that wants to pay their taxes early, they can do that. There is no problem with that. That will help somewhat."


ORDINANCE 02-01, ESTABLISHING COUNTY CORRECTIONS FUND FOR LEVEL 3 FUNDING-1ST READING

Atty. Rinkenberger, "Pursuant to state law, every year we need to have the same ordinance in effect that attaches the fund for the sheriff to deposit money collected for DOC prisoners that he holds at $35.00 a day."

Com. Burrus, "This is for temporary holdings and not long term, right? This is distinct from the 40 federal prisoner issue?"

Atty. Rinkenberger, "Yes. This we do annually, it is an annual fund. It has been going on for several years."

ORDINANCE NO. 02-01
PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A COUNTY CORRECTIONS FUND
FOR LEVEL 3 FUNDING
PURSUANT TO I.C. 11-12-6-1 ET SEQ.
________________________________________________________________________
WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners adopted the Porter County Municipal Code on Tuesday, December 2, 1997 pursuant to Ordinance No. 97-38; and
WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners has deemed it necessary to pass a new ordinance for inclusion in the Porter County Code; and
WHEREAS, for the purpose of this ordinance, the Board of Commissioners of Porter County, Indiana, constitutes the County legislative body as per I.C. 36-1-2-9; and
WHEREAS, I.C. 11-12-6-1 et seq. provides that the Board of Commissioners of Porter County may elect to establish a County Corrections Fund; and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT:
1.Chapter 3.12 (County Corrections Fund) Section 3.12.010 (Fund established)
is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows:
3.12.010 Fund established
Pursuant to I.C. 11-12-6-1 et seq., a County Corrections Fund is established and the County elects to receive deposits into the fund from the Indiana Department of Corrections on the basis of Level 3 Funding as set forth in I.C. 11-12-6-13(c).
(Ord. 98-10; Ord. 97-9; Ord. 96-7)

This ordinance passed and adopted this ______ day of ______________, 2002.

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA

S\David L. Burrus
S\Larry D. Sheets
S\John A. Evans

Com. Evans moved to approve Ordinance 02-01, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

OFFICE HOLDERS\DEPARTMENT HEADS
Doug Snider, Porter County Sheriff's Police Department

Doug Snider, "I am from the Sheriff's Department. After completion of inventory by our
furniture consultant, we put together a list of needed furniture for the new jail. I am here today to ask if you will approve this notice to bidders which would go out this Friday in the paper and the following Friday and then we open bids at your February 19 meeting for the furniture."

Com. Sheets, "Do you plan on sending this out to vendors, or just expecting them to pick it up from the newspapers?"

Mr. Snider, "All of the people that have contacted the Sheriff's Department over the last two years and has expressed interest have been given a phone call to let them know it is coming."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the notice to bidders, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.


REPORT FROM COMMISSIONERS

North District: Commissioner John Evans

1. Road Agreement for Westchester Minor Subdivision #2214-B-1, located on the west side of Brummitt Road between Indian Boundary Road and the Norfolk Southern Railroad (Conrail). Offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of $750.00. Owner and subdivider is Patricia Klewer.

Com. Evans moved to accept, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

2. Acceptance of Saddlebrook North, Phase 1 (Bernie Court). Also please accept the Maintenance Letter of Credit from Horizon Bank in the amount of $25,400.00. This subdivision is on the north side of CR 900 North west of CR 50 West. Expiration date is January 18, 2004.

Com. Evans moved to accept, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Evans, "I need to talk briefly about the Calumet Trail Project. We are still trying to whittle down the cost of that project and given today's financial crunch we are under, we need to look at it a little bit further and not do anything until we can see where we are exactly with the funds on that project. It is hard to spend money for leisure time activities when we are having a hard time paying salaries. The problem is, this is a project that has been on going for a number of years, we are already involved in the covered bridge that is out there, the bridge you can get to from nowhere, I call it. That thing has been a flounder, but I think we have been working with those people involved and see if we can't lower the cost again and get it more in line with what we are thinking. I want to table it right now. In the agreement we signed with NIPSCO, we are obligated to repair any problems that arise on that track. It has been brought to my attention that in two years, NIPSCO is going to do a major renovation of some of their properties out there. According to the way the contract reads, we would be responsible to put that trail back together. I think we need to get a special supplement or codicil to that agreement. Particularly if they have scheduled maintenance that we are going to be held responsible for. Another reason to table it."

Center District: Larry Sheets

Com. Sheets, "Back in November or December we did the bids for county highway and there was one bid under Item 17, Precast\prestressed bridge slabs and beams and pre-engineered bid packages. We declined that bid because they did timber bridges and we thought this was all to do with concrete slabs. There is a portion of the bid that refers to a package, we do have some bridges that if a railing is knocked down by an accident and we need to replace, this is the person who would do that. We don't anticipate any business under this item this year, but it doesn't hurt to have them on the list. They met the bid, so I ask that we accept the bid of American Timber Bridge, item 17."

Com. Burrus, "I was the one who suggested at the time that not be accepted and the bid documents that is a tabulation sheet we were working off of, had an abbreviated heading. As Larry indicated, the abbreviated portion said Precast\prestressed concrete. The part that was left off was the pre-engineered package. Their bid is consistent with what we were asking for even though we may or may not have a need for it. I think it would be appropriate that we accept that bid."

Com. Sheets moved to accept the bid, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.


South District: David Burrus

1. Amendment to Performance Letter of Credit #SB12980 from Fifth Third Bank for
Pleasant Crossing Subdivision, amount reduced to $25,000.00.

Com. Burrus moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

CORRESPONDENCE

Treasurer's monthly report is on file.
Environmental Department year end report on file.

1.Acceptance of Willard Olson, dependant as a late enrollee to the Porter County
Employee Benefit Plan. Secondary coverage.

Com. Evans moved to accept, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.

2. Approval of employment contract with Attorney Herb Douglas to serve as legal counsel for the Porter County Drainage Board for the year 2002 in the amount of $7,222.00.

Com. Burrus moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

3.Reappointment of Sue Ann Harris to the Board of Trustees of the Westchester Public Library.

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

4.Approval of the catering agreements for the Expo Center for 2002:

Billy Jack's Café, Birkey's Catering; Executive Catering, Inc.; Fazoli's; Master Caterers; and Strongbow Inn.

Com. Sheets moved to accept, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

5.South Haven Advisory Board

Com. Evans moved to approve to continue the South Haven Advisory Board and the members, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "I have a couple comments to make. It is the intention of the Commissioners to begin making provisions for the disposal or the sale of the existing Porter County Jail. With that requirement, we also have a couple other parcels of land. One is in Portage adjacent to the North County Complex and the other would be the County Home. What I would like to do is make contact with a nationwide auctioneering firm to discuss what kinds of terms and services might be available with respect to the first two properties, the jail and vacant land. I would like to find out what kinds of terms and opportunities or options we may have in the event it becomes necessary to do something with the Porter County Home."

Com. Sheets, "I agree with what we are trying to do is to gather information and have it on the shelf. You don't know what decision will be made down the road. Obviously, we will do something with the jail, but we have had no takers. The only concern I have is a misconception that the public might think we are trying to sell the County Home. It is not our intent, it is just to gather information so we know where we are at. There is no intent on this Commissioners' part to sell the County Home. It is not for sale as far as I am concerned, but we need to know the information."

Com. Burrus, "We have a formal offering for the existing county jail and while we have not received a letter in reply, I talked personally with the mayor and they have expressed their position as not being interested in that building. We are going to proceed with that in mind. If there are any other entities in the community that might be potential buyers with resources strong enough to operate the building, we would be interested in talking to them. There is a deadline coming up with the new jail opening. Something will have to done with this existing building shortly and we intend to make that happen."

Com. Evans, "I would like to throw a couple other buildings in there. A few years ago there was a committee created to look at the hospital's problems as they were ongoing. We are in a very severe financial crisis now and I think we could use some expertise in regard to the properties that we have. The Old Jail Museum, the County Home. The jail is soon to be evacuated and I think the Opera House are some areas that we donate funds to and contribute monies to that we need to take a better look at to make sure they are functioning to their highest efficiency and if they are capable of generating revenues for the county. I think we ought to consider the idea of a committee that could be formed of individuals that could help us in that endeavor."

Com. Burrus, "In the past, we had a historical properties board and I agree with John. We need to have some public input and some review to see exactly where we are with our efforts on these buildings and what our responsibilities would include and where we could go in the future."

Com. Evans, "I think we need to a little more research into what entity we create and maybe do it at the next meeting so we know exactly what footing we are on. I would encourage anybody in the community who has a desire to see those things succeed or to help county government with their budget crisis. There will be some type of committee forthcoming."

Com. Sheets, "It doesn't hurt to gather information."

Com. Burrus, "I have one final comment. With respect to the required budget cuts from the Council, they are working with the various departments within the Commissioners' budget and with our own budget and I would like to report that we will be in compliance. I would like to talk to you, Barb, after the rest of them have been submitted so we will do a total with the rest of them. I have to say, the Departments we deal with have been very practical and determined to do their share. Everyone has stood forward in making the necessary cuts and at times there have been painful cuts. It is a very good possibility that this first round of 10% may only be just that and there may some additional cuts necessary. I think it would be appropriate for David Hollenbeck to make those comments."

Atty. Hollenbeck, "As the Commissioners and the Council are well aware of the intricate and critical part of the puzzle we are trying to put together, I have described this fiscal crisis as a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle without the benefit of the picture on the cover. A part of this process has been our effort to secure a bridge loan or the Porter County Bail Out Legislation. We modeled that after the relief that was given to East Chicago when they experienced the LTV bankruptcy. You will recall we made the initial effort on November 20; that was resisted for procedural reasons in Indianapolis but we did get a concurrent joint resolution that we should come back in January. In the interim, we did secure the Department of Commerce loan that replaces the 2 million dollars that we didn't get in November from Bethlehem Steel. We have been working to craft a piece of legislation that would provide us with an interim form of financing in the form of a bridge loan. The theory was if we were going to lose an aggregate 30 million dollars, there would be a pot of money available with no interest rate for 10 years. That would be like a line of credit. As Bethlehem failed to pay its taxes, we could access up to how much we lost. It would have been 2 million dollars. As they paid their delinquent taxes, those monies would come in and revert to the state to pay off that loan. That is created by the legislation. That has been assigned to the Finance Committee in the Senate. Senator Forrest has scheduled a hearing and that is a good sign. Barb is going to join me on Thursday and we are going to testify and we have every reason to think the committee will favorably recommend the bill. Senator Landske is the sponsor. On Monday, she will present the bill to the Senate and by Tuesday or Wednesday we will be out of the senate and headed to the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, that is where the good news stops. The bill will be assigned to the Ways & Means Committee in the House which is headed by Rep. Pat Bauer. Ralph Ayers and Duane Cheney and Charlie Brown have worked herculean efforts on behalf of the House, but we have hit a stumbling block. Rep. Bauer wants to include our bill in the House version of the budget amendments. The state has significant financial problems as well. It is devastating to us on a cash flow basis. If we get a budget bill out of this general assembly, it won't be until 11:30 on March 14, if then. They may have to go back in special session. No one is telling us we won't get a bail out, but the timing is devastating. We are confirming this, but if we got 5 million dollars in tax anticipation warrants and 2 million dollars from the Department of Commerce, that is 7 million dollars. If we spend 2 million dollars a month, we are out of money in the middle of March. That is a cash flow problem. We were banking on and hoping this legislative package to ease the crisis nature. I have some serious concerns about the timing of what we are going to get out of Indianapolis. It is critically important that the County Commissioners and County Council sit down and plan for the worse case scenario. We have to have a plan. If we are not going to get the bail out money before the middle of March, we've got some serious decisions to make. We need a plan in place and hopefully it can stay on the shelf and never get used, but if we are not going to have some cash to hold us over until people pay their taxes, we won't have any cash."

Com. Burrus, "This Board is very willing and capable to participate. The intent of this plan as it is formulated will be to determine what extent of County Government will be shut down and to what magnitude. We have some very critical responsibilities. We cannot bounce checks. It is up to us to determine when and what has to be done and we are prepared to do what is necessary."

Atty. Hollenbeck, "In the 30 years I have represented the County Council, I have always talked about the fact that before you write a check you have to have 2 things: money in the bank and the appropriation. For 30 years we have worried about the appropriation side. Now we are worrying about not having any money."

Com. Burrus, "I want the public and the employees to understand the seriousness of it and it is a very difficult process for us to go through personally. There will have to be some major changes in the planning stage."

Com. Evans, "When we close county government, we should put the phones on call forwarding to Rep. Bauer."

Atty. Hollenbeck, "I talked to Cheney and Ayers and asked if this was undoable and his answer was anything can happen in the General Assembly, but don't plan on it being undone. Our Northwest Indiana Delegation have worked their fannies off on our behalf on this thing. I couldn't have a higher regard for what those folks have tried to do for us. Plan A from November 20 that the state would advance us the property tax replacement credit money. About 15% of the property tax we don't pay in Porter County, you get a credit and the state sends us the rest of the money. The thought was they could advance us those monies like the Duneland School got their tuition support payments advances. The powers to be decided that was illegal. There is a bill pending in the Senate to change that. Sen. Alexa will see what the status is of that. If that could be accelerated and get enacted expeditiously, that could be a source of cash. It is important to differentiate the two problems we are facing. The immediate short term problem is cash. This does not address the issue that in the next year we are going to lose 6 million dollars of revenue from Bethlehem. They are linked together; one is kind of causing the other. If we solve the problem and stay open and pay our bills, we still haven't solved the Bethlehem Steel bankruptcy."

Com. Burrus, "Even though we are losing 17% of our revenue by Bethlehem's action, we are still receiving 83%. It is a challenge right now to live within our means."

Atty. Hollenbeck, "Keep this in perspective. We spend approximately 2 million dollars a month. If you have 20 working days a month, we spend on average $100,000.00 a day. So every hundred thousand dollars, as painful as that is, that they can cut out of a budget, gains us one day."

Barb Stroud, "We will know this afternoon because they are meeting downstate this morning. It doesn't sound very good. Unfortunately this has happened. In November, the vote was unanimous in the House and the technically was with the Senate. It is almost a reversal of roles now. We have to work through it. Time is of the essence. It is another possibility if it can be amended out of the bill. I don't think at this point in time we are going to make the time frame."

Com. Burrus, "There are too many components down state that we have no control over. We have to be prepared for the worst."

John Whitcomb, "This meeting reminds me of Humpty Dumpty. Naturally we know he fell off. All you people and the Council can't put him back together again. Why did you let him get up there in the first place? I have heard you say in this financial crisis that cutting the budget and spending is paramount. I asked the Commissioners why they didn't follow the Council's lead and cut their salaries 10%. Com. Burrus gave me a fairly lengthy and legitimate answer; Com. Sheets concurred; Com. Evans was not involved in the discussion. I have come to the conclusion that your salaries are sacred in your mind. You won't cut them. If every elected official and department head thinks that way, it will show that the Council is the only one sincerely involved in solving the financial crisis. Possibly, my suggestion of a political tax has real merit and should be explored. Shortly, the purchase of police cars will come before you again. You will have another good chance to be frugal. The last auction of sheriff's cars the mileage on those cars were almost identical to the last auction two years ago. And four county highway dump trucks were sold. They had apparently not been used this summer if at all. If they weren't used, they weren't necessary, so why were they replaced? I went to that auction and wrote down the mileage on the patrol cars. The highest mileage was 161,000 miles. The lowest was 106,000. You can get another year's service out of those cars. The one with 106,000 and a couple with 110,000 you can get two more years. That's being frugal. You are not getting the mileage out of them you should be able to get. Therefore, you are wasting money by buying more. Same with the dump trucks. There is sympathy for the Council and Commissioners to have this financial crisis dumped on them, but remember you asked for the job. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Now is not the time to raise or initiate another tax. With the unemployment rate in Porter County at 10%, it is going to be hard to explain to a laid off worker that his or her property will be seized or sold because they have not paid their income tax and yet you expect to heap more taxes on them to make up for the taxes they can't pay. Where is this talk of selling the hospital coming from? From the financial report, it shows it is doing fairly decent. I am inclined to give the CEO, Mr. Winger, some time to see if he can turn that situation around. I think he can get it back on track to where the residents expect it. And the sheriff's shooting range, was that necessary? What did they do for the last 20 or 30 years. The new jail stats. When the new jail was being designed, it was to allow for less wardens, not more. I will look up the minutes and if you would like to revisit those plans, you could save this county a whole bunch of money. Thank you."

Com. Sheets, "Our response to John still stands."

The meeting was recessed until 1:30 p.m.

AFTERNOON SESSION-1:30 PM.
Robert Thompson, Plan Commission Director

Mr. Thompson, "This is Plan Commission resolution 01-17, petitioner Beverly Runk requesting an amendment from our zoning maps from I-2 general industry to I-1. This was heard and the resolution adopted to recommend approval on the 12th day of December by a 7-0 vote of the Plan Commission. They were going to have a residential structure on the parcel, that is why they had to have it rezoned down to I-1. They were also talking about a possibility of a commercial venture."

Com. Sheets moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

SOFTWARE AGREEMENTS
Sharon Lippens, Data Processing Director

Ms. Lippens, "I have two contracts here. The first one is a request from a company called
Data trace, which is a subsiderary company of First American Title. They are currently receiving our tax information through First American Title but in order to facilitate a search that they do for title policies, they wanted us to add some additional data fields that are not currently included. Those are the book and page and instrument number so when a person is selling their home or buying, and they are looking to get a title policy, they can be assured they are getting a direct hit by using that number. I questioned what they were doing with the data, but it does not go against our current ordinance about commercial purposes because they don't use it to solicit anything. A client is coming to them or to their bank asking for a title policy on a piece of property and they are performing the service for them. They agree to sign the confidentiality agreement independently of First American who had originally signed it. This form has been developed by the treasurer's office when we first started working with the title companies for electronic processing of taxes. They agreed to sign this and stated they wanted the same file that the tax service agencies were receiving with the inclusion of those two fields for the sole purpose of title insurance policy as requested by the clients."

Com. Burrus, "So the additional verbiage on here is that they will not use this for any commercial purpose?"

Ms. Lippens, "Yes. We use this form for all requests and we fill in the appropriate description of what they are going to use the information for so we don't have to develop a separate agreement. There is no additional cost."

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Lippens, "The second one is a software agreement that actually was paid for last year. It is on the software that we currently print our payroll checks, welfare, expense checks, through the laser printer. We had separate software for the processing of that data, but this is in order to print them on the laser printer and we have a savings that way by not having to buy pre-printed forms and pre-numbered checks with the ability to print a check if it doesn't turn out, we can just reprint it. It is a lot less cost on the forms. This might be saving us a few hundred dollars. Just the ability to be able to buy blank check stock and not be locked into a carbon less form that is pre-numbered and if you line the checks up and are on the wrong number when you start, you end up voiding them. Plus it is a lot less frustration on our part."

Com. Sheets moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was recessed.

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA

David L. Burrus
Larry D. Sheets
John A. Evans

Attest: Sandra K. Vuko, Auditor