PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2002 – 10:00 a.m.

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: Commissioners David Burrus, Larry Sheets, and John Evans. Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger was also present.

President David Burrus called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

REORGANIZATION

Com. Burrus, "With our first meeting of the year, our first item of business will be re-organization of the Board of Commissioners."

Com. Sheets, "Mr. Chairman, I would like to make the motion."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the appointments of David Burrus as President, Larry Sheets as Vice President, and John Evans as Secretary, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "There are several significant collateral responsibilities of the Board of Commissioners that require designated appointees. The first being the representative to the Northern Indiana Regional Plan Commission. Larry Sheets has been our previous representative. Larry, would you care to continue in that position?"

Com. Sheets, "My pleasure."

Com. Burrus, "Very well. The next position would be the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. John Evans has been representing us for the last year. John, would you consider taking that again?"

Com. Evans, "Certainly."

Com. Burrus, "The Plan Commission representative has been Larry Sheets. Larry, continue?"

Com. Sheets, "Yes, sir."

Com. Burrus, "With respect to the Drainage Board, I have been the representative and I will continue in that position. Similarly, I have been the representative to the Kankakee Valley Job Training Corporation and will remain that representative. Going further, we have a Community Corrections Representative, John Evans, is that your pleasure?"

Com. Evans, "Yes, I will stay."

Com. Burrus, "And also, John, the Child Protection Team?"

Com. Evans, "Yes."

Com. Burrus, "Third, the Animal Welfare Board?"

Com. Evans, "Yes, I will take that one."

Com. Burrus, "Last one today is the Wildlife Advisory Board. John has previously been our representative and Larry has expressed an interest in that board."

Com. Sheets, "Yes, I will handle it this year."

Com. Burrus, "Those will be the new officers and the designated representatives from the Board of Commissioners for the coming year. Our next chore is to deal with 6 of our employee appointments. We have the Veteran's Service officer who is currently James Feeney. Our County Highway Superintendent currently filled by Jack Jarnecke; the assistant: Al Hoagland; Engineer: Dave Schelling, Building Inspector: Ray Weltz, Environmental Coordinator: Russ Shirley. Gentlemen?"

Com. Sheets moved to retain the same employees for their positions for the year 2002, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

BOARD APPOINTMENTS

Com. Burrus, "There are a significant number of Board Appointments that we want to address today. The advertisement for these openings has been published and the deadline for submitting an application was the 19th of December. While we did have a number of applicants for some positions, we had only incumbent applicants for a number of positions. As we go through these, there may be some incumbents re-appointed very frequently. Alcoholic Beverage Commission, current appointment is Cheryl Draschill."

Com. Evans moved to reappoint Cheryl Draschill, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "Next, we have the Animal Welfare Board. We have five positions to deal with. The first is a result of the resignation of Maria Borehringer. This will be a term that runs until December 31, 2002. Gentlemen, do we have a recommendation?"

Com. Evans moved to appoint Lisa Christy, D.V.M. to that position, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Sheets, "Do you want to do all of them at once or is there any that you want to change?"

Com. Evans, "No. I think they should all remain as members and they have all asked for re-appointment."

Com. Burrus, "The remaining members of the Animal Board would include Pat Hardesty, Marilyn Shultz; Mary Ann Scheller and James Lambert. All these have requested re-appointment. It has been recommended to address them as a group."

Com. Evans moved to re-appoint all incumbent members of the Animal Welfare Board, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "We have one position open on the Convention, Recreation and Tourism Board. This will be the appointment by the North County Commissioner, John Evans. Currently, it is held by Gloria Reed."

Com. Evans moved to re-appoint Gloria Reed in that position, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "With the Drainage Board, we have one opening. Incumbent Joe Harrison. He has served one year filling the unexpired term of another board member."

Com. Burrus moved to re-appoint Joe Harrison, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "We have two members to the Board of Health. One member has requested not to be re-appointed and one requested to remain. The one to remain is Robert Mason."

Com. Sheets moved to re-appoint Robert Mason, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "The individual requesting not to be re-appointed is Nanette Brown. Do we have a recommendation to replace her? "

Com. Sheets, "We had 2 applicants and I would recommend that we appoint Sandy Kuehl. It is required that they be a nurse or in that field and she has 25 years in the neonatal care at the hospital and comes highly recommended."

Com. Sheets moved to appoint Sandy Kuehl, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "Next position is with the Hospital Building Association. We have 2 positions open and the 2 incumbents have both expressed an interest in being re-appointed. They were the only applicants."

Com. Sheets moved to re-appoint Byron Smith and John Hardwick, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "We have one position open for the Park Board. We have incumbent Christine Aylesworth who has requested re-appointment."

Com. Evans moved to retain Christine Aylesworth, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "With the Plan Commission, we have 2 positions open and 2 incumbents who have expressed an interest in being re-appointed. First is Frank Mahnic and the second is Rick Burns."

Com. Sheets moved to re-appoint Frank Mahnic and Rick Burns, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "West Porter Township Fire District. 2 positions open and 2 incumbents expressing interest and they are the only applicants. Those 2 would be Joanna Pahl and Chuck Murray."

Com. Sheets moved to re-appoint Joanna Pahl and Chuck Murray, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "Kankakee River Basin Commission. The current representative is myself. I have asked Harold Haberlin to consider representing the Commissioners on that board and he has accepted. He is the only other applicant."

Com. Burrus moved to appoint Harold Haberlin, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "The next group of positions is the Wildlife Board. These are annual appointments and there are least 13 of these. As we indicated earlier, the Commissioner representative has been John Evans; that has now been changed to Larry Sheets. Larry, do you want to go down the list?"

Com. Sheets, "Christine Sears, Dottie Kostka, Gale Carmona, Steve Morgavan, Mary Ann Zona-Gregg, Dr. Lawrence McAfee, Sheriff David Reynolds, Mike Newett, Bonnie Swarner and Dr. Lisa Christy is added as a veterinarian. These are the people who applied: Allen Resetar, Frank Zona."

Com. Burrus, "What this consists of then is 10 re-appointments and 3 new appointments. The 3 new ones would be Allen Resetar, Frank Zona and Dr. Lisa Christy."

Com. Burrus moved to approve the 3 new appointments, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "Finally, we have the Property Tax Board of Appeals. I understand it is recommended we appoint John Delmerico and James Luft to this board."

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

Com. Burrus, "There are the appointments for the coming year."
APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Burrus, "We have the payroll for December 31, 2001."

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

SETTING MEETING DATES FOR 2002 FOR COMMISSIONERS' MEETING

(See Resolution No. 02-01 attached)

Com. Evans moved to approve Resolution No. 02-01, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.


AWARD OFFICE SUPPLY BIDS FOR CLASS 3

Com. Burrus, "This was continued from the last meeting. We had 2 bidders: Kramer & Leonard and Corporate Express."

Com. Sheets, "After reviewing it, I think we took enough time with this and in talking with Sandy, I would make the motion to award the bid to Corporate Express, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

OFFICE HOLDERS\DEPARTMENT HEADS
Jackie Sterling, Porter County Recorder

Ms. Sterling, "In 1998, the Porter County Recorder's office purchased a new software
program; Imaging Receiving and Indexing from a company called Fiddler & Chambers which is now Fiddler & Doubleday. This software and hardware was purchased from the Recorder's perpetuation
fund. This fund is realized through $3.00 per document that is recorded and is to be used for the
preservation of records for the Recorder's Office. In 2001, Fiddler & Doubleday had improved on
the system and we would like to purchase the new software to enhance the current software that we
are using and also the hardware from them. They have submitted a contract to the county to look
over and Gwenn has been in contact with them and so has Data Processing. There are changes they
are working on but we are asking you to consider the contract because we would like to get this on
board. The total amount of the cost coming from the perpetuation fund will be $158,955.00. The money is there, it is not coming out of the county general fund. We are realizing at the present time that we are averaging over 200 documents a day and this should speed things up and help us along."

Com. Sheets, "You have not completed the review of the contract so there would be a problem with me approving it, but we could do it contingent upon the attorney's review."

Com. Evans moved to approve the contract with Fiddler & Doubleday contingent on the attorney's review, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Appoint sick bank vacancy

Com. Sheets, "Jackie, while you are here, I remember we needed to replace somebody on the Sick Bank Committee. Did you come up with someone?"

Ms. Sterling, "Yes. Susan Larson, she is our Center Township Assessor. She is the only one who submitted a letter to me and I would ask that you appoint her. She is taking Jan's place, from the Health Department."

Com. Sheets moved to appoint Susan Larson to the sick bank committee, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Jack Jarnecke, Porter County Highway Superintendent

Mr. Jarnecke, "I would like you to look at a copy of this from Woodruff and Sons request. LaPorte County Landfill, dredging material. I was told yesterday afternoon the Town of Pines has refused them to use County Line Road to 1500 North.

Com. Evans, "Where are they going from?"

Mr. Jarnecke, "It must be in Porter at the lake up there. Said they were coming off of Route 12."

Com. Evans, "Well, they wouldn't be able to get to County Line Road if the Pines won't allow them."

Mr. Jarnecke, "I did talk to Todd Bell of Woodruff yesterday and he sounded like he has reconciled himself to the idea of coming around and going through Michigan City down 20 to the landfill. I did mention that maybe we could let him go back in from 1500 North from the landfill up to 12 again.

Com. Evans, "I think that is fair. That piece of County Line Road was just done."

Mr. Jarnecke, "Looks in fairly good shape. I don't want to see it destroyed, either."

Com. Evans, "Just advise them to stay on Highway 12 if the Pines is not going to let them in their jurisdiction. If they want to return empty that is fine, as long as it is agreeable to the Town of Pines."

Mr. Jarnecke, "Okay. I also have a request for my 4 road foremen to take their vehicles home."

Com. Burrus, "We have talked about this issue and it comes as a result of a memo we sent out to all department heads regarding take home vehicles last month. When that memo was addressed, it was done with some calculations in mind and there were some few exceptions to the policy that we had in mind. There were five vehicles for the Highway Department that we would recommend to be continued as take home vehicles. Those are for yourself and your 4 foremen. This is a reduction from 12 down to 5 in your department. For the benefit of the press and the public, we have a tally that is very close. We are looking at a total of about 34 current take home vehicles that we are recommending to get down to about 11. We are looking at a significant reduction but we are also cognizant of some of the emergency nature of some of the positions. Jack, your request is consistent with what we had anticipated and I would recommend approval."

Com. Burrus moved to approve the foremen to take home their vehicles, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Sheets, "While we are on this subject, I was going to keep my vehicle through March for a couple reasons. Two of those have been reduced off of my plate. One is your agreement to take over this seat, take me back from the day to day operations, the other one is I met with our state representatives and senators at Christmas and they are on board with legislation that we need to help our county out of our financial situation and I don't think I need to go down there like I thought I would. My vehicle is now parked, and is part of the pool, the same as John's. I am driving my own vehicle."

Com. Burrus, "I think that is an important point for everybody to pay attention to also. At this point in time the whole Board of Commissioners do not have any personal take home vehicle privileges. We are not asking anybody in county government to do something that we have not done ourselves. As this program goes forward, we are going to be looking for more austerity but I think this board is making every effort to set the example. Larry, we appreciate it."


Contract between Covenant Financial Services and Porter County Assessor

Atty. Rinkenberger, "I thought Shirley LaFever was coming in under Department Heads for the financing for her software. You have before you a proposal number 4, that shows a signature by Larry Sheets and this refers back to November when Covenant Financial Services was to finance her computer equipment tax assessment software. The proposal was before the rate went up but it was a small amount because we did not get the financial documents needed to Covenant in time for the lower rate. It makes a difference of $200.00 per payment for 6 payments. I have with the proposal the back up documentation for approval by the Board. The master municipal lease and option agreement and miscellaneous other lease purchase agreement documents along with the schedule so we need a motion to approve that for Shirley."

Com. Burrus, "You have reviewed and approved all the supporting documents?"

Atty. Rinkenberger, "Yes, I have."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the contract for Covenant Financial Services, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "Before we leave the vehicle issue, we want to discuss with Phil Griffith, and to acknowledge receipt of your letter requesting your approval to continue using your vehicle as an emergency vehicle. I think the discussion has been had and we are in concurrence with that."

Com. Sheets moved to approve Emergency Management Director to keep his vehicle, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Sheets, "The motion that John moved on last year, I want to do the same thing this year. That when you are out on the roads and are reviewing the snow and whether we should be open or closed, I would make a motion to authorize the President of the Board to make that decision."

Com. Sheets moved to authorize the President of the Board to make the decision to keep the county buildings open, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Phil Griffith, "On that note, I met with Lee in the Print Shop. We are going to try and develop a spot on the sheriff's website or Emergency Management website where the employees would be able to go on line and get that information as early as 5:00 in the morning. We are going to try and make it easier to notify the employees if we have to close. Hopefully we won't have to run into that this year."

Com. Sheets, "I hope you are right. You can now wake Dave up at 2:00 in the morning."

Com. Burrus, "And I want to reinforce that, too. Don't hesitate to do that but at the same time I want to make it clear that this Board reserves the right to make those decisions. We look forward to working with you."


COMMISSIONERS' REPORTS

North District: Commissioner John Evans

1. Acceptance of Windridge Subdivision roads, located on the west side of CR 200 West
between US 6 and CR 850 North. The Performance Letter of Credit is not to be released at this time. The Maintenance Letter of Credit will need to be renewed for another year prior to its expiration since the Developer obtained it prematurely.

Com. Evans recommended approval, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

2. Proposed Sidewalk Agreement for construction of sidewalks along US 6 between Porter County and INDOT.

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

3. Maintenance Letter of Credit #SB13193A from Fifth Third Bank for Duck Creek Subdivision in the amount of $162,000.00. This will replace the $200,000.00 cashier's check that we now hold from Fifth Third Bank. Expiration date is December 5, 2003.

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

4. Amendment to Performance Letter of Credit #SB13027 from Fifth Third Bank for Harvest Acres Subdivision in the amount of $244,000.00. It has been reduced to $70,400.00. Expiration date is September 19, 2002.

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

Com. Burrus, "I would like to make a comment, John, on Item 2 with respect to the INDOT Agreement. I think Dave Schelling had a bit of difficulty with some of the hold harmless language in there. I was hoping maybe you would have a chance to talk to David before you go forward with that."

Com. Evans, "Yes. Gwenn is already looking into that for us and we will do the adjustment at that time."

Center District: Commissioner Larry Sheets

1. Utility Agreement from NIPSCO for installation of a pole on the east side of CR 250 West south of SR 130. This is for electrical service for Crazy D's gasoline Station.

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

2. Road Agreement for Center Minor Subdivision #2038-B-1, located on the east side of CR 150 East between Division Road and CR 100 North. Offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of $3,000.00. Owner & subdivider is Daniel P. Steiner.

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

3. Performance Letter of Credit #368 from DeMotte State Bank for Lexington Farms South, Unit 1 in the amount of $6,000.00. This will clean the silt out of the south detention pond and repair erosion. New expiration date is June 4, 2002.

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

4. Acceptance of Lexington Farms South Unit 1 roads, located on the east side of CR 50 West just north of CR 550 North. Also please accept the Maintenance Letter of Credit from DeMotte State Bank in the amount of $44,200.00. Expiration date is January 2004.

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

5. Utility agreement from KV REMC for installation of 34 poles along Division Road east of SR 49 then south on CR 325 East. (26 poles in Center District and 8 poles in South District)

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

South District: Commissioner David Burrus

1. Acceptance of South Meadows Subdivision roads, located on the south side of
Division Road and west of CR 200 West between SR 2 and CR 200 West. Recommend approval.

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

2. Utility agreement from NIPSCO for installation of a pole at 361 South 600 West Hebron.
Com. Burrus moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Sheets, "For the public's information, we get our bridges inspected every two years. We have the sufficiency ratings back and our county bridges are in pretty good shape. Nothing terrible about any of our bridges. We got a good report and I think the public is served well from our bridge funds."

CORRESPONDENCE

Monthly operations report for Porter Memorial Hospital EMS on file.
Clerk's monthly report on file.
Weights and Measures monthly report on file.
Court security monthly activity report on file.
Veteran's services officers' monthly report on file.
Portage Township quarterly Poor Relief report on file.
Porter County Building Department monthly report on file.
Porter County Plan Commission annual report on file.

Com. Burrus, "I should mention that the Building Department's report is both the monthly report for December and his annual report. Next item is to accept Philip Raiha and spouse as late enrollees to the Porter County Employee Benefit Plan. Coverage is proposed to be effective January 1, 2002. They were on the wife's plan which expired the first of January this year."

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

Com. Burrus, "We have a proposal from the Temple Group for human resource consulting services for the year 2002. This was a service that was previously split evenly between the County Council and the Commissioners. I believe the Council has decided against renewing their portion of the contract. The Commissioners have decided that we would renew ours with the idea that there may be some employee situations that we may need some assistance with if reduction in force might be necessary. The amount of this contract has been revised from $1,500.00 per month down to $750.00 per month, and has been submitted to reflect that reduction in fee."

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

Com. Burrus, "We have a service agreement for the security automation system at the Juvenile Detention Center in the amount of $525.00 per month. This is in the Commissioners' budget. This is an annual item."

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

Com. Burrus, "We also need to approve the maintenance agreement with Tompkins Company for the cutting machine located in the Porter County Print Shop in the amount of $3,570.00 per year. These are the kinds of things that I wonder if we might want to look at closely before we renew. Could we review this and discuss this at our next meeting? These have been done annually and seem to be recurring and I am not sure that I am satisfied that every one of them is necessary. Possibly, they are. So if we can continue this, then that will be fine. Next, we have an additional appropriation within the Commissioners' office."

Fund 176.30$277,030.34into acct 0001 Jail fund

Linda Walker, "We just have to re-appropriate it back into the budget at the end of the year. We didn't do anything with it, it is just putting it back."

Com. Burrus, "Okay, we are just returning the money."

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

Fund 02$5,000.00acct 2360District 3- Stone

Re-appropriation for 2002.

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

Com. Burrus, "We have a significant list of additional appropriations that are all within the Highway Department, all for bridge repairs. They are all from the same fund, Fund 25 and going to the same thing, materials and labor. I would like to have the motion address these as a group and anyone looking to see the individual numbers can look at the file to determine what we are dealing with here."

Com. Evans, "There are 22 separate appropriations that are requested."

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

Com. Burrus, "We have a report on moneys collected by the Porter County Engineering
Department. This will be for fees and permits through some of their procedures. That report is on file."

Com. Evans, "We need to do the resolution for the Auditor to become a political subdivision for the county related to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund."

Com. Burrus, "This is a designation for two individuals to represent us on that. A resolution authorizing the following individuals to act as agents to accept pension liability funds. Those two individuals will be Sandy Vuko and Jaime Dzaiblo."

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

Com. Burrus, "Anyone in the audience have any comments?"

John Whitcomb, "I have some questions for this re-organized Commissioners board. Have you thought anymore about what you are going to do with the County Home and the grounds? I would also like to know why all of the grounds aren't being farmed? I would think you would prefer them to be used. And the barn out there is getting in very sad shape. You might have to tear it down or repair the roof. I suggest you repair it, it is salvageable. The building itself, I am glad to see someone is in there, but they are not fixing the roof and they are not fixing the down spouts, and that has got to be done soon or you will lose that building. I believe what the past Commissioners had been doing is letting it go so it could be torn down. The least expensive thing is to tear it down. I would like to ask who owns the hospital parking garage?"

Com. Sheets, "The hospital owns it."

John Whitcomb, "They get the funds from it?"

Com. Evans, "Yes. They are spending a million dollars to repair it."

John Whitcomb, "I have seen the repairs going on all summer. I have used that parking garage a couple of times and I haven't seen anything, and I was wondering what they are repairing. You sent that letter into the State Department of Highway of Transportation about the lights at 2 and 30. Have you received a reply?"

Com. Burrus, "No, we have not."

John Whitcomb, "I found out they are very slow. I called LaPorte, couldn't get a hold of anybody. I called down state and they called LaPorte and finally got in touch with me. I told them the same thing you said, get it back the way it was, it was better from the south side. They did come out and adjusted the timing, but it won't help. If they ever contact you, on the north side of 30 on the east side of the road, if you go down there when its raining, it is like a swamp."
Com. Sheets, "On the farming, we signed a contract with Tim Stoner to do the farming and he is supposed to be farming all the tillable acreage out there, there is not much. There is a lot of land behind there that is not tillable, it is wetlands. We are working through Pat Swanson to rehabilitate wetlands and improve them. We will be working with Chuck Walker and Dan Fleming and the Peace Village. I am going to meet with some people from Center School so we can get the children involved with rehabilitating the wetlands and doing some nature stuff out there. As far as the barn, we are in the process of trying to put together donated funds to get that barn done. We want to renovate that barn to bring it back to what it was. We don't want to use any of your tax dollars. As far as the building, the past Commissioners; Biggs, Gesse and myself, said we are not in favor of selling that land nor are we in favor of tearing it down. That was what the public was telling us. As far as the roof and soffits, I agree with you. There are requests for grant funds through the Peace Village. We don't have the tax dollars to do it at this time but we are trying to find money to do it. My personal intent is to keep that building there."

Com. Burrus, "Any other comments from the audience?"

Greg Fox, "I am here representing Kramer & Leonard Office Products. I am here with Julie Leonard, who is also a business owner. We are Porter County tax payers and we have a vested interest in helping Porter County save money, particularly this year. We have some concerns with the original bid that you put out regarding office supplies this year. You were gracious enough to provide us with some invoices which totaled in the amount of several thousands of dollars. We honored our competitors and found out that only a little over 1% of the invoices represented items on bid. 99% of the money the County spent this last year had no governing price restrains at all and that this had been going on for several years. We approached the auditor's office and said take a look at doing something that would more fairly represent the buying factors. This wasn't changed. This year we submitted what we know would save the county money and I am perplexed as to why it wasn't accepted. You folks gave us the information, we gave you back 100% accurate data and it clearly shows a cost savings for the county and I am a little upset as a tax payer. We have 60 people that work in this county, we pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes, and we are here today as taxpayers and business people saying what is going on."

Com. Evans, "I will address this. We did take your proposal and looked at it very thoroughly. The alternate proposal you offered was 35% across the board. I thought it had excellent merits. Unfortunately, when we let the bids, as you said, they have specifics and the bid specifics had to be met. Your competitor also said they would offer the same discount since it was an unsolicited second bid or alternative bid, they certainly wanted to be included. They would have matched any discount that you had offered. So that forces us to go back and look at the actual bid specs. I agree that those specs should probably be discarded. The Council and the Commissioners, in the last meeting of the year, agreed to form a buying committee that is now overseeing those expenditures. It is not like we are not doing anything about it. The only thing we had to look at was the numbers and the bids as accepted and as requested were less by your competitor, then that is what we had to do."

Mr. Fox, "With all due respect, I have been approaching the County for years on this. In 1998 and 1999 only 7% of the money was spent on bid items. 93% we could have charged you whatever we wanted to. Then we came to you and said let's change it. It wasn't changed again this year. We put together our bid, what we found in the autumn, that on the bid items, they were offering the County a whopping 85% off. Now who in the world offers 85% off of something? No one does unless they are going to make it up on the back end and that is what is going on and that is what will continue to go on. What we have offered is something that you are going to hold us accountable to no matter what you buy from us and you are still not being held accountable. I appreciate your time today, obviously I am a little frustrated but I think that the taxpayers need to stand up and say what needs to be said. Thank you for your time."

Com. Burrus, "I think the point we want to take action on is the fact that we need to review that bid document and I think that is something we can be assured gets changed before the next bid opening. Any further comments from the audience? Shirley?"

Shirley LaFever, "We went (....inaudible) white notebooks to the bid so we can get the white notebooks for $2.00 instead of $6.00 and we just got (.... inaudible) and it is not on there. This time or (....inaudible ) but versus $4.00 saving of a notebook, we was hoping to get it in white. The Auditor's office told ( .... inaudible)."

Com. Burrus, "I think that reinforces the point that was just made, that we need to make sure that the items that we do use are listed on that bid document and that we have an accurate complete throughout."

Com. Evans, "Very few counties still use the bid process with supplies. That is something we should look at, too."

Com. Burrus, "Anyone else have any comments? Anything from the board members? If not, we need a motion to recess."

Com. Sheets moved to recess, 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