PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2002

The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 2, 2002 in the Commissioners' Chambers of the Administration Center.

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

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

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com Evans moved to approve the payroll of March 25, 2002, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF CLAIMS

Com. Sheets moved to approve the claims for April 2, 2002, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Evans moved to approve the minutes for March 19, 2002, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.


SHELDON GOOD & COMPANY-REAL ESTATE AUCTION FOR OLD PORTER COUNTY JAIL
Steven Good, President

Com. Burrus, "We have asked Mr. Steven Good to give us a presentation today as his firm is involved in property disposals or sales and we are talking specifically here about the existing Porter County Jail."

Mr. Good, "Good morning. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to address you today. As you know, I was contacted approximately six weeks ago for purposes of generating a proposal that would outline a disposition plan for the existing Porter County Jail. We submitted a proposal to the Commissioners dated March 11, 2002 and had an opportunity to visit with you prior to that time. The proposal basically outlines our thoughts with regard to the sale of the property. In a nutshell, we believe that the property will be purchased by either a private professional prison facility operator, adaptive re-use redeveloper, senior citizen assisted care redeveloper, speculator who will perhaps raze the building and perhaps build something else on the site. We think it is highly likely the property will be sold to a private prison operator although we will market it to a number of other groups for no other reason than it is not clear to whom the ultimate buyer will be. We set forth in our proposal a marketing budget which will be a local, regional, and quasi-national scope of marketing. We suggest that we not set the style of the sale until such time as we have an opportunity to meet with the City of Valparaiso to determine what their thoughts are with regard to zoning and to determine what the development climate is so we can focus our marketing in accordance with the city's wishes and work as a team for purposes of selling this property, arguably for the highest price. By way of background, our firm was founded in 1965 by my father. Since that time we have been involved in the sale of better than 40,000 properties throughout the western hemisphere in value of excess of $8,000,000,000.00. We have been rated by Forbes Magazine, Crane's, Chicago Business and a host of other publications as the leading firm in the United States in marketing properties through some type of accelerated method, either through open bidding or sealed bid auctions. We have represented thousands of properties for various government and municipal organizations, including the Resolution Trust Corporation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as well as many, many school boards, library boards, and other city driven organizations. In fact, we were just notified by the Cook County Board of Commissioners that we will be retained to set up a program for them called the Southwest Suburban Tax Reclamation Project and so we do many properties that are very similar to the Porter County Jail. In our proposal, we set forth what we believe the fees and costs are going to be; we ask that the marketing budget not exceed $55,000.00 of the approved ____ by this Board. The core program would be approximately $35,000.00 plus up to an additional $20,000.00 in national ads for purposes of drawing bidders from outside the immediate area. The cost of the sale would also include a 10% buyers premium that will be kept by us when the buyers bid for the property, there will be a surcharge of 10% which is kept as our fee. We ask for a retainer of $25,000.00 which is offset against that 10% fee, in the event the prevailing bidder is represented by a cooperating broker, there would be a 2% fee paid to the cooperating broker, 1 point coming from us and 1 point coming from you. One of the other issues that we address in the proposal is whether or not this body would be interested in offering some type of seller financing as a way of arguably getting a better price, although those details can be worked out per out retention agreement. We would also like to mention that to the extent that there may be other properties that would make sense for our program, we would also be able to include those properties at no additional marketing charge in the event you would see fit to do something like that. That is really the essence of our proposal and we also provided you with a detailed reference list. As you see, we represent many other very well known organizations. If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them."

Com. Burrus, "One thing that drew our attention to your firm was the fact that you have dealt with some very unique properties in the past. Would you care to share any of the facts with us so we have an idea of what kind of background you have in hard to move properties?"

Mr. Good, "Sure. In the reference list we give a number of different properties, but one of them is Piper's Alley, which is also home of Second City, on the corner of North and Wells, and that property sold for $10 million, the client that is in the proposal is the LaSalle National Bank. Another interesting property that was ultimately sold to the city of Racine, Wisconsin, was a 300 bed nursing home that was purchased for the purpose of converting it into a juvenile detention center. Another interesting piece was Michael Jordan's Restaurant building in downtown Chicago, the client there was the Northern Trust Company. In fact, we are doing another auction for the Northern Trust Company on Thursday night in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We also handled three surplus schools in Morris, Illinois, a very small town, within the last six months and we have a reference for that of Michael Wright, the superintendent of schools. We also had the opportunity several years ago to sell the YMCA in New York City, the Sloan House YMCA; that was a 1,300 single occupancy room vacant structure at that time. If you have ever been to a wedding when they sing YMCA, that is the building they are singing about. We have also handled a variety of hotels, schools, libraries, and properties that are not easily valued where a competitive bidding process yields a better result than a conventional method of sale, which again, is why we think this is the proper way to handle this property."

Com. Burrus, "I believe in our case, if we do not transfer this property to any other governmental entity, we are required to have competitive bids on it, so your firm being basically a real estate auctioneering firm, we would be in compliance with that."

Mr. Good, "That is correct. And we have been certified by many other municipal organizations and represent them on an ongoing basis."

Com. Sheets, "My comment would be that we have offered this locally and have not received any solid offers. We had a couple people take a walk through and have not come back. Our option is if we don't go to this type of service, is to tear it down at an expense estimated at $300,000.00. That is a lot of money to tear it down. To maintain it for other uses, it would also be too expensive. We are looking at a major cost no matter what we do with it and this gives us an opportunity to attract people from all over the country that might have use for it. It is a gamble, but do we spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000.00 tearing it down or do we spend the market price to try and get some money out of it? I am familiar with your background and I think it is the best way to go with what our options are."

Com. Burrus, "Well, we are going to have to look at some of the Commissioner funds that we have to deal with."

Com. Sheets, "We need to have that answer and obviously we can't go to the Council, there is no money there. We do have a couple places we could look for it and in my opinion it will be money well invested. Hopefully, we will be able to get everything back."

Com. Evans, "I agree. I look at it as the cost of the sale, that is what we are going to have to do is sell it. I like the comment about maybe having other properties, because, and I know some people may not agree with this, but we have the old County Home on SR 2 and I think it would be an ideal time to tender that up to this auction. Maybe we should get some input on that from the general public and see how they feel about maybe possibly throwing that in, too."

Mr. Good, "My feeling is if we are running this event, it is just as easy to promote two properties as it is to promote one, or three properties as it is two. The costs are basically amortized across the number of properties. But again, it is up to this Board to determine what it wants to sell and it is our job to get out and market it."

Com. Burrus, "We have established on this board to try and have this property dealt with one way or another sometime prior to the heating season of this year. And one of the things that I do like about your approach is the fact that it will have a date certain that we will no longer be the owner of that property."

Mr. Good, "We anticipate from the time we are retained until the time of the sale would be approximately ten weeks, give or take. What we seek is, we seek approval within the parameters of our proposal to negotiate a retention agreement with this Board and then within about two weeks of that time we will finalize our actual offering strategy and create the budgets."

Com. Evans, "Our time will be somewhat dependant upon how quickly the Sheriff gets the new jail opened."

Com. Burrus, "I think at this point we have to decide if we want to go forward with the retention agreement subject to an agreement to review any documents that might be part of that and provided that funding is there."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the retention of Sheldon Good and Company to sell the old jail contingent upon funding, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.


EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE UPDATE
Michael Anton, Anton Insurance Agency

Com. Burrus, "The Board of Commissioners, in responding to the Council's 10% budget cut requirements, have asked Anton Insurance Company to prepare a study for us that would possibly offer a multiple choice in insurance coverages and costs for our employees and they are here to respond to that request."

Mr. Anton, "Yes, we are, thank you. Our agenda this morning will consist of three items. First we would like to make a presentation to you for a three plan benefit program followed by a presentation on our potential consideration for a revised wellness program for the County's employees. We will also present COBRA rates based on the renewal approval. Pursuant to the Commissioners' request on the employee benefit model that allows participants to choose a plan that best fits their needs, we introduced the following menu. Bob will outline the plan designs and the variations between them. First I want to say that Plan 1 that he will refer to is the current plan being offered to all participants at this time. Plan 2 and Plan 3 are variations of Plan 1. Each participant will be asked to choose the plan of their choice by April 15 as it is necessary to forward enrollment information as soon as possible to the reinsurers. In your packet that Bob is going to give you, you will find a sample of the election form that we will incorporate in this process that would be distributed to each employee that will assist in the election process of the plans. If the county does not receive an election form from a particular employee, the default plan would be Plan 2. We understand that there will be many questions regarding your plan changes so the Expo Center has been reserved on April 9 at 5:30 p.m. for all employees and spouses to hear a detailed explanation of the three plans. Bob will go through each of the plans and illustrate the variations."

Com. Sheets, "It is important to say that there will be a meeting for the employees on April 9, 5:30 p.m. at the Expo Center. That notice is going out to reach every employee in the county so they know about the meeting and they will have the opportunity to be there to learn about this plan, ask their questions, and have them answered."

Mike Anton, "Absolutely."

Com. Sheets, "Okay, I wanted to make sure since we have a lot of employees here and they need to know."

Mike Anton, "If I could follow up on that, I suspect that not everybody will be able to attend the April 9th meeting so Bob and I will avail ourselves to counsel any particular employee who would need that or we could have subsequent meetings here at the Administration Building if necessary."

Com. Sheets, "I appreciate that very much."

Bob Bryant, "On your sheet, Plan 1 is the current benefits. If the employee decides to choose that one, nothing changes."

Com. Sheets, "Bob, nothing changes on the Plan and the contribution level doesn't change?"

Bob Bryant, "No, the contribution level would increase on that plan."

Mike Anton, "We thought we would go through all the plans and the contribution levels will be addressed after that."

Bob Bryant, "If they decided to change and choose Plan 2, the difference in deductible is $500.00 per person\$1000.00 per family compared to $300 person\$600 family now. Your out of pocket expense will go from $1,000.00 per person to $1,500.00 per person in network, $3,000.00 per family in network compared to $2,000.00. Currently you are at $1,500.00 for single out of network, that will go to $2,000.00 and $3,000.00 per family out of network will go to $4,000.00. So all it is, it is an increase of $500.00 per person on that. Co-insurance for physicians, currently you are at 90% in network, 80% out of network, so it will go to 80% in network and 70% out of network, so it is a 10% drop. Hospitals will stay the same as far as 80% in network and 70% out, that will not change with Plan 2. Chiropractic care is currently at $500.00 per year maximum, that will drop down to $400.00 per year. The emergency room co payment right now is $25.00. If you go to an emergency room and it is not life threatening, you pay the first $25.00 up front. That will increase to $50.00 under Plan 2. Under the dental, currently there is no deductible for Type I services which is your preventative services. Under Plan 2, you are going to have a $25.00 per person deductible or $50.00 per family for Type I services. Under your current plan you have Type II services which is your major work, you have a $50.00 per person deductible or $100.00 per family. That would increase to $75.00 per person or $150.00 per family. Skilled nursing facility you are currently at 80% co-insurance, that will drop down to 70% co-insurance. Hospice care is 80%, will drop down to 70%, prescription drugs currently at $5.00 for generic, 20% for preferred, and 45% non-preferred. That will go to $10.00 generic, the preferred stays the same at 20%, and the non-preferred stays the same at 45%. Your lifetime maximum is currently $2 million dollars, that will drop down to $1 million under Plan 2. The accident benefit, if you have an accident within the first 72 hours, they pay the first $300.00 there is no deductible applies to that. It will apply to the deductible now under Plan 2. If they choose Plan 3, the difference there is you go to $750.00 per person, $2,250.00 per family so it is an increase of $250.00 for single or three times that for family. The out of pocket would go to $2,000.00 single in network, $4,000.00 per family in network. Out of network expenses will be at $3,000.00 per single and $6,000.00 per family. The physician co-payment would drop down to 70% in network and 60% out of network. Again it is in increments of 10%. Same for the hospital, 70% in network, 60% out of network. Chiropractic care would drop down to $300.00 per year maximum. Emergency room co-payment would go to $100.00. Dental deductible for Type I would stay the same at $25.00 per person, $50.00 for family, but there is no Type II services, which means there would be no bridges, crowns, that type of work, it would be strictly preventative maintenance only. The skilled nursing would be at 60% co-insurance, Hospice would be at 60%, the prescription drugs would remain the same at $10.00 for generic, 20% preferred, 45% non-preferred. The lifetime maximum would be $1 million dollars and the deductible would also apply for the accident benefit."

Mike Anton, "Those are the three plans in regard to the contributory levels, representing the three plans."

Com. Sheets, "I want to point out to the employees that are here, this is a one page document and is easy to read. When you send out the notices, would it be beneficial to attach this?"

Mike Anton, "I don't have a problem with that. The Employee Benefits Committee, to my understanding, has already received copies of that, so I suspect it is out. A number of employees have seen it already."

Com. Sheets, "That was a wonderful idea, whose ever idea it was. The employees on the Committee need to be commended for the work they did last year."

Mike Anton, "We would totally support the idea of maximum communication. The suggested contribution levels under the plans are as follows:

PLAN 1PLAN 2PLAN 3
Single$ 50.00Single$ 40.00Single$ 10.00
Emp/Spouse$ 75.00Emp/Spouse$ 60.00Emp/Spouse$ 20.00
Emp/Children$100.00Emp/Children$ 70.00Emp/Children $ 25.00
Family$150.00Family$100.00Family$ 35.00


Com. Burrus, "This then is the recommended three tiered package. In conjunction with this, could you tell us about the Wellness Program that will do two things. Number one, dealing with the health care issue and also try to help with the cost issue."

Mike Anton, "I am frankly pretty excited about this particular aspect of our presentation. One of the things that has come to light over the last couple years in reviewing the statistics associated to the county's plan it is no secret our claims have gone up as the employee base has increased. In conjunction with that, we have seen the number of claims from the year 2000 to 2001 went up by 1000. Currently in 2001, we had 12,330 claims. Approximately half of those were submitted by employees. That is a fairly significant number when you consider the employees represent 1/3 of the group when you count in all the spouses and the dependants. The spouse rate of claim submission and the dependant rate of claim submission has been basically flat for the last three years. It has increased a little bit but not to the extent that the employee claims have increased. So it was with that thought in mind that we would like to present in coordination with Porter Memorial Hospital, we have been working very closely under the guidance of Ron Winger, Bruce Behner and Gloria Van Warmer to create a program that would certainly benefit the county's employees. One of the things related to this and that we have been told by a number of sources, is to make these types of programs truly successful and this program is designed to measure success which is a critical element of the Wellness Program. So often you can throw money in a wellness program and never see the results and employers will say what is the purpose. In this program we are going to be able to see some statistics to come back to you that you are going to know the worth of the program in one to two years. We have given you the wellness presentation that was submitted by PMH and this key element, people who are involved in this program recommend it be a mandatory program for all employees. If you allow it to be optional, it will not allow you to operate the way you expect and you will not get the benefits. This is a three tier program with the first tier being a risk assessment program. This is a very comprehensive program. Porter Memorial Hospital has just embarked on this program somewhat at the urging of the Commissioners to seek a joint solution to a wellness issue. They have been very cooperative in that regard. They have come up with this software that does this risk assessment. I personally went through the risk assessment last Friday, I didn't find it intrusive whatsoever. It is a private issue that would be conducted between the Porter Memorial representative and the employee. None of that information is shared with anybody other than the employee. The only variation to that would be is if the employee agreed in writing to have their respective physician be given the results. That is the employee's choice. Other than that, the strictest of privacy issues are kept. The employee would be given the risk assessment. There may be some recommendations for some additional testing and then there would be follow up in the program. The fourth item is there is a purely demographic tracking system. On the next page, you will see pricing that the hospital has extended for screening tests that might be an outgrowth of the assessment. I think they are extremely competitive. I think they represent PMH's interest in participating in this program with the County. You can see the fee they are projecting at this point for the risk assessment profile which is the initial step in this. It is $20.00. When I went through this on Friday, I think the time allotted was 30 minutes. You have a professional from the hospital that would be doing the assessment for 30 minutes for $20.00 and that is a heck of deal. Currently we have a $150.00 wellness benefit and this is designed to stay within that. It wouldn't cost the employee anything."

Com. Sheets, "It won't cost the employee anything, that is good, we need to make that clear. We want people to take part in this wellness program and it won't cost them anything."

Mr. Anton, "Of course, the idea is that if we get early detection, it saves the County money. I would think the participants in the plan would want to participate in this kind of a program. Obviously, if the County can stabilize its costs in this particular arena, that benefits them in the long run. There are explanations in this booklet about the different screenings available and the lipid profiles, etc. The screening assessment process is comprehensive, and I would recommend you give this very serious thought. I think it is something that would go a long way for the benefit of the employees for their own personal wellness which I think is the primary objective here. We have some secondary benefits that come in terms of the overall positive effect it would have on the employees. It also has a lot to do with potential work comp issues. It has a lot to do with lost time, etc. I think it is a win-win situation. The hospital is more than willing to do whatever is necessary on their part to work with the County. They have made that crystal clear. In summary, we would ask your direction as it relates to the presentation of the three tier plan; your direction as to the contributory issues; and your direction as to the wellness issues."

Com. Sheets, "On the three tiered insurance plan, I will tell you I was concerned when we first started talking about the three tiers that we might be creating a class among the employees and we have enough problems in the county and don't want to cause morale problems. If you establish a class system where those who make more money will have better insurance, that is not a positive. I was concerned about it. The good part of it is Plan 1 is all what they have now and is what they pay now. I think that is good. The other two are reduction in what they pay, if they choose the lesser plan, that is their option. I am very pleased with that part of it and I am pleased with your presentation and it is simple to read. My comment on the wellness program, that is something the insurance committee talked somewhat about, the fact there will be no money out of pocket for the employee. This is just for employees?"

Mr. Anton, "The employee benefit plan has wellness benefits included that is for spouses but we are saying in this particular plan, this assessment approach would be for the employee only at this time and it would be mandatory for the employee."

Com. Sheets, "That is a good start. We are saying we want you to be healthy, if you aren't healthy we want you to know it. I agree with that. I think these are plans that benefit the employees and that is something to look for."

Com. Evans, "I would like to thank Mike and your staff and the hospital for putting this together, it was a lot of work and I appreciate their effort in doing that. I do need to correct one thing, and that is on the contribution level. They are not staying the same on Plan 1. Under the current contribution level, there is an increase. Currently it is 30, 50, 60, 75, and it is going to 50, 75, 100 150. That is pretaxed. There is a $20.00 increase for single. . ."

Mr. Anton, "For Plan 1 but for Plan 2 it is a $10.00 increase. There is a reduction for Plan 3."

Com. Evans, "I agree that it is good that we let the employees choose the level of coverage they want and the increase, we apologize for, but we are broke. We have to make ends meet."

Com. Burrus, "A couple weeks ago, the Commissioners made a fairly detailed presentation to the County Council regarding the health insurance program and the fact that we were obligated to address the health insurance program in general with respect to our 10% requirement and also the fact that we were underfunded this year already to the tune of a half million dollars in our insurance program. There were some other points brought out at that meeting, but suffice it to say, that provided the opportunity for the Commissioners to pursue a way to get to the issues of right now. We haven't done this in a vacuum. We recognize and understand that health care is paramount importance to all of us. We also have looked at our plan and compared it to other health insurance plans and what we are proposing here is certainly not out of line with a lot of other plans. We know also that this will represent change, or at least the opportunity for change and typically change is resisted. Resistance is probably even more expected when we deal with health insurance issues. We want everybody to understand the reason why we are doing this, and our efforts are to make this as equitable and fair as we can. As a result of that, we recognize that certain employees have different family responsibilities, different health situations, and we thought that the three tier approach would be the best chance we had for people to tailor their health care needs to their own situation. That is what drove this discussion and I think we are obligated to go forward with it in some form or another. Any concerns or questions can be addressed and answered satisfactorily at employee meetings."

Dale Brewer, "Just how much was supposed to be funded for the insurance this year?"

Com. Burrus, "We made an appearance and had a written request for $3 million dollars."

Dale Brewer, "Well, I've got news for you, you are getting over $3 million in that fund by the time all of the different departments...."

Com. Burrus, "We are talking about the Commissioner's line item..."

Com. Evans, "We are talking about our contribution..."

Dale Brewer, "Yes, I want the total amount."

Com. Burrus, "I can pull it out for you, I don't have that in front of me, but what I am referring to right here is simply our line item for health insurance."

Dale Brewer, "That is what I am interested in, the total amount that funds all these employees for all the different ....."

Com. Burrus, "We will have that for you broken down by departments, but ...."

Dale Brewer, "What I am saying is, we already have over $3 million dedicated to that fund."

Com. Burrus, "We understand that. There is probably close to a million more from other sources. I am talking about Commissioner line item only."

Com. Evans, "And your contribution will need to go in for those employees you arranged with on the Council at the last Council meeting."

Dale Brewer, "That is included in it. That doesn't even include what the employee contributions are from out of their checks."

Com. Burrus, "That is right. It goes into the same fund. We are aware of that, too."

Com. Evans, "12,330 claims last year. Just a reminder that at 5:30 p.m. on April 9th is the employee meeting at the Expo."

Mike Anton, "If you are going to make a motion to accept this report you may want to consider part of that motion to be with an effective date of May 1st. We need to know if you are going to make this change and when do you want this change to take place."

Com. Evans, "Are the contribution levels firm or is that going to be up for consideration by the employees and then report back to us?"

Com. Burrus, "At this point, this is the proposal that has been presented. It is my understanding that for the motion, we are to go forward with the three tiered approach and to have whatever meetings are required beginning with the 9th at the Expo Center."

Com. Evans, "And to pass the Wellness Assessment plan and to make it mandatory with a completion date of the end of June, is that okay?"

Mike Anton, "Well, we thought 90 days would be sufficient to get through all the employees. In talking with Bruce Behner and Gloria Van Warmer, they thought it was adequate and they will go out to sites to facilitate that. The quicker we get into it, the better the benefits are to us. We can start the Wellness Program now and we can give them until July 1st."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the three tiered employee health insurance plan and the Wellness Risk Assessment Plan to be completed by July 1, 2002, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Mike Anton, "One other thing, about the COBRA rates, I need an authorization for those, but those numbers could change slightly depending on the enrollment of the plan that you just passed. We need that so we can continue to operate in that arena, but if they change I will be back with the revised COBRA rates."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the new COBRA rates, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Mike Anton, "Also, I may need to restate this for the sake of clarity, but if the Option Form is not received by the Auditor's office by each employee, then Plan 2 will be the default plan and it will be chosen for the employee."

SCHOOLEY MITCHELL TELECOM CONSULTANT
Joel Carney

Mr. Carney "Here is a letter that concerns one of your long distance providers which is Quest Communications. There are a couple contracts for long distance that the County is now involved with. The reason I am here is that this particular contract was entered into in 1996 and is a 2 year self renewing contract that means every 2 years without the provider being given notice, otherwise, it renews automatically. It also has a feature that there is a minimum monthly amount that was agreed to enter into this contract which is $750.00. What happens is, if your usage does not come out to $750.00 then you have to pay the difference. If you used $100.00 you would have to pay $650.00. At this point in time there are only a few numbers that are appointed to this provider under this contract. Unfortunately, you are paying out funds that leave the stipulations in the contract are really not doing you any good. This contract will come due again May 24th and they require a 30 day written notice in order to cancel. There are no penalties involved in that, simply the end of the contract. Attorney Rinkenberger and I have been working with the provider over a contract to hammer out some items we felt weren't to our liking. Hopefully at the next meeting I will come back to you with that. That will cause all of the long distance usage to be gathered together. You won't have the self renewing stipulations and monthly minimums and the rates will be about 50% less than now. This letter states the Commissioners would like to request the contract not be renewed and be canceled in its entirety at the expiration date a month from now. There are only four numbers using this contract now and we can get them switched to the other provider in time."

Com. Evans, "I think we should continue with this, it has saved us a lot of money and we look forward to additional savings."

Com. Evans moved to approve the cancellation of the existing Quest contract account 30203841, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus "Do we have any other small groups of long distance lines that could be consolidated?"

Mr. Mitchell "Yes, there are some others. Your primary provider is Verizon. There are some others that also utilize AT&T. I think those are through Hebron. There are a few with Nitco that provide local toll access. Those are mostly interlatta and interstate providers using AT&T. We will be addressing all of those."

AWARD BIDS FOR LIQUID ASPHALT, PORTER COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPT.
Jack Jarnecke, Superintendent of Highways

Com. Burrus, "Last meeting we opened bids and took them under advisement and now we will receive your recommendations."

Jack Jarnecke, "We have three bids. Bitmat Products, Koch Asphalt Materials, and Seneca Petroleum is the third. Bitmat Products was the low bid by about $.02 a gallon. We have bids for all of the products listed but the three main ones are highlighted on the sheet. I recommend Bitmat Products. They have delivered to us before."

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

Jack Jarnecke, "John, that drainage on Meridian will be worked on next week."

Com. Evans, "Thank you, I appreciate it, Jack."

OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS
Tiburon Contract, David Sheibels, E-911 Director

Mr. Sheibels, "The Porter County Jail, and Police Dispatch operations depends on an integrated public safety computer system to operate. The CLUES system has been in service since 1996 and was to continue serving operations enough for the functions of the new building. Approximately two years ago, Tiburon, a public safety software company, purchased the CLUES company and then last year announced they were no longer going to support the CLUES system. This left the Sheriff's Department and E-911 with the dilemma to either purchase another completely new system or to transition to the TIBURON system. In order to preserve existing data and to complete the installation, training and set up of a new system in time to meet the move dates we have before us this year and to take advantage of the free software licensing that TIBURON offered as a plan to CLUES agencies, myself and Porter County Sheriff Dave Reynolds, with the cooperation of the Board of Commissioners and County Attorney, agreed that the transition to the TIBURON system is the best choice. After months of negotiation, we came up with a system that would meet the needs of the existing CLUES system for $991,312.00. As with the CLUES purchase of 1996, E911 can pay for the dispatch side of this TIBURON system which will be $389,157.00. The Sheriff's responsibility for funding is $602,155.00 for the jail and police side of the operation. If you recall, 911 surcharge can only pay for just dispatch type of operational products. I, as the manager of the surcharge operation, have sufficient funding in the surcharge account of $389,157.00 to cover that end and the sheriff has stated he has sufficient funding from the Federal Prisoner housing start up fund of $602,155.00 already in place here in Porter County. Sheriff David Reynolds has announced the first bidding priority is the TIBURON system based on the usage of the federal prisoner fund and has dedicated the $602,155.00 to the TIBURON project. He is also asking our consideration for funding from the jail bond money when all jail expenses have been finally included, possibly to help pay for the jail and police side of the project. To accomplish this purchase, we have included in several discussions, a lease-purchase type of plan similar to what we did in 1996 with the CLUES integrated joint project. We are recommending a three year lease purchase plan to be fully funded from the sources I described. I have before you the TIBURON contract, they have been reviewed by myself, Sheriff Reynolds, the County Attorney, and have concluded that it meets the needs of the operation. I would ask at this time that we go ahead and enter into a contract with TIBURON."

Com. Burrus, "Do these documents show the amortization?"

Mr. Sheibels, "Yes. What you have before you are the two leasing entities I have been discussing. One is a private leasing company that the county has already done recent business with. It is Covenant Financial Services from Greenfield, Indiana and Kay Dodds is the representative we have been working with. They are offering a lease purchase plan, Plan B is the one we are interested in with four payments of approximately $250,000.00 and that is based on 4.4% interest. The other plan before you is offered through the Indiana Bond Bank through the state treasurer's office and as you can see from the page included, it is state wide, open to all communities, and has lease equipment available to the Indiana Bond Bank lease program. Once again, on working with them on a three year type of scenario. They are a little lower than Covenant at 4.01%. These are plans that meet our needs and since Indiana Bond Bank is a few tenths lower than the rate from Covenant, we enter and proceed with a formal agreement when it is developed by the states treasurer's office in the next few days. They couldn't get the paperwork to me in time for this meeting. I will entertain going with either a four payment plan, three year lease purchase with the Indiana Bond Bank. You can see the difference in the interest and the payment schedule. Since this project is fully funded, there is probably no reason why we shouldn't stick with a standard, three payment, three year lease plan as indicated on the top chart."

Com. Burrus, "Due to the existing software system we have no longer being maintained any longer and not being serviced any longer, we had to find an alternate. Notification and the choice requirement came long after the plan and the funding for the jail was under way. So what you have done is recognize the need to do something to replace CLUES and you have gone out and developed your own sources. Independent of any bond money, or counting on the general fund money, I compliment for what you did."

Com. Evans, "I agree. I have one question about the funding. If we don't use the Indiana Bond Bank, one of the conditions of Covenant's require that we, as lessee, meaning Porter County, cannot borrow more than $10 million dollars. We have already done that. According to their conditions, we will not be able to use their service at all. Does the bond bank have the same requirement?"

Mr. Sheibels, "Not that I am aware of. That statement on Section 8 of the Covenant proposal, and these are just concept proposals, they are not contracts. We would enter into a contract upon our decision. That would qualify in this case because it is a fully funded type of lease purchase."

Sheriff Reynolds, "We have absolutely no options. We need a records management system, we need a computer aided dispatch system. This happens a lot in industry where one company goes out of business and is bought by the same company and all they do is change their name and we have no control over that. I think you understand that and it is a little frustrating because we spend so much time and effort into this. It is unfortunate, but it is fortunate that we have the resources. We had other ideas for some of that money, and we are still intending to carry on in some point with our original intention of the shooting range. There is nothing we can do about this, we absolutely have to have a records management system and a CAD system. We are fortunate we have the money."

Com. Sheets, "We have been discussing this for the last couple months and this is inevitable. The money is there, Dave Sheibels has taken care of that and has done a good job over there."

Com. Burrus, "We have had a lot of discussion in recent months about the E911 fund in general and I think this is one of the times that unforseen major expenditures that the fund is intended for."

Com. Evans moved to approve the Tiburon contract and financing through the Indiana Bond Bank, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

John Whitcomb, "This is something I am intensely interested in and I didn't hear nothing. I suggest you postpone this for 30 days so the public can be aware of it. This isn't a public meeting as far as I am concerned, because no one could hear it. I had a hearing test 9 months ago and there is nothing wrong with my hearing."

Com. Burrus, "We apologize you couldn't hear and we would be happy to repeat anything after the meeting, but I don't believe we are prepared to postpone this. We do have a deadline and there is no other choice at this point. I apologize, but we have to go forward."

PRODUCTIVE BUSINESS INTERIORS CONTRACT FOR NEW JAIL FURNITURE
Maj. Doug Snider, Porter County Sheriff's Police

Maj. Snider, "I have the contract from Productive Business Interiors out of Ft. Wayne, they were the low bidder on the furniture bid for the new Porter County Jail. I am sending it back to you for approval pending the County Attorney's review."

Com. Evans, "This is the one we covered last week and awarded the bid and this is the contract that is being returned?"

Atty. Rinkenberger, "Has this been reviewed by our consultant and approved by her in terms of meeting the bid specs and having everything in it that we wanted?"

Maj. Snider, "Yes. She has reviewed it and approved it."

Com. Evans moved to approve the bid from Productive Business Interiors based on the attorney's review, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

FIDLAR\DOUBLEDAY SOFTWARE CONTRACT FOR RECORDER'S OFFICE
Jackie Sterling, Porter County Recorder

Ms. Sterling, "In 1998 my chief deputy and myself traveled throughout the State of Indiana to find a software that was agreeable with us for our recording process for receiving and indexing and so forth. The Commissioners at that time approved a contract with Fidlar and Chambers, their name now is Fidlar & Doubleday. We want to purchase a new program that will facilitate the operations in our office as I may have told you in previous meetings we have been averaging 200 documents a day for recording and indexing, and that is quite a bit. It hasn't slowed up yet, we keep thinking that with the interest rate going up a little higher, there won't be as many mortgages coming in, but they are still coming in. We have since the first of the year, we have receipted $156,926.48. That is for the county general fund. We have recorded 11,809 documents so as you see we have been quite busy. This new system will reduce the traffic in the Recorder's office, will speed up our recording process and indexing and free up some of our office staff which we have so many people wanting to help with searching for their deeds and a lot of genealogy. They want to know who is the first owner of their home and things like that. It takes time, but we are public servants, so we want to do what we can for them. It will free up the office, improve the work flow and efficiency and provides both basic and advanced searches that are user friendly. We can lead the people to the monitor and explain to them how to use them. I believe our County Attorney has looked this over and we have come up with an agreeable solution to what we want to have done and how they are to handle it. It is $15,955.00 and the money comes from the Perpetuation Fund which is a user fund. Every document that is recorded, there is a $3.00 fee that is included and it is to be put into the Recorder's Perpetuation Fund which is to preserve the records for Porter County."

Com. Burrus, "I want to thank you for bringing this in. The Commissioners have found themselves in a position where we have always approved contracts subject to funding being available but we have found recently that isn't always the case. We want to make sure we are acting in good faith. Any other comments or discussion on the contract?"

Com. Evans, "No. I appreciate the information on the workload your office goes through."

Ms. Sterling, "We will also be updating the Auditor's Office because we have an interaction with them. When we first went to our new system in 1998, we purchased four personal computers for them and so that will also be updating those. Instead of sending a taxpayer down to the Recorder's Office for recording information, they can view it from the Auditor's Office."

Com. Evans, "When you and your deputy went around the state, how many different programs were out there?"

Ms. Sterling, "We saw four. This one was the Cadillac or the Rolls Royce of the software that we saw."

Com. Burrus, "Is this going to be a lump sum payment or will there be some kind of lease purchase for financing plan?"

Ms. Sterling, "It will not be a lump sum payment, they will expect a payment within 90 days. I have explained to them how County Government works. I told them we have to have the advertising and that type of thing taken care of. As soon as you sign the contract, I have to call them and they will assign a project manager to it and we will go from there."

Com. Evans, "This includes support for a specified period or longer?"

Ms. Sterling, "As far as the hardware goes, it will be under the warranty under the different system. We do have a system where it will be scanned and imaged. We are imaging and scanning at this time. We are the first in the County that has done this and it will be scanned immediately, and will be on split screen so that the indexing can be obtained from this computer operations instead of the paper document."

Com. Evans, "Are you able to go back and alter that information?"

Ms. Sterling, "Once it is scanned, you can't alter it. If you have to make a correction, you have to re-record the document."

Com. Sheets moved to enter into an agreement with Fidlar-Doubleday for the Recorder's Office software, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

AUTOMATED MAILING SYSTEMS
Sharon Lippens, Data Processing Director

Ms. Lippens, "This is an agreement with Automated Mailing Equipment, Inc. out of Fishers, Indiana. About four years ago, we purchased a system to help us automate our tax bills which included a PC with some mailing software to sort and get postage rates down. It also included a large piece of equipment that did the folding, inserting, and putting multiple statements together in the same envelope to process the mailing of our tax statements. This equipment was used once a year and put in storage. We had a lot of problems with it for that reason and we ended up having it maintained every year. We had to put $1,200.00 into it the first year for repair and service calls. This year we did not have to incur any costs because First National Bank offered to fold and insert the statements for us, but we did have a price quote from the company of $1,500.00 just to get it ready for us to use this year. What we are looking to do is continue utilizing outside sources for folding and inserting as it is not cost effective to do it in house. Automated Mailing has agreed to do a trade for us. We are going to trade in our machine on three scanners; two of them are high speed scanners, and these can be used in various offices with the software we currently have licensed for document imaging."

Com. Burrus, "Sharon mentioned this to me last week and that there were several office holders who are interested in the scanners."

Ms. Lippens, "Yes, we have had several offices that are interested in doing document imaging but have not had a budget to do it. The type of license we had for the imaging is a concurrent license so we can add more people to it and as long as we don't have more than a number of licenses at a given time, then we are okay. If you are trying to log in and somebody else is using it, you have to wait. The biggest issue is the cost of the PC or scanner. Several of the offices have gotten new PC's in the last couple of years. I have spoken with Jim Murphy, the Treasurer, in that this equipment was used exclusively in his office in preparation of tax bills. He is all for it. I told him either our office will do the scanning for him if his office needs it or we can give his office one of the scanners to do that. We have also researched these scanners and feel that it is an equitable trade for the equipment. If we were to keep the equipment, it would basically be sitting in storage devaluing and not doing us any good. The tax bill production went extremely smooth. First National Bank had it done in 2 days with no problems. I think that is a better way to process them."

Com. Burrus, "We have been paying $1,200.00 to $1,500.00 annually for maintenance. What would it cost us if we had to pay to get these things into service?"

Ms. Lippens, "This year we paid a discounted rate to First National of $500.00. They wanted to do some good will for the county and help out so they only charged us the direct cost of their labor and machine usage. What I intended to do was, once the process was completed and it worked well, was to talk to some other companies in town and maybe see what they might offer."

Com. Evans, "What did we pay for the machine originally?"

Ms. Lippens, "I don't have a breakdown of what the machine cost originally. We paid $60,000.00 for the machine, the software, the PC, the installation, set up, configuration, and some forms designed. There were a lot of things bundled into that cost. We are still keeping the PC. We have canceled the software contract, that was $1,200.00 per year. They have given us a price if we were to purchase another piece of equipment of $15,000.00 credit as the rate they would give us today."

Com. Evans, "What would be the retail of these machines today?"

Ms. Lippens, "Pretty close to $1,500.00. Each company gets different models made especially for them. But looking at the specs for each unit, we felt that was a pretty even trade."

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

RESIGNATION OF ROBERT THOMPSON, DIRECTOR OF PLAN COMMISSION

Mr. Thompson, "The reason I am here is out of courtesy to you to let you know that yesterday I submitted my resignation as Director of Plan Commission. I wanted to let you know publically that I am resigning. My last day working here will be April 19th."

Com. Burrus, "We have expressed our feelings to you on the work you have done, but could you give us some information on what your plans are?"

Mr. Thompson, "I have accepted a position as a Planner in Broward County, in Florida, by Ft. Lauderdale. I am going to work mainly on their concurrency law which is about growth and how growth and the infrastructure works together. I am going to be analyzing traffic and mass transit."

Com. Burrus, "I would like to comment personally for the year and four months I have been involved with County government, one of the most professional and one of the most comfortable relationships I have experienced here has been with Bob Thompson and his leadership with the Planning Department. You took an active role in the development and the implementation of the Land Use Plan. As controversial as it was, it came to a very successful conclusion. In recent months, Bob has single handedly initiated the review and revision of other planning ordinances that need to be done and which we had hoped to have some outside help with. Everything I have seen, you have a done an exceptionally professional job. I just want to thank you for that, Bob, and give you our best wishes as you move forward."

Com. Sheets, "I commend you for the work you and your staff have done. Lately, it has been with the BZA and the landfill issue. I echo Dave's words on your professionalism with respect to the Land Use Management. I doubt if we could find anybody with your background, character and professionalism to replace the position. I wanted to compliment you many times, but it seemed like there was no audience and now I can do publicly. I hate to see you leave and you are one of the top people in our county government, but I understand and wish you well. One of the problems I expect is that other employees will start looking for other positions based on the county's finances and changes we had to make in our benefits. I wish you well and appreciate everything you have done."

Com. Evans, "I will just echo everybody's accolade and won't make you sit and listen to it all over again. I just want to say that when Dave and I came on board, I didn't know that much and your guidance has really been a big asset. I am going to miss your knowledge and work ethic and I think Broward County is extremely fortunate."

Mr. Thompson, "Thank you all very much. I would like to add one thing. At the last Plan Commission meeting, the planners did ask me to research the land fill ordinance. I will tell you that before I leave, I will have a draft ordinance in their hands. My hopes are that it will be a very good ordinance for the county. I have done research on it and it is just now a matter of getting it to the Board. I will have that done before I leave."

Com. Burrus, "Thank you very much, Bob."

COMMISSIONERS' REPORT

Com. Sheets, "We have the 2002-2004 Bridge Inspection Agreement between Porter County and INDOT to provide federal funding for our bridge inspection project. This is set at 80% federal funding.

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

Com. Sheets, "The 2002 - 2004 Bridge Inspection Agreement between Porter County and USI Consultants, Inc.. The costs have been reviewed and approved by the State. The total cost is $101,947.39. Porter County will be reimbursed 80% for a net County cost of $20,389.48."

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

North District: John Evans

1. Road Agreement for Jackson Minor Subdivision #2819-B-1, located on the south side
of CR 950 North between CR 550 East and CR 600 East. Offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of $1,500.00. Owner & subdivider is Bill Bewick.

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

2. Utility Agreement for Verizon to set temporary poles on 1200 North at 499 East and 501 East. Recommend approval.

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

3. INDOT claim voucher for the Calumet Trail reimbursement for $5,060.34.

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


JOHNSON CONTROLS CONTRACT FOR NEW PORTER COUNTY JAIL

Com. Burrus, "Before we get into correspondence, there is an item we need to talk about with regard to the contract proposal from Johnson Controls. It has to do with their maintenance agreement for the new jail. The contract is supposed to be for five years and the amount will vary from the first year at $57,168.00 up through the fifth year at $95,424.00. First of all, the reason for this variation is we do have some one year maintenance bonds and one year of warranties on some of these mechanical items that will fall under the contract responsibility and will not be ours for that first year. This does include all the exhaust fans, pumps, various heating and air conditioning equipment, fire control and fire monitoring equipment and finally the closed circuit tv systems. We have a fairly lengthy list to be covered by this. As we discussed earlier, I suggest that we move on this contract but that we do it for one year and we suggested that to Johnson Controls subject to that not increasing the cost anywhere. Any discussion?"

Com. Evans, "I agree. It would be nice for us to get a handle for a year before we go into a lengthy term."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the contract with Johnson Controls for one year, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.
CORRESPONDENCE

Weights and Measures monthly report on file for March, 2002.
Veteran's Service monthly report on file for March, 2002.
Portage Township Quarterly Poor Relief report through March 31, 2002.
Liberty Township Quarterly Poor Relief report through March 31, 2002.

Acceptance of Edithe L. Hahn to Porter County Employee Benefit Plan

Com. Evans moved to approve the acceptance of Edithe L. Hahn as a late enrollee to the Porter County Employee Benefit Plan. Her spouse's company has required her to have insurance at her place of employment. Coverage to be effective April 1, 2002, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Approval of contract with Marshall County for Juvenile Detention Center beds

Com. Sheets moved to approve the contract between the Board of Commissioners and Marshall County to house juveniles at Porter County Juvenile Detention Center for up to 1000 bed days for the sum of $75,000.00 annually, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Approval of Bonds for Commissioners

Com. Evans moved to approve the Official Bonds for Commissioners in the amount of
$300,000.00 each, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Appointment of Michael Baird to the Workforce Investment Board

Com. Sheets moved to approve the appointment of Michael Baird to the Workforce Investment Board. The term would be from now until June 30, 2004, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Appointment of Michael Bucko to Common Wage Committee, Town of Hebron

Com. Sheets moved to approve Michael Bucko as the County's representative to the Common Construction Wage Committee for the Town of Hebron Water Main Improvements Project, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Approval of payment for Hello Dolly, Memorial Opera House

Com. Sheets moved to approve payment of royalties to Tams-Witmark Music Library for the presentation of Hello Dolly in the amount of $550.00 for the first performance and $300.00 for each additional performance, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Transfer of funds, Commissioners' office

Fund 01.30$175.00from acct 2110Office supplies
into acct 2410Medical & Dental

to pay for TB test for Juvenile Service Center employees for the remainder of the year, (approximately 35 employees)

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

Approval of Request for Additional Appropriation-Highway Department

Fund 02$12,000.00Acct 3620Garage & Service Building repairs

(Repair of garage roof and office building roof at Center District)

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

Approval of covered bridge certification in Porter County

Com. Evans moved to approve the covered bridge certification declaring one covered bridge in Porter County, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Approval of contract for Goodfellas at Expo Center

Com. Sheets moved to approve a catering agreement between Porter County Expo Center and Goodfellas, 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