PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2002

The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 18, 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.

Com. Burrus, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a fairly full agenda today with some items that have been added since the printed notice of the agenda was posted. There will be a couple of minor adjustments to it because of schedule conflicts."

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com Evans moved to approve the payroll of June 17, 2002, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Evans moved to approve the minutes of May 21, 2002, Com. Sheets seconded, motion
carried.

Com. Sheets moved to approve the minutes of June 4, 2002, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

LOAN AGREEMENT FOR PORTER COUNTY BAIL OUT MONIES-
Attorney David Hollenbeck

Atty. Hollenbeck, "I appreciate your willingness to accommodate my need to be at a NIRPC meeting in Portage this morning. I am asking for your approval of the next step in the County's accessing of the Porter County bail out legislation monies. As you know, the General Assembly came to our aid and authorized the County to receive a low interest loan from the state rainy day fund. The documents have now been prepared to that effect by the State Budget Agency. The loan was approved, the distribution of the monies was approved by the State Budget Agency in Indianapolis in late May and now we have to sign the documents to consummate that agreement. Basically what is occurring is that we have been authorized to borrow a little over $5.5 million dollars which replaces the lost revenue from Bethlehem in three increments to correspond with the three non-payment of taxes that Bethlehem will do. Two of those three have already occurred. They didn't pay in November of last year and May of this year; so each of those installments is a little over $1.8 million. Two of those three have been authorized and the documents we need you to execute this morning allow us to access two of those three which is $3.6 million. Of that $3.6 million, we will be immediately repaying the money we received in December from the Department of Commerce loan which for the County's purposes is right around $2.1 million depending on when we get that paid off out of the interest that we are paying. We will be dropping from 3% interest for the Department of Commerce loan to 1.98% interest is how they calculated these monies. After that is paid back, that will make approximately $1.5 million of this money available for the County General Fund and then in November depending on, to the extent we need to access it, we will have available another $1.8 million dollars out of the bail out legislation. When they don't pay on November 10th, then we will be eligible to apply to the Board of Finance for the third installment. This is loan money; it has to be repaid. The only glitch that I still have not resolved, but it is my recommendation we need to access this money, we should go ahead and sign it. There is a difference of opinion between our legislators and the State Budget Agency as to how this money should be repaid. It clearly was the intent of the legislation that the money be repaid when one of two things happens. Whatever happens first: Bethlehem pays their delinquent taxes then it would simply be a pass through back to the state or ten years, whatever happens first. State Budget Agency's interpretation of that is a little different and they are proposing a ten year amortization schedule for whatever we borrow wanting annual payments. I have talked to the Budget Agency and they have indicated that is a Board of Finance decision that can be made at the November request for money if there is a need on our part to be relieved from the need to make one tenth payment every year. We need to wait a couple years before we start in that process. By paying off the Department of Commerce loan from this loan, you will recall that cash flow statements that I always talk about, there is a payment in December and that cash flow statement paying back one third of the Department of Commerce loan which was about $600,000.00. So that by paying off that loan with this loan, we won't have that $600,000.00 payment in December which means that we may well be able, in July of next year, to make a one tenth payment of what we are borrowing from the bail out money. I am not worried about that for two reasons: we may be able to do it, plus if we can't, I have gotten clear signals from the Budget Agency and if in November of this year, having the State Board of Finance simply approve a revised amortization scheduled."

Com. Burrus, "Looking at the amortization scheduled that shows semi annual payments and looking at the amount of those, it is roughly $130,000.00. The concern we have as the signatories of the contract, would be the same thing we have with some of our department heads. If we sign these contracts, do we have some assurance from the Council that they intend to put this on the top of their priority list?"

Atty. Hollenbeck, "As the County Council attorney, I can represent to you that is the case. If for some reason it isn't working, I have gotten clear indications that we can go back to the State Board of Finance."

Com. Burrus, "If it isn't working, and we have to go back, would that put us in default?"

Atty. Hollenbeck, "No, assuming they modify it. If they choose to not modify it and we couldn't pay it, then technically that would happen. It is my thought that as we are already working next year's budgets, by November 10th, we will have approved the budgets for next year, we will have a much clearer indication as to where we are on the cash site of the equation and we will know whether we will have to ask for a modification."

Com. Burrus, "Would it be fair of you to ask the Council to make sure these budgeted as a matter of their responsibility?"

Atty. Hollenbeck, "Absolutely. That discussion has already occurred. One needs to pay their bills."

Com. Evans, "Is there some other message to be read here with the change in terms?"

Atty. Hollenbeck, "Now I am speaking for myself and not my client. As you know, every time we go to Indianapolis, we are asked one question; are you a county that has a local option income tax, and we answer of course, no. I can't prove this but I sense this may be yet another jab at us that if you have a local option income tax, you can easily pay this back in an amortized basis over ten years. That is pure speculation on my part. That would be a consistent interpretation with the vibes we always get when we go to Indianapolis. If you pass a local option income tax, there is no interest. That signal is sent regularly to us. Rightly or wrongly."

Com. Sheets, "So we are paying off the Department of Commerce and that is good. The tax anticipated warrants, has that been paid off?"

Atty. Hollenbeck, "The tax anticipation warrants situation is as follows: you remember that we wanted to issue about $8 million of tax anticipation warrants in January, because of concerns about our financial situation, and we were already at that point committed to the Indiana Bond Bank as the way to do it, the Indiana Bond Bank would only allow us to issue $5 million, plus they created that Lock Box Program that I had to deal with where as the tax dollars came in, we had to set them aside and we need those tax dollars for our cash flow concerns. In the County Council and your wisdom, we started the process of looking at our options and we had local banks step up and agree to buy new tax warrants. We issued a new set of tax anticipation warrants up to $10 million. We accessed immediately the $5 million and we paid the bond bank off to get rid of the bond bank and the lock box problem. Then we had the second $5 million as a line of credit. I am pleased to report, we have only had to access $750,000.00 of that additional $5 million. The other thing I will tell you is in that cash flow statement, we have the capability by law, by December 31st we will be able to pay those tax warrants off. That is the good news. The bad news is, in January we will be turning around and issuing under that cash flow statement about $8 million in tax anticipation warrants. You have heard me lecture this, but that is a different problem, that is a cash flow problem. You can be the most solvent county in Indiana and still have to issue tax anticipation warrants. Although it is indicative of what we have seen over the last five years and that is the shrinking of the cash balance that we have been very fortunate to have, that we have been able to run government on the first couple months of every year. That I admit is a pattern that occurred over the last five years."

Com. Sheets, "What I really want to get to is the bridge funds that we owe the County."

Atty. Hollenbeck, "Those funds are also in the cash flow statement. Our ability to pay back on June 30th, our ability is to pay back all of it if that is what we need to do. By about November, we are back into it again to the tune of $1.75 million."

Com. Sheets, "I understand you have never had a problem coming to us and talking about bridge funds. Right now they are on the 149 project, staking out the driveway. They are now appraising property, ready to purchase and it is moving along and that is why we reserved so much land. We don't need all that money for this project but we will need a chunk of it. My feeling has been that we said okay, we are up front to the federal government, and Congressman Visclosky quickly gave us $3 million demonstration money. We have been able to continue to stay with this project and I want to make sure we are there at the time. I am not saying we need that money back in there tomorrow, but sometime after the first of the year I would hope that the Council would get their financial house in order so we can have some idea that we would have the money for this project."

Atty. Hollenbeck, "What I intended to do between today and next Tuesday when the County Council meets, I needed to talk to the Commissioners about what your bridge fund needs are between now and the end of the year so I can make a recommendation next Tuesday to the Council as to what we want to do in terms of the bridge fund. I need to hear from you what it is as you look at the rest of the year and your bridge fund and what you need and then we can see how we can maneuver that in and out of the bridge fund."

Com. Sheets, "From talking to Jack, we don't need a whole lot. I think from the taxes we have collected this year, we should have enough for my project until next year."

Atty. Hollenbeck, "That will help everyone appreciably as soon as the Treasurer and the Auditors' office gets done with their work of counting the taxes and gives us a final settlement as to how much money has gone into each fund. Then we will have a much clearer picture. That will occur before June 30 as to what is going on. By law, we have to mechanically pay all of that bridge money back on June 30. That doesn't mean on July 1st we can't go back in and borrow it again. We have already extended it six months and the statute says you have to pay it back in the same year you borrow it. It does give you an out by saying you can declare a financial emergency which is what the County Council did in December and extend it for up to six months. Our six months is up on June 30th so it has to go back in. The issue is how much is going to come back out and in my mind that is a function of where we are financially and what your needs are in terms of that bridge fund."

Com. Evans, "I do have a couple projects for the bridge fund."

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

Com. Burrus, "I have a possible amendment to that. Could we put on there this could be subject to the Council appropriating?"

Atty. Hollenbeck, "Yes. The same documents will be approved by the County Council Tuesday night and I will bring home that message from you."

Motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "Before we continue, I know there are a number of folks in attendance today from the Jackson Township community with respect to the Toll Road issue. You were not on our agenda, but we will be glad to listen to you the latter part of our meeting. We have a number of other scheduled items we need to get out of the way first."

RECEIVE BIDS FOR WIDE AREA NETWORK WIRELESS UPGRADE
Data Processing, Sharon Lippens

Ms. Lippens, "They should have 3 copies and there should be one summary sheet that has a total number."

Com. Burrus, "This is for wireless radio improvements that would be connecting the Courthouse with the North County, the Courthouse with the Sheriff's Department and the Courthouse with the Administration Building."

The following bids were opened and read by Com. Sheets:

1.Midway Electronics$ 88,802.00
2.A-Tech$120,447.73
3.CW Lab LLC$ 87,229.95
4.Direct Line/Comp Star$ 114,860.00
5.Tyco Electronics$ 91,173.00
6.Stann Associates$ 147,580.00

Com. Burrus, "Sharon, do you want to take these under advisement and we will hear back from you with your decision?"

Ms. Lippens, "Yes."

PORTER COUNTY JAIL ALTERNATIVE STORM WATER BMP PROJECT-
David Pilz, City of Valparaiso Engineer

Mr. Pilz, "Mr. Chairman and members. I was here at your last meeting concerning the proposed Porter County Jail Alternative Storm water Management Demonstration Project. Without going into a lot of detail of the discussion at that meeting, you requested that we try to receive some type of response or approval from the Sheriff, which I have a letter to that effect. Also, comments from the architect and management team for the new jail. Your attorney, Commissioner Sheets and myself met with the architect last week. Verbally there were very few comments on the negative side that were expressed. The comments were answered sufficiently and your attorney was supposed to have received something in writing from the architect."

Atty. Rinkenberger, "Which I have not but I will make sure I get it."

Mr. Pilz, "Okay. We are under a time deadline here because the grant administrator is really pushing us to have something from the county if we can provide the approval or access agreement or we are going to lose the grant for the project so time is of the essence."

Com. Sheets, "There are no objections from the jail committee and the architects seem to be on board, the managers and the sheriff are on board."

Atty. Rinkenberger, "What the architects said was that if anything, our drainage system would be over designed instead of under designed which couldn't have any effect on the structure at all because it would take water away and not increase it."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the storm water demonstration project, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Pilz, "I provided a draft letter to Linda for her to send out. I am looking forward to
getting the grant and doing this project."

Atty. Rinkenberger, "Will you send us back a copy of the original letter?"

Mr. Pilz, "Yes, I will do that."

ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING INMATE HEALTH CARE CO-PAYMENTS FOR DEPOSIT IN COUNTY MEDICAL CARE FOR INMATES FUND — 2ND READING

Com. Burrus, "This is the second reading for this ordinance to have the co-payments deposited into the County Medical Care for Inmates Fund. Any discussion?"

Com. Sheets moved to approve the Ordinance Establishing Inmate Health Care Co-payments for Deposit in County Medical Care for Inmates Fund, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

ORDINANCE NO. 02-11
AMENDMENT TO ORDINANCE 01-06
PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AN ORDINANCE PURSUANT TO IC 11-12-5-5
ESTABLISHING INMATE HEALTH CARE CO-PAYMENTS FOR
DEPOSIT IN COUNTY MEDICAL CARE FOR INMATES FUND
________________________________________________________________________

WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners adopted the Porter County Municipal Code on Tuesday, December 2, 1997 pursuant to Ordinance No. 97-38; and
WHEREAS, Ordinance No. 01-06, an ordinance establishing an inmate health care co-payment for deposit in county medical care for inmates fund was adopted and included in said code in July, 2001; and
WHEREAS, Section 3.14.010-Inmate Health Care Co-payment Program, Section 2(b) is in need of amendment.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT:
1.Ordinance No. 01-06 found in Section 3.14 entitled Health Care Co-payments Program and Fund is amended as follows:
3.14.010 Inmate Health Care Co-payment Program
Sec. 2.(b) Except as provided in subsection (c), a person confined to a county jail may be required to make a co-payment in an amount of not more than fifteen dollars ($15.00) for each provision of any of the following services:

(1) Medical care.
(2)Dental care.
(3)Eye care.
(4)Any other health care related service.

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

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA
s\David L. Burrus
s\Larry D. Sheets
s\John A. Evans
Attest:s\Sandra K. Vuko, Auditor

AIRPORT & HOSPITAL BOARD APPOINTMENTS

Com. Burrus, "We have two appointments today, one to the Airport Board and the other to the Hospital Board. Each of them have one appointment. They have been advertised, however, I will make the comment that we have not yet finished discussing or interviewing the hospital board candidates so therefore, we are going to postpone that for two weeks until our next meeting. We are prepared to go forward with the Airport Board."

Com. Evans moved to appoint Ken Blaney to the Airport Board, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Evans, "I would like to thank Stewart McMullin for his service there. He has shown
very good leadership, the Airport has progressed and it is in a nice state, a lot of expansion and I think it is time for somebody with a little administrative background came in to help."

Com. Burrus, "We have an opportunity for change and I think that is appropriate for the occasion."


OFFICE HOLDERS\DEPARTMENT HEADS

IBM Contract-Sharon Lippens, Director of Data Processing

Ms. Lippens, "There are two contracts. One is for hardware maintenance for our county AS-400's. We have three of them and one is still under warranty. This contract is if there are any hardware problems they come out and fix it. The other contract is for software maintenance whereas if there is a bug or an error found, we automatically get the fixes quarterly or as they come out and it also allows us to get upgrades for new things they have added we can go to newer versions of the software when it becomes available. These are yearly contracts."

Com. Burrus, "I would like to make a comment on behalf of what Sharon has done. In view of the County's financial situation, she in particular has been very, very critical of looking at maintenance contracts. I know you have probably terminated several of these you felt were not necessary to maintain your operation so I am making the assumption that this one would be considered necessary for the scope of what you have to do with the AS400's."

Mr. Lippens, "Yes. I did contact IBM and discussed with them the possibility of the time and charges. What happens there is they will not even come out after hours or on the weekend if there is a problem at all, no matter what price, if you do not have a contract with them, it is $250.00 per hour with a two hour minimum which starts the time they leave their office. That would just be the labor and the parts would be extra. It would have to be during the week and we would also be low priority so if anybody else that had a problem would get priority first. It could be days before we have service which means the County would be down. In that, and the cost of the parts, its not like a PC where you can pick up parts and fix it yourself, I do not feel that risk would be worth it. The software is $7,000.00; the hardware is $1,400.00. Part of that software contract also includes software service where we can call an 800 number when we have a question or problem and get right through to the technician to help us work through it."

Com. Burrus, "You do have the money in your budget?"

Com. Sheets, "Is it from the CCD?"

Ms. Lippens, "No, it is in the Data Processing general fund budget."

Com. Sheets, "There are two contracts so we can do them at the same time."

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

NEXUS CONTRACT FOR PORTER COUNTY ASSESSOR'S OFFICE-PTBOA
Shirley LaFever, Porter County Assessor and
Candy Crone, Westchester Township Assessor
John Scott, Portage Township Assessor

Ms. LaFever, "We have at the present time, two appeals before the PTBOA, that is Public Tax Board of Appeals for National Steel and Bethlehem Steel. I have searched in a few counties and with different people throughout the state of Indiana trying to find someone to help the township assessors to present their case before the PTBOA. This is a group out of Indianapolis called the Nexus Group. They have a professor of economics and Candy is here before you today with a contract asking you to agree to the contract to hire him to help Candy with her Bethlehem Steel appeal for personal property. He was not able to give me another contract to present today, but it will be identical to this one. Also, for National Steel for John Scott to help him also finish the appeal. That is about the size of it. They are coming in with expert witnesses and they have spent a lot of money. We have to do something to help the townships present their case otherwise you lose it automatically and it goes to Indianapolis, if it goes downstate."

Com. Burrus, "What are the compensation terms of the contract?"

Ms. LaFever, "His contract is going to be between Westchester Township Assessor Candy Crone and her office."

Ms. Crone, "They have standards of charging $150.00 per hour with a $10,000.00 cap."

Com. Burrus, "This will be specifically for the Bethlehem reassessment?"

Ms. Crone, "Yes, for their appeal at the county level."

Ms. LaFever, "Not for the reassessment, Dave, this is just a regular personal property appeal. Nothing to do with reassessment."

Com. Sheets, "They certainly need all the help they can get."

Com. Evans, "Do you have the money budgeted?"

Ms. Crone, "I do have the money."

Mr. Scott, "If you would have seen the volume of stuff they brought to us and they decided not to talk to us prior to this, and we were open to those discussions after we sent back our denials to them. I sent back a denial on the first one that was asking for 40% of all of their stuff written off and to reply to them to let them know I was not going to go along with that, and they sent back another one for 60%. So they amended it to go even higher. When you start looking at Midwest Steel which these two, even though when you talk to their particular vendor, Barnes & Thornburg, would say they are two completely different ones, they run on a parallel like you wouldn't believe."

Com. Sheets, "John, are you looking for Nexus to help you in Portage and Candy, you are looking for Westchester, is that right?"

Ms. Crone, "Yes."

Mr. Scott, "We are hoping we can deal with these people in a reasonable amount with what she has and that we can share the information to keep the cost down."

Ms. LaFever, "We might have to come back with another contract if this money is only going to be for Bethlehem Steel, we might have to have a separate contract for National Steel. I will be funding that out of my budget at that time. This is to help Portage because he does not have no money at this time. This is just a drop in the bucket for what they are asking. It seems like a lot of money, but hopefully this will help us to come to some understanding or some agreement so that we can work with them to find out what we can do to best for Porter County to represent the township assessors because they have to have help."

Mr. Scott, "We are restricted by confidentiality on these particular cases like this, and not being able to discuss how much it is. Although anybody that would like to look at the front forms that we are able to give you and see the difference between what was filed last year and what has been filed with these two amended forms, you would see it is startling."

Com. Evans moved to approve the contracts with Nexus, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Renewal of lease-Westchester Township Assessor, Candy Crone

Ms. Crone, "Basically, this is a renewal of an agreement of an existing lease and it is something he does. The landlord usually sets us up with a two year lease agreement and this is for 2003 is the year we are going to have to renew it. I need to have it approved so I can set up my budget. He is asking for actually a minimum raise of 3%, but it will amount to about $360.00 more next year which I do have in my budget; I can transfer it. His taxes went up about that this year. So who knows what they will be next year. He has always been a good landlord and never given us any problem."

Com. Evans, "It is a good location and it serves the public well."

Com. Evans moved to approve the lease for the Westchester Township Assessor's office for 2003, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

AMEND ORDINANCE FOR SALARIES, USE SIGNING BONUS FOR JAIL STAFFING
David Reynolds, Sheriff
Karen Martin, Plan Commission

Sheriff Reynolds, "A couple months back you approved an ordinance that controlled the federal monies that I received, the $1.3 million, and what I am asking you now to do, I am sure you are aware that we are in a situation presenting a proposal to the Council next Tuesday for additional staffing needs. The money however, our original intent was that money to be loaned from the $1.3 million and then I would pay that money back when I started receiving the federal monies from housing the federal inmates. However, as the ordinance reads, it does not include monies that would be allocated for salaries. What I am asking for now is to amend that ordinance to include, on a temporary basis, that money is to be allocated for salaries. Then when I go to the Council on Tuesday, I will be asking them for positions, not any money whatsoever, the money would be appropriated through you as a loan. I would pay that back when I receive the money from the federal prisoners."

Com. Burrus, "I think maybe as a bit of explanation, we have been working on figures regarding our actual costs of housing these federal prisoners. I know Karen Martin is here and she has been asking for this total. I think it is appropriate at this time to announce those figures. They just all came together recently. I indicated last meeting that out of our budget comes three categories, expenses relative to facilities, with respect to the insurance and this includes liability as well as building insurance and the third is employee benefits that we are responsible for. This includes FICA. PERF, Workman's Comp and health insurance. When you break this down on a per bed per day basis, our total cost comes to $16.60 per bed per day. I believe your calculations, including your operational costs, your totals come in at $17.14 per day, based on 300 inmates. The total of those two figures, which should include anything that we can possibly anticipate, would be $33.74 per bed per day. The revenue that is proposed from the federal people is $40.00 per day. I would like to point out that in the event that we determine through the course of operations, that our figures are inaccurate or if they turn out to be more than what we anticipate them to be, this contract will be adjusted based on operating documents. I think what we are showing here is that at the present time, under the projections we have available to us, we do have roughly a $6.00 per bed per day surplus and this is what you intend to use as a repayment to this fund?"

Sheriff , "Yes."

Com. Evans, "You should both be commended because the Council is absolutely going to have to have a plan and I think you have been working real hard on it and Dave's effort is worth recognition. This has been a difficult task to try and pull numbers out of the air."

Com. Evans moved to approve up to $200,000.00 to be drawn from the signing bonus of $1.3 million to use for the jail staffing contingent upon the Council approving the new staff of jailers that the Sheriff is asking for and contingent upon repayment of the funds, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Martin, "I had a couple questions since you do have those numbers. I think it was two weeks ago I requested that information in writing for verification. If you have that information, I would appreciate it before the end of today so I can look at it before the Council meeting. Also, if I am not wrong, the contract specifically states that before December, 2002, the actual operating costs have to be submitted to the federal government in order to adjust it. I don't know if you are going to be able to have those figures due to delays and what we are looking at right now."

Com. Burrus, "With respect to that contract to qualify for the adjustment, we are going to have probably a minimum of one year of operating history to be able to demonstrate."

Ms. Martin, "Then how are you going to qualify the contract issues negotiated and have signed stating you have to have actual costs to them by December, 2002?"

Sheriff, "I can answer that. I have been dealing with the US Marshall. That was all based on the fact that we were supposed to be in there a few months earlier than now. Since we are not going to be in there at least until August, they are going to attempt to re-adjust that contract and try to prolong that so we can make the proper assessment at that time. They are well aware of the situation and they assured us they will work with us on that."

Ms. Martin, "Well, with reference to that, I would like to see that in writing because of the fact it is a contractual aspect and I do not want us faltering on any respects to cause any additional problems. So if we can get that in writing, the Board of Commissioners and the attorney can review that."

Sheriff, "I will follow up on that."

Ms. Martin, "If I could just get those numbers from you today, I would appreciate it."

COMMISSIONERS' REPORTS

Com. Evans, "Can we take the Jackson Township residents and put them under my report section? I wanted to address the issue of the Toll Road barrier. At our meeting, we said we would write them a letter, we wrote them a letter, we told them about our concerns and we received a letter back from Mr. Puro and those items he talked about in his letter will be addressed at their meeting in August and have their results available. In our letter, we also invoke the Indiana Open Door Law and received a letter from their corporate counsel, Edward Kersten, saying that we have no standings and are not entitled to those things. They don't exist in some instances and if they do, they are not of record. And that brings into question our jurisdiction in the matter to be able to intervene. The property owners certainly have a higher right than we do. We fully support your effort to keep the barrier out of there, but beyond that, I think it will have to be your legal counsel that leads the charge."

Janice Myers, "My name is Janice Myers, I am the Jackson Township trustee. This is a copy of the in invitation that we have received an I also included the copy of the letter. It is the same issue, but this is from the Girl Scout Camp's standpoint."

Mrs. Robertson, "First I received one record. It was a record of approaching the appraisers. It was from a Milner & Associates. They were under contract from an RQAW Corporation. I wrote back to Mr. Puro, Mr. Nickel, and Mr. Kersten saying I am puzzled how there can only be one record on this. They wrote me back and said that they don't have to disclose any documents because they are preliminary documents and the decision would be made on this project, and documents regarding the location would be disclosed once the decision was made. I find this very troubling because as you well know how closely you have to adhere these laws of open records. I was wondering if you would file a complaint with Ann Mullin O'Connor, the public records office. I think that would carry more weight than our individual effort. Even though you might not have jurisdiction, you are entitled to public records as much as any citizen is anywhere. You don't have to have standing to get public records. They are public records by nature. I don't know if they want a big legal battle over some public records, but I think that standing is not an issue in public records law. I just think it would carry more weight if you would file it. I was told that if it is not done by an attorney, but done by individuals and an agency, that the records are more forthcoming than if they are done by an attorney. Once they are done by an attorney, it is considered a legal issue. That is my request."

Com. Sheets, "I think our attorney will take that under review and advise us further what we should or should not do."

Keith Nelson, "I am a Jackson Township resident. The thing that scares me is that what we know is hearsay. There is no real evidence of anything out there, and that is the scary part. If they can move in there anytime they get ready, there is no way we can fight them. You can't fight a battle without information. They won't give it to us or to Representative Charlie Brown. They won't give it to anyone. It is scary if a community don't have any kind of power or voice and then put out an article that one of the reasons they were moving it from Portage is for health reasons. So moving it several miles down the road, there are health issues there, also. We are all natural sources down there and five or ten years from now, will the town of Chesterton have enough money to bring in a water system for us out there being that we are just a township. We have a real big problem here and the fact that we can't get any information, well our attorney can't fight them."

Com. Burrus, "Have they been before the Plan Commission yet on this?"

Com. Evans, "I don't believe they have."

Atty. Rinkenberger, "This is not a county highway project, it is a state project. Have you retained counsel?"

Mrs. Robertson, "I haven't, but other people have."

Atty. Rinkenberger, "Then I think that attorney should contact me, so I can discuss the best way to obtain these records for you, but I think you are going to have to have your attorney involved in this, that is why you have one."

Mr. Nelson, "The things he has been doing have gotten no response. Just like Puro. He has been trying to set up a conversation with Puro for the last three weeks and it is not happening. They have closed the door on us."

Com. Evans, "As part of my correspondence from Mr. Puro, I received a rumor\fact sheet, are you aware of that?"

Mrs. Robertson, "Yes. Everyone that signed the petition got that same letter."

Com. Evans, "He says that we have to trust him, so..."

Mr. Nelson, "One of his statements was that if there was another location they would look at it. It sounds like they have made their mind up about 350. They will consider it if we find them another location for it. That statement makes it sound like they are set with what they are going to do. There are surveyors just about every day out in the cornfields and they won't tell us where they are from. One told us they were working for NIPSCO, but the rest of them won't talk to us when we approach them."

Com. Sheets, "My comments would be this: you are preaching to the choir, that we are on board and we have made it very clear that we are not playing games with anybody. I will tell you that outside of what our guidelines will allow us to do as County Commissioners we have made some strides. I can tell you that the governor and the lieutenant governor both had conversations about this in person. I know that your state reps have written letters and made phone calls on your behalf and we are out there doing what we can beyond the guidelines we are allowed to do as a board. I certainly support your efforts and cause."

Mrs. Robertson, "Thank you."

Tim Cole, "What I have to offer is really more of what you heard. I am from Liberty Township, 845 N. Calumet, and I am a board member of Liberty Township and precinct committeeman for Precinct 5 which compasses the by-pass 49 and entrance to the Toll Road. We are afraid that if Jackson Township is successful in getting the barrier out of their area that Liberty Township may be the next site to be considered. We want to make our statement at this point that we don't want it either. I think what really bothers me is that driving down the Toll Road you see 3 signs; the first sign that reduces speed, the second sign says check your brakes, and the third sign says congested area. That refers to the barrier. If this barrier is such an economic boon or a way to control traffic on the Toll Road, why does it signal as a dangerous area? That is essentially what those three signs mean, you are entering a dangerous area. This whole thing is a failed experiment of barriers similar to the Illinois Toll Way system where they are needed because of the network of toll roads. We have one toll road, we have no need for a barrier to collect tokens. It shouldn't be there, it should never have been there, it was some engineer's pipe dream. The next thing to be considered is the I-pas system that they are recommending that we use to speed up passage through the barrier. It is only going to be used on one location, the Indiana Toll Road for westbound people; essentially for one small area. It is not necessary and is an expenditure that the state of Indiana cannot afford. Mr. Puro talks about his engineers. Well, some of them need more scientific training. This does not make the Toll Road more efficient. It stops traffic for no reason at all. When the Toll Road was built, we were told when it met its indebtedness, it would become a free expressway. Well, I would not like to see that because the Toll Road is nice to use because a lot of people don't use because they have to pay. That is nice in a way. As long as they maintain indebtedness, it doesn't become a free way. I'm sorry for taking up your time with statements and facts that you probably already know, but I did want to reiterate these statements and make sure that everyone understands them. Whether it is of use to us or you. Thank you for listening."

Com. Evans, "I think we need to convey to the Toll Road Commission that we don't want it anywhere in Porter County."

Com. Sheets, "We don't want them to find the weakest link. We want them to do away with it. It will be interesting to see what happens. Is that a public meeting in August?"

Mrs. Robertson, "The meeting is going to be where he makes his presentation of what they are doing. So, yes, it will be public."

North District: John Evans

1. Road Agreement for Pine Minor Subdivision #2414-D-1 located on the northwest
corner of CR 1200 North and CR 400 East. Offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of $750.00. Owners and subdividers are John A., Judith A., Kevin A., and Kim D. Lindstedt.

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

2. Road Agreement for Liberty Minor Subdivision #1825-A-1 located on the south side of CR 700 North between Meridian Road and CR 150 East. Offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of $750.00. Owner and subdivider is Gerald A. Ronneau..

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

3. Performance Letter of Credit #250 for Coventry Subdivision, Phase I has been renewed. The new Performance Letter of Credit is #391, in the amount of $35,000.00, and is due to expire on December 15, 2002. Recommend approval.

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

Center District: Larry Sheets

1. Road Agreement for Union Minor Subdivision #238-C-1 located on the north side of Division Road between CR 675 West and Lake/Porter County Line Road. Offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of 2,250.00. Owners and subdividers are Robert and Rebecca Waldron.

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

South District: David Burrus

1. Performance Letter of Credit #685 from Centier Bank for Meadow Gate Subdivision,
Phase A, in the amount of $75,000.00. Expiration date is June 14, 2003.

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


Calumet Trail information:

Com. Evans, "Just for the Commissioners' information, the Calumet Trail is likely to be substantially complete by the end of this month and everybody involved in that deserves a real big pat on the back, especially Dave Schelling. They have dubbed themselves the White Kites; the group of engineers, and the people that have been working on that and they meet every Wednesday morning and I think their meetings will be coming to an end when the Trial is complete. They have really done a great job."

Com. Burrus, " Dave Schelling has done a significant job in reducing the amount of Porter County's contribution, that was a major concern and was very well addressed. We have another item that we need to discuss about the Portage land sale."

Com. Sheets, "We discussed at the last meeting that the City of Portage wishes to purchase some land from us."

Com. Evans, "I have the information here, it is on U.S. Highway 6, just north of our county property where we have the courts and our building there. The offer to purchase is for $225,000.00, less the value of the right of way for a new north-south street which is appraised at $35,000.00 so the net purchase price will be $190,000.00 that the City of Portage has offered for the property. It joins the Portage 9 Theater Complex and their economic development committee has great plans for it."

Com. Evans moved to proceed and authorize the County Attorney to explore the possibility of entering into a contract with the City of Portage for the disposal of that property at the terms suggested, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Com. Evans, "With the $35,000.00 we are giving them is in consideration for the construction of the north south street that will connect our property that we will remain owning at our new northwest border. And that street will come to abut our remaining property. I should mention that this was all appraised and done in the proper manner, too."

BID DISCREPANCY FOR WIRELESS CONTRACT FOR DATA PROCESSING

Sharon Lippens, "There was a discrepancy in one of the bids that was read and I need to clarify that. This was for Compstar."

Com. Burrus, "It appears that the corrected bid amount to be read properly would be $132,741.00. Sorry for any inconvenience on this, however, this will go under advisement and any if there are any discrepancies or corrections, they will be noted at that time."

COUNTY WIDE HANDBOOK GUIDES

Com. Burrus, "We have a request from a publishing company known as County Wide Guides. They publish county wide guide books and hand books that provide a generous amount of information similar to almanacs but use county numbers, emergency numbers, all kinds of locations for schools and government officials and so forth. The request from this firm is simply to have permission to prepare a guide book for Porter County. Their revenue comes from the sale of advertising and they have demonstrated examples of previous work they have done in other counties and some letters of recommendation. We simply need to give then an answer. Any discussion on this?"
Com. Sheets, "I don't have a problem with this, but I would ask the attorney is she has a problem with this. If we were to endorse this, are they not going to go out and say the County Commissioners endorsed this?"

Com. Burrus, "We simply are authorizing their work."

Atty. Rinkenberger, "Why don't we take it under advisement. Are the people available to come in and give us a presentation?"

Com. Sheets, "Are they working in conjunction with our Tourism Board? I read that and I should have had these questions answered before today."

Com. Burrus, "There is no deadline, so we can get back to them."

CORRESPONDENCE

Court Security Activity Report for May, 2002 is on file.
Porter County Building Department Monthly report for May, 2002 is on file.
Treasurer's Monthly Report for May, 2002 is on file.
Veteran's Service Office Monthly Report for May 2002 is on file.

Request for Center of Workforce Innovations

Com. Evans moved to reappoint Kevin Warren for a 3 year term to the Workforce Investment Board, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Valparaiso Community Festivals & Events

Com. Sheets moved to approve a request by the Valparaiso Community Festivals & Events to use the Courthouse grounds and Administration Center steps on Popcorn Festival Day, Saturday, September 7, 2002, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus, "They also want to know if the parking garage will be open that day for the public?"

Com. Sheets, "Will Chuck be here that day and what are we going to charge?"

Linda Walker, "Last year we charged $2.00."

Com. Sheets, "It costs $.50 normally to park in the parking garage, but people have used it and there were some minor problems with people's vehicles. So, in recent years, we have had our security man, Chuck, to come in that day and charge $2.00 per day. The reason we do that is not to gouge anybody, but we have to pay him and we can't pay him on $.50. We don't think we ought to have the taxpayers pay for that. So that is why we do that."

Com. Sheets moved to approve to have the parking garage be open and charge $2.00 to park, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Maintenance contract on Canon 40 CPM in the Plan Commission

Com. Burrus, "We have a maintenance contract on a Canon 40 copier located in the Plan Commission Office. The contract is for $112.00 per month or $1,344.00 annually. The Plan Commission was called and this machine is out of service frequently and indicated this agreement covers everything except paper and staples. I can only make an assumption they have a provision for this in their budget."

Linda Walker, "No. It comes out of our budget. It has been in our budget for the last three years."

Com. Evans, "How old is the machine?"

Linda Walker, "Two or three years old."

Com. Evans, "What is the cost to replace it?"

Linda Walker, "It would be about $10,000.00 to replace that copier."

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

Transfer fund-Commissioners

Fund 01.30$300.00from acct. 3970Memorial Day Expense
into acct. 3630Equipment Repair

To pay for mower and vacuum repairs.

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

Com. Sheets, "It has been in the press already, that Saturday, June 22nd will be the official opening of the jail. I am very proud of that project, it has come in on time, within budget. We built that jail exactly the way it was designed and talked about at our public meetings. I hope the public will be there and take the opportunity to walk through it."

Com. Burrus, "There are two events taking place out there. One is the dedication ceremony on Saturday the 22nd and there is absolutely no charge to go through the facility. On the other hand there is a fund raising activity at a later date, I believe it is on the 28th, that does have charitable fund-raising objectives. So for those people in the community who may have gotten the impression that we are going to be charging admission to visit the jail on our dedication date, that is not the case. This afternoon we do have one brief item on our agenda. It is a Plan Commission issue regarding the 2nd reading of a rezone. It should be very brief."

Com. Evans moved to recess until 1:30 p.m., Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

AFTERNOON SESSION--1:30 P.M.-PLAN COMMISSION
Rezone-Thomas Rigg

Steve Nigro, "This is Resolution 02-07, a rezone for property owned by Thomas Rigg from Agricultural to I-1, light industrial, which received an 8-0 favorable recommendation from the Plan Commission."

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

Proposed new meeting date for July 2, 2002 meeting

Com. Burrus, "One thing we need to talk about is rescheduling our meeting of July 2, 2002 because of the holiday as well as because of the projected lack of business during that week. The recommendation further suggests that Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 10:00 in the morning would be appropriate. At that time we will be able to cover any business that would have been scheduled for July 2, morning session only. We will conduct all business, including Plan Commission, at the morning session."

Com. Evans moved to reschedule the July 2, 2002 meeting to June 27, 2002, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

Proposed land sale in Portage, US Highway 6

Com. Burrus, "The City of Portage is interested in purchasing some land we own on Highway 6, and a subsequent contact came in suggesting that the State of Indiana is interested in buying the frontage of that parcel and we felt we needed to discuss this further with the City of Portage before we proceed. Any discussion?"

Com. Sheets, "I believe we ought to leave that in the hands of the north county Commissioner and any other help he needs from us, I am glad to offer it, but we should leave it in his responsibility. After discussing it with the County Attorney, we may need to make changes or additions."

Com. Burrus, "This is a factor that needs to be considered and however it is resolved, we need to lay it on the table and have everybody familiar with the updates."

Com. Evans, "I appreciate your confidence and I will see if we can't come to some kind of agreement."

Com. Sheets moved to amend the earlier motion that allows the North County Commissioner and the County Attorney to discuss with the City of Portage the sale of the property, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Mobile home permitting

Com. Evans, "I have one other thing with respect to the mobile home residential districts and I think we should consider having the Planning Commission look at writing us some type of permitting process and putting it in ordinance form and get the ball rolling."

Com. Sheets, "Well, I think we ought to take a look at the personnel necessary to carry out that. We might have to add people and we might get involved with the Building Inspector. I absolutely agree we need to review it."

Com. Evans moved to ask the Plan Commission to draft an ordinance for mobile home permitting, Com. Sheets 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