PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
AUGUST 19, 2003

The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 in the Commissioners' Chambers of the Administration Center.

Those present: Commissioners David Burrus and 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 August 11, 2003, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Evans moved to approve the minutes of June 17, 2003, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.


OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS

Installment contract for purchase of piano at Memorial Opera House-
Holly Seibel, Director

Ms. Seibel, "This is a contract with Gratz Piano to purchase a digital baby grand piano. It will be a huge asset for us because it will help in all of our productions, it has many capabilities and features that you normally don't have on a regular piano. It can record all the music and play it back so we don't necessarily have to have all the pit orchestra that we have been paying. When we have a concert that requires a piano, like if we had a classical piano concert or singer, we won't have to rent one. It is a very, very high cost for that with the shipping and the tuning. We will never have to do that again, plus we can rent it out to groups that rent the Opera House for their concerts. So that will help make money there."

Com. Evans, "This is a new instrument?"

Ms. Seibel, "Yes, it is."

Com. Evans, "Now you said once it gets here it will be tuned and then it never has to be tuned again?"

Ms. Seible, "It doesn't have to be tuned, it doesn't have any strings. It can mimic other instruments so it can sound as though we have a full orchestra. It is amazing."

Com. Burrus, "Then the terms of your contract are what?"

Ms. Seibel, "$204.88 per month for 60 months. There is no interest on that. They were able to work with us on that with the understanding that of course we could not pay interest."

Com. Burrus, "So the total price is what?"

Ms. Seibel, "$12,292.80."

Com. Burrus, "And the payments extended out will be that exact amount with no interest put on? And this will be able to be paid for out of your operative revenue, is that right?"

Ms. Seibel, "Yes."

Com. Evans, "Who is the seller?"

Ms. Seibel, "Gratz Piano."

Com. Evans, "Here in Valpo?"

Ms. Seibel, "Yes."

Com. Evans moved to approve the purchase of a digital piano for the Memorial Opera House, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.


COMMISSIONERS' REPORT

Com. Evans, "Bob Thompson, Kevin Breitzke and Dave Schelling discussed establishing a county policy to restrict subdivision acceptance inspections to between March 1st and November 1st of each year. Every year the developers try to finish their roads at the end of the construction season so the responsibility of snow plowing is transferred from the developer to the county. Also the inspection for acceptance often is during time periods with snow cover. We would like to establish a policy and also maybe carry it over to crack sealing subdivision roads prior to expiration of Maintenance Guarantee. This sounds like a good idea."

Com. Burrus, "Part of the discussion on that was that not only are the roads sometimes covered in snow during that period, but also the asphalt plants are closed and there is not any way they take any corrective action anyway. The only thing that would be a possible exception is as a rule of thumb, the asphalt plants close around Thanksgiving and they usually tend to run until the end of November instead of the first of November."

Com. Evans, "Is this something that should come back to us through the Plan Commission?"

Com. Burrus, "Well, this is a highway issue. It is their inspection policy."

Com. Evans moved to establish a policy that the inspections be between March 1st and December 1st of each year, and no roads be accepted after the deadline until the next year, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.

Com. Evans, "What are we going to do about the crack sealing? They are asking to have a policy that the crack sealing be done prior to the expiration of the maintenance guarantee. I think that is reasonable."

Com. Burrus, "It should be reasonable that way, the only thing is when they go out to inspect these roads, if they have cracks, at that time they ought to be able to require the crack sealing. I don't see where it needs to be a separate policy. Lets see what comes out of that."

North District: John Evans

1) The performance letter of credit for Ravinia Subdivision is to expire August 19, 2003. Enclosed is the First Addendum to extend the Citizens Financial Services Letter of Credit #2002-23 extending the letter of credit to August 19, 2004 in the amount of $270,000. Recommend approval.

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

2) Midwest Steel Bridge has been let by INDOT and Ellas Construction is the low bidder. There will be a partnering meeting on August 21st. INDOT will not issue a notice to proceed until they receive the agreements for maintenance from Porter County and Portage. Enclosed is another original agreement that was signed by the Commissioners with several paragraphs lined out by Gwenn. This agreement has nothing removed from the original. We need to send it back in the original from because INDOT would accept alterations to the agreement. I think it is also imperative that as soon as that construction is complete, we begin to lobby the state of Indiana to take the maintenance of the bridge over. It is way beyond the scope of our Highway Department and should not be maintained by county government. In order to facilitate the construction, I will go ahead and make the motion that we approve the agreement and immediately begin to lobby with the state to have them take over that project."

Com. Burrus, "I agree 100%, John. The discussions we had with them expressed our concerns about the maintenance responsibility and we have already broached the topic with the state highway or the INDOT representatives as far as that being beyond our scale of operations. The follow through you suggested would be right on target. That would be the best thing to do and at the same time we are facilitating the project with the respect of the safety of those that have to use that crossing."

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

South District: David Burrus

1. Morgan Minor Subdivision # 2043-C-1, located on the north side of CR 250 South
between CR 150 East and SR 49. Offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of $750.00. Owners and subdividers are Edward G. and Jacqueline A. Paprocki.

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

ATTORNEY REPORT

Atty. Rinkenberger, "I have the Request for Qualifications for the Emergency Environmental Building is ready to be put in the newspaper for notice of receiving qualifications."

Com. Burrus, "Okay, that is the result of action we took at the last meeting. That notice will go out today."

CORRESPONDENCE

Treasurer's monthly report for July 2003 is on file.
Veteran's Service Officer monthly report for July 2003 is on file.
Court Security Activity monthly report for July 2003 is on file.
Building Department's monthly report for July 2003 is on file.

Acceptance of John Harrison, late enrollee to Porter County Employee

Com. Evans, "As I understand it, Mr. Harrison retired from his employment and is entitled to go under our plan as a spouse and our insurance agent has reviewed it and determined his application is acceptable."

Com. Evans moved to accept dependant John Harrison as a late enrollee to the Porter County Employee Benefit Plan coverage effective September 1, 2003, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.

Moratorium on adult entertainment businesses

Com. Burrus, "We have a letter here from Bob Thompson, our County Planner, addressed to the Commissioners and it reads as follows:

‘Dear Commissioners: I would like to request that the Porter County Commissioners consider a moratorium on adult entertainment businesses. I apologize for not being able to attend the Commissioners' meeting this morning.'

"He does have a draft ordinance that will be presented to the Plan Commission at their September 10th meeting requesting their approval. Such regulations will attempt to prevent conflicts of use and regulate the impact of adult businesses as they affect residential uses. He goes on to say I would request the moratorium be lifted by October 21, 2003 which would allow ample time for the adoption of an ordinance pertaining to adult businesses. So the essence of this is, Bob would like to see a moratorium placed during the period of time he is working on this revised ordinance addressing this issue."

Com. Evans, "I think it is better to have the moratorium in place and then if anyone wants to get in, they must comply with the ordinance as it will be created."

Com. Evans moved to impose a moratorium on adult entertainment businesses commencing today to be lifted October 21, 2003, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.


Christ Lutheran Church's rerquest to use courthouse grounds for Homelessness Awareness

Com. Burrus, "This is a letter from Jeremy Myers, Director of Youth in Family Ministry of Christ Lutheran Church on North Campbell Street in Valparaiso. He is writing to request the use of the courthouse grounds on the night of September 12th, and this will be to raise funds and awareness for the Christian Community Action Group. This event will be titled ‘One Homeless Night' and is part of the group's homelessness awareness month which runs from mid September to mid October. It would include a sleep out on the lawn of the courthouse on the night of the 12th of September. This is very similar to, but different from, the request we have already approved for the University's Habitat for Humanity group. At that time we had some requirements that were placed on them and they were then given permission to do that. John, can you remember what that was?"

Com. Evans, "I think the certificate of insurance was in place and of course they must leave the grounds in the same manner they found it. It should be mentioned that in conjunction with the Christ Lutheran Church, this request also comes from the First United Methodist Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, St. Andrew's Episcopal, Heritage Lutheran, Immanuel Lutheran and Christ Lutheran and Christ Lutheran Churches, they are a combined effort."

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

Discussion on increase in natural gas prices

Com. Burrus, "There has been some limited discussion to this point and we have begun to
solicit proposals from brokers that will offer guaranteed prices. We have a couple on hand and we are requesting some more."

Com. Evans, "We saved a considerable amount of money last year in locking in the price per therm and it doesn't look like the price is going to go down on the general market so it would be prudent to do that and the more time that passes the tougher it is going to be to get better rates. The sooner we act, the better."

Com. Burrus, "Also, the projections are that the prices this year could go up by several multiples so I would request, based on our discussion today, if we could grant ourselves permission to negotiate that and should we find an opportunity between now and the next meeting to lock in a good rate that we have that is already pre-approved."

Com. Evans moved to approve to solicit proposals for gas prices, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.

Com. Burrus' and Com. Evans' comments on county finances

Com. Burrus, "With respect to the county finances, there has been a great deal of cautious optimism expressed over the last several weeks and at last night's Council meeting. Several developments were pointed out that do seem to lend additional improvement to the whole situation. The only thing I would like to comment on personally, this is my own thought, is that a number of these issues that we are being encouraged with, are still a little bit full of variables. The whole reassessment process, while it looks like we may be getting our December tax bills out and received the revenue before the end of the year, that is the beginning of the whole process and there is a lot more to be done in the next year or more before we finally know what our projected revenue is going to be on a repetitive basis. The issue with the Bethlehem bankruptcy, the idea the state has allowed us to remove them from the assessed valuation, is certainly a positive step for the next two years. The thing that still remains in the unknown category is just exactly how much ISG is going to be paying when they finally begin paying their taxes. Speculation is that it could be as low as half of what Bethlehem paid in the past. With those kinds of variables still in the wings, I think we are making a turn around. It has begun, it is continuing, but we should not relax our concern. We should not give up our conservative approach. We need to be very prudent for the foreseeable future and I would just hate to see any other departments slip into a feeling of euphoria here before this whole thing is settled into a predictable situation. We are encouraged as well, but we are still very, very cautious in this office."

Com. Evans, "I think you have hit the nail on the head; cautiously optimistic is the term we should be employing. I think the County Council should be commended in their work on the budgets. They have been very diligent in reviewing them and being knowledgeable before going into their process; they had their questions in place and they knew what they were targeting and they went after it. It is working very well, the process is working. I agree we have to be very careful in how we proceed at this point. Just because there is money to carry over doesn't mean there is money to be spent. We need to very watchful. I would like to see the County Council impose a kind of initiative to continue the savings program that has been ongoing in county government and we pay that savings back to those departments in the form of bonuses or incentives at the end of the year. If an agency in county government can save money and continue to save money as our Data Processing Department did in the past and different departments did by making lesser purchases or combining purchases and making better choices or saving any types of funds in general, I think that money should be set aside for those people to share in at the end of the year. It would help to continue the savings that the County would realize."

Com. Burrus, "I think with those views, I would endorse the Council's proposal to offer our employees raises of some form. During the last three years that I have been here and John's been here, there has been a lot of criticism leveled on the county and our employees and while we have had a small number of people leave and seek more secure employment, we have had a very good, strong, loyal group of employees that have stood by us. None of us are flawless, we recognize that, but these folks are at a point where they certainly deserve to be compensated for not only their loyalty, but for their work. I would like to endorse the Council's proposal as well. We do not have a Plan Commission session this afternoon, so this will conclude our work for today."

Com. Evans moved to recess the meeting, Com. Burrus seconded, motion carried.

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
County of Porter, Indiana

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

Attest: Sandra K. Vuko