PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2005
6:00 P.M.

The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 15, 2005, in the Commissioners’ Chambers of the Administration Center.

Those present were: Commissioners Robert Harper and Carole Knoblock, County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger, Melissa Hartig, and Vi Wagner.

President Harper called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the payroll of February 7, 2005, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the minutes from the special meeting held January 31, 2005, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVE COURSE FOR TALTREE TEN RACE ON APRIL 23, 2005
Todd Henderlong, Opportunity Enterprises

Mr. Henderlong, “I am from Opportunity Enterprises and I come before you again this year to ask your approval to close the county roads for our Taltree Ten Mile Race on April 23, 2005. We work with the property association out at Aberdeen, the Sheriff’s Department, Dave Reynolds has been very cooperative with us and we ask your approval to use County Roads 250 and 100 North. What we have done in the past was notify everybody on the routes well in advance. The race starts at 8:30, streets are clear by 10:30, we shut down one lane of traffic on 100 and on 250, where it turns into Tower Road and goes into the subdivision, we open the north lane on 100 North to one way traffic so that there can be egress and ingress for the homeowners there and then the west lane on 250. We have not had any complaints or problems, we try to make sure we are very respectful to property owners out there.”

Com. Harper, “How much do you usually raise?”

Mr. Henderlong, “Last year we donated $10,000.00 to our endowment fund from this race.”

Com. Harper, “I think that is great. This is a good cause and the slight inconvenience it causes is well worth your organization raising this money.”

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the request, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

FAMILY AND YOUTH SERVICES BUREAU
Dennis Morgan

Mr. Morgan, “I come to you tonight because the Family and Youth Services Bureau has a line item in the Commissioners’ budget each year and we have some financial difficulty because the state continues to be behind in its payments to the local office of Family and Children to our agency for placement staff. The Neiquest Center, which is a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed kids and Hanson House, which is a shelter care facility. In July of 2004 the House of Family and Children owed us $180,000.00 and they have been able to pay part of that and they got down to about $120,000.00. In December they will be paying us, and they did pay us some money in January. We are hoping for a second payment in February and then no payment again until June or July of 2005. So, the $180,000.00 which we expect to be over $200,000.00 by June is a very large margin for an agency of our size to be able to carry. So we have been borrowing from the bank and paying interest on that to be able to meet our expenses every month and so I have come here hoping that we might be able to get some one time relief from the Council to help with our problem.”

Com. Harper, “So, if I understand this correctly, you bill the state for some of your services, is that correct?”

Mr. Morgan, “Yes, that is correct. The Neiquest Center is a residential facility as I said for severely emotionally disturbed kids. All other referrals to that program are made by the Juvenile Court either through the office of Family and Children or the Juvenile Probation Department. Those children are with us 13 or 14 months typically. Their parents are involved with us as well, that is a requirement of the program. We hope that by the end of their stay with us they will be able to return to the home of their parents and hopefully do a much better job at that point. The Hanson House, named after Terry Hanson who was a long time therapist at Porter Starke Services, is a shelter care facility and that is for kids who will stay with us for a maximum of sixty days while the court makes some dispositional decision about where that child will go, so it is very short term.”

Com. Harper, “In the past, does this money usually come in on a timely basis?”

Mr. Morgan, “Yes, it has really been pretty unstable in the past, unfortunately tax receipts from the state are slow, that gets passed onto the county that gets passed onto the agencies and to our clients. I think there are twelve residential programs in the state that have closed in 2004 because they were no longer able to handle the cash flow difficulty that we are talking about to you tonight.”

Com. Harper, “I have been contacted by a couple Council people that wanted to put some input into this so I am going to suggest that since the Council is not going to meet until April, that at least we take the initiative to set up a meeting here and invite the Council members and make sure at least one Commissioner is at that meeting to discuss possible solutions to this problem and make it a public meeting and notify the public that we are going to hold this discussion.”

Mr. Morgan, “Yes, that is fine.”

Com. Harper, “And this is one area that Commissioner Evans may be interested in and he will be back in a few days. Lets have Melissa check everybody’s schedule and then notice it up like a public meeting and invite the Council members, whoever wants to come, and we’ll do that within the next couple of weeks. At least the first week of March so that we have time to get a game plan together and see what the Council wants to do about this.”

OPEN BIDS FOR EMERGENCY WARNING SIREN SYSTEM-
Phil Griffith, EMA Director

Mr. Griffith, “I would like to meet with the various agencies that are going to receive them and ______(inaudible). May have to get back with you in two weeks.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Take them under advisement.”

The following bids were opened:

ATI $231,610.00
Federal Warning Systems: $216,140.00
Tri-Electronics: $196,234.23

Mr. Griffith, “We are actually looking for the actual cost of the 22 sirens.”

Com. Harper, “So you are going to take them under advisement.”
Mr. Griffith, “That is correct. I will take them and have the various entities look them over and we will work from there.”


CONTRACT FOR STATE IMMUNIZATION FIELD REPRESENTATIVE
Keith Letta, Health Department Director

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Is this the same contract we have been talking about?”

Mr. Letta, “Yes.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “All right, I finally spoke with the attorney down state who indicated that for every one of these clauses I have concerns with they would strike and so I would request that you approve this contract, it is for $500.00 a month for us to receive to provide space for an immunization program investigator. We can approve it contingent upon them forwarding the contract with the terms stricken that I requested.”

Com. Knoblock, “Do you need that before the next meeting?”

Mr. Letta, “It expired at the end of the year.”

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the contract with the terms the county attorney set forth, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

ADDITIONAL BEREAVEMENT LEAVE DAYS FOR SECRETARY IN HEALTH DEPT.

Mr. Letta, “I put a request in your mailbox that our secretary had her mother pass away Friday and it was a request for the additional three days.”

Com. Harper, “Did you see the request, Gwenn?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes, and with the modification we made to our policy manual, it is automatic. They are entitled to it if they want it, they get it, they don’t have to come before the Commissioners on that anymore.”

Mr. Letta, “Thank you.

CATERING CONTRACTS
Lonnie Steele, Expo Center Director

Mr. Steele, “I think you have those contracts in front of you, they are all identical but different companies, different catering companies that have signed those and provided them to us. There was one just added before the meeting, there was a copy and the original is now in. I have reviewed those and would encourage you to approve them, they are all worthy of our business and encourage you to approve those caterers.”

Com. Harper, “And the county attorney has gone over them?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes, we have been using this contract for several years which sets forth the obligations of the Expo Center and the obligations of the caterers when you have events and it provides that the Expo Center receives 15% of the gross sales. It has all the terms and conditions we need and I don’t believe we have ever had a problems with any of our caterers using this contract language.”

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the catering contracts with the Expo Center, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

PRESENTATION BY JOHNSON CONTROLS FOR EXPO CENTER HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING UNIT
Rick Renner
Bill Rasco
Mr. Steele, “I think my phone call to you last week indicated rather an emergency situation in regard to the heat and air conditioning units. We have a unit that provides heat to the lobby and the restrooms of the Expo Center that not only is not functioning but if we were to have left it on, there was a dangerous situation in that it was giving off some carbon monoxide fumes and we didn’t want that to happen so we were without heat in our lobby area. I asked the representatives from Johnson Controls to meet with us tonight with your permission to discuss some options we have to solve the problem. So if I may, I would like them to come forward and allow them to introduce themselves and make the presentation to you.”

Mr. Renner, “Two weeks ago at the last meeting we brought a list of recommendations to the Commissioners and one of those recommendations were to replace all six units at the Expo Center because of their age. We stated back then that we were starting to have problems and then when we got the call, it was just an example that the unit did fail and like Lonnie said was leaking gas so that the proposal you are looking at, the first page is the price to replace the unit that is no longer functioning. Here are some pictures of the unit and you can see where it is rusted out. The second proposal is a recommendation and we strongly recommend that there is a unit right next to the one that is not working which is almost identical in nature, it is the same age so the expectation is it is probably going to fail soon. It is less costly to replace two units at once, there is savings on the crane and some labor hours. It is an option for you if you wanted to save some costs, I don’t want to be here a week from today with a price for a second unit after we had already performed the work on the first unit.”

Com. Harper, “So you don’t have heat out there right now, right? Did we have anything out there this weekend?”

Mr. Steele, “Yes we did. And we had some cold restrooms. They didn’t tarry too long in the restrooms or the lobby. We do have heat in the adjoining rooms and we opened the door. The men’s restroom door I am keeping it open, but the woman’s is difficult because of the mirrors and how they are placed.”

Com. Harper, “I thought it was around $8,000.00 for one unit. So one unit will be around $18,000.00?”

Mr. Renner, “Yes, around $17,960.00.”

Com. Harper, “Well, I think we have a problem with that one unit. I would feel better if we took care of that myself, my personal opinion, and held off on these other two because we are talking about quite a bit of money for all these other units until we decide exactly what we are going to do and how we are going to handle this. What do you think, Carole?”

Com. Knoblock, “I agree with you.”

Com. Harper, “Do you think just go ahead with one? The first one which is the $17,960.00 and then give us a chance to think about the others. Do you agree with that?”

Com. Knoblock, “Yes.”

Com. Knoblock moved to replace the one unit that is out at the price of $17,960.00,

Mr. Renner, “That is the bigger unit. The other unit uses a small unit that is sitting right next to it.”

Com. Harper, “The other price I have is $29,340.00, what is that?”

Mr. Renner, “That is for both units combined. The first one that just approved and the second unit that sits right next to it. The reason I gave you that option is because of instead of renting a crane two different occasions and being charged twice, we thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go ahead and replace both units now since they are of similar age and the other could fail any time.”

Mr. Rasco, “They have exceeded the life expectancy of those units. Typically, a life expectancy for a roof top unit is between 18 and 20 years. You are at about 23 years on that unit. There are six roof top units that you have out there.”

Mr. Renner, “The second price is for the first unit and the second one so the difference between the 29,000 and the 17,000, again, what we are saying is that the difference there is probably have to include a crane a second time around if you chose to wait.”

Com. Harper, “How much does a crane cost?”

Mr. Renner, “It would depend on the size of the unit. We are talking in the neighborhood of $500.00 and $1,000.00.”

Com. Harper, “I would feel better because you know we have a lot of units to replace around here and I think we are going to have to decide how we are going to do that. Because we are talking about a lot of equipment and a lot of buildings. I would feel better if we just took care of this problem right now that we have until we have a chance to think about some of this other . . . . we have a list a mile high that needs to be done to all our buildings. The Animal Shelter, I mean we have buildings everywhere so I think we would be better off. I am trying to get a package together so we can sit on the side, so I think lets take care of the problem we’ve got right now and get it fixed. So you made a motion that we accept this price?”

Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Renner, “There was something that was just brought to our attention from Lonnie and he told us that the rooftop unit had failed. There was something else at the Expo Center that was brought to our attention. There are two fan coil units that hang from the ceiling, they were . . . .…as well.”

Mr. Steele, “They are back in the maintenance room and as it is happening, I think this is the third and fourth unit of those hanging units. Bugetarily, we are able to replace those two but as you can see, it is going to be rather ____ for us to replace those units. They are back in the maintenance room, it is not as critical as the one you just approved.”

Com. Harper, “Lonnie, I would feel better if we wait until John gets back here and we sit down and we come up with a plan, because we have to take care of these buildings, we made a commitment, and we have been working on it since the first of the year. I would feel better if we wait until John gets back unless it becomes an emergency situation.”

Com. Knoblock, “We have about five buildings that all need repairs.”

Com. Harper, “We are going to try and get these repairs done and it is going to be a major project.”

TOWER LEASE AGREEMENT
Dave Sheibels, E911 Director

Mr. Sheibels, “I sent Melissa today the original Fed Ex copies of the Vertical Real Estate Tower Agreement which is the same agreement that we have had in our possession for the last few months. The only change to it with tentative approval tonight is on page 3, paragraph 5, second line down, commencement date is now showing April 1, 2005 instead of the earlier projected date of January 1st, 2005. Proposing that we go ahead and approve this lease and make the commencement as of April 1st, the IRAC Company projects that there will be in a position to start working at the site shortly after April 1st. That will commence payment for the first year of $420.00 a month starting April 1st and it should fall right into line with our installation plans and the system.”
Atty. Rinkenberger, “I have reviewed this and the only concern I had was the language in that paragraph because the way it reads, we have so many different (inaudible). I need the right language so we don’t have to start paying our ____ until we approve it or on April 1st, which ever is first, otherwise this is a sublease for us to put our equipment on a tower that they are leasing from ____. So it is a $420.00 a month term of a ten year lease with renewal option for us. The only thought I had was the original lease, and I think Carole, you picked that up, had the five year term and now this has a ten year term, so we have a sublease that has a longer term than the original lease. I don’t know what effect that has.”

Mr. Sheibels, “After ten years, the National Weather Service is going to acquire the lease, we will not be renewing it in ten years.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “We won’t be liable for the $420.00?”

Mr. Sheibels, “Correct, whatever the lease payment would be. There is an escalation clause in this of 3% for ten years and the first years are 420 and then it will increment 3% and then another 3% and then another 3%, every year up to ten years. At the end of ten years, the National Weather Service will take over the lease if they decide to stay the course.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “But do you see what I am saying, the lease between Vertical Real Estate and the owners of the property and the five year lease that’s renewable. We are doing a sublease from the original lease that’s a ten year lease. So I am saying the original lease could expire while our sublease is still in effect. There is a renewal option for the tower company.”

Com. Harper, “Do you understand what she is saying?”

Mr. Sheibels, “Correct. According to the manager at Vertical Real Estate that is just the timing of their older 1998 agreement with the Corez owners of the site. We are going to be in the middle there but they have assured us that we would be automatically renewed and we have nothing to worry about.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Well I guess we could approve this lease conditional upon the fact that that lease is renewed. That will protect us.”

Com. Harper, “What if somebody else will have to deal with it, it might be a problem.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “If you just put that in your motion, I think it will okay.”

Com. Harper, “Will that be a problem?”

Mr. Sheibels, “No.”

Com. Harper, “Because that going to have to added to this document, too, correct?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Its an oral modification to a written contract, so if its in the minutes I think we are protected, we can add to the contract.”

Com. Harper, “Dave, is it going to be a problem for them to add it to the document?”

Mr. Sheibels, “It might be. . . . . “

Com. Harper, “Are we working under a time constraint?”

Mr. Sheibels, “We are under a time constraint with our projected project and covered all the bases with our previous agreements and we are right on track to go into the spring and summer months at this point.”
Atty. Rinkenberger, “They almost have to add it to the documents because they can’t, this sublease can’t be valid if they don’t have a valid reason to begin with so it is almost a condition.”

Mr. Sheibels, “The only thing I can think of is maybe it might be premature for Vertical Real Estate when they are dealing with the site owner as a lessee to do this five years in advance, I don’t know.”

Com. Harper, “This would be real easy for us to pass and we would all be in great shape in five years. I would never have to worry about it and Carole would not have to worry about, but somebody will end up in lawsuits seven eight years from now if they don’t, and then the county will have to worry about it.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Lets make it conditional upon the language being added that our lease runs consistently or at the same time with the original lease.”

Com. Harper, “I like the way you said it first, because it is conditional on them renewing their lease, the continuation of this contract is conditional upon them renewing their lease.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “It has to be otherwise there is no tower.”

Com. Harper, “They are leasing something they don’t have right now, now I know they say they are going to have it and they probably are.”

Mr. Sheibels, “I can’t say for sure because I don’t have a copy of their original lease agreement other than there is an amendment to the back of this that has been with us that talks about the agreement with the site owner, and how Vertical Real Estate is the site manager subleasing or forwarding works with the site owner. It all looks very good to me. I don’t think we are going to be in position to have any problems five years down the road. I think both companies, the site owner and the tower is certainly not going to go anywhere for a long, long time, more than ten years.”

Com. Harper, “Where are these people from?”

Mr. Sheibels, “Vertical Real Estate is in Fort Wayne, Ron Collier.”

Com. Harper, “Could we do it in two weeks when Gwenn gets a hold of him and works this out or is that going to be a problem?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Why don’t you do it conditional upon me working it out and then if I work it out it is done and if I don’t, then it isn’t. Then there is no further action that needs to be taken and he can go ahead and order his equipment.”

Com. Harper, “So we need a motion to the effect that we approve this lease agreement subject to Gwenn working out with Vertical Real Estate language in this agreement that protects Porter County in the event they will not be able to renew their lease on the tower.”

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the lease conditional upon the county attorney working out language with Vertical Real Estate, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Sheibels, “One quick announcement. We took T-Mobile on the 911 Wireless Phase II service just last week so we have added six wireless carriers to our 911 system for network triangulization location of the cell phone within approximately 140 meters. So that technology is on board now for T-Mobile.”

PORTER COUNTY CONVENTION, RECREATION AND TOURISM REQUEST TO USE CHAMBERS FOR PRESS CONFERENCE
Lorelei Weimer, Director

Ms. Weimer, “I sent a letter to your office, we are going to be hosting the state of Porter County Tourism on March 22nd and we were wanting to use the chambers from 3:30 to 5:30. We are going to be talking about updating the public on the Visitor’s Center. We are also going to be presenting our annual report on the accomplishments of our office for 2004. Then the majority of that time is really going to be spent given out the results of the destination audit that’s been over a year that we have been working on it. We have our consultant coming from Phoenix, Arizona. After the press conference we were wanting to host a little bit of desserts in the foyer. We would be responsible for maintaining it and cleaning it up and so forth. Since we are in the hospitality industry we thought it would be nice to showcase someone who is known for the desserts and just have a little bit of a reception after the press conference.”

Com. Harper, “Now, who all is going to be here? Your Board?”

Ms. Weimer, “Our Board of Directors and then we are inviting the hospitality industry, elected officials like yourself, business officials, key leader in the community that we feel are the Chambers of Commerce, the Economic Development Commission, all will be invited because we think we all play a part in developing destination.”

Com. Harper, “Have you sent out notices or anything?”

Ms. Weimer, “We have sent out some.”

Com. Harper, “What time does this start?”

Ms. Weimer, “It starts at 4:00 p.m. and will conclude the presentation at 5:00, and then we plan for a question and answer session.”

Com. Harper, “So you are planning to serve at 5:00 or 5:30, so the building will basically be closed.”

Ms. Weimer, “Exactly. Like I said, we would take care of clean up and the other thing we would do is make sure once the press conference starts, we have told the personnel that food is not to be brought into the chambers.”

Com. Harper, “Did you look at the room upstairs, that wouldn’t work?”

Ms. Weimer, “We haven’t looked at the room upstairs, I was only thinking about trying to transfer people upstairs and hopefully not lose them and have them have a chance to kind of mingle and discuss the topics.”

Com. Harper, “I think it is after hours, so, what do you think, Carole?”

Com. Knoblock, “Once we start bringing food in, everybody else is going to want to.”

Com. Harper, “Yes.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “There is precedence for permitting certain organizations that are affiliated with government to use the room upstairs to sponsor and bring food and have this type of thing but there is no precedent for doing it in our foyer.”

Ms. Weimer, “We would be happy if you wanted us to host it upstairs, we can do that as well.”

Com. Harper, “Let me tell you this. The way that it has been done is when the employees, when they have parties and so forth, they use the upstairs room. So I don’t think it would be fair to have them do that and then, so I think you could use that room upstairs. It is pretty big. I measured it one time, it is as big or bigger than this room.”

Ms. Weimer, “We can hold the press conference here and then have the food upstairs.”
Com. Knoblock moved to allow the press conference in the chambers and the desserts in the third floor meeting room, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

MEMORIAL OPERA HOUSE PRODUCTION CONTRACT FOR SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
Holly Siebel, Director

Com. Harper, “You are here with just one contract, is that correct?”

Ms. Siebel, “Yes. It is the performance rights for Singin’ in the Rain.”

Com. Harper, “So, you have looked it over, Gwenn and have no problems with it?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “No problems.”

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the contract, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Siebel, “Thank you, and I will have Andy come tomorrow to fix this microphone.”

HIGHWAY VEHICLES DISCUSSION
Al Hoagland, Highway Superintendent
David James, Asst. Highway Superintendent

Mr. Hoagland, “I would like to present to you our long range plans for our fleet maintenance and this was the plan we talked about to upgrade the vehicles and have it for the trucks to be replaced after ten years. This year and next year will require the purchase of six trucks, 2007 will be four trucks, 2008 three, and as it goes down the line 2011, three or four trucks a year.”

Com. Harper, “Now what is this going to do. If you get on this schedule, what is the longest you plan on keeping a vehicle?”

Mr. Hoagland, “Ten years. That would be the ideal situation if we go to the heavier trucks, we don’t have the maintenance cost in but we feel that ten years is a logical term that we can keep them.”

Com. Harper, “The last time you bought them was what, three or four years ago?”

Mr. Hoagland, “Well, it was delivered in 2001, we ordered it in 2000. The numbers we presented last time as far as how the age is of them.”

Com. Harper, “And you have been out getting prices?”

Mr. Hoagland, “We have been trying to get prices, the best I can estimate the cost and we are talking total package, previously trucks were ordered, snow plows are bought separately, salt spreaders are ordered separately, the lighting package is ordered separately, so what we have done this time, we’ve gone through the entire system where the package would be bought when its delivered, we put the sticker on and it is ready to go. We’re estimating and this is the best ball park we can come up with: $810,870.00 for six complete units. We’ve had a very difficult time getting a firm commitment, steel prices fluctuate and dealers don’t want to commit to a price until they know how many vehicles you are going to purchase. There are some discounts available if you buy so many; some manufacturers were offering a discount, so we are going with, as best as we can estimate, with this figure.”

Com. Harper, “Tell me if I am right or wrong, but this would be like $400,000.00 in 2005 and $405,000.00 in 2006 or is that $800,000.. . . . .”

Mr. Hoagland, “If it is $810,000.00 for six then that would be that much again probably the following year.”

Com. Harper, “So you are saying six trucks in 2005 and six trucks in 2006?”

Mr. Hoagland, “Correct.”

Com. Knoblock, “This is out of Highway funds, is that right?”

Mr. Hoagland, “So far we are trying to figure out how we can finance it using Highway funds. The Commissioners have funds available in CEDIT, we don’t know if any of that would be available. Or also in the CCD funds. This year in particular we will purchasing two of the trucks out of the bridge funds. They will be designated bridge trucks. We are allowed to do that by state law, so we will actually be financing four of the six. Next year there wont be any bridge trucks in the rotation so that discounts using that money that will be available unless there is a change.”

Com. Harper, “If you didn’t buy any in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, what was that money used for?”

Mr. Hoagland, “Mostly road work and maintenance. We’re pretty much under a lot of budget constraints.”

Com. Harper, “It wasn’t built up in a fund?”

Mr. Hoagland, “No, we don’t have the opportunity to have many roll over funds available. Bridge funds are basically the funds we can carry year to year. The funds that were spent should go back into the highway accounts, but as you know we budget our money as it becomes available into different line items so we are pretty confident that we are going to be able to handle this.”

Com. Harper, “You are saying you are confident you have the money in your budget to do this or are you saying that you got some of it but you don’t have all of it.”

Com. Knoblock, “We don’t need to decide this tonight, right?”

Mr. Hoagland, “No, you don’t need to decide it but what I am saying is the financial obligation of the six trucks which is the largest, is not the end of our financial obligation this year. We still need an engineering vehicle and two pick up trucks. We’ve got two one ton trucks we can possibly we can continue on the road with. Barring unforeseen circumstances and not losing any more vehicles, and there have been accidents in the past where we totaled out vehicles. I’m just putting my feelers out and ask that you consider that if towards the end of the year that we are finding ourselves in dire straights, you might be able to help us out financially. If not, we’re just going to have to cut money from other things.”

Com. Harper, “Al, you’ve got the money in your account, you don’t need anything passed by anybody to spend that money on trucks right now, is that correct?”

Mr. Hoagland, “It would be a matter of asking for Commissioners’ approval to let bids. That is the control mechanism. That would be it. And as we discussed in the past, we are more than willing to discuss our financials wherever necessary.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Why don’t you do some inter office memos to the Commissioners explaining how much money and out of what funds you think you have available for this request for 2005 and 2006 so they can look at their budget and figure out what the balance is and what funds they might draw off of. Then they can authorize the release of bids.”

Mr. Hoagland, “We’ve been trying to do that and like I say, we are pretty confident we are going to be all right.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Pretty confident is different than putting it in writing and identifying the funds.”

Mr. Hoagland, “I am pretty confident, I can do that.”

Com. Harper, “I think at some point, because this has gone so long and we’ve got to get this, and there are other departments that need vehicles and they seem to always get them. We need to commit to having these guys, I think we need to set up a meeting with the Council and come up with a firm long term plan, if you are going to be shying in your long term plan, we need to know how much and we need to discuss it with everybody. I like what Gwenn says, why don’t we put this for approval in two weeks and get us definite firm numbers, we will all three be here and we can vote on approval of putting it out for bids. I think we should set up a meeting and invite whoever can come from the Council and discuss what we are going to do.”

Mr. Hoagland, “That’s fine. We have tried to do our homework. I wish I could give you an actual figure, but unfortunately nobody will commit to a figure.”

Com. Harper, “I want this to move fast and I think Carole did and I think Commissioner Evans will want it to move fast because we saw the picture of the trucks, and we know what the problem is. I think two more weeks to let those bids, now you have brought these figures to us. Is that going to be a problem?”

Mr. Hoagland, “No, no problem. You know the situation.”

Mr. James, “We need to expedite it pretty quick, in two weeks, because otherwise we are going to run into not getting them this year. The manufacturers have told us if we don’t get . . . “

Com. Harper, “You are saying you can take care of these first six no matter what happens, you are telling us that.”

Mr. Hoagland, “Barring a catastrophe.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “What fund? This is as a safety check before we release the bids. I want to make sure we know where the money is going to come from.”

Com. Harper, “You mentioned it, we’ve got it rolling, give us two more weeks and we’ll get this rolling more. We’ll have a little more idea of what to expect. Then we also will set up a meeting, not before two weeks, I know we have to do this before we meet with the Council. We will set up a meeting and invite the Council to discuss this whole program.”

Mr. Hoagland, “That is fine, thank you, I appreciate it.”

COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT

South District, Com. Knoblock

1. Yellowstone Subdivision Phase A-2, Performance Letter of Credit #490, from DeMotte State Bank, in the amount of $34,000.00. New expiration date is February 2, 2006, recommend approval.

Com. Knoblock moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

CORRESPONDENCE

Court Security Activity monthly report for January 2005 is on file.
Emergency Management monthly report for January 2005 is on file.

Approve Agreements for Memorial Opera House for January 2005.

• Personal service agreement with Steven Spanopoulos for the program “Beauty and the Beast”
• Personal service agreement with Steven Spanopoulos for the program “Singin’ in the Rain”
• Rental agreement for Unity in the Dunes 2005 church services.

Com. Knoblock moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval of employment contract with Herbert Douglas as counsel for the Porter County Drainage Board

Com. Knoblock moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval by LuAnn Shirley to proclaim April as National Child Abuse Awareness Month and to display blur ribbons at the Courthouse

Com. Harper read the following Proclamation:

Whereas, child abuse prevention is a community problem and finding solutions depends on involvement of people throughout the community;
Whereas, statistics of children who are abused and neglected escalate each year;
Whereas, the effects of child abuse are felt by whole communities and need to be addressed by the entire community;
Whereas, effective child abuse prevention programs succeed because of partnerships created among social service agencies, schools, religious organizations, law enforcement agencies and business communities;
Whereas, youth serving prevention programs offer positive alternatives for young people and encourage youth to develop strong ties to their community; and
Whereas, all citizens should become aware of child abuse and its prevention within the community and become involved in supporting parents to raise their children in a safe, nurturing environment;
Now therefore, we as the Commissioners of Porter County hereby proclaim April as Child Abuse Prevention month in Porter County, Indiana and call upon all citizens, community agencies, religious organizations, medical facilities and business to increase their participation in our effort to prevent child abuse by strengthening the community in which we live.
S/Robert P. Harper
S/John A. Evans
S/Carole M. Knoblock

Com. Harper moved to approve the proclamation, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.

Atty. Rinkenberger, “They also want permission to display blue ribbons on the trees around the courthouse and the Administration Center.”

Com. Harper, “And I think that is a fine idea.”

Request for transfer of funds—Commissioners

Fund 01.30 $70,000 from acct 3510 Power
Into acct 3420 Bldg/liability/comp

To cover insurance claims through the end of 2005.

Com. Knoblock moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Fund 01.30 $10,000 from acct 3710 equipment
Into acct 3978 care of patients and inmates

To cover cost of taking care of adult inmates through the end of 2005.

Ms. Hartig, “We had a line item in our budget in the past that was for the care of patients and inmates. It was $25,000.00 and it was removed from our budget last year at budget hearings. The money was given to Judge Harper for the care of juveniles but we still get bills to cover the cost of caring for adult inmates.”

Com. Harper, “Is this from the Department of Corrections?”

Ms. Hartig, “It is from several different places. We get bills from Logansport State Hospital, Ft. Wayne state hospital, Richmond. I’ve gotten some bills for this year. I checked with Amy Bier from Juvenile Detention to see if these were juveniles and she said they were not.”

Com. Harper, “Well, I want to find out what they are so lets put that off for two weeks and give us a chance to look these over. One of the things that is going out tomorrow is the huge dispute over the amount we owe the state on the juvenile bills because we are in dispute with several counties and how it is billed out so I want a chance to look at that and find out. What are those bills for?”

Ms. Hartig, “They are for the care of adult inmates and patients.”

Com. Harper, “It must be patients rather than inmates. So give us a chance to look this over.”

USE OF CEDIT FUNDS, PORTER COUNTY PARKS DEPARTMENT

Com. Harper, “Is there anyone here from the Parks Department?”

Ms. Hartig, “Ed said he couldn’t be here.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “If you look under your little index number 2, it’s a very small amount for a very defined project that is already in a line item in our CEDIT plan for the Parks Department so I told them from the last time that we would probably be able to approve this type of CEDIT expenditure and you don’t have to go to the Council, its just something we approve. Any of that $400,000 that we gave to the Parks, that we wanted them to come to us and approve the expenditure of CEDIT, we didn’t really anticipate that it would be $3,339.84 but that is what it is today.”

Com. Harper, “I think we should approve it. We’ve given them $400,000 CEDIT fund. I can’t see them coming in front of us every time.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “But the wording is that. They didn’t have a specific plan on how to spend their CEDIT money when we allotted that much so we had to allot it to them conditional upon them to submitting a plan to us laying out how they were going to spend this money.”

Com. Harper, “Under the state statute?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “It approves up to . . . this is a legal expenditure of the CEDIT money and one of the reasons we are having Parks come before us is otherwise also, Melissa has a hard time keeping track of what money there is and what the balances are in a different line item since we are not approving the claims. Somebody could also spend more than what is there if there is nothing to safety check.”

Com. Knoblock, “So you say there was $400,000?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think we allotted maybe $300,000 for 2004 and $300,000 for 2005. So there is no _____ of money that is approved for CEDIT expenditures.”

Com. Harper, “Well the Highway doesn’t come before us every time.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes, but in the plan we broke it out specifically, we said one third for right of ways in this district, one third for right of ways in that district, and the Park Department if I recall, when we wrote that plan, they weren’t able to save $300,000 in 2004 to go to acquisition of property, or $200,000 in 2005 to go to build a barn, it was just vague. So we said you are going to have to do this pursuant to a plan to submit to us and we approve. That is how it went.”

Com. Harper, “The Council has already approved that amount for the Parks.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Right. They have already approved the budget of the CEDIT plan but the safety check is then for the Parks Department to come to the Commissioners and let them know how much.”

Com. Harper, “It was a four year plan.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “It rolled and it accumulated so if the Park Department doesn’t spend what we allocated in the CEDIT plan for 2004, that builds and then they have that plus some for 2005 so they can do larger projects or land acquisition or whatever they want to do. Right now they just have a . . . .”

Com. Harper, “Lets put this off until next time. I think we should discuss this as to whether they are coming in front of us every time. The Council approved the money to improve the Park system in Porter County. That’s the idea, if it is going to be tied to economic development, its to improve the parks in Porter County so people want to come here and live and work.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “But it has to be pursuant to a plan.”

Com. Harper, “I understand that and I read the plan and it gave them a great deal of leeway in what they can do. I can’t see sitting here every month approving every little more they make out there. That is my personal opinion. I want to talk to John about it and see how he feels about it.”

REPAIRS TO COUNTY BUILDINGS UPDATE
David Schelling, Engineer

Mr. Schelling, “This is a picture of the north face of the County building and you can see cracks on both sides of the window. Previously you requested that another sealant be put on the county building and I do think there is a lot of merit in sealing the concrete panels. That would help prevent water getting under the windows and loosening materials. But before we can seal it those cracks need to be repaired, either caulked or filled with patching material. This is something that quite frankly, I am kind of afraid to attack because I am used to bridges, and if it doesn’t look quite right, who cares. But I feel pretty uncomfortable trying to make repairs on the building and not make it look like a patch job, and make the cracks look like spider webs all over the place. I am still researching and trying to get information from the pre-cast concrete institute but so far I have not found a good material that I feel totally comfortable that is not going to change the texture of the building or the color of the building. You have a beautiful building here that the whitish color looks like limestone, its really attractive and I would hate to do something that would tarnish that building. There is quite a bit of history on the windows that I wasn’t aware of. The bottom line is exterior work needs to be done on the building.”

Com. Harper, “What about the history of the windows?”

Mr. Schelling, “I am assuming there is possible etching of the glass.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I forwarded him the reports I gave you and that I got from Design Organization just to make sure he was aware if there was anything in those reports that has to do with when you were asking him to talk about it, the sealing of the concrete, most of that was staining from the windows.”

Com. Knoblock, “Because of the sealing, that they put on the outside, they said it was an inside sealer instead of an outside sealer? Shouldn’t they be responsible then?”
Mr. Schelling, “I am not so sure about that, I don’t recall that, but it is something that should be done every ten years, maybe fifteen years to seal the building. Originally I was leaning towards a material that would penetrate the concrete panels but I am also finding a material that would develop a film and get additional protection. Then again, it is supposed to be clear and I don’t know if it is going to affect the appearance.”

Com. Harper, “What about this leakage we are having around the windows, by sealing it and by preparing the cracks, are we going to stop some of it do you think?”

Mr. Schelling, “There is some water stripping on the windows that are shrinking so those are going to have to be replaced or caulked to repair that aspect, too. I would recommend to take care of the concrete aspect first. Design Organization designed this building, so I think really they ought to be involved in making some recommendations as to what repairs should be done.”

Com. Harper, “If we don’t do that, what should we do?”

Mr. Schelling, “I think first of all we should try and get it sealed, I am still doing some more research, I am waiting for some replies. Perhaps we could find out what type of materials are needed for the cracked sealing and also the sealing of the concrete panels. We could develop bid documents.”

Com. Harper, “That’s what I think we should do, develop bid documents to repair the seal and put those out, that would be the first step, right? Can we do that pretty quickly, do you think we can work toward that to get this rolling?”

Mr. Schelling, “Yes, do you want me to do that?”

Com. Harper, “Will you?”

Mr. Schelling, “Yes.”

Com. Harper, “Start working on some bid documents that we could put out.”

Com. Knoblock, “I feel a little different, I think we should go with Design Organization and bring them in here. . .”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I do, too, I agree. I think we should go right to the architect and just say with the understanding that we are not going to be a bottomless pit of buildings, but discuss what this material is and shouldn’t be a warranty on it; it shouldn’t be cracking like this.”

Com. Harper, “Gwenn, we paid $11,000.00, $21,000.00, for that room downstairs, . . . . “

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Lets talk to him and say we will pay you no money but what can you tell us about this?”

Com. Harper, “Why don’t you do that?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “All right. Lets start with that. Dave might want to talk to him first anyway.”

Mr. Schelling, “Yes, I would.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Lets start with saying we are not paying them another penny.”

Com. Harper, “Okay, lets give it a couple more weeks and see what we can get. As Carole will tell you, there are many people, including her, that the rain is pouring in and we need to do something.”

Mr. Schelling, “This is something that needs to be done in the summer months so we do have some time. I would also like to mention to the Commissioners that I just got information from INDOT and we have been awarded about $240,000.00 additional money for Bridge 1010 and also Bridge 1014, we got $420,000.00. I will presenting those acceptance papers to you next meeting that I have been working for years trying to get money for bridges and roads. We have had a draw and we are coming back.”

PART TIME BUILDING SECURITY POSITION DISCUSSION

Com. Harper, “I talked with Melissa and we are running short of funds in that account before the end of the year. We are only authorized for $10.00 an hour for part time security position, and I suggest we go before the Council and ask them to go to $10.50 an hour.”

Com. Knoblock moved to go before the Council to ask for $10.50, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

PORTER COUNTY EMPLOYEE POLICY MANUAL APPROVAL

Atty. Rinkenberger, “We can do that, but without John here then policy will go out with signatures of all three Commissioners. It is a pretty permanent document so I didn’t know if you wanted to wait until John comes back. We can have all three signatures and then get it printed.”

Com. Harper, “What you have done is the changes that we have made, last year we made several changes, and everything is brought up to date, is that correct?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Correct, I added one thing. It was suggested that we add on page 33, under Bereavement Leave, it says they can get three days off if an immediate family member died but it didn’t include grandchildren as an immediate family member. Some of the employees suggested that it should say that. That is the only change. Everything else was already done by board action and we just incorporated it into one document.”

Com. Harper, “We’ll just put it up for vote next meeting.”

PORTER COUNTY JAIL BUILDING CORPORATION MEETING

Atty. Rinkenberger, “The Porter County Jail Building Corporation has a five member board and one of the members is a Commissioner. One of the members was Larry Sheets, Larry passed away, and Dave Burrus became the Commissioner appointment, Dave is not here so now we need a Commissioner appointment to the Porter County Jail Building Corp for the year 2005.”

Com. Knoblock moved to approve Robert Harper as the Commissioner appointment to the Porter County Jail Building Corp., Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

HOSPITAL BUILDING ASSOCIATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES APPOINTMENTS

Com. Harper, “We announced we were accepting applications for the Hospital Building Association Board of Trustees. Before we vote on this, I would like to start by thanking everybody that took the time and that was interested in this and filled out an application and sent it in to the Commissioners’ office. There are four appointments open and I would like to share some of my thoughts about some of these. One application was put in by William Back and as many of you know, Mr. Back served on the Hospital Board itself until he resigned at one point over a dispute over an audit that he was involved in. So he has some knowledge of the background of the hospital. He presently serves as the Vice Chancellor of Administration for Purdue University North Central in Westville, he has been there for many years. He was the comptroller over there for a substantial period of time. He has a financial background and has been involved in many, many activities in the community and I personally feel that he would be a good board member. Daniel Berning has applied. Daniel Berning is an attorney that practices here in Porter County. He spent many many years in the Porter County Prosecuting Attorney’s office. He was the Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney from 1979 to 1982 an he was elected Prosecuting Attorney and headed that office from 1979 to 1982. Again, he and his family have lived in this community for many years. He is a graduate of Wabash College undergrad and Valparaiso University School of Law and I believe would bring a lot to that board. James Sullivan is an attorney that practices here in Valparaiso, he has spent most of this adult life as a practicing attorney here. He is a graduate of I believe Valparaiso University School of Law, he practices in the law firm of Lyons Sullivan and Brooks. He has worked in real estate law and land acquisition and litigation. He is a certified mediator and I think he would bring a lot to this board. He and his wife have been involved in many, many activities here in town and are known by a lot of people. The last person, and this is not all that applied, but these are the ones that jumped out at me, is Hubert Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman is a former member of the State Board of Accounts, he was the supervisor for Northwest Indiana for the State Board of Accounts, he was personally involved in supervising the hospital. The hospital no longer has to be audited by the State Board of Accounts, but while they were, he was involved in that so he has a lot of interest and a lot of knowledge of the hospital. He is a volunteer in the area, he is a Meals on Wheels volunteer, he belongs to St. Paul’s men’s club and he is treasurer of that organization and he is involved in a lot of other organizations in town. Not only are these, I think, well qualified appointments, but I think it is important that whoever is appointed to this board, that the general public have confidence, that it is not members of one political party or another and that we select people from both parties and all aspects of public involvement. Hubert Hoffman has been a member of the Democrat party, and his background for office. Daniel Berning served two terms as a Republican elected Prosecutor of Porter County and has always been Republican and been involved in the Republican party. Mr. Back is independent and Mr. Sullivan, most of his career as a registered voter as Republican. As you know, Bob Parks is already on the board and he has been a Democrat. So it will be five member board with members from both parties with Independents, with people with strong backgrounds who have been active in their community and I believe that they would be four good selections.”

Com. Knoblock moved to appoint James Sullivan to a term ending 12/31/05; Hubert Huffman for a term ending 12/31/06; Daniel Berning to a term ending 12/31/05; and William Back to a term ending 12/31/2007, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Com. Harper, “Before we end tonight I want to make a short statement and Carole may want to add something about this board. You know, Porter Memorial Hospital, and I know its Porter, but to me it is Porter Memorial, means a lot to this community. It means a lot to the people of the community. Personally, I have had five children born there, I’ve had family members die there. I have had emergencies that I have been called to with family members in trouble, and we look to that hospital, we all do, and it is important to many of us. We want to see that hospital prosper. Having a good hospital in Porter County adds a lot to the quality of life for the county. People move here and they don’t want to move to an area where they don’t have a good thriving hospital. We have been lucky we have a dedicated staff of many people that work up there, it’s a large organization and we are lucky to have the people that work there for us. We are lucky because of our hospital we are able to attract a lot of medical talent to this community but those doctors also depend on having a hospital that they can work out of. So it’s an institution that means a lot to us. Health care has become an area that is very challenging and because of a lot of competition and because of rising costs and so forth, I am concerned and Carole’s concerned and I think everyone is concerned that we do the best we can and make the best decisions concerning that hospital. The Commissioners have a limited role because a lot of our role ends after we appoint people to these boards but I want to encourage this board that is going to be looking over some future bonding issues, some small and some large, that they remember this is a public hospital and this is a public decision. If you appoint board of directors to Disney, the stock holders are the shareholders and the shareholder elect the board. In Porter County the Commissioners appoint the board but we are sort of representatives of community; the shareholders of Porter Memorial Hospital, all the residents of Porter County. It is a community hospital and I encourage them to, that board, to get together and make a bi-partisan decision and do the best job possible but do it in public. I am going to call a meeting of that board, I won’t be at that meeting but to get it started because there is not a chairman and they haven’t had an organization. I am going to call a meeting of that organization next Tuesday which is think is February 22nd and we will send notices out to all these gentlemen and those that can make it can start their first organization meeting. I am going to encourage them to have all their meetings noticed to the public and what they are doing to keep the public informed. This is a public hospital. The meeting will be at 6:30, we have been provided with oaths of office to send out this time and hopefully everybody will and we are going to follow up and make sure everyone gets their oath and takes their oath and files it correctly as required by law. Do you want to add anything to that?”

Com. Knoblock, “That’s hard to beat that. But I do want to say my husband and I have always lived in Porter County and we had all our children at this hospital and our main concern is the health care.”

Com. Knoblock moved to recess, Com Harper seconded, motion carried.

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA

Robert P. Harper
John A. Evans
Carole M. Knoblock

Attest: Sandra K. Vuko, Auditor