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PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2005 6:00 P.M. The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5, 2005, in the Commissioners’ Chambers of the Administration Center. Those present were: Commissioners Robert Harper, John Evans 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. Evans moved to approve the payroll of March 21, 2005 and April 4, 2005, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Com. Knoblock moved to approve the minutes from March 1, 2005 and March 15, 2005, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Com. Knoblock moved to approve the claims of April 5, 2005, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. PORTER HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION BOND ISSUE REPAYMENT Robert Welsh, Attorney Com. Harper, “The next matter is the Porter Hospital Association Bond Issue Repayment, Bob Welsh is here. I believe we are going to hear a motion to continue this for two weeks.” Com. Knoblock moved to continue the topic for two weeks, Com. Harper seconded, Com. Evans, “Could we at least have Bob since he is here, give us some kind of idea of what it will cost the hospital?” Atty. Welsh, “This is somewhat of a disappointment to say the lease. This is refinancing of a bond or bonds that the hospital already has. This is not really a new debt. We have been trying to do this now for several months. . . . . (inaudible) the Board of Commissioners are not replacing the entire hospital association. That caused them to have to delay some official ____ while they organized, (inaudible) . . . Your actions tonight will delay for another two weeks, you already delayed three weeks, at least two weeks since they acted, basically three weeks because they acted on the 16th of March. Every day there is a delay on this bond it costs the hospital $2,500.00 in interest. We can reduce that if we have this bond, our interest rate on average is 5.3% to 2.%. That is worth $2,500.00 per day. That means $2,500.00 per day for this hospital, it goes right down the drain for nothing. We could buying nurses’ time, we could be buying an operating bed in an operating room, we could buying anesthesia equipment. This is straight forward. We are simple getting _____; we are saving here by doing this. This is not right. This was your meeting, we’ve all come up here. Brenda Horn is here from Ice Miller to explain this, this is what you wanted us to do. We have asked all the Commissioners for a couple of weeks now, I have, Brenda has, other people have, if you had questions to let us know and we would answer them. There have been very few questions. But we answered what there were. We are here tonight to go forward, we want to move forward. Every day we’re delayed, it costs the health care in Porter County $2,500.00. For two months, that’s $150,000.00, and that is what we are moving for right now. I ask you not to continue this, take it up now. I’ll bet you with the people you’ve got here, any question you have can be answered fully and completely. If in fact you have questions. So I would like to move forward, if you are not willing to go forward, I certainly would not want you to delay this two weeks. I would ask you to do two things; set up a meeting immediately for next week and direct one of yourselves or your staff to work directly with me so if, in effect, if there are any questions, then those answers will be supplied so that in fact if you were to delay this meeting, that there will be no further delay. There is really no good reason to delay; $2,500.00 a day is money that goes out the door for interest that we could use.” Com. Harper, “You are the attorney for the association and I am going to ask our attorney to respond to that.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Well, it is my recommendation at this point based upon the documentation that we received Friday and the question that each of my clients have, that I don’t think we are prepared to move forward tonight.” Com. Harper, “I would like you to address whether or not that no one has communicated with them.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Well, no, there has been communication going on. I started a number of files to prepare for tonight that I didn’t bring out here because I didn’t think we were addressing this. I will have to check my correspondence, but I think the first legal research I did was in September, 2004 regarding the issue of whether or not the county could be held liable if these bonds were issued and there was a default. So I know we were talking about this bond issue since September of 2004 because I have correspondence and I researched it and then the next issue became in January 2005 regarding whether or not they could issue these bonds without the Commissioners having a public hearing, if they were IHFAA bonds. I researched that issue and I think we got a legal opinion from Barnes and Thornburg. Then the issue came up as to whether or not board action was required for us, as lessee, to permit early buy out of the lease and I have correspondence that we were contacted January 2005. I think we had conversations and I gave the opinion that we need to have a board action. From my files, I think the conversations and the inquiries began in September 2004. We have been getting information in throughout that course in time but I think that you guys were interested and I, too, and the actual bond documents that were going to be approved by the Board of Trustees to obtain for the board $40 million of bond. I think that was Friday, they’re intimidating by their nature, they’re extensive, they’re lengthy. I got through everything else, I did not get to look at those documents in detail. And we have questions about the 1985 lease and the 1988 lease and the amendments to those leases and the ownership of property for collateral for those ’85 and ’88 leases. With all those questions, I didn’t feel that I could advise this board to proceed tonight.” Atty. Welsh, “I would like to know if we are in agreement that there is no issue about Porter County being liable with the bond issue we are talking about.” Com. Harper, “We are in agreement about that. Let me ask you something, who owns the land at the hospital?” Atty. Welsh, “You mean with respect to the leases?” Com. Harper, “I mean with respect to the land at the main hospital, who owns that land?” Atty. Welsh, “The land at the main hospital site which is at the corner of Laporte and Garfield, is primarily owned by the hospital. Part of the reason for that is that there is a number of occasions where the Board of Commissioners have deeded that property directly over to the hospital when it previously had been deeded over to the Board of Commissioners. There is some property primarily in the southwest corner on South Garfiled Street that the county Commissioners own. I have a map from the title insurance company showing exactly what the parcels are that have been accumulated on that site over the years, who owns which particular parcel, and all the deeds for that.” Com. Harper, “Are those the only two entities that own property there?” Atty. Welsh, “That’s correct.” Com. Harper, “So this hospital board doesn’t own any property there, and this hospital association doesn’t own any property.” Atty. Welsh, “The hospital association bound the leases that we supplied to you. The Hospital Association was deeded property at the hospital site which had to be deeded by law over to them when they did the bond issues in 1985 and 1988. They retain the property until such time as the bond issues are paid off and then they return it to whoever it came from. The property from ’85 and ’88 came to them from the hospital itself because . . . .” Com. Harper, “Have the Commissioners ever owned that property?” Atty. Welsh, “Not in 1988.” Com. Harper, “I am not asking you in 1988. Did Porter County ever own the property on which the hospital sits?” Atty. Welsh, “There are some parcels that we talked about where the hospital sits . . . . . ” Com. Harper, “Well lets talk about the property the association holds right now. Did Porter County ever own that property?” Atty. Welsh, “Porter County did own some of that property and deeded it to the hospital so that they could in turn deed it to the Association.” Com. Harper, “Then Porter County Commissioners, have in effect, deeded a lot of this asset out of Porter County over the years. And we discovered that today. We want a little time to study this issue. If I understand correctly what we are doing here, is we are taking the bulk of a $200 million asset asset and are going to allow this association to transfer completely out of any oversight by the County Council, or the County Commissioners, and that is what is going on here. Very simply what is going on. I think this just came to light. I think the Council’s attorney and the Council’s been concerned about it and we are concerned about it. Does that answer your question?” Atty. Welsh, “No. I understand what you are saying but that has nothing to do with getting this bond issue done so we can save the money with respect to the difference in interest.” Com. Evans, “I would just like to say if we are going to delay, I suggest we set a special meeting for next Monday.” Com. Harper, “We cannot get this done in that amount of time, can we?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Well, it depends on what we can determine from title work, and the history of two parcels of property that are being the collateral from 1985 and 1988 because what I am hearing from Carole and Bob and Dave Hollenbeck and myself were wanting to know who owns that property.” Atty. Welsh, “Bob, I have all those documents right here.” Com. Harper, “I don’t have time to go through them tonight but let me tell you this. I believe that the Commissioners in the past, have acted quickly, a lot of times with you in the room, and because of it we now have an asset that the history in this county has said that is a county owned hospital and now it comes to light that it is a patchwork of four different organizations that own land up there. That is not clearly understood by the rules of law. We are talking about a $2 million asset and I say two weeks is not going to hurt in trying to get some clarity on this issue.” Com. Knoblock, “I think you were correct with everything of me which is fine because I asked for the delay, but you know, I don’t know anything about bonds and so I have got somebody to study them and we can’t do that overnight.” Atty. Welsh, “They are not your bonds, Carole.” Com. Knoblock, “I am not going to sign my name on a piece of paper without seeing what I am doing and somebody telling me what I am signing.” Atty. Welsh, “If you have a mortgage on your house, and you have a right to prepay the mortgage to get a lower interest rate and you went to your bank and said I am exercising my right to prepay you so that I can get a lower interest rate, what would the question be, why wouldn’t you do that? Why wouldn’t you save the money? That is all you need to know about a bond issue. You can get a lower rate of interest here, save 3%. This is so simple and straight forward I having a very difficult time understanding why it is that its being made out to be complex.” Com. Harper, “What if we add one more fact to that and that is if you pay off that mortgage for a lower interest rate, that will trigger your land being transferred to somebody else. Because that is what we are doing here. We are triggering a parcel of a big majority of the hospital land by doing this, we are triggering a transfer of that land, from the Hospial Association, you say to the hospital, I don’t know if it is a legal entity, this hospital. I imagine you’re saying the Board of Trustees. Because it also appears that some of this land is in the name of Porter Memorial Hospital and some of it is in the name of the trustees. But you are triggering it, well, is it the same thing? I have a question about that, but in any event you are triggering it.” Atty. Walsh, “Are you saying that you get land back that you have owned in the first place that that is a triggering effect? The hospital owned that property, that is the only way the association was able to get title to it under the act that required them to have it as a mortgage for the ’85 and ’88 bonds. When those bonds are paid off, obviously the association doesn’t have a right to that land anymore and returns it to the party that granted the land in the first place.” Com. Harper, “I am saying I am getting a worse and worse feeling about this the longer I get into it and the longer we talk about it. I am going to vote for a two week continuance on this. By the way, there were two attorneys that worked on this a good part of the day advising this body. My last question is, why did the bond documents just get here on Friday? Are you saying we weren’t asking for them before then?” Atty. Welsh, “I don’t know what the status was on the revision of the bond documents which are going on all the time but you got the most recent revisions of those documents as soon as they . . . and I don’t know what you have done with them since Friday, but we are here Tuesday night and certainly nobody has called me and asked me one question about those bond documents.” Com. Knoblock, “We haven’t seen them.” Atty. Welsh, “You had them since Friday. Bob and I talked on Thursday, or Wednesday, that they would be in his office by Thursday, which they were and since then nobody has asked me a single question about . . . . .” Com. Knoblock, “I called you two weeks ago.” Atty. Welsh, “I am afraid I don’t recall you calling me two weeks ago, what did you say?” Com. Knoblock, “I asked you on the telephone if I could have a copy of what I was supposed to sign.” Atty. Welsh, “What you supposed to sign is not those bond documents, those documents have nothing to do with you, Carole, they are documents for the Indiana House Financing Authorities Bond Issue, its not your bond issue. So they are not there for you to sign but since you asked to see them, they have been provided. What is here for you to sign is a very short resolution that simply says, yes, lets pay off the bonds so that we can save this extra money. That has been provided to you on a couple occasions by a couple different people, myself and Mrs. Horn.” Com. Evans, “We really can’t set it before two weeks? How long will it take for you to determine ownership?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I can’t determine ownerhship. We are going to have to have a title search and have the Auditor’s office do a title search and review the title work that Bob and the hospital has done. I can’t answer that question until I know what needs to be required gets done. We might be able to do it and have all our questions answered by next week or we might not. I can’t give a definite answer. Because I don’t know what all three clients have; I know the questions you have. I don’t know.” Com. Evans, “I just think it is prudent to act in a timely manner and I don’t think two weeks is a timely manner.” Com. Harper, “Any further discussion? The motion is to continue this for two weeks.” Com. Harper moved to continue the bond discussion until the next meeting, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried with Com. Evans voting no. EXTENSION OFFICE Annetta Jones Ms. Jones, “This is an updated version of the previous contract that each year, I believe, and each year the contract is renewed. This year they sent out a completely new document that has three people to sign it and there are changes under the last part under equal opportunities and affirmative action to make that more clear. There is ___ the documents that state that the university will provide programs for consumer family sciences, 4H, agriculture, natural resources and leadership development for the _______. The other part that is different is that now there is on the first page, section one, I think we are asking for just billing the county for one installment versus two installments.” Com. Knoblcok moved to approve the contract, Com. Evans seconded making it contingent upon the county attorneys’ review, motion carried. REQUEST APPROVAL OF COURSE FOR VALPARAISO TRIATHLON Matthew Soliday Mr. Soliday, “I am here on behalf of Valparaiso Triathlon. This is the third annual triathlon to be held at Rogers Lakewood Park. Previously, Jim Spanapolous is the treasurer and would come before the board and ask for permission to allow this. Did you get a map? I sent a map with this. On Campbell Street and 700, there’s usually the county sheriff deputy there and also down at 550. We have volunteers on all the other roads. Normally from about 8:00 to 10:00, 700 North is basically blocked off and we try and divert other traffic along 700 east and west so they don’t go south down Campbell because the bike riders, they swim in the lake and they come out at the entrance of Lakewood there and then they go across 550 and up there west. Usually, once the big rush of people go through there, we start letting the cars go through slowly. We also put up signs telling the residents along the route when the race is going on so they know what is going on.” Com. Harper, “You have coordinated this with the Sheriff’s Department?” Mr. Soliday, “Yes, and Valpo Police is down at Campbell Street and Burlington Beach with their squad car.” Com. Evans, “Do you have insurance?” Mr. Soliday, “We do have insurance. It’s a million dollar policy. Its sanctioned by USA Triathlon Association, we are part of the sanction.” Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. REQUEST ACCESS TO COURTHOUSE BY INDIANA GHOST TRACKERS Mike McDowell, “I am president of Indiana Ghost Trackers. What we are requesting in public access to the courthouse on an evening for purposes of para-normal investigations. We have formed a not for profit corporation that has been around since August 2000. We have done a lot of not for profit service work here in Valparaiso helping county wide and also the Valparaiso Jail Museum. We have a lot of positive impact on the community where we do a lot of public school talks, we go to bookstores a lot and do talks. We have had private home owners come and talk to us about problems that they have. We try to help out other local places. We have a long track record of doing investigations at the Elks Club, the old jail, the old city hall building when Mayor Butterfield was in office. There was a long article put out about us then. We gave our investigation results to him. We also educate the public in helping them with what we do and showing them what we find. We have been working at the Crown Point old city hall there, the curator, has had us in there numerous times and he could give us a recommendation. Mainly we are about education, we are a not for profit organization recognized in the state of Indiana. We want to help out the community by giving them knowledge of what we find. What we may find in the courthouse, I don’t know. It is interesting because we found a lot of evidence at the Old Jail Museum. We have heard a lot of stories about the Court Restaurant which we have not been able to investigate as well as the theater. This would be an interest of ours to see what we might find. It may be nothing at all. But Indiana Ghost Trackers is a 500 member organization throughout the state of Indiana. We have about 200 members right here in Northwest Indiana. A lot of them live in the Valpo city area and a lot of people are interested. So what I propose is probably a five or six man team to go in and investigate for a few hours one evening and to note any evidence we may find to the people in charge. We do have an insurance liability policy to cover us for a half million dollars for any damages we may cause while we are in there. That is all I have to say.” Com. Harper, “I am concerned about the security.” Com. Evans, “Many of the records are confidential and I would say you should have a security guard or one of the sheriff’s deputies.” Mr. McDowell, “That would be quite acceptable.” Com. Evans, “The expense of that is going to be borne by you as well.” Mr. McDowell, “Would it be possible to get a volunteer? Could I ask for a volunteer and to go with that?” Chief Lain, “Present company excluded, I may be able to find a volunteer, we can certainly ask to see if any of our volunteer officers would have an interest in that.” Com. Harper, “We don’t even allow the workers in there at night without supervision because of all the records. I think it would probably take two people to adequately supervise them. Dave, what kind of hourly rate would you be paying those people if they weren’t volunteers?” Chief Lain, “If we had to pay personnel, it would roughly be $20.00 per hour per officer.” Com. Harper, “If someone wants to make a motion based on the attorney reviewing the liability policy and this organization working out at least how they are going to have two deputies in there.” Com. Evans, “There are going to be certain areas you will not have access to, like the judges’ chambers.” Mr. McDowell, “That’s quite all right.” Com. Evans moved to approve the request based upon the either having the Porter County Sheriff’s Police or some mutual agreement for the funding of same and in accordance with the liability provision from their insurance and that they will be restricted from the judges’ chambers, and having at least two deputies, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A POLICY FOR DISPOSITION OF SURPLUS PERSONAL PROPERTY FOR ITS DEPARTMENT—2ND READING Sharon Lippens, ITS Director Atty. Rinkenberger, “Sharon came up with this idea and I took the statutory language and came up with this for our code. I don’t think there is another county that has something like this. (inaudible)…..” Com. Evans moved to approve Ordinance No. 05-05 on 2nd reading, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. ORDINANCE NO. 05-05 PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A POLICY FOR DISPOSITION OF SURPLUS PERSONAL PROPERTY FOR THE ITS DEPARTMENT PURSUANT TO IC 5-22-22 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, the Porter County Board of Commissioners has deemed it necessary to pass a new ordinance for inclusion in the Porter County Code; and WHEREAS, pursuant to IC 36-1-3-2 grants the Porter County Board of Commissioners all the powers that they need for the effective operation of government as to local affairs; and WHEREAS, pursuant to IC 5-22-2-5; IC 5-22-2-26; and pursuant to Ordinance No. 98-18, the Porter County Board of Commissioners has determined that it is the “purchasing agency” for Porter County and that “All duly appointed department heads for each county office without an elected official” are “purchasing agents”; and WHEREAS, the Information and Technology Services Department, (hereafter ITS Department) is a county office without an elected official; and WHEREAS, the ITS Department has a duly appointed department head, to wit: the ITS Director; and WHEREAS, pursuant to Ordinance 98-18 the ITS Director has been deemed a “purchasing agent” for Porter County; and WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners has deemed it necessary for the effective operation of government as to local affairs to create a policy for the ITS Department regarding the disposition of unused or surplus technology related personal property; and WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners has deemed it necessary to create a policy for the ITS Department due to the unmanageable surplus of personal property equipment; and WHEREAS, IC 5-22-22 authorizes the Porter County Board of Commissioners to dispose of surplus personal property; NOW BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT: 1. Title 3, Revenue and Finance in the Porter County Municipal Code is hereby amended through the addition of Chapter 3.70 entitled Disposition of Surplus Personal Property for ITS Department; 2. That Section 3.70.010 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.70.010 Disposition of Surplus Personal Property for ITS Department; Purchasing Agent Pursuant to IC 5-22-22-3 the Porter County Board of Commissioners may sell property that belongs to the governmental body but is no longer needed or is unfit for the purpose for which it is intended. Pursuant to Ordinance 98-18, the ITS Director is considered a duly appointed purchasing agent for the Porter County Board of Commissioners. 3. That Section 3.70.020 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.70.020 Internet Auction Sites Pursuant to IC 5-22-22-4.5, the Porter County Board of Commissioners may sell surplus property using an Internet auction site. The Porter County Board of Commissioners hereby grant authority to the ITS Director to utilize an Internet auction site approved by the State of Indiana Intelenet Commission for disposal of unused or surplus technology related personal property when the anticipated net payment received for the personal property exceeds the “total net value gained” from utilizing an Internet auction site for disposal. The “total net value gained” is defined as the all costs associated with: a) Fees related to advertising b) Labor for preparing the advertisement c) Labor for preparing and packaging the item for shipment d) Cost of shipping if applicable e) Cost of shipping materials 4. That Section 3.70.030 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.70.030 Property Valued at $5,000.00 or Less Pursuant to IC 5-22-22-6; The Porter County Board of Commissioners grant authority to the ITS Director to perform a public or private sale or transfer without formal advertising if the property to be sold is: a) one (1) item, with an estimated value of less than one thousand dollars ($1,000); or b) more than one (1) item, with an estimated total value of less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) Any item sold either public or privately shall be accompanied by the approved “Technology Related Personal Property Disposal Form” (Appendix A) indicating the description of the item, any licensed product(s) included, serial or registration number if applicable, sale price or donation value, purchaser’s name, address and social security number for tax purposes if applicable. Notification of items available for purchase or donation will be placed in a special section on the Porter County public web site. Items available will be sold or donated on a first come first served basis and will be considered “as is” with no guarantees or warranties of any kind. Employees of the ITS Department are ineligible from purchasing or receiving donations of said equipment. Pursuant to IC 5-22-22-7; The Porter County Board of Commissioners grant authority to the ITS Director to sell at a public or private sale or transfer technology related personal property to an outside agent for the specific purpose of recycling the property. This transfer may occur with or without advertising. 5. That Section 3.70.040 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.70.040 Worthless Property Pursuant to IC 5-22-22-9; The Porter County Board of Commissioners grant authority to the ITS Director to identify if technology related personal property is considered worthless. Property may be considered worthless or of no market value if the value of the property is less than the estimated costs of the sale and transportation of the property. 6. That Section 3.70.050 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.70.050 Exchange of Property Pursuant to IC 5-22-22-10; The Porter County Board of Commissioners grant authority to the ITS Director to exchange technology related personal property between other governmental bodies. a) The property may be exchanged with another governmental body based upon terms and conditions agreed upon by the governmental bodies as evidenced by adoption of a substantially identical resolution by each entity. b) A transfer of property may be made for any amount of property or monetary amount as agreed upon by the governmental bodies. c) If a monetary amount is agreed upon, a check should be issued payable to the Porter County Treasurer to be deposited into the County’s general fund. This ordinance passed and adopted this ____ day of ___________________, 2005. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA S/Robert P. Harper S/John A. Evans S/Carole M. Knoblock Attest: s/Sandra K. Vuko, Auditor Com. Harper, “I want to thank both the attorney and Sharon for putting this together. She mentioned it to me some time ago and we do need it.” ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A COUNTY CORRECTIONS FUND FOR LEVEL 3 FUNDING-1ST READING Chief David Lain Atty. Rinkenberger, “We can do this for first reading and then waive and do the second reading. This is an ordinance that the Commissioners, pursuant to state law are required to have annually so we can obtain money from the Department of Corrections pursuant to IC 11-12-6-13. The Sheriff’s Department spends the money, we just create the fund so it’s deposited into it pursuant to state law every year.” Chief Lain, “The County Corrections Fund is distributed to each county in Indiana based on their population. That is the only formula they use. It is a fund which is used for some of the operating expenses.” Com. Harper, “So this is an ongoing ordinance that is passed yearly.” Com. Evans, “Is it administered by the Auditor?” Chief Lain, “Yes, everything goes through the Auditor.” Com. Evans moved to approve the ordinance on 1st reading, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Evans moved to suspend the rules and pass the ordinance on 2nd reading, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Evans moved to pass Ordinance No. 05-06 on 2nd reading, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. ORDINANCE NO. 05-06 PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A COUNTY CORRECTIONS FUND FOR LEVEL 3 FUNDING PURSUANT TO I.C. 11-12-6-1 ET SEQ. ________________________________________________________________________ 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, the Porter County Board of Commissioners has deemed it necessary to pass a new ordinance for inclusion in the Porter County Code; and WHEREAS, for the purpose of this ordinance, the Board of Commissioners of Porter County, Indiana, constitutes the County legislative body as per I.C. 36-1-2-9; and WHEREAS, I.C. 11-12-6-1 et seq. provides that the Board of Commissioners of Porter County may elect to establish a County Corrections Fund; and NOW THEREFORE BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT: 1. Chapter 3.12 (County Corrections Fund) Section 3.12.010 (Fund established) is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.12.010 Fund established Pursuant to I.C. 11-12-6-1 et seq., a County Corrections Fund is established and the County elects to receive deposits into the fund from the Indiana Department of Corrections on the basis of Level 3 Funding as set forth in I.C. 11-12-6-13(c). (Ord. 98-10; Ord. 97-9; Ord. 96-7) This ordinance passed and adopted this ______ day of __________________, 2005. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA S/Robert P. Harper S/John A. Evans S/Carole M. Knoblock Attest:s/Sandra K. Vuko, Auditor APPROVE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT GRANT Chief Lain, “I do have another issue that has come up if you want to discuss it while I am here. We have been made aware of a justice department grant that the Sheriff’s Department would be allotted $5,000.00 through this justice grant. The only tie to that is that we must enter into an interlocal agreement with the city of Portage that we will support one another in our law enforcement efforts. The homeland security grants are being regionalized so there will be fewer monies available to individual departments but they are redirecting this to a more regional approach so that a number of agencies can benefit. In this particular case, Portage is eligible, they have qualified for $5,000.00 and Porter County has qualified for $5,000.00. But because of the federal wording we have to enter into that interlocal agreement which needs to be signed by the president of the County Commissioners and the mayor of Portage.” Com. Evans, “Is this similar to a mutual aid type of thing?” Chief Lain, “Essentially.” Com. Evans, “Who is to administer the grant?” Chief Lain, “That will be administered within the Sheriff’s Department. Just so you know, its our intention that this grant will go for technology, probably specific software. The total grant is $10,100.00, shared equally between Portage and Porter County.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “One section of the grant says the amount of the grant and another section says they get exactly one half of the grant. And then we are using the other half to . . . ?” Chief Lain, “They get the other half of the grant. The city of Portage.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “They get half of it to use on their own and the other half is used jointly for the Portage city and Porter County joint project?” Chief Lain, “No. It’s a mutual agreement. We benefit from what Portage does as a law enforcement agency and vice versa. We support them in law enforcement and they support us. Basically, that is what the agreement is saying. I am not sure what the perimeters were that the Department of Justice required but I understand that only the Sheriff’s Department and the city of Portage qualified. So that is why there is no other entities.” Com. Harper, “The county agrees to pay the city $5,050.00.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “That is the total grant money, the total grant money is $10,100.00 so we are giving them $5,050.00 and then the other $5,000.00, from what I understand, on the joint project with Portage. So that means Portage is getting ¾’s of the benefit.” Chief Lain, “There is no joint project. I think you probably need to pick the brain of the federal government as to how they determined this. There is mutual benefit.” Com. Evans moved to approve based on further review by the attorney and the acceptance of the city of Portage, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Chief Lain, “Just for the record, Portage could independently get their $5,000.00 and if we want our $5,000.00 we could enter into this as well. It needs to be signed by Friday.” AMEND ORDINANCE 96-6, WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT ORDINANCE 1ST READING Com. Harper, “Are we just going to amend this or Gale, did you have anything to say?” Gale Carmona, “I have nothing to say but if you have any questions, I am available.” Com. Harper, “I know this ordinance is going to be redrafted by the attorney to amend Ordinance 96-6, an ordinance establishing Porter County Wildlife Management Advisory Board to amend the section dealing with the qualifications of the members. Number one to make it one licensed veterinarian, if there happens to be two, that is fine. And number two, remove the County Commissioner as a member but leave that membership spot on the board and make the County Commissoiner a liaison to the board.” Com. Harper moved to amend the ordinance, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. Com. Harper, “Now because of that we have one vacancy on the board which it provides, we have two vacancies, do I hear any nominations for people to fill those vacancies?” Com. Evans, “One of the requirements is that it be a fire fighter.” Com. Evans moved to nominate Arthur Elwood for that position and Glen Wiles for the unoccupied seat, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Gale Carmona, “I believe we were going to be able to have two vets because I believe Dr. McAfee and Dr. James Reed, and I think the other (inaudible). . . and at least one firefighter.” Com. Evans, “Art Elwood is the firefighter for the board.” Ms. Carmona, “Oh, sorry, I can’t hear over here. Not when you talk quietly among yourselves.” Com. Harper, “He has been appointmed.” OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS E-911 Approval of 2005 budget David Sheibels, Director Mr. Sheibels, “Good evening. I am here mostly on a little housekeeping update tonight. As you recall at the first meeting of December 2004, the Commissioners approved on first reading the 2005 911 Surcharge budget. There was not a suspension of rules that night for second reading which typically takes place at the time of the first reading. Consequently, there was not a follow up meeting in 2005. A few meetings ago when I came in for a request for appropriation for a mapping upgrade project which was approved on initial presentation. We went back and Melissa and myself discovered that the 2005 budget was not advertised because there was not a second reading by the end of last year so we are requesting tonight that you have a second reading to approve the 2005 budget and also to inform you that the budget cost appropriation has been advertised by Melissa. Which means that we should also re-vote on the mapping appropriation project.” Com. Harper, “Is this the exact same budget that was passed on the first reading?” Mr. Sheibels, “Yes.” Com. Evans, “Refresh my memory, please.” Mr. Sheibels, “This year, everything was status quo. We went through the changes the preceding year when the structure of the department changed.” Com. Evans moved to approve the 911 budget on second reading, Com. Knoblock seconded, Com. Harper, “Did you give the $1,000.00 raise that everybody else did in this budget?” Mr. Sheibels, “Yes, we did.” Motion carried. Mr. Sheibels, “We should do a second vote on the additional appropriation at this time since that was advertised also, $37,100.00 was the additional appropriation.” Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Evans, “It’s tornado season, where is our siren?” Mr. Sheibels, “As a matter of fact, IRMC was at the tower site most of today. I was not with them, and they did not request my presence. I am waiting for a follow up report tomorrow on their fact finding mission to lay out the exact floor plan of installation and those types of details.” Com. Evans, “We have some partners in this endeavor and they are very anxious as well because the townships have put up their money. And they don’t come by that kind of money too readily so they need to be kept informed and they can assist and I will be glad to assist if there needs to be some phone calls made. We are coming into the tornado season and that weather radio would be very important to a lot of people.” Mr. Sheibels, “I’ve expressed that concern with our project leader, Terry Schwartz on several occasions over the last thirty days. They are proceeding as rapidly as their schedule will allow. I don’t have a final schedule for implementation. I talked to the Porter Township Trustee on this.” Com. Evans, “Will you update me weekly on the progress? I would like to have this up there in record time and if you can, give me the telephone number for your coordination so I could follow this up.” Mr. Sheibels, “I will just send you a weekly email.” Open bids for Liquid Bituminous Al Hoagland, Highway Superintendent Com. Harper, “Are we just going to open them and you are going to take them back and study them?” Mr. Hoagland, “Right. We will take them back and try to have a recommendation at your next meeting. If I could, after you open them, if you want to read them, I would like to get them outside as we have several of the vendors here that would like to look at them.” Com. Harper, “Okay, the material we are bidding on is what, Al?” Mr. Hoagland, “Liquid Bituminous, 80-90.” Com. Harper, “Well, there is 80-90 RS2AT.” The following bids were opened: Koch Materials Co. .683 price delivered Bit Mat Products .65 Seneca Petroleum .6763 Open bids for Dump Trucks Ozone Mac Sales/Service $870,727.61 Great Lakes $806,720.00 Truck City of Gary $750,562.00 Deeds $726,882.00 Mr. Hoagland, “I will try and have a recommendation in two weeks after I go through them.” COMMISSIONERS’ REPORTS North District: Com. Evans 1. Calumet Trail Construction Inspectoin Audit shows that the Consultant, First Group Engineering is owed $2,894.08. This would raise the total compensation to $82,891.39 which under runs the construction inspection agreement amount of $108.428.29.” Com. Evans moved to approve and endorse the letter, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. 2. Jackson Minor Subdivision 2523-C-2 Road Agreement, located on the west side of CR 400 East between US 6 and CR 725 North. Offer to contribute $750.00 per lot for a total of $750.00. Owners and subdividers are Harry J. and Barbara F> Jennings. Recommend approval. Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Evans, “Dave, you wanted to talk about the Midwest Steel Bridge?” Mr. Schelling, “There are some issues with this bridge, it was really on the fast track, this was a project that INDOT put on their letting back in May of 2003. In my opinion the county is really held hostage because INDOT didn’t give a notice to receive until the county signed an agreement to be ____ the bridge.” Com. Evans, “We hold the same opinion. We have had a gun put to our heads and told to sign here or the bridge wouldn’t be built. It is a bridge that goes to private industry and I have never had a warm, cozy feeling about it at all. Now its falling apart.” Mr. Schelling, “There’s some cracks on there that indicate to me that there is going to be some maintenance issue beyond the scope of county highway. They had problems with the bridge, there was a weight limit on it, and they also closed it. In this case, it is on the way into the steel mill. Plus, a weight limit, the loads that they have on there are enormous. So that really wouldn’t work, and in my opinion, INDOT really should be maintaining it themselves just like the bridge to the ease that goes over.” Com. Harper, “We signed an agreement already.” Com. Evans, “We did so under duress. It was noted all the way through.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I said not to but we did so.” Com. Evans, “Well there was no other way to get the bridge built. I think this is the proper time before any more damage occurs. We need to put INDOT on notice that we intend to withdraw from it.” Com. Harper, “I think what we should is maybe have the answers to some of. . . . If we can’t get out of the contract just go ahead and do what we used to do with the bridge and that is to close it down.” Com. Evans, “We have to take every bridge in this county, they are our responsibility, and if we did agree to this, then . . . . I don’t know if the city of Portage owns it.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “We need to get a copy of the agreement we signed, get the minutes, . . “ Mr. Schelling, “Its in the memo I sent back on the 21st, I had a copy of the Commisssioner’s minutes plus a copy of the agreement and I sent it to the Commissioners and copied Gwenn. Its really unusual, any bridge going over a state road, a US highway or interstate in Porter County, its always been maintained by the state. So this is would be an exception.” Com. Evans, “I think we need to review the contracts and see if there is some place that we can express our concern and show our objection. I don’t think we want to get hooked on that bill.” Mr. Schelling, “I am really concerned about some of the cracks that are developing in the deck. Originally we had issues with cracks in the concrete railing, and the contractor . . .” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Maybe instead of a maintenance issue, there is a construction issue that falls on INDOT to begin with because it wasn’t properly constructed. So I don’t think that with what you are telling me this would be a maintenance issue that would fall within our jurisdiction.” Mr. Schelling, “Its not even a year old.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “To me it is not a maintenance issue, so we can say we don’t want to maintain the bridge but I think the smartest thing for us to say is this isn’t a maintenance issue because its not. It’s a defect in construction and that is not our issue.” Com. Harper, “Carole wants to know if they approved the . . .” Com. Knoblock, “Did they sign off of it?” Mr. Schelling, “Yes, they had a state inspector while it was being built. They did not make any final payment to the contractor. The subcontractor hasn’t gotten paid anything on it. They have been trying to ___ a letter of credit for performance, a maintenance guarantee for the ___ and quite frankly I don’t want anything to do with the bridge.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think the smart thing to do would be to notify them and tell them we don’t consider this a maintenance issue under our agreement, that it’s a defective construction issue that is their issue. Then if you want to pull out of that agreement to maintain you can.” Mr. Schelling, “Okay.” Com. Harper, “If we are required to maintain a property, can we sue the contractor ourselves?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “INDOT can approve the contract so that’s why it should be considered a construction issue and not a maintenance issue. Whoever was in charge of the project, which wasn’t us, then they have privity of contract.” Com. Evans, “There’s nothing (inaudible). . . if you have to rebuild it, that’s a long expanse.” Mr. Schelling, “The thing is, the cracks you are seeing in the top, you can’t see if they are all the way through the deck because they have metal form work underneath, you can’t look up and see it.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think they would know its construction defects and not maintenance.” Com. Evans, “And why don’t you add a little caveat that if we don’t have a response by sixty days, we are considering closing it.” Com. Harper, “I think you should notify a couple state representatives. This is really not a fair situation.” Mr. Schelling, “We were being sued where the triple fatality was.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “We didn’t have any liability.” Mr. Schelling, “I’ve never been across that crossing.” Com. Harper, “How is our railroad crossings going?” Mr. Schelling, “Pretty good, they are working on one, that was one of the last ones and I don’t know the status on that one on Joliet.” Com. Harper, “I see they are on Joliet, I mean Tower Road, sorry.” Mr. Schelling, “They did some work on Tower Road and another crossing toward the west. What they are doing was they were working from the west to the east and I am not quite sure where they are right now. One of the problems was they started the work before the bituminous plants were even opened. But they are open now so they should be able to finish off and get back to John.” Com. Evans, “Did you copy US Steel on your correspondence?” Mr. Schelling, “Okay. I do have another item of concern. Its not on the agenda but yesterday I got a call from DLZ, they are the design consultant for Bridge 1010 which is Joliet Road over the Rail America now, it used to be Conrail. That bridge is a fairly old bridge but structurally it is in pretty good shape. It needs to have some rehabilitation. We got federal monies to rehabilitate it but we need some design exceptions that I have from DLZ that they requested we sign and formally send to INDOT to request the design exception primarily because of the vertical curve and hill in the middle of the bridge coming donw into the intersection. To make it perfect, we would have to rebuild the bridge and also almost half mile of road. You are probably talking about $3 million dollars. That’s really beyond the scope of rehabilitiation work on the bridge. So I would request that we consider a design exception.” Com. Harper, “Are you asking us for a motion to that effect?” Mr. Schelling, “Yes, I would like that and also there is a form to sign.” Com. Evans, “This isn’t going to cause us a similar situation that we have to sublease it. If we start to do the bridge then we have to put it back to the existing railraod’s standards.” Mr. Schelling, “No, this is quite a different setting. Sedley was a complete new bridge, too. So we need the vertical clearances. This is to rehab, and what they have is what they get.” Com. Evans moved to approve the request, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. South District: Com. Knoblock 1. Morgan Minor Subdivision 2348-C-1 Road Agreement, located on the east side of CR 300 East between CR 500 South and CR 400 South. Offer to contribute $750.00 per lot for a total of $30,000.00. Owners and subdividers are James A. and Amy L. Beohlke. Recommend approval. Com. Knoblock moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. 2. Fieldstone Manor, Phase 1, Performance Letter of Credit #00704 from Centier Bank in the amount of $25,500.00. New expiration date is March 27, 2006. Fieldstone Manor, Phase II, Performance Letter of Credit #00705 from Centier Bank in the amount of $18,500.00. New expiration date is March 27, 2006, Recommend approval. Com. Knoblock moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, moitoin carried. CORRESPONDENCE Court Security monthly activity report for February 2005 is on file. Clerk’s monthly report for February 2005 is on file. Weights and Measures monthly report for February and March 2005 is on file. Treasurer’s monthly report for February 2005 is on file.f Approve Official Bond for David James, Assistant Highway Superintendent Com. Evans moved to approve the official bond for David James, Assistant Highway Superintendent in the amount of $8,500.00, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Approve Official Bond for Richard Claussen, Inspector of Weights and Measures Com. Evans moved to approve the official bond for Richard Claussen, Weights and Measrues, in the amount of $8,500.00, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Certification of Covered Bridges in Porter County Certificate of one (1) covered bridge in Porter County is on file. Accept Melanie Sheets as late enrollee to the Porter County Employee Benefit Plan Com. Evans moved to accept Melanie Sheets as late enrollee to the Porter County Employee Benefit Plan with coverage to be effective April 1, 2005, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Authorization of Auditor’s office to accept pension liability on behalf of Porter County Com. Evans moved to approve Sandra Vuko, Auditor, and Rebecca Phillips, Exective Deputy Auditor, to accept pension liability on behalf of Porter County, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Approval for Valparaiso Dept of Parks for “Concert in the Parks” Com. Knoblock moved to approve the Valparaiso Dept. of Parks for “Concert in the Parks” on the courthouse lawn July 27, 2005 at 7:00 p.m., Com. Evans seconded with the condition they provide proof of insurance, motion carried. Approval by American Cancer Society to host “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” Com. Knoblock moved to approve the American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walk on the courthouse square October 16, 2005 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Com. Evans seconded with the condition they provide insurance, motion carried. Approval by Sons of Union to hold Memorial Day Service Com. Knoblock moved to approve the Sons of the Union’s Memorial Day Service on the courthouse square May 30, 2005 at 10:30 a.m., Com. Evans seconded conditional upon providing insurance, motion carried. Approval by Center for Workforce Innovations to reappoint Jim Jorgensen Com. Knoblcok moved to approve the reappointment of Jim Jorgensen to the Workforce Investment Board, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. Approval by Center for Workforce Innovations to reappoint Jean Phelps Com. Knoblock moved to reappoint Jean Phelps to the Workforce Investment Board, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. Approval by Center for Workforce Innovation to reappoint Ric Frataccia Com. Evans moved to reappoint Ric Frataccia to the Workforce Investment Board, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Appointment of Pat Hill to Workforce Investment Board Com. Evans moved to appoint Pat Hill of Laborers 81 to replace Madge Whickcar to the Workforce Investment Board with term to be July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2008, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. APPOINTMENT OF BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE Com. Harper, “The next thing on the agenda is the appointment of members to the hospital study committee. I had asked and received a call from the president of the hospital board indicating that they would . . . I said I would like to suggest some members, and they indicated they would most likely accept these members. I would like to suggest Olga Valesquez, city council woman in Portage who has been involved in many civic activities up there. She’s a member of the Portage Plan Commission, she’s the sponsor of the Portage Youth Commission, she’s past president of Crisman Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization. She’s a member of Portage Township Schools workshop committee and she’s a trustee of the Family and Youth Services Bureau of Porter County. Further she has a background in health care. James Sullivan, an attorney in Valpo, has already served on the advisory board, on the Hospital Land Board and he has been involved in community activities and an attorney practicing in Valpo. Debra Dubovich who is an attorney who lives in south county and has been invoved in many, many activities and in addition she was one of our attorneys that worked on the landfill here in Porter County. Let me say also that because we are suggesting three tonight, I think Commissioner Evans may at the next meeting may have some suggestions and I am sure they will be received. I am pleased we are able to get some members on the board. Do I hear a motion on this?” Com. Knoblcok moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. FUNDING OF COUNTY BUILDING REPAIRS Com. Haprer, “Charlotte, it is my understanding that you have some prices on the painting in the courthouse.” Ms. Miller, “Yes, Mr. Tipton from Tipton Painting in Westville called me this evening and said he got it faxed over and he called me at home like around 4:00 and I didn’t check out at the switchboard, but I should have all the bids in to you on Friday.” Com. Harper “So you think we are going to be able to get somebody because one of the office holders are sitting with _____ on the wall.” Ms. Miller, “Yes, Douglas’ office and Alexa’s office and that, some of them we are going to paint all the walls in there and by doing three it is not going to look right. So, we should have Mr. Tipton was going to fax the bid over here and he was sorry he didn’t get it here earlier but I can get those bids to you tomorrow to look over.” Com. Evans, “Is he the only one to bid?” Ms. Miller, “No, I got one other bid, two from Shaw and the guy from Culver was way too busy.” Com. Harper, “So you think we could be in position to act on this at our next meeting?” Ms. Miller, “Definitely. And the wall cloth, both of them that bid on it looked at it and it did match. I believe that’s in Alexa’s office on the fifth floor and that did match very well so we are not going to have to purchase any wall cloth.” Com. Harper, “And at the Parks there are eleven buildings to mow and the Parks are interested in doing that on some sort of contract work with the county. Do you think that this is going to get started pretty soon?” Ms. Miller, “JDC is going to have to be first. I spoke with Ed today, and we can get that done before the college kids get home the first part of May. We will just have to pick up the slack. We’ve got Don, and we’ll just have to get on the ball and get her done.” Com. Harper, “We have so much money in our building fund, I think it would be a good idea for you to have it ready two weeks from now and have him have a price so we know what we are working with.” Ms. Miller, “He said he wanted to fine tune it. I think one guy was $850.00 and . . . Com. Evans, “Did he break down a schedule and are they going to use our mower?” Ms. Miller, “That is correct and in speaking with Chief Lain, we had a prisoner that worked as a trustee for us and he did better than three fourths of the mowing out at the jail last year. We don’t know where he is at, he probably will be back, he’s kind of a live in there. He was a very nice guy, we really enjoyed working with him and he was a pretty good worker. If he comes back, hopefully they put him back on the mower. He’s all right, just a few problems in his life. Anyway, he said they do have a trustee that they could let out and do the mowing there and we agreed that we would maintain the equipment. The other trustee was able to maintain the equipment because he worked with us and knew how to change the belts. To mow the lawn out there, the mower and edger are kept out there. There is a garage out there.” Com. Harper, “Now the other thing we need to disucss is the shades.” ADMINISTRATION CENTER WINDOW SHADES DISCUSSION Com. Harper, “Do you want to make the motion, Carole?” Com. Knoblock moved to approve Ziegler to do the shades on all three levels, Com. Evans seconded for disccusion, Com. Evans, “What’s the dollar amount?” Ms. Miller, “For all three floors it is $17,995.00 and that is the south and the west and that is installed.” Com. Evans, “How are they going to install them? Are they going to drill holes in the metal casings? Or holes in the plaster board?” Ms. Miller, “Yes, in the plaster board.” Com. Evans, “Who is going to clean them?” Ms. Miller, “ ... [ file corrupted and incomplete ] |
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April 5, 2005