PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2005
6:00 P.M.


The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 7, 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.

Com. Harper, “The first announcement I would like to make is I am sure everyone is aware that a former Porter County Sheriff’s officer, who was working with the FBI, Rob Hardesty, was killed recently and his visitation is tonight and I believe the funeral is tomorrow. John Evans is involved in that and is tied up tonight and that is the reason he cannot be here for the meeting tonight.”

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the payroll for May 31, 2005, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the minutes of May 17, 2005, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF CLAIMS

Com. Knoblock moved to approve the claims of June 7, 2005, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

GHOST TRACKERS FINAL REPORT – MIKE MCDOWELL

Com. Harper, “The next thing is the final report from the Ghost Tracker, I think the county attorney put this on the agenda. Do we have anyone here? Apparently there is no one here.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “They called on my voice message and said someone would be here so maybe there are late.”

Com. Harper, “Maybe they are here and we don’t even see them.”

OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS

Election Equipment Contract
Dale Brewer, Clerk

Ms. Brewer, “What you have in front of you is a contract for election equipment. (inaudible). . . We have been studying this issue for about five years and now we are down to the wire, we have to sign this contract before July 1, or the state buys and tells us what equipment we are going to use. We have waited this long, we’ve got the equipment out there, we have the best price.(inaudible)… With the same type of equipment we will probably save a couple hundred per machine. I also have a resolution that gives the authority to go for voting system reimbursement. Our county should be eligible for approximately 8,000 per precinct and $50,000.00 for software. And for 124 voting precincts, we actually have 125 precincts but we have with no one in it.”

Com. Knoblock, “They’ll pay $8,000.00 per precinct. Where do we stand on the rest of that?”

Ms. Brewer, “I am thinking we will probably be having to come up with $600,00.00. This is just the first part of the contract, we will have the second contract coming to you for what we call disability equipment, DRE equipment, we have to have those in place before January, we are going to do one at a time.”

Com. Harper, “Are you talking that $600,000.00 is going to be the total for both contracts?”

Ms. Brewer, “I’m hoping it will be. I cannot guarantee what the quality purchase agreement will be on the new DRE machine. They are being certified on June 22 by the election division and commission down state. It is the same type of voting that everyone else does, and this way people with disabilities will be able to cast their ballots the same way everyone else does and there won’t be an discrimination involved.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “So we have this contract which says in Exhibit A, it has the total amount of the contract for equipment, software, license and fees, third party items, court services, post warranty hardware and software maintenance, and shipping and handling is $1,320,931.00.”

Ms. Brewer, “Right. But we are not going to buy as many DRE machines because we don’t need to have 140 of them, we only need one per polling place. The precincts may share them.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “So if you think this is one contract and there will be second contract coming, what do you think the total amount the county will be signing contracts for after they see both contracts?”

Ms. Brewer, “I can’t tell you until they do the QPA on the DRE machines and that will be done . . . I can’t tell you that for sure. I could make a guess that the whole total the county expends will be $600,000.00.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “And this includes the second contract?”

Ms. Brewer, “I am hoping that will be. I won’t know until they do the quality purchase agreement. We are allowed a total of $8,000.00 per precinct. That is going to include everything.

Com. Harper, “How much is that?”

Ms. Brewer, “That is just over a million dollars. With the $50,000.00 in software. The reason we did not go for an additional appropriation, we did not want to tie up the county funds, until we were sure exactly how much we had to tie up and by going for this reimbursement, we will have everything done by the end of this month and submit it, I talked to the HAVA Director at the secretary of state’s office, they’ll give us our money in July, that is plenty of time to do an additional and not tie up funds that we don’t need to.”

Com. Harper, “If we approve this tonight, is this going on the Council agenda for this month?”

Ms. Brewer, “I hadn’t planned on it. Probably next month after I know exactly when we have our money from the HAVA.”

Com. Knoblock, “So you are just here to report tonight?”

Ms. Brewer, “I was here for the signed contract. I cannot go further and ask for reimbursement at all without a signed contract.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I guess for the record we should put this letter in that’s dated May 23, 2005 that we got that basically tells the Commissioners that if we do not enter into a contract with the vendor before July 1, 2005, the state is going to purchase the voting system for us. We have to approve a contract without knowing the funding source which is something that we never do.”

Ms. Brewer, “Part of the funding source will be the reimbursement, federal and state, that’s a guarantee. The other funding source we will probably use is the county general fund.”

Com. Harper, “The Council is aware of this? Weren’t you at one of the joint meetings and discussed this?”

Ms. Brewer, “Every time I come to a meeting I bring this up. I was at the last meeting and reminded them that we would have to be purchasing this equipment.”

Com. Harper, “And I know that the Council president is aware of this, I think the figure in his mind was $600,000.00. Can we, and I know I am backing up a little bit, can we approve this and do this everything contingent upon the money being appropriated?”

Ms. Brewer, “If you do that and do not sign the contract . . . “

Com. Harper, “No, we can sign the contract.”

Ms. Brewer, “Well, if you want, as long as you still allow me to go for the voting system reimbursement, we can put that in the conditions, but I think the Council and the Commissioners are in a bind here. They have to approve the funding. There is no going around the federal law. We went with the 100 that has the paper trail, that was unanimously on the election board. Mr. Stankowitz would be here tonight but he had a previous engagement. He called me just a little while ago.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “The memo says as a result of the federal funding, the county should be able to meet these new voting system requirements with little or no cost.”

Ms. Brewer, “That is not true. Its never true. Something else they did not share anyone is, where to store them. There is no room downstairs to store everything. We do have some ideas we will share with you if you would like to discuss them. I’ve made some diagrams and scoped out some places that won’t cost us anything.”

Com. Knoblock, “We won’t be receiving them until we need them will we?”

Ms. Brewer, “We will be receiving them in August. Remember we have to train our precinct people now. Retrain them. Thank goodness there is not an election year. Because we are also having a new state wide voter registration system installed. That is another law just passed.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Can you explain what the second contract will be for?”

Ms. Brewer, “It will be for the DRE machines, the voting for people with disabilities for like sight, hearing, they are especially made for them, we must have one at every polling place. So, some places where we have precincts combined where we use more than one precinct, those particular places would have one machine and they would share it.”

Com. Knoblock, “How much is the price per machine?”

Ms. Brewer, “(inaudible.) (Two people talking at once.) They can’t show it or sell it until it is certified the 22nd, they can’t tell you what it is going to be until the election. That’s the law. Now you can go on line and look at. I wouldn’t be here unless we were under a mandate. I don’t like doing this.”

Com. Harper, “I know it was discussed at Council, I talked to the president, he knows about the $600,000.00 figure. How should we work this motion?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “First we should pass the resolution because that seems to be what they definitely must have to seek reimbursement. So I would do that first.”

Com. Harper, “Can we do it in one reading? And should it have a number?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes.”

Com. Harper, “Can I have a number?”

Ms. Hartig, “05-05.”

Com. Harper, “Do I hear a motion then that passes Resolution No. 05-05 that gives Dale Brewer, Clerk of the Courts, authorization to comply on behalf of this county for voting system reimbursement funds.”

Com. Knoblock, “I’ll make that motion.”

Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Then you should make the second motion to read that the Commissioners approve the collection systems and software, Inc. Voter Tabulation System and Services Agreement conditional upon Dale Brewer applying for reimbursement pursuant to IC 3-11-6.5 and conditional upon the County Council appropriating the balance of the funding needed to purchase the equipment. Just take what I said and make it your motion.”

Com. Harper “I want to repeat the motion. The motion would be to approve…I am asking you, Carole do you want to approve the motion Gwenn just made?”

Com. Knoblock, “She can’t make a motion.”

Com. Harper, “I know she can’t, I am asking you to.”

Com. Knoblock, “Well, let’s talk it over. How do you feel about it?”

Com. Harper “I wish I could say it all the way through so I could repeat it. We have to do it, I don’t think we have any choice. We have already given her the authorization in the first motion.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “The second motion is contingent upon two things. One, her applying for the funding under this code, and second is conditional upon the County Council appropriating the money to pay for the balance.”

Com. Harper, “Is that going to work?”

Ms. Brewer, “As long as you sign the contract tonight I am fine.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “We’ll sign the contract tonight. But we are not going to honor it if we don’t get the money. I don’t know how we could.”

Com. Knoblock, “I’ll make that motion.”

Ms. Brewer, “They won’t care about your motion anyway. They are going to honor . . . . , You know what I am saying, when I submit the contract, . . . .”

Com. Harper, “Let me repeat it one more time. The motion will be that we are going to sign the contract for Election Systems and Software, Inc. and the Voter Tabulation System Services Agreement, we are going to sign it tonight, and we are signing it subject to our county clerk getting reimbursement that she expects to get by mid July and further by the County Council appropriating the balance of the funds.”

Com. Knoblock, “I’ll make that motion.”

Com. Harper “I will second that. Dale, do think that is sufficient?”

Ms. Brewer, “I do.”

Motion carried.

Com. Harper, “Do you have a copy that you need to be signed?”

Ms. Brewer, “I have three of them. I will submit them and I will make sure you get a copy back. The company will have one and then we’ll have one in the Clerk’s office for the Election Board.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Now you have a second resolution that we need to look at but not tonight?”

Ms. Brewer, “That is the joint one between the Commissioners and the Council.”

Com. Harper, “Do we need to address that this evening?”

Ms. Brewer, “You are going to meet again later on this month, probably before the Council. You may want to address it then. As long as I have everything wrapped up by the end of the month. Thank you, I appreciate it.”

Open bids for Greg Phillips Memorial Building
Russ Shirley, Environmental Coordinator

Com. Harper, “Now the way I understand this is the way we do this is we open the bids tonight, take them for your review, and you will return next meeting, is that correct?”

Mr. Shirley, “Yes.”

Com. Harper, “First bid is from Chester, Inc. It appears that the bid amount is $715,319.00. Next one is from Gariup Construction, and their bid is for $736,000.00. They also had an alternate. Did you have an alternate?”

Mr. Shirley, “Yes, for a full second floor.”

Com. Harper, “The alternate was to add on $78,000.00. I should probably read that for Chester, Inc.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “They have three alternates. Alternate A is add $60,055.00, alternate B add $14,803.00, alternate C add $6,828.00.”

Com. Harper, “Don’t we have one more? Morton Buildings, it looks like their bid is $603,846.00. Let me see if they have an alternate. I don’t think they have submitted an alternate. Russ, we will give these back to you for review and you can let us know. Do we keep a copy of those?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Auditor’s office should. The Auditor’s office is supposed to keep them on file over there.”

COMMISSIONERS’ REPORTS


Center District: Com. Harper

1. Wild Rose Subdivision, Performance Letter of Credit No. 2900020 from First National Bank of Illinois in the amount of $18,000.00. New expiration date is June 13, 2006. Recommend approval.

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

South District:

1. Ard Subdivision Road Agreement, located on the south side of Division Road between CR 325 West and CR 500 West. Offer to contribute $750.00 per lot for a total of $750.00. Owners and subdividers are Hobart and Brenda Ard. Recommend approval.

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

2. Request authorization to file a claim in the amount of $343,000.00 against Letter of Credit #2001-12 from Citizen’s Financial for Falling Waters Subdivision if we do not receive a renewal prior to the expiration date of June 18, 2005. If the county receives the renewal prior to the June 7th meeting, recommend accepting it provided it is in proper form.

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

CORRESPONDENCE

Court Security monthly report for April and May 2005 is on file.
Weights and Measures monthly report for May 2005 is on file.
Clerk’s monthly report for April 2005 is on file.
Juvenile Detention Center Annual report for 20045 is on file.

Request for transfer of funds-Commissioners

Fund 01.30 $280.00 from acct 2110 office supplies
Into acct 4440 furniture/fixtures over $100

To cover purchase of filing cabinets for Veterans Services

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

Request for Additional Appropriation-Commissioners

Fund 132.30 $60.000 acct 4510 Data Processing Equipment

For purchase of new computers-year 2 of 5 year plan.

Ms. Lippens, “Last year in 2004 the Commissioners approved the creation of a five year plan for rotating desktop PC’s in all departments and the plan was drawn up and approved. The second, third, fourth and fifth year commitments was $150,000.00 out of CCD and last year’s budget was drawn up with a $90,000.00 commitment and so this $60,000.00 is to make up the difference for this year’s purchases.”

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

INDIANA GHOST TRACKERS-
Mike McDowell

Mr. McDowell, “This is for the investigation at the courthouse. We did find some I guess you would say paranormal activity outside the normal. There are what you call orbs that was unaccountable as a dust. We do have pictures. We also had some whispering on tape recordings, answering of questions. It wasn’t real, real solid except for a couple times people got a name like Paul _______. Evidently there was somebody that did work at the courthouse one time and he was a worker there when the courthouse caught fire, he was a worker there and he died. Other than that, it is one of them that kind of was off and on. We would like to some time again come in and do another investigation and see if anything else comes up. We did have a couple that did get kind of scared, had some things happen to them, but other than that, we got a lot of pictures, and what you call EVP, which is electronic voice _____. We have them on a disc for you and pictures so you can look at them if you want.”

Com. Harper, “Thank you very much and thank you for working with out police as we asked you to.”

Mr. McDowell, “They had a blast and we had a blast with them too.”

ADMINISTRATIVE CENTER WINDOWS DISCUSSION

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Well, we sent proposals out and we got responses from four different companies, all of them giving us prices and quotes on different types of sealants, some on the windows. Triumph was the company that gave us the prices on most of the areas that needed to be fixed. I met with Design Organization, they recommended that we just retain Triumph to come down and do the testing in one of the areas where the leakage is the most so they can determine what fix we should do first and then enter into a contract with the vendor with the sealant and window gaps or whatever. I have a meeting with Design Organization and Triumph on Thursday, at 10:00 a.m. and we are going to talk about what areas to test, to do water testing, to see what they think is causing the leakage, what is the best route to go. What to fix first. Should we do the pre-cast sealant first, should we do the window gaps first, or what. We are hoping they will give us that information.”

Com. Harper, “A definite final answer.”

Com. Knoblock, “So Design is willing to work with us?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes, they have been cooperative. They sat down, I sent all the proposals to them, and they sat down and reviewed them and did a little spread sheet for me about the quotes. I haven’t asked the Commissioners to retain anybody for any of the work until probably about the, the smartest thing to do is do the testing first and then pick a vendor for the ____.”

Com. Harper, “Hopefully they can give this to us before the next meeting.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think so, I sent the letter May 9th.”

UNSAFE BUILDING ORDINANCE HEARING OFFICER

Com. Harper “We talked about an unsafe building ordinance for a substantial period of time. We passed that ordinance and it had to pass the Plan Commission and the Commissioners office. We first had to go to the Council because the state law required that the committee or department that took over this be funded, we went to the Council who approved $50,000.00 funding for this unsafe building ordinance, because of the abandoned buildings in Porter County that weren’t being addressed. We did that and then passed the ordinance I believe it was effective in March 15th, and since that time we have been working on and going to start the unsafe building ordinance and the state law requires that the county have a hearing officer in place for certain hearings that may be held before if the home owners want to make certain types of appeals before it ever goes to court under state law. I have contacted Thomas Webber who is a former judge in Porter County and he has agreed to serve as the hearing officer for those hearings as they come up. So tonight I will ask for a motion to make Tom Webber the hearing officer for the purposes of the unsafe building officer.”

Com. Knoblock moved to appoint Thomas Webber as the hearing officer for the unsafe building ordinance, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Com. Harper, “We have also identified I think approximately eight homes in the Lake Eliza area that we are surely going to be taking action on. The Building Department, under which this ordinance comes, have been out there to a couple places, and I know they have one place to be torn down by the home owner and they have some action going on there. But we should be ready to take action on that. The other thing that is not on the agenda for tonight is that our carrier has asked us to, they are working with a claim that they feel should be covered by the county. It involves a self inflicted injury but federal law requires that we take care of those kinds of considerations if they result from a medical condition, which this appears to. So I would like to hear a motion that Anton Insurance be directed to go ahead and cover this claim they have submitted to us.”

Com. Knoblock moved to direct Anton Insurance to cover the medical claim of a self inflicted injury, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

SAFETY MANUAL DISTRIBUTION

Atty. Rinkenberger, “We are sending the Safety Manual out with a directive from the Commissioners that we want to meet with all the elected officials and department heads in mid July to discuss the manual and the requirements in the manual and take any questions they have.”

With no further business to conduct, the meeting was recessed.

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