PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2005
6:00 p.m.


The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 6:00 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Chambers of the Administration Center.

Those present were: Commissioners Robert Harper and John Evans, Melissa Hartig and Vi Wagner.

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

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Evans moved to approve the payroll of December 12, 2005, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Evans moved to approve the minutes of November 22, 2005 and December 6, 2005, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF ANNUAL COUNTY SHERIFF COMPENSATION AGREEMENT
David Hollenbeck, Attorney

Atty. Hollenbeck, “Good evening. For a number of years now, the County Council, in their annual salaries deliberation process, has exercised an option that is contained under Indiana statute that allows them to enter into an agreement with the county sheriff for a fixed salary on an annual basis. Indiana law provides that absent such an agreement, the county sheriffs are entitled to receive not only the salary they are assigned, but also 10% of whatever they collect by way of delinquent tax warrants. Secondly, whatever they don’t spend on the feeding of prisoners at the end of the year. I would think we would all agree both of those are rather arcane approaches to compensating a county sheriff. In lieu of that, the county sheriff is having negotiated ____ the annual salary. What you have before you is a contract that reflects that for 2006 in the amount of $110,500.00. The statute, if we go this route, the statute also requires that the contract be authorized and approved by the executive of county government as well as the legislative branch, which would include you as the county commissioners. So on behalf of the county council, I am here this evening asking your approval of this annual agreement. I was asked the other day when this all started and I though it had started in the last year of Larry Dembinski’s tenure but in looking through my files, it looks like it actually started with our present sheriff in his first year. I can answer any questions you might have. Candidly, no one, including myself has done a financial analysis of this in probably two or three years. The last time we did do it, the compensation for the sheriff would have been more if he had chosen not to enter into this contract.”

Com. Evans, “Isn’t it true this is the first raise he’s had in four years?”

Atty. Hollenbeck, “It’s my understanding that he has chosen not to take whatever increases that the county council chose to give to the employees of his department. He has stayed flat lines under this contract for I believe the three years.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the sheriff’s contract, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Atty. Hollenbeck, “Thank you, I have a couple copies I need you to sign.”


BOARD OF HEALTH NOMINATION OF DR. JOHN FORCHETTI

Com. Evans, “I understand the Board of Health cannot accept our nominee of Dr. Black (inaudible)…. So I would like to nominate Dr. John Forchetti.

Com. Evans moved to nominate Dr. John Forchetti to the Board of Health, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Atty. Hollenbeck, “I will alert the Health Department and the Health Board of your decision and we will move forward with that.”

OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS

Receive proposals for video conferencing software and equipment
Sharon Lippens, Director of ITS

Com. Harper, “Do you plan for us to open them and then you take them and look them over and get back to us with a recommendation? I was going to announce who turned in bids. Tri-electronics turned in a bid, Verizon turned in a bid. Anyone else? All right, then, you will take them and look them over and get back to us with a recommendation at the next meeting. The other thing for Sharon is a request to release proposals for video court security.”

Com. Evans moved to release the request and receive proposals for video court security, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

2006 E-911 Budget, 2nd reading

Com. Evans moved to approve the E-911 budget on second reading, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT

North District:

1. I recommend approval of the Road Agreement for Robert Klett Subdivision
located at the southeast corner of Calumet Road and CR 750 N. This subdivision contains 2 lots, one buildable for $750 and is owned by owned by Robert Klett.

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

Center District:

1. I recommend approval of the Road Agreement for Tuscany Park Subdivision located on the west side of Heavlin Road (CR 50W) ½ mile south of SR 2. This subdivision contains 78 lots for $750/lot or $58,500 and is owned by Tuscany Development LLC.

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

South District:

1. Recommend approval and acceptance of Springwood Estates Subdivision, (100 S & 600 W), Phase I, Phase II and Phase III with the Centier Bank Maintenance Letter of Credit in the amount of $150,960 for all three phases. This will add 2.75 miles to our road inventory. Note that several roads extend into more than one phase. Phase I roads to be accepted are Springwood Drive (635.42 feet), Allegheny Drive (1338.35 feet), Wenatchee Place (230.06 feet) and Teton Court (332.23 feet). Phase II roads to be accepted are Springwood Drive (2186.42 feet), Ozark Drive (538.53 feet), Wenatchee Place (1533.42 feet), Appalachian Way (817.81 feet) and Teton Court (792.71 feet). Phase III roads to be accepted are Springwood Drive (2627.27 feet), Berkshire Lane (313.36 feet), Carpathian Drive (2133.51 feet) and Stillwater Court (1036.78 feet).

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


2. Recommend approval of the Road Agreement for Morgan Minor Subdivision #2246-D-1 located on the north side of CR 400 South between SR 49 and CR 300 East. This subdivision contains 4 lots for $750/lot or $3,000 and is owned by Marty Good, Trustee.

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

3. I recommend approval of the Road Agreement for Goldenrod Estates Subdivision located on the south side of CR 650 South between CR 600 West and CR 500 West. This subdivision contains 2 lots, one buildable for $750 and is owned by Thomas and Kimberly Metzger.
Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

CORRESPONDENCE

Treasurer’s monthly report for November 2005 is on file.

Request for approval to purchase two copiers for Clerk’s office

Com. Evans moved to approve the purchase of two copiers from Ikon for the Clerk’s office with funding to come from CCD, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval of copier maintenance agreement for Assessor’s office

Com. Evans, “Shirley is not here.”

Com. Harper, “Should we just go ahead with this?”

Com. Evans, “Yes, I think so, it is just a maintenance agreement. My only question is I though we were trying to put maintenance agreements into the respective office’s budget.”

Ms. Hartig, “I think Shirley is paying for this out of her budget. She is just getting the agreement approved. She had a copier and she had a lease on it, and the copier’s been giving her trouble so they are just switching her copier for a new one.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the copier purchase agreement with funding coming out of the Assessor’s budget, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Clerk’s request to establish precincts

Com. Harper, “The Clerk has an order here establishing precincts. She is asking for approval. I haven’t had a chance to look at it, have you, John?”

Com. Evans, “Yes, nothing has changed.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the Clerk’s request for establishing precincts, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

DSICUSSION ON PROBLEM WITH TAX RATES FROM AUDITOR’S OFFICE

Com. Harper, “I asked Sharon Lippens to be here tonight because our office has received several calls indicating incorrectly that somehow we were in some way responsible because apparently some problems have developed in setting the tax rates. So I have talked to Sharon about this several times in the last few days and I also asked Melissa to let the Auditor’s office know that we were going to discuss this tonight. Is that correct, you talked to Becky? And we called Valparaiso, and I see we have a representative from the Valparaiso Treasurer’s office. Sharon, could you come up a second? Okay, so you have been called in the last few days to try and help solve the problems, correct?”

Ms. Lippens, “Yes.”

Com. Harper, “Okay, what are some of the problems that you have found exist and what, if anything, do you think we can do about it?”

Ms. Lippens, “It seems like some of the problems are trouble balancing the figures that need to be balanced in order for the state to approve the final settlement which is the final distribution of tax monies to the entities.”

Com. Harper, “In the first place, there was a problem with TIF, is that right?”

Ms. Lippens, “That is my understanding.”

Com. Harper, “Okay, now what is that problem?”

Ms. Lippens, “There was a spread sheet that the Auditor’s office uses that one of the columns stated net real estate and the net figure already had the TIF removed as well as other exemptions, tax exempts, things like that. Then there was another column further down, or across rather, that would remove the amount of TIF and so therefore because the TIF was already removed from the net figure and then the TIF was indicated later, the final balance was decreased twice by TIF.”

Com. Harper, “Sharon, do you mind discussing this? You have called this a problem?”

Sharon Swihart, “I haven’t called your office.”

Com. Harper, “I know, but apparently you had advance problems?”

Ms. Swihart, “Yes, I got last week, I believe it was, I had a request from the mayor to see what our assessed value actually was because we had gotten nothing. So I called and Becky Phillips faxed over the sheet and it showed our assessed value dropping $123 million. I know that Valparaiso’s assessed value didn’t drop $123 million since last year so I made a call to the county auditor and left a voice message just to ask if I can get some help in determining what the problem was. Meanwhile, Councilman Williams called several people over here. I think he called Mrs. Lafever and he called the Center Township Assessor and they made some calls to me trying to determine what the problem was. I did talk to Kurt Ott and they determined the problem was this thing with the TIF being taken out twice. Since then, I was able to call Becky Phillips again and she has faxed me the correct, what I hope is the correct assessed value. It’s now up $24 million.”

Com. Harper, “So that won’t have any long term effect on you. It’s a problem that is able to be corrected?”

Ms. Swihart, “As far as I know. You are talking to someone who doesn’t deal with this. I really don’t know. The only that happened about Data Processing was I did talk to Sharon because I believe it was Kurt Ott from the DLGF who told me it was a computer problem. That is a broad brush, whose computer problem, and what kind of computer problem and between Councilman Williams and myself, we are just trying to determine what is the problem, can it be corrected. So when I talked to Sharon, she assured me it was not a problem with the county’s Data Processing problem. And since then, the letter that was sent to me along with the corrected thing, from Becky Phillips was definitely an apology and says there was a problem with my program, she says.”

Com. Harper, “Okay. Shirley, let me tell you what we are talking about. We’ve had some calls that were saying that, well, the department we are responsible for is Data, okay, and Sharon and I have met several times and I don’t think we have a problem but I wanted to at least get it on the board and find out what’s going on. Do you have anything to add to it?”

Ms. Lafever, “Well, you know the county Auditor’s office is not my office. I am the County Assessor.”

Com. Harper, “I understand that. Is there a problem over and above this TIF problem?”

Ms. Lafever, “There was earlier today, but it is resolved now.”

Com. Harper, “Okay, is that the problem with utilities?”

Ms. Lafever, “Yes, sir.”

Com. Harper, “Is that going to change anything, I mean do the cities and towns need to be notified of that?”

Ms. Lafever, “I am not the County Auditor, Bob, I just know there was a problem today. I understood Sandy said that Kurt Ott said it would not be sent out again and I really feel uncomfortable answering because I am not a county auditor.”

Com. Harper, “Apparently the utilities were not added into the assessed valuations.”

Ms. Lafever, “Correct. The local utilities were added for the assessors but the state utilities, that the state (inaudible) in the report were not added in.”

Com. Harper, “And what dollar value is that for the county as far as assessed valuation?”

Ms. Lafever, “I think that the report Sharon made earlier today for me, there was $324 million and we had $18 million entered so you have a short of $306 million from last year versus this year. So they did not enter it, Christy was entering it today.”

Com. Harper, “They send these figures out to the cities and towns?”

Ms. Lafever, “I don’t know, Bob, it is not my office.”

Ms. Swihart, “I did get the assessed value faxed to me yesterday.”

Com. Harper, “But she is saying they just corrected it.”

Ms. Swihart, “I got it this morning.”

Com. Harper, “A couple of days ago was when they corrected the TIF?”

Ms. Lafever, “From what I understood, they corrected the TIF on Friday, it had been taken out twice. Sharon ran the report this morning, I (inaudible)… this is not my department but I have been getting phone calls from the departments that are saying (inaudible)… so Kurt looked at it and he agreed it looked like the utilities did not get entered. So, they checked into it. The girls did not enter the state utilities and I do not the reason why because it is not my office. She’s new, maybe that is the reason why. So this afternoon she was entering all the state’s assessed figures on the AS 400 so hopefully they’ll be in there by tomorrow. And the lot numbers will all be in there tomorrow.”

Com. Harper, “Sharon, let me ask you this. All I want to try and see is if we’ve got something we can correct. If they get you correct figures tomorrow, have you published your rates?”

Ms. Swihart, “No, this is not, there is nothing more I have to do. It just simply affects all the tax payers. If you certify an assessed value that is lower than the actual assessed value then it makes people’s rates higher. They will be paying more taxes that the units of government can’t use.”

Ms. Lafever, “Kurt told me this afternoon after I went down and talked to Sandy this morning, I asked Kurt about it. Kurt told me that he has not worked on Porter County yet so there are figures, he can’t put these in so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

Ms. Swihart, “That’s where it goes from here, it goes from the county to the …. I had nothing to do with it.”

Com. Harper, “There are even calls from people that say they can’t change it.”

Ms. Lafever, “That was my understanding to the (inaudible)…. He says usually you cannot but since he has not worked on Porter County’s yet, so he put it aside and he can go ahead and straighten this out and put the new figures in. That is the bottom line.”

Com. Harper, “I just want to say that Sharon, I think you have done a good job and I appreciate the job you have done. Everything I have asked you to do and we have asked you to do, you have gotten done. So thank you very much.”

Ms. Lafever, “And I say kudos to Sharon, I have worked with her the last nine days to try and find out about this situation. It should be rectified.”

Com. Harper, “Shirley, we passed your request.”

Com. Evans, “As long as it comes out of your budget.”

Ms. Lafever, “I do have the money appropriated already, the money did not change. I got here as soon as I could.”

Com. Harper, “Do we have any other business?”

Com. Evans, “Sharon, are you done with yours?”



PROPOSALS FOR VIDEO CONFERENCING SOFTWARE AND EQUIPMENT

Ms. Lippens, “The two vendors did quote exactly what was specified so it is nice and easy to compare which is nice. The final pricing from Tri Electronics was $69,016.01 and Verizon was $63,796.49 so since the two bids are identical, I would recommend Verizon.”

Com. Evans moved to accept the recommendation of Verizon, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.



COMMISSIONER EVANS’ COMMENTS ON TRI TOWN MERGER

Com Evans, “I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and I want to commend the town of Chesterton for being courageous enough and having enough vision to offer the other towns of Porter and Burns Harbor the chance to talk about the merger. And I see that they declined it and Burns Harbor thinks it a laughable situation and they want to paddle their own canoe and I just hope they don’t paddle their canoe up that proverbial creek and somebody takes their bends.”

Com. Evans moved to adjourn for the year, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

With no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned.


BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA

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

Attest: Sandra K. Vuko, Auditor