PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2006
6:00 P.M.


The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 7, 2006, in the Commissioners’ Chambers of the Administration Center.

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

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

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Evans moved to approve the minutes of January 10 and January 17, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Evans moved to approve the payroll of January 23 and February 6, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF CLAIMS

Com. Evans moved to approve the claims of February 7, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A COUNTY CORRECTIONS FUND FOR LEVEL 3 FUNDING, 1ST READING

Com. Harper, “Gwenn, do you have any comment on this?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “This is something we are required to do annually so we can obtain money for county corrections and deposit it in a fund every year.”

Com. Harper, “And you have gone over the contract?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “It is a state code.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the ordinance on first reading, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT FOR SECURITY X-RAY SCANNER
David Reynolds, Sheriff
David Lain, Chief Deputy

Sheriff Reynolds, “We got two scanners, one we got from a grant, which is under warranty right now but the first one we received was donated by the government and that is worth approximately $40,000.00. It was free but we have to maintain it, we can’t just have it. So I think its about ten percent of it would be $4,000.00.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “$3,600.00 and you have that in your budget?”

Sheriff Reynolds, “Yes.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “And I have looked at the contract.”

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

APPROVAL OF CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY AND ADDICTIONS PROGRAM AGREEMENT

Sheriff Reynolds, “This is the same contract we had last year with Porter Starke, that they would supply a certain percentage of the money that go towards the drug program. We have currently two therapists and Porter Starke funds part of it and we fund part of it.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “And that is where all the graduations are held? Where all the Commissioners have gone? I think its great.”

Com. Evans, “Is there any way to track the numbers as far as how much progress it’s been for almost two years now?”

Sheriff Reynolds, “Well, the contract with Porter Starke, it was about three or four years ago.”

Com. Evans, “Is there any way to track the review (inaudible)…….”

Sheriff Reynolds, “The recidivism across the board is between 60 and 70%. We tracked them for the last two years and the recidivism on the graduates is 26%.”

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

APPROVAL OF COMPASS FOOD SERVICE CONTRACT

Sheriff Reynolds, “We have a representative from Compass if you would like to address for any questions.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think you better tell basically what you are planning to do here since this is a new concept.”

Chief Lain, “If I may, I have been involved in this. We are looking into entering an agreement with Compass that has the potential, as we think it will, to significantly reduce the costs of our food service for the inmates. Essentially, what they are talking about is a reduction in both the per meal price. We have been tracking this for the last couple of years and it averages out to about $.74 per meal which is very good. With this Compass contract, the contract will call for $.72 per meal plus Compass will supply a manager for the kitchen, it’s their employee, not the county’s, plus Compass will supply all the cleaning supplies needed for the kitchen maintenance and that sort of thing which has in and of itself been a very substantial quest.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “We don’t have the final contract negotiated. I was trying to hammer out something with them so you have a contract that has handwriting on it. The sum and substance of the contract are (inaudible)… with the final contract.”

Com. Evans, “I see the financial arrangements and the benefit financially for us to do this in the fact that we get employees that are going to be full time and making sure that…. but what I don’t see is anything regarding the nutritional value of what we are going to be giving the people.”

Chief Lain, “They have seen what our current menu is and it will be up to the same standards. I can even show you some enhancement to that for operational purposes, it will be better for us because as an example, their menu doesn’t include any pork products. Which we have to change some, we have had to create some special menus because of special inmate needs that would not allow us to use pork. So, Compass will just remove pork from the menu entirely.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “They are going to get a lot of turkey. That’s what the menu says.”

Com. Harper, “This is all in your budget? Are we ready to do this today?”

Com. Evans, “Yes, we are.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “You can approve it conditional upon me approving the final contract language. I faxed to them my final comments and they got it in their machine, I just don’t have the documents back.”

Com. Evans, “They are going to be preparing the meals on the premise?”

Chief Lain, “Yes, it will still be inmate workers who do the preparation. They are supplying the manager who will be on site. We still have our cook.”

Com. Evans, “That person is going to lose their job or are they going to transfer?”

Chief Lain, “We can still use our current cooks. We have had trouble, over the course of time, in keeping a full compliment of cooks because of a number of issues. But we can still use the help. This is an enhancement to what we are getting. We think we are getting more for less.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “More food for less.”

Chief Lain, “More of everything, more management capabilities, more…”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Where do you buy your food from?”

Chief Lain, “From Gordon’s. And that will not change, this is still Gordon’s as the supplier.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “They are going to buy it from Gordon’s.”

Com. Evans, “You will keep track of it by your daily population?”

Sheriff Reynolds, “We have spent a lot of time going over this and have talked with this same company. When we switched over our Commissary, its been a couple of years, and we have had no problems. We worked it out and we are comfortable with them and the contract.”

Com. Evans, “Do they have the Commissary contract now?”

Sheriff Reynolds, “Yes.”

Com. Evans, “Besides that, are they doing any other institutions in our area?”

Chief Lain, “No, this is their first foray into Indiana. They do have examples in primarily Pennsylvania, they do have a large presence there.”

Man in audience, “They are in Ohio as well, Chicago, and they are nationwide.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “It is a term of one year so if it doesn’t work, then we can drop it.”

Chief Lain, “Plus there is a way that if there is dissatisfaction from either side, we can safely get out of the contract.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the contract based on the review of the attorney and further review of the Sheriff’s Department, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.


SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT FLEET DISCUSSION

Com. Harper, “Who is going to handle the fleet discussion?”

Sheriff Reynolds, “I gave you the exact figures.”

Com. Harper, “You are here today with a request for the $250,000.00 that you normally get for this year from the replacement vehicles. In addition to that for light bars for the fleet it is $42,935.00. For about half the cars don’t have cameras. For the other half it is $38,400.00. The directional emergency light bar, what is that? That’s $12,000.00.”

Sheriff Reynolds, “Those are the lights that go in the back of the car. When you pull up (inaudible). .. We have had quite a few of them and are real happy with them.”

Com. Harper, “And then the memory sticks for the cameras? That is $2,700.00 which brings it up to $96,025.00, right? And along with the $250,000.00. I get $246,000.00.”

Com. Evans, “The $250,000.00 is already set aside in CCD and the other money is coming out of CCD if we make some transfers within our own CCD budget.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “There’s $290,000.00 for vehicles in CCD. Then you need to transfer $30,000.00 from contractual to vehicles.”

Com. Evans, “And $25,000.00 from building.”

Com. Harper, “So we need a motion to approve this and transfer $30,000.00 out of Fund 3950 to 4440. You don’t think that is right? Into 4210.”

Com. Evans moved to approve contingent upon the County Council granting the transfers,

Com. Harper, “So you are moving to approve the $346,000.00, $25,000.00 out of CCD for the squad cars and accessories and the cameras…”

Com. Evans, “The $290,000.00 is already there so we are really just doing the two transfers.”

Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

ORDINANCE 06-02, AMENDMENT TO ORD. 96-31, ANIMAL CONTROL ORDINANCE, 2ND READING

ORDINANCE NO. 06-02
PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PORTER COUNTY ANIMAL
ORDINANCE NO. 96-31 AND THE PORTER COUNTY ANIMAL
CODE CHAPTER 6.04 ANIMAL CONTROL CODE


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, Ordinance No. 96-31, Porter County Animal Control, has been placed in the Porter County Municipal Code in Chapter 6.04 Animal Control Code; and
WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners has deemed it necessary to amend Porter County Animal Ordinance No. 96-31, Section 3; Chapter 6.04.030-Establishment of the Porter County Animal Welfare Board, Subsection A; and Section 4, Chapter 6.04.040 –Duties and Responsibilities of the Porter County Animal Welfare Board-Subsection B of the Porter County Municipal Code.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT:
1. Ordinance 96-31, Section 3(A) and Chapter 6.04.030(A) is hereby amended in the Porter County Code through the changes as follows:

A. Upon the passage and adoption of the ordinance codified in this chapter, the Board of County Commissioners shall immediately establish a governing and administration body for the purposes of carrying out the intent and the requirements of this chapter. Such bodies shall initially be known as the Porter County Animal Welfare Board and shall be delegated the responsibilities and duties as animal control authority for the county. Such board shall be comprised of fifteen (15) members as hereinafter described: one member shall be a practicing veterinarian within the county; two members shall be from known humane societies or groups interested in actively participating in the solution to animal problems; twelve (12) members shall be otherwise private citizens. Each member shall be a resident of Porter County. One person shall be appointed by the office of the Porter County Sheriff to act in an advisory capacity to the animal control authority but shall not be a voting member.

2. Ordinance No. 96-31 Section 4(B) and Chapter 6.04.040(B) is
hereby amended in the Porter County Code through the change as follows:

B. The Porter County Board of Commissioners shall appoint a shelter director who shall be responsible to them for the daily operation and maintenance of the shelter as well as the well being of the animals confined in the shelter. The duty to hire, fire or discipline the shelter director shall be exclusively the responsibility of the Porter County Board of Commissioners. The shelter director shall however, report to the Porter County Animal Welfare Board on the daily operations and maintenance of the shelter and the well being of the animals confined in the shelter.

THIS ORDINANCE PASSED AND ADOPTED THIS _____ DAY OF __________________________________, 2006.
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. Evans moved to approve Ordinance 06-02 on 2nd reading, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

CONTRACT FOR ASBESTOS ABATEMENT/DEMOLITION FOR COUNTY HOME
Steve Winters, DLZ
David Schelling, Highway Engineer

Com. Harper, “It is my understanding that Gwenn has the contract and has reviewed the contract.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “And it has been approved.”

Mr. Schelling, “Good evening. This is for the demolition and asbestos abatement for the County Home. CCI, Chem Check, Inc., was the low bidder at $220,000.00. The Commissioners accepted the bid at the last Commissioners’ meeting. (inaudible)…the contractor and provide just what I handed to you, the agreement between the Commissioners and CCI for the work to be done.”

Com. Harper, “Gwenn, did you look over that?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “It is a standard form agreement.”
Mr. Schelling, “We also got all the necessary bond and insurance certificates.”

Com. Harper, “Now we are discussing is the contract with CCI.”

Mr. Schelling, “Yes.”

Com. Evans, “Didn’t we approve that last meeting?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “We had them as the successful bidder but we didn’t have the contract.”

Com. Evans, “Okay. You’ve read it and you have no problems with it? And it is in amount stated in the bid?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes.”

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

ASBESTOS ABATEMENT/DEMOLITION PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL-
Steve Winters, DLZ
Dave Schelling, Highway Engineer

Com. Harper, “Now the second thing we are here to discuss is the contract that was proposed and worked over by the County Attorney with DLZ regarding asbestos.”

Mr. Schelling, “Probably the big part of it was the asbestos abatement and I know absolutely nothing about asbestos. So, DLZ, Steve Winters here next me is an expert at it and he has prepared an agreement to help us monitor the work on a part time basis for $11,180.00. I think it is quite wise to use this. I feel comfortable using it since I don’t have the knowledge.”

Com. Harper, “Where would we take this from?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think we would take this from the same fund we are paying the contract price out of which is our property disposal fund. Initially, I think that means Highway is going to have some of the duty of project management because initially DLZ offered to do all the project management but at twice the cost. Now the Highway is going to pick up the part of the project management and DLZ is going to do the asbestos.”

Mr. Winters, “We will be providing part time inspection during the abatement process. We will also be providing some project management for the site as well. We will be available to answer questions that they might have or the contractor might have. Its going to clarify any issues in the contract specs. It will also prepare the pay estimates or review the pay estimates that the contractor prepares. It will also provide any answers to requests for information that the contractor has. We will provide limited oversight on approximately two to four hours a week on site during the demolition phase as well just to monitor the progress of the project. As Gwenn earlier stated, the County will be providing some of the oversight as a result during the demo phase. We are basically there to assist them to clarify any issues they might have.”

Com. Harper, “What’s the time table on this thing?”

Mr. Schelling, “Since the agreement was signed with CCI, we are going to have a preconstruction meeting this Thursday at 9:00 in my office and then he is likely to bring the equipment in later this week and actually start the abatement process on the 14th and some outside work at the barn to clean up because he can’t do demolition until the abatement is complete.”

Com. Harper, “I would just like to say that we were trying to do this all on our own and when we got DLZ involved I think we saved a substantial sum of money putting the bids together as they did. I think it would be wise to have them follow the___.”

Com. Evans, “I agree that we need to have some supervision to make sure it gets done, I mean on TV it gets done in a week. They tear it down and build a new one. I’m glad you broke your charges down into hours and costs because I know asbestos is nasty stuff and you don’t want to mess with it, but I think really the only thing you have to do is make sure its wet and put it in a formulator bag and not to exceed the weight of the bag to break the bag and then take it to the appropriate dump site. Its not really that difficult. I think that, I have a hard time paying somebody to watch a building get tore down. I think that is kind of what we are doing here. The contractor we hired is more than competent to do that job. I just really think the abatement has to occur because it has to occur by law but I really don’t think the county should be getting on the hook for $11,000.00 to watch a building get tore down. I just have a hard time with that.”

Mr. Schelling, “It is not to exceed cost.”

Com. Evans, “I understand that and I understand that you don’t want to take responsibility to do it. I don’t want to see people get in and there obstruct; I mean, we are tearing it down, its demolition, so I would like to see it get torn down in a most expeditious manner with the least obstruction from government and everybody else involved and just get it out of there.”

Mr. Winters, “If I may, one of the things we will be watching, and it is a part time basis as well, but the way the project was set up is a performance based specification where the contractor is responsible for moving all of the asbestos. However, we didn’t identify, its set up as a lump sum, we didn’t say there was twenty feet in this room and forty feet in this room. We just said this is the “x” amount based on an inspection that was done prior to us taking over. As a result, someone is going to need to verify that all the asbestos has been removed. You, as the owner, are liable for that material and the proper disposal of it. So, it is very important that all of the asbestos gets removed, properly removed, before the demolition, so that the asbestos doesn’t get co-mingled in with the demolition debris and taken for improper disposal. As a result if it did happen, you, as the owner, would still be liable because it is your material. Our role would be to make sure that they are doing the abatement correctly and there is no fiber release and they are following all the rules. Second, is to verify that they have removed all the asbestos. Now, I agree with you, we are not going to be sitting over their shoulder the entire time, babysitting them, basically we are there to protect your best interest.”

Com. Evans, “I understand that.”

Mr. Schelling, “During the demolition there could be additional asbestos uncovered in the walls and things that nobody knows about yet.”

Com. Harper, “John, I agree with you but I think there might be some liability.”

Com. Evans, “I understand that and I understand all the sides of it too but I just think sometimes a mountain gets made out of a molehill and that things that can be done should be done and a lot of times can be done and removed while we are still scratching our head thinking, is this the approved method? So, that being said, I would like to see you keep the total not to exceed, I would like to see it about in half if you could do that because I don’t even think it is going to take that long.”

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

Mr. Schelling, “I plan to go ahead and write a letter tomorrow to CCI with the Notice to Proceed.”

Com. Harper, “Do you have anything else tonight, Dave?”

Mr. Schelling, “No. I think I will stick around for the Sidwell discussion.”
HJ UMBAUGH & ASSOCIATES PROPOSAL DISCUSSION

Com. Harper, “This is a proposal not to do an audit but to do an evaluation of the bonding capacity of Porter Hospital. The County Attorney has contacted Umbaugh and they have given us a figure that would not exceed $17,500.00 without further authorization of the county and they have given us a scope of what they would do for this. It is going to have to go in front of the Council. I think everyone will feel better if we did it.”

Com. Evans, “I agree. I think we need to have it verified by an outside agency the ability of the hospital to bond and that needs a dollar amount. Having reviewed Umbaugh’s contract myself, I don’t believe that we meet everything they are proposing. Just like the last demolition I think that the do not exceed figures tend to get wherever the contract ends up and I don’t think in their proposed scope of services we need paragraph 5, 6 or 7. We just need to have them tell us what the hospital’s ability to bond is in a dollar amount. I don’t want them to be telling the hospital how to finance their project or to what operating levels they are looking at for the performance after the new hospital is built. That is not in scope of the work I envisioned for them at all.”

Com. Harper, “One thing you have to have . . . .”

Com. Evans, “I don’t know why they wouldn’t; they are talking about today. We want to know today, how much money can they . . . .”

Com. Harper, “But part of that, John, is based on what they think the income from the new building and they don’t have. That’s what, I think, those that would issue bonds for the project want to have an idea what the project is for and . . . .”

Com. Evans, “Well, I think all of that is going to be out there in the form of already proven standards. It is just like the standard that exists for the cost of building a hospital at a million dollars a bed and depending upon what type of hospital specialties they add.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “There’s no need to argue about it now because if you both agree on the concept that we want to retain Umbaugh, this is not their contract, this is just their proposal on the scope of work with a not to exceed figure. He is going to forward a contract and we have questions about whether or not what they need to do. 5, 6, or 7 we will act on before we sign the contract.”

Com. Evans moved to approve Umbaugh not to exceed $17,500.00 subject to an approved contract, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Com. Harper, “Now we need to be on the Council agenda for an additional, right?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Asking for $17,500.00. If we are approving the concept. We are handling it the same way we did the attorneys for the appeal for the BZA.”

Com. Evans, “Why is it an additional appropriation?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Are we going to ask them to transfer money to a line item we have for contractual services or an independent contract? That is about what this is, or a consultant.”

Ms. Hartig, “We have a consultant line item and contractual services.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I would say why don’t you transfer it into contractual services or consultants.”

Ms. Hartig, “So this additional is for the general fund budget?”

Com. Evans, “Right.”
Com. Harper, “We’ve got a joint meeting with the Council on the 13th. We can discuss it then. But we will still have to go on their meeting.”

OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS
Sharon Lippens, ITS Director
Approval of Video Conferencing Contract, Verizon

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Sharon and I both worked on the terms and conditions of the Verizon contract.”

Com. Harper, “You’ve done the bids, bids are out, you selected Verizon for the contract.”

Ms. Lippens, “Yes.”

Com. Harper, “As soon as we approve the contract you are ready to go.”

Ms. Lippens, “Correct.”

Com. Evans, “Have you reviewed the contract and is it acceptable?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “In excruciating detail.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the contract with Verizon, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

IBM EXTENDED MAINTENANCE CONTRACT

Ms. Lippens, “This is an IBM Extended Maintenance contract last year we purchased a tape drive and the tape drive comes with a three year warranty during business hours, we extended it to 24/7 so that we could make sure it could repaired.”

Com. Evans, “What was the additional cost?”

Ms. Lippens, “$799.00.”

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

UPGRADE OF METASYS OPERATOR WORKSTATION

Ms. Lippens, “I am not sure what this second one is.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “That’s the one done by Johnson Controls.”

Ms. Lippens, “A representative from Johnson Controls contacted me about allowing them to put their, I guess they have a workstation in every building that they use to control the different things in each building. And right now, instead of having to physically go to every building, they can dial up the computer from one building to another to do work. They wanted to know if they could put those on our network instead of having to dial it up.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “And that was at no additional cost to us?”

Ms. Lippens, “There is no cost to us. They would run a drop into wherever their computer is and they agreed to go through our security so there wouldn’t be any issues with them. I don’t see a problem with it.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I just wanted to make sure that what they said you said was true. It seems to be.”

Com. Evans, “They would have no access to the ASA 400?”
Ms. Lippens, “They would have no access at all. Basically, they would just be using our connectivity to get from their computer to their other computer and nothing else.”

Com. Evans, “And they want that in the form of a contract?”

Ms. Lippens, “No, it is not.”

Com. Evans, “Oh, just in the form of a memorandum, okay.”

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

APPROVE CONTRACT FROM DATA DESIGN FOR CONTRACT PROGRAMMER

Ms. Lippens, “Two years ago I eliminated a position during budget cuts for a programmer. We have had several changes that the state is requiring for our tax system so I would like to contract out a programmer to come in and make some of those changes we are not able to.”

Com. Harper, “You already have the money in your budget?”

Ms. Lippens, “Yes.”

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

OPEN BIDS FOR VIDEO COURT SYSTEM

Com. Harper, “I understand these bids are not going to have a one price for all so we are just going to name the names of the people that submitted the bids and if any of them are here and want to see any of the other’s, we will spread them on the table at the back.”

The following bids were opened: AET Security Services, Inc.; Video Tech Corporation; Tri-Electronics.

Com. Harper, “Is that all the bids that came in? Okay, we will take those, review them. Is there anyone here that submitted the bids here tonight? All right, she will have them back at the table for everybody. Then she will get back to us in two weeks with her recommendation.”

Ms. Lippens, “Either that or if we can’t get a general good judgment by then, we may have to extend it.”

Com. Harper, “Maybe we should make it four weeks.”

Ms. Lippens, “Depending on how the bids are, they are going to be difficult to compare. So I think that is going to take some time.”

Com. Harper, “Let’s schedule it for March 7, for four weeks.”

REASSESSMENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CONTRACT
John Scott, Portage Twp. Assessor

Com. Harper, “Next we have John Scott, Portage Township Assessor, and John, you have a reassessment technical assistance contract, is that correct?”

Mr. Scott, “Yes. We contracted with Dunn & Shaw back in 1995. We have contracted with them for $42,000 and there was a year in there that we problems, and money was real tight and we couldn’t contract with them at the time. We started back again last year and I think it is three years in a row and we are very happy with their work.”
Com. Evans, “Gwenn, have you read the contract?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes, I have been very busy reviewing contracts.”

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

EXPO CENTER CATERING CONTRACTS
John Thorstad, Manager

Com. Harper, “Are these the same as the ones from last year?”

Mr. Thorstad, “The verbiage in the contracts the same, I believe there is one additional caterer that is interested more or less in the concessions that we do out there.”

Com. Evans, “Do you want me to read the caterers? All Occasion Catering; Billy Jack’s Café; Birky’s Catering; Boss Hog Catering; Martini’s Restaurant; Master Caterers; Strongbows; Town and Country Catering, Inc.; Your Kitchen Catering. Has everybody performed satisfactorily as far as you are concerned?”

Mr. Thorstad, “Yes, I believe Still Smoking Catering, is that one you read? Still Smoking Bar-B-Q?.”

Com. Evans, “Have you sampled theirs?”

Mr. Thorstad, “Yes.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the catering contracts, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Thorstad, “I have two other issues. Going into the office in January, I realized the computers don’t work, we have asked Sharon for prices on those. She had gotten back to me with a quote on that. At this point, we would like some direction on where to go. The copier is also about 8 or 9 years old. Its about ready to blow up. We are looking at that part. I have also put some bugs in your ears about some problems we have had out there with the facility in general. The facility is 20 years old at this point. It is starting to go downhill. I’ve got some pictures giving you an idea what we are looking at.”

Com. Harper, “I wonder if you could get for us…. It is my understanding that you have over $100,000.00 balance. Do you think there is any way you could give us a projection of what you expect incoming expenses for this year. I understand it wouldn’t be exact, just so we have a little idea of what kind of a cushion or what there is to work with or where we are going to be at the end of the year. I know there are some contracts we lost, a couple of accounts.”

Mr. Thorstad, “I think overall, the Expo is booked now more than ever. We are going to be having a very, very busy year. Our big issue is we’ve cut the budget so much that I think when Lonnie did the budget he projected about $40,000.00 a month just to meet the budget. I don’t foresee how we can do that unless we have exceptionally good months after this. And we will have good months, but $40,000.00 to me is heart attack time. I don’t know where he got those figures.”

Com. Harper, “What happened last year, what did we take in, what did we spend last year?”

Mr. Thorstad, “I believe when I came in the cushion was about $100,000.00. We spent some of that on some upgrades. We were right on line last year, around $450,000.00.”

Com. Harper, “Was the income? Okay, and what were the expenses?”

Mr. Thorstad, “Right close to that.”
Com. Harper, “Okay, so this year…”

Mr. Thorstad, “It was projected at $478,000.00 because there was an increase with taking the liability insurance under that umbrella.”

Com. Harper, “So we are budgeted for $478,000.00 this year, and we took in $450,000.00, do you think we will take in $450,000.00 this year?”

Mr. Thorstad, “We’ll be close. We are going to have a deficit, we won’t meet the budget. I can see that just through January. Liz is a little bit more optimistic than I am, but we are going to be working out tails off to reach that level.”

Com. Harper, “What are the _____ figures?”

Mr. Thorstad, “The computers are what Sharon projected for number three were $4,114.00. We suggested on the copier a year return lease copier as another $4,200.00.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Sharon priced three Dell pc’s and printers for $4,114.00. Is that total or per?”

Mr. Thorstad, “No, that is total.”

Com. Evans, “I think those things are kind of imperative, I mean, you need a copier, you need computers.”

Mr. Thorstad, “We’ve got one computer and that is Liz’s. Mine shuts down every time I go on it.”

Com. Evans, “Sharon, where are they on your priority list for computers, are they even on it?”

Ms. Lippens, “No, in the past the Commissioners had directed me the Expo was considered as a self sufficient department and were not part of the rotation. If you wanted to include them as part of the rotation this year from CCD, they could be included with the rest of the county.”

Com. Harper, “It sounds to me like they are sitting out there with nothing right now. Can we give this two weeks and put in the schedule for two weeks from now and we’ll come up with the answer. We just have to look at our available funds.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “You could do it right now if you just tell her to take it out of CCD, it’s only $4,000.00.”

Com. Harper, “Let’s do the computers now and then we will revisit the copiers and these furnaces. What we need to get is some idea of what we are talking about.”

Com. Evans, “Is there someone who has a greater need than they do? Anyone still working on Windows 95?”

Ms. Lippens, “Oh, yes, quite a few.”

Com. Harper, “Why don’t you take care of the computers and we will put it on for two weeks from tonight.”

Mr. Thorstad, “What I did on the facility upgrade part, instead of asking everybody and their mother what this would cost and what that would cost, I got a general breakdown from Tonn & Blank Construction about what our needs are, what an overall cost would be.”

Com. Evans, “We will have to do what is called an RFP, a Request for Proposal.”

Mr. Thorstad, “I am just looking for direction. That gives you some general idea of what our needs are and what they believe is a pretty reputable firm would suggest what the cost would be.”

Com. Evans, “Let’s hear about the furnace.”

Com. Harper, “You are saying the furnace is a fire danger.”

Mr. Thorstad, “Yes.”

Com. Evans, “Where is the furnace at in the facility?”

Mr. Thorstad, “We’ve got two hanging furnaces in the maintenance room, they are actually both shot. The gentleman that came out to look at them by law had to turn them off because of bad heat exchangers. We generally don’t have heat in that maintenance area. We’ve got another one that is in Expo East at this point that we can hold off on if the facility upgrade issue is a part of it because that would be something to be taken care of there.”

Com. Evans, “That room wouldn’t be changed in regard to any type of addition?”

Mr. Thorstad, “No, the thing that was suggested in the maintenance room is to put a regular high efficiency furnace in there and that would actually cost less money.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the expense from CCD for the computers and property disposal for the furnaces, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Com. Evans, “We are going to replace the computers out of CCD and we are going to replace the furnaces out of property disposal, Fund 215.”

Com. Harper, “I think number 6 we should do two weeks from now.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “If you like the idea, you can see they are going to have to work on job descriptions and present them to us to get that done. If you like the idea of what they are saying then you can instruct them to modify the job descriptions and then bring those in and you can talk about that.”

Com. Evans, “If that’s what you think you want to do then have them bring it back in two weeks.”

Com. Harper, “Yes, at next meeting.”

Mr. Thorstad, “I am new to this, so how would you like us to proceed on this other issue about …….”

Com. Evans, “We will have to talk about that again and we will have to let our fees if we are going to proceed with a project of that magnitude.”

Com. Harper, “One thing I would like to know is if you can do it is, what do you think we did this ______, what the answer is. And the idea is we would have another full banquet hall.”

Mr. Thorstad, “The best part is we would have another banquet hall and run two events at one time; two quality events. As you see by the pictures, Expo East looks like a barn, it has a cement floor, it needs to be upgraded. We can run two, very good quality events at one time.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Is there any way you could do these, if you have one, two, three, four, five, six different things listed, would you be able to do it piece meal or would they have to be all one big project?”

Mr. Thorstad, “I don’t think they have to be one big project. I think our greatest priority is our own storage space. Storage is listed under number 2.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “This looks like a bunch of separate projects.”

Mr. Thorstad, “We did that purposely because of that. We spend a majority of our labor time moving tables back and forth from building to building and outside during the winter, and we can cut down a lot of that time and effort by having a centralized located storage space that’s sufficient for our tables and our equipment. Instead of moving it from building to building as we rent it out because as we get busier, that’s the majority of our time.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “So that’s the most important thing.”

Mr. Thorstad, “I think both Liz and I agree that it is, in addition to upgrading the building to run two events.”

Com. Evans, “You kind of have a double edged sword, we charged you guys with becoming self sufficient being able to take care of everything on your own and pay all your bills and then you have a facility that is aging. You know when the Expo Center was built it was state of the art, one of a kind. Now, you have a lot of competition out there and in order to maintain your market share you need to do these things, I really believe it’s true.”

Mr. Thorstad, “It is the old adage, you have to spend money to make money. And that is exactly what we need to do. I don’t mind doing this effort, this is what I enjoy but if we don’t upgrade the facility, there’s a new steel worker’s hall on 149 that is going to steal business. We want to remain competitive in that respect. Thank you.”

Com. Harper, “Would there be a problem leaving those pictures with us?”

Mr. Thorstad, “No, not at all.”

GIS-SIDWELL DISCUSSION

Com. Evans, “Years ago the county attempted to come into the 21st century and in so doing, they formed a committee to examine GIS services and interview 21 different companies back then and Sidwell won the contract at that time in 1997. Due to the financial condition of Porter County after Bethlehem Steel’s bankruptcy, the project was kind of put on the back burner and so was the technology that it would have brought to us. What this contract will do is resurrect that technology and give it back to us and let us move forward at a very, very fast rate. I think we need to move on this with all due haste and I think the committee should be commended for all their work and efforts and I think they should further be commended in the fact that they set a meeting for tomorrow morning to continue this endeavor and put it into operations.”

Jackie Green, “We would consider the recommendation that the committee made based on years of research and more recent research as well. Hopefully I can answer any questions you may have.”

Com. Harper, “If anyone is interested, we have a letter from GIS committee; years ago they went over all the different companies, they picked Sidwell, they revisited that issue, and they revisited it the last two weeks and held a special meeting on January 4, 2006. They provide to the Commissioners a letter signed by the county auditor, treasurer, highway engineer, Plan Commission director, county surveyor, ITS director, and Jackie Green all recommend to continue with this contract.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the contract for professional GIS services between Porter County and Sidwell, Com. Harper seconded,

Com. Harper, “I forgot to ask our attorney…sorry Gwenn.”

Com. Evans, “Is there a contract tonight that you have not read?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “No. I looked at this one and it is in order. As you know the project is going to cost more than what we have, so it is always a glitch when you have a contract, so we have limited this contract to $450,000.00 and that is the $250,000.00 from 2004 unallocated CEDIT, $100,000.00 from 2005 that is in our plan, and the $100,000.00 from 2006. Then we anticipate doing addendums to this contract to complete the project and the whole project is $1,435,000.00. So we are not binding the county to do more than what we can afford to pay for.”

Com. Evans, “And to their credit, Sidwell should be recognized for going along with our terms.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Right, that’s how we got the contract negotiated. And they are getting a lot of software in the contract, we are giving them a software warranty, which is always (inaudible)…”

Motion carried.

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Just so this is on the record, we did pass this contract out to the whole committee and the committee reviewed it and then commented on it, and gave comments to Sidwell to make sure that, I mean, not much of that contract is legalese, most of it is work plan, so everybody on the committee approved the work plan that’s separate in the contract.”

CORRESPONDENCE

Clerk’s monthly report for December 2005 is on file.
Weights and Measures monthly report for January 2006 is on file.
Court Security Activity Report for January 2006 is on file.

Approve consultant agreement with Animal Welfare Board and Matthew Soliday, attorney, to provide legal services

Com. Evans moved to approve the contract with attorney Matt Soliday for legal services for the Animal Welfare Board and Animal Shelter for the year 2006 in the amount of $3,720.00, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval of landscape maintenance agreement with Getz Landscaping

Com. Evans moved to approve the agreement with Getz Landscaping from February 1 through October 1, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval of Porter County Bar Association to hang current photographs of members at Courthouse and North County Complex.

Com. Evans moved to approve the request by Porter County Bar Association to hang current photographs of members at Courthouse and North County, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Request for transfer of funds-Commissioners

Fund 01.30 $200.02 from 3750 other rentals
Into 4440 furniture and fixtures over $100

Fund 01.30 $124.98 from 2110 office supplies
Into 4440 furniture and fixtures over $100

To cover purchase of chair for Treasurer.

Com. Evans moved to approve the transfers, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.
OSHA TRAINING DISCUSSION

Atty. Rinkenberger, “As you guys are aware, we had a verbal complaint, or a complaint filed to OSHA regarding our air quality here which resulted in a coordination of an on site visit from a OSHA consultant who said that it would be wise for the county to participate in OSHA training so we are OSHA compliant and all our employees and department heads are aware of what OSHA requires. They do that as a courtesy. We sent a letter to him to ask him to come down and hold a two day, ten hour training seminar to certify our different departments, Highway or whoever we pick, to get OSHA compliant and likewise we had an issue crop up where the U.S. Department of Labor was contacted regarding Family Medical Leave and the investigator that came from the U.S. Department of Labor said she gives free training seminars to elected officials and department heads and management on the Family Medical Leave Act, which I think would be a really good idea. So we wrote her a letter and she is going to come and do a seminar for our department heads and elected officials so we get some OSHA training.”

Com. Harper, “Do we have dates yet?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I have proposed dates. April 20 we were going to have the U.S. Department of Labor investigator do two different Family Medical Leave seminars, one hour seminars, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Then we reserved two days, May 3rd and May 4th for the OSHA training. That training seminar works pretty good, we can invite entities outside county government if there were interested, like the cities and towns. However broad we want to make it.”

Com. Harper, “I think all our department heads should be required to attend both of these sessions. We should put out a notice to them they need to be there.”

Com. Evans, “The department heads we can require, the office holders we should strongly encourage.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Otherwise it just opens them up to liability issues that we don’t need.”

Com. Evans, “I agree we should make an invitation available to every municipality in the county.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes, because there’s room.”

Com. Harper, “Yes, this is important stuff.”

COMMISSIONER EVANS’ COMMENTS ON HOSPITAL, DUNES STATE PARK AND TOLL ROAD

Com. Evans, “I have a few comments to make. First off, with regard to the hospital; I can neither commend nor defend the recent actions of the hospital board in regard to the monetary raises for the administration. I can however, say with no reservations, that Porter County absolutely needs a new hospital facility. The action of the Board of Commissioners this evening is to seek outside expertise on the bonding ability of the hospital and it should be viewed as a second opinion, everyone is entitled to a second opinion. This is one of our means of doing due diligence. Further, in an attempt to keep politics to a minimum and the work of a new committee has been suggested, I believe that I should be the Commissioners’ appointment to the committee as I am not running for election this year. The Toll Road: I always thought that major moves is what people did on the dance floor, but since that is not the case, I think we have a few questions we need to ask. The first is how much has the Toll Road contributed to the economic advancement to this county currently? Secondly, how much has the Toll Road contributed to other highway or transportation projects in Porter County? And thirdly, how much would it contribute in the next 75 years if it were not leased? If we take these questions into consideration along with the knowledge that this is pretty much a done deal, then we have to ask how much is fair for Porter County if this lease agreement goes through. The proposed projects are a good start but I am convinced we should do better along with the already proposed projects, I believe a few more items need to be considered. We must extent Highway 149 to Highway 30, this project has been talked about for a long time. I would like to see a means to enter the Toll Road, an interchange at State Road 149 if it is extended to the Toll Road. I would like to see the 49 By-pass resurfaced from the Toll Road south to the last resurfacing project. I would like to see Central Avenue in Portage extended to State Road 149. I would like to see upgrades on all major intersections of the Highway 49 By-pass from the Toll Road north. And lastly on my laundry list, I would like to see the extension of Dickinson Road in Chesterton. I do think all these are worthwhile projects and should be considered a wise use of these funds. Finally, in regard to the proposed new hotel at the Indiana Dunes State Park. I understand that whatever is built out there would be built on previously disturbed soil. If that is correct, I support the hotel. During my high school years, I worked every summer at the State Park. I have many fond memories, I recall happy faces of the guests that stayed at the hotel while vacationing at the Dunes. I have many unpleasant memories of working on old water lines and broken toilets as well. As I agree that the aging structure needed to be torn down, I recognize that we have a jewel on our northern boundary and we should share it while acknowledging that it is very environmentally sensitive. That’s all I have.”

PLAN COMMISSION
Robert Thompson, Director
Rezone Ag to RR, Keith Freyenberger, Owner, 1st Reading

Mr. Thompson, “This is Plan Commission Resolution No. 06-2. Petitioner Keith Freyenberger requesting a zoning map change from Agriculture and Open Space to RR, Rural Residential for a parcel. This was heard at the Plan Commission’s public hearing for January 11, 2006 and it was forwarded to the Commissioners with a recommendation of denial by a 7-0 vote.”

Com. Harper, “Is this a public hearing tonight? Is that what this is?”

Mr. Thompson, “Yes.”

Com. Harper, “So who’s here on behalf of the petitioner?”

Mr. Thompson, “Mr. Freyenberger is here. He is asking me that if this is a good time to present to the Commissioners a possibility of a continuance of this case until all three Commissioners are present.”

Com. Harper, “I think what we can do…. Commissioner Knoblock is not here because her husband is in the hospital. I think we can continue it for a couple of weeks but then for some reason if she is not here, then it is either going to have to be withdrawn or we are going to have to act on it. So I don’t mind continuing this for a couple of weeks.”

Com. Evans, “I have no objection continuing it.”

Com. Harper, “All right, we are going to continue it for two weeks. We will continue it over for two weeks until our next meeting, to see if Commissioner Knoblock is here or not. At that meeting, if you don’t want to submit it you are going to have to withdraw it and you will have to start over. Bob can tell you what you need to do.”

Mr. Thompson, “The only thing is (inaudible) the only thing that I would ask is that you do it sooner so that the Plan Commission can sent out notice.”

Com. Harper, “Okay, we will put on the schedule for two weeks.”

Mr. Freyenberger, “And what would the date be?”

Mr. Thompson, “The 21st.”

Com. Harper, “We have no other business or no other speeches.”

Com. Evans 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