PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2006
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, 155 Indiana Avenue, Suite 205, Valparaiso IN 46383.

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 February 21, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Evans moved to approve the payroll of March 7, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF CLAIMS

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

APPROVAL OF VISITOR’S COMMISSION VENUE CONTRACT
David Hollenbeck, Attorney

Atty. Hollenbeck, “Good evening, and thank you for fitting me in on your agenda. I am here tonight for our annual approval of the Visitor’s Commission monetary allocations to the venues. This year, pursuant to their discussions with the County Council, the Visitor’s Commission is committing $89,100.00 to county venues. Three of those are under your auspices and that is why I am here tonight to get your approval. That includes the old county Jail Museum at $8,910.00, the Memorial Opera House at $22,275.00 and the Expo Center at $22,275.00. These again are figures that the County Council and the Visitor’s Commission work on during the budget process. The other one that the Park Department gets is $35,640.00 and that is where a total of $89,100.00 comes in, and this is for the Inn Keepers Tax. I need your approval of the three that you have jurisdiction over which is the Jail Museum, Opera House, and the Expo Center. If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.”

Com. Evans, “I know how much the funds are needed and how well they are spent by those venues that receive them and especially in the last few years when the bankruptcy of Bethlehem Steel it was the only thing that allowed some of them to stay afloat.”

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

Com. Harper, “Is that the same amount as last year?”

Atty. Hollenbeck, “Same amount as last year.”

PROPOSED INCREASE TO AGREEMENT WITH STEWART C. MILLER
Mike Anton, Anton Insurance Agency

Mr. Anton, “This is just a housekeeping issue. Previously, in last years’ renewal process, Stewart Miller submitted their charges for administration on a three year basis. This would be the second year in that period and they are requesting a 3%..(inaudible). From $12.85 per month per employee to $13.23 per month per employee.”

Com. Evans, “I thought we approved this on a three year contract.”

Mr. Anton, “Well, you may have and you may not have. The total (inaudible)…. Whether or not and how that motion was presented and I just thought I would appear in front of you and go through some of this with you. The third page of what I handed you is the quotation from last year that outlines those changes.”

Com. Harper, “In other words, this just reaffirms what we did last year, and you are not sure we did it?”

Mr. Anton, “Well, you made a motion to accept their proposal and . . .”

Com. Evans, “And the proposal was for a three year contract?”

Com. Evans moved to approve year two and then next year I will make the motion for year three, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

PORTER COUNTY EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND BENEFIT FAIR

Mr. Anton, “If I may just take a second, I will be asking to come back at your next meeting this month to give you final terms on the April 1st issues. In addition, I wanted to comment, we’ve had some conversations and we are in the planning stages to put together a Porter County Employee Health and Benefit Fair and we’ve had preliminary inquiries over at the Expo about getting that scheduled and tentatively as I speak. It will probably occur, with your permission, in early May. What I want to ask the Board of Commissioners, is for your permission of this project, what we will do is invite vendors of all natures that apply to the health industry and to those types of vendors, and banking institutions and what have you that may be of interest to the employees of Porter County Government to set up booths, and be the available on a given day for the employees to come through the fair, and reap whatever benefits from that experience that they make. I’d like to have your approval for that but also your endorsement to the other elected officials that they support this fair and certainly make it convenient where possible for the county employees to access the Expo because it is kind of like an all day thing there from like 10:00 to 4:00 or something of that nature. And of course this would also be open to the spouses of the employees. I will come back and I’ll present a format for that. I just wanted to kind of publicly state that this is where we are headed with this thing.”

Com. Evans, “I think it is a good idea. It will be a big help and an asset to some of our employees that don’t realize all of the wherewithal they do have and the people . . . “

Mr. Anton, “And I was going to ask the county employees to help us with it.”

Com. Evans, “It is going to be in May?”

Mr. Anton, “Yes, I was going to see if I could get Vi to volunteer.”

Com. Evans, “I would encourage you to get the date set as soon as possible and start sending out some reminder notices through the Auditor’s office and the pay stubs or something like that.”

Mr. Anton, “Thank you.”

KANKAKEE VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY GRANT REQUEST
John Hodson
Mary Hodson

Mr. Hodson, “At this point, I don’t know how familiar you are with our project of restoring the Collier Lodge on the Kankakee. We have reached a point where we are getting in the grant process to restore it and we selected a grant writer, Robert Nulty, he is out of near Ft. Wayne. He is the same grant writer that Portage’s historical society used. What we are doing at this first step is planning a grant for $15,000 to do a feasibility study, help with the grant application and the prerequisites for the grant application and then to get the grant. We are going for $100,000.00. And an applicant can only get a third of the entity and so since we feel like we fall under the county, that is where we will petition. Our grant writer would do all the administrative work. It is a two step thing. Right now we are in the planning graph, but almost immediately and simultaneously we are going to start the grant process, too. So we’ve got most of our preliminary work done, we pretty well finished up our National Registry application, got our membership up to the point where it’s a respectable amount, we are up to about 100 members. So we need your signing on that to be the applicant for us.”

Mary Hodson, “If I can add to that. Robert Murphy was chosen because of his expertise with block grants and as John said that he would administrate the grant totally. We do have a really great running history in the short time we have been around for fundraising as well as small grants and administrate those grants ourselves and additionally doing some other grant application. So we feel very confident about what we are doing now. The plan benefit is being designed and it is spelled out for you in a letter to accomplish everything we need to make a very good decision based on all our input so that way when we move forward with the restoration we will know that we can fund it and sustain it for a long term and it will be a public used ____.”

Com. Harper, “Do you work any with the Tourism Board?”

Mr. Hodson, “Yes, we have had some contacts with the Tourism but they sort of need something (inaudible)….”

Mrs. Hodson, “I am the director of mental health so I’ve done grants with them and am currently do a grant with them so I am aware of their grant processes.”

Mr. Hodson, “I’ve asked Robert Murphy to make sure the Commissioners are really the entity that needs to be the applicant. That’s why we are here. Mary is our detail person. I can sort of see visions and I get things motivated but she gets all the details done.”

Mrs. Hodson, “Also, if you are reading through this, you understand what we are asking of the Commissioners is that you are the applicant and we are the sub-applicant. We will be totally and completely responsible and Robert Murphy will do all the administration of the grant. We will prepare anything necessary with your guidance for public bids as well as any other work. So we are not asking for funds on account of we have these funds already set aside and we are not asking for your time.”

Mr. Hodson, “We will pretty much do all the work except for certain parts that can only be done by you. We want to do as much as possible.”

Mrs. Hodson, “Actually, it entails that you receive the check and sign it and hand it back off. As Hugh said, he will not be receiving any portions of the funds which I don’t _______ anyways.”

Com. Evans, “I for one really appreciate your work and I have followed all your emails you have sent, John, and I especially like the pictures and I can see the progress and the enthusiasm you have there speaks volumes about the project itself. I think it is great.”

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

Com. Harper, “Let me say this. I am like John, I am excited about the project. I am excited about the area of the Kankakee River and how that now the Historical Society may work with the tourism of Porter County someday. It’s an exciting area and exciting history. Sometimes I think it gets forgotten.”
Mrs. Hodson, “I think most people forget about South County and so we are just doing our best to find out that it is alive and well and it has been alive and well for a number of years.”

REQUEST FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO FAIRGROUNDS
Dennis Steinhilber, Fair Board

Mr. Steinhilber, “I am before you to seek approval for want to replace the horse arena announcing stand, the one that is out there, the two story announcing stand is in need of repair. It is pretty wobbly and we would like to add to the restroom facilities out there; the permanent restroom facilities. There are two locations, one behind the buggy wheel pavilion, we would like to either extend that one to double the size or put up another building right next to it to double the size. It will probably be for ladies only because that is what we are short of out there during the Fair. We would also like to double the size of the one by the grandstand as well. I am not sure where the funds would come from for both, I don’t know if it would be possible to get some county help or not. And I don’t expect an answer tonight, it is something that needs to be discussed.”

Com. Harper, “I don’t think we have any trouble with the first part of the request.”

Com. Evans, “And the restrooms are (inaudible)……. But the horse arena is a big show area.”

Mr. Steinhilber, “Yes, it is, it is used a lot not only during the Fair, but all summer long.”

Com. Evans, “I think you are right on the mark with the areas you are working with. We’ll just have to check our piggy bank.”

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

OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS

Recommendation of bidder for Video Court Security
Sharon Lippens, ITS Director

Ms. Lippens, “We had three bidders. One of the bidders did a fantastic job submitting a bid but it was very much more than what we need and that we expect even in the future so the two other bidders that were closer were focused on, they actually quoted the exact same equipment and we were able to compare the two. The vendor that I would recommend is Video Tech Corporation, out of Highland. And they have done schools in this area, I have contacted their references and they have nothing but praise. They have not had any problems. I think one school had something minor, and they were right out there. Other than that, they hadn’t had any problems. They have like or very similar systems to what we have.”

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

Purdue contract
Annetta Jones, Extension Educator

Ms. Jones, “This is our annual contractual agreement amendment. It represents the current budgeted amount for contractual services that were budgeted for 2006 and each year, because of changes, we ask that a county representative sign it so that it is official and that they did receive it and we can bill the county for those contractual services.”

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

COMMISSIONERS’ REPORTS

Center District:

1. The Highlands, Phase I & II, Performance Letter of Credit #CL7283LC, from Peoples Bank in the amount of $374,000.00. New expiration date is March 1, 2007. Recommend approval.

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

South District:

1. Fieldstone Manor, Phase I, Performance Letter of Credit #00704, from Centier Bank in the amount of $25,500.00. New expiration date is March 27, 2007. Recommend approval.

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

2. Fieldstone Manor, Phase II, Performance Letter of Credit #00705, from Centier Bank in the amount of $18,750.00. New expiration date is March 27, 2007. Recommend approval.

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

CORRESPONDENCE

Clerk’s monthly report for January 2006 is on file.
Court Security Activity Report for January 2006 is on file.

Approval of maintenance agreements with Great Lakes Automatic Door

Com. Evans, “Are they the ones that put the doors in?”

Ms. Hartig, “I am not sure about the other doors, but they did this one last year.”

Com. Harper, “Talk to me about this.”

Ms. Hartig, “I talked to Charlotte and she said that the warranty on this door, since it is has been in for a year, was up so they suggested a maintenance agreement. So I talked to Charlotte and she said because of the wear and tear on these doors, it would probably be a good idea to have a maintenance agreement. She said they do a lot of work on the doors at North County. She said it was probably cheaper to have a maintenance agreement than it would be to pay them each time.”

Com. Evans, “Can you put this off until next time? I want to research this a little more. I am not sure they were the ones that installed them.”

Com. Harper, “Okay, we will continue this for two weeks and talk to Charlotte.”

Approval of Valparaiso YMCA-Voice Youth Group to use Courthouse grounds
for presentation on “Dangers of Tobacco Use” April 5, 2006 from 12:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Com. Evans moved to approve the request contingent on appropriate proof of insurance, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Request for additional appropriation-Highway Dept.

Fund 25 $32,130.62 acct 9433 Pine Twp. Bridge repairs
20,205.34 acct 9331 Portage Twp.
16,330.12 acct 9362 Portage Twp.
26,887.14 acct 9434 Pine Twp.
27,316.72 acct 9435 Portage Twp.
25,634.94 acct 9436 Porter Twp.
6,958.86 acct 9382 Portage Twp.

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

Fund 26 $20.000.00 acct 2261 Salt replenish supply to season’s end

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

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT BOARD APPOINTMENTS

Com. Evans, “There are two vacancies on the Wildlife Management Board and actually we have two applicants.”

Com Evans moved to approve the appointments of Brian Mitol of Valparaiso and Nancy Berning of Valparaiso, bringing the board up to the maximum, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

REQUEST FROM CLERK TO HIGHWAY TO HANDLE ELECTION MACHINES

Com. Harper, “We have a request from the Clerk for the Highway Department, and Al is here to talk about that, to handle these election machines on Election Day. How are they doing it, John?”

Com. Evans, “Each precinct person was going down and, whoever was in charge of that precinct, and it was contingent upon whoever polls the secretary of state’s office that their particular party would be in charge of setting up the poll, they would arrive at the destination, a lot of times the day before, and set them up. I read her letter of request and I know it is more work for you and more responsibility for your guys, but they are valuable pieces of machinery.”

Al Hoagland, “I understand and in our conversation she indicated she would like to rent van type trucks for this transportation period because we don’t have any enclosed trucks, for if the weather is inclement or anything like that. Ideally it would probably work better with our people, we know the county roads, and if there is a shortcut to get there, we are going to know it.”

Com. Evans, “I think it would be a good thing if she would have or could have a couple of her board members accompany you for the first half dozen or so you know what piece of equipment needs to be at each place.”

Mr. Hoagland, “We haven’t even seen them yet. I don’t have any idea, but I understand they are quite valuable. If we can provide a service, then great.”

Com. Evans, “Thanks, Al.”

Com. Harper, “And you will just work that out with her?”

Mr. Hoagland, “Yes. Like I say, our people are licensed and there won’t be any concern about dealing with somebody with the proper license.”

Com. Harper, “One additional thing, apparently with the Sheriff’s Dept. we set aside $250,000.00 for cars and when they. . . . Yes?”

CHANGING SPEED LIMIT FROM 40 MPH IN GARDEN TERRACE

Bob Thrasher, “I live north of Valpo in Garden Terrace between the By-pass and old 49. That stretch of road is 40 mph. That is the only county road over there that is 40 mph. You’ve got people flying down it. I’ve been to the County Highway twice, they said well, the city is going to annex that, they’ll take care of it. I have been to the Sheriff’s Department twice. They put the speed limit thing out there for half a day and it broke. They got it fixed and brought it back for another day. Then I went back to the Sheriff’s and said what did you find out? It is 43 miles an hour one way, and the other way its 47 mile an hour. I said well, I guess that is acceptable and nobody is doing anything about it. If you come out of Maplewood, where it circles around, on the east side, there’s that hill there. Nobody’s got any money to cut that hill down so you can see, nobody is going 30 mile an hour. There is a lot of traffic over there and I am getting sick and tired of coming out of there and having to put it in reverse, backing up, because people come flying over that hill because there is a little nob. I have been everywhere. Somebody tell me where I have to go, what do we have to do to just put up a 30 mile an hour speed limit? That is the only spot; Silhavy is 30, all of them are 30 mile an hour. The other side of 49 is 30 mile an hour, right? But that one spot is 40. You’ve got the school there, Flint Lake, where the buses go on top of the hill. Then I was told they are going to put a red light out there. Is that true?”

Mr. Hoagland, “That would be the city of Valparaiso.”

Com. Harper, “Bob, let me check on it and get back to you.”

Mr. Thrasher, “I have been fighting this for a year now. I mean, what is so hard to change the speed limit, I think it is maybe only two signs.”

Com. Harper, “Let me check on it, I’ll get back to you within a week.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I live near there myself and I can attest as to what he is saying. People come off the By-pass and they come flying down 500 North. I try to pull out onto Silhavy to turn left and you’ve got people coming out of Hawthorn, you’ve got people flying down about 50; you’ve got people coming over that hill and it is dangerous and I agree with him 100%. I’ve got no problem with that area.”

Mr. Thrasher, “I don’t know who to see.”

Mr. Hoagland, “I agree with everything Gwenn said. It’s been a situation that is an accident waiting to happen. We can change it tomorrow.”

Com. Harper, “Change it tomorrow.”

Com. Evans moved to change the speed limit sign to 30 miles an hour, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Com. Harper, “It will be changed tomorrow, Bob.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Mission accomplished.”

Mr. Thrasher, “Thank you, I appreciate it.”


SHERIFF DEPT. REQUEST TO USE $8,000.00 FOR EQUIPMENT ON CARS

Com. Harper, “Anyway, they were $8,000.00 less on the cars from the $250,000.00 and they wanted to use it to dress out the cars.”

Com. Evans, “That’s fine.”

Com. Harper, “That’s fine with me. I think we should ask the attorney.”

Com. Evans, “We had $250,000.00 for the Sheriff’s Department out of CCD Funds to buy cars and they were able to save $8,000.00 and they would like to use that money to buy equipment for the cars.”

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

Com. Evans, “It was appropriated for vehicles and they were able to buy the vehicles at a lesser amount.”

YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU AND COUNCIL ON AGING

Com. Harper, “I would like to just start thinking about this before budget time this year. We almost did it last year. The Youth Service Bureau and the Council on Aging have their own budget. Rather than be part of our budget and they present that budget to the Council. If you will remember, it all comes to us as a figure because we don’t know what the needs are. It seems to me that they should be presenting it themselves.”

Com. Evans, “That’s a good idea.”

Com. Harper, “I can understand about the 4-H premiums, there’s no sense just for that to have a separate budget but for big things like this, we service the Council on Aging. So I would like to have us start putting out notices for that.”

Com. Evans, “I think that is a good idea, we ought to include them in that notice and send them a copy of the budget so they know how to request their first one from the Council. Maybe they could find another agency that submits one and then send them a copy of one of theirs.”

COMMISSIONERS’ APPOINTMENT TO KAKAKEE RIVER BASIN
Kevin Breitzke, Surveyor

Mr. Breitzke, “I am an officer of the Kankakee River Basin. I was just made aware that the Commissioners’ appointment hasn’t been made yet. We are on the verge of making some fairly significant decisions affecting the care of KVC. One of which is going to be Thursday, when we decide if we should get involved with the Wetland Reserve Program which could result in upwards of a million dollars coming in to our program, which will help finance some of our projects along the Kankakee River. I know that there have been some interest and Russ Pumeroy has asked me to check to see if he would be put up for this nomination.”

Com. Evans, “He’s the current seat holder?”

Mr. Breitzke, “No, Hap Haberlin was the seat holder and then in January when you voted, you did not reappoint Hap. Russell is interested.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the appointment of Russ Pumeroy, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Com. Harper, “Let me tell you something John and I were talking about tonight. We had that presentation on the need for a match of funds for the second phase of the Marquette money. Apparently NIRPC has information on that. John and I are both would like to have some more information on that, on what commitments have been made, who has to do what and who is going to get what.”

Com. Evans, “I especially want the terms.”

Mr. Breitzke, “Presently, as far as the regional plan commission, we’re covered for that except we had talked to you about some additional money which will enhance the overall project and would be appreciative. We can get those, too. Our representative Chris Kolhut has that district as Congressman Visclosky is on Phase I, this will be for Burns Harbor east, which does affect quite a bit of our shoreline, about thirteen miles. So, you include seven miles of the remainder of that in LaPorte County, there is 21 miles there, in Phase II, 21 miles in Phase I. So there is a substantial benefit for us.”

Com. Evans, “Can you get us some long term information on both phases?”

Mr. Breitzke, “I will have the director get us some information or I will pick up some packets. Thank you.”

With no further business to discuss the meeting was recessed.


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