PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2006
6:00 P.M.

The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 5, 2006 in the Commissioners’ Chambers of the Administration Center.

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

CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE

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

Com. Harper, “If anyone is here for the rezone application for Arcadia Subdivision, that application has been withdrawn and I believe that means, Mr. Thompson isn’t here yet, he is going to be here later because we are going to have one Plan Commission issue, that it is withdrawn and cannot be resubmitted for at least a year. I think that’s the rule. So it’s withdrawn and I don’t know what their intentions are but at this time it is withdrawn and I don’t believe there will be any action taken on that, at least from that application for a period of one year.”

Com. Evans, “I don’t think that is correct. I think that if they withdraw, they can come back. If their petition goes forward and is denied then they have to wait a year so we can get a clarification from Mr. Thompson on that.”

Com. Harper, “I don’t think there are any plans to come back.”

Com. Evans, “Well, we are not going to hear it tonight.”

Lady in audience, “I thought that if they withdraw they can’t bring it back in a year.”

Com. Evans, “I believe in the past, people have withdrawn for that very purpose so they don’t have that year waiting period.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Then the reconfigure it. But Bob Thompson can tell us how long it is before they bring it back. I’m not certain how long they have to wait until they bring it back. It certainly isn’t something they can do without refilling and renoticing and everything.”

Com. Evans, “And we are not going to hear it before it goes through the Plan Commission again in any form so its got to go through them again before it comes here once it’s been withdrawn.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “They can’t sneak it back in here.”

Com. Harper, “So, everyone will be notified again when it happens. We will find out when Mr. Thompson gets here.”

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Evans moved to approve the payroll of November 27, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Evans moved to approve the minutes of November 7, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.
APPROVAL OF CLAIMS

Com. Evans moved to approve the claims of December 5, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING CIVIL BUREAU FEES AND FUND—1ST READING
Kathy Nichols, Sheriff’s Department

Ms. Nichols, “The first part of this is fees of $200.00 that is covered by state statute for the administration of Sheriff’s Sales. The second is for this $100.00 fee for evictions. It is not covered by state statute but other counties do it and (inaudible)… because there are a lot of extras that go along with evictions over and above regular services.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “The way this ordinance is drafted is that, Kathy drafted it six months ago and had the research done for awhile, but IC 32-29-7-3 provides that the Sheriff can charge a fee of $200.00 for the administration of Sheriff Sales on mortgage foreclosures. So, we decided that and we are setting a fee of $200.00 for mortgage foreclosures. Then under Home Rule Authority, we have established a fee of $100.00 to be paid for the execution of eviction orders because of the time and the work and the paperwork and the processing that goes with it from the Sheriff’s Department for evictions. The ordinance establishes a fee of $200.00 for the mortgage foreclosures and $100.00 for the eviction notices. It creates a fund for the deposit of the fee and then it establishes again that the fund should be utilized by the Sheriff’s Department to administer the Sheriff’s Sale and the procedures in the civil administration.”

Com. Harper, “What would the fund be used for?”

Ms. Nichols, “I would hope that it would be used for, well, we pay $600.00 about every six months for certified mailing, we do a lot of certified mailings.”

Com. Evans, “Could it be used for your newspaper advertisement?”

Ms. Nichols, “No, because that is a separate thing, we don’t pay that, the…”

Com. Evans, “We don’t pay that?”

Ms. Nichols, “No, you don’t pay that, the plaintiffs, anytime we advertise, the plaintiffs pay for the sheriff’s sale, so that cost doesn’t cost the county any money.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Marion County has an ordinance similar to this, do you know how they use the funds for this and how this is set up to be used at the discretion of the Sheriff’s Department for the Civil Bureau for the Sheriff’s related expenses. Do you know how they spend theirs?”

Ms. Nichols, “I don’t know. I have the ordinance but it doesn’t specify, it just says for the operation of the Sheriff’s Department.”

Com. Evans, “I would like to see it a little more narrowed down so its specific to be used only for the Civil Bureau.”

Ms. Nichols, “But the statute does say that. The proposed ordinance does say that.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “For the administration of the Civil Bureau Sheriff’s Sales and the eviction orders.”

Ms. Nichols, “Any administrative costs of those particular actions.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the ordinance on the first reading, (and to make sure we have all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed before second reading), Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Atty. Rinkenberger, “The $200.00 fee is clear, I mean, that is set by state statute, that’s just like the Recorder charging a fee for anything. Case legislature has decided there are expenses associated with Sheriff’s Sales and you can charge up to $200.00 for. Eviction orders is exercising your Home Rule Authority to reimburse for the expenses incurred for eviction work. So if there is one fee that you are going to question, it should be the $100.00. But its been done in Marion County under Home Rule and not challenged. I think it is a valid exercise under Home Rule Authority given the expenses incurred for eviction orders. Maybe you could call Marion County and find out how they do it.”

Ms. Nichols, “Sure, no problem.”

ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A CHECK DEFERRAL FUND—1ST READING
Prosecutor’s office

Atty. Rinkenberger, “We could do first reading on this. This is a request of Brian Gensel from the Prosecutor’s office, he is unable to be here tonight. I put together an ordinance for him and its my understanding that they have retained American Corrective Counseling Services to provide check services for the Prosecutor’s office. Then they wanted to be able to deposit the fees and funds that they collect into a separate fund to be utilized by the Prosecutor’s office. We’re not assessing any fees or funds for this ordinance or fines, so its different from the one we just passes. Really its establishing a special fund for the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office for the deposit of fees generated from this check deferral program so they can spend it on their victim-witness programs and for the administration of their check deferral program. So we create a fund and dictate the use of the fund through this ordinance for them. So if you want to do the first reading on it, then we could have the 19th for any specific questions.”

Com. Harper, “So it is not much different from what they are doing right now. Right now they are running it straight through the prosecutor’s deferral fund anyway.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I don’t know why they want it then.”

Com. Harper, “Well, I think they probably want it so they can use this agency to help.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “They already contract with the agency in 2004, so they have been using the agency for three years and in paragraph 3 they want this to be retroactive to the monies received by and through the contractual agreement since July 6, 2004.”

Com. Harper, “It’s probably for State Board of Accounts.”

Com. Evans, “I think it maybe more of a prosecutorial thing that says money collected shall remain in the Prosecutor’s Check Deferral Fund and shall not revert to the county general fund.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think that they want to be able to pool that money in a line item and pay for their check deferral program and their victim-witness program with that money instead of co-mingling it in general fund money. But it is still subject to appropriation by the Council so they are not trying to say it is not subject to appropriation but they just want a separate line item for it so the money goes in from check deception and goes out to pay for check deception. Which is not a bad idea, we have done this before.”

Com. Evans, “They are also cloaking it so the general fund can’t ever get the funds. I don’t know if that is a bad thing.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “No, what this says is the termination of the funds, it says that the only way this money will revert to the general fund is if you guys would pass an ordinance saying it does. Because if we pass an ordinance to say terminate this fund, they get to spend it all on check deception unless we say it goes back into the general fund. We always have that power. All we have to do is amend this ordinance. But right now they wanted it to stay in the fund so it was a zero balance if we are going to repeal the ordinance.”

Com. Evans moved to approve on first reading contingent upon clarification from the prosecutor’s office prior to the second reading, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Com. Harper, “Bob, let me ask you a question, can you come up a second, Thompson? There are some people here on Arcadia, we told them it was withdrawn. What does that mean?”

Com. Evans, “Can they come back within a year?”

Mr. Thompson, “They could come back with the petition in three months if they wanted to but they would have to go through the full public notification process, it would be a whole new case and everything because this case is done. So they would have to be given a new docket number, they would have to go through the notification process, and pay the fees again to go through this whole process again.”

Com. Harper, “Go through the Plan Commission process again?”

Mr. Thompson, “Correct.”

Com. Harper, “So you are saying in three months, can they come back with a word for word application the same as this one?”

Mr. Thompson, “Yes.”

Com. Harper, “All right, he says in three months they could if they wanted to pay the fees and everything again, they would have to start off and they would have to go through all the Plan Commission committees and everything. They would have to start all over again, pay the fees all over again, everybody would get notified again.”

Lady in audience, “Does the Commission have the authority regardless of the ____ to go ahead and decide the fate, wherefore they would have a whole year before they come back. Then they would have to go the full process again.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “They have the right to withdraw the petition. We can’t make them make us hear it, no.”

Com. Evans, “The other thing they could do is build under the zoning that exists with the density that would be allowed.”

Mr. Thompson, “What you are asking is the impression that I gather they are going to follow is that they are probably going to give up the idea of the R1 rezone and they are going to go forward with the subdivision based on rural residential standards.”

Com. Harper, “Thank you, Bob.”

Lady in audience, “My question is if they go R1, and I don’t know the concepts of that, just because RR allows one acre lots that the ground is suitable for one acre lots and at what point do they have to address that?”

Com. Harper, “They have to go through the whole Plan Commission procedure, they have to work with the Health Department, they have to establish how that property is going to be used. And that is going to be a public hearing, too. Thank you.”

ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A PLAT MAP FEE AND FUND—1ST READING
Jackie Green, Mapping Dept.
Com. Harper, “Let’s do this together with the letter.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Well, let’s do them independently since Jackie is and they have nothing to do with one another. After drafting the ordinances we decided to go ahead and do one for the Auditor’s office and under state code, pursuant to IC 36-2-9-18 a fee can be charged pursuant to ordinance passed by a legislative body of a dollar, it was a dollar in 1989, and then they raised it to three dollars in 1994 and now they have raised it to five dollars pursuant to state code. But the Auditor’s office can charge a fee for recording deeds or endorsing them. So basically all this is, is we are currently getting three dollars. There is Ordinance No. 89-26 that is setting it at one dollar, then there’s Ordinance No. 92-37 that set it at three dollars, so I am repealing those two ordinances and passing a whole new ordinance setting it at five dollars. And, there is already a fund in existence for this money, it is called the Porter County Plat Map Fund, but I also address that in the ordinance. So we set a fee and name a fund. The money that goes into the Porter County Plat Map Fund now, the three dollars, is used to maintain Auditor’s plat maps. The additional two dollars we are getting over and over the three, we want to be applied exclusively for maintaining the Auditor’s digital plat map; that is going to be the base map for the county’s GIS. So it will all go into the same fund, it will be an accounting….”

Ms. Green, “I talked to Sandy about that and she thought we should put it in a separate line item.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes. Line item A and B. So three dollars would go to what it has always gone for and the additional two will go for Jackie’s digital plat map. That’s what this ordinance says.”

Com. Harper, “And five is the most you can charge.”

Ms. Green, “Actually, according to code, the way they have rewritten it, it is now five dollars per legal description.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I used the exact wording in the statute.”

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

Com. Harper, “This cannot be done on one reading?”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “No, because whenever you assess a fee or a fine we have to give two readings and advertise so everyone knows it. In fact, I think we put in here that this is going to become so everybody has fair notice, effective February 1, 2007.”

Com. Harper, “Jackie, since you are here, what do we need to do on the Sidwell matter?”

Ms. Jackie, “Did you get the email today? Joyce has sent to her a form that you can use to allow them to proceed.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Do you want to just read it?”

Com. Evans, “Sure. The Porter County Board of Commissioners unanimously agree to amend the county’s CEDIT Plan at their meeting held on November 8, 2006. The purpose of the amendment was to allocate funds to fulfill a contract executed on February 7, 2006. The Sidwell Company, for the GIS Project, December 4, 2004, the Porter County Council approved the request for the additional funds in the amount of $885,120.00. We therefore are pleased to give the Sidwell Company our notice to proceed on the Porter County GIS project.”

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


CHANGES TO CABLE FRANCHISE FEE DISCUSSION
Greg Gomolka, Comcast

Atty. Rinkenberger, “What initiated this was a letter that we received from Comcast pursuant to IC 8-1-34 that referenced a new law about franchising and I did pull up the law and read it and called Comcast and asked if they would come here and discuss it, But my review of the law does indicate that the state is going to become the franchisor. It doesn’t appear as if they intend to collect any franchise fee for this. It sounds like the units of government that currently have the franchise agreements are still going to be entitled to the franchise fee.”

Mr. Gomolka, “That’s correct. When I spoke originally with the county attorney she asked if I could come in and see if there were any questions regarding this. Earlier this year it’s kind of become the Indiana Telecommunications Reform Act of 2006, which provided for or allowed for what we consider to be state franchising. A brief history, in the past, we had had a franchise agreement with the local government entities, in this case, Porter County. The Reform Act of 2006 allows for what is called state franchising. In other words, our regulatory body then would become the state of Indiana, more specifically, the IURC. We did on October 30th send the county several letters because we have more than one franchise in Porter County because of the history of more than one cable company being here. So, we did send a notice that we had applied for a state franchise. Last week, I believe it was November 30th, we did hear back from the IURC that our application was accepted and according to the statute that was passed earlier this year, the IURC or the state of Indiana immediately becomes the sole regulator of our cable company, or our franchise fee.”

Com. Harper, “Let me ask you a question. I saw a letter from the Portage Clerk Treasurer that said that somehow she felt that this was going to result in less money for Portage.”

Mr. Gomolka, “I am glad you brought that up, Commissioner, because we also saw the article in the paper and I am not sure where she got the information. The intent of our letter was to let our communities know that we were in fact, applying for this state franchise. I believe her comment was, well, nobody told us about it and in all do respect, that was the intent of the letter to let you know that we had applied for it.”

Com. Harper, “Well, what about the comment she said that they were going to lose fees, that’s what concerned me.”

Mr. Gomolka, “I don’t know to be honest with you, Commissioner, where she got that.”

Com. Harper, “So you are telling me that the fee will still continue?”

Mr. Gomolka, “Whatever fees you had been getting at this date, we still continue to send directly to the county under the new law.”

Com. Harper, “Now are those fees ever audited?”

Mr. Gomolka, “There is some language I know that is in the current statute that allows for that. I have my boss here, Debra Skullen, that might be able to address that a little further. But I can tell you, this was just approved last Thursday, so we are still trying to get a good idea of it. They tell me I am not going anywhere so if there are any other questions as we continue to get a better sense of how we are going to be, you know, fulfilling our obligations, I know the county attorney has my number. I believe I have spoken to you gentlemen.”

Com. Harper, “Can you give us some information on audit?”

Ms. Skullen, “I am the Director of Government Affairs for Comcast, and yes, Greg is not going anywhere if I have anything to say about it. The terms of the Auditor’s very general language auditing requirements in the state statutes, I believe it is included in one of the sections, it would entitle a local unit of government to conduct an audit but it is not very specific onto which the time frames are allowed or under which the parameters of the audit. If you like, we can certainly do some additional research. I am sure that a lot of this will be refined through the legislative process as we move forward simply because it was passed last year during the short session very, very quickly and I am sure as the IURC will find a ____ very vague language that will probably need to be tweaked as we move forward.”

Com. Evans, “I understand your request or the request to have one centralized regulatory agency rather than a zillion of them….”

Ms. Skullen, “Actually, if I may just comment and I apologize for interrupting you, but this is nothing we sought. In fact, we were very much in opposition. We believe that the status quo was working just fine. In all honesty, from an industry standpoint, we prefer if you were still all regulators. Unfortunately, this is the direction that the state legislative process went through. And in order to insure that we are competing fairly with any and all future competitors and in order to insure that we do not have a hodge podge of regulatory structures, we felt compelled to do this in the time frame allowed.”

Com. Evans, “I can see where that consolidation probably would be beneficial down the road. I have a question that I have been asking for about four years now and no one ever gives me a good answer other than it’s federal and we can’t attach it. You hung the cable wires on our telephone poles and that’s why you pay the fee to begin with so that you can supply your customers in their homes. About I guess, maybe eight or ten years after you hung the wires and supplied the cable tv service, you also through the same cable supply computer service to many homes and residences and businesses throughout the county, but; we can’t attach or tax any part of that, why?”

Ms. Skullen, “Great question. In April of 2002, the FCC and then subsequently the federal government declared the internet service to be an information service, not subject to…..”

Com. Evans, “Well you charge a tax on it.”

Ms. Skullen, “No, we don’t. No, it would be illegal for us to do so. In fact, prior to the ruling of the FCC, we were collecting franchise fees on that service because we did consider it a cable service. But after that ruling and then subsequently in the Brand X case, it was affirmed, we are not allowed to collect franchise fees on that service. Now, in terms of the cable service, because it is considered Title VI, we are collecting franchise fees as the local unit of government has requested.”

Com. Evans, “The part I can’t get over is it’s the same wire.”

Ms. Skullen, “Absolutely. You are right, if it’s the same wire, why can’t it happen? It’s just the way the federal government has structured in. I think it was designed initially earlier in this decade to allow for more of a free market approach in terms of development of the internet. If you recall, at that point in time, not everyone had access to cable high speed internet as well as DSL which is the phone company’s version of high speed internet service. I think they were desirous of making it less regulatory and in an effort to insure that companies would go out and build and further develop their network in order to provide it. From the cable perspective, that is exactly what we have done. I think what this legislation is designed to do is provide some relief for some other new entrants so that they can further develop their networks.”

Com. Evans, “Still we can’t get any money so I guess I will have to be content.”

Ms. Skullen, “You can get the 5% on the other cable service.”

Com. Evans, “And that is very good and we use it very well. We use it for the right of ways, and ….”

Ms. Skullen, “And that is what is supposed to be used for, the administration of the right of ways.”

Com. Harper, “Thank you very much for coming.”

OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS
Al Hoagland, Highway Superintendent
2007 Supply Recommendations

Com. Harper, “Al is here with his recommendations on the bids that were submitted last time. Do you want to give them all, John?”

Com. Evans, “If you want to do the recommendations by item.”

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 1, Limestone, I recommend that we take all bidders at this time.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 2, Slag, I recommend that we take all bidders also.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 3, Bituminous Plant Mix, we’ve got four bidders and I would recommend we all bidders.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “No bidders taken on Item 4. Item 5 I’ve got three bidders, one that I am in contact with was short the bid bond, I believe it was a clerical error. At this time, with your approval, I would like to recommend that we take all three provided the bond is provided. It is a minimal amount.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 6, Pavement stripings and markings to INDOT specs with two bidders, there again, I recommend we take both bidders.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 7, Equipment Rental, we only had three bidders in the one category of Item 7 and I would recommend that we take all three bidders in that item.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 7, Section A which is for a specialty machine, a pulverizing machine, three bidders, I would recommend that we award the bid to Mt. Carmel Sand and Gravel, they were the low bidder.”

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

Com. Evans, “You don’t want to have a second in case their machine is unavailable?”

Mr. Hoagland, “It is very doubtful that anybody will back them up on that, its a winner take all type situation. The Item 8, only one bidder, Hall Signs, I would recommend we accept.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 9 Calcium Chloride Solution, there again, only one bidder, Great Lakes Chloride, I would recommend we accept.”

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

Com. Evans, “How did that compare to last year?”

Mr. Hoagland, “It was up I believe about seven cents a gallon. I can give you some round outs on some of the other items here. Item 10, gasoline, I would recommend Triple J Mar.”

Com. Evans moved to accept the recommendation,

Com. Harper, “Is that the low bid?”

Mr. Hoagland, “Yes, they were the low bid. They were low bid on margin.”

Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 11, Diesel Fuel, I would recommend Triple J Mar as low bid also.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 12, we have two bidders. I would recommend that we take Superior Petroleum, they bid brand name product that we requested.”

Com. Evans, “They are not the low bidder?”

Mr. Hoagland, “No, they are not the low bidder. The low bidder was for a generic grade, its not recommended in our owner’s manual on our equipment.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 13, Metal Culverts and Plastic Culvers, three bidders, I recommend we accept them all.”

Com. Evans, “We skipped 12.”

Com. Harper, “12 was the one we just did.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Item 13A, guard rail, two bidders, Debco Metal Culverts and JH Drew Corporation. I would recommend we accept both.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “The last item, Item 14, Precast or Prestressed bridge beams. CPI, Debco Metal Culverts, request we accept those.”
Com. Evans, “That’s the same company?”

Mr. Hoagland, “They’re conjoined. They handle both.”

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

Mr. Hoagland, “Thank you very much.”

Com. Harper, “David, as long as you are here, why don’t we talk about all these emails we have been getting about urban area boundaries.”

Mr. Schelling, “After each census, INDOT has to adjust the urban area boundaries based on the population density and it’s kind of, well, you know, INDOT came up with a plan or a proposal to more or less absorb the Lake Eliza area into the urban area of the Lakes of the Four Seasons. Several agencies from Lake County recommended increasing that area. As a matter of fact, on the map up here, there’s existing urban boundaries that comes out here on 350 South and 725 West; 250 South to 675 West up to Division Road over to County Line. And then it also goes into Lake County. That is what exists now. This area of Lake Eliza is colored; the density is subsequently being included in the urban area boundary. They like to smooth out the boundaries, therefore they follow the old railroad right of way to 100 South and 500 West and Division Road. This is what INDOT is proposing to increase urban area boundary. The other proposal inclused a great deal of other property to the south and east of the existing copy. I have (inaudible)… because I haven’t seen any justification for that. I do see justification for this because of the density. Basically, the urban area boundary doesn’t really affect us per se. It doesn’t mean that this is going to be annexed into any town or city, it’s still going to be independent. The one thing, it changes the funding for federal aid projects. You can’t get
Federal aid for road projects for local roads anyway, so, internally, it doesn’t make and difference. The only roads that I would be concerned about is 100 South, they do have funding established for that so that is not going to be affected. I have been here for over nineteen years and there has really only been two roads, well we have had several that we tried to get federal funding but we never got federal funding, 300 West and State Road 149 was approved for federal funding and then that got knocked down, and then 100 South. So in nineteen years we’ve only had two federally funded projects. So I don’t see a bid deal on it, my recommendation is to go ahead and go with it.”

Com. Harper, “Why do they want to do it, I mean, there’s got to be some reason they want to do it.”

Mr. Schelling, “They’re really mandated because of the population density and this is the existing one and this is just…”

Com. Harper, “I understand, they don’t just go around and do these lines, do they, they must have some reason.”

Mr. Schelling, “They have special reporting for various agencies primarily. This is for the federal highway primarily. This is something that INDOT projects and then makes recommendations to these other highways for approval.”

Com. Evans, “So it wouldn’t affect that we are looking for federal funds on 100 South. But it becomes a boundary road on this extension.”

Mr. Schelling, “Well, only here and basically it is in an area already, this portion from 675 West to County Line.”

Com. Evans, “The other portion that was requested by whom?”

Mr. Schelling, “It was requested by the general manager from the Lakes of Four Seasons coming from Winfield and also the County Commissioner from Lake County.”

Com. Evans, “Why?”

Mr. Schelling, “Good question.”

Com. Harper, “So that’s what bothers me, there’s got to be a ‘why’.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I’m skeptical. What happens if we say no?”

Mr. Schelling, “I think they have to do it anyway.”

Com. Harper, “And nobody can tell us why.”

Mr. Schelling, “They want it.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Is it required?”

Mr. Schelling, “According to that Dan Ballinger that I was talking to from INDOT, he said that there’s no justification not to accept it.”

Com. Harper, “Then let’s not accept it.”

Com. Evans, “That conversation goes like this..motion to deny the request.”

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

Com. Harper, “I just don’t get it. Let him come and tell us if he wants because I just don’t get it. There’s got to be “get” somewhere.”

REPORT FROM COMMISSIONERS

North District:

1. Mary’s Quest Subdivision Road Agreement, located on the west side of CR 50 West between CR 600 North and CR 700 North. Offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of $750.00. Owners and subdividers are Glenn, Young, and Brian Franzen. Recommend approval.

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

Center District:

1. Walnut Ridge, Unit II Performance Letter of Credit #631, from Mainsource Bank- Hobart in the amount of $22,000.00. New expiration date is December 7, 2007. Recommend approval.

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

2. Tuscany Letter of Credit # 215020459-201, from First Midwest Bank in the amount of $565,000.00. Expiration date is May 28, 2009. Recommend approval.

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

CORRESPONDENCE

Weights and Measures monthly report for November 2006 is on file.
Court Security Activity report for November 2006 is on file.

Approval of maintenance agreement with Great Lakes Automatic Door

Com. Evans moved to approve the maintenance agreement request with Great Lakes Automotic Door for the doors at the Administration Center, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval of Animal Shelter Services Contract with Chesterton for 2007

Com. Evans moved to approve the contract with Chesterton for 2007 in the amount of $6,076.00, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Third party insured for air transportation services

Com. Evans moved to approve a request to let our third party insurer continue the negotiations to finalization with the outside provided for air transportation services for one of our insureds, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

DRAINAGE ISSUE DISCUSSION FOR 250 AND 550

Com. Harper, “I guess the last thing on the agenda is the drainage issue. I asked Melissa to notify people and what happened was we had approved a subdivision on 250 and 550 about three months ago and I got a call from the newspaper reporters, but I already knew about the situation because I was going down 250 one day last week taking my wife to Chicago, and the road was flooded and I said we would discuss it tonight. Bob, do you want to come up. I shouldn’t say do you want to, but will you come up? And maybe you could tell us a little bit about this. And Phil, do you want to come up? And Al? It’s the Highway’s fault, I think, or Dave? Let me just give the people a chance to say what they need to say. Everybody’s invited, no one was required to be here. What bothers me is that I feel that somehow the county fails when we have all these people come to a hearing and we tell them they aren’t going to get flooded and they all tell us they are going to get flooded and then we get all these reports that say they are not going to get flooded, and then a couple months, well how long was it after the approval that they got flooded? Within a few months? And then all of a sudden they are flooded. So we need to do something. I am not sure what we need to do, but we need to do something because everyone dislikes me saying it is the county’s fault but you know what? Aren’t we the ones that sit there and tell them it is going to work and then it doesn’t work. I know a lot of it is manpower problems and all kinds of problems but we need to talk about it so it does work. There are a lot of things that need to be done and I think we do have manpower problems, we do have things we need to address. So maybe Bob, you can start out and tell us what you know about this situation and give us some thoughts. Does anyone have pictures? Are you the folks that live out there? Do you have some pictures? I would like to show Commissioner Evans. I saw them in the paper and I drove by and saw them.”

Com. Evans, “Can someone first supply me with a time line?”

Mr. Thompson, “The actual final plat for this was approved on November 11th Plan Commission hearing and its approved for all the lots. I can’t remember how many, approximately 150 lots, oh, 123? They did not get the final plat signed yet to start doing the building permits in there because they were doing infrastructure improvements in there. So I had not signed it because eventually they were going to have to come up and have a bond posted and regular way here with the county commissioners to guarantee the infrastructure and then we would be able to sign a plat. That has not been done as far as the bond and the plat signing. So there is final plat approval on this. We got a phone call in the office early, Jack Clem did out and check it out. The whole idea with this Tower Meadow Subdivision, there were two detention ponds in this situation. One was going to be in the very northwest corner of what would be the northeast corner of the intersection of 250 West and 550 North. This was an outlet going underneath 550 North to a very large wetland that is in that area that would flow then through the wetland to a tributary of Salt Creek. The second detention pond, which also caught water from another subdivision, Hampton Manor, was supposed to go underneath 250 West, halfway, maybe closer to 500 North. In that situation, it is a ditch that is located over on the west side flows over towards Pepper Creek. You can see on the map, the larger open area in the middle is the one that I just described. That will go through a private ditch, it goes out towards Pepper Creek. The one to the north where Rich is pointing at, the ___ on the tubes at that intersection there to a large wetland that will go to another branch of Salt Creek. There from my understanding lies the problem.”

Atty. Ferngren, “I think the simplest answer Commissioner Harper, is that we need to be allowed to finish the work and that will then solved the curb the other way. In this location here at the county’s request, we installed some new concrete pipes under this road. I think the Highway Department is very pleased with that. Those are working great. In this location here, the original plan included installation of some concrete pipes but after the Highway Department was out there they thought it might compromise the integrity of the road because of the depth of the pipe below the base of the asphalt. But what they then asked us to do in light of this most recent rain is replace these pipes in this location. What we did was we put in the two 15 inch concrete pipes that were originally called for now and this pipe that was taken out of there, Rich, do you have those pictures. We took some photographs of the pipe that was taken out. This was what was under the road before we started and that is a 12 inch corrugated metal pipe that you can see is nearly full. This is not arising from the work we had done, this is just a pipe that is old and that’s what happened. Here’s some additional photographs, all the same pipe. This is what we put in and this is what the county engineers, surveyors, requested us to do. So we have now got these two 15 inch concrete pipes under the road. Now you can see the water will actually get through that location. So, now what’s really left to be done is completing the excavation for this pond here and also for this one. And as Commissioner Harper, you and I spoke very briefly the other day, part of the problem is the soil; particularly in this area, is very soft and our equipment could not get in there to do the work. Now that the ground is getting harder, they are able to get the back hoes and those sorts of things in there and this is a better time of year for us to get in there and do that. Here’s some additional photographs for the finished product, these pipes here are now under that road there, here’s where they outlet. So, again I think the simplest thing for us to do is to allow us to finish. We got admittedly, we got a tremendous amount of rain, we were forecasted to get snow, it never did quite get cold enough to do that. I do have a picture that was taken while it was really raining hard in this area. Another subdivision that is completed by SW Developers, it shows that once we get done with work, you will be able to see this will actually work.”

Com. Harper, “By the way, there is a picture in the Post, I think of a swingset in the back yard that was covered this high with water, so its not like they got a little run off over on their property. They got flooded. I have been told that in most projects the detention pond is critical; to do the detention pond first before you start doing anything else. Am I told wrong? Is that not right?”

Atty. Ferngren, “It’s probably just a selection process by the developer. This fall, we have had a tremendous amount of rain and what it has not allowed us to do, even under the driest circumstances, is to get in there and do this work. This is higher ground up in here and we were able to in spite of the rain, be able to get in here and do this type of work after the soils would dry out. Here we just simply couldn’t do that. Then we got probably the hardest rain we have gotten along here, then just to indicate to you what this is. This is Beauty Creek Subdivision here on the north side of the road, this is the underdeveloped side and this is the finished side. This is what will happen when we are allowed to finish our project. As you can see, all the storm water is contained right within our swales, everything looks great, even on that side of the road. When you get on the undeveloped side of the road, there is a tremendous amount of water and so if we can finish….”

Com. Harper, “Don’t a lot of areas have ordinances that require a detention pond?”

Atty. Ferngren, “I don’t know. Rich do you know? I don’t know the answer to that question.”

Com. Harper, “Rich, weren’t you trying to get that detention pond done, wasn’t that your advice as engineer on the project?”

Rich Hudson, “We have been trying all later summer to do that and as Bill said, the weather… the ground froze, we got..”

Com. Harper, “Why won’t you go ahead with the project when the danger, I assume you knew that there was danger of flooding if you didn’t have the detention pond done. I don’t know, maybe it would seem to me that if you don’t have a detention pond done, that is a, you know, you drive down that road and look at that piece of property. First you don’t have a tube under the road, it is my understanding that the county Highway Department wanted you, they wanted you to go under the road without cutting the road, correct? That is what their desire was.”

Mr. Thompson, “Correct.”

Com. Harper, “If you couldn’t do that, why wouldn’t you come back to the Plan Commission and say we are going to build this subdivision, we are not going to do the detention pond because the land is too wet, we are not going to cut the culvert under the road and tell us and let us make a decision on whether the neighbors are going to be flooded or not.”

Atty. Ferngren, “But we are going to do the detention pond.”

Com. Harper, “You are going to do it time, obviously this is what happened.”

Atty. Ferngren, “Part of what the detention pond is for is to help pull water back from these roads are not in yet so there is additional impervious surface that is going to be there. The roadtops aren’t there yet. Right now this is almost like what it was before, an agricultural state. So I don’t think that we were necessarily worried that this would happen. Now we are recognizing that, we reacted as quickly as we possibly could, we worked with the Highway Department to install those pipes and they did a great job and now the weather is more conducive to allow us to get in there and finish the project.”

Com. Harper, “Are you going to tell us before you do any more work there, you are going to get the detention pond done?”

Atty. Ferngren, “We are going to work on the detention pond as quickly as we can.”

Com. Harper, “So you are not going to tell us that?”

Atty. Ferngren, “Well, we are working on it today. They constructed some berming along this area here to the extent that they could do that. Now there’s not quite enough frost and they are to get all the equipment in there that they need to, but the thought being that these, the excavation from the road work, ecetera, in this development will be used to create the proper structure and the proper soil conditions for the berm. So that wall will be maintained. Then excavation will occur from this area. This soil will be very conducive to be using the right of ways and that sort of thing because it is going to grow great grass. So we will continue to do that work, we’re going to do that work, they were out there working today. We are doing everything we agreed to do.”

Com. Harper, “We are just having a discussion tonight, there’s nothing pending at this present time, I just have trouble answering a phone call from a neighbor whose yard is flooded and swingset is under water and who sat in a meeting a couple months before and was told they are not going to have a problem. And I think it is important that we discuss these in a public forum and try to address what we can do to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future because if we don’t, it just keeps happening.”

Atty. Ferngren, “We are confident that if a project, you know, the plans were reviewed, approved in throurough detail, Mr. Hudson was the engineer on the project, it is going to get done, nothing is changed, we are not saying we are not doing the detention pond. They are working on it today. Those are all the things we know we have to do and we are going to do; we are required to do.”

Lady in audience, “If that continues, that is still considered almost an agriculture state, what is different Thursday, than the agricultural state that it was in prior to that, that committed a two foot geyser coming out of the side of that hill. An agriculture state there was no water spouting out.”

Rich Hudgon, “I started to draw on here and I apologize. Justin, when did that pipe finally get in coming down?”

Justin, “Last Tuesday.”

Mr. Hudson, “Last Tuesday they completed this excavation and what the lady was talking about the two foot geyser, is the water that was coming out of this pipe. Between the time that they completed this Tuesday and the rains happened Thursday and Friday, over those two days, they weren’t able to start this construction. So she’s right, the water was coming out of here. One of the first things we did on Friday morning was plug this so that no more water, if it was going to rain again, would come out of there. Now we had two different heavy rains.”

Man in audience, “It didn’t work too good, the plug. It was plugging worse the next morning.”

Mr. Hudson, “No, this is the second day after the second rain, we didn’t do it for the first rain. It was done Friday, and Friday morning was the second rain, so we did it after the second rain.”

Justin, “Then there was no additional water running out of that pipe at all.”

Mr. Hudson, “Right. Actually Friday afternoon the pond was down because it had allowed to drain all …”

Lady in audience, “One question, did they put in drains three months ago prior to the building… which actually drains the water off the high areas so they can develop that which flows directly into the low area before they put the drainage pipes? It could exaggerate the problem. Before they develop that area they should make it is dry so they could develop it. They could put the drains in there first before they set up the area for the drainage.”

Com. Harper, “Because I think the idea is if you can get this developed as fast as you can with as less money as you can, you can sell it, so you wait on the drainage pond and this is what happens. Maybe I am wrong, but I think that is exactly what happens.”

Atty. Ferngren, “The detention basin is not the big ticket item in this. It really isn’t as far as the cost but the developer spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on infrastructure work on this project so its not an attempt to try and skirt anything. This project is being built and lots will be sold but lots are not sold, we are not in trying to get permits from Mr. Thompson, we want to finish the project.”

Com. Harper, “How much more would it cost if you used the highway’s suggestion and put that drain underneath without cutting, how much more would that cost?”

Mr. Hudson, “I don’t know if it was cost that was the consideration as it is so shallow that by the time they augered through and pulled back through, the pavement that was there would have buckled because of that augering. It is very very shallow. So that is why it was decided we couldn’t, that’s called directional boring. We had some thought about lining the pipe but the pipe was only a twelve inch and as you saw…”

Com. Harper, “Did you have any thought to come back to us and say this plan that we presented to you is not going to work?”

Mr. Hudson, “It’s worked, I mean, now that we have got those in and we started… the rains that we had happened after the grounds were totally saturated, Tuesday we finished up the outlet pipe into the pond in full anticipation of starting…”

Lady in audience, “There was no pond, you finished the outlet Tuesday into the pond that did not exist.”

Mr. Hudson, “Into the area that would have been the pond; that’s the gusher that the lady was referring to that happened Thursday and Friday, I guess, or Thursday morning and Friday morning.”

Com. Harper, “Part of my purpose of having this is because there is right now pending before the Plan Commission an ordinance on drainage plans, Bob, what is the status of that right now, is it set for hearing?”

Mr. Thompson, “Public hearing set for December 13th meeting.”

Com. Harper, “Is that including the fees?”

Mr. Thompson, “No, it won’t include the fees, it is just adding the language to the independent engineer, I won’t be able to get the fee structure on an ordinance until probably, in front of the Plan Commission, until the first meeting in January.”

Com. Harper, “And this ordinance provides, and its structured after other municipalities and counties use it and this is a good example why its done. That for every major subdivision there is a fee per lot that is charged to the developer that is paid to an independent engineering firm hired by the county that does not work for developers in the area to do an independent evaluation of the drainage plans and report back on those drainage plans and if it will work and what way they will be done. The second thing I am asking the Plan Commission to do which is understaffed right now, we’ve had as many building permits as what, how many building permits have we had this year? Sixteen?”

Mr. Thompson, “We are probably just short of what the pay says from last year which is well over 600 currently for single family last year.”

Com. Harper, “To get an ordinance prepared as some other cities and towns have that require this drainage plan to be put in sequence, and one of the things that they require are these ponds to be put in first. Al, what was the Highway Department’s role in this thing?”

Mr. Hoagland, “I can only speak second hand, I was out of town Friday, and Dave handled it more than I did. When I got back in town I was made aware of it when I was in Indianapolis and when I got back in town Dave had already had a plan as to what we could do to alleviate the problem as quick as possible which was the open cut. I approved it.”

Com. Harper, “When the decision was made that they open cut was not a good thing to do, could the pipes still have been put in?”

Mr. Schelling, “We requested that did it with several options. One option is to line the existing pipe but that kind of defeats the purpose because it makes a smaller conduit for the water. Another way, is the running through of the pipe and bursting, breaking apart the original pipe and drawing back a larger pipe. The trouble at this location is that its so shallow and its very likely damage the road anyway. The pipe that was going to be placed in that location was a 12 inch concrete pipe. I had them put two 15 inch…”

Com. Harper, “I know what you had them do after the fact but my question is if we have a plan and we go to the Plan Commission and we say this plan is going to work and then it’s not going to work, why don’t we redo it or do something. Say we better bring it to the Plan Commission’s attention that they passed a plan that is not going to work.”

Mr. Schelling, “It couldn’t work without the detention pond.”

Com. Harper, “I understand that and I think it is a given. I feel that the detention pond should have been put in first, but what I am asking you is if there is a plan in place that the Plan Commission approves and it won’t work, something about that plan can’t be executed, shouldn’t somebody be notified at the Plan Commission level, that hey, we are not going to do this plan. I don’t know, I am just asking that question. There’s got to be a way this can be stopped I would think. John, do you have a question?”

Com. Evans, “I think that maybe that we kind of added to that, we meaning the county in our analysis of the situation, caused a greater delay for the ultimate solution to the problem. If the road had to be cut open then we should have been able to look at that and say this has got to happen now because of the weather that is going on. I mean it was saturated. Everything was saturated. Do you water it down?”

Man in audience, “Its watered down considerably. I have a question though. On the berm for this detention pond they are building, who is going to come out and check that because the soils they are using right now, I feel, are unsuitable, they are very porous. I have lived there for years, the water runs through it…”

Com. Harper, “In our ordinance do we have any control over that?”

Mr. Thompson, “The whole idea of it is we were supposed to be out there inspecting these improvements. One of the things is when we do the sign offs for acceptance of the roads and everything like that. My signature goes on it before Al checks out the roads. I am supposed to look at all the other infrastructure. But, we are so shorthanded, we are not looking at until its complete. I have no idea if its there or not.”

Com. Harper, “We are going to try and address that the next couple of meetings with the Council.”

Mr. Hudson, “The material that was pushed out of there was pushed so that we could get down to the digging of the pond so that’s not the final material that is going to be there. Our goal today, was to get a hole there so it could hold water if we had another, you know, it is supposed to warm up again in another week or so. I don’t know if we are going to have rain or snow, but it was pushing that black dirt that monkey dirt that is saturated with water since July, through August, and into September and then everything is still saturated, that was just pushed out of the way, that is not the final material there. They have been trying to get the dirt pushed out of the way so they could get down to digging out the pond. And we have run into some, and I don’t know if it is desirable or not because we haven’t got farther enough down into it, but there is other material there than the muck. There is probably maybe two or three feet of muck, maybe even more in there. It just happened today.”

Com. Harper, “I called you and told you we were going to get an application, let’s just get it rolling, we’ll get in front of the Council because I know you guys are buried. I know that, but we cannot be doing this to people, and it just keeps happening again and again and I thank everybody for coming and talking about it. I think everybody should be working to try and avoid this. It just doesn’t speak good for government. Anybody else want to say anything?”

Com. Evans, “Do you think the plan will be all right once its completed, you have lived there longest.”

Man in audience, “They are going to have a dickens of a time digging a pond to begin with. I have lived there through the droughts and everything, you dig down about 3 foot at that corner and hit water. I don’t know how they expect to dig it without water.”

Mr. Hudson, “Well, we want water. We can dig through the water.”

Man in audience, “….when you are working in water. I bet if we go out there right now there is water standing in that corner.”
Mr. Hudson, “There is, we’ve got photos that show the water.”

Man in audience, “During that drought we had two years ago, there was always water in that corner.”

Mr. Hudson, “And that is why that corner was chose, you know, you have a pond that obviously works.”

Man in audience, “Then I have a question, who is going to fix my pond where it silted in and killed my fish? I didn’t ask for that water to come over the street.”

Atty. Ferngren, “I guess we are not aware of that.”

Man in audience, “In the one picture you can see the silt, where its coming off the pond. (inaudible)….”

Com. Harper, “I want to thank everybody for coming and I hope we avoid this confusion.”

Mr. Hoagland, “I would like one comment cleared. The photographs showing the existing pipe showed it in very poor condition. Believe me, I am aware of it, I am very aware of that intersection. That has been an intersection that regardless of the utility locations there don’t allow for a much larger structure that was in there. There is a high pressure gas line on the other side of the road that all the other….”

Com. Harper, “Maybe, Al, you should be at the Plan Commission meetings telling us this plan wouldn’t work. I mean, somebody has got to step up to the plate.”

Mr. Hoagland, “I don’t see the plans until they’re going, but what I am proposing to these gentlemen, you give me a picture of what you pipe looks like this time next year and I guarantee you are going to have stuff in it. And I am not saying that as a smart alec comment, that hill will slide and it has for years.”

Com. Harper, “We’ve got to get people to talk up, and speak up, and we just cant let these plans go rushing through without discussion. John, I hope you support me when we bring this ordinance up for this independent engineering study because I other counties and cities are doing it and I think it is important. I realize there is going to be a little push back off, but I think it is important.”

Com. Evans, “Thanks to everyone for coming.”

Mr. Hudson, “If you need anymore of these photos, just let me know.”

Com. Harper, “Thank you for coming. Ed Melendez, I didn’t realize you were on the agenda.”


PORTER COUNTY PARK HEALTHY WALKING PROGRAM
Ed Melendez, Park Director

Mr. Melendez, “We started about six weeks ago to work with the Cancer Society on a healthy program and I had talked to the Health Department, the Extension Service and our insurance carrier on the projects that we were doing to get the employee’s involved. Our first step and ultimate goal within the next few years as a healthy Porter County was to take some simple steps and we started with our department and working within the county department and getting the employees involved to better eating and exercising programs. The response has been real good, the employees have been coming in after work as well as doing it during their lunch break and doing programs. We’ve given you a little agenda of what our little person has done to set up a calendar of events on a seven week program after the first of the year, we will continue it on to other programs and hope to get more employees involved. We have sent information to the department heads as well as the elected officials. This gives a complete breakdown the type of programs. Online the employee does have a chance to calculate their activities and show their progress. Hopefully this is information that when we do sit down in the future with you folks and show how the employees are involved, you can look at this with our insurance carrier that we are making strides to make sure our employees are taking better care of themselves. This Thursday with the weather change and everything, one of the programs has changed that we are going to do a walking program starting on the floors and using the parking deck in the outside area. What I want to do is get your permission tonight to put a temporary sign pointing arrows when the employees are there and staff people will direct the people to walk within the building during that one hour period. Afterward we will take the temporary signage down. Our ultimate goal is to have little 8 by 11 sheets on the floors so employees walk on their own they do have their own information. Hopefully there is more information we can pass on to you folks, but we are very excited and the employees have been very good about participating in this program.”

Com. Evans, “Michael, have you reviewed this or are you working on it?”

Mr. Anton, “Not in its entirety, but I think the program will be very successful.”

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


CHANGE IN JANUARY 2007 MEETING DATES

Com. Harper, “An announcement, our January meeting dates are going to be changed. They are going to be January 9th at 6:00 and January 23rd at 6:00.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “Are you sure you have that time right? 5:00?”

Com. Harper, “6:00. Anything else?”


STATE ROAD 149 AND WILLOWCREEK EXTENSION TO 30 DISCUSSION

Com. Evans, “I would like to reiterate something that has been kicked around here for the last couple of weeks and that is the extension of either 149 or Willowcreek Road. I am on board for which one can be achieved. I just want to put that out there and I think we need to get to work with the city of Portage and try to accomplish another north-south route for transportation in this county.”

Mr. Schelling, “I really feel that both should be done. I feel that they compliment each other. 149 would go from 130 down to 30; what they are talking about on Willowcreek would go from 700 North down to 130. Well, given both projects, you can get people from Portage all the way down to 30 and they can avoid railroad crossings and going over the bridges that would be on 149. Granted, at Sedley Bridge, they go between the railroad crossings but the Grande Trunk would still be an issue. So I think they compliment each other.”

Com. Evans, “Okay, get the funding.”

Com. Harper, “I agree and I think we are going to start …”

Mr. Schelling, “Well, it is kind of interesting when you look at the surrounding counties. The number of roads that they have going north of 30 is really amazing. We have just 49 and I don’t know, but over in Lake County has US 41, State Road 55, State Road 53, I65, and State Road 51. LaPorte County has US 421, State Road 39, US 35 and State Road 23. We only have 49. In my mind, it makes a lot of sense to have multiple arterial type of roads going north of 130. Thank you.”




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: James K. Kopp, Auditor