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PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 in the Commissioners’ Chambers of the Administration Center. Those present were: Commissioners Robert Harper, John Evans, and Carole Knoblock; 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 APPROVAL OF PAYROLL Com. Evans moved to approve the payroll of November 13, 2007, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Com. Evans moved to approve the minutes of November 6, 2007, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Com. Evans moved to approve the claims of November 13 and November 20, 2007, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. RESOLUTION NO. 07-06, HONORING RICHARD CLAUSSEN FOR RETIRING Com. Harper, “How are you this evening?” Mr. Claussen, “Good.” Com. Harper, “We have a resolution and I would like to read the resolution.” RESOLUTION NO. 07-06
PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
WHEREAS, Richard H. Claussen is retiring effective November 30, 2007 as the director of Porter County’s Department of Weights and Measures; and NOW THEREFORE BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED by the Porter County Board of Commissioners that Richard H. Claussen should be and is hereby recognized for his 49 years of dedicated and loyal service to Porter County Government as Director of the Weights and Measures Department. All of which has been resolved by the Porter County Board of Commissioners this 20th day of November, 2007.
s/Robert P. Harper Attest:s/James K. Kopp, Auditor Com. Evans moved to approve Resolution No. 07-06, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Evans, “I thought you could make it one more year.” Com. Harper, “And we have a little gift for you we want you to take in rememberance of us. We really appreciate what you have done.” Mr. Claussen, “Thank you very much. I thank all of you.” Com. Evans, “We are going to tell PERF that is the new benchmark for all our employees, 49 years.” Com. Harper, “We are going to do a couple of things out of order tonight. I have another resolution that I would like to present to this Board tonight.” RESOLUTION NO. 07-07 REGARDING PROPERTY TAX RELIEF PLAN TO REDUCE TAXES
The Governor of Indiana has presented a property tax relief plan to reduce taxes on residential real estate.
Com. Harper, “And I would like to bring that before the Commissioners for a vote. John, would you like to comment on that?” Com. Evans, “Yes, I am going to second your resolution but in doing so I would like to just add this is a great starting point and as the resolution indicates, it has to be a bipartisan solution to this plan. There is already talk that the caps are going to go from 1% for the general property owner to 3% for business. That is something that I don’t think I could endorse as an unequal distribution of that. And I think that there are a lot of other people that are going to weigh in on this plan, obviously in both sides of the (inaudible) and the legislature. So I would just encourage everybody to get together because property tax has to be controlled in this state or people are going to be losing their homes. In twenty years you will pay the value for your home to the state for the property taxes if it continues this way, so I wholeheartedly second your motion.” Com. Evans seconded, Com. Harper, “Thank you, John. Carole?” Com. Knoblock, “Well, real estate taxes keep going up each year and there is no relief in sight. I think it is important we give a message to our legislators in Indianapolis that locally we need relief. I don’t see this as a political issue, but rather an issue to protect the taxpayers of Porter County and I hope the members of both parties join together to stop this injustice.” Com. Harper, “Let me just make a couple comments before we vote on it. I saw this happen last week, or last year. In the coming weeks, lobby groups are going to be in Indianapolis trying to convince our state legislatures that they cannot provide property tax relief. They are going to work against it. Their argument is the government will shut down if they do this. There will be very little thought if it is like what has happened in the past as to how to cut spending and most of them thought maybe on how to avoid having to cut spending. It seems to me like a straight state of affairs because I believe if they ask the average fellow on the street, we would rather look at ways to cut spending rather than look at ways to avoid cutting this tax dollar and putting a ceiling on it. It’s very simple what happened in the last legislature because of all the lobbying they cut all sorts of loop holes in the supposed Circuit Breaker and if they pass the Circuit Breaker 1% this time, they just cannot fill it with loop holes again. I believe that we, as county commissioners, are free to express our opinion to our legislatures but I think it is more important that the average citizen do this. Really, when it come down to it, the most important political person is the average citizen that goes in and votes and I think this is only going to be successful if everyone, whether they are Republican or Democrat or Independents, get ahold of their legislators and insist this relief be given us. As John said and as I feel, that the American dream of owning your home and being able to retire there safely is being eroded. And I think we just must take action to stop it. So, I am going to ask if this passes that Melissa get a copy to all our legislators, both Republican and Democrat, in Indiana so they can know our feelings. Anything further, John?” Com. Evans, “No.” Com. Harper, “Carole?” Com. Knoblock, “No.” Motion carried. Com. Evans, “I would just like to add one thing that might be of assistance given the fact that our tax bills are obviously extremely late and are going to go out at a very probably bad time of year for almost everyone involved in paying taxes. As I understand it, and I am probably not the most knowelegable person on this but from what limited research I have done there is no recourse for the treasurer in any county or any state agency to forgive or extend a grace period. I would like to just see if there isn’t a way that either the county treasurer or the state legislature can provide some kind of grace period because when it comes down to people paying their property taxes or buying Christmas presents for their kids, it’s going to be a pretty tough decision for many people. And I think if we can in any way give them a break. Now there are other things to be considered; if you don’t pay the tax this year, you are not going to get the tax credit this year. The taxing units, the cities and towns, obviously need their money so, the banks that have the money in escrow for those people that pay their taxes that way need to pony up immediately and then for the people that don’t have their money in escrow accounts, I think the treasurer should be allowed weigh each case individually and determine whether or not a grace period should be granted.” Com. Harper, “All right. To get back to the agenda, we have the Zona Wildlife Sanctuary presentation, discussion on additional property. So who is going to present that?”
ZONA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY PRESENTATION FOR PURCHASE OF ADDITIONAL PROPERTY Ms. Gregg, “I am Maryann Zona-Gregg, I am the president of the Wildlife Management Advisory Board. We are interested in the 26 acres that are across from the sanctuary. I am not the expert on all those 26 acres so I am going to give the table to Dr. McAfee and Melissa Culbertson, who are the experts in negotiation and all that and Alan Resatar. Thank you.” Dr. McAfee, “With the land acquisition committee here, the sub-committee of the Porter County Wildlife Advisory Board, thank you all for coming tonight. I hope you have in front of you a copy of the letter dated November 20th from the Wildlife Advisory Board. Yes? With your approval, I would like to run through the selling points. Number one is permission to write for the Wetland Grant.” Com. Evans, “Is the entire property wetland, the whole 26 acres?” Dr. McAfee, “No.” Com. Evans, “Just a portion of it is.” Com. Harper, “What portion is?” Ms. Culbertson, “It’s approximately 60% wetland and 40%, I shouldn’t say wetland, hydric soils and 40% upland. These types of grants, they will give you an allocation for one acre of upland for every one acre of wetland that should be put into the project.” Com. Harper, “Are you asking us to vote on this?” Dr. McAfee, “I just would like to go through the letter with you.” Com. Harper, “That is what we would like. Let’s go through the whole thing in person. If I understand this correctly, you want to purchase this entire 26 acres.” Dr. McAfee, “Yes.” Com. Harper, “And what do you estimate that purchase price will be?” Dr. McAfee, “We are in active negotiations, pre-negotiations with the sellers at this time. And if you go to Point No. 4, where we stand with the sellers now is that we get 2 of the appraisals, the sellers would pay for one appraisal, and Porter County would pay for the other appraisal and meet after we get the two appraisals and see what the figures are.” Com. Harper, “I don’t think we should do anything until we get the appraisals because we don’t have any idea of what this project is going to run into until we get those appraisals. How would that appraisal process usually work?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “We need two independent appraisals.” Com. Harper, “I think Porter County should pick the appraisers. I think that is the way it should be.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “They could have their own too, if they want, there could be three, but we should have two of our own.” Dr. McAfee, “I agree. I wouldn’t mind having the sellers pay for having an appraisal themselves, so if we wanted two or three. They have agreed to have the appraisal done themselves if it’s okay with you guys.” Com. Harper, “I would entertain a motion that we have two appraisals to be contacted with and selected by the county attorney to do that and then we will have an idea of what we are talking about here.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “If the seller wants to pay for one, we can appoint them and give them the bill. So, we can appoint two independent appraisers and name them and then have them give us the appraiser and if the seller would like to pay for one, we can let them pay for one. But, I don’t think he should be selecting one.” Com. Evans moved to employ Ed Campbell and Tim Harris to conduct independent appraisers for Porter County and that the seller is free to choose whoever they would like, to do their own, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Ms. Culbertson, “We have one other request. The way the grants work, is you write for the grant before you actually have a contract with the seller and then you have two years to use the money and match the money. We are requesting, in Point No. 2, a letter from the Commissioners to put with that grant and then if we decide not to purchase the property, we just will let it go back to the federal government.” Com. Evans, “There is no penalty for that?” Ms. Culberston, “No. They actually require that you be approved for the grant, that you submit the grant before…” Com. Harper, “What does this letter have to say? This paragraph says all it has to say is that we’ve been told by the Wildlife Board that they commit to oversee this project if it goes through. Is that all that letter needs to say?” Ms. Culbertson, “Exactly. There’s an example letter in the packet.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “There’s an example of the language that is contained in the grant?” Ms. Culbertson, “The grant is about 40 pages long. I did give a summary of it to you. I do have a copy of it and I can get it copied.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “But if we authorize you to proceed on the grant, there’s no negative ramifications potentionally to the county if we don’t purchase the property?” Ms. Culbertson, “Our grant writer is here with us. As far as I know there is not.” Grant writer, (unidentified) “I did write talk to Minnesota today and the only concern they had was if you aren’t able to purchase this property, you have to give the money back. Plus, you have to commit to two other grants to maintain the property and make it up to 100% but if you don’t get a grant approved, then the county has to pay to make sure it is up to standards within the two year period.” Com. Harper, “I think we should put this off for two weeks until you get a chance to look this over and find out what that is about.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “And then we get into the fact that the application…” Com. Evans, “Has to be done by the 30th.” Com. Harper, “Then it sounds like we are committing to something.” Grant writer, “May I say one thing? One thing they did tell me today, they make their decision in March of 2008 and so I asked if it is not approved, can you apply for the 2009 and they said you can, but your chances might be slimmer unless you can really change your grant and update it and really have some new ideas.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “What is your understanding of what are the ramifications if we authorize them to apply for the grant and get the grant, but we decide we cannot afford to purchase the property?” Grant writer, “The grant is ___ but the money has to be returned.” Com. Evans, “But the decision won’t be made on the grant until March you said. Can we withdraw the grant between the deadline of November 30th and the time the grant is let?” Grant writer, “I didn’t ask that question.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think we would like the answer to that question. And I probably would like to see a copy of the grant language to see if there is any language in there that…..” Com. Evans, “Given the time constraints, can we give them the authority to proceed after the county attorney is satisfied with the document?” Com. Harper, “And the letter will be prepared.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “In fact, they can start preparing the grant and then give me a courtesy copy of it.” Com. Evans, “I’ll put that in the form of a motion.” Com. Evans moved to approve the preparation of the grant documents and give the county attorney a copy, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Evans “Good luck.” OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS
Replacement of Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) System Mr. Perkins, “This is having to do with out Uninterruptable Power Supply System for the Juvenile Service Center. When we lose commercial power, the generator takes over but there is a lag time in there when the generators start up and the UPS would keep the lights and key electronic stuff operating during that gap time. When we went to have it serviced this year they said it all really needs to be replaced. It needed quite a bit of work and they couldn’t guarantee us some of the other things because enough was not working on it that they couldn’t be sure about the rest. I think you have the same paperwork I do. I actually wasn’t involved in this process but I think I can answer your questions, assuming you have the same paperwork I do. Initially they gave us a price on a refurbished unit and then they later found that they could obtain anything and they could give us a price on that. And then we got a second company that gave us a price on a new unit also.” Com. Harper, “The two prices on the new unit are…?” Mr. Perkins, “On UPS it totals $12,122.” Com. Harper, “Does that include the warranty?” Mr. Lain, “It’s a five year bumper to bumper warranty. It includes pro rated batteries.” Com. Harper, “And you have the price for Kramer, right?” Mr. Lain, “That proposal I don’t have, I do know that UPS was cheaper.” Mr. Perkins, “On that one it is $12,812.00 and that is excluding freight.” Com. Harper, “It looks to me like they are charging $1,400.00 for extended … they have a two year warranty so they are much more expensive than the first one.” Mr. Lain, “UPS is definitely the low bidder and with a better warranty.” Com. Evans, “Is there a warranty on the refurbished unit?” Mr. Lain, “Actually I think it was only a year.” Com. Harper, “Where is this money going to come from? No one ever hears that question when I ask it. I said, where is this money coming from?” Mr. Perkins, “I don’t know. It’s not just a Detention thing. Detention is the primary user of it but it is for the entire building.” Com. Harper, “Do you have a recommendation?” Mr. Lain, “Yes. I would say UPS. I was looking at the paperwork and they have the better warranty and with the service contract included, so I would suggest them.” Com. Evans, “How old is the other unit, the one we are replacing?” Mr. Lain, “Fifteen or better. It’s past it’s lifetime, actually.” Com. Evans moved to accept the recommendation and take it from Building Maintenance, Ms. Hartig, “Building maintenance or CEDIT?” Com. Harper, “Where do we have the funds available? Let’s take it from CEDIT.” Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Harper, “Do we have something else for the Juvenile Center from Johnson Controls?” Mr. Lain, “I’ve got several things, actually.”
UPDATE ON REPAIRS BEING DONE ON COUNTY BUILDINGS
Mr. Lain, “We can go into roof issues and other county building issues, this is Com. Harper, “You’re discussing the windows where the water was coming in and so forth?”
Mr. Lain, “No, actually it was the cornice right now. There has been a lot of wall issues with leaks, so that’s all been recaulked. The Animal Shelter is done. The Sheriff’s Garage, the roof is complete but it still needs some flashing work done. The Museum is complete except for some new membrane on the access hatch. And that is going to be hopefully this week, if not next week. The Courthouse, there was a problem with we thought it was a drain, and it was leaking pretty severely into Alexa’s jury room. I was up there yesterday with a roof gang, we did several test cuts and that whole northeast quadrant was wet. Everywhere we cut, seven out of eight slices there was water everywhere. So, I told them to hold off on the roof drain because that is not the issue. I am thinking that all that rock (inaudible) and probably replace that membrane. I am still talking to Babilla, they did the original roof back in, I believe it was ’96. There’s going to be issues with warranty through Firestone for the membrane but you just can’t put patches on this stuff because of the installation. It all has to be taken up and redone. I talked to Fred today and he is going to try to get out tomorrow to get an estimate out. We are talking about a quarter of the roof at this point, a quarter of the whole roof that needs to be replaced. We can get the rock, the ballist rock moved and pretty much just have to go from there. We are talking possibly a whole new roof. But we can start it at that northeast quadrant.” Mr. Lain, “Construction of the north county building, the HVAC work is going to start on the 26th of this month and we are going to have progress meetings every two weeks. I will be reporting to you what the progress is there. You should have some proposals in front of you. The gas valves at the Museum are going bad, they need to be replaced and that is not to exceed $1,750.00. Now I can get more bids if you like.” Com. Harper, “How much?” Mr. Lain, “$1,750.00.” Com. Evans moved to accept the proposal from Johnson Controls, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Harper, “Right after that I have the proposal for the sleeping wing exhaust fan at the Juvenile Center. What’s going on there?” Mr. Lain, “It’s antiquated. It no longer works, I really can’t find the replacement motors, so it really has to all be replaced. And that is going to cost $4,500.00.” Com. Harper, “That can also come from CEDIT.” Com. Evans, “There is also a proposal for that boiler.” Com. Harper, “You want to do them both at the same time?” Com. Evans, “They’re the same unit, aren’t they? They function in the same area, right?” Mr. Lain, “Yes.” Com. Evans, “That is for $2,100.00 by Johnson Controls as well.” Com. Evans moved to approve both proposals, Com. Knoblock seconded,
Mr. Lain, “I talked to Dodrill also to try and get a different price on that and he hasn’t gotten back to me yet. But I talked to Junior Dodrill and it sounds like they are going to be like within a couple hundred bucks. It is going to be right around $2,000.00.” Com. Harper, “Can you repeat the motion?” Com. Evans moved to approve the $4,500.00 for the exhaust fan in the sleeping wing and to approve the $2,100.00 for the domestic boiler repair, leaks, copper piping and between the two boilers for $2,100.00 with Johnson Controls contingent upon the receipt of Dodrill’s bid being less than $2,100.00 and go with whichever is less, but in no case spend more than $2,100.00, Com. Knoblock seconded, Com. Harper, “To come from CEDIT Building Maintenance.” Motion carried. Mr. Lain, “Once I get ahold of Babilla with the warranty issues at the Courthouse, should I talk to Gwenn?” Com. Harper, “Yes.” Com. Evans, “How are you going to be season wise for doing that repair?” Mr. Lain, “Well, they said they could get it done like maybe in the next month.” Com. Harper, “What’s the price on that?” Mr. Lain, “I don’t know.” Com. Harper, “I think we need to authorize it.” Com. Evans, “Especially given the weather.” Com. Harper, “It is ruining things inside. It’s got to be stopped.” Com. Evans, “The snow weight will exasperate it, make it worse, when it warms up.” Mr. Lain, “I should get with him tomorrow to see exactly what it is going to cost.” Com. Harper, “We don’t have another meeting until December 4th.” Com. Evans, “Do we have an idea on the warranty? Usually those are at least 20 year warranties.” Mr. Lain, “Fifteen. I believe it’s twelve now. The work was done in ’96 I think.” Com. Harper, “Why don’t we do this. Why don’t we approve the work as long as Gwenn looks over it, and what they are going to do, as with the warranty because I think this is something that just needs to be done.” Mr. Lain, “It’s pretty much damaged.” Com. Evans moved to approve and to keep it as reasonable as possible and to by all means pursue those people that warranty their work, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.
PINE TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR, APPROVAL OF LEASE AGREEMENT Com. Evans, “Didn’t we just do this?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “That was to assign the lease to a new owner for the rest of this year and now this is for 2008.” Ms. Kolasa, “Brand new order, brand new lease for a two year contract. The former owner used to just do it on an annual basis, but the new owner offered a two year contract. But I was kind of nervous about that given the governor’s proposal to eliminate township assessors, so we put a clause in the contract that if state legislature decides to get rid of us then, we can get out of the contract without penalty.” Com. Evans, “The price stay the same?” Ms. Kolasa, “No, the price went up. They offered a one year increase of $50.00 a month increase which I thought was a little ridiculous but if I signed for two years, it was $25.00 a month. The township trustee will absorb the increase.” Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Harper, “Is Russ Shirley here? Then we will pass that one over. Bob Thompson? Approval of bid specifications for the North County Highway Garage.”
APPROVAL OF BID SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE NORTH COUNTY HIGHWAY GARAGE Mr. Thompson, “This is the Notice for Receiving Bids for the design and construction of the North Porter County Highway Garage. And to simply explain this, I used the form that they had for the South County Highway Garage except I removed the salt dome and changed it to north. Then I added a few other things. I am going to get something when she reviewed it today and that with the building of the Haz-Mat or the Greg Phillips Memorial Building, there was certain language that needed to be added and it was with the evaluation. So with that, and Commissioner Evans has a copy of it, I did add a couple of items of bold, italicized, is what I added per Gwenn’s instructions. I also had to go through and do that in a few other places. Mainly in Section 2 of the, where it talks about the evaluation. The advertisement I feel is ready to go out. I still need to do some work and have Gwenn review the Notice of Receiving Bids, the whole document. But based on what Gwenn sent me, as far as the Greg Phillips Memorial Building, I have pretty much everything intact, I just need to get it to Gwenn for review.” Com. Evans, “Looks good to me. The only thing is, I don’t think we are going to get it built this year.” Mr. Thompson, “One of the things is to warn you, is the septic system, and the State Board of Health is extremely slow and I don’t know what to tell you. They’ve held up a number of projects. I know because people call and tell me about it. I just know they are very slow. We will probably have everything, done that will probably be the major hang up to be honest with you. The only thing that is missing is the prevailing wage scale. On that to let you know, we are trying to set up a meeting for Monday, December 3rd, I believe it is. Ray Riddell is handling that or requested that be scheduled. So that is the last item that needs to be put into the appendices. The whole bid is for December 14, this will be all together, with your approval and with the advertisement already sent out, we will have this ready to go December 5th, the morning of December 5th, for bidders to start picking up.” Com. Evans “Sounds good.” Com. Harper, “What type of action do you need?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Release it for bid.” Com. Evans moved to release the project for bid, Com. Knoblock seconded. Motion carried.
RECEIVE AND OPEN PROPOSALS FOR CORRIDOR STUDY AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS Mr. Thompson, “Those were delivered and to update the Commissioners on this, the Plan Commission interviewed ten different firms based on the RFQ. From that the Plan Commission selected and wanted to narrow it down to three firms but with our evaluation material, we have the qualifications, there was five, so therefore they sent us four firms that were involved in that. So, we are receiving, well it’s really going to be five RFP’s on it. The reason it is five RFP’s is because one of the firms that was with a tie, URS and DLZ. URS and DLZ are teamed to the corridor study. DLZ was doing the construction standards. It is separate one. So that’s why there is five documents. But there should be Request for Proposals from the narrowed down list from the Plan Commission as I mentioned URS, DLZ, there should also be one from Ty Lin International out of Chicago, URS is out of Chicago, the team leading the corridor study. Rachel Architects out of Indianapolis and also, American Structure out of Indianapolis. The intent with this was to take these RFP’s from here, take it back to the Plan Commission, the Plan Commission has some evaluation criteria that was set up within the RFP and at a later meeting they will review it, given the criteria and come back with a recommendation of one firm to the Commissioners.” Com. Harper, “So we don’t have to say anything more other than who you got the documents from?” Mr. Thompson, “That’s all I would request.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Identify them.” Com. Harper, “We have a proposal for the construction, development standards form DLZ. We have a proposal from American Structure Point.” Com. Evans, “These would be available in your office for public examination, is that correct?” Mr. Thompson, “That’s correct. There will be a copy available for the public to examine.” Com. Harper, “Is this Ty Lin International? And it looks like their proposal. Who is that from?” Ms. Hartig, “URS.” Mr. Thompson, “URS is teaming with DLZ and they are just doing the corridor study.” Com. Harper, ‘And who is that from?” Ms. Hartig, “Rachel?” Mr. Thompson, “Rachel Architects, and they will be doing both the corridor study and the construction.” Com. Harper, “All right. If there is anybody here that submitted proposals that want to look at somebody else’s proposals? I will have them available, right Bob?” Mr. Thompson, “Right.” Com. Harper, “And so everyone knows, there were no prices on these.”
Com. Evans, “Ray, do you want to come up here? We have had a vacancy in our Engineering Department since Dave Schelling left and I think tonight we are prepared to promote you if you are willing to accept the job to the position of County Engineer. We know that we’ve read all your stuff in the interim and prior to that and we are hoping that you will accept and we are certain you will do a good job.” Ray Riddell, “I accept. Thank you.” Com. Evans moved to appoint Ray Riddell to the position of County Engineer, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Evans, “Do we have a question about the expiration of some of the letters of credit?” Com. Harper, “There’s really not a problem in the north district, is there, because these are just continuing letters of credit. Do you want to go ahead and do those?”
North District: Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. 2. Eagle Ridge Subdivision, Phase 1, Performance Letter of Credit No. 2005-ILC-546 from First Midwest Bank in the amount of $47,520.00 and the new expiration date is October 14, 2008. recommend approval. Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Center District: Com. Harper, “We have one for Tower Meadows, that is for a reduced amount, is that correct?” Mr. Riddell, “That is correct.” Com. Harper, “I would like to move that until I have more of a chance to look that over and get their erosion control plan approved by the state. I would like to hold off on that if I can have a motion on that.” Com. Evans moved to postpone the letter of credit for Tower Meadows, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Harper, “You can check with the Building Department and when they get in compliance…” Com. Evans, “How much is the reduction that they are asking, Ray? They are asking to go down to $320,000.00.” Mr. Riddell, “8,900,000.00.” Com. Harper, “So we will just hold that off until you talk to them. Bob Thompson, could you come up a minute? This is not a reduction, is it? Let’s hold off a second and let me read it.”
1. Bella Vista Subdivision Performance Letter of Credit. #HACH152624OS from Harris Bank in the amount of $40,000.00. New expiration date is October 31, 2008. recommend approval. Com. Harper, “Is Yellowstone in compliance now? Is that questionable?”
Mr. Thompson, “Before I comment on it, I would like to go see the subdivision Com. Harper, “Is it all right with you, Carole, if we continue that?” Com. Knoblock, “Sure.” Com. Harper, “Is it okay with you, John?” Com. Evans, “Fine.” Com. Knoblock moved to continue, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. CORRESPONDENCE
Treasurer’s monthly report for October 2007 is on file. Request for transfer of funds—Commissioners
Fund 132.30 $1,161.97 from 4210 buildings To pay maintenance agreement on Print Shop copier through the end of 2007. Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Request for transfer of funds—Commissioners
Fund 01.30 $4,000 from 3920 disposal To cover deductibles through the end of 2007. Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Request for transfer of funds—Commissioners
Fund 01.30 $657.00 from 3920 disposal To purchase tires for 2nd Animal Shelter vehicle. Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Request for transfer of funds—Highway Dept.
Fund 25 $20,000.00 from 2310 tires and tubes Fuel expenses for the remainder of the year. Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. MEMORIAL OPERA HOUSE ROOF CONTRACT Atty. Rinkenberger, “We have the contract for the Opera House roof between the Opera House and Culver Roofing, Inc. Brian is here.” Com. Harper, “We just need to approve that. We’ve already approved the amount?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Right. We’ve approved the amount and the scope of the work.” Com. Harper, “Have you gone over it?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I have.” Com. Evans moved to accept the contract with Culver Roofing, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Atty. Rinkenberger, “It gives them 180 days to do the work but we are thinking they are not going to take 180 days to do the work. Do you know when they are going to commence the work?” Mr. Schafer, “As soon as the contract is signed it’s effective so they should be starting within, well with the holiday, I am assuming maybe Monday. Mr. Kopp has been handling the transactions so I don’t have an original. I’ll contact them, I’ll call them tomorrow and have an original sent.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Tell them we expect them to start on Monday.” ANIMAL SHELTER VEHICLE PURCHASE Com. Harper, “The vehicle for the Animal Shelter, was that on tonight? Why don’t we put that on for next meeting or does that need to be done tonight?” Ms. Hartig, “They are basically ready to go, they just need your okay.” Com. Evans, “Usually they are under time constraints.” Com. Evans moved to approve the vehicle for the Animal Shelter, Com. Knoblock, “That comes from the Sheriff’s Department?” Com. Harper, “No, they take care of helping us buy it.” Com. Knoblock seconded, Atty. Rinkenberger, “What is the amount?” Com. Evans, “$22,350.00. It is a 2008, Chevrolet Silverador, 2500 HD Four Wheel Drive, regular cab with 133 inch wheelbase. All that stuff will be put in the back so they can catch animals.” Ms. Hartig, “Where is that being taken from?” Com. Harper, “Where did we take it from last time?” Ms. Hartig, “Cable.” Com. Harper, “Cable, all right.” Motion carried.
DRAINAGE AND SILT IN LAKES DISCUSSION Com. Harper, “Is Bob Thompson still here? I want to bring up a topic. He and I have met with representatives from the Lakes Conservancy District and the city of Valparaiso regarding trying to reach a solution on drainage, silt and mud going into that watershed. An ongoing problem because we are a fast growing area and we’ve got a lot of construction. I had suggested along with Bob a solution to the problem. The county, not long ago, passed a drainage ordinance where they had independent engineers reviewing our drainage problems projects for water run off. But, it was suggested in this instance that we have an engineering firm |
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November 20, 2007