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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, December 18, 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.
President Harper called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Com. Knoblock moved to approve the payroll of December 10, 2007, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.
Com. Knoblock moved to approve the minutes of December 4, 2007, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.
Com. Evans moved to approve the claims of December 11 and December 18, 2007, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.
Hospital Sales Proceeds Fund #07-19 – 2nd Reading ORDINANCE NO. 07-19
PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS "HOSPITAL SALE PROCEEDS FUND"
WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners adopted the Porter County Municipal Code on Tuesday, December 2, 1997 pursuant to Ordinance No. 97-38; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT: 2. That Section 3.07.010 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows:
3.07.010 Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund is established 3. That Section 3.07.020 Use of Hospital Funds is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows:
3.07.020 Use of Hospital Funds 1) to pay the Five Hundred Thousand Dollar ($500,000.00) annual ambulance subsidy specified in the Agreement for the Provision of Emergency Medical Services between Porter Hospital and Porter County, dated December 16, 2003, as such payments are contemplated in Section 12.29 of the Asset Purchase Agreement; and 2) to pay and/or satisfy any indebtedness, trailing Hospital liabilities, or indemnification obligations as set forth in the Asset Purchase Agreement. Such payments are excluded from the restrictions on use of the Sale Proceeds' principal pursuant to Section 12.29 of the Asset Purchase Agreement. The Porter County Board of Commissioners and Porter County Council may authorize the transfer of funds from the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund to the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund in the event the latter Fund is exhausted, or may elect to pay certain liabilities directly from the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund. Any interest generated by the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund shall be transferred no less frequently than quarterly to the Hospital Interest Fund. Other than for the specific purposes set forth in this Ordinance, the principal of the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund shall not be distributed, expended or transferred for a period of at least five (5) years from the Closing Date. After the expiration of the five (5) year preservation period beginning on the Closing Date, the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund shall accrue and continue in perpetuity unless and until the Porter County Council and Porter County Board of Commissioners unanimously agree otherwise. 4. That Section 3.07.030 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows:
3.07.030 Termination of funds/transfer of funds This Ordinance passed and adopted the _____ day of December, 2007, to become effective January 1, 2008.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ORDINANCE NO. 07-20
PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS "HOSPITAL INTEREST FUND"
WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners adopted the Porter County Municipal Code on Tuesday, December 2, 1997 pursuant to Ordinance No. 97-38; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT: 1. Title 3, Revenue and Finance in the Porter County Municipal Code is hereby amended through the addition of Chapter 3.09 entitled Porter Memorial Hospital Sale Proceeds Funds;
2. That Section 3.09.010 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: A special revenue fund known as the "Hospital Interest Fund" shall be established whereby all Interest Proceeds from the Hospital Sale Proceeds, to include the sum of $3,463,268, which represents all accrued interest and earnings on the Sale Proceeds as of November 30, 2007, shall be deposited into the Hospital Interest Fund, said funds currently in Fifth Third Bank in Account Nos. 7233192280 and 23230028368912. Upon approval of the Porter County Board of Commissioners and Porter County Council, the funds contained in the Hospital Interest Fund may be expended for any purpose for which public funds may be used pursuant to Title 36 of the Indiana Code. 3. That Section 3.09.020 Use of Hospital Funds is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.09.020 Use of Hospital Funds Funds received and deposited in the Hospital Interest Fund may only be used for the specific purposes set forth in this Ordinance and in accordance with Indiana law. Specifically, the Hospital Interest Fund may be designated to any purpose for which public funds may be expended, in accordance with I.C. 36-2-6-4.5 and upon the approval and agreement of the Porter County Council and Porter County Board of Commissioners. Any and all funds which represent interest and/or earnings generated by the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund and Hospital Trailing Liability Fund shall be transferred, no less frequently than on a quarterly basis, to the Hospital Interest Fund. The Porter County Board of Commissioners shall submit an annual budget to the Porter County Council with respect to recommendations, after receiving public input, on expenditures from the Hospital Interest Fund. Said budget must be approved by the Porter County Board of Commissioners and appropriated by the Porter County Council. Any claims for payment from the Hospital Interest Fund shall be submitted for approval and payment in a manner consistent with other claims related to public funds as set forth in Title 36 of the Indiana Code. 4. That Section 3.09.030 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.09.030 Termination of funds/transfer of funds The Hospital Interest Fund shall remain in existence and remain perpetual in its terms until amended or terminated by subsequent ordinance enacted by the Porter County Board of Commissioners and, if and when a subsequent ordinance is passed to terminate the life of the Hospital Interest Fund, the fund balance existing and not otherwise provided for by ordinance, if any at that time, shall be transferred to the County General Fund or the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund. Said ordinance amending or terminating this Ordinance may be enacted only upon the unanimous approval of both the Porter County Board of Commissioners and the Porter County Council. This Ordinance passed and adopted the _____ day of December, 2007, to become effective January 1, 2008.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Com. Evans moved to approve Ordinance No. 07-20, Hospital Interest Fund Ordinance on second reading, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.
ORDINANCE NO. 07-21
PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS "HOSPITAL TRAILING LIABILITY FUND"
WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners adopted the Porter County Municipal Code on Tuesday, December 2, 1997 pursuant to Ordinance No. 97-38; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT: 1. Title 3, Revenue and Finance in the Porter County Municipal Code is hereby amended through the addition of Chapter 3.11 entitled Porter Memorial Hospital Sale Proceeds Funds; 2. That Section 3.11.010 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.11.010 Hospital Trailing Liability Fund is established A special revenue fund is established which shall be designated the "Hospital Trailing Liability Fund" and which shall contain an amount of funds determined to be necessary by the Porter County Board of Commissioners and Porter County Council for the payment of trailing liabilities and indebtedness of the Hospital. Said fund shall be subject to appropriation by the Porter County Council. The Hospital Trailing Liability Fund shall initially consist of the following: 1) The Porter County Hospital Association 1997 Bond Refinancing Escrow Account, Account No. 81-0149-01-3, at First Source Bank in the approximate amount of $2,004,820, which account shall be closed on or about December 31, 2007 following the final principal payment on said bonds and any remaining funds shall transfer to the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund; 2) The Porter Health Services Account, Account No.7232301122, at Fifth Third Bank in the approximate amount of $327,562, which account will be closed on or about December 31, 2007 and any remaining funds shall transfer to the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund; 3) The Porter Memorial Health System Dividend Escrow Account, Account No. 7232883343, at Fifth Third Bank in the approximate amount of $86,326, which account shall be closed on or about December 31, 2007 and the balance shall transfer to the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund and be assigned a separate line item; and 4) The additional sum of $3,000,000, determined by the Porter County Board of Commissioners and Porter County Council to be a reasonable estimate of anticipated trailing Hospital liabilities, obligations and indebtedness, to be deposited into the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund, said funds currently in Fifth Third Bank, Account No. 7233192280. Such funds shall be used to satisfy claims including, but not limited to the following: (i) Hospital associate workers' compensation claims existing prior to the Closing Date, (ii) Hospital associate health claims existing prior to the Closing Date, (iii) litigation and settlement of Hospital claims existing prior to the Closing Date, (iv) satisfaction of Hospital indebtedness and/or other obligations existing prior to the Closing Date; (v) contractual services (including accounting, consulting, and legal) related to the wind-up of Hospital affairs and management/disposition of Hospital liabilities; and (vi) investment services related to the Sale Proceeds. To the extent additional funds are needed to satisfy such indebtedness, obligations or liabilities, the Porter County Board of Commissioners and Porter County Council may authorize the transfer of necessary funds from the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund. 3. That Section 3.11.020 Use of Hospital Funds is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.11.020 Use of Hospital Funds Funds which comprise the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund may only be used for the specific purposes set forth in this Ordinance and in accordance with Indiana law. The Hospital Trailing Liability Fund represents that portion of the Sale Proceeds which has been specifically designated for the satisfaction of trailing Hospital liabilities assumed by Porter County. Payments may only be made from the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund for the following purposes: to pay and/or satisfy any indebtedness, trailing Hospital liabilities, existing Hospital obligations, or indemnification obligations as set forth in the Asset Purchase Agreement by and among Community Health Systems, the Porter County Council, the Porter County Board of Commissioners, and the Board of Trustees of Porter Memorial Hospital, dated April 30, 2007. The Porter County Board of Commissioners and Porter County Council may authorize the transfer of additional funds from the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund to the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund in the event the latter Fund is exhausted, or may elect to pay certain liabilities directly from the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund. As set forth above, the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund shall be used to satisfy claims including, but not limited to the following: 1) Hospital associate workers' compensation claims existing prior to the Closing Date, 2) Hospital associate health claims existing prior to the Closing Date,
3) litigation and settlement of Hospital claims existing prior to the Closing Date, 5) contractual services (including accounting, consulting, and legal) related to the wind-up of Hospital affairs and management/disposition of Hospital liabilities; and 6) investment services related to the Sale Proceeds. Any interest or earnings generated by the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund shall be transferred no less frequently than quarterly to the Hospital Interest Fund. Claims for payment from funds appropriated to the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund shall handled in a manner consistent with other claims involving public funds and in accordance with state law. 4. That Section 3.11.030 is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows: 3.11.030 Termination of funds/transfer of funds The Hospital Trailing Liability Fund shall remain in existence and remain perpetual in their terms until amended or terminated by subsequent ordinance enacted by the Porter County Board of Commissioners and, if and when a subsequent ordinance is passed to terminate the life of the Hospital Trailing Liability Fund, the fund balance existing and not otherwise provided for by ordinance, if any at that time, shall be transferred to the Hospital Sale Proceeds Fund. Said ordinance amending or terminating this Ordinance may be enacted only upon the unanimous approval of both the Porter County Board of Commissioners and the Porter County Council. This Ordinance passed and adopted the _____ day of December, 2007, to become effective January 1, 2008.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Request for Approval of Proposal for Installation of Door Mr. Kopp, “Good evening, everyone. We’re trying to get a door in the little office that the plotter and the tables are going to be in to enter from the office when the people will be doing GIS work. I think Gwenn has the proposal.” Com. Harper, “We have more than one proposal.” Mr. Kopp, “There are several, yes.” Com. Harper, “Have you reviewed them?” Mr. Kopp, “I have looked at the one from the people that used to do the work, and I got two others solicited from Mackenzie Construction and . . .” Com. Harper, “Have you looked at the one from Mackenzie Construction?” Mr. Kopp, “Yes.” Com. Harper, “Because the prices are much different. Mackenzie is . . . I guess I’m not reading it right. Mackenzie is $4,380.00, Mihalik is $5,193.00, and Berglund is $6,458.00.” Mr. Kopp, “Mackenzie is the only one, he found the people that make the door, and they reduced the price $500 additional, which is what is reflected in that $2300.00. It’s the same as the doors that are in the building with the same trim. He researched it back to the builder’s specs and the original door supplier.” Com. Harper, “If we approve this, where is the money coming from? Did you not get the charts in the front of the book?” Ms. Hartig, “Yes, they’re there.” Com. Harper, “What did I do with mine?” Ms. Hartig, “It should be right behind your agenda.” Com. Harper, “Okay, now they’re here.” Com. Evans, “This is going to be on the corridor, right, on this hall?” Mr. Kopp, “No, it will be going through the big office into the little office.” Com. Knoblock, “Does it really need to be?” Mr. Kopp, “We need to get the plotters and stuff and the noise away the from the people doing the work, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have to come out into that hallway and come back around.” Com. Knoblock, “It takes up your wall space to put a door in.” Mr. Kopp, “The plotters will be back in there and there are some tables, yes. There will be people coming down to pick up drawings and stuff as this thing gets going, and we’re trying to get it where they’re not coming in bothering the people doing the work all the time, because it would be just a lot of lost time with people coming in to grab things off the printer. The plotter is loud; it makes noise.” Mr. Evans, “There’s not a closet available to put the plotter in, is there?” Mr. Kopp, “No.” Com. Harper, “It can come out of Contractual Services, Building and Structures, right? Not Contractual Services; we’ve got enough money left for it to come out of Building and Structures.” Com. Evans moved to accept the bid from Mackenzie Construction with the money coming from the Building and Structures fund not to exceed $4,380.00, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.
Sheriff Lain, “I’m hoping that we can put this final telephone contract to bed. You had signed an earlier version that Verizon sent back because they saw some internal problems with the way that contract was written. It’s taken some time to find out exactly what they meant. Essentially, they didn’t like some of the x’s and o’s that their representative had written into the contract.” Com. Harper, “Who is your Verizon representative?” Sheriff Lain, “This comes from the Senior Account Manager, Mr. Clements, out of I’m not sure what office.” Com. Harper, “Who do you guys deal with?” Sheriff Lain, “Locally?” Com. Harper, “Yes.” Sheriff Lain, “I don’t know. We’ve been going through Virginia on getting this worked out. Sergeant Gootee’s been working on this; in fact, he’s the one that discovered that we had been ‘slammed’ and had been paying a higher rate for the last year and a half.” Com. Knoblock, “So this is less than last year?” Sheriff Lain, “Yes; it will be a significant savings per minute. I want to say it was twelve cents a minute, and this contract is just over three cents a minute.” Com. Harper, “Have you ever been able to get in contact with anybody, Melissa?” Ms. Hartig, “I’ve tried to contact the gentleman that you guys dealt with and his assistant. They don’t call me back; they don’t e-mail me back.” Sheriff Lain, “Traditionally, yes, Verizon has been difficult to contact. This gentleman has been corresponding a couple of different times with us. In fact, the last person that wrote that contract is no longer with Verizon, so I’m not even sure whether you’re trying to contact Mr. Clements or his predecessor.” Ms. Hartig, “I know that Tom Cushman isn’t there anymore, so that’s the name they gave me as being the County’s new representative.” Com. Evans, “Is this for the Sheriff’s phones, or is this for the Jail?” Sheriff Lain, “This is a business line; this isn’t inmate phones. Com. Knoblock, “So it went from $0.464 to $0.325, is that what you’re saying?” Sheriff Lain, “Yes, that’s right.” Com. Evans, “Gwenn, have you reviewed this?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I have, and I was waiting for Verizon to tell us what the changes were, and they have.” Com. Harper, “So are you approving this?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I’m recommending you approve this.” Com. Evans, “Has anybody explored any other carriers?” Sheriff Lain, “I know that Sergeant Gootee had talked to other carriers. We didn’t even know that a rate increase had taken place until he discovered a spike in the billing. Sergeant Gootee took it upon himself to research that and find out why. He found out that we were ‘slammed.” Com. Knoblock, “What does that mean?” Sheriff Lain, “That means that your rates change without . . . essentially, it’s fraud. Your rates change without you really knowing about it.” Com. Evans, “Yes and no. They call you up and they say ‘would you be interested in a better rate?’ ‘Well, yes, I think we would.’ ‘Okay, you got it.’ They just kind of take over your account. I was just curious if somebody had looked at the Voice Over Internet phone system.” Com. Harper, “John, I’ve had so many people that have had a bad experience with that.” Sheriff Lain, “I think this has to be a pretty robust line. I’m way out of my league, I’ll tell you, Commissioners. I’m way out of my league even saying this, but I think we need big phone lines like a T1 line. I keep hearing Dave Sheibels talk about T1 lines, and I don’t know that the voice over IP would be sufficient for our needs. I don’t think this affects all of our phone lines, because we have a number of them. A lot of them have already been cleared up, and this is the last of the problem.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “This is a 36-month automatically renewable contract. If you look at the fine . . .” Com. Evans, “Sixty days notice to terminate.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “But then they have an early termination charge paragraph. It looks like they can penalize you pretty heavily.” Sheriff Lain, “I think 75 percent of the duration of the contract.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “As long as we know that.” Com. Harper, “Do I hear a motion one way or the other?” Com. Evans, “You’ve looked at it, and there’s no other reasonable . . .” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I’ve looked at it, and I can tell you it’s a 36-month contract, that it automatically renews, but that it has early termination charges.” Com. Evans, “Are you comfortable with that, or do you think we can’t do that?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “It depends or whether or not we can do better.” Com. Knoblock, “If we’re not sure, should we be voting on it?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “We could vote on it for 12 months instead of 36. Do you know that you want to keep Verizon for 36 months and automatically renew under the terms of this agreement?” Sheriff Lain, “I can’t say what’s going to happen in 36 months.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Right.” Com. Evans, “The other thing is that we already have a signed contract with them that . . .” Com. Harper, “That they haven’t signed.” Com. Evans, “Oh, that they haven’t signed. So we’re, what, month-to-month with them now?” Sheriff Lain, “We’re month-to-month under the higher rate. The contract you signed the last time that they rejected actually had a higher early cancellation clause than this one does. They’ve lowered that by about 25 percent.” Com. Evans, “You’ve got to have a phone, and it doesn’t sound like there’s any other carrier out there that can provide the service that you need.” Com. Evans moved to approve the contract with Verizon, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Atty. Rinkenberger, “It was 100 percent last time. They’ve got you coming, and they’ve got you going.” Sheriff Lain, “It beats tin cans and string.”
RESOLUTION 07-08
A RESOLUTION OF THE PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
WHEREAS, the Lake County Tourism Bureau is again attempting to introduce legislation to either have a regional tourism bureau or to merge the Lake County Tourism Bureau with the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission; and All of which is resolved this _____ day of _________________, 2007.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Ms. Weimer, “One of the things that I think is critical to note is that we believe strongly in regionalism and, in fact, we’ve been a part of an organization called Northern Indiana Tourism Development Commission for seventeen years. I am currently in my fourth year as President of that organization. It’s literally seven counties working together, and our motto is ‘What can we do together that we can’t do on our own.’ What’s great about that motto is that we’ve been able to leverage our money fifteen times to help market Northern Indiana, but at the same time, it allows us to remain our own unique individual bureau and take care of our own destinations because we all know what our own strategies are for promoting our area. The thing that’s critical for people to know is we are side-by-side, but our destinations are totally different. It’s the same example as Elkhart and St. Joseph counties are next to each other – St. Joseph is urban, Notre Dame and Elkhart are Amish country. We work together reasonably with those three, but yet they remain unique individual CVBs, and the same thing is here. We believe strongly in regionalism, but we think the approach is it’s local funding, it’s local control, and we know what’s best for our county.” Com. Evans, “As everybody is aware, each of the Commissioners has an appointment to your board, and I’ve talked with my appointment, and they agree with you that we want to be as independent in our own dealings as we can be. The towns of Chesterton, Porter, and Burns Harbor also have an appointment to that board. I’ve had conversations with that appointment, and everyone seems to be under the same school of thought that this would be the best tact for us to take. I think you’ve got the right approach. We’re not being exclusionists by any stretch of the imagination, but we do want to be independent in our thinking because we are unique – there’s nobody like us anywhere.” Com. Evans moved to endorse Resolution 07-08 Supporting Resistance of Merger with Lake County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission. Com. Knoblock, “I’m thinking, too, of what kind of a tax they would put on us if we went with them. We don’t need that.” Com. Harper, “This keeps coming up and coming up. To me, it seems like a power grab. For a county that runs government as well as we do – if you look at the money we run government on, Porter County does a pretty good job – to have other counties try to grab us up really irks me. It doesn’t take long to look at the two counties and see their different type of base. I don’t know why they think that they have to control us to succeed. I think you’d look long and hard to find hardly anybody in Porter County that would be in favor of this.” Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.
Ms. Weimer, “Thank you for your support; we really appreciate it. And have a good holiday.”
Troon Subdivision, Phase 1, Performance Letter of Credit #107500016 from First National Bank in the amount of $214,530.00. New expiration date is December 1, 2008. Recommend approval. Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. High Meadows West Subdivision, Phase D, extension of Letter of Credit from First Source Bank in the amount of $20,000.00, which is unchanged. New expiration date is December 21, 2008. Recommend approval. Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Center District: Mystic Springs Subdivision Performance Letter of Credit #CIS407085 from Fifth Third Bank in the amount of $293,000.00. New expiration date is August 23, 2009. Recommend approval. Com. Harper, “Is this remaining unchanged? It doesn’t say that.” Mr. Riddell, “It remains unchanged; it’s an extension.” Com. Harper moved to approved, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. Walnut Ridge Subdivision, Unit II, extension of Performance Letter of Credit from Mainsource Bank in the amount of $22,000.00, which is unchanged. New expiration date is December 2, 2008. Recommend approval. Com. Harper moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. Eagleview Subdivision, extension of Performance Letter of Credit from Lafayette Bank & Trust Company, National Association in the amount of $119,800.00, which is unchanged. New expiration date is January 18, 2009. Recommend approval. Com. Harper moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. Tower Meadows Subdivision Performance Letter of Credit #152 from Citizens in the amount of $320,000.00. New expiration date is November 1, 2008. Recommend approval. Com. Harper, “Is that an unchanged one, too?” Mr. Riddell, “No, this one is a reduction.” Com. Harper, “Tower Meadows, Bob, which one is that?” Mr. Thompson, “It’s the one at about 250 West 550 North. The one with the detention facility.” Com. Harper, “Their erosion control is not yet in compliance, am I correct on that?” Mr. Riddell, “You’re correct. At the last meeting, you suggested that I attach a letter from Mike Haller, and I believe you should have that.” Com. Harper, “I’m not going to recommend approval at this time until . . .” Com. Evans, “Has the other one expired?” Mr. Riddell, “Yes.” Com. Harper, “Why is this one reduced when they are not in compliance with our ordinance at this time? I don’t understand.” Mr. Thompson, “They fell underneath the old procedure. In this situation, they did have quite a bit of infrastructure already in. We did meet out there. The water is in, the sanitary sewer is in, so what we kept was the amount of money we felt was necessary to hold to see what really needed to be done and stay in compliance if we needed to go in and draw, which was the surface coating of asphalt, finishing of the detention facilities as-built, storm sewers.” Com. Harper, “What’s the new procedure, Bob, versus what we’re doing here?” Mr. Thompson, “The new procedure would be that we would want to meet out there, discuss it, and then they would have to make application into the Plan Commission. I would forward the application down to Ray to let him know that there has been a request for a reduction in the bond. (Inaudible)… by the Commissioners to make application to the Plan Commission. Ideally, I would hope to have documentation from them. (inaudible)…. what the requirements are that we put on that now is that if there is any water and sewer that they want the reduction of bond on, they must have a letter from the particular municipal, a letter stating that it is satisfactory and they’ve accepted the system. For storm sewers, they must have the as-builts in along with any other retention facilities, and we also meet on the site to actually review it and see what is done.” (Mr. Thompson sat at the back of the meeting room and was unable to be heard by the recording secretary.) Com. Harper, “I tell John and Carole the reason we put those in place was we’ve ended up with insufficient bonds on big problems.” Com. Evans, “It looks live they’ve addressed it, though. In the letter, it just says ‘reflects the completion of various infrastructure items per the master plan and agreed upon by Highway and the engineers, surveyors, and developers.’ But it says ‘irrevocable Letter of Credit #152 in the amount of $320,000.00 to cover the above-mentioned erosion control issue and any other remaining,’ so it looks as though that they . . .” Com. Harper, “And I’ll live with this since they did it under the old procedures. I’ll recommend approval, but I have to tell you this, it galls me to recommend approval of a reduction of a bond when we have a subdivision not in compliance.” Com. Evans, “It appears as though they’re working toward it and that the remaining bond or due bond would be adequate to cover what they have to do.” Com. Harper, “Do you remember what subdivision this is?” Com. Evans, “Yes.” Com. Harper moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. County Road 200 North Acceptance Form and Maintenance Bond #5012666 from Ohio Casualty Insurance Company in the amount of $35,000.00. Recommend approval. Com. Harper moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. Tuscany Subdivision has requested a reduction in their Performance Letter of Credit from $565,000.00 to $505,000.00. Recommend approval. Com. Harper, “Where are we with that one?” Mr. Thompson, “Tuscany, I think about the only thing that was reduced was the fact that the municipal services because they got a letter from the City of Valparaiso saying that water and sewer have been completed and has been accepted in the City of Valparaiso. I would not recommend to Ray to release anything else because their ponds were not completed. I had questions on it. There were some other issues that were done out there. Ray has called and talked to them, and I talked to them already. The ponds were also not constructed as they were approved by the Plan Commission.” Com. Knoblock, “They just went down $60,000.” Com. Evans, “Yes. Remaining items not yet completed: site work, storm sewers, roads, bonds, erosion control, and landscaping, not limited to those.” Com. Harper, “Let me say this, again, if you guys have looked it over, I think we should consider the Plan Commission passing a resolution that if they’re not in compliance, we don’t reduce these bonds. But I understand your keeping a substantial amount of this to cover that.” Com. Harper moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. South District: Yellowstone Subdivision, Phase A-3/C, extension of Performance Letter of Credit #586 from DeMotte State Bank in the amount of $20,000.00, which has been lowered from $120,000.00. Recommend approval. Com. Knoblock, “I’ve got a question on that, too. I know they were working on the bridge on the south side. What about the north side?” Mr. Riddell, “They have cleaned it out, as a matter of fact, to Kevin’s satisfaction, Kevin Breitzke’s.” Com. Knoblock, “They haven’t cleaned it out? Mr. Riddell, “They have cleaned it out.” Com. Harper, “Are we reducing this one from $120,000 to $20,000?” Mr. Riddell, “Yes. As a matter of fact, they’re even on the verge of getting that accepted into the county system. It was just a matter of getting this one extended before it expired.” Com. Harper, “The driveways and things, have they ever gotten that straightened out out there, Bob?” Mr. Thompson, “Yes. Mike Haller works on that one, and they’ve also had the pipeline company out there to look, Pipeline Construction, at how they want those driveways done.” Com. Knoblock, “That’s a pretty large decrease of funds.” Com. Harper, “Is Phase A-3/C the phase that involves those driveways?” Mr. Thompson, “Yes.” Com. Harper, “Why should we ever, ever reduce anything until those . . .” Mr. Thompson, “All the infrastructure is done.” Com. Harper, “It may be, but here is a subdivision where people may not have access to home they’ve built.” Mr. Thompson, “I don’t think the pipeline company actually came out and said they were denying anybody going through.” Com. Harper, “I understand that, but I understand this situation real clearly, and I understand that this is a subdivision where, at least the last time we had a hearing in front of the Plan Commission, it had not been cleared that these people had access to their homes. I know we’ve given them access their homes, but that pipeline thing hadn’t been cleared. Is that still the situation?” Mr. Thompson, “I guess I’m going to disagree with you because I know that there have been crews down there with the pipeline company working on those issues.” Com. Harper, “I understand that. Bob, don’t you remember? They had been working on those issues six months ago when we met over this.” Mr. Thompson, “Correct, but there were a number of homes that already had access across the pipeline to their homes and probably more.” Com. Harper, “There were homes that had access to homes when we were in the Plan Commission, but they didn’t have legal access. Are you telling me now they have legal access?” Mr. Thompson, “They have driveways across the pipelines going to their homes.” Com. Harper, “Bob, you and I are talking apples and oranges. I understand they have driveways. They had driveways when we were there. Have they got the legal document they needed from the pipeline company to give them the right to have those driveways?” Mr. Thompson, “I will check on that.” Com. Harper, “I think we should continue this until we find it out. I don’t think we should reduce a bond if we’ve got this brouhaha . . .” Mr. Thompson, “Here again, you’re talking about passing resolutions in the Plan Commission and stuff, and you guys are the ultimate authority on deciding whether or not you’re going to reduce. The Plan Commission is just bringing it in, receiving the application, and I forward the stuff, then I have to give a report, Ray has to give a report, and then you guys are the ultimate decision-makers on this.” Com. Harper, “I’m just hesitant to keep reducing these bonds when things aren’t . . . and if this straightened out all these driveways, that’s fine.” Mr. Thompson, “I understand that. I’ll find out whether or not they’ve gotten it.” Com. Knoblock, “There have been a lot of problems out there.” Mr. Thompson, “True, but there are people looking at those houses who are wanting to cross those driveways.” Com. Harper, “I understand, but the last time we had a full hearing for the subdivision, they didn’t have the legal right to do that; it’s just that nobody was stopping them.” Com. Evans, “I think part of it comes back on us, like Bob said, everyone one of these is issued with an expiration date. So when the expiration date comes, obviously they’re going to try to reduce their bonds. It’s going to behoove us to have more information available to be able to make an informed decision at that time.” Com. Harper, “So why don’t we do this two weeks from now, is that alright?” Com. Thompson, “And I will check on it, I will.” Com. Knoblock moved to continue Yellowstone Subdivision, Phase A-3/C, extension of Performance Letter of Credit to the next meeting, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.
Treasurer’s monthly report for November 2007 is on file.
Request for approval of maintenance agreement with Great Lakes Automatic Door Com. Harper, “Have you looked these over, Gwenn?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Yes.” Com. Evans, “Are they all doors? Is the gate that got run over today on there?” Com. Harper, “That’s a gate, not a door.” Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.
Ms. Hartig, “This was something that was sent to me by Verizon. I did show it to Gwenn. I wasn’t exactly sure what is was they were asking for.” Atty. Rinkenberger, “They just are trying to protect us from giving out a customer PIN. It doesn’t result in any payment of funds, and to me it was just something that they were trying to do to protect us.” Com. Knoblock moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried. Request for approval of Animal Shelter Services contract with the Town of Pines for 2008 in the amount of $1,209.00 Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Request for approval by Jerome Szikora to continue renting 24 acres of County property (at $50 per acre) for farming purposes Com. Evans, “That’s a pretty low price.” Com. Knoblock, “It’s not good ground, though.” Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.
Com. Harper, “Do we need to take up this request from Porter Starke and Porter County, in front of my book?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “I didn’t know. I forwarded that to Dave Hollenbeck because this came to us and I didn’t know what our bonding capacity would be or whether or not this is something we could do if we could. So, it is going to require somebody to read it and comment on whether or not this is something we would do.” Com. Harper, “Why don’t we put this for two weeks to give us a chance, or three weeks. All right. Anything else before we go into Plan Commission? We will then go into Plan Commission.” PLAN COMMISSION
Erosion Control Mr. Thompson, “This is a resolution I’ve been working on. I’ve been working on it with Dave Pilz over at the City of Valparaiso, and it goes back to a meeting that we had before the Board of County Commissioners concerning the lakes area. Commissioner Harper requested that we look at the idea of an environmental engineer to check the erosion drainage plans that are being submitted in those areas for any projects within the watershed. I have the watershed defined and everything; I didn’t attach the maps to it. Gwenn spoke with me earlier on this today, and she wants this to be a joint resolution with city and county, so at this time, I’m going to have to say that it’s not ready. I’ve got to take this over to the city, and in the part where it says ‘be it further resolved’ on down is what Dave Pilz and I have agreed on, and then I was doing the ‘whereas’ parts, the first few paragraphs in the very beginning on that. I’ve got to run that by the city and get signatures, and I’ve got to figure out who would be the ones to sign, if the City Council or if the Mayor would be sufficient on that. I will work on that. The other item I had attached here is a Request for Statement of Qualifications. Here, again, I’ve been working with Dave Pilz over at the City of Valparaiso on that. We have some names of some environmental consultants, and I’m probably going to be sending this out tomorrow and setting up a joint committee with the city and the county to review these qualifications coming in and probably coming back to the City Council and also the County Commissioners with the recommendation on who to use as far as a consultant situation. If the RFQ or Statement of Qualifications is okay, I’ll probably send that out tomorrow, and I’ll continue working on the resolution, and I’ll have that ready for the next Commissioners meeting, hopefully.” Com. Harper, “So do you want the RFQ approved tonight?” Atty. Rinkenberger, “Who, me? Com. Harper, “No, I’m asking Bob. Is that what you’re asking us to do?” Mr. Thompson, “I brought it up mainly just for your information.” Com. Harpers, “It’s fine with me. I’ve looked it over.” Com. Evans, “It will expedite the process, won’t it?” Mr. Thompson, “Yes. I was considering sending it out last week and everything, but I thought I’d just have you guys take a look at it.” Com. Evans moved to approve the RFQ, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried. Com. Evans, “Bob, I want to thank you for your work with the Highway for the North County Garage. I understand there was a huge response for that.” Mr. Thompson, “There was quite a nice turnout. There were probably better than 20 or so people down there at the South County Garage.” Com. Evans, “For the bid letting.” Mr. Thompson, “A lot of them might have been subs that were working for people, but there were a number of people walking around the garage taking pictures, and there is quite an interest in it. It’s all done. We brought them down to the South County Garage. Al wanted them there so everybody can actually see the facility and everything and pretty much say, ‘yes, this is what we want.’” Com. Evans, “So next year, your Christmas party for Highway will be at the North County Garage.” Com. Harper, “Does anybody have anything else for tonight?” Com. Evans moved to recess, Com. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.
Robert P. Harper
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December 18, 2007