fPORTER COUNTY COUNCIL
December 3, 2002

The Porter County Council met on Tuesday, December 3, 2002, at 7:00 p.m., in the County Administration Center, 155 Indiana - Suite 205, Valparaiso, Indiana.

Members present were William Carmichael, Karen Conover, Carole Knoblock, John Ruge, Leon West and President Barbara Stroud. Also present was Attorney David Hollenbeck, Jamie Dziabo, Sheila Riley, and Jan Balcerak.

Ms. Stroud, We need to approve the minutes from September 19th, October 1st, October 29th, and also the budget hearing minutes, which all of you have a copy of. We tabled these after our last meeting. Does anyone have any additions or corrections?

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the minutes for September 19, 2002, October 1, 2002, October 29, 2002 and the 2003 budget hearings. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

FIRST READING

At this time, Mrs. Dziabo read the Notice to Taxpayers.

HIGHWAY 02
Transfer

$3,000 from account 2320 Garage & Motor Supplies into account 2310 Tires & Tubes

Ms. Stroud, First on the agenda tonight will be the Highway. Mr. Jarnecke. Good evening.

Jack Jarnecke, Evening.

Ms. Stroud, I see you want to transfer the amount of $3,000 from Garage & Motor Supplies to Tires & Tubes, which would be Fund 02--this is not general fund money, as we say--from account 2320 to account 2310. Since this is a transfer I need a motion to approve.

Mrs. Conover moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Highway 02, the amount of $3,000. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Jarnecke, Thank you.

Ms. Stroud, You're welcome.

HEALTH MAINTENANCE 14
Transfer

$550 from account 2410 Medical & Dental into account 3720 Software

Ms. Stroud, Health Maintenance. Good evening.

Keith Letta, Evening.

Ms. Stroud, Health Maintenance, Fund 014, the amount of $550 from account 2410 Medical & Dental to account 3720 Software.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Health Maintenance, the amount of $550. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

HEALTH TOBACCO 203
Transfer

$300 from account 2410 Medical & Dental into account 4540 Other Equipment

Ms. Stroud, Also a transfer from Fund 203, the amount of $300 from account 2410 Medical & Dental to account 4540.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Health Tobacco, the amount of $300. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

HEALTH 05.95
144 Form

2002 - Sanitarian II from $30,537 to $32,000
2003 - Sanitarian II from $32,000 to $32,000

Ms. Stroud, Is there anything else that you would like to bring before us? I see you have all your papers there.

Mr. Letta, Yes. The last time I was before you I was given permission to fill the sanitarian slot that had been vacant for a number of months.

Ms. Stroud, Right.

Mr. Letta, I was able to hire an individual that is already trained. He's been in public health for about 20 years. He's had his license nearly as long as I've had mine. He was actually running the wastewater treatment program in another county. I was able to get him to come here. So what I'm asking for is, as I've said, he is already licensed, and I would ask that his salary be raised from $30,537, which is the rate for the unlicensed individual, up to $32,000 even, which is approximately splitting the difference between the unlicensed person that I have that's been there a year, and my other four sanitarians that have a number of years of experience.

Ms. Stroud, Okay. So that the people in the audience understands, this health fund that he's talking about as far as taking the money is Fund 05.95. Again, it is not general fund money. He was given permission to hire someone in until they got all of their training, so what he's asking for is to raise it now that the person is licensed. Since this is a Form 144…

Mr. Letta, The money is appropriated for this year and next.

Ms. Stroud, Right. Since it's a 144, first of all we need a motion to approve.

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the 2002 and 2003 144 Forms submitted by Health 05.95. Mrs. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Letta, Thank you.

Ms. Stroud, Is there anything else you need to discuss?

Mr. Carmichael, Any other comment, Keith? Where are you in your programs now?

Mr. Letta, We're doing the best we can. At the end of this year I will have a report for all the council members and the commissioners in terms of our statistics, and what we've been able to do. I can probably give you a little bit more information then.

Mr. Carmichael, Okay.

Mr. Letta, That's the one that I give you each year in January. It's our complete statistical breakdown. We'll see where we are at that point.

Mr. Carmichael, Alright, thank you.

Mr. Letta, Thank you.

ADULT PROBATION USER FEES 48.43
Transfer

$2,000 from account 4410 Office Equipment over $100 into account 4510 Data Processing Equipment
$3,435 from account 4410 Office Equipment over $100 into account 4510 Data Processing Equipment
$2,000 from account 3130 Training & Education into account 1210 FICA
Ms. Stroud, Next on the agenda is transfers for Adult Probation User Fees. This is Fund 48.43, the amount of $2,000 from account 4410, which is Office Equipment, to account 4510, which is Data Processing. They would like to transfer from the same account; you've got $3,435 from account 4410 to account 4510, and also from the same account, the amount of $2,000 from account 3130 to account 1210. Am I correct?

Neil Hannon, Yes, that's correct. We wanted to be able to purchase a network printer for our office in the courthouse, and the other is to be able to purchase a PC for the Portage PCADOS office, and then also to have an Internet connection so they can then see the balance in the Clerk's office for the client fees. So there's the explanation that should be attached with all the data processing information approval, and letters of support or estimates rather.

Ms. Stroud, Yes. I need a motion to approve?

Mrs. Conover moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Adult Probation User Fees, the amounts of $2,000, $3,435 and $2,000. Mrs. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.

PCADOS 34
Additional Appropriation

$1,160 into account 2250 Other Supplies
$2,000 into account 3130 Training & Education
$1,000 into account 1110 Salaries

Ms. Stroud, The other request pertains to PCADOS. Is that correct?

Mr. Hannon, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, This is Fund 3400.134, the amount of $1,160 to account 2250 Other Supplies. Then 3400.134, the amount of $2,000 to account 3130 Training & Education, and Fund 3400.134, the amount of $1,000 to account 1110 Salaries. I have a question for you. This is an additional, right?

Mr. Hannon, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, But on here we had a transfer. Okay. Since this is an additional we need a motion to approve the additional and then a roll call.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by PCADOS, the amounts of $1,160, $2,000 and $1,000. Mr. Ruge seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, anything else?

Mr. Hannon, I was just going to give you an explanation. You're saying you approved that for the intended purpose then on all of those?

Ms. Stroud, Right.

Mr. Hannon, Okay, you guys are working fast tonight. Alright, thank you much.

Mr. Carmichael, You better get out of here before it's too late.

Ms. Stroud, Take it while you can.

EXPO CENTER 146.66
Transfer

$500 from account 1120 Salaries into account 2110 Office Supplies
$1,000 from account 2330 Household & Bedding into account 2230 Food & Groceries
$7,000 from account 3510 Power into account 3620 Buildings & Structures
$5,000 from account 3510 Power into account 3980 Event Expense
$3,000 from account 1120 Hourly into account 2230 Food & Groceries
$750 from account 3510 Power into account 3610 Maintenance Agreements

Ms. Stroud, Expo Center. Good evening.
Judy Herzog, Good evening.

Ms. Stroud, The Expo Center, this is Fund 146.66, you want to transfer $500 from Hourly to Office Supplies, that's from account 1120 to account 2110. You want to take the amount of $1,000 from account 2330 to account 2230. You also want to move $7,000 from account 3510, which is Power, to 3620, which is Buildings & Structures. We can take those. All of them are transfers, so we can take them all at one time if that's okay.

Mr. Carmichael, So moved.

Ms. Stroud, I've got to read two more. $5,000 from account 3510 to account 3980, and $3,000 from account 1120 to account 2230. Is there a motion to approve?

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Expo Center, the amounts of $500, $1,000, $7,000, $5,000, and $3,000. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Balcerak, Barb.

Ms. Stroud, I'm sorry, I missed one for $752.50 from account 3510 to account 3610.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Expo Center, the amount of $752.50. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, I left one off, sorry about that.

PINE REASSESSMENT 108.55
Transfer

$320 from account 1240 Per Diem into account 1120 Hourly

Ms. Stroud, Pine Township Reassessment.

Mr. Carmichael, What is this, a transfer?

Ms. Stroud, It's a transfer, can we do the transfer?

Mr. Carmichael, How much is it?

Ms. Stroud, It's a transfer for $320 from Per Diem to Hourly.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Pine Reassessment, the amount of $320. Mr. Ruge seconded, motion carried.

CENTER REASSESSMENT 108.10
Transfer

$425 from account 1120 Hourly into account 3950 Contractual Services

Ms. Stroud, Center Reassessment, transfer. Good evening. You need to transfer $425; again, this is from Fund 108. She needs to transfer $425 from fund 1120, which is Hourly to 3950 Contractual in order to pay the person who helps with your reassessment, I assume. Is that correct?

Susan Larson, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, I need a motion to approve.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Center Reassessment, the amount of $425. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

CENTER TOWNSHIP 01.10
Transfer

$400 from account 1120 Hourly into account 3930 Dues & Subscriptions
$100 from account 1120 Hourly into account 3130 Training & Education

Ms. Stroud, The next one, you are requesting a transfer in your 01 account, $400 from your Hourly to Dues & Subscriptions, which is account 1120 to account 3930, and $100 from account 1120 to account 3130. Is that correct?

Mrs. Larson, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Center Township, the amounts of $400 and $100. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Thank you.

Mrs. Larson, Thank you very much.

PARKS OPERATING 127
Additional Appropriation

$100 into account 1110 Salaries
$500 into account 3340 Advertising
$3,560 into account 3980 Event Expense

Transfer

$1,000 from account 3310 Printing other than Office Supplies into account 3340 Advertising

Ms. Stroud, Parks Operating, Fund 127. Hi, good evening.

Ed Melendez, Good evening.

Ms. Stroud, Let's see, you've got a couple of requests here, and I want to make sure mine are in order to do this correctly. You are asking for an additional appropriation in Fund 127.85, in the amount of $100 to 1110 Salaries. You are asking for the amount of $500 to account 3340 Advertising, and you are asking for the amount of $3,560 to account 3980 for Event Expenses. Is that correct?

Mr. Melendez, That's correct.

Ms. Stroud, Now this is an additional, and that's out of the 127 account. That's the money that comes from the Tourism.

Mr. Melendez, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, so we need a motion to approve. Then we need a roll call because it is an additional.

Mrs. Knoblock, Could I ask something?

Ms. Stroud, Sure.

Mrs. Knoblock, Ed, have you ever taken anything, moved anything out of that account through the year? The 127.85?

Mr. Melendez, Moved any?

Mrs. Knoblock, Any transfers out of that?

Mr. Melendez, No, we transfer within the account itself for certain line items.

Mrs. Knoblock, Okay.

Ms. Stroud, Any other questions? John.

Mr. Ruge, Does an emergency exist for the additional? The law requires an emergency.
Mr. Melendez, These additionals are what we get from the innkeepers' tax. So this is what we get that comes in. I've been here each month bringing in what we get from the Tourism, and put it into these appropriate line items for our expenses, for our events, our festivals at the Park.

Mr. Ruge, It is an emergency?

Mr. Melendez, It's an emergency to get it into the line item. The check has already been given to us.

Mr. Ruge, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, It's Tourism money, John.

Mr. Ruge, What?

Mr. Carmichael, Tourism money. The grant.

Mr. Ruge, It will bring in money?

Mr. Melendez, It's money to be used for tourism that will bring events to the park.

Mr. Ruge, The money has come in already?

Mr. Melendez, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, we need a motion to approve.

Mrs. Conover moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted Parks Operating, the amounts of $100, $500 and $3,560. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Then we have a request to transfer money in Fund 127. I'll take that one, then we'll do the other ones because it's a different fund. Parks Operating from Fund 127, the amount of $1,000 from account 3310 from Printing to 3340 Advertising. I need a motion to approve.

Mrs. Conover moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Parks Operating, the amount of $1,000. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried.

PARKS 01.85
Transfer

$250 from account 2210 Gas, Fuel & Lube into account 2120 Office Fixtures under $100
$100 from account 2210 Gas, Fuel & Lube into account 2220 Uniforms & Clothing
$150 from account 2350 Building Maintenance into account 2330 Household & Bedding
$500 from account 3650 Vehicle Repair into account 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles
$200 from account 3950 Contractual Services into account 3955 Compliance Testing

Ms. Stroud, The other part of his request, he wants to transfer in the 01.85 Fund, the amount of $250 from account 2210, which the title of that account is Gas, Fuel & Lube, to account 2120 Office Fixtures. He wants to transfer $100 from account 2210 to account 2220, and $150 from account 2350 to account 2330. Does anybody have any questions?

Mr. Carmichael, There's more isn't there?

Ms. Stroud, I'm sorry, there's two pages. I didn't flip the page. I'm sorry. We may as well do it all at once since it's the same account. $500 from account 3650 to account 3630, and $200 from 3950 to 3955.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Parks, the amounts of $250, $100, $150, $500 and $200. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Melendez, Thank you.

Ms. Stroud, Thank you, Ed.

CLERK PERPETUATION 199.01
144 Form

Hourly from $0 to $9 an hour

Additional Appropriation

$3,400 into account 1120 Hourly
$260.10 into account 1210 FICA
$20,000 into account 1120 Hourly
$1,530 into account 1210 FICA

Ms. Stroud, Clerk Perpetuation. Is she here? I know she's here. Good evening.

Dale Brewer, Good evening.

Mr. Carmichael, What do we have to do, wake you up, Dale.

Ms. Stroud, Were you asleep at the back table there.

Ms. Brewer, I should be.

Ms. Stroud, Let's see, we have to do; we don't have to do anything. What you are requesting is a Form 144, Hourly from $0 to $9 for 2002. Would you explain?

Ms. Brewer, It's the perpetuation fund.

Ms. Stroud, And the additional, which is Fund 199.01, for those of you that are in the audience here. Let's see, you need an additional out of that fund also. Is that correct?

Ms. Brewer, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, The additional would be from 199 is $3,400 to account 1120 for Hourly, and $260.10 to 1210 FICA.

Mrs. Knoblock, Is this a new employee?

Ms. Brewer, No, this is for an hourly employee.

Mr. Carmichael, What's your rate for 2003?

Ms. Brewer, Nine.

Mr. Carmichael, Have you got that set?

Ms. Brewer, At $9.

Mr. Carmichael, It is $9.

Ms. Brewer, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the 144 Form submitted by Clerk Perpetuation, the amount of $9. Mrs. Conover seconded.

Ms. Stroud, Since this is a 144 we need to do a roll call.

Mrs. Knoblock, Can I say something first?

Ms. Stroud, Yes, sure.

Mrs. Knoblock, What's your busiest time, Dale, of the year?

Ms. Brewer, I don't have a slow time anymore, Carole.

Mrs. Knoblock, You don't have a slow time.

Ms. Brewer, It used to be many, many, many years ago, I would say in the late 80's or early 90's, it would have been August. But nobody shuts down at that courthouse. Today I checked, or this afternoon, we've gotten 300 new seatbelt tickets, just today, because the courts, we have Click it or Ticket again. To offset that I've applied for grant money.

Mrs. Knoblock, I was going to suggest, there's been so many people volunteering throughout the County in different organizations and that, I'm wondering if…

Ms. Brewer, And that's fine for most of the things, except a lot of my records are also confidential, Carole. And a lot of those people have friends and relatives that are in those records, and it's not a good thing. I check my people out very carefully before I bring them on board also, because of the confidentiality of a lot of my records. I have asked one judge if they would when they are sentencing community service, if they could give me a person just to pull staples out of files so I can do the destruction. But he has to be careful on who he gives me because of the nature of the files.

Mrs. Knoblock, But it was a suggestion, and you know, we are hard up.

Ms. Brewer, Extremely so, but the perpetuation fund does not do anything to your general fund. This is money that can only be used for records, which is what I want it for. I'm about two months behind now on tax warrants. The tax warrant money brings $3 for each warrant into your general fund, so I'd like to kind of clear that up too. It's going to be an ongoing thing, and I thought this would be best way. It does not impact your general fund by taking it out of the perpetuation.

Ms. Stroud, Does anyone else have any other questions?

Mr. West, I'm not going to speak to it, but I don't agree with it. I've never agreed with it.

Ms. Brewer, What, the perpetuation? It's the law.

Mr. West, Not to hire people out of it.

Ms. Brewer, It's the law.

Mr. West, I don't agree with it. You could never lay anybody off if you got that.

Ms. Brewer, Actually, Leon, at this point I am seven full-time people short. Yesterday if you would have come to my office I was 16 people short.

Mr. West, I don't know what to say.

Ms. Stroud, Well I have to call for the, you know, the question.

Mr. Carmichael, Roll call.

Ms. Stroud, We have to do a roll call.

Motion failed on the following vote:

Conover-YesRuge-Yes
Carmichael-YesStroud-Yes
West-NoKnoblock-No

Ms. Brewer, Okay, as of tomorrow then I am going to tell you, the tax warrants will still remain undone. If I am charged with criminal negligence, because I cannot get these warrants done by the time the law requires it to be, I am going to ask them to charge you also. This is ridiculous. I am not asking for county general fund. I'm asking for money that I have in a fund set up by law for me to do the job that I've been elected to do, and you are preventing me from getting this job done. I'm sorry, but that it totally unfair, and very biased. You're not hurting me personally. You are hurting the service to the people of this county, and to the courts.
Mrs. Knoblock, I'm not biased, Dale. I just feel like…

Ms. Brewer, Well, you won't allow me to get the job done. You think I can go without all these people. It's a shame. It is just a shame. We'll also be cutting down the marriage license service. You know all the marriage licenses are also issued through my office, and we've been doing it five days a week. I can no longer continue to do that. It's going down to three days a week. You're asking me to service a court system and the public without help, without proper help, and I can't do it. Tell me what priority you'd like? Would you like me not to do regular criminal warrants in order to get all this other stuff done? Where's the priority here? What part of the public would you like me to short-change first?

Mr. West, I don't want you to short-change anybody. I want…

Ms. Brewer, Well, this is what…

Mr. West, You to do your job.

Ms. Brewer, You're asking me to do.

Mr. West, If you've got to work more hours, work more hours.

Ms. Brewer, You know what, I work probably more than…

Mr. West, Do your job.

Ms. Brewer, Most elected officials…

Mr. West, That's all I'm asking…

Ms. Brewer, Ever worked.

Mr. West, Do your job.

Ms. Brewer, I am doing my job, Mr. West.

Mr. West, Okay.

Ms. Brewer, I'd like you to do yours.

Mr. West, You've asked for more money.

Ms. Brewer, I'd like you to do yours, and give me…

Mr. West, Why do you want more money then?

Ms. Brewer, The funds that are mine.

Mr. West, Why do you want more money then?

Ms. Brewer, Well Mr. West, come over and see the workload. Have you ever been to my office?

Mr. West, Yes, I go to North County all the time.

Ms. Brewer, Have you been to mine?

Mr. West, Yes.

Ms. Brewer, You certainly don't come to see me and see what goes on in that courthouse.

Mr. West, Well, you can give excuses all you want to.

Ms. Brewer, No, Mr. West, you're the one that's the excuse, and I'm sorry that you feel that way.
Mr. West, Excuse?

Ms. Brewer, But, it has to be done.

Mr. West, You're saying you got…

Ms. Brewer, I came to ask…

Mr. West, Operate within what you've got.

Ms. Brewer, Which is part of my duty, and its public safety. But of course you don't consider the Clerk public safety.

Mr. West, Oh, I got the letter from the judges. I got the letter.

Ms. Brewer, Uh huh. I'm not asking for it from the general fund. I'm asking it from the Clerk's perpetuation record fund to take care of records. But evidently you don't want that done.

Mr. West, I want it done.

Ms. Brewer, Well, I'm sorry, Mr. West, but you're not giving the people to handle it with.

Mrs. Conover, Ms. Brewer, could you better explain to the public and this board, what you might be charged with.

Ms. Brewer, Yes, criminal misdemeanor.

Mrs. Conover, And your time frame on these tax warrants?

Ms. Brewer, 120 days. On workforce development warrants, which is part of these warrants, five days turnaround or a $20 fine, plus. Not that it matters to you that you'd be making $3 instead of losing $23, but. You know that's general fund money that I can bring into you.

Ms. Stroud, There's nothing, I mean it has to have…

Ms. Brewer, Oh I know.

Ms. Stroud, It has to have five votes.

Ms. Brewer, I know.

Ms. Stroud, Like we said, this is not general fund money. This is created by law downstate so that you can do this.

Ms. Brewer, Yes, I know.

Ms. Stroud, There's nothing I can do if the vote is 4 to 2.

Ms. Brewer, Well I know that you want to save money on…

Ms. Stroud, We have to have five votes.

Ms. Brewer, This council, and I know you want services cut where they can be. Well, my services are cut. You have tied my hands. There's nothing I can do.

Ms. Stroud, You have one other thing on here, Dale.

Ms. Brewer, That's a transfer for a maintenance agreement.

Ms. Stroud, Do you want to say anything?

Mr. Carmichael, Barbara, we have the judge here, one of our senior judges, and I think we ought to hear from him as to just what the need is in this particular case. I don't know whether Roger is prepared or not, but Roger, if you would come forward.
Ms. Stroud, I didn't even see him sitting back there.

Judge Roger Bradford, Certainly if you want me to answer any questions you have.

Mr. Carmichael, Explain the facts of life to us on this situation.

Judge Bradford, As Mr. West indicated, he received a letter from Judge Webber and myself, so I assume the rest of you did.

Mr. Carmichael, That's part of it.

Judge Bradford, There have been, in February, to cut 10% out of the Clerk's budget. Dale left three unfilled spots unfilled. Since then four more people have left, and those have not been filled. The lag time in paperwork getting into a court file, and that's just one of the myriad of jobs the Clerk's office has, has gone from two to three days to two to three weeks to almost a month since the last loss. Dale I know is giving criminal cases priority so that we don't end up having to turn somebody loose that doesn't deserve to be turned loose. But then, the civil cases then suffer from that. She has established priorities within her own office, and has consulted with myself and some of the other judges on that, but it is approaching the point that it is going to be harmful to the courts, and we will have to do something about it.
The letter was sent to advise you of the situation. It was not a threat of, if you'll notice the M word wasn't in there anyplace, so. But, we wanted you to be aware of that the courts are looking at that, and have an obligation if things get too bad to see the courts' function the way that they should, and can't do that on behalf of the clerk if we need to. Obviously we don't want to. Again, Dale is trying to come up with outside of general fund money to keep it going as well, and we all support her in that. All of the judges do. I will be happy to answer any questions that you have on those issues.

Mrs. Conover, Just for clarification purposes, Judge. How many years have you sat on the bench?

Judge Bradford, Twenty-three, plus.

Mrs. Conover, Have you ever had to use the power of the mandate?

Judge Bradford, I have not mandated additional funds ever. I did mandate the Auditor to pay funds that were already in my budget that she was refusing to many, many years ago, and that got worked out through a compromise.

Mrs. Conover, And in our meeting the other evening, did you not say that this is crisis situation within our court system?

Judge Bradford, It is becoming that way, yes. It can't continue to, the time lag can't continue to go on.

Mrs. Conover, Ms. Brewer, are these not part-time employees? These are people…

Ms. Brewer, These are part-time employees.

Mrs. Conover, Who are not going to be on the county insurance, and when the money is gone it's gone.

Ms. Brewer, Correct.

Mrs. Conover, And the job will be done, and those monies then return to the general fund.

Ms. Brewer, This is not general fund money.

Mrs. Conover, No, I understand. But those monies generated through the…

Ms. Brewer, Through this work goes to the general fund, yes.

Mrs. Conover, Could you project about how much money would be coming to the general fund?

Ms. Brewer, Well on that portion on the tax warrants, I've already collected $56,000. That was at the end of October. It's $30 a warrant.

Mrs. Conover, And the three people you laid off, that's not what you are looking at? The four that you've lost through our hiring freeze through moving away or…

Ms. Brewer, Correct.

Mrs. Conover, Finding another job.

Ms. Brewer, I am down to one bookkeeper. One, and that just accounts for over 8,000 child support checks that I do a month. So that's another section you are going to hurt.

Mrs. Conover, There's a lot of people that count on their child support to pay their rent.

Ms. Brewer, That's correct. What am I supposed to do, tell this bookkeeper she can't leave? You know, we've been working very hard at this. I had three off right now, one with mono, two on surgery leave, besides the seven I'm short, besides regular sickness, vacations, personal days, and you want me to work more. Evidently you haven't seen the work that's been going on over there.

Mr. West, What would you do if there wasn't a perpetuation fund? What would you do?

Ms. Brewer, I would be up here asking for funds, just like I'm doing now.

Mr. West, And there was no funds to give you. What would you do?

Ms. Brewer, I'd cut services.

Mr. West, How would you manage your office?

Ms. Brewer, Exactly like I'm going to do.

Mr. West, You have an office with so many people to run, how would you manage it?

Ms. Brewer, I'd cut more services, which is what I'm going to have to do. I have no choice, Mr. West. You don't understand the court system.

Mr. West, You don't have any priorities in your office?

Ms. Brewer, And I…

Mr. West, Everything is top priority?

Ms. Brewer, My priority right now is criminal. You don't understand, my office is governed by the law.

Mr. West, You've told me that 50 times in that last year.

Ms. Brewer, Evidently it's not sinking in. Then…

Mr. West, Well, you can't just go out. You've got to learn how to manage your money.

Ms. Brewer, Let me bring you one other thing that I have. I have a system that wasn't approved before it was bought. A system I didn't buy. If I have to go back to doing things by hand and not using this system I'll need more people to be in compliance with the law. Then I also found a box of old satisfactions from the year 1999 that were never done by the previous clerk. I've got to clean up that work. Now that affects people when they go to try to buy homes. Do you want to just keep that sitting there for another four years?

Mr. West, What did I say? I want you to do your job.

Ms. Brewer, Well then you've got to give me the tools…

Mr. West, With what you've got.
Ms. Brewer, And give…

Mr. West, With what you've got.

Ms. Brewer, To be able to do my job.

Mr. West, Do your job…

Ms. Brewer, Just like you do everybody else.

Mr. West, With what you've got. You better figure out some way to do it.

Ms. Brewer, I am.

Ms. Stroud, Could I ask you a question?

Ms. Brewer, I'm going to cut services.

Ms. Stroud, Could I ask you a question, Dale?

Ms. Brewer, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, If this money isn't appropriated for these purposes, what happens to the money that's in the perpetuation fund?

Ms. Brewer, It just sits there.

Ms. Stroud, Just sits there.

Mr. West, Give it to the general fund.

Ms. Stroud, You can't.

Mr. West, I'd put it in the general fund.

Ms. Brewer, I'm not giving you another dime. In fact, the years ago when the clerk gave you old IV-D money was probably illegal, which was $256,000, that by rights I should be going after and you'll have to pay me back.

Mr. West, You mean when he gave that money…

Ms. Brewer, To the general fund.

Mr. West, Eight years ago…

Ms. Brewer, That was federal funds that he would…

Mr. West, Was illegal?

Ms. Brewer, Yes, and I haven't made an issue of that, but I could, and I can use that money any way I want, Mr. West. If you think I'm up here because I like it, believe me, you're wrong.

Ms. Stroud, Well, at this…

Mr. Ruge, With this…

Ms. Stroud, Go ahead.

Mr. Ruge, With this additional appropriation, is necessary because those four vacancies were not filled?

Ms. Brewer, That's part of it, yes, John.

Mr. Ruge, There's just so much work you have to put out to run the office. I would be in favor of this.

Ms. Brewer, Would you consider my transfer?

Ms. Stroud, Is there any more discussion on this?

Mr. Carmichael moved to reconsider the request submitted by Clerk Perpetuation. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried on the following vote:

Conover-YesRuge-Yes
Carmichael-YesStroud-Yes
West-NoKnoblock-Yes

Ms. Stroud, Okay, you have a motion to reconsider it. Now we need a motion to approve it. The Form 144 and the additionals that would all come from the perpetuation fund, which is 199.01. I need a motion.

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the 144 Form to $9 and grant the Additional Appropriation requests submitted by Clerk Perpetuation, the amounts of $3,400, $260.10, $20,000 and $1,530. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried on the following vote:

Ruge-YesWest-No
Carmichael-YesConover-Yes
Stroud-YesKnoblock-Yes

CLERK 01.01
Transfer

$700 from account 3610 Maintenance Agreements into account 3710 Equipment Rental
$921.87 from account 3610 Maintenance Agreements into account 4510 Data Processing Equipment

Ms. Stroud, You are asking to transfer, this is Fund 01.01, $700 from account 3610 Maintenance Agreements to account 3710 Equipment Rental. Correct?

Ms. Brewer, Correct, it's a copy machine.

Ms. Stroud, I'm sorry, another one to transfer $921.87 from account 3610 to account 4510.

Ms. Brewer, And that is 66% reimbursable from ISETS to cover the printing connections on the printers, the go was given by Data Processing.

Ms. Stroud, Okay.

Ms. Brewer, And 66% of that will come back to the County.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, so that's good news.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Clerk, the amounts of $700 and $921.87. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Brewer, Thank you.

Dale Brewer To Address The Council Concerning The Hiring Freeze

Ms. Stroud, Now, did you want to say anything else about the hiring freeze at this point in time?

Ms. Brewer, At least give me a bookkeeper.

Ms. Stroud, Pardon?

Ms. Brewer, At least give me a bookkeeper. One out of four, or one out of seven I should say.
Ms. Stroud, You need a bookkeeper at this point in time.

Ms. Brewer, I've got to have a bookkeeper. I've only got one.

Ms. Stroud, Is that person always in Portage or is it here in Valpo?

Ms. Brewer, Here at the main courthouse, and they handle all the offices. Every transaction--money wise--that comes through the courts goes through bookkeeping.

Ms. Stroud, So you would have to put in then, they'll have to…

Ms. Brewer, I have the appropriation…

Ms. Stroud, She wants us to consider the hiring freeze because…

Ms. Brewer, It's there.

Ms. Stroud, She would like to have a bookkeeper. We don't have a request in, she's just talking about it.

Mr. Carmichael, I don't have any problem with the four that the judge has indicated that was necessary to run that office. We've shorted her seven, and I think we could put the four back. Give her a chance to do her job.

Ms. Stroud, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, And I think it would be best if all councilmen would go up to her office and spend a little time with her to find out just what she does. You might get your running shoes on at the same time, because I know those people work up there.

Ms. Stroud, I think some of us have done that and we know the amount of work that goes in, the things that go through that office.

Mr. Carmichael, That's right.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, so are you making that in the form of a motion that we go ahead and hire the four.

Mr. Carmichael, That's correct.

Ms. Stroud, To take the freeze off the four.

Mr. Carmichael, Hire the four that she's short.

Ms. Stroud, And one of them could be a bookkeeper then, correct?

Mrs. Knoblock, That's not on the agenda though.

Mr. Carmichael, Well we'll put it on the agenda.

Mrs. Knoblock, Well I think it should be on the agenda before we react on something.

Ms. Stroud, Karen, do you have anything to say?

Mrs. Conover, No, we visited at length with Judge Bradford and Dale last week. I've been one who's been through her Portage office, and I understand the seriousness of the situation. She willfully gave up three employees, she's lost seven through our hiring freeze, and when you cover illness and vacations and surgeries and things that come up, she's very short-handed. I've had conversations with a couple of judges, and it is a crisis situation within our court system.

Mrs. Knoblock, Well then we need to call another meeting before the first of the year.

Ms. Stroud, Well we can do that. There's nothing in the law that says we can't. We're all in office until the end of the year, the 31st of December. What's the will of the Council?
Mr. Carmichael, Dave, does this, to lift the hiring freeze; does it have to be an agenda item?

Mr. Hollenbeck, Probably not legally. The best thing to probably do though would be to determine whether you have a majority of the body who is willing to take the action in the form of somebody making a motion. You can always amend your agenda, as we always do, amend and subtract from your agenda.

Mr. Carmichael, We would need a motion to hear the request?

Mr. Hollenbeck, A motion would be appropriate to hear the request, and if the majority is willing to do that then certainly a body by a majority vote can amend this agenda.

Mr. Carmichael moved to amend the agenda to hear the Clerk's request to lift the hiring freeze. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, it's amended.

Mr. Carmichael moved to lift the hiring freeze and allow the Clerk to replace four employees. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried on the following vote:

Stroud-YesWest-No
Knoblock-NoConover-Yes
Ruge-YesCarmichael-Yes

Mr. Carmichael, Motion carries, it needs four votes.

Ms. Stroud, Yes, four votes, motion carries.

Ms. Brewer, Thank you.

Judge Bradford, Thank you.

ANIMAL SHELTER 01.45
Transfer

$1,000 from account 1110 Salaries into account 1120 Hourly

At this point, Mrs. Conover left the meeting.

Ms. Stroud, Good evening, Sandy.

Sandy Ogle, Hi.

Ms. Stroud, You want to transfer in Fund 01.45, $1,000 from account 1110 Full-time to account 1120 Part-time. Is that correct?

Ms. Ogle, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, This is just a transfer, so I need a motion to approve.

Mr. Ruge moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Animal Shelter, the amount of $1,000. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Have a nice holiday.

Ms. Ogle, Thank you.

WEIGHTS & MEASURES 01.28
Transfer

$500 from account 3210 Travel into account 2320 Auto, Truck & Equipment

Ms. Stroud, Mr. Claussen, Weights & Measures. Good evening, how are you?

Richard Claussen, Good evening.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, from Fund 01.28, the amount of $500 from account 3210 Local Travel to account 2320 Auto, Truck & Equipment Supplies. This is for your sealing supplies.

Mr. Claussen, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Your little stickers.

Mr. Claussen, Security seals for securing the devices.

Ms. Stroud, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Weights & Measures, the amount of $500. Mr. Ruge seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Have a nice holiday.

Mr. Claussen, Thank you.

GENERAL COURTS 01.78
Transfer

$60 from account 1120 Hourly into account 3130 Training & Education

Ms. Stroud, General Courts, transfer. Good evening, Judge Bradford.

Judge Bradford, Good evening again.

Ms. Stroud, How are you? Hearing that long sigh, I guess that's not too good here.

Judge Bradford, No.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, Fund 01.78, the amount of $60 from account 1120 Hourly to account 3130 Training & Education. It's a transfer of $60; that's a small transfer here.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by General Courts, the amount of $60. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Carmichael, Thank you, Roger.

Ms. Stroud, Yes, thank you. Have a nice holiday.

Judge Bradford, You too.

SUPERIOR COURT 4 - KENNEDY 01.37
Transfer

$1,000 from account 1110 Salaries into account 1310 Legal Services
$40 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 2120 Office Fixtures under $100

At this point, Mrs. Conover rejoined the meeting.

Ms. Stroud, Superior Court #4, Judge Kennedy.

Judge Mary Harper, I don't have the curly hair.

Ms. Stroud, I was going to say, Judge Kennedy, you sure changed.

Judge Harper, And put on a little weight too. I've been asked to stand in for him if that's okay with you.

Ms. Stroud, No, that's fine.

Mr. West, That's fine with me.

Ms. Stroud, You can tell him you're better looking here.

Judge Harper, Well I don't know about that.

Ms. Stroud, Well I don't know. You have to get your hair curled there. Okay, he wants to transfer $1,000 from Salaries to Legal, and $40 from Office Supplies to Office Fixtures. The $1,000 is account 1110 to account 1310, and the $40 goes from account 2110 to account 2120. Correct?

Judge Harper, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Superior Court 4, the amounts of $1,000 and $40. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

SUPERIOR COURT 6 - THODE 01.39
Transfer

$75 from account 3130 Training & Education into account 3110 Legal

Ms. Stroud, Okay, the next one is Superior Court 6.

Judge Harper, I'm Jeff too.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, you're Mr. Thode. I thought I saw him earlier. I don't know; I haven't looked up that much.

Judge Harper, No, I think when he heard that one discussion, he like split.

Ms. Stroud, I get engrossed and don't peruse the audience, let's put it that way.

Judge Harper, But I told him to go spend the night with his family, that I could do the $75 thing; I hope I don't screw it up.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, let me just, I started to flip pages here so I have to make sure I'm on the right page. Superior Court 6, which is Judge Thode's, he wanted to transfer $75 from account 3130 to 3110. Motion to approve?

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Superior Court 6, the amount of $75. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Judge Harper, Thank you.

Ms. Stroud, You're quite welcome. Have a nice holiday.

Judge Harper, You'll see me again.

Ms. Stroud, Oh, I'll see you again tonight.

Judge Harper, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Okay.

JUVENILE DETENTION 01.80
Transfer

$150 from account 1120 Hourly into account 2120 Office Fixtures under $100
$1,500 from account 1120 Hourly into account 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles
$6,000 from account 1120 Hourly into account 4510 Data Processing Equipment
$800 from account 1120 Hourly into account 4440 Furniture & Fixtures over $100
$1,250 from account 1120 Hourly into account 3930 Dues & Subscriptions
$200 from account 1120 Hourly into account 3220 Telephone

Ms. Stroud, Juvenile Detention, transfer. Good evening.
Ken Perkins, Good evening.

Ms. Stroud, I think we can do this all in one since it is all transfers. Ken wants to transfer in Fund 01.80, the amount of $150 from line item 1120 Hourly to 2120 Office Fixtures under $100. Then in Fund 01.80, $1,500 from line item 1120 Hourly to 3630 Equipment Repair. Then in Fund 01.80, $6,000 from account 1120 to account 4510. The amount of $800 from line item 1120 to 4440. The amount of $1,250 from 1120 to 3930, and the amount of $200 from account 1120 to account 3220. Is that correct? Did I get them all in there so we're not missing any?

Mr. Perkins, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Juvenile Detention, the amounts of $150, $1,500, $6,000, $800, $1,250 and $200. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Perkins, Thank you very much.

Ms. Stroud, Thank you. Have a nice holiday.

Mr. Perkins, You too.

ASSESSOR 01.09
Transfer

$1,400 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 1110 Salaries

Ms. Stroud, Assessor's office. Miss Shirley as I call her. Okay, let's see, from account 01.09, you want to transfer the amount of $1,400 from line item 2110 to 1110. Is that correct?

Shirley LaFever, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, I need a motion to approve.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Assessor, the amount of $1,400. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

ASSESSOR REASSESSMENT 108.09
Transfer

$1,917 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 1110 Salaries

Ms. Stroud, From the reassessment, which is, Fund 109.09, is that correct? On here it's 109, on this paper here it's 108. What is your reassessment fund?

Ms. LaFever, It's 108.

Ms. Stroud, Well then it's just on the agenda. Just so we've got the right one. Okay, this is from the reassessment fund, 108.09, the amount of $1,917 from line item 2110 to line item 1110. We need a motion to approve.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Assessor Reassessment, the amount of $1,917. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Have a nice holiday.

Mrs. LaFever, Thank you, you too.

Mr. Carmichael, Thank you, Shirley.

JACKSON TOWNSHIP 01.52
Transfer

$50 from account 3130 Training & Education into account 3330 Photo & Blueprint
$30 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 3330 Photo & Blueprint
Ms. Stroud, Okay, Jackson Township is transferring. Oh my goodness.

Mr. Carmichael, Are you limping?

Jan Meyers, No.

Mr. Carmichael, Just stiff from sitting so long.

Ms. Stroud, Well I'm trying to move it along here. Okay, Jackson Township, Fund 01.52, the amount of $50 from account 01.52, line item 3130 to 3330. Then the amount of $30 from line item 2110 to 3330. Okay, is that correct, Jan?

Mrs. Meyers, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, motion to approve.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Jackson Township, the amounts of $50 and $30. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Have a nice holiday.

Mrs. Meyers, To our departing council members, thank you for your time and service.

Ms. Stroud, Thank you.

UNION TOWNSHIP 01.58
Transfer

$90 from account 3340 Advertising into account 3930 Dues & Subscriptions

Ms. Stroud, Union Township. Good evening. Okay, you want to transfer $90.

Teresa Linzy, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, This is 01.58 Fund, from line item 3340 to line item 3930. Is that correct?

Ms. Linzy, Yes, ma'am.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, I need a motion to approve.

Mrs. Knoblock moved to grant the request for transfer of fund submitted by Union Township, the amount of $90. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Have a nice holiday.

At this time, there was a five-minute break.

BUILDING DEPARTMENT 01.29
Transfer

$500 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 1110 Salaries
$300 from account 2120 Office Fixtures under $100 into account 1110 Salaries
$700 from account 2430 Law Books into account 1110 Salaries
$500 from account 2250 Other Supplies into account 1110 Salaries
$1,000 from account 3130 Training & Education into account 1110 Salaries
$100 from account 3330 Photo & Blueprint into account 1110 Salaries
$286 from account 3930 Dues & Subscriptions into account 1110 Salaries
$350 from account 4440 Furniture & Fixtures over $100 into account 1110 Salaries
$291.01 from account 1120 Hourly into account 1110 Salaries

Ms. Stroud, We can restart our meeting. The Building Department. Good evening.

Ray Weltz, Good evening.

Ms. Stroud, I see you want to do a lot of transferring here before the end of the year.

Mr. Weltz, Yes, ma'am.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, I think we can do these all at once. It's going to be a lot reading in one swift swoop here, but I think we can do it. This is Fund 01.29, the amount of $500 from account 2110 to account 1110. The amount of $300 from line item 2120 to account 1110. The amount of $700 from 2430 to account 1110. The amount of $500 from 2250 to 1110. $1,000 from 3130 to 1110. $100 from 3330 to 1110. $286 from 3930 to account 1110. The amount of $350 from line item 4440 to account 1110, and the amount of $291.01 from account 1120 to account 1110, which is Salaries. If you take notice they were all to go to line 1110, and this is to make up a difference you need as far as in Salaries from an employee that you let go when we made the 10% cuts. This is for January and February of this year.

Mr. Weltz, Right.

Ms. Stroud, So this is all a transfer. Does anyone have any questions?

Mr. Carmichael, Did you read all of them?

Ms. Stroud, Yes.

Mr. West moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Building Department, the amounts of $500, $1,000, $100, $286, $350 and $291.01. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Have a nice holiday.

Mr. Weltz, You too. Thank you.

COMMISSIONERS 01.30
Transfer

$50 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 3410 Official Bonds
$16 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 3973 Change of Venue
$120 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles
$2,400 from account 3979 Veterans Burial into account 3964 Toxicology Lab
$500 from account 2430 Law Books into account 3964 Toxicology Lab
$1,800 from account 3320 Legal Notices into account 3964 Toxicology Lab
$5,000 from account 1110 Salaries into account 1120 Hourly
$1,000 from account 3160 Vet Services into account 3964 Toxicology Lab
$3,000 from account 2350 Building Maintenance into account 3964 Toxicology Lab
$1,000 from account 2330 Household & Bedding into account 3964 Toxicology Lab
$10,000 from account 3440 Unemployment into account 3510 Power
$4,000 from account 3520 Water & Sewage into account 3230 Postage
$6,000 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 3230 Postage
$1,000 from account 3320 Legal Notices into account 3230 Postage
$2,010.10 from account 3110 Legal into account 3230 Postage
$70 from account 2410 Medical & Dental into account 3230 Postage

Ms. Stroud, The Commissioners. Here they come, two, in tandem.

Com. Dave Burrus, You got it. We got a pair here.

Ms. Stroud, You have a pair, huh.

Com. John Evans, That's right, we were three earlier today.

Ms. Stroud, I heard, well good, I'm glad to hear that.

Com. Burrus, Yes, very good. What we have, Barb, is also a number of transfers. I can give you the totals into the accounts, but I assume you want to read them individually, so.

Ms. Stroud, Yes, I have to do that. This is all transfers so I think we can handle this all in one. I just have to read them all at one time, so if you will follow, and make sure that I cover everything. Does anybody have any objections to that? The amounts are not big amounts of money. Some are $16 and so on. Well, a couple of them are a little higher, but.Okay, here we go. This is Fund 01.30, $50 from account 2110 to account 3410. The amount of $16 from account 2110 to account 3973. The amount of $120 from account 2110 to account 3630. The amount of $2,400 from account 3970.

Com. Burrus, Excuse me, 3979, I believe.

Ms. Stroud, Yes, I'm sorry. 3979 to 3964. Okay? My eyes went down to the next one, which has the 30. Okay, $500 from 2430 to 3964. The amount of $1,800 from 3320 to account 3964. The amount of $5,000 from 1110 to 1120. The amount of $1,000 from line item 3160 to account 3964. The amount of $3,000 from line item 2350 to 3964. I'm going to have stop just a second here, because there's something that's handwritten in. Jan?

Ms. Balcerak, It's $1,000 from account 2330.

Ms. Stroud, Okay. The amount of $1,000 from 2330 to account 3964. $10,000 from 3440 Unemployment to 3510 Power. The amount of $4,000 from 3520 Water & Sewage to 3230 Postage. The amount of $6,000 from account 2110 to account 3230. Is that correct?

Com. Burrus, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, We have one more page here, sorry. The amount of $1,000 from 3320 to 3230. The amount of $210.10 from line item 3110 to account 3230, and the amount of $70 from 2410 to account 3230. Okay, does anybody have any questions before I call for the vote? These are all transfers with the fund. Okay, I need a motion to approve this.

Mr. West moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Commissioners, the amounts of $50, $16, $120, $2,400, $500, $1,800, $5,000, $1,000, $3,000, $1,000, $10,000, $4,000, $6,000, $1,000, $2010.10 and $70. Mrs. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Have a nice holiday. I'm sure I'll see you people before then, but.

Ms. Balcerak, Com. Burrus, Linda had asked, earlier she had called when Barb was down in Florida, if you guys could have the authority to have in series transfers. Do you guys want to talk to them about that? To have transfers without coming before them.

Com. Burrus, Not at this time.

Com. Evans, We're set for now.

Ms. Stroud, They are set for now.

Com. Evans, Until the end of the year.

Ms. Balcerak, Oh, you guys are. Okay, because she said she wasn't sure about it.

Com. Burrus, We're fine, thank you.

AUDITOR 01.20
Additional Appropriation

$19,885.38 into account 3950 Contractual Services

Transfer

$750 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 4410 Office Fixtures over $100
$109.95 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 4410 Office Fixtures over $100

Ms. Stroud, Okay, next is the Auditor. Here she comes, wearing her two hats or three hats tonight. Ms. Auditor, let me just flip the page. The Auditor is asking for an additional appropriation of $19,885.38 to Contractual Services. This is to pay SRI for tax sale costs; money already collected and will be distributed to the county general fund at the December settlement. So the money has been collected; the money is there. Is that what you need to do?
Mrs. Dziabo, That's correct. We just have to get it into a line item in order to pay the bill.

Ms. Stroud, Okay. So they want to do the additional of $19,885.38 to account 3950.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by the Auditor, the amount of $19,885.38. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, she's got one other thing on the next page. She wants to transfer $750 from account 2110 to account 4410, and $109.95 from account 2110 to account 4410. Is that correct?

Mrs. Dziabo, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, we need a motion to approve the transfer.

Mrs. Conover moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Auditor, the amounts of $750 and $109.95. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Mrs. Dziabo, Thank you.

Ms. Stroud, You're welcome.

JUVENILE PROBATION USER FEES 47.79
Transfer

$2,700 from account 3130 Training & Education into account 1120 Hourly
$565 from account 3130 Training & Education into account 1210 FICA

Ms. Stroud, Juvenile Probation. Good evening.

Amy Beier, Good evening.

Ms. Stroud, This is the user fees, this is not general fund money. Oh, we have a whole group of you here.

Judge Harper, We're closing in on you.

Ms. Stroud, You sure are. Okay, you need to transfer in Fund 47.79, $2,700 from Training & Education to Hourly. You want to transfer to line 1120, which is part-time personal services, and then you want to transfer $565 from line 3130 to line 1210. Is that correct?

Ms. Beier, That's correct.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, I need a motion to approve.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Juvenile Probation User Fees, the amounts of $2,700 and $565. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Amy Beier to Address the Council Concerning the Hiring Freeze

Ms. Stroud, Okay, on the second request, you would like to address the Council concerning the hiring freeze. Is that correct?

Ms. Beier, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Okay.

Ms. Beier, In September of 2001, I had a resignation of a probation officer. That position has remained open, and the monies are appropriated. We have tried to hold out as long as possible without coming before you, and ask to fill that. However, we do feel we're in a position right now where we need to fill it. We've tried to stretch it out as long as possible. We were exempted from the hiring freeze, so if that's still okay with the Council, then we respectfully request to fill that at this time.

Ms. Stroud, Did we give you permission to fill it before or did we just put it on hold or do you remember?

Ms. Beier, The way I understood it was, we had permission to fill it, and we just had an informal agreement.

Mr. Carmichael, No, there was a motion.

Ms. Stroud, You just left it open at the time.

Ms. Beier, Right.

Mr. Carmichael, There was a motion earlier to exempt her from the hiring freeze.

Ms. Stroud, Right. I just wanted her to tell everybody sitting out there this was brought before us before. Okay, so what you are requesting now is to fill this position.

Ms. Beier, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, We need a motion.

Mr. Carmichael moved to allow Juvenile Probation to fill the open probation officer position in January 2003. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Beier, Thank you.

Ms. Stroud, Thank you.

Judge Harper to Address the Council Concerning the Family Court Staff

Judge Harper, Barb.

Ms. Stroud, Yes.

Judge Harper, I swapping emails with Jan yesterday, and she suggested that you recommended that we talk to you now about the Family Court position.

Ms. Stroud, Yes.

Judge Harper, Which gets into the discussion of the courts and the hiring freeze. We have a position with the family court--and I believe you have the numbers that I mailed over to Jan--we have been using two part-timers to work the position. We would like to go to one full-timer to do that. All of the monies for that position are, none of them are general fund. Some $6,000 comes from the Supreme Court. The Court Improvement grant money from Indianapolis is approximately $22,000, and we have a Formula Block Grant for approximately $6,000. So we do have the need, we need the service, and we've gone out and scrapped the money together. But again, it gets to, this is a court position, and what is the Council's position with regard to the hiring freeze in the courts, which is basically what Judge Jent is here for too--and somebody wanted to call in on that issue, but it's not me.

Ms. Beier, I apologize to the Council, I think that's my phone. I neglected to turn it off. I'm sorry.

Ms. Stroud, I was going to say I thought we had a policy that all phones were to be off. We went through this before.

Ms. Beier, Yes you did, and I apologize.

Ms. Stroud, The coat is gone. It just walked out of here. I'm sorry, Judge, for the interruption here. I do have in front of me the information--and all of us do--that you sent as far as the funding source, which would come from other sources than the general fund like you said. So you want to replace your part-time with one full-time person?

Judge Harper, Two-part-timers with one full-time.

Ms. Stroud, That's what I meant.

Judge Harper, A highly-experienced case manager, a former OFC employee, has been one of our part-timers for the last couple of years.

Ms. Stroud, That was my next question. Do you have somebody that you can put in this position full-time?

Judge Harper, Oh yes.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, what are the wishes of the Council at this point in time?

Mr. Carmichael, What sort of a motion do you need?

Ms. Stroud, Well I think, it says she's addressing us, and she's got the information here.

Judge Harper, I guess it's, you know, what's your pleasure before. I've come before on these types of things, and just said, you know I want to do this, they're not going to be getting county health benefits. It's that kind of thing, it's written into his position. Is this okay for us to do this, and before you've always said yes.

Ms. Stroud, That kind of puts us on the line, doesn't it.

Mr. Carmichael moved to allow Family Court to replace two part-time case manager positions with one full-time case manager. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried.

Judge Jent to Address the Council Concerning the Hiring Freeze

Ms. Stroud, Superior Court 3, Judge Jent.

Judge Jent, What I would like to do is, I came before you and took one of my full-time positions, and made it part-time. You told me at the time that I could come back if I felt the need to put it back into a full-time position. You know all those extras clerks that the Clerk needed for all that extra work, well, guess where it goes, to us. You know, we are, I am in need of a full-time position.

Ms. Stroud, So you are requesting the secretary position be reinstated.

Judge Jent, Be returned to full-time.

Ms. Stroud, Reinstate it back to full-time.

Judge Jent, Right.

Mr. Carmichael, How many employees do you have now?

Judge Jent, It's the same number of employees. I have four.

Mr. Carmichael, Four?

Judge Jent, Yes, it's the secretarial position we put into a part-time slot. We tried it for a year, and it's getting to the point where I need her full-time.

Mr. Carmichael, What do the other courts have? Does anyone know?

Judge Jent, DO 4, Judge Kennedy's court has the same number. She's got hundreds.

Judge Harper, No I don't, court staff I don't.

Judge Jent, No, court staff.

Mr. Carmichael, I'm talking about the Superior Courts.

Judge Jent, Yes, she's the Circuit Court.

Ms. Stroud, Maybe the question is, do each one of them have a full-time secretary in each of the courts?

Judge Jent, DO 4 and I do. Most of them do. I believe just one does not have that position.

Judge Harper, On the county divisions, DO 6 does not. But they also handle separate kinds of work. I guess the question is, your policy with regard to the hiring freeze, if the money is appropriated to the court to be utilized for staffing, can the courts use that for staffing? I mean, that's the bottom line.

Judge Jent, Right.

Judge Harper, Your money is appropriated, so does the hiring freeze apply to the courts is our question?

Ms. Stroud, Well I think at the time we asked that it apply to the courts to see how we could operate, especially when we requested the 10% cuts be made and so on. The judges were, I don't want to say gracious, but went along with it trying to operate as much as they could.

Judge Harper, The cuts were made without changing these positions and these appropriations for these positions.

Ms. Stroud, Right.

Mr. West, I remember when she came in. She was helping us with our cuts, and she made one slot part-time, not saying that she would never need it full-time again.

Ms. Stroud, Well that's what I'm saying. They went along to try and operate with a part-time person.
Judge Jent, Right.

Judge Harper, And this rule applies as well to Superior Court 4.

Judge Jent, Right.

Ms. Stroud, They will be in too.

Judge Harper, Well, that's the question. You know, can it get resolved now? Does the hiring freeze apply?

Mr. West, Why can't we do that now?

Ms. Stroud, Which one is 4?

Mr. West, Kennedy's court, right.

Ms. Riley, Judge Kennedy.

Judge Jent, I mean, the slot is there, the monies, especially in DO 4, that's there, if the position needs to be filled, do we? That's what the question is now.

Judge Harper, This is effective, what, the beginning of the year?

Judge Jent, The first of the year, January, yes.

Mr. West, His girl quit. His girl took a better job.

Ms. Stroud, I wonder why.

Judge Jent, When there's no raise in how many years it's difficult.

Ms. Stroud, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, Does the Auditor's office have sufficient money for this? Is it in the budget?
Ms. Riley, Right now, when you changed it from the full-time position to the part-time position, you did not utilize the whole $21,500. You only put $17,000, and the rest of it went back, per se, to the county general. So if you change that back to a full-time position, you are actually going to be using the difference between the $17,000 and $21,500 in additional funds.

Ms. Stroud, It would be $4,500, and they want it times two, so you are talking about $9,000 difference.

Judge Jent, No, no.

Ms. Riley, Actually in Superior…

Ms. Stroud, Oh, just one.

Judge Jent, It's just in DO 3.

Ms. Riley, Yes.

Judge Jent, DO 4 has the original amount already slotted for it.

Ms. Riley, Right.

Judge Jent, Yes, that's already there.

Ms. Riley, Court #4, everything is all there. They lost a person probably in mid-year, and they've never filled the position.

Mr. Carmichael, So you are saying the funds are there.

Ms. Riley, The funds are there for him, but for her there's going to have to be additional monies appropriated to cover to make it full-time again.

Com. Evans, Plus benefits.

Ms. Stroud, I'm well aware of that, plus the benefits, thank you. What's your wishes?

Mr. Ruge, Is it fully funded there?

Ms. Stroud, No.

Mr. Carmichael, No.

Ms. Stroud, It is not.

Mr. Ruge, I mean including the $4,000.

Mr. Carmichael, No, there's not enough money there right now, John. There would have to be an additional appropriation.

Judge Harper, Next year on that one.

Mrs. Knoblock, I would say come back next year, see where we are.

Judge Jent, I understand what you are saying. But when I made this cut we discussed it then, and that, you know, we were going to try and save some money and see how it works. We did bend over backwards and cut our budget to the bare bones. Okay. Then again, and you heard from the Clerk, you know, our load increases, it is not decreasing, and this is why I am back now, because I need this position full-time or somebody is going to suffer somewhere along the line. We need to get this position filled.

Judge Harper, We need to know if we lose somebody, can we replace them.

Judge Jent, Right.

Judge Harper, We're a busy, active court system. We do everything that we can to bring in additional revenue to cover our expenses, and I think you can see that. For example, for what we do in community corrections, the money that we save the county there. For what we do in the family court, you know, the money that we save the county there and the service that we really do provide people, we do everything we can to find money somewhere else to take care of the obligations so that we can serve the public. We are a minimally staffed court system, you know. Don't kid yourself. Go to another county. Walk around their courthouses, you bump into people. Okay. We are a minimally staffed court system. If we lose somebody we need to know if we can replace them.

Mr. West, I'll make a motion.

Mr. Ruge, Are you getting money from the state?

Judge Harper, For the family court we are, John.

Mr. West moved to reinstate the part-time position to full-time in Superior Court 3. Mrs. Conover seconded.

Mrs. Knoblock, What's the motion?

Mr. West, To approve.

Mrs. Knoblock, To approve what, that they can hire?

Mr. Carmichael, What are they going to do for funds though?

Mr. West, Judge Jent needs $4,000.

Mrs. Knoblock, She said that if she loses some they can…

Judge Jent, Well there's two things before us right now. Okay. One is to put my part-time back into a full-time position. The other one is, when we need to replace someone…

Mrs. Conover, Does the hiring freeze apply to the courts?

Mrs. Knoblock, Right.

Mr. Carmichael, You'll need an additional appropriation advertised.

Judge Harper, How about this? Here's a thought, just talking to Judge Jent, because she needs her position. Okay. We can probably hold off staffing it until the beginning of March or April, which would take care of that $4,000. How about that?

Mr. Carmichael, I thought you were talking about this month.

Judge Harper, No, no.

Judge Jent, The replacement I probably will need in January, but I think if I could have someone come in and say look, you're going to be part-time until April, I can probably then replace someone. But you know, we don't have the greatest pay scale, so to get someone to come in on a part-time is even difficult. But if I could have someone come in part-time and say that at the end of the first quarter we can move them into a full-time position, I think we can do that. So, you know, if I can have that, and then also let us know if we can replace people as they leave.

Mr. West, Then we can fill Judge Kennedy's January 1st.

Judge Jent, Right. The money is there for that.

Mr. West, Okay.

Ms. Stroud, Okay so, going to make the motion to…

Mr. West, Withdraw the motion.

Ms. Stroud, We still have a motion on the floor.

Mr. West, How are we going to make it?

Ms. Stroud, Well.

Mr. West, That Superior Court…

Judge Harper, That the hiring freeze doesn't apply to the courts.

Ms. Stroud, Right.

Mr. West moved to amend his motion and add that the courts be exempt from the hiring freeze. Mrs. Conover seconded.

Mrs. Knoblock, In other words, then if somebody quits…

Ms. Stroud, Then you can just hire them.

Mrs. Knoblock, Replace them.

Ms. Stroud, Right.

Mrs. Knoblock, I agree with that.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, so we have a motion on the floor.

Mrs. Conover, And I seconded it.

Ms. Stroud, That the hiring freeze be lifted, and Karen seconded it.

Mr. Carmichael, Discussion.

Ms. Stroud, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, You have to understand that in order to pay this individual, you'll need an additional appropriation, which will take us into next year.

Judge Jent, No.

Judge Harper, She will staff it so that it will not require any additional monies other than the $17,000 that you've appropriated.

Judge Jent, For the first quarter.

Mr. Carmichael, Well you're still $4,000 short. Is that right?

Ms. Stroud, She's not…

Mr. West, She's not going to fill it.

Ms. Stroud, She's not going to fill it until she gets pass where she would…

Mr. Carmichael, Pass the $4,000.

Ms. Stroud, The $4,000.

Judge Jent, Right.

Mr. Carmichael, I understand that.

Judge Jent, I would keep it part-time.

Ms. Stroud, She's going to keep it part-time.
Mr. Carmichael, That's fine, because we can't guarantee any additional appropriations from a new county council.

Judge Jent, Right.

Mr. Carmichael, Okay.

Mrs. Knoblock, We've talked about two different things here.

Ms. Stroud, Right.

Mrs. Knoblock, He has the motion for Mary.

Judge Jent, I guess we need to first address the first motion.

Ms. Stroud, Right.

Mrs. Conover, Okay, to address the first motion, did we not include the courts as part of the hiring freeze for their staff. Correct?

Ms. Stroud, Correct.

Mrs. Conover, They are not covered under the hiring freeze.

Mr. Carmichael, Right.

Mrs. Conover, Second, I think that you will have to come back to this board next year for the additional monies because you only have 17-some thousand dollars in your part-time. You're going to be paying someone out of your part-time until maybe through April, but you're going to need that slot filled with the salary, and you'll have to come back and address that.

Judge Jent, Before April.

Mrs. Conover, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, do we have it all caught up here? Alright, we've got a motion.

Mr. West, John's got something to say.

Ms. Stroud, Go ahead, John.

Mr. Ruge, Will the County be reimbursed by the state on this?

Judge Harper, This is a different one, John. This is not the family court one.

Mr. Carmichael, No, this is general fund money, John.

Judge Harper, But its money that has been appropriated.

Mr. Carmichael, It's already appropriated.

Judge Harper, DO 4 has it, and DO 3 is $4,000 short. She would like to withhold filling that position until she gets to the point where she can utilize money that's appropriated and available. Right?

Judge Jent, Right.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, I think we are going to need to do a roll call on this particular one. Don't we have to do a roll call on this one?

Mrs. Knoblock, Which one are we on?

Ms. Balcerak, I think it would be a good idea.

Ms. Stroud, Yes, I think it's a good idea myself. So that they would be able to hire.

Mrs. Knoblock, Okay.

Mrs. Dziabo, Is this on the hiring freeze?

Ms. Stroud, On the hiring.

Mrs. Knoblock, Hiring.

Clarification of Motion: To reinstate the part-time position to full-time in Superior Court 3, and exempt the courts from the hiring freeze.

Motion carried.

Judge Jent, I'll be back. Okay, just to make it clear. If someone leaves in January I can replace that person, that part-time person until I come back and request to make it full-time.

Ms. Stroud, Correct.

Judge Jent, Okay.

Judge Harper, Was there a second part to this?

Judge Jent, No, I think we rolled it together. Let's get out of here.

Ms. Stroud, I was beginning to think there was, but. You know.

Judge Harper, Thank you, we appreciate it.



Mr. Carmichael, Here comes the Sheriff and Chief Lain.

Mr. West, Are you going to adjourn the meeting?

Ms. Stroud, No, no, I picked it up to move some papers. I'm not swinging it at anybody.

Mrs. Conover, What happened to the Coroner?

Ms. Stroud, Wait a minute, you're not up yet. You are not on the agenda at this point in time.

Mr. West, Where's the Coroner.

Ms. Stroud, I have the Coroner, Porter Township, Porter Reassessment, then the Jail.

Mrs. Knoblock, You're anxious.

Mr. Carmichael, Well if they're here let's take them, Barbara.

Ms. Stroud, If you want to go ahead, go ahead.

Mr. West, Where are they at, I don't see all this other stuff.

Ms. Stroud, Well okay, let me just flip over here. See. Let me just do this a minute. Okay, Federal Housing, we'll take that first.

FEDERAL HOUSING 217
Additional Appropriation

$10,000 into account 1120 Overtime
$765 into account 1210 FICA
$450 into account 1230 PERF

Ms. Stroud, I don't know how long this will take here. I'll have to go back to the others. Okay, on the Federal Housing, Fund 217-032, the amount of $10,000 to account 1130 for Overtime. Account 217.032, the amount of $765 for account 1210 for FICA. And 217.032, the amount of $450, line item 1230, the account title is for PERF. This is all for the federal. This is the money for the prisoners.

Sheriff Dave Reynolds, Well this is for overtime for the jail, the jail staff.

Mr. Carmichael, Is this an additional appropriation, Barb?

Ms. Stroud, This is an additional appropriation, and it's from the federal funds.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Federal Housing, the amounts of $10,000, $765 and $450. Mr. West seconded.

Ms. Stroud, Questions?

Mrs. Knoblock, Have you ever transferred any money out of this account this year?

Sheriff Reynolds, Transferred out of it, no.

Mr. West, I'm sorry the other councilperson is not here; she's the one that demanded he be here.

Ms. Stroud, Well, she's not here and I can't help that. You know, I have to take care of myself. Are there any other questions on this? This is an additional, but just so people understand, this is not general fund money.

Mrs. Knoblock, This is money from…

Ms. Stroud, This is money from the federal prisoners.

Mrs. Knoblock, And you're paying overtime for?

Sheriff Reynolds, For the jail and staff. Right now, I owe $18,411 to my jail staff for overtime.

Mrs. Conover, This was postponed from last meeting, because Councilwoman Martin wanted to speak to the sheriff directly. In my opinion, we've been in violation of the law. They have worked the time. They were not paid for the time, and this was postponed another month. I urge us to appropriate this money because we're in violation of the law.

Mr. West, You have a motion and a second.

Ms. Stroud, Bill made the motion, and you seconded it. It is an additional appropriation so we do have to do a roll call on it.

Motion carried.

COUNTY CORRECTIONS 07.32
Additional Appropriation

$25,000 into account 2210 Gas, Fuel & Lubrication
$10,000 into account 2310 Tires & Tubes

Transfer

$758.48 from account 2230 Food & Groceries into account 1210 FICA
$388.25 from account 2230 Food & Groceries into account 1230 PERF

Ms. Stroud, This is Fund 7.32, County Corrections for the Jail. You need an additional in Fund 7.32, an additional amount of $25,000 to line item 2210 for Gas, Fuel & Lubrication. I think we can do these all at one time. I don't there's a problem with it. Fund 7.32, the amount of $10,000 to account 2310, Tires, Tubes, etc. Let me see here. For the Jail, a transfer, again, Fund 7.32, the amount of $758.48 from account 2230 Food & Groceries to 1210 FICA, and from Fund 7.32, the amount of $338.25 from account 2230 Food & Groceries to line item 1230 PERF. Is that correct?

Mrs. Dziabo, Excuse me, Barb. You've got additionals in there; you can't add the transfers in the additionals.

Ms. Stroud, Excuse me, I'm sorry. I looked at that. Let's do the additionals first. The $25,000 and $10,000. I'm sorry, I read the second one.

Mr. West moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by County Corrections, the amounts of $25,000 and $10,000.

Mrs. Knoblock, Okay, I've got to ask again. Have you transferred anything out of this account?

Sheriff Reynolds, This money is coming from my community corrections, we've done it for years.

Mr. Carmichael seconded.

Mrs. Knoblock, Okay, well the law says additional appropriations will not be considered from a line where monies were transferred, and that's the reason I was asking if anything has been transferred out of this. Like if you transfer out of this, and then ask for an additional to be put back into this, you can't do that.

Sheriff Reynolds, Oh no, we've never put money into it. That's money that we've just taken out. That's the money that we get from the state for community corrections.

Ms. Stroud, Okay this is for the additional. Since it's for an additional, I have a motion and a second; I need a roll call.

Motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Alright now, for the transfer, which were the last two numbers I read, again, this is Fund .32, the amount of $758.48 from line item 2230 to account 1210, and $388.25 from account 2230 to account 1230. Is that correct?

Sheriff Reynolds, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, I need a motion to transfer this.

Mrs. Conover moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by County Corrections, the amounts of $758.48 and $388.25. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried.

JAIL 01.32
Transfer

$2,000 from account 1110 Salaries into account 1120 Hourly
$7,500 from account 1110 Salaries into account 1130 Overtime

Ms. Stroud, Sheriff's jail. This is to transfer. This is 01.32, the amount of $2,000 from line item 1110 to line item 1120 to cover your part-time. That's the transfer. And we have another transfer of the amount of $7,500 from account 1110 to account 1130. One is for the Jail and one is for the Sheriff. Correct? And they are both transfers.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Jail, the amounts of $2,000 and $7,500. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

SHERIFF 01.05
Transfer

$5,000 from account 1110 Salaries into account 1130 Overtime
$5,000 from account 1110 Salaries into account 1130 Overtime

Ms. Stroud, The last one I have is from the Sheriff's Department. $5,000 from 1110 to 1130. Also to transfer another $5,000 from 1110 to 1130. Is that correct?

Sheriff Reynolds, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, I need a motion.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Sheriff's Department, the amounts of $5,000 and $5,000. Mr. Ruge seconded.

Mr. Carmichael, Question.

Ms. Stroud, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, Does this meet your obligation on the overtime funds? Is this part of it?

Sheriff Reynolds, It will get me up to today.

Mr. Carmichael, Up to date?

Sheriff Reynolds, Today, yes. Right now, I owe $10,100, and that'll be $10,000, so it won't get me through December, but it'll get me through next time I meet in front of the Council. I mean, next, next year my budget will come in and take care of that.

Mr. Carmichael, Thank you. Thank you, go ahead, Barb.

Ms. Stroud, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, You need the vote.

Ms. Stroud, All in favor of the transfer.

Motion carried.

Sheriff Reynolds, Thank you.

Ms. Stroud, We need to go back to the Coroner's Office.

CORONER 01.07
Transfer

$1,278 from account 3140 Medical & Hospital into account 3120 Consultants
$446 from account 3210 Travel into account 3120 Consultants
$250 from account 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles into account 3120 Consultants

Ms. Stroud, I have to go back and find it here. Hi, how are you?

Doris Amling, Good.

Ms. Stroud, The Coroner looks a little different tonight.

Ms. Amling, He put a wig on.

Ms. Stroud, You put a wig on tonight, huh. I see he wants to transfer from Fund 01.07 the amount of $1,278 from line item 3140 to account 3120, and he wants to transfer $446 from line item 3210 to 3120, and the amount of $250 from line item 3630 to account 3120. Is that correct?

Sheriff Reynolds, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, these are transfers so I need a motion.

Mrs. Conover moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the Coroner, the amounts of $1,278, $446 and $250. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Have a nice holiday.
PORTER TOWNSHIP 01.57
Transfer

$16.12 from account 2110 Office Supplies into account 3220 Telephone
$115 from account 3210 Travel into account 3220 Telephone
$35 from account 3930 Dues & Subscriptions into account 3220 Telephone

Ms. Stroud, Porter Township. Good evening.

Catherine Hall, Hello.

Ms. Stroud, I see you are making some transfers here. Fund 01, a transfer of $16.12 from line item 2110 to line item 3220 for Telephone. The transfer of $115 from account 3210 to line item 3220. And the amount of $35 from line item 3930 to account 3220. Is that correct?

Ms. Hall, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, I need a motion to approve.

Mr. Ruge moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Porter Township, the amounts of $16.12, $115 and $35. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

PORTER REASSESSMENT 108.57
Transfer

$600 from account 1240 Per Diem into account 1120 Hourly
$300 from account 3130 Training & Education into account 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles - amended to $150
$150 from account 3130 Training & Education into account 3210 Travel

Ms. Stroud, Okay, you want to transfer funds. Now this is from your reassessment fund, which is 108.57.

Ms. Hall, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, you want to transfer $600 from Per Diem to Hourly, which is account 1240 to 1120. You want to transfer $300 from account 3130 to account 3630. You want to transfer $150 from 3130 to account 3210. Is that correct?

Ms. Hall, I would like to change one.

Ms. Stroud, Which one?

Ms. Hall, The $300 from Training & Education to Repair & Maintenance, I want to change that to $150, because it wasn't as expensive as I had expected it to be.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, so you need $150 in there.

Ms. Hall, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Does the Auditor have that?

Mrs. Dziabo, Yes.

Ms. Stroud, Alright, since this is a transfer I need a motion to approve.

Mrs. Conover moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted and amended by Porter Reassessment, the amounts of $600, $150 and $150. Mrs. Knoblock seconded, motion carried.

Ms. Stroud, Thank you, Mrs. Hall.

Ms. Hall, Thank you.

ATTORNEY'S REPORT
Sheriff's Contract

Ms. Stroud, Next on the agenda is the attorney's report. Is that correct?

Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, Madam Chair. A number of matters, not necessarily in order of significance, but as they appear in my list of things to bring to your attention this evening.

Ms. Stroud, Okay.

Mr. Hollenbeck, First of all, as you know, for the last number of years we've entered into a compensation agreement with the county sheriff, whereby in lieu of having access to a number of these sources for his salary that the Indiana statute still allows, he relinquishes those sources and accepts a flat salary that we established as the county council. The sheriff has agreed to do that again for 2003. At this morning's meeting, the county commissioners approved the agreement, and I believe I provided each of you with a copy of it. I would present it for your consideration and the approval this evening. I will answer any questions you may have, but it would then be appropriate for the Chair to entertain a motion.

Ms. Stroud, Does anyone have any questions about the agreement?

Mr. Carmichael moved to accept the Sheriff's Compensation Agreement for 2003 as submitted. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Madam President, I've got these for you to sign then.

Confiscated/Abandoned Property

Mr. Hollenbeck, The second matter to bring to your attention that you are aware of, because I've communicated with you, and I'm sure you've read about it in the paper. That is, in cleaning out their evidence locker, the Indiana State Police came to Judge Webber and said that they had $376,455 in cash that had been confiscated as evidence as a result of a stop out on 80-94. They were asking for Judge Webber's instructions on how to distribute that money. Judge Webber entered an order the first part of last month to the effect that the money should be delivered by the State to Porter County for purposes of depositing it in the general fund for our use. The State in fact has now complied with that order, and they didn't deliver cash, but they went to the bank and got a check, and the Auditor's office picked up the check and $376,455 is now in our possession in the general fund.
As I've indicated to you in my correspondence, and candidly as Judge Webber's ordered alludes to, the whole issue of the ownership of this money is somewhat problematic. The usual criminal law confiscation rules are inapplicable because those rules, the applicability of those rules depends upon an arrest and indeed a conviction, normally in the context of a drug crime of some kind. Interesting enough in this case there was neither. There was never an arrest, let alone a conviction of any crime. This money was seized as a result of a stop on 80-94, and the involvement of drug sniffing dog, who pointed to the truck as a place that they police should look at. Based upon that, the police officers involved got a search warrant from Judge Webber, and opened the truck and found the cash.
There was never an arrest or anything. The money was confiscated as evidence of a crime, just like they would confiscate a knife or a gun or something. The interesting part of it is no one has ever come back and asked for the money. I suspect I know why, but at this point no one has requested the money. This happened in 1998, so it's four years ago. Because of the fact that the confiscation laws that contain a clear mechanism for the distribution of this money are inapplicable in this case, Judge Webber found basically that it was abandoned property in his order, and ordered it delivered to the county general fund.
As I've indicated in your correspondence I had some trepidation, legally, about who might even yet make a claim against the money. The fact that the State of Indiana has relinquished possession of the money is a pretty good indication that we won't hear from them. I would think if anybody at the state level felt they had a interest in the money they would have appealed Judge Webber's order and tried to resist the delivering of the money to the County. So I think we are pretty safe in assuming that that is not a viable alternative at this point with the money.
The only other contact we've had, and I've communicated this with you is from the Town of Porter, who indicates that it was their drug dog that was called to the scene, who sniffed out the money. I guess this is a money-sniffing dog, as opposed to a drug dog. They have an internal department policy that provides that when their dog is involved in the confiscation of something of value that they then are to make a request for, I believe it's up--I forget what I told you--30 or 40%.

Ms. Stroud, Yes, 40%.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, 40% of what was confiscated. So they have made a formal request for 40% of this money. I will tell you from a legal perspective--and I shared this with them--that's their departmental policy. It doesn't have any binding impact on law in terms of being dispositive as to how this money should be distributed. So we have a couple of more days to go. I think the order was the 7th of November. I recommend that we at least wait the 30-day period during which someone would have a right to appeal Judge Webber's order, but that date is here, when, toward the end of this week.

Ms. Stroud, Sunday, isn't it?

Mr. Hollenbeck, And if nobody makes a claim against it through an appeal of Judge Webber's order, then it seems to me that the decision is in your hands as the county council as to what should happen with that money, and we do have the request from the Town of Porter. As I've indicated, I do not believe that to be a legally binding requirement on you, but that is their policy, and they've made the request. If there's any additional comments or thoughts anybody has, I think the Auditor's office at this point is requesting that a minimum that we segregate that money and get it out of being used in the general fund for cash flow and other purposes until we resolve this. I'll answer any questions. I don't know that you need to take any action tonight.

Ms. Stroud, That's what I was going to ask you.

Mr. Hollenbeck, If you want to take some action that's fine. But if not, then at the January meeting of the new county council I'll be having this on their agenda, because we will have to respond to the Town of Porter one way or another.

Ms. Stroud, And I don't think, to what you alluded to, the time frame is not up, and I would assume that at this point in time it would be inappropriate for us to take any action on it. I mean that would be mine, but whatever the rest of the council feels.

Mrs. Conover, I would concur, we should wait out the 30 days.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Which effectively means the new county council will be making the decision.

Ms. Stroud, Right.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Alright.

Declaration of a Financial Emergency

Mr. Hollenbeck, The next thing is, as I've reported to you, on the 18th of this month in Indianapolis, the State Board of Finance approved the third installment of the Porter County bailout loan in the amount of 1.8 million dollars. I talked with Bob Lain from the State Budget Agency that day in Indianapolis, and I've talked to him since, and I have a growing concern that that third element of the bailout loan money may not be here by December 31st. Now it may well be, but I'm just getting some vibes from the bureaucrats in Indianapolis that the paper trail on this may be a little slow and with the holidays they have to get it to the Governor's office and to the Treasurer's office and to the Attorney General's office. In other words, they are not making any guarantees to me that it will be here by December 31st.
With that in mind, and the concern again about cash flow at the beginning of the new year, as you know, you authorized a new borrowing, an inter-fund borrowing from the bridge fund in an amount not to exceed 1.25 million dollars. We have in fact utilized how much of that?

Mrs. Dziabo, $730,000 for the county general and $20,000 for the Health Department.

Mr. Hollenbeck, So what, $750,000 of the 1.25 million has been effectively re-borrowed from the bridge fund. Under Indiana law, absent, and this probably will sound familiar because we had to do this last year, absent a finding by you of a financial emergency the law would require that to be paid back in its entirety by December 31st. With the fact that we don't know whether the bailout loan is going to arrive in time or not, it is my recommendation that you again declare such an emergency and give the auditor the latitude of not paying back the bridge fund on December 31st if the bailout money does not arrive and we simply don't have any cash to pay back the bridge fund.
The only way that can happen is by you authorizing a delay in that repayment. Since you are not going to meet again until January, I think the auditor needs the latitude to be able to do that or we're going to be out of cash again if the bailout doesn't come. So it is my recommendation that the Council this evening declare the same type of financial emergency that you declared last year at this time, and authorize the auditor on an as-needed basis to defer repayment of the bridge fund borrowing until the next calendar year. You can defer it up to June 30th is the last time you had to pay it back. I did discuss this with the commissioners this morning at their meeting, and they graciously acquiesced in our doing this. We are obviously cramping their ability to implement programming for the bridge fund by constantly borrowing this money.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, so we need a motion then to declare a financial emergency and postpone payment to the bridge fund until June 30th.

Mr. Hollenbeck, At the very latest. I think the motion should include some latitude by the auditor, if in fact the bailout money does come in December, then we may be able to pay back the bridge fund in a timely fashion. I think we need that additional ability or you are going to be called into a crisis session on December 30th and be told we don't have the ability to pay this loan back.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, we need a motion.

Mr. Ruge moved to declare a financial emergency and postpone payment to the bridge fund until June 30th, with the understanding that if the bailout money is received in December, the bridge fund would be paid back in a timely fashion. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, the auditor will function accordingly.

Tax Anticipation Warrants

Mr. Hollenbeck, As long as we are talking about cash flow problems, the next issue is the 2003 need for tax anticipation warrants. That's a function of two things. Number one, the fact that in the best of times you don't get paid until June 30th at the settlement, and in the worst of times it may not even be June 30th now. The assessing people have pretty much--and I don't think I'm letting out any secrets--confirmed to me and others that reasonable people would conclude that there will be a delay of at least a couple of months in the distribution of tax bills this coming year, unless there's some miracle or unless the state legislature does something during the early term. That being the case, your cash flow problems will be made even worse. Without getting money in June like you normally do even in a good year you'd have cash flow problems. Given what the cash flow statement shows, which again is a deteriorating condition during 2003, you are going to have to issue tax anticipation warrants again in January.
As you'll remember, we originally borrowed $5,000,000 on a tax anticipation warrant through the Indiana Bond Bank program, which had so many restrictions on it in the context of our Porter County financial plight that we finally decided to abort that borrowing. We went into the local private sector, and three banks led by Mercantile Bank, and First National Bank, and Centier Bank stepped up locally and bought our second issue of tax anticipation warrants from which we paid off the Indiana Bond Bank, the $5,000,000 we had borrowed from them, and had basically a line of credit then. Which is kind of a novel way to issue tax anticipation warrants. Obviously the advantage is we don't have to pay interest until we need the money, up to a total of $10,000,000. Of that additional $5,000,000, we've actually only had to access…

Mrs. Dziabo, $750,000.

Mr. Hollenbeck, $750,000, so I think we've really sent the signal to the banks that we have in fact been mindful of our financial plight and frugal in our spending of these borrowed monies. I've had discussions with all three of the banks, locally, and they are willing again to come to our aid in this regard, and to bid on our tax anticipation warrants that we would issue in January on a line of credit basis, which helps us.
Looking at the cash flow statements that you probably get tired of me showing you, I've sat down with the auditor and looked at, it seems to me, my recommendation that you approve the issuance of tax anticipation warrants as expeditiously as possible after the first of the year in an amount not to exceed $12,000,000 on a line of credit basis where the auditor could access that money as in fact as we need it. As you know, even with the constraints you've imposed, we are approximately a $2,000,000 a month business. That give us six months.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, so we need a motion to be able to access tax anticipation warrants not to exceed the amount of $12,000,000, which would be used like an online credit by the Auditor's office. Is that correct?

Mr. Hollenbeck, Correct.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, what is the wishes of the Council? I need a motion.

Mrs. Conover, What is the interest rate?

Mr. Hollenbeck, That will depend on what the market dictates and what the bids are. If I had to guess, the interest rate would be; what are we paying this year?

Ms. Stroud, One point two, something.

Mr. Hollenbeck, One point something. I guess a worse case scenario would be 2%. It could be a little higher than that I suppose, but not a lot.

Ms. Stroud, Any other questions? Okay, we need a motion.

Mr. Carmichael moved approve the issuance of tax anticipation warrants in 2003, in the amount of $12,000,000. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, I will function accordingly, and we'll sell the tax anticipation warrants as early in January as our time frame will allow. To remind you, unfortunately there are some costs associated with that. We'll have to utilize Indianapolis Bond Counsel, and I may even need the help of Umbaugh a little bit to run the figures, because the bond market will want to see. I'm sure there's lots of bond buyers in New York, but when they put Porter County on their screen the red letters come up. So they want to know all we can tell them about our financial situation.

Second Amendment to Porter County Police Retirement Plan

Mr. Hollenbeck, Two matters that remain in my report, both of which deals with the Porter County Sheriff's Merit Retirement Plan, both of which I've communicated with you. The first of which is the second amendment to the sheriff's retirement plan. I've provided you with copies of this. I've got a couple of extra ones that you can look at. Dave, do you want to come up? There are changes to one, two, three, four, fix, six, seven, eight sections of the plan. They are all changes that have been recommended by the plan administrator and the lawyers for the plan administrator, and they deal with keeping the plan in compliance with the internal revenue code rulings that have occurred since the first amendment to the plan. Also, clarify certain language in the plan to make this more accurate in terms of what actually is being done by the administrator.
On your behalf, I have reviewed the changes, and I concur that the changes as indicated in the cover letter that I sent you are required for purposes of keeping the plan in compliance with the internal revenue code provisions that dictate how these plans should work. I'll answer any questions you may have. But again, it would be appropriate for the Chair to entertain a motion for the approval.

Mrs. Knoblock, How much do we put, does the County put into this, Dave?

Mr. Hollenbeck, The appropriation--and don't hold me to the exact amount--this is $420,000.

Mrs. Knoblock, That we put into it?

Mr. Hollenbeck, Well wait a minute. That's the total amount of dollars that the actuarial people said that has to go into the plan to keep it solvent. If your question is how many general fund dollars, the answer at this point for this calendar year, although there is some discrepancy in the way we count the figures, and that's the other half of the report. When I get into the other half we'll talk about that more. But at this point, the only figures I have are the figures generated by the sheriff's department. The clerk's office is not generating those figures, which is something we have to talk about. If we use the figures that Bud Gootee gives us, on a monthly basis, the service of process fees at $12 apiece, will exceed the $420,000.

Mrs. Knoblock, Is this law that the County has to put the money into that?

Mr. Hollenbeck, The law says that it has to be funded in a sense to be solvent. As Bill always reminds me, if you go three years and don't fund it on a solvent basis, then it's subject to be dissolved, and they wouldn't have it.

Mrs. Knoblock, I can't understand though why we have to pay retirement. Nobody…

Mr. Hollenbeck, Well we're not. The $12 of every service of process fee by law is to be dedicated to the retirement fund. Like I said--and I'll talk about this when we get into it--there's some discrepancy on how the figures are, the dollar amounts. If we use the sheriff's department's figures--and I sent you this stuff--they will generate at $12 of service of process paper, more than $420,000. What happens to that, Carole, it goes into the general fund every month when the money comes over, then the clerk's office writes a check to Centier Bank, who right now is the administrator of it, and the money then goes into the fund at Centier Bank.

Mrs. Knoblock, Okay. How much money is in your retirement fund right now?

Sheriff Reynolds, Several million. Can I, can I say something? When you started paying into this, when we started paying in, and then you took it over in 1990 or 1991, it was in lieu of a raise or I think Dave was on the Merit, attorney for the Merit Board at that time. Now whether they should have done it or not, it was done. Okay. The question now is when we start, all of these years, when we started putting the money in, times were real good then, there was an ex…, like it is now, there was an excess.
Well, LaPorte County did the same thing. They took the money and they didn't put it into the general fund. They put it in a separate, they put it into the pension where it should have gone, and they're fine, you know. But what we did, over the years, they took the money, everything went into the general fund, and they only gave out what they wanted, and then when things started going sour the last couple of years, then everybody gets concerned about the pension. Well, the money, if, if, if they would have put the money in like it should of probably in 1990 or 1991, we wouldn't be sitting here with this problem right now.
But to answer your question, state statute mandates that the $12 goes into the pension, and the question I want to, I asked Dave, when we do this, and I would like to say a couple of other things, but, that if there is an excess like there is this year, and there's no saying it's going to be in excess every year, it might be, but I, you know, who knows. You know, nobody has a crystal ball up here, but if there is an excess, then, like there is this year, my recommendation is that money goes into, not back in the general fund, it goes into the pension, and that's where the money should be.

Mr. Hollenbeck, If, and I don't want to quell with debate, we'll have ample time, the amendments that we are talking about right now, candidly have nothing to do with this. They are technical amendments. The second half of my report we'll talk about the ad-hoc committee report and recommendation on those funding issues. But the amendment has to do with IRS and compliance with the rules. If there's any questions referencing that issue I'll be happy to answer them. If not, it would be appropriate for the Chair to entertain a motion of some kind on the Second Amendment to the Porter County Police Retirement Plan.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, we need…

Mrs. Knoblock, We do this every year?

Mr. Hollenbeck, Right, well not every year, but we've done it a couple of times. This is the second amendment. Again, its dictated by changes in the IRS rules so this plan remains a qualified plan under the IRS rules.

Ms. Stroud, Okay, we need a motion to take into account the changes that are made, and the things that need to be done.

Mrs. Conover moved to approve the Second Amendment to the Porter County Police Retirement Plan as submitted. Mr. West seconded, motion carried.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, Madam Chair President, I've got three copies I need you to sign of that, then I'll give these to David because they need to be signed by the Merit Board.

Ad-Hoc Committee Report & Recommendation

Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, Carole's question has anticipated the second half of my report on these issues, and I've sent you a copy. As you know, Karen Martin and Barb have been meeting over an appreciable period of time, and I've participated in some of those meetings with representatives from the entities including the merit employees, and the Merit Board, and the sheriff, the administrative staff to deal with this whole question of funding of the merit pension program. David is right; in lieu of a pay increase in 1991 the merit employees at the sheriff's department were told by the county council that they would not have to participate in paying any money into their plan. You know, and Dave is right, hindsight is great, I don't know whether that was a good idea or not, but that was the decision of the county council at the time.
In the interim, what happened is, we lost the linkage between this $12 service of process fee and what the actuarial people told us had to go into their fund every year. When we lost that linkage, and David's also right, we had some good years when the service of process fees exceeded what the actuarial people said had to go in. What the county council did every year is, is put in what they actuarial people said had to go in. In those early years of the early 90's there were some excesses generated above that. But then we hit some hard times, and we had some shortfalls in the middle to late 90's, where the service of process fees were not generating enough to fully fund the pension program, and the law is for that, we need to fund that program or have it be dissolved.
So we lost that linkage, and the report I sent you that hopefully you read, one of the important recommendations of that ad-hoc committee is that we re-establish that linkage. We monitor it better, and we have accurate records as to how much comes over. And that's part of the problem with this whole thing right now. There isn't a clear-cut mechanism in place at this point. The burden has fallen on the sheriff's department to keep these records, because nobody else was in fact doing it on what the service of process fees have generated. The problem with that is, these guys don't necessarily have all the knowledge. So there's a question sometimes, just because they are not fully informed, because the money isn't collected by them, it's collected in the clerk's office. The service of process papers come over to them. They know how many service of process papers they've received, but for instance, if I'm a plaintiff and I sue four people, I only pay one service of process fee. They may serve four papers, but we're not sure how many $12 were actually received. So we need to re-establish that linkage, which includes better record keeping so that we know exactly from the clerk's office, then check it through the sheriff's office, what monies are coming in through those $12. So that's one of the recommendations of the committee.
The other recommendation of the committee is that we remain steadfast to the proposition that we no longer can justify or afford general fund subsidation of the sheriff's merit board pension plan. That we have to generate dollars outside of the general fund to fully fund the pension plan for the merit employees. And that means, as I've indicated, keeping better records of the money that comes in through the service of process fees, and also dedicating that money as a stream of income as the law requires to the pension plan, regardless of how much comes in. David has accurately again reflected the situation in LaPorte County. LaPorte County's sheriff's merit board pension program is flush. The reason for that is, they ignored what the actuarial set in any given year, and they had total linkage between what was brought in and what went into the pension plan. They had many years where they over funded it because of that. So we need to get that linkage back so we track it better and make sure the money gets where the law says it should go, independent of what the actuarial people say. So if we have that in place we will have a much clearer picture of what the service of process fees are generating.
The other half of the equation we looked at was where we ought to be visa be the men participating, I'm sorry, the officers, men and women, participating in the program. After some debate and some reflection back and forth, the consensus of the ad-hoc committee is we needed to get started on the process of the officers contributing once again to the plan. You can argue back and forth the relevancy of this, but kind of the benchmark was other county employees participate in their pension, I believe to the point of 3.7% of their wages. It was the consensus of the ad-hoc committee that we start next year with a program where the merit officers contribute 1% of their pay to their plan. Then the ad-hoc committee would continue with the better documentation on the flow of money from the service of process fee, and keep a handle on what's going on with the merit pension plan, and be in a position then as 2003 progresses to come back to the council again with a recommendation as to kind of where we go from here.
I think it's important, and it's probably obvious, but, you know, and I know this isn't solace to men and women who are earning this money and are going to get less in their paycheck, but nobody is taking money away from them. We're just saying that this is your money that we are going to be putting aside on your behalf. It's your money, and it remains your money, in the pension plan program. So that's the ad-hoc committee's report to you. I guess you need to run with what you want to do. I'm sorry I've talked too much. David, did you want to add anything?

Sheriff Reynolds, The last thing you said, the recommendation, that's real important. I know the men are real concerned about that is the fact that they would like to have some type of an evaluation process. Like you said, it's a process. I think we need to be fair to everyone t