PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL
Reorganization Meeting
January 4, 2005

The Porter County Council met to reorganize, on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 at 5:00 p.m. in the County Administration Center, 155 Indiana-Suite 205, Valparaiso, Indiana.

Members present were Laura Blaney, Jim Burge, William Carmichael, Al Steele, Rita Stevenson, Dan Whitten and President Robert Poparad. Also present was Attorney David Hollenbeck, Auditor Sandra Vuko, Becky Phillips and Jan Noll.

The meeting was called to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Mr. Carmichael, We will now start with the election of officers. David, would you conduct the election?

Atty. Hollenbeck, Certainly. I’ll take the ceremonial gavel here. The first thing the Council needs to do in its organization, is elect from its membership a president. So I will entertain and accept motions for the 2005 calendar year presidency of the Porter County Council.

Mr. Steele moved to nominate Robert Poparad as President of the Porter County Council for 2005. Mr. Carmichael seconded.

Atty. Hollenbeck, Okay, it’s been moved and seconded that Bob Poparad assume the presidency. It takes four affirmative votes to accomplish that, so let’s have a call of the roll.

Motion carried on the following roll call vote:

Carmichael - Yes Burge - No
Whitten - No Poparad - Yes
Stevenson - Yes Steele - Yes
Blaney - No

Atty. Hollenbeck, That’s four affirmative votes. We have ourselves a president in the form of Mr. Poparad.

Mr. Carmichael, Get up out of your seat.

Mr. Poparad, No, no, sit down there.

Mr. Carmichael, Get up off your seat.

Mr. Steele, You’ve got to do it, Bob.

Mr. Poparad, Huh?

Mr. Steele, You’ve got to go.

Ms. Noll, You’ve got to move, Bob.

Mr. Poparad, Okay.

Atty. Hollenbeck, Mr. President, the next thing you need to do is, from your membership, secure for yourself a Vice President.

Mr. Poparad, I’ll entertain a motion.

Mr. Whitten moved to nominate Jim Burge for Vice President. Mrs. Stevenson seconded.

Mr. Carmichael moved to nominate Al Steele for Vice President. Mrs. Blaney seconded.

Mr. Steele, I’ll tell you what, to save any further difficulties, I’ll concede to Jim as the vice president.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, we only have one nomination then.

Atty. Hollenbeck, Why don’t you go through it and…

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Atty. Hollenbeck, Make sure you have four affirmative votes.

Mr. Poparad, Call the roll, Sandy.

Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Atty. Hollenbeck, Okay, you have a president and a vice president.

Mr. Poparad, Thank you, Mr. Hollenbeck.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Poparad, We need to approve the minutes from November 30th.

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the minutes of November 30, 2004 as received. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

ATTORNEY CONTRACT

Mr. Poparad, It appears I made a mistake. We didn’t do the Attorney’s contract. I’ll entertain a motion on the attorney.

Mr. Carmichael moved to retain David Hollenbeck for calendar year 2005. Mr. Burge seconded.

Mrs. Stevenson, May I read a commentary into the record?

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Mrs. Stevenson, Dave has been involved in county government for many years, because of his involvement, he has developed long-term relationships with many people all over the state. He is well respected around Porter County as well as downstate. He has acquaintances in the Department of Local Government Finance, the State Board of Accounts, who is the audit agency of the state, and the State Auditor, and Ice Miller, who has done extensive work for us, not only with Bethlehem bankruptcy, but also the bailout loan, and our yearly need for tax anticipation warrants. He has served the county well for the last 28 years, as well as the county council. His knowledge has been acquired through many years of working for the county agencies. Since 1985 he has been teaching local government law, municipal finance law, and land use planning at Valpo University. When he is asked to research a matter, he does it in a timely fashion, usually 24 hours, which is followed up with a letter to all the council members, so they know what is going on. I feel although this is a majority Democratic council, he is by far the best attorney we could have to represent us because of the reasons I’ve stated. I hope you will not hold the party line, but vote to retain him as our attorney.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, anybody else?

Mrs. Blaney moved to nominate Clay Patton.

Mr. Whitten, I don’t have a resume to read into the record, but I certainly would second that nomination.

Mr. Whitten seconded.

Mr. Poparad, Okay. We have two motions on the floor. Call the roll on the Hollenbeck nomination, please.

Mrs. Vuko, Okay.

Motion to retain David Hollenbeck as the Council attorney carried on the following roll call vote:

Poparad - Yes Whitten - No
Steele - No Stevenson - Yes
Carmichael - Yes Blaney - No
Burge - Yes

Mrs. Vuko, It’s 4 to 3.

Mr. Poparad, Mr. Hollenbeck, you’ve been retained for the year 2005. Thank you. First reading.

FIRST READING

At this time Mrs. Vuko read the Notice to Taxpayers.

ANTABUSE 27.134
Additional Appropriation
$25,000 to 2410 Medical & Dental
$5,000 to 1120 Hourly
$383 to 1210 FICA

Mr. Poparad, We’ll do Antabuse first. Neil, anything you want to say?

Neil Hannon, Good evening, for those who are new to the Council, I want to welcome you. I’m looking forward to working with all of you, and happy new year. My name is Neil Hannon, and I’m the chief adult probation officer for Porter County, and my request tonight is to; I sent letters to most of you. I hope that you had a chance to read those.
What we are trying to do is to, we have a client-funded account where the people who are required to take antabuse pay $70 per month into this account. We’re asking for an additional to go back into the antabuse line item account. The additional is paid for by client fees, so it’s not tax dollars, even though the information in front of you says additional
We came across some information from the, from Porter Memorial Hospital on some old accounts that were given to a collection agency. These accounts were billed in 2002 and 2003. In the summer, last summer of 2004, they told us that we had some open accounts or some debt that had not been yet paid.
We checked through the auditor’s office, and did not find that we owed that debt, and then later, late November after it was too late to bring this information before the Council for the November 30th meeting, we actually learned that we do owe yet some outstanding debt.
The request is for payment of antabuse that we have obtained from the hospital, and have provided to the clients. These bills have been given to us, as I mentioned earlier, to a collection agency in South Bend, and we’re not certain if, in fact, the monies owed belong to Porter Memorial Hospital or whether they are due to Porter Hospital, Valpo Campus. However, we do purchase all of it through the pharmacy in Valparaiso at a wholesale amount.
If you’re not familiar, antabuse is only made by one manufacturer in the 250 milligram dose, so we’re not able to go out and seek competitive bids. There is no generic version. The generic version has been bought by the manufacturer who makes the antabuse--disulfiram--so we can’t get a generic version either.
So we are concerned about getting your approval to have this available to us, to communicate with the collection agency, and yet we do have a fear if we bargain too long or we don’t get something put together, and these are some suggestions that were made by Mr. Steele, and I really appreciated his input, that we also have a fear that we would be cut off and not be able to continue to get antabuse from the hospital if we don’t pay some bills too.
Since, again, they were outstanding from 2002 and 2003, it’s beyond us as to why they didn’t bill us earlier during the last couple of years for this outstanding debt, but that’s just how it actually occurred. So if you have any questions, I’ll be glad to try to answer them the best I can.

Mr. Steele, Neil, in regards to that $18,000 that you owe to the collection agency.

Mr. Hannon, Yes.

Mr. Steele, I know they threatened to sue you, but could you hold on to that until you find out if that money is going to the collection agency or if it’s going back to PMH or if it’s going to be split or whatever. I don’t want to deny the hospital the money, but if it’s going to a collection agency, I would like to have them be a little more aggressive towards you, and you against them, before you pay that out. So would you hold onto that money until you determine to whom that money is going to be paid.

Mr. Hannon, Yes. Yes, we can do that. My concern is that I, you know, I don’t know if it’s the Council’s pleasure to have a meeting in February. I know in years past they have not had them, and I was concerned that if we didn’t bring this up to this meeting today, it would not be until late March at the earliest that we’d be able to address it, and then by that time there, you know, it may be, have an appearance that we’re trying not to pay it entirely. But we definitely would try to address it, and pay no more than they’re requiring of us.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Antabuse 27, the amounts of, $25,000 to 2410 Medical & Dental, $5,000 to 1120 Hourly, and $383 to 1210 FICA. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Hannon, Thank you very much.

PARKS 127.85
Additional Appropriation
$1,634.50 to 1120 Hourly
$135.41 to 1210 FICA
$1,200 to 3340 Advertising

Mr. Poparad, Parks here? Is this the tourism?

Ed Melendez, Yes it is.

Mr. Poparad, Okay. Alright, maybe you want to explain how it works.

Mr. Melendez, Good evening. To the new members on board, what we do is once a month we have a grant that we receive from tourism. It’s not general fund money; it’s from the innkeepers’ tax. We use the funds for our festivals and events that we have at the park and other activities within the schools. So once a month we will appropriate it to the line items where we fill that cost for existing events and expenses that we have.
So I’m coming in front of you tonight with the additional for the 127.85 for $1,634.59 into the 1120, which is Hourly; into the 127.85 for $135.41 into the 1210, which is the FICA fund; and in the 127.85 for $1,200 into the 3340, which is Advertising. This is will cover the events that we’ve had from the Holiday Lights Festival.

Mr. Poparad, Questions? They get their check once a month from tourism. It’s not budgeted, so we have to put it back into their fund. I’ll entertain a motion?
Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Parks Operating 127.85, the amounts of, $1,634.50 to 1120 Hourly, $135.41 to 1210 FICA, and $1,200 to 3340 Advertising. Mr. Burge seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Melendez, Thank you, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing you throughout the year.

COUNCIL 01.25
Transfer
$110 from 3610 Maintenance Agreements to 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles

Mr. Poparad, We have one transfer for $110 from Maintenance Agreements for our copy machine. Since it’s just a transfer, we don’t have to call the roll. Everybody in favor, say aye.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Council 01.25, the amount of, $110 from 3610 Maintenance Agreements to 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Poparad, Motion passes; you got your copy machine, I guess.

Ms. Noll, Well no I don’t; we’ve got one until it dies.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, eventually we’ll have to address it.

Mr. Carmichael, I think we’re going to have to look at it that before too long, Bob, that’s an eight-year old machine.

Mr. Poparad, It ain’t worth fixing.

Mr. Carmichael, No. The parts are not available anymore for that machine, so they’re just kind of scraping things together. I think you’re going to have to look at doing something about replacing it. I don’t know where you’re going to do that, maybe out of the CCD or something. I don’t know where you’re going to get it.

Mr. Poparad, Do you want to get some prices, Jan, before it dies.

Ms. Noll, Yes, I’ll talk with you about that.

Mr. Poparad, Alright.

COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS

Mr. Poparad, We’ll move onto the appointments.

NIRPC

Mr. Poparad, First up on the list is NIRPC. Mrs. Blaney appeared to express an interest in that. Is that favorable with the board?

Mr. Steele, You have a yes from me.

Mr. Poparad, Unless somebody objects, we’ll just move along.

NICTD

Mr. Poparad, Two people expressed an interest in NICTD. Anybody want to make a nomination since there is two people involved?

Mrs. Stevenson moved to nominate William Carmichael as the Council’s appointment to NICTD.
Mrs. Blaney moved to nominate Al Steele as the Council’s appointment to NICTD.

Mr. Poparad, I don’t know how to handle this. I mean we’ve got two people wanting the same board. There’s only one seat, correct?

Mr. Steele, Why don’t you just take a roll call.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Just go through it, and see whose got four votes.

Mr. Poparad, Yes. Call the roll, Sandy--somebody’s going to have to--and say the name of who you want.

Al Steele was appointed as the Council’s 2005 appointment to NICTD, on the following roll call vote:

Stevenson - Carmichael Carmichael - Carmichael
Blaney - Steele Burge - Steele
Poparad - Carmichael Whitten - Steele
Steele - Steele

Mr. Poparad, Okay.

PLAN COMMISSION

Mr. Poparad, Plan Commission. I have it, anybody is welcome to it. Please. Nothing against you, Bob.

Mr. Steele, Bob, do you want it again?

Mr. Poparad, I’ll take it. I’m on there; I have history with him. I’ll take it if nobody else wants it.

Mr. Whitten, I’ll take it.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, you’re on.

SOLID WASTE DISTRICT

Mr. Poparad, Solid Waste, Laura expressed an interest in that. Is that amicable to everybody?

Mr. Steele, Yes.

PORTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Mr. Poparad, Porter County Historical, nobody. We’ll just pass over that.

Mr. Burge, Is that a board appointment or a citizen appointment?

Mr. Poparad, I think it’s a board appointment. We can just leave that one blank

Ms. Noll, No, it’s not.

Mr. Poparad, It’s not.

Ms. Noll, The Historical Society is not. These other appointments, they’re just there, Bob.

Mr. Poparad, Alright.

Mr. Burge, What about a citizen, if there’s no one else.

Mr. Poparad, Can we put a citizen on there?

Mr. Carmichael, What?

Mr. Poparad, Can we put a citizen on there, I don’t think so. We never have before.

Mr. Carmichael, No.

Mr. Poparad, No. We’ll just leave it blank, somebody will fill it.

EARLY INTERVENTION TEAM

Mr. Poparad, Early Intervention. Leave that blank.

PORTER COUNTY SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Mr. Poparad, Substance Abuse.

PORTER COUNTY SERVICES

Mr. Poparad, Porter County Services. Laura, you expressed an interest in that?

Mrs. Blaney, Did I?

Mr. Poparad, Oh, okay, no. Okay, leave that one blank.

FAMILY COURT ADVISORY BOARD

Mr. Poparad, Family Court.

Mrs. Stevenson, I did.

Mr. Poparad, Rita wants that.

TOURISM BOARD

Mr. Poparad, Tourism Board is blank. Bill, you were on that. Do you want to stay there?

Mr. Carmichael, Okay.

EMA

Mr. Poparad, EMA, Mr. Burge expressed an interest in that, so you drew the lucky straw.

SAFETY COMMITTEE

Mr. Poparad, Nobody threw anything out for the Safety Committee. That’s still sort of wide open. If anybody decides, we’ll get a letter off to them.

COUNCIL LIAISONS
Adult Probation

Mr. Poparad, Liaisons, Adult Probation I have Al

Airport

Mr. Poparad, Airport, I have Al.
Assessors

Mr. Poparad, I’ll take the Assessors.

Animal Control

Mr. Poparad, Al, you seem to want Animal Control. If you guys want to jump in here at any time to do some of these, feel free. I mean we’re just trying to fill the blanks up.

Auditor

Mr. Poparad, Auditor, we’ve got Rita and Bob.

Circuit Court

Mr. Poparad, Circuit Court is Rita.

Clerk

Mr. Poparad, The Clerk is Rita. Dan, do you want to be on that? You have court….

Mr. Whitten, No, I don’t think I probably should.

Mr. Poparad, Okay.

Commissioners

Mr. Poparad, The Commissioners is Al and Bob.

Convention, Recreation & Visitors Commission

Mr. Poparad, Visitors & Recreation is Bill.

Coroner

Mr. Poparad, Does anybody want the Coroner? These are just liaison positions.

Mrs. Blaney, I’ll take the Coroner.

Mr. Poparad, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, I don’t want him any time soon.

Drainage Board

Mr. Poparad, Drainage Board. We’ll leave that one blank.

E-911/Public Safety

Mr. Poparad, E-911, I’ll take that. Jim, you expressed an interest in that?

Mr. Burge, Yes, you can put me down as well if you want to.

Mr. Poparad, Alright.

Election Board

Mr. Poparad, The Election Board is Al.

Emergency Management Agency

Mr. Poparad, Emergency Management is Jim.

Environmental

Mr. Poparad, Environmental.

Mrs. Blaney, I’ll take Environmental.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, good.

Expo Center

Mr. Poparad, Expo.

Extension Office

Mr. Poparad, Extension Office, I have Bill.

General Courts

Mr. Poparad, General Courts, Al and Rita.

Health Department

Mr. Poparad, Health Department, Laura, you expressed an interest in that?

Mrs. Blaney, Yes, I’ll take the Health Department.

Mr. Poparad, Alright.

Mrs. Stevenson, I wanted the Health Department.

Mr. Poparad, And Rita. Okay.

Highway Department

Mr. Poparad, Highway, I’ll take it, because I had them last year. Unless Al wants to get rid of me; are you here, Al. Okay.

Al Hoagland, Whatever will work.

Mr. Poparad, Alright.

ITS

Mr. Poparad, ITS, Jim, you into that?

Mr. Burge, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, good.

Jail

Mr. Poparad, Jail, I’ve got Al, Bill and Dan. That’s good.



Juvenile Detention

Mr. Poparad, Juvenile Detention, Rita, you want that?

Mrs. Stevenson, Yes.

Juvenile Probation

Mr. Poparad, Juvenile Probation, same thing.

Memorial Opera House

Mr. Poparad, Memorial Opera House is blank.

Parks

Mr. Poparad, Parks, do you want to be the liaison to the Parks, Jim?

Mr. Burge, That’s fine, yes.

Mr. Poparad, PCADOS doesn’t exist anymore.

Plan Commission/Building Department

Mr. Poparad, Plan Commission/Building, I’ll take that one since I’m on the Plan Commission. Prosecutor.

Mr. Whitten, Not anymore.

Mrs. Stevenson, Not anymore.

Mr. Poparad, What? Oh, that’s right, I’m sorry. Good, do you want it?

Mr. Whitten, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, Oh good, yes. I’m sorry. We’ll put you down.

Mr. Whitten, Take my crumb away.

Mr. Poparad, No, you can fill all the blanks in.

Prosecutor
Prosecutor IV-D

Mr. Poparad, Prosecutor/IV-D.

Mrs. Stevenson, I would like that.

Mr. Poparad, You’ll take that.

Mr. Whitten, I think I’d like to be the liaison to the Prosecutor.

Mr. Poparad, Do you? Okay.

Mr. Whitten, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, good. The IV-D and the Prosecutor.

Mrs. Stevenson, Do you want to do it by yourself or do you want…
Mr. Whitten, I’d be more than happy to have you come along, Rita.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, good.

Public Defender

Mr. Poparad, Public Defender then too, it’s all sort of like a court thing.

Mr. Whitten, Sure.

Mr. Poparad, Okay.

Recorder

Mr. Poparad, Rita put her name down for the Recorder, unless anybody else wants to join in.

Sheriff
Sheriff’s Garage

Mr. Poparad, I’ve got Al, Bill and Dan down for the Sheriff and the Sheriff’s Garage, because it’ll take three of you.

Soil & Water

Mr. Poparad, Soil & Water is blank.

Mrs. Blaney, You know, I’ll take Soil & Water.

Mr. Poparad, You’ll take Soil & Water, good.

Superior Court 1
Superior Court 2
Superior Court 3
Superior Court 4
Superior Court 6

Mr. Poparad, Superior Court 1, 2, 3. I’ve got Al and Rita down for 1 and 2. Dan and Rita down for just 3. You don’t want all the courts?

Mr. Whitten, I don’t want to be on any of the courts.

Mr. Poparad, Okay. Al, do you want to pick up 3 then?

Mr. Steele, I want to pick up 4, please.

Mr. Poparad, Both 3 and 4?

Mr. Steele, Just 4, please.

Mr. Poparad, You just want to be on one court?

Mr. Steele, That’s fine.

Mr. Poparad, Well I’ve got you down here, Al and Rita on all of them.

Mr. Steele, Fine, do it.

Mr. Poparad, Alright, I want to keep some consistency.
Treasurer

Mr. Poparad, The Treasurer, nobody likes.

Surveyor

Mr. Poparad, The Surveyor, nobody likes either it appears.

Veterans Services

Mr. Poparad, Veterans Services. Mr. Burge threw his name out.

Mr. Burge, Yes.

Voter Registration

Mr. Poparad, And Voter Registration is blank.

Weights & Measures

Mr. Poparad, Weights & Measures, Mr. Burge again.

Mr. Burge, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, good.

Welfare/Family & Children

Mr. Poparad, And Welfare/Family Services, I have Rita. Unless anybody else wants to help out. Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, Bob, did you have the Extension Office on there?

Ms. Noll, He read it, Bill.

Mr. Poparad, Yes, we’ve got you down for the Extension Office.

Mr. Carmichael, Oh, okay.

Mr. Poparad, Yes. Okay, we have a policy memorandum.

Mr. Whitten, I don’t have a copy of that.

Ms. Noll, It should be the last two…

Mr. Poparad, In your packet.

Ms. Noll, Are you going to do the Citizen Appointments?

CITIZEN APPOINTMENTS

Alcoholic Beverage Commission

Mr. Poparad, Yes, that’s true too. Yes, we have a couple of citizen appointments. I’m getting ahead of myself. We have an opening on the Alcoholic Beverage Commission. I think we had two applicants. I will entertain a motion.

Mr. Carmichael moved to nominate Charles Kingsbury as the Council’s appointment to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Mr. Steele moved to nominate Jim Biggs as the Council’s appointment to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

Mr. Poparad, Sandy, call the roll, and each person can name who they want.

Mrs. Vuko, Okay.

Jim Biggs was appointed to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission for the year 2005 on the following roll call vote:

Burge - Biggs Poparad - Biggs
Whitten - Biggs Steele - Biggs
Stevenson - Kingsbury Carmichael - Kingsbury
Blaney - Biggs

Mrs. Vuko, Okay, it’s 5 to 2 for Biggs.

Mr. Poparad, I need to back up. I’m sorry, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Porter County Solid Waste, Laura, you expressed an interest in that as a position for the Council. Correct?

Mrs. Blaney, Right. You did that one.

Mr. Poparad, Did we?

Mrs. Blaney, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, Alright, I’m sorry.

Board of Zoning Appeals

Mr. Poparad, The Board of Zoning Appeals, we had one applicant, I think.

Ms. Noll, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, Mr. Robertson, is that his name?

Ms. Noll, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, I’ll entertain a motion.

Mr. Whitten, I think he’s done a fantastic job, and we would stay with him.

Mr. Whitten moved to nominate James Robertson as the Council’s appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a period of four years. Mrs. Blaney seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Poparad, He passes; he’s it.

Burns Harbor EDC

Mr. Poparad, Burns Harbor EDC, I think that’s Jim McGee.

Ms. Noll, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, I think that’s the only applicant we have. Make it official. Everybody in favor of Mr. McGee for the Burns Harbor EDC, say aye.

Jim McGee was unanimously voted to serve on the Burns Harbor EDC for a period of one year.
Portage EDC

Mr. Poparad, We have the same thing for Portage, Mike Scott it appears, for Portage.

Ms. Noll, Yes.

Mike Scott was unanimously voted to serve on the Portage EDC for a period of two years.

Mr. Poparad, Okay.

2005 COUNCIL POLICY MEMORANDUM

Mr. Poparad, Policy Memorandum.

Mr. Whitten, I don’t have a copy.

Mrs. Stevenson, Do you have a copy?

Mr. Poparad, We’re also going to read it.

Ms. Noll, Hang on.

Mr. Poparad, Do you have a copy of it?

Ms. Noll, It should be the last papers.

Mr. Poparad, Oh, here it is, I got it.

At this time, Mr. Poparad read the Policy Memorandum.

Mr. Steele, Bob, I don’t understand that last one, number 10.

Mr. Whitten, I don’t have a copy of this.

Mr. Steele, I don’t understand why we can’t consider capital needs this year.

Mr. Poparad, Nobody has anything in their budget for capital purchases. Everything was
supposed to come out of the CCD.

Mr. Steele, Okay.

Mr. Poparad, Dan, do you have one?

Mr. Whitten, No, I don’t.

Mr. Poparad, Nobody has any capital money in their budget for ‘05.

Mr. Whitten, If we’re going to discuss something at a meeting, I’d like to have a copy of it.

Ms. Noll, It’s not in yours? The very last pages, Dan?

Mr. Whitten, It’s not on mine. She doesn’t have either.

Mrs. Blaney, Oh wait a minute, yes I do.

Mr. Poparad, Do you want to table it or?

Mr. Whitten, That’s okay; no, I’m fine.

Mr. Poparad, I mean that’s the policy we’ve had in the past. If anybody has any questions,
I mean. I’ll entertain a motion.

Mr. Steele, That we adjourn or what?

Mr. Poparad, No, that we adopt this policy.

Mr. Carmichael moved to adopt the 2005 Council Policy Memorandum as read. Mrs.
Stevenson seconded.

Mr. Poparad, Discussion? If you have questions, I mean if there’s anything, it’s just to let
the people know what they’re...

Mr. Whitten, I just wanted to see it.

Mr. Poparad, Everybody for the motion, say aye.

Motion carried on a voice vote.

2005
POLICY MEMORANDUM
The following policy has been adopted by the Porter County Council regarding requests for budgetary transfers and additional appropriations for the 2005 calendar year.
1. Additional appropriations will not be considered from a line where monies were transferred from.
2. Additional appropriation and Transfer requests will require the appearance of the Elected Official or Department Head of the department before the Council, unless the request is under $500.00.
3. All transfer and additional appropriation requests shall contain a concise written explanation as to why the monies are needed or the request will not be considered.
4. Additional appropriation requests are to be filed with the Auditor’s office in writing no later than the first Friday of the month. All other requests, by the second Friday of the month.
5. Late transfer and 144 requests will require the approval of both the President and Vice President before being placed on the agenda.
6. Additional appropriation and transfer requests shall be accompanied by the following documentation:
a. Three verbal vendor quotes for any purchase of $1,000.00 or less.
b. Three written vendor quotes for any purchase in excess of $1,000.00 but less than $25,000.00.
c. For purchases between $25,000.00 and $50,000,00, use of “request for proposal” process under I.C. 5-22-9 with accompanying vendor responses.
7. If requesting an additional appropriation or transfer for a purchase in excess of $75,000.00, use of the competitive sealed bidding procedure is required. This is to be done through the Commissioners’ office.
8. Any transfer or additional appropriation request for data processing equipment is to be discussed with ITS, prior to purchasing. A letter is to be obtained by the Department Head from ITS as to the compatibility of the equipment and the suitability for needs. This letter is to be submitted with the required documentation (three quotes) and the transfer or additional request.
9. Failure to comply with the policies contained herein may result in the request being tabled or denied.
10. Capital needs will not be considered in the 2005 year. All capital needs to be considered from the CCD Fund in 2006 are to be requested in writing to the Commissioners and forwarded to the Council so that they may be addressed during the 2006 budget process.
Adopted this 4th day of January 2005 Porter County Council
s/________________ President
ATTORNEY’S REPORT

Mr. Poparad, Attorney, do you have anything to report?

Mr. Hollenbeck, I have nothing specifically to report, Mr. President, and I look forward to
the opportunity of working with all of you during 2005.

SECOND READING

Mr. Poparad, Second reading, please.

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve second reading. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Poparad, Anything else to come before the Council? Anything from the audience? I’ll entertain a motion to adjourn.

Mr. Whitten moved to adjourn. Mr. Burge seconded, motion carried.

There being no further business, meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.

PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA

Laura Blaney
Jim Burge
William Carmichael
Robert Poparad
Al Steele
Rita Stevenson
Dan Whitten

Attest: Sandra Vuko, Auditor